nt from Amphissa--loves him and does what I bid
him. My grandmother, too, knows nothing yet. She is deaf, and the female
slaves dare not tell her. After her recent attack of giddiness, the
doctor said that any sudden shock might injure her. If only I can find
the right words, that my grandfather may not be too sorely hurt!"

"Shall I accompany you?" asked Gorgias kindly.

"No," she answered hurriedly. "He needs time ere he will trust
strangers. Only, if Apollonius discloses the terrible truth, and his
grief threatens to overpower him, comfort him, and show him that we
still have friends who are ready to protect us from such disaster."

She waved her hand in token of gratitude, and hurried through the little
side gate into the garden. Gorgias looked after her with sparkling eyes,
and drew a long breath. How good this girl must be, how wisely she cared
for her relatives! How energetically the young creature behaved! He
had seen his new acquaintance only in the dim light, but she must
be beautiful. Her eyes, lips, and hair certainly were. How his heart
throbbed as he asked himself the question whether this young girl,
who was endowed with every gift which constituted the true worth
of womanhood, was not preferable to her more attractive sister
Barine!--when the thought darted through his mind that he had cause to
be grateful to the beard which covered his chin and cheeks, for he felt
that he, a sedate, mature man, must have blushed. And he knew why. Only
half an hour before he had felt and admitted to Dion that he considered
Barine the most desirable of women, and now another's image cast a
deep shadow over hers and filled his heart with new, perhaps stronger
emotions.

He had had similar experiences only too often, and his friends, Dion at
their head, had perceived his weakness and spoiled many an hour for
him by their biting jests. The series of tall and short, fair and dark
beauties who had fired his fancy was indeed of considerable length, and
every one on whom he had bestowed his quickly kindled affections had
seemed to him the one woman he must make his own, if he would be a happy
man. But ere he had reached the point of offering his hand, the question
had arisen in his mind whether he might not love another still more
ardently. So he had begun to persuade himself that his heart yearned for
no individual, but the whole sex--at least the portion which was young
and could feel love--and therefore he would scarcely b