Those who , like me , have their own fortunes to mold find time for little else , '' he answered gravely , still examining the marble group . Lillian broke her fan with an angry flirt , for she was tired of her trial , and wished she had openly greeted him at the beginning ; feeling now how pleasant it would have been to sit chatting of old times , while her friends dared hardly address him at all . She was on the point of calling him by his former name , when the remembrance of what he had been arrested the words on her lips . He was proud ; would he not dread to have it known that , in his days of adversity , he had been a servant ? For if she betrayed her knowledge of his past , she would be forced to tell where and how that knowledge was gained . No , better wait till they met alone , she thought ; he would thank her for her delicacy , and she could easily explain her motive . He evidently wished to seem a stranger , for once she caught a gleam of the old , mirthful mischief in his eye , as she glanced up unexpectedly . He did remember her , she was sure , yet was trying her , perhaps , as she tried him . Well , she would stand the test and enjoy the joke by-and-by . With this fancy in her head she assumed a gracious air and chatted away in her most charming style , feeling both gay and excited , so anxious was she to please , and so glad to recover her early friend . A naughty whim seized her as her eye fell on a portfolio of classical engravings which someone had left in disorder on a table near her . Tossing them over she asked his opinion of several , and then handed him one in which Helen of Troy was represented as giving her hand to the irresistible Paris . `` Do you think her worth so much bloodshed , and deserving so much praise ? '' she asked , vainly trying to conceal the significant smile that would break loose on her lips and sparkle in her eyes . Talbot laughed the short , boyish laugh so familiar to her ears , as he glanced from the picture to the arch questioner , and answered in a tone that made her heart beat with a nameless pain and pleasure , so full of suppressed ardor was it : `` Yes ! ` All for love or the world well lost ' is a saying I heartily agree to . La belle Helene is my favorite heroine , and I regard Paris as the most enviable of men . '' `` I should like to see her . '' The wish broke from Lillian involuntarily , and she was too much confused to turn it off by any general expression of interest in the classical lady . `` You may sometime , '' answered Talbot , with an air of amusement ; adding , as if to relieve her , `` I have a poetical belief that all the lovely women of history or romance will meet , and know , and love each other in some charming hereafter . ''
`` But I 'm no heroine and no beauty , so I shall never enter your poetical paradise , '' said XXXXX , with a pretty affectation of regret .
Helen Helene Lillian Paris Talbot by-and-by days engravings left love