een
largely caused by herself.

"I can't be miserable," she thought, "unless I'm willing to be."

She sat there for a long time, heedless of the passing hours. She was
roused from her reverie by a muffled footstep and an involuntary
exclamation of astonishment.

"Why, how do you do, Miss Starr?" said Edith, kindly, offering a
well-gloved hand. "Are you out gypsying too?"

"Yes," Rosemary stammered. Her eyes were fixed upon the small red book
that Mrs. Lee held in her other hand.

"See what I found," Edith went on, heedlessly. "Rossetti's _House of
Life_, up here. Boy Blue must have brought it up to read to Bo-Peep in
the intervals of shepherding. There may not be any such word as
'shepherding,' but there ought to be, I love to make words, don't you?"

[Sidenote: Shrines Laid Bare]

"Yes," said Rosemary, helplessly. She had thought Alden had the book,
but had forgotten to make sure, and now the most precious hours of her
life had been invaded and her shrines laid bare. Was it not enough for
this woman to live in the same house with Alden? Need she take
possession of the Hill of the Muses and the little book which had first
awakened her, then brought them together? Resentful anger burned in her
cheeks, all the more pitiful because of Mrs. Lee's utter
unconsciousness, and the impossibility of reparation, even had she
known.

"Sit down," Edith suggested. "You must be tired. It's a long climb."

"Did--did you come up here to--to meet anyone?" The suspicion broke
hotly from Rosemary's pale lips.

Edith might have replied that she came up to avoid meeting anyone, but
she only said, with cool astonishment: "Why, no. Why should I?"

There was no answer to that. Indeed, thought Rosemary, floundering
helplessly in a sea of pain, there was no reason. Was she not in the
same house with him, day in and day out?

"She's married," Rosemary said to herself with stern insistence, trying
to find comfort in the thought, but comfort strangely failed now.
Another suspicion assailed her and was instantly put into headlong
speech. "Is your husband dead, or are you divorced?"

[Sidenote: Too Late]

Mrs. Lee turned quickly. She surveyed the girl calmly for an instant,
entirely unable to translate her evident confusion; then she rose.

"Neither," she returned, icily, "and if there are no other personal
questions you desire to ask me, I'll go back."

Rosemary kept back the tears until Mrs. Lee was out of sight. "She's
married,