cognise Psyche in the drooping
butterfly?

EROS.

Oh! far from it. The sentiment of recognition was wholly genuine
and almost rapturously pleasurable. It is true that in the
confusion of our flight I had not been able to give a thought to
our friend, who was, unless I am much mistaken, absent from her
palace. Nor will I be so absurd as to pretend that I have, for a
long while past, felt at all keenly the desire for her company. She
has very little conversation. There are certain peculiarities of
manner, which----

HERA.

I know exactly what you mean. My peacock has a very peculiar voice,
and----

EROS [_impatiently_].

You must permit me to protest against any comparison between Psyche
and your worthy bird. But I was going to say that the moment I
saw the brilliant little discrepancy which led us both to this
spot--and to which I hesitate to give a more definite name--I
was instantly and most pleasantly reminded of certain delightful
episodes, of a really charming interlude, if I may so call it.
I cannot be perfectly certain what connection our ebullient
high-flyer has with the goddess whose adorer I was and whose
friend I shall ever be. But the symbol--if it be no more than a
symbol--has been sufficient to awaken in me all that was most
enjoyable in our relations. I shall often wander in these woods,
among the cloud-like masses of odorous blossom, in this windless
harbour of sunlight and the murmur of leaves, in the hope of
finding the little visitant here. She will never fail to remind me,
but without disturbance, of all that was happiest in a series of
relations which grew at last not so wholly felicitous as they once
had been. One of the pleasures this condition of mortality offers
us, I foresee, is the perpetual recollection of what was delightful
in the one serious liaison of my life, and of nothing else.

HERA.

Aphrodite would charge you with cynicism, Eros.

EROS.

It would not be the first time that she has mistaken my philosophy
for petulance.

VIII

[_On the terrace beside the house are seated_ PERSEPHONE, MAIA,
_and_ CHLORIS. _The afternoon is rapidly waning, and lights are
seen to twinkle on the farther shore of the sea. As the twilight
deepens, from just out of sight a man's voice is heard singing
as follows_:]

_As I lay on the grass, with the sun in the west,
A woman went by me, a babe at her breast;
She kissed it and pressed it,
She cooed,