line for line, flush for flush, one bosom-heave for that of the
other. Yet the tall white lilies in the corner saw; and the tall
white birds, one on each side of the great cheval glass, saw also,
but fluttered not; since a lily and a stork and a maiden may each be
tall and white, and each may understand the other subtly.

Miss Lady stood at length, tall and white, her cheeks rosy withal,
her blown brown hair pushed back a bit, one hand lightly resting on
her bosom, looking--looking into the mirror, asking of it some
question, getting, indeed, from it some answer--an answer embodying,
perhaps, all that youth may mean, all that the morning may bring.

For now the sun of the South came creeping up apace, and saw Miss
Lady as it peered in through the rose lattice whereon hung scores of
fragrant blossoms. A gentle wind of morning stirred the lace curtains
at the windows and touched Miss Lady's hair as she stood there,
asking the answer of the mirror. It was morning in the great room,
morning for the southern day, morning for the old plantation whose
bell now jangled faintly and afar off--morning indeed for Miss Lady,
who now had ceased in her self-absorbed dance. At this very moment,
as she stood gazing into the mirror, with the sunlight and the roses
thus at hand, one might indeed have sworn that it was morning for
ever, over all the world!

Miss Lady stood eager, fascinated, before the glass; and in the
presence of the tall flowers and the tall birds, saw something which
stirred her, felt something which came in at the window out of the
blue sky and from the red rose blossoms, on the warm south wind.
Impulsively she flung out her arms to the figure in the glass.
Perhaps she felt its beauty and its friendliness. And yet, an instant