oos to repose with its languorous softness, and the water
as it wells murmurs its liquid laughter. Ah! no Greek would have
hesitated thus."

"Well, I ain't a Greek; and, as a business man, you can't be surprised
if I want to make sure it's a genuine thing, and worth the risk, before
I commit myself. I think I understand that it's the gold ring which is
to bind us two together?"

"It is," she said; "by that pure and noble metal are we united."

"Well," said Leander, "that being so, I should wish to have it tested,
else there might be a hitch somewhere or other."

"Tested!" she cried; "what is that?"

"Trying it, to see if it's real gold or not," he said. "We can easily
have it done."

"It is needless," she replied, haughtily. "I will not suffer my power to
be thus doubted, nor that of the pure and precious metal through which I
have obtained it!"

Leander might have objected to this as an example of that obscure feat,
"begging the question;" for, whether the metal _was_ pure and precious,
was precisely the point he desired to ascertain. And this desire was
quite genuine; for, though he saw no other course before him but that
upon which the goddess insisted, he did wish to take every reasonable
precaution.

"For all I know," he reasoned in his own mind, "if there's anything
wrong with that ring, I may be left 'igh and dry, halfway to Cyprus; or
she may get tired of me, and turn me out of those grottoes of hers! If I
must go with her, I should like to make things as safe as I could."

"It won't take long," he pleaded; "and if I find the ring's real gold, I
promise I won't hold out any longer."

"There is no time," she said, "to indulge this whim. Would you mock me,
Leander? Ha! did I not say so? Listen!"

The private bell was ringing loudly. Leander rushed to the window, but
saw no one. Then he heard the clang of the shop bell, as if the person
or persons had discovered that an entrance was possible there.

"The guards!" said the statue. "Will you wait for them, Leander?"

"No!" he cried. "Never mind what I said about the ring; I'll risk that.
Only--only, don't go away without me.... Tell me what to say, and I'll
say it, and chance the consequences!"

"Say, 'Aphrodite, daughter of Olympian Zeus, I yield; I fulfil the
pledge; I am thine!'"

"Well," he thought, "here goes. Oh, Matilda, you're responsible for
this!" And he advanced towards the white extended arms of the goddess.
There were hasty steps outsi