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156ARIADNE.looked neither toright nor left,but into vacancyalways, for she saw nothing that was around her,or at the least cared not for it, becauseallmemories of the art she had adored seemed tohave perished inher. Ilaid my hand upon hershoulder,andmade her pausebefore the Mercury.Isaid to her:"Look. He was a friend to you once.you pass him by "now?AA'illShe lifted her eyes with an effort, and restedthem on the pentelic stoneof the statue.Hermes' head was slightly bent downward,likethat most beautiful Hermes of the Belvidere.His gaze seemed to meet hers.A thrill ran through her. She stood andlooked upward at the calm, drooped face."It is your Greek god! " she said, and thenwas still, and there seemed to fall on her thatstrange,mystical, divine tranquillity which doeslie in the glance of all great statues, whetherfrom the rude sphynx that lies couchant in thedesert, or the perfect godhead that wasbroughtto Rome from the seashore by Antium.Its owncalm seemed to fall uponher.