I have tried very hard to do it , but something is wanting ; and in spite of my intense desire I never get on . '' As she spoke the girl 's eyes filled and fell in spite of herself , and turning a little with sudden shamefacedness she saw , lying on the table beside her among other scraps in manuscript and print , the well-known lines , -- `` I slept , and dreamed that life was beauty ; I woke , and found that life was duty . Was thy dream then a shadowy lie ? Toil on , sad heart , courageously , And thou shall find thy dream to be A noonday light and truth to thee . '' She knew them at a glance , had read them many times , but now they came home to her with sudden force , and , seeing that his eye had followed hers , she said in her impulsive fashion . -- `` Is doing one 's duty a good way to feed heart , soul , and imagination ? '' As if he had caught a glimpse of what was going on in her mind , Paul answered emphatically , -- `` Excellent ; for if one is good , one is happy , and if happy , one can work well . Moulding character is the highest sort of sculpture , and all of us should learn that art before we touch clay or marble . '' He spoke with the energy of a man who believed what he said , and did his best to be worthy of the rich gift bestowed upon him . The sight of her violets in a glass of water , and Giovanni staring at her with round eyes , suddenly recalled Psyche to a sense of the proprieties which she had been innocently outraging for the last ten minutes . A sort of panic seized her ; she blushed deeply , retreated precipitately to the door , and vanished , murmuring thanks and apologies as she went . `` Did you find him ? I thought you had forgotten , '' said Miss Dickenson , now hard at work . `` Yes , I found him . No , I shall not forget , '' returned Psyche , thinking of Gage , not Giovanni . She stood before her work eying it intently for several minutes ; then , with an expression of great contempt for the whole thing , she suddenly tilted her cherished Venus on to the floor , gave the classical face a finishing crunch , and put on her hat in a decisive manner , saying briefly to the dismayed damsels , -- `` Good-by , girls ; I sha n't come any more , for I 'm going to work at home hereafter . '' II The prospect of pursuing artistic studies at home was not brilliant , as one may imagine when I mention that Psyche 's father was a painfully prosaic man , wrapt in flannel , so to speak ; for his woollen mills left him no time for anything but sleep , food , and newspapers . Mrs. Dean was one of those exasperating women who pervade their mansions like a domestic steam-engine one week and take to their sofas the next , absorbed by fidgets and foot-stoves , shawls and lamentations . There were three riotous and robust young brothers , whom it is unnecessary to describe except by stating that they were boys in the broadest sense of that delightful word . There was a feeble little sister , whose patient , suffering face demanded constant love and care to mitigate the weariness of a life of pain .
And last , but not least by any means , there were two Irish ladies , who , with the best intentions imaginable , produced a universal state of topsy-turviness when XXXXX to themselves for a moment .
Dean Dickenson Giovanni Paul Venus damsels left proprieties shamefacedness week