of possibility. From shoulder to toe, she was
perfection.

This was also true of the woman from shoulder to crown.

Forrester gulped and, automatically, went on one knee.

"Please," he murmured. "Pardon me. I didn't mean--"

"Quite all right," the Goddess murmured. "I understand perfectly."

"But I--"

"Never mind all that now," Venus said, with just a hint of impatience.
"Rise, William Forrester--or you who were William Forrester."

Forrester rose. Sweat was pouring down his face. He made no effort to
wipe it away. "Were?" he asked, dazed. "But that's my name!"

"It _was_," Venus said, in the same calm tone. "Henceforth, your name is
Dionysus."

Forrester took a while to remember to swallow. "Dionysus?" he said at
last.

There was another silence.

Forrester, feeling that perhaps his first question could use some
amplification, said: "Dionysus? Bacchus? You mean me?"

"Quite right," Venus said. "That will be your name, and you'd better
begin getting used to it."

"Now wait a minute!" he said. "I don't mean to be disrespectful, but
something occurs to me. I mean, it's the first thing I thought of, and
I'm probably wrong, but just let me ask the questions, if you don't
mind, and maybe some of this will make some sense. Because just a few
hours ago I was doing very nicely on my own and I--"

"What are your questions?" Venus said.

Forrester swayed. "Dionysus/Bacchus himself," he said. "Won't he mind
my--"

Venus laughed. "Mind your using his name? My goodness, no."

"But--"

"It's all because of the orgies," Venus said.

Everything, he told himself, was getting just a little too much for him.
"Orgies?" he said.

Venus nodded. "You see, there are all those orgies held in his honor.
You know about those, of course."

"Sure I do," Forrester said, watching everything narrowly. In just a few
seconds, he told himself hopefully, the whole room would vanish and he
would be in a nice, peaceful insane asylum.

"Well, it isn't impossible for a God to be at all the orgies held in his
honor," Venus said. "Naturally not. But, at the same time, they are all
rather boring--for a God, I mean. And that's why you're here," she
finished.

Forrester said: "Oh." And then he said: "Oh?" The room hadn't
disappeared yet, but he was willing to give it time.

"Dionysus," Venus said patiently, as if she were explaining the matter
to a small and rather ugly child, "gets tired of appearing at the
orgies. He wants some