arch, this longing and crying for the absent, this
final restoration and the bliss of new possession, is set forth by the
youths and damsels-now in slow and now in vehement action, but always
with infinite grace.

Melissa threw her whole soul into the dance while Demeter was seeking
the lost Persephone, her thoughts were with her brothers; and she
laughed as heartily as any one at the jests with which Iambe cheered the
stricken mother. And when the joy of meeting was to find expression, she
need not think of anything but the fact that the youth who held out his
hand to her loved her and cared for her. In this, for the moment, lay
the end of all her longing and seeking, the fulfillment of every wish;
and as the chorus shouted, "Iakchos!" again and again, her soul seemed
to have taken wings.

The reserve of her calm and maidenly nature broke down; in her ecstasy
she snatched from her shoulder the wreath of ivy with which Diodoros had
decked her, and waved it aloft. Her long hair had fallen loose in the
dance and flowed wildly about her, and her shout of "Iakchos!" rang
clear in the night air.

The youth she loved gazed at her with ravished eyes, as at some miracle;
she, heedless of the others, threw her arms round his neck, and, as he
kissed her, she said once more, but loud enough now to be heard from
afar, "The world is a banqueting-hall!" and again she joined in the
shout of "Iakchos!" her eyes bright with excitement. Cups filled
high with wine now circulated among the mad-cap mystics; even Melissa
refreshed herself, handing the beaker to her lover, and Diodoros raised
to his mouth that place on the rim which her lips had touched.

"O life! fount of joys!" cried Diodoros, kissing her and pressing her
closer to him. "Come, Iakchos! Behold with envy how thankfully two
mortals can bless the gift of life. But where is Alexander? To none but
to our Andreas have I ever confided the secret I have borne in my heart
since that day when we went to the circus. But now! Oh, it is so much
happiness for two hearts! My friend, too, must have part in it!"

At this Melissa clasped her hand to her brow, as though waking from a
dream. How hot she was from dancing, and the unusual strength of the
wine and water she had drunk!

The danger impending over both her brothers came back to her mind. She
had always been accustomed to think of others rather than herself, and
her festal mood dropped from her suddenly, like a mantle of which t