Somerset maughan

La Diane de 
Gabies
, which moved him differently, and to this presently he 
insisted on going. With a laugh Margaret remonstrated, but secretly 
she was not displeased. She was aware that his passion for this 
figure was due, not to its intrinsic beauty, but to a likeness he had 
discovered in it to herself. 
It stood in that fair wide gallery where is the mocking faun, with his 
inhuman savour of fellowship with the earth which is divine, and 
the sightless Homer. The goddess had not the arrogance of the 

---

huntress who loved Endymion, nor the majesty of the cold mistress 
of the skies. She was in the likeness of a young girl, and with 
collected gesture fastened her cloak. There was nothing divine in her 
save a sweet strange spirit of virginity. A lover in ancient Greece, 
who offered sacrifice before this fair image, might forget easily that 
it was a goddess to whom he knelt, and see only an earthly maid 
fresh with youth and chastity and loveliness. In Arthur's eyes 
Margaret had all the exquisite grace of the statue, and the same 
unconscious composure; and in her also breathed the spring odours 
of ineffable purity. Her features were chiselled with the clear and 
divine perfection of this Greek girl's; her ears were as delicate and as 
finely wrought. The colour of her skin was so tender that it 
reminded you vaguely of all beautiful soft things, the radiance of 
sunset and the darkness of the night, the heart of roses and the 
depth of running water. The goddess's hand was raised to her right 
shoulder, and Margaret's hand was as small, as dainty, and as white. 
'Don't be so foolish,' said she, as Arthur looked silently at the statue. 
He turned his eyes slowly, and they rested upon her. She saw that 
they were veiled with tears. 
'What on earth's the matter?' 
'I wish you weren't so beautiful,' he answered, awkwardly, as 
though he could scarcely bring himself to say such foolish things. 
'I'm so afraid that something will happen to prevent us from being 
happy. It seems too much to expect that I should enjoy such 
extraordinarily good luck.' 
She had the imagination to see that it meant much for the practical 
man so to express himself. Love of her drew him out of his 
character, and, though he could not resist, he resented the effect it 
had on him. She found nothing to reply, but she took his hand. 
'Everything has gone pretty well with me so far,' he said, speaking 
almost to himself. 'Whenever I've really wanted anything, I've 
managed to get it. I don't see why things should go against me now.' 

---

He was trying to reassure himself against an instinctive suspicion of 
the malice of circumstances. But he shook himself and straightened 
his back. 
'It's stupid to be so morbid as that,' he muttered. 
Margaret laughed. They walked out of the gallery and turned to the 
quay. By crossing the bridge and following the river, they must 
come eventually to Dr. Porhoët's house. 
* * * * * 
Meanwhile Susie wandered down the Boulevard Saint Michel, alert 
with the Sunday crowd, to that part of Paris which was dearest to 
her heart. L'Île Saint Louis to her mind offered a synthesis of the 
French spirit, and it pleased her far more than the garish boulevards 
in which the English as a rule seek for the country's fascination. Its 
position on an island in the Seine gave it a compact charm. The 
narrow streets, with their array of dainty comestibles, had the look 
of streets in a provincial town. They had a quaintness which 
appealed to the fancy, and they were very restful. The names of the 
streets recalled the monarchy that passed away in bloodshed, and in