heck them by speaking,
but they will not listen, for the day of their doom is at hand. And tell
no one that Ulysses has come home, not even Laertes nor the swineherd nor
Penelope herself; we must keep the secret until we are sure of our
friends."

Then Telemachus said that his father might trust him, and so they talked
on together. Meanwhile Eumaeus had reached the palace with the tidings that
Telemachus had returned; and the suitors who were in the hall heard it and
were dismayed, for they saw that their plot had failed. They went out of
the palace and sat down before the gates, and were talking of sending word
to their ship that was lying in wait for Telemachus, when the ship itself
came into the harbor, with the other princes on board. So they all went up
together to the public square and debated what to do, and they resolved to
murder Telemachus as soon as they found another chance. Then they went
back and sat down again on the polished seats in the hall.

Now Medon the herald had heard them plotting together in the square, and
went and told Penelope all they had said, and how they had purposed
putting her son to death. She went down at once to the hall with her
women, and stood in the doorway with her bright veil before her face and
spoke to Antinous and said, "Wicked and insolent man, can it be that they
call you in Ithaca one of their wisest men? No, it is a fool's work you
are doing, plotting to kill my son. He is helpless before you now, but
Zeus is the friend of the helpless and avenges their wrongs. Impious and
ungrateful too! Did not Ulysses once shield your father from his enemies
and save his life? Yet you waste his substance and would murder his son?"

Then Eurymachus spoke and tried to soothe her. No one, he said, should
injure Telemachus while he was alive, for he loved him more than any man
on earth. Eurymachus's words were fair, and Penelope could say no more;
yet all the while he was planning the death of her son.

In the evening the swineherd reached his hut again, and found Ulysses
changed to the old beggar-man once more, preparing supper with Telemachus.

"What news, good Eumaeus?" said the young man. "Have the proud lords come
home from their ambush, or are they still waiting out yonder to take me as
I return?" And Eumaeus replied, "I did not stay, master, to go through the
town and find out the news, for when I had given my message I wanted to be
at home. But one thing I saw from the brow of