d hers with smiling compulsion.

"Yes, I will."

He made a gesture as if he would take her hand, but restrained himself,
and paused to tip the ash once more off his cigarette.

"Now tell me!" commanded Dinah.

"I don't think I will," he said deliberately.

"But you must!" said Dinah.

His eyes sought hers again with that look which she found it impossible
to meet. She bent over her cup.

"What will you show me?" she persisted. "Tell me!"

"I didn't say I would show you anything," he pointed out. "I said I
might."

"Tell me what it was anyhow!" she said.

He leaned nearer to her, and suddenly it seemed to her that they were
quite alone, very far removed from the rest of the world. "It may not be
to-night," he murmured. "Or even to-morrow. But some day--in this land
where there are no consequences--I will show you--when the fates are
propitious, not before--some of the things that Daphne missed when she
ran away."

He ceased to speak. Dinah's face was burning. She could not look at him.
She felt as if a magic flame had wrapped her round. Her whole body was
tingling, her heart wildly a-quiver. There was a rapture in that moment
that was almost too intense, too poignant, to be borne.

He was the first to move. Calmly he leaned back, and resumed his
cigarette. Through the aromatic smoke his voice came to her again.

"Are you angry?"

Her whole being stirred in response. She uttered a little quivering laugh
that was near akin to tears.

"No--of course--no! But I--I think I ought to go and dress! It's getting
late, isn't it? Thank you for giving me tea!" She rose, her movements
quick and dainty as the flight of a robin. "Good-bye!" she murmured
shyly.

He rose also with a sweeping bow. "_A bientot_,--Daphne!" he said.

She gave him a single swift glance from under fluttering lashes, and
turned away in silence.

She went up the stairs with the speed of a bird on the wing, but she
could not outpace the wonder and the wild delight at her heart. As she
entered her own room at length, she laughed, a breathless, rippling
laugh. How amazing--and how gorgeous--was this new life!

CHAPTER XII

THE WINE OF THE GODS

The rink was ablaze with fairy-lights under the starry sky. Rose de
Vigne, exquisitely fair in ruby velvet and ermine furs paused on the
verandah, looking pensively forth.

Very beautiful she looked standing there, and Captain Brent of the
Sappers striding forth with his skates jingling