t be--it was--!

No! there the lips were, as they had been from the beginning, closed
upon each other in that stony self-collected calm, which was only not a
sneer. The wonder, if it was one, had passed: and now--did her eyes play
her false, or were the snakes round that Medusa's head upon the shield
all writhing, grinning, glaring at her with stony eyes, longing to
stiffen her with terror into their own likeness?

No! that, too, passed. Would that even it had stayed, for it would
have been a sign of life! She looked up at the face once more: but in
vain--the stone was stone; and ere she was aware, she found herself
clasping passionately the knees of the marble.

'Athene! Pallas! Adored! Ever Virgin! Absolute reason, springing
unbegotten from the nameless One! Hear me! Athene! Have mercy on me!
Speak, if it be to curse me! Thou who alone wieldest the lightnings
of thy father, wield them to strike me dead, if thou wilt; only do
something!--something to prove thine own existence--something to make
me sure that anything exists beside this gross miserable matter, and my
miserable soul. I stand alone in the centre of the universe! I fall and
sicken down the abyss of ignorance, and doubt, and boundless blank
and darkness! Oh, have mercy! I know that thou art not this! Thou art
everywhere and in all things! But I know that this is a form which
pleases thee, which symbolises thy nobleness! T know that thou hast
deigned to speak to those who--Oh! what do I know? Nothing! nothing!
nothing!

And she clung there, bedewing with scalding tears the cold feet of the
image, while there was neither sign, nor voice, nor any that answered.

On a sudden she was startled by a rustling near; and, looking round, saw
close behind her the old Jewess.

'Cry aloud!' hissed the hag, in a tone of bitter scorn; 'cry aloud, for
she is a goddess. Either she is talking, or pursuing, or she is on a
journey; or perhaps she has grown old, as we all shall do some day, my
pretty lady, and is too cross and lazy to stir. What! her naughty doll
will not speak to her, will it not? or even open its eyes, because the
wires are grown rusty? Well, we will find a new doll for her, if she
chooses.'

'Begone, hag! What do you mean by intruding here?' said Hypatia,
springing up; but the old woman went on coolly--

'Why not try the fair young gentleman over there?' pointing to a copy
of the Apollo which we call Belvedere--'What is his name? Old maids are
always