Part 7
“Will you come back to your lotus pool, O Clytie?” he asked softly.
“Wouldn’t it be rather cold and damp this weather?” she asked with a little trembling laugh.
“I am going to have it steam-heated,” he answered gravely. “I was there yesterday, Clytie, and it looked very forlorn without you, dear.”
“You were there?” she asked wonderingly.
“Yes. I forgot to tell you, didn’t I? The Larches is mine, dear, and the lotus pool shall be yours for life, if you’ll let me come sometimes and sit beside you under the trees on the bank. Will you?”
She dropped her eyes.
“Will you?” he repeated.
She moved nearer, with lowered head, and laid her hands palms up on the oaken counter. He took them and drew her toward him. She raised a rosy face toward him, the violet eyes darting fearfully toward the reading room. Ethan paused and looked thoughtful.
“In nice libraries,” he said, “they have what they call the open stacks. Is it so here?”
She shook her head.
“But――there might be exceptions?”
“There might,” she answered softly.
“And do you think the librarian would permit me to be an exception?”
She nodded, blushing and provoking.
He turned, walked to the end of the counter and pushed aside the swinging gate. At the door of the stack room he paused.
“I would like,” he said, “to find that book of mythology wherein are related the loves of Clytie and Vertumnus. Could you show me where to find it?”
She darted a glance toward the entrance to the reading room. Then she followed him.
“I believe,” she murmured, as her hand stole into his, “I believe it is in the farthest corner.”
Their footfalls died away down the concrete aisle. From the reading room came the sound of a softly turned leaf. Then the library was very silent.
Transcriber’s Notes:
――Text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).
――Except for the frontispiece, illustrations have been moved to follow the text that they illustrate.
――Punctuation and spelling inaccuracies were silently corrected.
――Archaic and variable spelling has been preserved.
――Variations in hyphenation and compound words have been preserved.