ver met you before to-night? I have no recollection of it."

And mutely, with that chivalry which was to him the very air he
breathed, Hone bowed to her ruling. She would have no reference to the
past. It was to be a closed book to them both. So be it, then! For this
night, at least, she would have her way.

He stepped forward in silence into the chequered shadow of the trees
that surrounded the ruin, and she walked lightly by his side with that
dainty, regal carriage of hers that made him yet in his secret heart
call her his princess.

The place was very dark and eerie. The shrill cries of flying-foxes,
disturbed by their appearance, came through the magic silence. But no
living thing was to be seen, no other sound to be heard.

"I'm frightened," said Nina suddenly. "Shall we stop?"

"Hold my hand!" said Hone.

"I'm not joking," she protested, with a shudder.

"Nor am I," he said gently.

She looked up at him sharply, as though she did not quite believe him,
and then unexpectedly and impulsively she laid her hand in his.

His fingers closed upon it with a friendly, reassuring pressure, and she
never knew how the man's heart leapt and the blood turned to liquid fire
in his veins at her touch.

She gave a shaky little laugh as though ashamed of her weakness. "We are
coming to an open space," she said. "We shall see the satyrs dancing
directly."

"Faith, if we do, we'll join them," declared Hone cheerily.

"They would never admit us," she answered. "They hate mortals. Can't you
feel them glaring at us from every tree? Why, I can breathe hostility in
the very air."

She missed her footing as she spoke, and stumbled with a sharp cry. Hone
held her up with that steady strength of his that was ever equal to
emergencies, but to his surprise she sprang forward, pulling him with
her, almost before she had fully recovered her balance.

"Oh, come, quick, quick!" she gasped. "I trod on something--something
that moved!"

He went with her, for she would not be denied, and in a few seconds they
emerged into a narrow clearing in the jungle in which stood the ruin of
a small domed temple.

Nina Perceval was shaking all over in a positive frenzy of fear, and
clinging fast to Hone's arm.

"What was it?" he asked her, trying gently to disengage himself. "Was it
a snake that scared you?"

She shuddered violently. "Yes, it must have been. A cobra, I should
think. Oh, what are you going to do?"

"It's all right," Hone