Beyond the Rocks

And she went.

"I have never been here before," said Theodora, as they turned into the

Forest of Marly. "And you have been wise in your choice so far. I love

trees."

"You see how I study and care for the things which belong to me," said

Hector. It gave him ridiculous pleasure to announce that sentence

again--ridiculous, unwarrantable pleasure.

Theodora turned her head away a little. She would like to have continued

the subject, but she did not dare.

Presently they came to a side allée, and after going up it about a

mile the automobile stopped, and they got out and walked down a green

glade to the right.

Oh, and I wonder if any of you who read know the Forest of Marly, and

this one green glade that leads down to the centre of a star where five

avenues meet? It is all soft grass and splendid trees, and may have been

a rendezvous de chasse in the good old days, when life--for the

great--was fair in France.

It is very lonely now, and if you want to spend some hours in peace you

can almost count upon solitude there.

"Now, is not this beautiful?" he asked her, as they neared the centre,

"and soon you will see why I carry this rug over my arm. I am going to

take you right to the middle of the star until you see five paths for

you to choose from, all green and full of glancing sunlight, and when

you have selected one we will penetrate down it and sit under a tree. Is

it good--my idea?"

"Very good," said Theodora. Then she was silent until they reached the

rond-point.

There was that wonderful sense of aloofness and silence--hardly even the

noise of a bird. Only the green, green trees, and here and there a

shaft of sunlight turning them into the shade of a lizard's back.

An ideal spot for--poets and dreamers--and lovers--Theodora thought.

"Now we are here! Look this way and that! Five paths for us to choose

from!"

Then something made Theodora say, "Oh, let us stay in the centre, in

this one round place, where we can see them all and their

possibilities."

"And do you think uncertain possibilities are more agreeable perhaps

than certain ends?" he asked.

"I never speculate," said Theodora.

"As you will, then," he said, while he looked into her eyes, and he

placed the rug up against a giant tree between two avenues, so that

their view really only extended down three others now.