ly remove certain bits of iron and brick he wot of,
and ask this nymph of the woods to take him on to their tree, and tell
him more stories about Jason and Medea in that exquisitely refined voice
of hers, as she had done once before, long ago. But even though he might
not have this joy, he got rather a fine pleasure out of the fact of
sharing the secret of the crossing with her, and he had the satisfaction
of meeting her soft eyes in one lightning comprehending glance.

They chatted on about the view and the beauties of the neighborhood, and
they all laughed often at some sally of Cora's--no one could resist her
joyous, bubbling good-fellowship. She had all the sparkle of her clever
nation, and the truest, kindest heart. Halcyone had never spoken to
another young girl in her life, and felt like a yearling horse--a desire
to whinny to a fellow colt and race up and down with him beside the
dividing fence of their paddocks. A new light of youth and sweetness
came into her pale face.

"I do wish I might ask you to come round by the road," she said, "and
see it near, but, as Mr. Derringham knows, my aunts are very old, and
one is almost an invalid now, so we never have any visitors at all."

"Of course, we quite understand," said Cora, quickly, touched at once by
this simple speech. "But we should so love you to come over to us."

"Alas!" said Halcyone, "it is indeed the Styx."

And here they arrived at the boarded-up gate, where further view was
impossible, and from which onwards the lands ceased to join.

"Good-by!" they called to one another, even Arabella Clinker joining in
the chorus, while Cora Lutworth ran back to say:

"Some day we'll meet--outside the Styx. Let us get Mr. Derringham to
manage it!"

And Halcyone cried a glad "Oh, yes!"

"What a darling! What a perfect darling!" Miss Lutworth said
enthusiastically, taking Arabella's arm as they struck rapidly inward
and up a knoll. "Did you ever see anything look so like a lady in that
impossible old dress? Tell us about her, Mr. Derringham. Does she live
with those prehistoric ladies all alone in that haunted house? Could
anything be so mysterious and romantic? Please tell us all you know."

"Yes, she does, I believe," John Derringham said. "My old master tells
me she never sees or speaks to anyone from one year's end to another. I
have only met her very rarely myself."

"Does it not seem too awful?" returned Cora, aghast, thinking of her own
merry, enjoy