"But I do not have Medea here," she said; "I play her part myself, and I
make her different. She was too cunning and had wicked thoughts in her
heart, and so the poor Heroes suffered. If she had been good and true
and had not killed Absyrtus, things might have had a different ending. I
never like to think of Absyrtus in any case--because, do you know, I
once hated my baby brother, and would have been glad if anyone had
killed him."

Her eyes became black as night with this awful recollection. "It was
very long ago, you understand--when I was quite a little girl before I
knew the wonderful things the wind and the flowers and the stars tell
me."

Cheiron did not ask the cause of this hate; he reserved the question for
a future time, and encouraged her to tell him of her discoveries in
wonderland.

Some trees had strange personalities, she said. You could never guess
the other side of their heads, until you knew them very well. But all
had good in them, and it was wisest never even to see the bad.

"I always find if you are afraid of things they become real and hurt
you, but if you are sure they are kind and true they turn gentle and
love you. I am hardly ever afraid of anything now--only I do not like a
thunderstorm. It seems as if God were really angry then, and were not
considering sufficiently just whom He meant to hit."

Justice to her appeared to hold chief place among the virtues.

"Do you stay here all the year round?" asked Cheiron, presently, "or do