'On the contrary, the charm of nature is broken when we introduce a
ruling official.'

'Alice! how can you--you who are so good--speak in that way?' At that
moment a dead leaf rustled through the silence--'And do you think that
we shall die like that leaf? That, like it, we shall become a part of
the earth and be forgotten as utterly?'

'I am afraid I do. That dead, fluttering thing was once a bud; it lived
the summer-life of a leaf; now it will decay through the winter, and
perhaps the next, until it finally becomes part of the earth. Everything
in nature I see pursuing the same course; why should I imagine myself an
exception to the general rule?'

'What, then, is the meaning of life?'

'That I'm afraid we shall never learn from listening to the rustling of
leaves.'

The short sharp cry of a bird broke the mild calm of the woods, and
Alice said:

'Perhaps the same thought that troubles us is troubling that bird.'

The girls walked on in silence, and when they came to the end of the
path and their parting was inevitable, there was something of the
passion of the lover in Cecilia's voice: 'Promise me you will come to
see me soon again. You'll not leave me so long; you will write; I shall
not be able to live if I don't hear from you.'