“Then the first thing is to find the magic coach!  We must have nothing so mundane as a carriage drawn by horses.  A magic coach that travels by itself!” He signalled to a passing automobile.

“Drive to the Pre Catelan—­and drive slowly!” he directed; he handed her to her seat with all the courtliness proper to the occasion, and they were off, wheeling up the long incline toward the Arc de Triomphe.

They were silent while the chauffeur made a way through the many vehicles, past the crowds of pedestrians that infest the entrance to the Bois; but as the way grew clearer—­as the spell of the trees, of the green vistas and glimpsed water began to weave itself—­Maxine turned and laid her hand gently upon Blake’s.

“Mon cher!  How good you are!”

He started, thrilling at her touch.

“My dearest!  Good?”

“In coming to me like this—­”

He caught her hand quickly.  “Don’t!” he said.  “Don’t!  It isn’t right—–­ from you to me.  You never doubted that I’d come?  You knew I’d come?”

“Yes; I knew.”

“Then that’s all right!” He pressed her hand, he smiled, he reassured her by all the subtle, intangible ways known to lovers, and it was borne in upon her that he had altered, had grown mentally in his months of exile—­that he was steadier, more certain of life or of himself, than when he had rushed tempestuously out of Max’s studio.  She pondered the change, without attempting to analyze it; a deep sense of rest possessed her, and she allowed her hand to lie passive in his until, all too soon, their cab swept round to the left, sped past a bank of greenery and drew up, with a creaking of brakes, before the restaurant of the Pre Catelan.

Everywhere was light, silence and, best boon of all, an unexpected solitude—­a solitude that invested the white building with a glamour of unreality and converted the slight-stemmed, moss-grown trees into spellbound sentinels.

“Here is the Castle!” said Blake.  “Look!  Even the waiters doze, until we come to wake them!” He handed her to the ground, gave his orders to the chauffeur, and as the cab disappeared into some unseen region, they mounted the wide steps.

“Monsieur desires dejeuner?” A sleek waiter disengaged himself from his brethren and came persuasively forward.  At this early hour everything at the Pre Catelan was soft and soothing; later in the day things would alter, the service would be swift and unrestful, the swish of motor-cars and the hum of voices would break the spell, but at this hour of noon Paris, for some obscure reason, ignored the fruitful oasis of the Bois, and peace lay upon it like balm.

“How charming!  Oh, but how charming!” The exclamation was won from Maxine as her glance skimmed the palms, the glittering glasses and the white table-linen, and rested upon the spacious windows that convey the fascinating impression that one whole wall of the room has been removed, and that the ranged trees outside with their satiny green stems actually commune with the gourmet as he eats his meal.