Page:My Friend Annabel Lee (1903).pdf/156

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the delight of her day, then Le Page would turn his mind to the idea of becoming a noted explorer who would penetrate into Darkest Africa and Farthest North, and whose work in the passionate would be the delight of his day.

"And Delilah would marvel still more.

"Forsooth, children are always like that—and fascinating they are.

"And each summer evening after Lilith and Le Page had related their ambitions, their father would ask Delilah what was hers. Then always Delilah would whisper; 'I'm going to study tombstones, papa! And when I get big perhaps I shall know what every single tombstone in the world means. And perhaps after I've studied a long time and hard I can read Roland's right off and know what it means without thinking. And perhaps I can explain them all to people who don't know about them.'