Before she was aware of it he was looking at her with a strange
expression she had never seen. Then she faintly blushed and looked down
at her beads once more. She felt as if she had told him that she loved
him. But he had not understood. He had only seen the transfiguration of
her face, and it had been for a moment as he had never seen it before.
Again his heart sank suddenly, and he uttered a little sound that was
more than a sigh and less than a groan.
"There are remedies for almost every kind of pain," said Marietta
wisely, as she threaded several beads.
"Give me one for mine," he cried almost bitterly. "Bid that which is to
cease from being, and that to be which is not earthly possible! Turn the
world back, and undo truth, and make it all a dream! Then I shall find
the remedy and forget that it was needed."
"There are magicians who pretend to do such things," she answered
softly.
"I would there were!" he sighed.
"But those who come to them for help tell all, else the magician has no
power. Would you call a physician, if you were ill, and tell him that
the pain you felt was in your head, if it was really--in your heart?"
She had paused an instant before speaking the last words, and they came
with a little effort.
"How could the physician cure you, if you would not tell him the truth?"
she asked, as he said nothing.
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