endure this.'

'Where is Juno?' demanded Jupiter.

'I am sure I cannot say,' said Venust with a smile.

'I am sure I do not know,' said Minerva, with a sneer.

'Where is Ixion?' said Cupid, laughing outright.

'Mercury, Ganymede, find the Queen of Heaven instantly,' thundered the
Father of Gods and men.

The celestial messenger and the heavenly page flew away out of different
doors. There was a terrible, an immortal silence. Sublime rage lowered
on the brow of Jove like a storm upon the mountain-top. Minerva seated
herself at the card-table and played at Patience. Venus and Cupid
tittered in the background. Shortly returned the envoys, Mercury looking
solemn, Ganymede malignant.

'Well?' inquired Jove; and all Olympus trembled at the monosyllable.

Mercury shook his head.

'Her Majesty has been walking on the terrace with the King of Thessaly,'
replied Ganymede.

'Where is she now, sir?' demanded Jupiter.

Mercury shrugged his shoulders.

'Her Majesty is resting herself in the pavilion of Cupid, with the King
of Thessaly,' replied Ganymede.

'Confusion!' exclaimed the Father of Gods and men; and he rose and
seized a candle from the table, scattering the cards in all directions.
Every one present, Minerva and Venus, and Mars and Apollo, and Mercury
and Ganymede, and the Muses, and the Graces, and all the winged
genii--each seized a candle; rifling the chandeliers, each followed Jove.

'This way,' said Mercury.

'This way,' said Ganymede.

'This way, this way!' echoed the celestial crowd.

'Mischief!' cried Cupid; 'I must save my victims.'

They were all upon the terrace. The Father of Gods and men, though both
in a passion and a hurry, moved with dignity. It was, as customary in
Heaven, a clear and starry night; but this eve Diana was indisposed, or
otherwise engaged, and there was no moonlight. They were in sight of the
pavilion.

'What are you?' inquired Cupid of one of the genii, who accidentally
extinguished his candle.

'I am a cloud,' answered the winged genius.

'A cloud! Just the thing. Now do me a shrewd turn, and Cupid is ever
your debtor. Fly, fly, pretty cloud, and encompass yon pavilion with
your form. Away! ask no questions; swift as my word.'

'I declare there is a fog,' said Venus.

'An evening mist in Heaven!' said Minerva.

'Where is Nox?' said Jove. 'Everything goes wrong. Who ever heard of a
mist in Heaven?'

'My candle is out,' said Apollo.

'And mine, too,' said