fall on his arm and thrilled him--"look up at Pilatus. Do you see his
head so snowy, and all the delicate shadows upon him, and his look of
mystery? And those dark pines--and the great chasms, and the wild
anger the giants were in when they hurled these huge rocks about? I
have been with them, and you and I seem such little people, Paul. We
cannot throw great rocks about--we are only two small ants in this
grand world."

Paul's face was puzzled, he did not believe in giants. His mind was
not accustomed yet to these flights of speech, he felt stupid and
irritated with himself, and in some way humiliated. The lady leant
over him, her face playfully tender.

"Great blue eyes!" she said. "So pretty, so pretty! What matter
whether they can see or no?" And she touched his lids with her slender
fingers.

Paul quivered in his chair.

"You know!" he gasped. "You make me mad--I----But won't you teach me
to see? No one wants to be blind! Teach me to see with your eyes,
lady--my lady."

"Yes, I will teach you!" she said. "Teach you a number of
things. Together we will put on the hat of darkness and go down into
Hades. We shall taste the apples of the Hesperides--we will rob
Mercure of his sandals--and Gyges of his ring. And one day, Paul--when
together we have fathomed the meaning of it all--what will happen
then, _enfant?_"