"That is exactly what we imagined it had been," said Athena, with divine simplicity. "And perhaps that is why"--her eyes were strangely magnetic--"Edward and I have willed it that your life to come..." A surge of wild blood suddenly darkened the wonderful lamp of Aladdin in the right-hand corner of his brain. "... shall be crowned with more than thorns." She seemed almost to shiver. "I beg your pardon," she said, suddenly applying the curb of a powerful will. "It is impertinence. But there is always something about this old garden which seems to carry one beyond oneself. It was wrong to come." "Don't say that...." The Sailor hardly knew that he was speaking. "We are running a risk ... but ... but it's worth it. Let us sit on that seat a minute. Shall we?" "Yes, and wait for Silvia." She was using the curb with a force that was almost brutal, as many a Pridmore and many a Colthurst had used it before her. The Sailor was shattered. But new strength had come to Athena. All the jealous, inherited forces of her being had rallied to the call of her distress. "By the way." It was not Athena who was speaking now, but Miss Pridmore, whose local habitation was Queen Street, Mayfair. "I nearly forgot to tell you"--it was a clear note of gaiety--"a great event has happened. You shall have one guess." There was not so much as half a guess in the sailorman. "There's news of Klondyke. My mother had a letter from him this morning. It's his first word for nearly a year. He sent a postcard from Queenstown to say he will be home tomorrow, and that I must clean out of his own particular bedroom. Whenever he turns up and wherever he comes from, I have always to do that at a moment's notice." "Where's he been this time?" asked the Sailor. "Round the whole wide world, I believe." "Working his passage?" "Very likely. As soon as he arrives, you will have to come and see him. We are going to keep you as a surprise. Your meeting will be great fun, and you are to promise that Silvia and I will be allowed to see it. And you are to behave as if you were aboard the brigantine _Excelsior_--it will always be the brigantine _Excelsior_ to me--and greet him in good round terms of the sea. Now promise, please ... and, of course, no one will mind if you swear. It will hardly be as bad as Uncle George in a temper." XIV "Here you are." It was the gay voice of the returning Silvia. "So sorry I've been so long. But I've had to hunt for you. One might have known you would choose the coolest and quietest spot in the whole garden." As the sailorman was handing them into the car, Silvia said: "By the way, have you remembered to tell Mr. Harper about Klondyke?" "Yes, I have," said Mary.