At last she arrived. The garden door was pushed, the bell rang, and she came across the lawn, radiant and tall and swift, and opened wide her arms. And there, with our little world around us--all that we had ever loved and cared for, but quite unseen and unheard by them--for the first time in my life since my mother and Madame Seraskier had died I held a woman in my arms, and she pressed her lips to mine. [Illustration: "AT LAST SHE ARRIVED."] Round and round the lawn we walked and talked, as we had often done fifteen, sixteen, twenty years ago. There were many things to say. "The Charming Prince" and the "Fairy Tarapatapoum" were "prettily well together"--at last! The time sped quickly--far too quickly. I said-- "You told me I should see your house--'Parva sed Apta'--that I should find much to interest me there." ... She blushed a little and smiled, and said-- "You mustn't expect _too_ much," and we soon found ourselves walking thither up the avenue. Thus we had often walked as children, and once--a memorable once--besides. There stood the little white house with its golden legend, as I had seen it a thousand times when a boy--a hundred since. How sweet and small it looked in the mellow sunshine! We mounted the stone _perron_, and opened the door and entered. My heart beat violently. Everything was as it had always been, as far as I could see. Dr. Seraskier sat in a chair by the window reading Schiller, and took no notice of us. His hair moved in the gentle breeze. Overhead we heard the rooms being swept and the beds made. I followed her into a little lumber-room, where I did not remember to have been before; it was full of odds and ends. "Why have you brought me here?" I asked. She laughed and said-- "Open the door in the wall opposite." There was no door, and I said so. Then she took my hand, and lo! there _was_ a door! And she pushed, and we entered another suite of apartments that never could have been there before; there had never been room for them--nor ever could have been--in all Passy! [Illustration: "'AND NEUHA LED HER TORQUIL BY THE HAND.'"] "Come," she said, laughing and blushing at once; for she seemed nervous and excited and shy--do you remember-- 'And Neuha led her Torquil by the hand, And waved along the vault her flaming brand!' --do you remember your little drawing out of _The Island_, in the green morocco Byron? Here it is, in the top drawer of this beautiful cabinet. Here are all the drawings you ever did for me--plain and colored--with dates, explanations, etc., all written by myself--_l'album de la fee Tarapatapoum_. They are only duplicates. I have the real ones at my house in Hampshire.