REMEMBER THE GREENWOOD She had scarcely finished the verse when the arras at the side of the window was drawn back, the little door of the turret-stair closed, and Argathona came into the room. She was habited in white, with a silken tunic girdled with a golden belt, and she looked like a noble youth. She entered so quietly that Esclaramonde did not know of her coming till she turned in her pacing of the floor and saw the slender, beautiful figure facing her. Esclaramonde moved eagerly to the new-comer, with out-stretched hands and eyes bright with cupidity. "You are welcome," she said, quickly, and indeed she was pleased to greet the radiant youth, but her hottest thought was for the promised toy, and she added, "Give me my gift." Argathona came a little way down the room, looking steadfastly at the man who lay across the table with his head between his extended arms. "Is your lord asleep?" she asked, and the duchess made a grimace as she answered: "He is never my lord, though I be ever his lady. Where is your toy of the gods?" Argathona was still looking at the recumbent figure, and she questioned again: "You are sure he is asleep?" Esclaramonde clasped and unclasped her fine fingers impatiently. "You tease like a peevish child," she protested. "I blended his drink with such syrups that the trump of Jove would not wake him for an hour to come. Quick, my gift." Argathona slipped her hand into the pouch that hung from her girdle, and let her fingers rest on the golden apple that lay there. She felt that she trembled as she touched it, and that her heart was beating to a most unfamiliar time. For now she was face to face with her enemy, now or never she must prevail upon her enemy to unspell the spell that had been cast upon her lover. She spoke again, while she still kept the apple hidden. "You remember the terms of our bargain? If I give you the golden apple you give me your love." "Yes," Esclaramonde cried, angrily, "yes, fretful. Why do you waste time thus?" Now Argathona drew out the golden apple from her pouch and showed it in the hollow of her hand. That golden apple was a wonderful toy, for while it had all the shape and semblance of the living fruit, it glowed on the white palm of the dryad as if its precious metal had been steeped in the essential sunlight, in the essential starlight, and forever gave off something of the glory of the sun and stars. The duchess glowed a lively red as she saw the splendid idol, and instinctively, for an instant, shielded with her fingers her eyes against its brightness, while she gave a little animal cry of admiration. But she swiftly lowered her fingers from her face and made a clutch at the marvellous image, but Argathona avoided her, and Argathona's hand shut over the apple. "What will you tell your lord when he wakes?" she asked, still gazing at young Athens where he lay.