I never heard from her again.

Whether her letters were lost, or whether the family never staid long enough in one place for her to be able to give me an address, or whether Lili thought that our lives were now so irrevocably separated that we could never hope to resume our intimacy--these are questions that I have often asked myself, but that of course I have had no means of deciding.

Perhaps Lili is no longer living; she may have died soon after that very time--I cannot tell.

I have mourned her as an irreparable loss, for she was my first, my only intimate girl-friend, and nothing can efface from my mind the memory of her friendship, and of the vast goodness and affection which her family showered upon me.

I have inquired for them in every direction, but have never discovered any clue to their existence far or near." The mother was silent; a very sad expression rested upon her face.