"Never! Where did you discover her, Athalie?"
"Where I discover many, many things, my friend."
"In your crystal?" I said. She nodded slowly[111] while the sweetmeat was dissolving in her mouth.
Through the summer silence a bell here and there in the dusky city sounded the hour.
"The tenth muse," she repeated, "and I believe there are other sisters, also. Many a star is suspected before its unseen existence is proven.... Please—a glass of water?"[112]
XII
She sipped the water pensively as we all returned to our places. Then, placing the partly empty glass beside her jar of sweetmeats, she opened her incomparable lips.