The Aphrodite lay, as a woman caressed, half buried in her silken folds, but Halcyone lifted her up and propped her against a stone vase which was near, letting the silk fall so that the broken neck did not show, and it seemed as if a living woman's face gazed down upon them.
John Derringham's eyes were growing more accustomed to the darkness, or Halcyone really had some magic power, for it seemed to him that he could see the divine features quite clearly.
"She is saying," the soft voice of his companion whispered in his ear, "that all the things you will grasp with your hands are but dreams--and the things that you now believe to be dreams are all real." "And are you a dream, you sweet ?" asked John Derringham.

"Or are you tangible, and must I drink the poison cup, after all ?" "I would give you no noxious wine," she answered.

"If you were strong and wise and true, only the fire which I have stolen from heaven could come to you." "Long ago," he said, "you gave me an oak-leaf, dryad, and I have kept it still.

What now will you grant to me ?" "Nothing, since you fear--" and she drew back.
"I do not fear," he answered wildly.

"Halcyone!--sweetheart! I want you--here--next my heart.