looking thoughtfully after her. "Perhaps, after
all, that is the best mood to let her meet him in,"
he murmured.

Then, with a deep breath, he turned. The
heavy perfume had gone; the air was clear and
sweet, and Ariel was pressing her face into the
roses again. As he saw how like them she was,
he was shaken with a profound and mysterious
sigh, like that which moves in the breast of one
who listens in the dark to his dearest music.



XV

HAPPY FEAR GIVES HIMSELF UP

"I know how tired you are," said Ariel,
as he came back into the room. "I
shall not keep you long."

"Ah, please do!" he returned,
quickly, beginning to fumble with
the shade of a student-lamp at one end of the
desk.

"Let me do that," she said. "Sit down." He
obeyed at once, and watched her as she lit the lamp,
and, stretching upon tiptoe, turned out the gas.