Stella turned up the narrow path he indicated, but in a moment he overtook her. "Let me go first!" he said.
He passed her with the words and walked ahead, holding the creepers back from her as she followed.
She suffered him silently, with a strange sense of awe, almost as though she trod holy ground. But the old feeling of trespass was wholly absent. She had no fear of being cast forth from this place that she was about to enter.
The path began to widen somewhat and to ascend. In a few moments they came upon a crumbling stonewall crossing it at right angles.
Monck paused. "One way leads to the palace, the other to the temple," he said. "Which shall we take?"
Stella faced him in the moonlight. She thought he looked stern. "Is not the picnic to be at the palace?" she said.
"Yes." He answered her without hesitation. "You will find Lady Harriet and Co. there. The temple on the other hand is probably deserted."
"Ah!" His meaning flashed upon her. She stood a second in indecision. Then "Is it far?" she said.
She saw his faint smile for an instant. "A very long way—for you," he said.
"I can come back?" she said.