y, and he felt that
he could not stay in that pavilion full of the atmosphere of feverish
passion, of secrecy, of betrayal. Yes, of betrayal! For there he had
betrayed the obstinate love, which he had felt at Marathon as a sort of
ecstasy, and still felt, but now like a wound, within him in spite of
Rosamund's rejection of him. Not yet had the current taken him and swept
him away from all the old landmarks. Perhaps it never would. And yet he
had given himself to it, he had not tried to resist.

Jimmy jumped up with alacrity, though he still looked rather grave and
astonished. They went down the terraced garden to the villa.

"Run up and ask your mother," said Dion. "Probably she's in her
sitting-room. I'll wait here to know what she says."

"Right you are!"

He went off, looking rather relieved.

Robin at fifteen! Dion shut his eyes.

Jimmy was away for more than ten minutes. Then he came back to say that
his mother would come with them to the forest and would be ready in an
hour's time.

"I'll go back to my rooms, change my breeches, and order the horses,"
said Dion.

He was longing to get away from the scrutiny which at this moment Jimmy
could not forego. He knew that Jimmy had been talking about him to Mrs.
Clarke, had probably been saying how "jolly odd" he had been in
the pavilion. For once the boy's tact had failed him, and Dion's
sensitiveness tingled.

An hour later they were on horseback and rode into the midst of the
forest. At the village of Belgrad they dismounted, left the horses in
the care of a Turkish stableman, and went for a walk among the trees.
It was very hot and still, and presently Mrs. Clarke said she would sit
down and rest.

"You and Jimmy go on if you want to," she said.

But Jimmy threw himself down on the ground.

"I'm tired. It's so infernally hot."

"Take a nap," said his mother.

The boy laid his head on his curved arms sideways. Mrs. Clarke leaned
down and put his panama hat over his left cheek and eye.

"Thank you, mater," he murmured.

He lay still.

Dion had stood by with an air of hesitation during this little talk
between mother and son. Now he looked away to the forest.

"You go," Mrs. Clarke said to him. "You'll find us here when you come
back. The Armenians call the forest _Defetgamm_. Perhaps you will come
under its influence."

"_Defetgamm_! What does that mean?"

"Dispeller of care."

He stood looking at her for a moment; then, without another word