"He was a great, grand seigneur--we know of that--and had traveled much in Italy when a young man, and stayed at Florence especially.

He married a relative of the Medici belonging to some female branch, and he is even said to have been to Greece; but in the court of the Grand Duke of Tuscany he would certainly have learned to appreciate the divine beauty of Aphrodite.

He must have brought her from there as well as the Hebe and Artemis, which are not nearly so good.

They stand in the hall--but they say nothing to me." "It would be interesting to know what the papers are about," John Derringham went on.

"We must look at them together some day when you are my wife." "Yes," said Halcyone, and thrilled at the thought.
"So it was through the solid masonry you disappeared last night?
No wonder, sprite, that I believed I was dreaming! Why did you fly from me?
Why ?" "It was too great, too glorious to take all at once," she said, and with a sudden shyness she buried her face in his coat.
"My darling sweet one," he murmured, drawing her to him, passion flaming once more.