to the villa for my sister to thank you"-- The sentence broke
off. "I am Daphne Willis," she said abruptly, and waited.

"And I am Apollo," said the stranger gravely.

"Apollo--what?" asked the girl. Did they use the old names over
here?

"Phoebus Apollo," he answered, unsmiling. "Is America so modern
that you do not know the older gods?"

"Why do you call me an American?"

A smile flickered across Apollo's lips.

"A certain insight goes with being a god."

Daphne started back and looked at him, but the puzzled scrutiny
did not deepen the color of his brown cheek. Suddenly she was
aware that the sunlight had faded, leaving shadow under the
ilexes and about the fountain on the hill.

"I must say good-night," she said, turning to descend.

He stood watching every motion that she made until she
disappeared within the yellow walls of the villa.


CHAPTER III