"Because I never thought of it," said the hairdresser, honestly; "but I'll stay on my knees for hours, if only you won't go!" "But what has made you thus eager, thus humble?" she said, half in wonder and half in suspicion. "Can it be, that the spark I have sought to kindle in your breast is growing to a flame at last? Leander, can this thing be?" He saw that she was gratified, that she desired to be assured that this was indeed so. "I shouldn't be surprised if something like that was going on inside of me," he said encouragingly. "Answer me more frankly," she said. "Do you wish me to remain with you because you have learnt to love my presence?" It was a very embarrassing position for him. All depended upon his convincing the goddess of his dawning love, and yet, for the life of him, he could not force out the requisite tenderness; his imagination was unequal to the task. Another and a more creditable feeling helped to tie his tongue--a sense of shame at employing such a subterfuge in order to betray the goddess into the lawless hands of these housebreakers. However, she must be induced to stay by some means. "Well," he said sheepishly, "you don't give me a chance to love you, if you go wandering out every evening, do you?" She gave a low cry of triumph. "It has come!" she exclaimed. "What are clouds of incense, flowers, and homage, to this? Be of good heart; I will stay, Leander. Fear not, but speak the passion which consumes you!" He became alarmed. He was anxious not to commit himself, and yet employ the time until the burglars might be expected. "The fact is," he confessed, "it hasn't gone so far as that yet--it's beginning; all it wants is _time_, you know--time, and being let alone." "All Time will be before us, when once your lips have pronounced the words of surrender, and our spirits are transported together to the enchanted isle." "You talk about me going over to this isle--this Cyprus," he said; "but it's a long journey, and I can't afford it. How _you_ come and go, I don't know; but I've not been brought up to it myself. I can't flash across like a telegram!" "Trust all to me," she said. "Is not your love strong enough for that?" "Not quite yet," he answered; "it's coming on. Only, you see, it's a serious step to take, and I naturally wish to feel my way. I declare, the more I gaze upon the--the elegant form and figger which I see before me, the stronger and the more irresistible comes over me a burning desire to think the whole thing carefully over. And if you only allowed me a little longer to gaze (I've no time to myself except in the evenings), I don't think it would be long before this affair reached a 'appy termination--I don't indeed!" "Gaze, then," she said, smiling--"gaze to your soul's content."