as well as
conscience, makes cowards of us all--and Lucian was a doubting lover.

Towards the end of his stay Miss Priscilla--as usual--fell asleep one
evening after dinner, and Diana, feeling the house too warm, stepped out
into the garden, followed by Lucian. The sun had just set behind the
undulating hills, and the clear sky, to the zenith, was of a pale rose
colour, striped towards the western horizon with lines of golden cloud.
In the east a cold blue prevailed, and here and there a star sparkled in
the arch of the sky.

The garden was filled with floating shadows, which seemed to glide into
it from the dark recesses of the near woods, and in a copse some
distance away a nightingale was singing to his mate, and filling the
silence with melody. The notes fluted sweetly through the still air,
mingling with the sigh of the rising wind and the musical splashing of
the fountain. This shot up a pillar of silvery water to a great height,
and in descending sprinkled the near flower beds with its cold spray.
All was inexpressibly beautiful to the eye and soothing to the ear--a
scene and an hour for love. It might have been the garden of the
Capulets, and those who moved in it--the immortal lovers, as yet
uncursed by Fate.

"Only three more days," sighed Lucian as he walked slowly down the path
beside Diana, "and then that noisy London again."

"Perhaps it is as well," said Diana, in her practical way. "You would
rust here. But is there any need for you to go back so soon?"

"I must--for my own peace of mind."

Diana started and blushed at the meaning of his tone and words.

Then she recovered her serenity and sat down on an old stone seat, near
which stood a weather-beaten statue of Venus. Seeing that she kept
silent in spite of his broad hint, Lucian--to bring matters to a
crisis--resolved to approach the subject in a mythological way through
the image of the goddess.

"I am sorry I am not a Greek, Miss Vrain," he said abruptly.

"Why?" asked Diana, secretly astonished by the irrelevancy of the
remark.

Lucian plucked a red rose from the bush which grew near the statue and
placed it on the pedestal.

"Because I would lay my offering at the feet of the goddess, and touch
her knees to demand a boon."

"What boon would you ask?" said Diana in a low voice.

"I would beseech that in return for my rose of flowers she would give me
the rose of womanhood."

"A modest request. Do you think it would be granted?"