THESEUS
of wine heightened, and mingled with, the powerful effluvium which,
in company with her breasts, was escaping from her corsage.
"Let us return to celestial things," she went on, "as return we
always must. You yourself, Theseus- surely you must feel that you
are inhabited by one of the gods?"
What put the final touch to my embarrassment was that Ariadne,
the elder daughter (and an exceptional beauty, though less attractive
to me personally than Phaedra) had made it quite plain to me,
before I began to feel so sick-had made it quite plain, as I say,
as much by
signs
as by a whisper, that as soon as I felt better I was
to join her on the terrace.
VI
What a terrace! And what a palace! Trance-like under the moon
the gardens seemed to be suspended in readiness for one knew not
what. It was the month of March, but I could sense already the
delicious half-warmth of spring. Once in the open air, I began to
feel quite well. Never an indoor man, I need to fill my lungs with
fresh air. Ariadne came running towards me, and without a word
clamped her warm lips to mine---so violently that we were both
a-tremble.
"Follow me," she said. "Not that I mind if anyone sees us; but
we can talk more freely under the terebinths." She led me down a
few steps towards a more leafy part of the gardens, there huge trees
obscured the moon, though not its reflection upon the sea. She had
changed her clothes, and now wore, in place of her hooped skirt and
tight surcoat, a sort of loose dress, beneath which she was palpably
naked.
"I can guess what my mother's been telling you," she began.
"She's mad, raving mad, and you can disregard everything she says.
One thing about this place I must tell you straight away: you are
in great danger. You came here, as I well know, to fight my half–
brother, the Minotaur. I'm telling you all this for your own good,
so listen carefully. You will win- I'm sure of it. To see you is to
banish doubt. (Don't you think that's rather a good line of poetry–
but perhaps you have no ear?) But nobody to this day has ever
managed to get out of the maze in which the monster lives; and you
won't succeed, either, my dear, unless your sweetheart (that I am, or
1173
