ignorance, that he laughed.

"Benten?" he repeated after her. "Surely you know Benten! She is none
other than an adorable Japanese lady of antiquity who is known as the
deity of Beauty, the divinity of Love and the Goddess of Eloquence. I
have no doubt she has other attributes, but those are enough for us,
aren't they, little sweetheart?"

"Oh, Monty,--you know so much!" she sighed. "It is going to be a
terrible strain!"

She seemed very winsome in her present mood, and he smiled happily.

"The strain will be on me, dear heart," he protested. "I have assumed
wisdom all these years with no danger of being unmasked; now you will
find me out.

"I'm glad it happened here in this garden," she said contentedly. "I
seem to feel more at home in this atmosphere. Benten shall be my patron
saint from this day."

"Shall we spend our honeymoon in Japan?" he asked. "Why not keep this
setting to the end?"

She clapped her hands. "Splendid!" she cried. "That will be
Paradise;--and you'll teach me all you know about everything?"

"Why not let your Hearn teach you of Japan? He knows it all. He would
tell you, too, that Benten is also Goddess of the Sea," he pointed to
the brilliant spot of color at the end of the avenue, now made
spectacular by the radiance of the setting sun. "He would understand
why, under this influence, I could not keep from telling you my secret;
for 'is not the sea most ancient and most excellent of speakers,--the
eternal poet, chanter of that mystic hymn whose rhythm shakes the world,
whose mighty syllables no man may learn?'"

"Oh, Monty," she murmured, nestling closer to him in blissful happiness,
"please go on. To hear you talk is just like listening to a beautiful
symphony. And to think you're going to share it all with me! Let us stay
right here forever!"

"Mer-ry!" came Philip's call across the lawn.

"Uncle Mon-ty!" Billy halloed.

"There come those horrid boys," she pouted, sitting up straight. "Why
are boys, anyway?"

"You told me once that it was only when they became serious that you
worried about them," he teased her.

"They are serious now,--they've found out you're here, and they're going
to talk war with you.--I don't want to give you up even for a moment!"

"Nor I you," he whispered, as the boys were close at hand; "but we must
keep our secret a little longer."

They rose and walked up the avenue to meet them.

"Mother said to wait because you were tired, but Billy couldn't,