t be content with the youth. Besides,
you are better suited to him than to the graybeard."

He shook hands with Ledscha as he spoke, and Hanno accompanied her to
her boat.

At first he was silent, but as she was stepping into the skiff he
repeated his promise of meeting her here the following night.

"Very well," she answered quickly. "Perhaps I may have a commission to
give you."

"I will fulfil it," he answered firmly.

"To-morrow, then," she called, "unless something unexpected prevents."

But when seated on the thwart she again turned to him, and asked: "Does
it need a long time to bring your ship, with brave men on board, to this
place?"

"We can be here in four hours, and with favourable winds still sooner,"
was the reply.

"Even if it displeases your father?"

"Even then, and though the gods, many as there are, should forbid--if
only your gratitude will be gained."

"It will," she answered firmly, and the water plashed lightly under the
strokes of her oars.

CHAPTER V.

In the extreme northern portion of the little city of Tennis a large,
perfectly plain whitewashed building stood on an open, grass-grown
square.

The side facing the north rested upon a solid substructure of hard
blocks of hewn stone washed by the waves.

This protecting wall extended along both sides of the long, plain
edifice, and prevented the water from overflowing the open space which
belonged to it.

Archias, the owner of the largest weaving establishment in Tennis, the
father of the Alexandrian aristocrat who had arrived the evening before,
was the owner of the house, as well as of the broad plain on which
he had had it built, with the indestructible sea wall, to serve as a
storehouse to receive the supplies of linen, flax, and wool which were
manufactured in his factories.

It was favourably situated for this purpose, for the raw materials could
be moved from the ships which brought them to Tennis directly into the
building. But as the factories were at a considerable distance, the
transportation required much time and expense, and therefore Archias had
had a canal dug connecting the workshops with the water, and at its end
erected a new storehouse, which rendered a second transportation of the
ships' cargoes unnecessary.

The white mansion had not yet been devoted to any other purpose when the
owner determined to offer the spacious empty rooms of the ware house to
his nephews, the sculptors Hermon and Myrtilu