m off by."

"Oh," said the Queen. "I would like to see. I think I could get up."

Phillips thought so too. He stretched out a helping hand. The Queen
put her foot on a tap and grasped the hand. Phillips pulled. The Queen
sprang upwards, holding the hand tight. She reached the top of the
tank breathless and sat down. Phillips still held her hand.

It is doubtful whether the Queen ever realized the full size of those
tanks, or even saw the lids which Mr. Phillips had mentioned. The
light was very dim. The situation, in spite of the grotesque
appearance of the tanks, was exceedingly romantic. Long stalactites
hung, faintly gleaming, from the roof. The water, strangely blue,
mourned against the stones of the beach, sighed through the deep
recesses of the cave. The world and all common things seemed very
remote.

Ten minutes later the Queen suddenly started. She wriggled rapidly
along the edge of the tanks until she sat five or six yards away from
Phillips.

"Oh," she cried, "there's Kalliope!"

They had left Kalliope at the boat, but she had not stayed there. She
was standing in front of the tanks looking up at the Queen and
Phillips. She stood quite still. It was impossible to know how long
she had been there.

"Damn Kalliope!" said Mr. Phillips fiercely.

Kalliope smiled quietly. She showed no signs of embarrassment. She did
not pretend to be looking in any other direction. She had been kissed
herself more than once by her own lover, and had found it pleasant. It
did not strike her as in any way odd that the Queen should like kisses
too.

"Help me down, quick," said the Queen.

She did not wait for the help she asked. Disdaining even the foothold
of the tap she slid over the edge of the tank and came down with a
crash on the rolling stones at Kalliope's feet. Phillips followed her
with a single bound.

Kalliope pointed with her finger to a boat, another boat, which had
just grounded on the beach. Stephanos the Elder stepped from it and
bowed low to the Queen, bowed so low that his long beard almost
touched the ground.

"Well, I'm blest!" said Phillips.

"My!" said the Queen, "isn't it lucky I saw Kalliope just when I did?
Fancy if that old fellow had caught us! I don't so much mind about
Kalliope, though of course it was awful. But I never could have looked
the old man in the face if he had seen us."

Later on, while they sat at luncheon on the sand of a little cove
near the entrance of the cave, the Q