Aegeus from the sons of Pallas?'

'My sword and the swords of my friends, of whom seven stand before you.'

'I will learn if this be true,' said Minos.

'True!' cried Theseus, and his hand flew to the place where his
sword-hilt should have been, but he had no sword.

King Minos smiled. 'You are young,' he said, 'I will learn more of these
matters. Lead these men and maidens to their own chambers in the
palace,' he cried to his guard. 'Let each have a separate chamber, and
all things that are fitting for princes. To-morrow I will take counsel.'

Theseus was gazing at Ariadne. She stood behind her father, and she put
up her right hand as if to straighten her veil, but, as she raised her
hand, she swiftly made the motion of lifting a cup to the lips; and then
she laid on her lips the fingers of her left hand, closing them fast.
Theseus saw the token, and he bowed, as did all his company, to Minos
and to the princess, and they were led upstairs and along galleries,
each to a chamber more rich and beautiful than they had seen before in
their dreams. Then each was taken to a bath, they were washed and
clothed in new garments, and brought back to their chambers, where meat
was put before them, and wine in cups of gold. At the door of each
chamber were stationed two guards, but four guards were set at the door
of Theseus. At nightfall more food was brought, and, for Theseus, much
red wine, in a great vessel adorned with ropes and knobs of gold.

Theseus ate well, but he drank none, and, when he had finished, he
opened the door of his chamber, and carried out all the wine and the
cup. 'I am one,' he said, 'who drinks water, and loves not the smell of
wine in his chamber.'

The guards thanked him, and soon he heard them very merry over the
king's best wine, next he did not hear them at all, next--he heard them
snoring!

Theseus opened the door gently and silently: the guards lay asleep
across and beside the threshold. Something bright caught his eye, he
looked up, a lamp was moving along the dark corridor, a lamp in the hand
of a woman clad in a black robe; the light fell on her white silent
feet, and on the feet of another woman who followed her.

Theseus softly slipped back into his chamber. The light, though shaded
by the girl's hand, showed in the crevice between the door and the
door-post. Softly entered Ariadne, followed by an old woman that had
been her nurse. 'You guessed the token?' she whispered. 'In the wine