"But a short time since, and you were willing to trust all to me!" "I was; but, if I may take the liberty of observing so, things were different then. You were wrong about that thunderbolt--you may be wrong about the ring!" "Fool!" she said, "how know you that the quality of the token concerns my power? Were it even of unworthy metal, has it not brought me hither?" "Yes," he said, "but it mightn't be strong enough to pass _me_ the whole distance, and where should I be then? It don't look more to me than 15 carat, and I daren't run any extra risk." "How, then, can your doubts be set at rest?" she demanded. "Easy," he replied: "there are men who understand these things. All I ask of you is to step over with me, and see one of them, and take his opinion; and if he says it's gold--why, then I shall know where I am!" "Aphrodite submit her claims to the judgment of a mortal!" she cried. "Never will I thus debase myself!" "Very well," he said, "then we must stay where we are. All I can say is, I've made you a fair offer." She paused. "Why not?" she said dreamily, as if thinking aloud. "Have not I sued ere this for the decision of a shepherd judge--even of Paris? 'Tis but one last indignity, and then--he is mine indeed! Leander," she added graciously, "it shall be as you will. Lead the way; I follow!" But Matilda, who had been listening to this compromise with incredulous horror, clung in desperation to her lover's arm, and sought to impede his flight. "Leander!" she cried, "oh, Leander! surely you won't be mad enough to go away with her! You won't be so wicked and sinful as that! Remember who she is: one of the false gods of the poor benighted heathens--she owned it herself! She's nothing less than a live idol! Think of all the times we've been to chapel together; think of your dear aunt, and how she'll feel your being in such awful company! Let the police come, and think what they like: we'll tell them the truth, and make them believe it. Only be brave, and stay here with me; don't let her ensnare you! Have some pity for me; for, if you leave me, I shall die!" "Already the guards are at your gates," said the statue; "choose quickly--while you may!" He put Matilda gently from him: "Tillie," he said, with a convulsive effort to remain calm, "you gave me up of your own free will--you know that--and now you've come round too late. The other lady spoke first!" As she still clung to him, he tried to whisper some last words of a consoling or reassuring nature, and she suddenly relaxed her grasp, and allowed him to make his escape without further dissuasion--not that his arguments had reconciled her to his departure, but because she was mercifully unaware of it. THE ODD TRICK XV. "O heart of stone, are you flesh, and caught By that you swore to withstand?" _Maud._