without a return of alarm. For she now saw that
the great thing she had brought away was precisely
a conviction that the future was not to exist for
her princess in the form of any sharp or simple re
lease from the human predicament. It wouldn't
be for her a question of a flying leap and thereby
of a quick escape. It would be a question of tak
ing full in the face the whole assault of life, to the
general muster of which indeed her face might
have been directly presented as she sat there on
her rock. Mrs. Stringham was thus able to say
to herself, even after another interval of some
length, that if her young friend still continued ab
sent it wouldn't be because whatever the oppor
tunity she had cut short the thread. She
wouldn't have committed suicide; she knew her
self unmistakably reserved for some more compli
cated passage; this was the very vision in which
she had, with no little awe, been discovered. The
image that thus remained with the elder lady kept
the character of revelation. During the breathless
minutes of her watch she had seen her companion
afresh; the latter's type, aspect, marks, her history,
her state, her beauty, her mystery, all unconsciously
betrayed themselves to the Alpine air, and all had
been gathered in again to feed Mrs. Stringham's
flame. They are things that will more distinctly
appear for us, and they are meanwhile briefly rep
resented by the enthusiasm that was stronger on
our friend's part than any doubt. It was a con-

[[140]]

p139 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p140w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p141

v?