Page:Arthur Stringer-The Loom of Destiny.djvu/219

Not in Utter Nakedness "Why, Bliss, what is it, dear?" asked the Nurse, for never before had the boy been known to do such a thing.

"I—I—don't know what it is! I—I am so happy, and it is all so funny—but you can't understand, Nurse. It's inside here," said the boy, putting his gaunt little hand over his heart and letting the tears rain down his cheeks unchecked, "an' if I tried all my life I could never tell you, Nurse. No, never!"

"But how is it," asked the Young Artist, as he walked arm-in-arm across the Square with the Great Man,—"how is it you have done so much, in one lifetime?"

The Great Man looked up at the tall old trees. The smell of Spring was very sweet in the air.

"It has not been much," he said. "And it is such a simple old story. A great deal of loneliness; a great deal of hard work; a little luck, perhaps; much misery; a little love; a few enemies, and a friend or two! But after all, it has not been much. As you grow older you will find that the 207