one in whose power I believe, and to whom I just raised my hands in
prayer. It is the terrible one to whom I was delivered by hate and the
deceived love which is now dragging me by the hair, and will rob and
torture me till I despair of life. I mean the gray daughter of Night,
whom no one escapes, dread Nemesis."

Thyone sank down into the chair by the blind artist's side, asking
softly, "And what gave you into her avenging hands, hapless boy?"

"My own abominable folly," he answered mournfully and, with the feeling
that it would relieve his heart to pour out to this true friend what he
would usually have confided only to his Myrtilus, he hurriedly related
how he had recognised in Ledscha the best model for his Arachne, how he
had sought her love, and then, detained by Althea, left her in the lurch
and most deeply offended and insulted her. Lastly, he gave a brief but
vivid description of his meeting with the vengeful barbarian girl in
the Temple of Nemesis, how Ledscha had invoked upon him the wrath of the
terrible goddess, and how the most horrible punishment had fallen upon
him directly after the harsh accusation of the Biamite.

The matron had listened to this confession in breathless suspense. Now
she fixed her eyes on the floor, shook her gray head gently, and said
anxiously: "Is that it? It certainly puts things in a different light.
As the son of your never-to-be-forgotten mother, you are indeed dear to
my heart; but Daphne is not less dear to me, and though in your marriage
I just saw happiness for you both, that is now past. What is poverty,
what is blindness! Eros would reconcile far more difficult problems, but
his arrows are shattered on the armour of Nemesis. Where there is a pair
of lovers, and she raises her scourge against one of them, the other
will also be struck. Until you feel that you are freed from this
persecutor, it would be criminal to bind a loving woman to you and your
destiny. It is not easy to find the right path for you both, for even
Nemesis and her power do not make the slightest change in the fact that
you need faithful care and watching in your blindness. Daylight brings
wisdom, and we will talk further to-morrow."

She rose as she spoke; but Hermon detained her, while from his lips
escaped the anxious question, "So you will take Daphne away from me, and
leave me alone in my blindness?"

"You in your blindness?" cried Thyone, and the mere reproachful tone of
the question banished t