ike any school-boy to think that I--a fool among fools--should have
directed the attention of Euergetes to this girl, and he, the most
powerful and profligate man in the whole country. What can now be
done to save Irene from him? I cannot endure the thought of seeing her
abandoned to his clutches, and I will not permit it to happen.

"Do not you think that we ought to take the water-bearers under our
charge?"

"Not only we ought but we must," said Publius decisively; "and if we did
not we should be contemptible wretches. Since the recluse took me into
his confidence I feel as if it were my duty to watch over these
girls whose parents have been stolen from them, as if I were their
guardian--and you, my Lysias, shall help me. The elder sister is not now
very friendly towards me, but I do not esteem her the less for that;
the younger one seems less grave and reserved than Klea; I saw how she
responded to your smile when the procession broke up. Afterwards, you
did not come home immediately any more than I did, and I suspect that it
was Irene who detained you. Be frank, I earnestly beseech you, and tell
me all; for we must act in unison, and with thorough deliberation, if we
hope to succeed in spoiling Euergetes' game."

"I have not much to tell you," replied the Corinthian. "After the
procession I went to the Pastophorium--naturally it was to see Irene,
and in order not to fail in this I allowed the pilgrims to tell me what
visions the god had sent them in their dreams, and what advice had been
given them in the temple of Asclepius as to what to do for their own
complaints, and those of their cousins, male and female.

"Quite half an hour had passed so before Irene came. She carried a
little basket in which lay the gold ornaments she had worn at
the festival, and which she had to restore to the keeper of the
temple-treasure. My pomegranate-flower, which she had accepted in the
morning, shone upon me from afar, and then, when she caught sight of me
and blushed all over, casting down her eyes, then it was that it first
struck me 'just like the Hebe on our cistern.'

"She wanted to pass me, but I detained her, begging her to show me the
ornaments in her hand; I said a number of things such as girls like to
hear, and then I asked her if she were strictly watched, and whether
they gave her delicate little hands and feet--which were worthy of
better occupation than water-carrying--a great deal to do. She did not
hesitate to