n women, and the bark they are in belongs to Zeno, the
brother of Seleukus and of the high-priest of Serapis. That is his
landing-creek. He lives with his family, and those of the faith to whom
he affords refuge, in the long, white house you can just see there among
the palm-trees. Those vineyards, too, are his. If I am not mistaken, one
of the ladies in that boat is his daughter, Agatha."

"But what can Alexander want of two Christian women?" asked Melissa.

Andreas fired up, and a vein started on his high forehead as he retorted
angrily:

"What should he not want! He and those who are like him--the blind--think
nothing so precious as what satisfies the eye.--There! the brightness has
vanished which turned the lake and the shore to gold. Such is beauty!--a
vain show, which only glitters to disappear, and is to fools,
nevertheless, the supreme object of adoration!"

"Then, is Zeno's daughter fair?" asked the girl.

"She is said to be," replied the other; and after a moment's pause he
added: "Yes, Agatha is a rarely accomplished woman; but I know better
things of her than that. It stirs my gall to think that her sacred purity
can arouse unholy thoughts. I love your brother dearly; for your mother's
sake I can forgive him much; but if he tries to ensnare Agatha--"

"Have no fear," said Melissa, interrupting his wrathful speech.
"Alexander is indeed a butterfly, fluttering from flower to flower, and
apt to be frivolous over serious matters, but at this moment he is
enslaved by a vision--that of a dead girl; and only last night, I
believe, he pledged himself to Ino, the pretty daughter of our neighbor
Skopas. Beauty is to him the highest thing in life; and how should it be
otherwise, for he is an artist! For the sake of beauty he defies every
danger. If you saw rightly, he is no doubt in pursuit of Zeno's daughter,
but most likely not to pay court to her, but for some other season."

"No praiseworthy reason, you may be sure," said Andreas. "Here we are.
Now take your kerchief out of the basket. It is damp and cool after
sundown, especially over there where I am draining the bog. The land we
are reclaiming by this means will bring your future husband a fine income
some day."

They disembarked, and ere long reached the little haven belonging to
Polybius's estate. There were boats moored there, large and small, and
Andreas hailed the man who kept them, and who sat eating his supper, to
ask him whether he had unmoored t