now, a beacon to guide her footsteps when she wanted to
return. Meanwhile, the air was cool on throat and forehead and on her
open palms: she had no wish to go in.

Here was a fountain whose jets of water, blown high from the mouths of
merry dolphins, fell in spray in a great stone basin where mermaids
waited for the shower to touch bare shoulders and bended heads. The
murmur of the water, mingled with the murmur of unseen live things, and
the melody of night touched the girl's discordant thoughts to music.
Of what avail, after all, was her fierce struggle for duty? Here were
soft shadows, and great spaces, and friendly stars.

Of course her lover-god, Apollo, was gone. She had known the other day
when she left him on the hill that she would not see him again, for the
look of his face had told her that. Of course, it was better so. Now,
everything would go on as had been intended. Anna would come home;
after this visit was over, there would be New York again, and Eustace.
Yes, she was brave to share his duty with him, and the years would not
be long. And always these autumn days would be shining through the
dark hours of her life, these perfect days of sunshine without shadow.
Of their experiences she need not even tell, for she was not sure that
it had actually been real. She would keep it as a sacred memory that
was half a dream.

She was walking now by the rows of tall chrysanthemums, and she reached
out her fingers to touch them, for she could almost feel their deep
yellow through her finger-tips. It was like taking counsel of them,
and they, like all nature, were wise. Cypress and acacia and palm
stood about like strong comforters; help came from the tangled vines
upon the garden wall, from the matted periwinkle on the ground at her
feet, and the sweet late roses blossoming in the dark.

Yes, he was gone, and the beauty and the power of him had vanished. It
was better so, she kept saying to herself, her thoughts, no matter
where they wandered, coming persistently back, as if the idea, so
obviously true, needed proving after all. The only thing was, she
would have liked to see him just once more to show him how invincible
she was. He had taken her by surprise that day upon the hill, and had
seen what she had not meant to tell. Now, if she could confront him
once, absolutely unshaken, could tell him her decision, give him words
of dismissal in a voice that had no tremor in it, as her voice had had
the