ming ablutions with water from an earthen jar, and talking amicably, if absent-mindedly, with his brother, who was ready dressed. The Ph?nician rose hastily, and began his usu

er before they left the temple was the only conversation they had had on the subject of the inspiration and its result. This morning, then, the mo

have I

d? Wher

d's face. "You were not with me, then,

bylonian goddess. That was an inspiration, Charmides.

pale. After a long silence, during which Kabir, much puzz

w? I vowed

held up his hand with such an imploring gesture that a sudden light broke in upon the trader. He realized now that regret

re, O Charmides, to ful

his head in sha

one. None but I saw you. The guard at the gate was asleep. You are safe. Forget the

od, Ph?nician? What of t

l annihilated in the series of contests. Nevertheless, Kabir knew very well that he could not scoff at another's religion. He was puzzled. He tried argument, persuasion, entreaty, every form of rhetoric that occurred t

y father this morning, Kabir, a

interest in this impulsive and irresponsible shepherd-boy-he, a man who had cared for neither man nor woman all his life through, whose whole interest had hitherto been centred in material things. But he was, as many othe

iving-room, to find their morning meal just ready and Theron and his son sittin

, though Phalaris was in a lively mood, and conversation flowed easily enough among the others. When the athlete had risen, however, and Kab

k a vow made within h

refully. "You know that he

ow. Last night, after a great

e. Then Heraia leaned forward, looking at her son as if s

? Of what

the gods, most marvellous, most incomprehensible; and there a great vision was before me-a silver cloud in which the goddess Istar of Babylon appeared

his last words, however, he found there something that caused his head to droop in new-found dejection, while he waited for hi

You did not leave the room

d in sudden hope, but

the gods have more than once app

ion, and all the music that came to my ears was made by Charmides himself, who sang an inspired h

must abide by the vow. You, O Ph?nician, will you take him in the

mised him l

ous, "how did you both pass the guard at th

Charmides and Kabir,

f sob escape her; and Charmides drew a hand ac

to your patron god and to the strange goddess that put this thing into your heart. Though I shall lose you, though the heart of

did not allow to fall; and even Phalaris, the true Spartan of the family, who was a little scornful of his brother for permitting his feelings to betray themselves even for a moment, himself felt an unlooked-for q

alley. I will speak with Eshmun on behalf of Charm

the ship till she sails again

han his son's expression. So, presently, the four men left the house, and Heraia was left alone to fac

them, and three days sufficed for the shaping and sewing of these. Oars took more time, for strong wood was hard to procure around Selinous, and only two or three men in the city had any idea of the manner of carving out these heavy and unshapely things. The mending of the torn bottom of the ship and the replacing of her crushed bulwarks and sides required many days of skilful carpentry; and when all this was done, the heavy-clingi

ight of labor Charmides' thoughts were busier than his hands, and they moved not wholly through regretful ways. It would have been wonderful had his young imagination not been excited by the prospect before him, that of strange lands and peoples, of pleasur

a life in which the presence of others was unnecessary and undesirable. The existence that his imagination conjured up from the lands of the unreal had become dearer to him than that of actualities. He had created a world for himself, and peopled it with creatures of his fancy. With these he walked and held converse, and no one but

hepherd to carry away with him contained enough to transport him to the gates of the great city itself. Regarding the object of that journey, the father, after the first morning, said not one word. He felt that Charmides knew best what he intended to do; and it must be confessed that, despite his piety and his reverence for the gods of his race, the Selinuntian felt his credulity much taxed when it came to

o realize that poetry and imagination held small places in his category of desirable characteristics; and the young man ceased to lay before the older one any pretty notions regarding sea-myths in which he was indulging himself when contemplating the long, eastward voyage. Now and t

sat alone, a little way in front of the house, looking off upon the seas to which, to-morrow, he was to trust himself for safe convoy to such distant lands. It was a fair afternoon, and very warm. The rhapsode, basking in the sunlight, felt his emotions dulled under the beauty

a strained voice. And th

s arms, her tears raining down upon his f

beloved, my companion!

