conducted her to a table near the window. Septimus trailed inconclusively
behind. When he seated himself he stared at her silently in a mute surmise
as the gentlemen in the poem did at the peak in Darien. It was even a
wilder adventure than the memorable drive. That was but a caprice of the
goddess; this was a sign of her friendship. The newness of their intimacy
smote him dumb. He passed his hand through his Struwel Peter hair and
wondered. Was it real? There sat the goddess, separated from him by the
strip of damask, her gold-flecked eyes smiling frankly and trustfully into
his, pulling off her gloves and disclosing, in almost disconcerting
intimacy, her warm wrists and hands. Was he dreaming, as he sometimes did,
in broad daylight, of a queer heaven in which he was strong like other men
and felt the flutter of wings upon his cheek? Something soft was in his
hand. Mechanically he began to stuff it up his sleeve. It was his napkin.
Zora's laugh brought him to earth--to happy earth.

It is a pleasant thing to linger _tête-à-tête_ over lunch on the terrace of
the Hôtel de Paris. Outside is the shade of the square, the blazing
sunshine beyond the shadow; the fountain and the palms and the doves; the
white gaiety of pleasure houses; the blue-gray mountains cut sharp against
the violet sky. Inside, a symphony of cool tones: the pearl of summer
dresses; the snow, crystal, and silver of the tables; the tender green of
lettuce, the yellows of fruit, the soft pink of salmon; here and there a
bold note of color--the flowers in a woman's hat, the purples and topazes
of wine. Nearer still to the sense is the charm of privacy. The one human
being for you in the room is your companion. The space round your chairs is
a magic circle, cutting you off from the others, who are mere decorations,
beautiful or grotesque. Between you are substances which it were gross to
call food: dainty mysteries of coolness and sudden flavors; a fish salad in
which the essences of sea and land are blended in cold, celestial harmony;
innermost kernels of the lamb of the salted meadows where must grow the