The morning after this conversation, Severnius and I took a long drive in a new direction. We went up the river a mile or so, the road winding through an avenue of century-old elms, whose great, graceful branches interlocked overhead and made a shade so dense that the very atmosphere seemed green. We were so earnestly engaged in conversation that I did not observe when we left the avenue and entered a wood. We drove some distance through this, and then the road branched off and skirted round a magnificent park,--the finest I had seen,--bordered by a thick hedge, all abloom with white, fragrant flowers, and fenced with a fretwork of iron, finished with an inverted fringe of bristling points. Within, were evidences of costly and elaborate care; the trees were of noble growth and the greensward like stretches of velvet over which leaf-shadows flickered and played. The disposition of shrubbery and flowers, the chaste and beautiful statuary, the fountains, brooklets, arbors, and retreats; the rustic effects in bridges, caves, grottoes, and several graceful arches, hidden in wreathed emerald, from which snow-white cherubs with wings on their shoulders peeped roguishly, all betokened ingenious design, and skilful and artistic execution. Beyond, seen vaguely through the waving foliage, were handsome buildings, of the elegant cream-colored stone so much in vogue in Thursia. Here and there, I espied a fawn; one pretty creature, with a ribbon round its neck, was drinking at a fountain, and at the same time some beautiful birds came and perched upon the marble rim and dipped into the sparkling water. "How lovely! how idyllic!" I cried. "What place is it, Severnius, and why have I never seen it before?" His answer came a little reluctantly, I thought. "It is called Cupid's Gardens." "And what does it mean?" I asked. "Does not its name and those naked imps sufficiently explain it?" he replied. As I looked at him, a blush actually mantled his cheek. "It is a rendezvous," he explained, "where women meet their lovers." "How curious! I never heard of such a thing," said I. "Do you mean that the place was planned for that purpose, or did the name get fastened upon it through accident? Surely you are joking, Severnius; women can receive their lovers in their homes here, the same as with us!" "Their suitors, not their lovers," he replied. "You make a curious distinction!" said I. "Women sometimes marry their suitors, never their lovers,--any more than men marry their mistresses." "Great heavens, Severnius!" I felt the blood rush to my face and then recede, and a cold perspiration broke out all over me. There was a question in my mind which I did not dare to ask, but Severnius divined it. "Is it a new idea to you?" said he. "Have you no houses of prostitution in your country, licensed by law, as this is?" "For men, not for women," said I. "Ah! another of your peculiar discriminations!" he returned.