ame and went in a vain effort to re-establish her self-control. After two or three minutes, in

vow. I will not go away. I will not leave thee here-alone." He kissed the hand agai

ill hardly forgive my weakness. Nay, Charmides, I did not come here to grieve over you, but to talk with you on many things that a mothe

elting into the still bluer tint of the sky above. And when Heraia began again to talk, her tone was so low and so even that the words seemed to her listener to mingle with the afternoon, becoming at length so entirely a par

hings, for his advice is that of one who has lived long and wisely in the world. But I, dear son, must speak to you in another way, of things which, were you not as

of any man I have ever seen." She paused for a moment to look wistfully into that face, wi

is that o

e has the man in it most plainly written. There is in

ex. Woman's nature is as yet, I think, closed to your understanding. In this long journey upon which you are faring forth, I do not doubt that

raded, so lost to virtue, that she cannot remember a time of purity which you can reawaken in her. And there is no woman so good that, for the man she truly loves with her heart and with her soul, she will not fall; for so men have taught them, through the ages, to love. Therefore, my son, may the greatest of all humiliations come upon you if, know

he wide world-to poverty, to wretchedness, to suffering perhaps-but in this I trust you to keep faith with me. Remember that I hold your honor as my own. Though Apollo may not vouchsafe that I see you again after to-morrow-ever; tho

nd his eyes, brimming with salt tears, looked blindly upon the flushing clouds. For many minutes they were silent, sitting together for the last time, while the sunset hour drew on and the golden shadows fell athwart the daisies, and

ed themselves in a distant corner of the living-room. Doris' wide eyes were tinged with red, and her mien was as dejected as Heraia's; for Charmides had been her comrade always. He had helped her in her tasks, had sung his shepherd songs to her from the fields, had not seldom procured pardon for her for some neglect of duty. And Sardeis, the skilful but rather churlish slave, who hated Phalaris

instrument. Then, lifting up his voice, he sang a song to the sea, a quaintly rhymed little melody, in his invariable minor. Finishing it, he began again, improvising as he went, with an ease and carelessness that produced wonderfully happy combinations. Now, as always, he found consolation for

to the temple, where, before Archemides, you will renew your vow and offer sacrifice of the youngest lamb in our fold. Kabir w

abir came in again, and presently we

d slumber, from which, with the first glimmer of day, he rose. His mind was at rest, his heart filled with peace in the inward knowledge that what he was going forth alone to seek was no chimera, but a marvellous reality. It was, then, with a great, confident joy written upon his

ly ending in a choked prayer and kiss from Heraia. Her last embrace, given as they stood upon the shore beside the little boat that was to row him out to the galley, sent a sharp pang through his heart. He knew that his father gently loosened her arms from his neck. He had

ed sail. Thus the pain of lingering in sight of the city, his home, was not protracted for the rhapsode. Ten minutes after he had stepped upon the deck of the ship

others called an island, just touching the distant horizon-line, west or south. It was here and now, only, that the image of Istar, as he conceived her, took absolute possession of his soul. By day he walked with her, by night she watched over his light sleep. He talked to her, believing that she answered him. He sang to her and dreamed of her and prayed to her as something especially his own. Yet, near as was this image of his mind, Charmides never looked straight upon her face unveiled. Dimly,

sed a good deal of time studying this intense phase of the shepherd's malady, and seeking to think out its cure. Considering the trader's eminent practicality, he conceived, with remarkable penetration, the workings of a poetically unbalanced mind. Only he, out of all the ship's company, ca

long sand-stretches on the coast yielded every year to the Ph?nicians a store of their wonderful little dye-mollusks. Leaving the city of tyrant kings, the galley entered upon the waters that formed a setting for those jewels of the Mediterranean, the Grecian Isles, that rose like so many emeralds upon their amethystine waters, shot with gold by day, lying dim and murmurous by night under the dome of lapis-lazuli pricke

ts shone like little moons, more radiant than Charmides had ever known them before. Now and then, from the town on shore, came the baying of a dog. The Greek's heart swelled with a painful longing that he could not define. It was the first twinge of hom

for the end of their eight months of agony and toil was near its end. The little ship sped out of the friendly harbor, gallantly distancing the waves, sending forth two hissing curls of foam off her prow, her rudder cutting a deep, pale line in the smooth wake. As the morning star

eceding Cyprenian shore. Presently Kabir came to join him, and the two sat down together, cross-legged, on the deck. In one

or the morning. Pray A

for the approaching end of the voyage," returned the

too bountifully. The rhapsode, indeed, was in danger of falling into a melancholy reverie at this the very be

ng of. In Tyre, before you move farther to the east, you must let me show you how we are accustomed to worship Ashtoreth. Across the bay, on the mainland opposite the g

Charmides, turning t

e well for you to know. Will you drink

that he should learn. The sun was rising now-a great, fiery wheel, burnished and dripping, sending its rays of dazzling drops high up

h his wakeful night, and sorrowful at heart with longing for his distant home, lay down upon the planks and slept. It was near noon when he woke again; and over all the ship one could feel the

g-dreamed-of cloud picture that rose, like a conjured vision, out of the east. It was a mirrored city of white walls and drooping cypress-trees that stood far out in front of the gradually heightening coast-line behind them. It was Tyr

coming to stand at his shoulder, his to

y. "Oh yes, Kabir. It is,