of
his misfortune, had filled and lent wings to his soul, was not least due
to the knowledge of being near her again.

And her presence really benefited him almost as much as he had
anticipated during the hours of solitary yearning in Tennis; he felt it a
great favour of Fate to be permitted to strive to possess her, felt even
during the delirium of this reception that he loved her. What a
tremendous longing to clasp her at once in his arms as his betrothed
bride overwhelmed him; but her father's opposition to the union of his
only child with a blind man must first be conquered, and the great
agitation in his soul, as well as the tumult around him, seemed like a
mockery of the quiet happiness which hovered before him when he thought
of his marriage with Daphne. Not until everything was calmer would the
time come to woo her. Until then both must be satisfied with knowing from
each other's lips their mutual love, and he thought he perceived in the
tone of her voice the deep emotion of her heart.

Perhaps this had prevented Daphne's expressing her congratulations upon
the success of his Demeter as eagerly and fully as he had expected.
Painfully disturbed by her reserve, he had just attempted to induce her
to give a less superficial opinion of his work, when the curtains of the
dining room parted-the music of flutes, singing, and pleasant odours
greeted him and the guests. Archias summoned them to breakfast, and a
band of beautiful boys, with flowers and garlands of ivy, obeyed the
command to crown them.

Then Thyone approached the newly united pair and, after exchanging a few
words with Daphne, whispered in an agitated voice to the blind sculptor,
over whose breast a brown-locked young slave was just twining a garland
of roses: "Poverty no longer stands between you and the object of your
love; is it Nemesis who even now still seals your lips?"

Hermon stretched out his hand to draw her nearer to him and murmur softly
that her counsel had aided him to break the power of the terrible
goddess, but he grasped the empty air. At the same time the deep voice of
his love's father, whose opposition threatened to cloud his new
happiness, singing, flute-playing, and the laughter of fair women greeted
him and, only half master of his own will, he assented, by a slight bend
of the head, to the matron's question. A light shiver ran through his
frame with the speed of lightning, and the Epicurean's maxim that fear
and cold are compan