And then I thought how long it had lain there; and suddenly to my memory it came, that in all likelihood the time of that was nineteen years this very day.
"Will another year pass," I cried, "before I make out all about it?
What are you, and who, now looking at me with such sad, sad eyes ?" For I held in my hand a most handsome locket, of blue enamel and diamonds, with a back of chased gold, and in front the miniature of a beautiful young woman, done as they never seem to do them now.

The work was so good, and the fitting so close, that no drop of water had entered, and the face shone through the crystal glass as fresh as the day it was painted.

A very lovely face it was, yet touched with a shade of sadness, as the loveliest faces generally are; and the first thought of any beholder would be, "That woman was born for sorrow." The miller said as much when I showed it to him.
"Lord bless my heart! I hope the poor craitur' hathn't lasted half so long as her pictur' hath.".