she was
that for her dear sake fauns and satyrs forgot to gambol, and sat in
the green woods in thoughtful stillness, that they might see her as
she passed. But for none of them had Syrinx a word of kindness. She
had no wish for love.

"But as for Love, truly I know him not,
I have passionately turned my lips therefrom,
And from that fate the careless gods allot."

Lady Margaret Sackville.

To one only of the gods did she give her loyal allegiance. She
worshipped Diana, and with her followed the chase. As she lightly sped
through the forest she might have been Diana herself, and there were
those who said they would not know nymph from goddess, but that the
goddess carried a silver bow, while that of Syrinx was made of horn.
Fearless, and without a care or sorrow, Syrinx passed her happy days.
Not for all the gold of Midas would she have changed places with those
love-lorn nymphs who sighed their hearts out for love of a god or of a
man. Heartwhole, fancy free, gay and happy and lithe and strong, as a
young boy whose joy it is to run and to excel in the chase, was
Syrinx, whose white arms against the greenwood trees dazzled the eyes
of the watching fauns when she drew back her bow to speed an arrow at
the stag she had hunted since early dawn. Each morning that she awoke
was the morning of a day of joy; each night that she lay down to rest,
it was to sleep as a child who smiles in his sleep at the remembrance
of a perfect day.

But to Syrinx, who knew no fear, Fear came at last. She was returning
one evening from the shadowy hills, untired by the chase that had
lasted for many an hour, when, face to face, she met with one whom
hitherto she had only seen from afar. Of him the other nymphs spoke
often. Who was so great as Pan?--Pan, who ruled the woods. None could
stand against Pan. Those who defied him must ever come under his power
in the end. He was Fear; he was Youth; he was Joy; he was Love; he was
Beast; he was Power; he was Man; he was God. He was Life itself. So
did they talk, and Syrinx listened with a smile. Not Pan himself could
bring Fear to her.

Yet when he met her in the silent loneliness of a great forest and
stood in her path and gazed on her with eyes of joyous amazement that
one so fair should be in his kingdom without his having had knowledge
of it, Syrinx felt something come to her heart that never before had
assailed it.

Pan's head was crowned with sharp pine-leaves. His f