to me," he whispered boldly, stooping to her level--but in the
same moment a heavy hand was laid upon his neck and a burly,
gray-bearded Jupiter stood before him with a great train of Olympian
attendants.

"I love the daughters of this green earth," said the king of the gods;
"or I should say the green daughters of this black earth," he
corrected himself, touching with a caressing hand the green sea-weeds
of the swan maiden's drapery.

"Excuse me, Father Jupiter," Grover began, knowing well, in spite of
his chagrin, that pranks of this kind were perfectly legitimate; "you
mix up the mythologies. This is not a classic nymph, but a Northern
swan-maiden."

"By my Olympian beard," cried Jupiter, "that shows your barbaric
taste, if you do not pronounce her classic."

"I must insist," Grover replied, "that to your pagan majesty a
creature of Northern fable has no existence."

"Then by my Ambrosian locks we will give her existence," quoth the
father of gods and men. "Mercury, my son," he cried, pointing with his
sceptre to a graceful youth with winged heels and cap, "change me
quickly this maiden into something classic, but don't change her too
much or you will spoil a divine masterpiece."

Mercury, with winged speed, came forward, waved his wand over the
swan-maiden's head, when behold! she vanished.

"Why, your magic is too potent, you rascal," ejaculated Jupiter. "I
didn't tell you to make her invisible."

He flourished his pasteboard sceptre in mock wrath above his head,
dealt Mercury a resounding blow on the head, then marched on, followed
by his immortal family and a jovial throng of leaf-crowned Bacchantes.
Grover remained standing in the middle of the floor, hoping that, as
the crowd dispersed, Miss Jones would naturally again seek him. But
Miss Jones had apparently no such intention. She persistently remained
invisible. At last, thinking that she had meant her allusion to the
lower regions as a hint, he made his way to the head of the stairs and
descended, not without difficulty, to the first floor. The dancing had
commenced above and the multitude of scaly monsters who had haunted
the deep, were lured by the airs of Strauss up into the abodes of the
daylight. The submarine world was almost deserted (except by a huge
lobster and a shark, who were drinking lemonade) when Grover entered
upon his quest for the vanished water-nymph. He investigated two or
three grottoes, with no result except to tear his cloak o