Secrecyhasthisdisadvantage:welosethesenseofproportion；
wecannottellwhetheroursecretisimportantornot。WereLucyandhercousinclosetedwithagreatthingwhichwoulddestroyCecil\'slifeifhediscoveredit，orwithalittlethingwhichhewouldlaughat？MissBartlettsuggestedtheformer。Perhapsshewasright。Ithadbecomeagreatthingnow。Lefttoherself，Lucywouldhavetoldhermotherandherloveringenuously，anditwouldhaveremainedalittlething。\"Emerson，notHarris\"；itwasonlythatafewweeksago。ShetriedtotellCecilevennowwhentheywerelaughingaboutsomebeautifulladywhohadsmittenhisheartatschool。Butherbodybehavedsoridiculouslythatshestopped。
SheandhersecretstayedtendayslongerinthedesertedMetropolisvisitingthescenestheyweretoknowsowelllateron。Itdidhernoharm，Cecilthought，tolearntheframeworkofsociety，whilesocietyitselfwasabsentonthegolf-linksorthemoors。Theweatherwascool，anditdidhernoharm。Inspiteoftheseason，Mrs。Vysemanagedtoscrapetogetheradinner-partyconsistingentirelyofthegrandchildrenoffamouspeople。Thefoodwaspoor，butthetalkhadawittywearinessthatimpressedthegirl。Onewastiredofeverything，itseemed。Onelaunchedintoenthusiasmsonlytocollapsegracefully，andpickoneselfupamidsympatheticlaughter。InthisatmospherethePensionBertoliniandWindyCornerappearedequallycrude，andLucysawthatherLondoncareerwouldestrangeheralittlefromallthatshehadlovedinthepast。
Thegrandchildrenaskedhertoplaythepiano。
SheplayedSchumann。\"NowsomeBeethoven\"calledCecil，whenthequerulousbeautyofthemusichaddied。SheshookherheadandplayedSchumannagain。Themelodyrose，unprofitablymagical。Itbroke；itwasresumedbroken，notmarchingoncefromthecradletothegrave。Thesadnessoftheincomplete——thesadnessthatisoftenLife，butshouldneverbeArt——throbbedinitsdisjectedphrases，andmadethenervesoftheaudiencethrob。NotthushadsheplayedonthelittledrapedpianoattheBertolini，and\"ToomuchSchumann\"wasnottheremarkthatMr。Beebehadpassedtohimselfwhenshereturned。