paradise of glad sights and sounds, ... ah! Eve, with the first
sunrise radiance on her brows, was not more divinely fair! ...
Venus, new-springing from the silver sea-foam, was not more
queenly glorious! 'I WILL REMIND THEE OF ALL THOU HAST FORGOTTEN,'
she said, and I understood her soft, half-reproachful accents. 'IT
IS NOT YET TOO LATE! THOU HAST LOST MUCH AND SUFFERED MUCH, AND
THOU HAST BLINDLY ERRED, BUT NOTWITHSTANDING ALL THESE THINGS,
THOU ART MY BELOVED SINCE THESE MANY THOUSAND DAYS!'"

"Days--which the world counts as years!" murmured Heliobas. "You
saw no one but her?"

"No one--we were alone together. A vast woodland stretched before
us, she took my hand and led me beneath broad-arching trees to
where a lake, silvered by some strange radiance, glittered
diamond-like in the stirring of a balmy wind. Here she bade me
rest--and sank gently on the flowery bank beside me. Then viewing
her more closely I greatly feared her beauty--for I saw a wondrous
halo wide and dazzling--a golden aureole that spread itself around
her in scintillating points of light--light that reflected itself
also on me and bathed me in its luminous splendor. And as I gazed
at her in speechless awe, she leaned toward me nearer and nearer,
her deep, pure eyes burning softly into mine ... her hands touched
me--her arms closed round me ... her bright head lay in all its
shining loveliness on my breast! A tremulous ecstasy thrilled me
as with fire ... I gazed upon her as one might gaze on some
fluttering, rare-plumaged bird ... I dare not move or speak ... I
drank her sweetness down into my soul! Now and then a sound as of
distant harps playing broke the love-weighted silence ... and thus
we remained together a heavenly breathing-space of wordless