“Vertumnus was quite respectable,” she replied. “In fact, he was quite a dear, the way he slaved to win Pomona. I never cared very much about Pomona,” she added frankly. “I――I never knew her very well,” he answered carelessly. “I think she was a stick.” “You forget,” he said gently, “that you are speaking of the lady of my affections.” “Oh, I am so sorry!” she cried contritely. “Please forgive me!” “If you will let me smoke a cigarette.” “Why not? Considering that I am on shore and you on the water it hardly seems necessary――――” “Well, of course it’s your own private pool,” he said. “I thought perhaps nymphs objected to the odor of cigarette-smoke around their habitations.” “This nymph doesn’t mind it,” she answered. He selected a cigarette from his case very leisurely. He had had several opportunities to see her eyes and was wondering whether they were really the color they seemed to be. He had thought yesterday that they were blue, like the sky, or a Yale flag or――or the ocean in October; in short just _blue_. But to-day, seen from a distance of some fifteen feet, and examined carefully, they appeared quite a different hue, a――a violet, or――or mauve. He wasn’t sure just what mauve was, but he thought it might be the color of her eyes. At all events, they weren’t merely blue; they were something quite different, far more wonderful, and infinitely more beautiful. He would look again just as soon as he had the cigarette lighted, and―――― “Were you surprised to find me here this morning?” she asked suddenly. There was no hint of coquetry in her tone and he stifled the first reply occurring to him. “I――no, I wasn’t――for some reason,” he answered honestly. “I dare say I ought to have been.” “I came on purpose to meet you,” she said calmly. “Er――thank you――that is――――!” “I wanted to explain about yesterday. You see I didn’t want you to think I was just simply insane. There was――method in my madness.” [Illustration] “But I didn’t think you insane,” he denied, depositing the burnt match carefully on a lily-pad and raising his gaze to hers. “I thought――that――――” “Yes, go on,” she prompted. “Tell me what you did think when you found me here in that――that _thing_!” “I thought I was in Arcadia and that you were just what you said you were, a water-nymph.” “Oh,” she murmured disappointedly; “I thought you were really going to tell me the truth.” “I will, then. Frankly, I didn’t know what to think. You said you were Clytie, and far be it from me to question a lady’s word. I was stumped. I tried to work it out yesterday afternoon and couldn’t, and so I came back to-day in the hope that I might have the good fortune to see you again.”