ffin to yourself; but when you have to share it--ugh!"

"If I were you, then," said Sepia, "I would not lie still; I would get
up and bite--I mean, be a vampire."

Hesper did not answer. Sepia turned from the mirror, looked at her, and
burst into a laugh--at least, the sound she made had all the elements
of a laugh--except the merriment.

"Now really, Hesper, you ought to be ashamed of yourself," she cried.
"You to put on the pelican and the sparrow, with all the world before
you, and all the men in it at your feet!"

"A pack of fools!" remarked Hesper, with a calmness which in itself was
scorn. "I don't deny it--but amusing fools--you must allow that!"

"They don't amuse me."

"That's your fault: you won't be amused. The more foolish they are, the
more amusing I find them."

"I am sick of it all. Nothing amuses me. How can it, when there is
nothing behind it? You can't live on amusement. It is the froth on
water an inch deep, and then the mud!"

"I declare, misery makes a poetess of you! But as to the mud, I don't
mind a little mud. It is only dirt, and has its part in the inevitable
peck, I hope."

"_I_ don't mind mud so long as you can keep out of it. But when one is
over head and ears in it, I should like to know what life is worth,"
said Hesper, heedless that the mud was of her own making. "I declare,
Sepia," she went on, drawling the declaration, "if I were to be asked
whether I would go on or not--"

"You would ask a little time to make up your mind, Hesper, I fancy,"
suggested Sepia, for Hesper had paused. As she did not reply, Sepia
resumed.

"Which is your favorite poison, Hesper?" she said.

"When I choose, it will be to use," replied Hesper.

"Rhyming, at last!" said Sepia.

But Hesper would not laugh, and her perfect calmness checked the
laughter which would have been Sepia's natural response: she was
careful not to go too far.

"Do you know, Hesper," she said, with seriousness, "what is the matter
with you?"

"Tolerably well," answered Hesper.

"You do not--let me tell you. You are nothing but a baby yet. You have
no heart."

"If you mean that I have never been in love, you are right. But you
talk foolishly; for you know that love is no more within my reach than
if I were the corpse I feel."

Sepia pressed her lips together, and nodded knowingly; then, after a
moment's pause, said:

"When your hour is come, you will understand. Every woman's hour comes,
one time or another--whet