she caressed it,
Then rocked it to sleep in her elbow-nest._

_She rocked it to rest with a sad little song,
How the days were grown short, and the nights grown long;
How love was a rover,
How summer was over,
How the winds of winter were shrill and strong._

_We must haste, she sang, while the sky is bright,
While the paths are plain and the town's in sight,
Lest the shadows that watch us
Should creep up and catch us,
For the dead walk here in the grass at night._

[_The voice withdraws farther down the woods, but from a lower
distance, in the clear evening, the last stanza is heard repeated.
The_ GODDESSES _continue silent, until the voice has died away_.]

CHLORIS.

Rude words set to rude music; but they seem to penetrate to the
very core of the heart.

MAIA.

Are you sad to-night, Chloris?

CHLORIS.

Not sad, precisely; but anxious, feverish, a little excited.

PERSEPHONE.

Hark! the song begins again.

[_They listen, and from far away the words come faintly back:_

_For the dead walk here in the grass at night._]

MAIA.

The dead! Shall we see them?

CHLORIS.

Why not? These barbarians appear to avoid them with an invincible
terror, but why should we do so?

MAIA.

I do not feel that it would be possible for the dead to "catch" me,
since I should be instantly and keenly watching for them, and much
more eager to secure their presence than they could be to secure
mine.

CHLORIS.

We do not know of what we speak, for it may very well be that the
barbarians have some experience of these beings. Their influence
may be not merely malign, but disgusting.

MAIA.

How ignorant we are!

CHLORIS.

Surely, Persephone, you must be able to give us some idea of the
dead. Were they not the sole occupants of your pale dominions?

PERSEPHONE.

It is very absurd of me, but really I do not seem to recollect
anything about them.

MAIA.

I suppose you disliked living in Hades very much?

PERSEPHONE.

Well, I spent six months there every year, to please my husband.
But a great deal of my time was taken up in corresponding with my
mother. She was always nervous if she did not hear regularly from
me. I really feel quite ashamed of my inattention.

MAIA.

You don't even recall what the inhabitants of the country were
like?

PERSEPHONE.

I recollect that they seemed dreadfully wanting in vitality. They
came in troops when I held a