had hardly any chance of entering a protest in her modest way. She sang, and the listeners were so charmed that they urged her to sing again and again.
The mellow harmony of Kusum's voice, however, was lost on me. I heard only one song and the music of that dwelt in my heart:
"Alas, we met
When moon and stars had faded,
Spring-time had fled and flowers
Withered lay."
The music ceased in time. The guests departed and the house was quiet once more. But the song that had entered my soul rang through me still, and even in my dream that night I heard it, and saw the schoolroom of my childhood once more, now filled, so it seemed, with the furniture of my sister's drawing room; a party of guests had assembled, and I thought I heard some one sing the same sweet song, not softly humming as of old, but singing with a full and manly voice, while his beautiful eyes were fixed on me in a loving look—
"Alas, we met
When moon and stars had faded,
Spring-time had fled and flowers
Withered lay."
