cers
to see you."

"I shall dress up for you some time," affirmed Patsy soothingly, "if you
will give me the yellow sandals for my very own."

"Ah," said Uncle Julian, "of that I am not sure. They recall something
which makes them precious to me."

The girl clasped her hands delightedly.

"Oh, a story at last," she cried, nestling against him. "I shall not
tell a soul. You shall see how I can keep a secret."

"But I shall see still better if I do not tell it you!"

"Oh, how abominable of you, Uncle Julian! And I thought you loved me."

"The yellow sandals remind me of a time when I was young--young as you,
and a great deal more foolish!"

"But they are a girl's sandals, Uncle Julian--you said so yourself when
you lent them to me."

"Indeed, both of them would hardly cover a man's foot!"

"Who was she? Oh, where did you meet her? Did you love her very much?"

"I met her on a little coasting boat belonging to her father, on which I
had taken passage from Chios to Smyrna. She knew no English. I knew only
one sentence of modern Greek, and I was not sure of the meaning even of
that. So I had to be careful. I had it from a poem which was making a
noise at the time."

"Oh, _I_ know," cried Patsy, "Louis is always saying it over to me: _Zoe
mou, sas agapo!_ What does it mean?"

"That I did not know at the time, but I know what I meant the words to
mean."

"Was she _very_ lovely?"

"Very," said Uncle Julian. "I see you want a description, but I can only
indicate. She had great dark eyes into which every sort of languid
delight seemed to have been melted and concentrated, and eyelashes like
the fringed awnings of a tent. When she lowered them they swept the
ground, and when she lifted them it was slowly, as if their very weight
fought against her will!"

"Oh-o-o-h!" said Patsy, feeling with her fingers, "I have regular
scrubs. You won't ever love me when you think of her, Uncle Julian."

"I might," he answered, "if you had only the yellow sandals--"

"No, no, tell me about her! What did you say to her?"

"I said '_Zoe mou_' half a dozen times, sitting closer to her every
time. I spoke lower and lower, till the last '_Zoe mou_' was whispered
into her ear.

"Then I risked the other part, '_sas agapo_'--and expected a box on the
ear, or perhaps an appeal to her father, but instead she turned and
kissed me!"

"Hurrah, Uncle Julian, I'm sure so should I--if any one had the sense to
talk to me like that, low