.

"Ah, happy he who gains not
The love some seem to gain."

"Senorita," he protested politely, "your hyperbole is no doubt fraught
with wisdom, but it is a wisdom beyond my dense understanding."

"You've forgotten," she replied. "'Twas a lesson we learned 'when you were
a tadpole and I was a fish,' It is a bit of wisdom that lies deep in our
hearts; but we shrink from it and refuse to heed it, clinging blindly to
our illusions."

"You always moralize so unpleasantly." He looked so desperate that she
laughed her silver, ringing laughter that shook the rose-petals from
their calyxes.

"Well, to change the subject, when you have Cinderella and Eldorado what
are you going to do with them?"

"Enjoy life!"

"Child! The rashest of statements! Life resents nothing so much as taking
her for granted. When she hears her mariners cry: 'Clear sailing now,'
she invariably tosses them a storm. When they exclaim with relief: 'a
quiet port,' she laughs in her sleeve and presents them with quicksand.
Now I will tell you something, prophesy, without crystal, your palm or
any astrological charts. See, I am always the fortune-teller. Listen."
Her voice sank into deep, rich tones. "On your throne in Eldorado, with
Cinderella beside you in her gold crown, there will come a day, an hour,
when in the twinkling of an eye, all the shimmer, the shine, the purple
and gold, the pomp and pride will grow dim before your eyes, and fade
quite away, and you will see instead the long, brown path with the pines
on either side marching up the hillside, on and on, up and up, and beyond
them the snowy tips of the mountains, and you will hear the music that
has never been written, the song of the road; all of its harmonies of the
wind in the trees and the beat of the surf upon the shingle. It will
haunt you until you will sicken for it; and at night, no matter how soft
your bed and how silken your coverlets, you will toss and turn and dream
of the hemlock boughs and the fern, the smell of the deep, deep woods!"

"Don't!" he cried sharply. "Stop it! It is too realistic. Anyway, I can
always go back."

"Oh, no, you can not," she said. "That will be quite impossible after you
have lived in Eldorado for a while. You'll forget the way." She shook her
head. "You'll never come back."

"Then, I'm willing, glad and proud "--he lifted his head, his eyes
shining--"to give it up for her, if she wants Eldorado. Tell me, Ydo,"
boldly, "have you never l