his hand.

"One word more," she exclaimed; "one more boon, and your Cassandra will be
completely happy. Promise me that I shall wed Parrhasius if his prediction
be fulfilled."

"I promise," replied Zeuxis, conscious that her hopes were groundless,
and that the last day of the festival would witness the nuptials of
Thearchus and Cassandra, and thus crown his paternal ambition with a more
valued bay than the laurel of the victor.

On the following morning Zeuxis prepared for the games. Just at the moment
of starting a helot approached him with a small roll directed to "Zeuxis,
the unrivaled painter of Greece." He was delighted with the flattering
superscription, and, having unbound it, read:

Parrhasius, the plebeian boy of Ephesus, to Zeuxis, the
great Athenian artist: Greeting. Ten days, and the games of
Olympia will terminate. On the ninth I challenge thee to a
trial of skill. The subject is left to the choice of the
challenged.

Zeuxis rent the challenge in a thousand pieces, and, burning with rage,
exclaimed: "Tell your master that Zeuxis stoops not to compete with
plebeians! Tell him I trample his insolent challenge beneath my feet, even
as I would crush its author. Begone! Gods, has it come to this?" continued
he. "Must I first bear the taunts of that boy, and then, in the face of
thousands, have him challenge me to a trial? I know him well. If I refuse,
a herald will proclaim that refusal in every street of Athens, and the
gymnasium and the circus will ring with my shame. It must not be." And he
commanded the helot to return.

"Tell your master," said Zeuxis, "that I accept his challenge: the
subject, fruit." The helot departed.

"Now," said Zeuxis, "my triumph will be complete, and Cassandra's delusion
will be broken. Now will I prove the insolent Ephesian unworthy of my
exalted notice and the noble Cassandra's love. It is well. Destiny bids me
stoop to the trial, only to add another laurel to my brow!" And Zeuxis,
with haughty step, proceeded to the circus.

Within a few hours all Athens was in commotion. A new impulse had been
given to the public excitement, and the first sound that fell upon the ear
of Zeuxis as he entered the circus was the voice of a herald proclaiming
that an Ephesian painter had challenged the great artist to a trial of
skill.

The voice of the herald also sounded throughout the streets of Athens,
and fell like sweetest symphony upon the ear of Cassandra. She