ed till two o'clock! Couldn't that precious car of
yours be cleaned this morning, and by someone else?"

He found his tongue at that.

"Mercury obeys none but Jupiter," he said.

Her eyes met his fairly, and she laughed.

"That is the first conceited thing I have heard you say," she cried,
"and, by Jove, aren't you flying high?"

"Jupiter assumed disguises," he reminded her. "Once, when he peered
into an Olympian grove, he saw Io, and took the form of a youth so
that he might talk with her. He found her so lovable that he passed
many a pleasant hour in her company wandering on the banks of the
classic stream that flowed through the wood, and in those hours he was
not Jupiter but a boy, a boy very much in love. Every man has, or
ought to have, something of Jupiter, a good deal of the boy, in his
make-up."

He turned and looked at the Wye and its tree-shaded banks. Then he
faced Cynthia again, and his hands rested on the barrier that divided
them. For one mad instant he thought of vaulting it, and Cynthia read
his thought; she drew back in a panic. A less infatuated wooer than
Medenham might have noted that she seemed to fear interruption more
than any too impulsive action on his part.

"I sent for you to tell you that Mrs. Devar is ill," she said in a
flurry of words. "I am afraid she suffered more from the fright than I
imagined last night. Anyhow, she has asked me to let her remain here
to-day. You won't mind, I am sure, though it must be a bother not to
have your luggage. Can't you run in to Hereford and get it? I am quite
content to rest in this pretty place and write letters."

"I do honestly believe that Mrs. Devar is more frightened than ill,"
he said.

"Oh, she isn't making a fuss about it. Indeed, she was willing to go
to Hereford this afternoon if I particularly wanted to attend service
at the cathedral. I did, as a matter of fact, but it would be real
mean to insist on it after scaring the poor thing into a nervous
headache."

"The affair arranges itself admirably," he said. "At most cathedrals
there is an anthem, followed by a sermon by some eminent preacher,
about three o'clock. Write your letters this morning, or, better
still, climb to the top of the Yat and see the glorious view from the
top. Come back for lunch at one, and----"

"I'll see what Mrs. Devar thinks of it," broke in Cynthia, whose
cheeks were borrowing tints from the red roses and the white with
astonishing fluctuations of colo