stream.

"And you could be very gay, I believe."

"Yes. I am full of exuberant spirits. Do you know what day it is?"

"It is my birthday."

"It is _my_ birthday!"

"How strange! The Jews would tell you that this sweet first of August
was the birthday of the world.

"''Tis like the birthday of the world,
When earth was born in bloom,'"--

she sang, but paused before her voice should become hoarse in tears.

"Do you know what you promised me on my birthday? I am going to claim
it."

"The present. You shall have a cast which I had made from one of
my mother's fancies or bas-reliefs,--she only does the front of
anything,--a group of fleurs-de-lis whose outlines make a child's face,
my face."

"It is more than any likeness in stone or pencil that I shall ask of
you."

"What then?"