did not lean back weakly or languidly, but sat erect, with a quiet,
easy poise of vigor and health. Her smile was frank and friendly, and
yet not as enchanting as I expected. It was an affair of facial
muscles rather than the lighting up of the entire visage. Nor did her
full face--now that my confusion had passed away and I was capable of
close observation--give the same vivid impression of beauty made by
her profile. It was pretty, very pretty, but for some reasons
disappointing. Then I smiled at my half-conscious criticism, and
thought, "You have imagined a creature of unearthly perfection, and
expect your impossible ideal to be realized. Were she all that you
have dreamed, she would be much too fine for an ordinary mortal like
yourself. In her rich, unperverted womanly nature you will find the
beauty that will outlast that of form and feature."

"I fear thee found our silent meeting long and tedious," said Mrs.
Yocomb, deprecatingly.

"I assure you I did not," I replied, "though I hoped you would have a
message for us."

"It was not given to me," she said meekly. Then she added, "Those not
used to our ways are troubled, perhaps, with wandering thoughts during
these silent hours."

"I was not to-day," I replied with bowed head; "I found a subject that
held mine."

"I'm glad," she said, her face kindling with pleasure. "May I ask the
nature of the truth that held thy meditations?"