'That is the half of a brass farthing, please your Lordship, that I and my lover split between us this afternoon.' 'I thought it was the half of a spade guinea.' 'I'd be glad to exchange it for that,' said Silvia, looking up, with a smile. 'Would you exchange your lover at the same time?' 'If the other was a handsome man,' said she, with a coquettish glance. 'But won't your Lordship come in? It's past five, I'm sure.' 'I will follow you,' said he. And they went in. 'Will your Lordship take my hand?' she said. 'The passage is very dark and winding.' She put her hand in his as she spoke. 'Why is there no light here?' he asked. 'This passage can never be lighted, please your Lordship: the goblins pinch out the wick of the candle with their fingers.' 'Are there goblins here?' said Raymond, drawing back. 'Keep hold of my hand, and they will do your Lordship no harm.' 'Does this passage belong to them?' 'Mind the steps, please your Lordship,' said Silvia suddenly. 'If you were to lose me here you would never see light again.' 'How strange your voice sounds! Are you Silvia?' 'I am not Rosamund, at any rate!' replied his conductor, with a low laugh. 'It's the vault of the passage makes my voice sound hoarse.' 'We must be a long way underground. And this darkness is like a block of black marble. And I feel as if creatures were walking around me who can see me though I cannot see them.' 'Their eyes are more used to the darkness than your Lordship's.' 'How far have we still to go?' 'Not far. I shall leave your Lordship at the next corner.' 'What am I to do then?' No reply was made to this question. But in a few moments Raymond lost his hold of the hand that had guided him, and a voice said, in a whining tone-- 'Won't your Lordship spare me a trifle for coming so far?' 'I--I'm afraid I have nothing to give,' said Raymond, putting his hand in his empty pocket. 'A kiss is all I want from your Lordship,' answered the voice; and then a pair of lips met Raymond's in the darkness. The lips were cold as ice, but the breath that came between them was hot as flame. Then all was silence. Had Raymond kissed one of the invisible goblins instead of Silvia? Or was Silvia herself a goblin? Be that as it might Raymond was left in an awkward situation. For all he knew he was in the middle of an underground labyrinth; and the next step might land him at the bottom of some pitfall. Raymond remembered that long ago, when he was a small boy, his mother had once shut him up in the dark closet behind the kitchen chimney, because he had made a mud-pie on the ironing-board. That closet had seemed black enough, but what was it compared with this? Besides, Rosamund had come after a while and secretly let him out, and they had spent the afternoon together in the barn. But Rosamund could never come to him here; and that goblin kiss upon his lips had taken away his right to hope for her.