Perhaps the time may come when we shall do so."

"Well, in your case, Thyra," Adherbal said, "it would make no
difference, because you know you would have chosen me anyhow; but most
girls would make a nice business of it. How are they to know what men
really are? They might be gamesters, drunkards, brutal and cruel
by nature, idle and spendthrift. What can maidens know of a man's
disposition? Of course they only see him at his best. Wise parents
can make careful inquiries, and have means of knowing what a man's
disposition and habits really are."

"You don't think, Adherbal," Thyra said earnestly, "that girls are such
fools that they cannot read faces; that we cannot tell the difference
between a good man and a bad one."

"Yes, a girl may know something about every man save the one she loves,
Thyra. She may see other's faults clearly enough; but she is blind to
those of the man she loves. Do you not know that the Greeks depict Cupid
with a bandage over his eyes?"

"I am not blind to your faults," Thyra said indignantly. "I know that
you are a great deal more lazy than becomes you; that you are not
sufficiently earnest in the affairs of life; that you will never rise to
be a great general like my cousin Hannibal."

"That is all quite true," Adherbal laughed; "and yet you see you love
me. You perceive my faults only in theory and not in fact, and you do
not in your heart wish to see me different from what I am. Is it not
so?"

"Yes," the girl said shyly, "I suppose it is. Anyhow, I don't like the
thought of your going away from me to that horrid Iberia."

Although defeated for the moment by the popular vote, the party of Hanno
were not discouraged. They had suffered a similar check when they had
attempted to prevent Hannibal joining Hasdrubal in Spain.

Not a moment was lost in setting to work to recover their lost ground.
Their agents among the lower classes spread calumnies against the
Barcine leaders. Money was lavishly distributed, and the judges, who
were devoted to Hanno's party, set their machinery to work to strike
terror among their opponents. Their modes of procedure were similar to
those which afterwards made Venice execrable in the height of her power.
Arrests were made secretly in the dead of night. Men were missing from
their families, and none knew what had become of them.

Dead bodies bearing signs of strangulation were found floating in the
shallow lakes around Carthage; and yet, so great was