been let
into the secret of the conspiracy was a faint-hearted man named
Hipposthenidas. As the time for action drew near this timid fellow grew
more and more frightened, and at length took upon himself, unknown to
the rest, to stop the coming of the exiled patriots. He ordered Chlidon,
a faithful slave of one of the seven, to ride in haste from Thebes, meet
his master on the road, and bid him and his companions to go back to
Athens, as circumstances had arisen which made their coming dangerous
and their project impracticable.

Chlidon, ready to obey orders, went home for his bridle, but failed to
find it in its usual place. He asked his wife where it was. She
pretended at first to help him look for it, but at last, in a tone of
contrition, acknowledged that she had lent it, without asking him, to a
neighbor. Chlidon, in a burst of anger at the delay to his journey,
entered into a loud altercation with the woman, who grew angry on her
part and wished him ill luck on his journey. Word led to word, both
sides grew more angry and abusive, and at length he began to beat his
wife, and continued his ill treatment until her cries brought neighbors
in to separate them. But all this caused a loss of time, the bridle was
not in this way to be had, and in the end Chlidon's journey was stopped,
and the message he had been asked to bear never reached the conspirators
on their way. Accidents of this kind often frustrate the best-laid
plans. In this case the accident was providential to the conspiracy.

And now, what were these seven men to do? Four men--Leontiades, Archias,
Philippus, and Hypates--had the city under their control. But they were
supported in their tyranny by a garrison of fifteen hundred Spartans and
allies in the Cadmeia, and Lacedaemonian posts in the other cities
around. These four men were to be dealt with, and for that purpose the
seven had come. On the evening of the next day Archias and Philippus
designed to have a banquet. Phyllidas, their secretary, but secretly one
of the patriots, had been ordered to prepare the banquet for them, and
had promised to introduce into their society on that occasion some women
of remarkable beauty and of the best families in Thebes. He did not hint
to them that these women would wear beards and carry daggers under their
robes.

We have told, in a previous tale, the story of the "Seven against
Thebes." The one with which we are now concerned might be properly
entitled the "Sev