_We must haste, she sang, while the sky is bright, While the paths are plain and the town's in sight, Lest the shadows that watch us Should creep up and catch us, For the dead walk here in the grass at night._ [_The voice withdraws farther down the woods, but from a lower distance, in the clear evening, the last stanza is heard repeated. The_ GODDESSES _continue silent, until the voice has died away_.] CHLORIS. Rude words set to rude music; but they seem to penetrate to the very core of the heart. MAIA. Are you sad to-night, Chloris? CHLORIS. Not sad, precisely; but anxious, feverish, a little excited. PERSEPHONE. Hark! the song begins again. [_They listen, and from far away the words come faintly back:_ _For the dead walk here in the grass at night._] MAIA. The dead! Shall we see them? CHLORIS. Why not? These barbarians appear to avoid them with an invincible terror, but why should we do so? MAIA. I do not feel that it would be possible for the dead to "catch" me, since I should be instantly and keenly watching for them, and much more eager to secure their presence than they could be to secure mine. CHLORIS. We do not know of what we speak, for it may very well be that the barbarians have some experience of these beings. Their influence may be not merely malign, but disgusting. MAIA. How ignorant we are! CHLORIS. Surely, Persephone, you must be able to give us some idea of the dead. Were they not the sole occupants of your pale dominions? PERSEPHONE. It is very absurd of me, but really I do not seem to recollect anything about them. MAIA. I suppose you disliked living in Hades very much? PERSEPHONE. Well, I spent six months there every year, to please my husband. But a great deal of my time was taken up in corresponding with my mother. She was always nervous if she did not hear regularly from me. I really feel quite ashamed of my inattention. MAIA. You don't even recall what the inhabitants of the country were like? PERSEPHONE. I recollect that they seemed dreadfully wanting in vitality. They came in troops when I held a reception; they swept by.... I cannot remember what they were like---- CHLORIS. It must have been dreary for you there, Persephone. PERSEPHONE. Well, we had our own interests. I believe I did my duty. It seemed to me that I must be there if Pluto wished it, and I was pleased to be with him. But--if you can understand me--there was a sort of a dimness over everything, and I never entered into the political life of the place. As to the social life, you can imagine that they were not people that one cared to know. At the same time, of course, I feel now how ridiculous it was of me to hold that position and not take more interest. MAIA. Demeter, of course, never encouraged you to make any observation of the manners and customs of Hades. PERSEPHONE.