Evening star., 1909-04-21
CHAPTER XIV.
A Banquet on Olympus.

a banquet on olympus.
On this occasion Athlyne did not con-
tinue to sit out on the lawn. Now that
he wished to overtake Joy unawares he
was careful to hide his presence from her
as he had previously hidden it from her
father. He had hardly ensconced himself
in his usual cover when Joy came out on
the steps. Her maid was with her and
together they stood on the steps speak
ing. As she turned to come down the
steps JOY said:
Perhaps I had better arrange to come
back after short walk; there might be
some telegram from father to be attended
to. II there 10 not, can then go for
q real. long walk" She did not say more.
but moved briskly down the roadway
without ever turning her head. Athlyne
slipped through the gate OF the garden,
following at such distance that he could
easily keep out of view in case she should
turn. When she had cleared the strag-
Cling houses which made the outskirts Of
the little town she walked slowly. and
then more slowly still. Finally she sat
on a low wall by the roadside with her
looked long at the beautiful view before
her where, between the patches OF trees
which here shut out the houses alto
gether and heightened the air of privacy
Of the bye road. the mountain slopes rose
before her.
This was the opportunity for which Ath-
lyme was waiting. He had hardly dared
to hope that 1t would be in a spot SO we'll
adapted to his wishes. Dear simple soul
he never imagined that 1t had been al
ready chosen-marked down by keener
intellect than his own. and that intellect
q woman's!
Joy knew that he was coming: that he
was drawing closer; that he was at
ho~ M nAoHo6
now and again thrown half glance
behind her at favorable moments as she
went. There was at work subtler
sense that any dealing with mere optics;
as surely as can any other potent force.
specialized. The sense that makes soul
known to soul. sex to sex. that tells
to kind. and race to race. from the high
est creation to the lowest. And so. she
was prepared and waited. calm after the
manner Of her sex. For when woman
waits for the coming OF man her whole
her heart beat painfully. Joy did not
look around. made no movement till the
spoken words reached her:
Miss Ogilvie. Is 1t not!'
Slowly she turned. az to q voice but
partly heard or partly remembered. Ath-
lyme felt his heart sink down. down, as
he saw the slowness Of the movement and
realised the absence of that quick re-
sponse which he had by long and contin-
uous thinking since last night encouraged
himself to expect The quick gieam
Of pleasure in the face as she turned.
the light In her marvellous gray eyes.
the gentle blush which despite herself
passed like an Alpenglow from forehead
to neck did not altogether restore the
eQuanimity, or even encourage him suffi-
ciently to try to regain that pinnacle of
complacent hope on which up to then he
had stood.
why. Mr.. Hardy" she said. warmly.
as she rose quickly to her feet. This
il real nice. ! was afraid we were not
going to see you while we were In Eng
land"
It was beautifully done: no wonder that
some women can on the stage carry q
whole audience with them, when OF 1t SO
many can deceive intellects more powerful
than their own. And yet It was not all
acting. She did not intend It as such: not
for q moment did she wish or intend to
deceive. It was only the habit Of obe-
dience to convention, which was guiding
natural impulse into safe channels. for
who shall say where nature-the raw
primeval. crude article-ends or where
convention. which ID the artfulness neces-
STATED by the elaboration of organized So
ciety. begins. A man well known in New
York used to say: "AIl men are equal
after the flsh!" Kipling put the same idea
In another way: The colonels lady