"Colonel Higginson and I sat like two superannuated old idols. Each of us said a little say when the business was finished."
It is not recalled that they presented any such appearance to others.
She went to the opera, a mingled pleasure and pain.
"It was the 'Huguenots,' much of which was known to me in early youth, when I used to sing the 'Rataplan' chorus with my brothers. I sang also Valentine's prayer, 'Parmi les fleurs mon rêve se ranime,' with obligato bassoon accompaniment, using the 'cello instead. I know that I sang much better that night than usual, for dear Uncle John said to me, 'You singed good!' Poor Huti played the 'cello. Now, I listened for the familiar bits, and recognized the drinking chorus in Act 1st, the 'Rataplan' in Act 2d. Valentine's prayer, if given, was so overlaid with fioritura that I did not feel sure of it. The page's pretty song was all right, but I suffered great fatigue, and the reminiscences were sad."
Through the winter she continued the study of economics with some fifteen members of the New England Woman's Club. She read Bergson too, and now and then "got completely bogged" in him, finding no "central point that led anywhere."
About this time she wrote:—
"Some Rules for Everyday Life
"1. Begin every day with a few minutes of retired meditation, tending to prayer, in order to feel within yourself the spiritual power which will enable you to answer the demands of practical life.
"2. Cultivate systematic employment and learn to estimate correctly the time required to accomplish whatever you may undertake.
"3. Try to occupy both your mind and your muscles, since each of these will help the other, and both deteriorate without sufficient exercise.