"It is easy to keep in order."

"Are not you taller than she was?"

"I fancy so, but as she was stouter she looked shorter. Will you soon
have done?"

"You are getting tired of standing?"

"Not very."

"Then have a little more patience. Your face reminds me more and more of
our early years; I should be glad to see Arsinoe once more. I feel at
this moment as if time had moved backwards a good piece. Have you the
same feeling?"

Selene shook her head.

"You are not happy?"

"No."

"I know full well that you have very heavy duties to perform for your
age."

"Things go as they may."

"Nay, nay. I know you do not let things go haphazard. You take care of
your brothers and sisters like a mother."