ill follow us home."

"Oh, how glad that makes me! and do you know, the first days of our
absence from each other do not seem so very dreadful to me. Now you are
to be my husband, I may surely tell you everything that pains or pleases
me, even when I dare not tell any one else, and so you must know, that,
when you leave, we expect two little visitors; they are the children
of the kind Phanes, whom your friend Gyges saved so nobly. I mean to be
like a mother to the little creatures, and when they have been good I
shall sing them a story of a prince, a brave hero, who took a simple
maiden to be his wife; and when I describe the prince I shall have you
in my mind, and though my little listeners will not guess it, I shall
be describing you from head to foot. My prince shall be tall like you,
shall have your golden curls and blue eyes, and your rich, royal dress
shall adorn his noble figure. Your generous heart, your love of truth,
and your beautiful reverence for the gods, your courage and heroism,
in short, every thing that I love and honor in you, I shall give to the
hero of my tale. How the children will listen! and when they cry, 'Oh,
how we love the prince, how good and beautiful he must be! if we could
only see him? then I shall press them close to my heart and kiss them as
I kiss you now, and so they will have gained their wish, for as you are
enthroned in my heart, you must be living within me and therefore near
to them, and when they embrace me they will embrace you too."

"And I shall go to my little sister Atossa and tell her all I have
seen on my journey, and when I speak of the Greeks, their grace, their
glorious works of art, and their beautiful women, I shall describe
the golden Aphrodite in your lovely likeness. I shall tell her of your
virtue, your beauty and modesty, of your singing, which is so sweet that
even the nightingale is silent in order to listen to it, of your love
and tenderness. But all this I shall tell her belongs to the divine
Cypris, and when she cries, 'O Aphrodite, could I but see thee!' I too
shall kiss my sister."

"Hark, what was that? Melitta surely clapped her hands. Farewell, we
must not stay! but we shall soon see each other again."

"One more kiss!"

"Farewell!"

Melitta had fallen asleep at her post, overcome by age and weariness.
Her dreams were suddenly disturbed by a loud noise, and she clapped her
hands directly to warn the lovers and call Sappho, as she perceived by
t