eat."

"Hark, Rhodopis is calling again; let us go. I have asked Theopompus to
arrange everything about our wedding with her according to the usual
custom; and I shall remain in his house incognito until I can carry you
off as my own dear wife."

"And I will go with you."

The next morning, as the three friends were walking with their host in
his garden, Zopyrus exclaimed: "Wily, Bartja, I've been dreaming all
night of your Sappho. What a lucky fellow you are! Why I fancied my new
wife in Sardis was no end of a beauty until I saw Sappho, and now when I
think of her she seems like an owl. If Araspes could see Sappho he would
be obliged to confess that even Panthea had been outdone at last. Such a
creature was never made before. Auramazda is an awful spendthrift; he
might have made three beauties out of Sappho. And how charmingly it
sounded when she said 'good-night' to us in Persian."

"While I was away," said Bartja, "she has been taking a great deal of
trouble to learn Persian from the wife of a Babylonian carpet-merchant, a
native of Susa, who is living at Naukratis, in order to surprise me.

"Yes, she is a glorious girl," said Theopompus. "My late wife loved the
little one as if she had been her own child. She would have liked to have
had her as a wife for our son who manages the affairs of my house at
Miletus, but the gods have ordained otherwise! Ah, how glad she would
have been to see the wedding garland at Rhodopis' door!"

"Is it the custom here to ornament a bride's house with flowers?" said
Zopyrus.

"Certainly," answered Theopompus. "When you see a door hung with flowers
you may always know that house contains a bride; an olive-branch is a
sign that a boy has just come into the world, and a strip of woollen
cloth hanging over the gate that a girl has been born; but a vessel of
water before the door is the token of death. But business-hour at the
market is very near, my friends, and I must leave you, as I have affairs
of great importance to transact."

"I will accompany you," said Zopyrus, "I want to order some garlands for
Rhodopis' house."

"Aha," laughed the Milesian. "I see, you want to talk to the flower-girls
again. Come, it's of no use to deny. Well, if you like you can come with
me, but don't be so generous as you were yesterday, and don't forget that
if certain news of war should arrive, your disguise may prove dangerous."

The Greek then had his sandals fastened on by his slaves and starte