eman tells you," he said, in an eager whisper, as he
drew her aside.

"I know your wiles, O perfidious one," she said. "Having induced me to
remove this token, you would seize it yourself, and take to flight! I
will not remove this ring!"

"There's a thing to say!" said Leander; "there's a suspicion to throw
against a man! If you think I'm likely to do that, I'll go right over
here, where I can't even see it, and I won't stir out till it's all
over. Will that satisfy you? You know why I'm so anxious about that
ring; and now, when the gentleman tells you he's almost sure it's
gold----"

"It _is_ gold!" said the goddess.

"If you're so sure about it," he retaliated, "why are you afraid to have
it proved?"

"I am not afraid," she said; "but I require no proof!"

"I do," he retorted, "and what I told you before I stand to. If that
ring is proved--in the only way it can be proved, I mean, by this
gentleman testing it as he tells you he can--then there's no more to be
said, and I'll go away with you like a lamb. But without that proof I
won't stir a step, and so I tell you. It won't take a moment. You can
see for yourself that I couldn't possibly catch up the ring from here!"

"Swear to me," she said, "that you will remain where you now stand; and
remember," she added, with an accent of triumph, "our compact is that,
should yonder man pronounce that the ring has passed through the test
with honour, you will follow me whithersoever I bid you!"

"You have only to lead the way," he said, "and I promise you faithfully
I'll follow."

Goddesses may be credited with some knowledge of the precious metals,
and Aphrodite had no doubt of the result of the chemist's
investigations. So it was with an air of serene anticipation that she
left Leander upon this, and advanced to the chemist's counter.

"Prove it now," she said, "quickly, that I may go!"

The chemist, who had been waiting in considerable bewilderment, prepared
himself to receive the ring, and Leander, keeping his distance, felt his
heart beating fast as Aphrodite slowly drew the token from her finger,
and placed it in the chemist's outstretched hand.

Scarcely had she done so, as the chemist was retiring with the ring to
one of his lamps, before the goddess seemed suddenly aware that she had
committed a fatal error.

She made a stride forward to follow and recover it; but, as if some
unseen force was restraining her, she stopped short, and a rush of
whirling w