She shook it round her face, and the pool repeated her thus
veiled. Her hair had smelt like violets, she remembered Otto
saying; and so now she tried to smell it, and then shook her head,
and laughed a little, sadly, to herself.
The laugh was returned upon her in a childish echo.
She looked up; and lo! two children looking on, - a small girl and a
yet smaller boy, standing, like playthings, by the pool, below a
spreading pine. Seraphina was not fond of children, and now she was
startled to the heart.
'Who are you?' she cried hoarsely.
The mites huddled together and drew back; and Seraphina's heart
reproached her that she should have frightened things so quaint and
little, and yet alive with senses. She thought upon the birds and
looked again at her two visitors; so little larger and so far more
innocent. On their clear faces, as in a pool, she saw the
reflection of their fears. With gracious purpose she arose.
'Come,' she said, 'do not be afraid of me,' and took a step towards
them.
But alas! at the first moment, the two poor babes in the wood turned
and ran helter-skelter from the Princess.
The most desolate pang was struck into the girl's heart. Here she
was, twenty-two - soon twenty-three - and not a creature loved her;
none but Otto; and would even he forgive? If she began weeping in
these woods alone, it would mean death or madness.
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