"The water is ruffled now," said the girl, "and I cannot see myself plainly. It is trembling as much as I am. There, now it is quieter, now it is still again.—I can see myself now, very well."
"And see how pretty you are! Come here, my child?" added the blind youth, holding out his arms.
"I ... pretty!" she said, in anxious confusion. "Well, what I see in the pool is not so ugly as they say. The fact is, there are a great many people who do not know how to see."
"Aye, a great many."
"If only I were dressed as other girls are!" exclaimed Nela, with a touch of pride.
"You shall be."
"And the book said I was beautiful?" asked Nela, appealing to every source of conviction.
"I say so, and I always speak the truth!" cried the boy, carried away by his eager imagination.
"Maybe it is so," said Nela, moving away from her not too flattering contemplation. "Maybe that men are very stupid, and do not see things as they really are."
"Human nature is liable to a thousand errors."