Page:My Friend Annabel Lee (1903).pdf/247

 bond of sympathy a sweet thing—remember the mighty bitter price."

"I will believe what you said about the friends," said I—"and it is bitter enough to purge my soul for a time. The bond of sympathy is not a sweet thing, anyway. I don't expect to have to pay for it— And it brings a feeling of restfulness. —"

"A bond of sympathy," said my friend Annabel Lee, "comes already paid for. It does very well. It is not sweet—it tastes more like a cigarette or an olive.

"About the verse"—said my friend Annabel Lee.

"Please let's not talk about that any more," said I.

"Whatever you like," said my friend Annabel Lee.

And we talked of George Sand and her books.

But, anyway, this was my bit of unripe verse: