you think you have made the best of it? Your old age has been very
pleasant."

"Ah! you acknowledge that I am old, then?" cried Lady Mary with a smile.

"You are old no longer, and you are a great lady no longer. Don't you see
that something has happened to you? It is seldom that such a great change
happens without being found out."

"Yes; it is true I have got better all at once. I feel an extraordinary
renewal of strength. I seem to have left home without knowing it; none of
my people seem near me. I feel very much as if I had just awakened from a
long dream. Is it possible," she said, with a wondering look, "that I
have dreamed all my life, and after all am just a girl at home?" The idea
was ludicrous, and she laughed. "You see I am very much improved indeed,"
she said.

She was still so far from perceiving the real situation, that some one
came towards her out of the group of people about--some one whom she
recognized--with the evident intention of explaining to her how it was.
She started a little at the sight of him, and held out her hand, and
cried: "You here! I am very glad to see you--doubly glad, since I was
told a few days ago that you had--died."

There was something in this word as she herself pronounced it that
troubled her a little. She had never been one of those who are afraid of
death. On the contrary, she had always taken a great interest in it, and
liked to hear everything that could be told her on the subject. It gave
her now, however, a curious little thrill of sensation, which she did not
understand: she hoped it was not superstition.