of kinship came over the girl. Here was
another woman outside the pale of ordinary life by physical
conditions, as she herself was by spiritual ones. The dwarf's eyes
looked fairly angelic and heavenly to her. She saw her speak in a
whisper to her maid, and the woman immediately arose and came to her.

"Miss Blair wishes me to ask if you will be so kind as to go and
speak to her; she has something which she wishes to say to you," she
said, in the same parrot-like fashion.

Maria arose at once, and crossed the aisle and seated herself in the
chair which the maid vacated. The maid took Maria's at a nod from her
mistress.

The little woman looked at Maria for a moment with her keen, kind
eyes and her peculiar smile deepened. Then she spoke. "What is the
matter?" she asked.

Maria hesitated.

The dwarf looked across at her maid. "She will not understand
anything you say," she remarked. "She is well trained. She can hear
without hearing--that is her great accomplishment."

Still Maria said nothing.

"You got on at Amity," said the dwarf. "Is that where you live?"

"Yes."

"What is your name?"

Maria closed her mouth firmly.

The dwarf laughed. "Oh, very well," said she. "If you do not choose
to tell it, I can. Your name is Ackley--Elizabeth Ackley. I am glad
to meet you, Miss Ackley."

Maria paled a little, but she said nothing to disapprove this
extraordinary statement.

"My name is Blair--Miss Rosa Blair," said the dwarf. "I am a rose,
but I happened to bloom outside the pale." She laughed gayly, but
Maria's eyes upon her were pitiful. "You are also outside the pale in
some way," said Miss Blair. "I always know such people when I meet
them. There is an affinity between them and myself. The moment I saw
you I said to myself: she also is outside the pale, she also has
escaped from the garden of life. Well, never mind, child; it is not
so very bad outside when one becomes accustomed to it. I am. Perhaps
you have not had time; but you will have. What is the matter?"

"I am running away," replied Maria then.

"Running away! From what?"

"It is better for me to be away," said Maria, evading the question.
"It would be better if I were dead."

"But you are not," said the dwarf, with a quick movement almost of
alarm.

"No," said Maria; "and I see no reason why I shall not live to be an
old woman."

"I don't either," said Miss Blair. "You look healthy. You say, better
if you were dead--better for whom, yo