"Do you know--I believe I shall have my new eye put in before
Christmas!" I told her just before she rose from the table--and for the
first time I have known her, the faintest smile came round her mouth--a
kindly smile--.
--"I am so very glad," she said.
And all over me there crept a thrill of pleasure.
After lunch I suggested the _parc_, and that I should dictate in some
lovely cool spot. She made no objection, and immediately put on her
hat--a plain dark blue straw. She walked a little behind my bath chair
as we turned out of the Reservoires courtyard and began ascending the
avenue in the _parc_, so that I could not converse with her. By the time
we had reached the _parterre_ I called to her--
"Miss Sharp"--
She advanced and kept beside me--.
"Does not this place interest you awfully?" I hazarded.
"Yes."
"Do you know it well?"
"Yes."
"What does it say to you?"
"It is ever a reminder of what to avoid."
"What to avoid! but it is perfectly beautiful. Why should you want to
avoid beauty?!"
"I do not--it is what this was meant to stand for and what human beings
failed in allowing it to do--that is the lesson."