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+The Project Gutenberg EBook Arachne, by Georg Ebers, Volume 3.
+#71 in our series by Georg Ebers
+
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+Title: Arachne, Volume 3.
+
+Author: Georg Ebers
+
+Release Date: April, 2004  [EBook #5510]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on June 17, 2002]
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+Edition: 10
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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ARACHNE, BY GEORG EBERS, V3 ***
+
+
+
+This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net>
+
+
+
+[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the
+file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an
+entire meal of them.  D.W.]
+
+
+
+
+
+ARACHNE
+
+By Georg Ebers
+
+Volume 3.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+"When the moon is over Pelican Island."  How often Ledscha had repeated
+this sentence to herself while Hermon was detained by Daphne and her
+Pelusinian guests!
+
+When she entered the boat after nightfall she exclaimed hopefully, sure
+of her cause, "When the moon is over Pelican Island he will come."
+
+Her goal was quickly reached in the skiff; the place selected for the
+nocturnal meeting was a familiar one to her.
+
+The pirates had remained absent from it quite two years.  Formerly they
+had often visited the spot to conceal their arms and booty on the densely
+wooded island.  The large papyrus thicket on the shore also hid boats
+from spying eyes, and near the spot where Ledscha landed was a grassy
+seat which looked like an ordinary resting place, but beneath it the
+corsairs had built a long, walled passage, that led to the other side of
+the island, and had enabled many a fugitive to vanish from the sight of
+pursuers, as though the earth had swallowed them.
+
+"When the moon is over the island," Ledscha repeated after she had waited
+more than an hour.
+
+The time had not yet come; the expanse of water lay before her
+motionless, in hue a dull, leaden gray, and only the dimly illumined air
+and a glimmering radiance along the edges of the waves that washed the
+island showed that the moon was already brightening the night.
+
+When its full orb floated above the island Hermon, too, would appear, and
+the happiness which had been predicted to Ledscha would begin.
+
+Happiness?
+
+A bitter smile hovered around her delicately cut lips as she repeated the
+word.
+
+Hitherto no feeling was more distant from her; for when love and longing
+began to stir in her heart, it seemed as though a hideous spider was
+weaving its web about her, and vague fears, painful memories, and in
+their train fierce hate would force glad expectation into the shadow.
+
+Yet she yearned with passionate fervour to see Hermon again, and when he
+was once there all must be well between them.  The prediction of old
+Tabus, who ruled as mistress over so many demons, could not deceive.
+
+After Ledscha had so lately reminded the lover who so vehemently roused
+her jealous wrath what this night of the full moon meant to her, she
+could rely upon his appearance in spite of everything.
+
+Various matters undoubtedly held him firmly enough in Tennis--she
+admitted this to herself after she grew calmer--but he had promised to
+come; he would surely enter the boat, and she--she would submit to share
+the night with the Hellene.
+
+Her whole being longed for the bliss awaiting her, and it could come from
+no one save the man whose lips would seek hers when the moon rose over
+the Pelican Island.
+
+How tardily and sluggishly the cow-headed goddess who bore the silver orb
+between her horns rose to-night! how slowly the time passed, yet she did
+not move forward more certainly that the man whom Ledscha expected must
+arrive.
+
+Of the possibility of his non-appearance she would not think; but when
+the fear that she was perhaps looking for him in vain assailed her, the
+blood crimsoned her face as if she felt the shame of a humiliating
+insult.  Yet why should she make the period of waiting more torturing
+than it was already?
+
+Surely he must come!
+
+Sometimes she rested on the grassy seat and gazed across the dull gray
+surface of the water into the distance; sometimes she walked to and fro,
+stopping at every turn to look across at Tennis and the bright torches
+and lights which surrounded the Alexandrian's tent.
+
+So one quarter of an hour after another passed away.
+
+A light breeze rose, and gradually the tops of the rushes began to shine,
+and the leafage before, beside, and above her to glitter in the silvery
+light.
+
+The water was no longer calm, but furrowed by countless little ripples,
+on whose crests the rays from above played, sparkling and flashing
+restlessly.  A web of shimmering silvery radiance covered the edges of
+every island, and suddenly the brilliant full moon was reflected in
+argent lustre like a magnificent quivering column upon the surface of the
+water, now rippled by the evening breeze.
+
+The time during which Ledscha could repeat "When the moon is over Pelican
+Island" was past; already its course had led it beyond.
+
+The island lay behind it, and it continued its pilgrimage before the
+young girl's eyes.
+
+The glittering column of light upon the water proved that she was not
+mistaken; the time which she had appointed for Hermon had already
+expired.
+
+The moon in calm majesty sailed farther and farther onward in its course,
+and with it minute after minute elapsed, until they became a half hour,
+then a whole one.
+
+"How long is it since the moon was over Pelican Island?" was the question
+which now pressed itself upon her again and again, and to which she found
+an answer at every glance upward, for she had learned to estimate time by
+the position of the stars.
+
+Rarely was the silence of the night interrupted by the call of a human
+being or the barking of a dog from the city, or even the hooting of an
+owl at a still greater distance; but the farther the moon moved on above
+her the fiercer grew the uproar in Ledscha's proud, cruelly wronged soul.
+She felt offended, scorned, insulted, and at the same time defrauded of
+the happiness which this night of the full moon contained for her.  Or
+had the demons who promised happiness meant something else in their
+prediction than Hermon's love?  Was she to owe the bliss they had
+foretold to hate and pitiless retribution?
+
+When the midnight hour had nearly arrived she prepared to depart, but
+after she had already set her foot on the edge of the boat she returned
+to the grassy seat.  She would wait a little longer yet.  Then there
+would be nothing which could give Hermon a right to consideration; then
+she might let loose upon him the avenging powers at her command.
+
+Ledscha again gazed over the calm landscape, but in the wild tumult of
+her heart she no longer distinguished the details upon which her eyes
+rested.  Doubtless she saw the light mists hovering like ghosts, or the
+restless shades of the unburied dead, over the shining expanse before
+her, and the filmy vapours that veiled the brightness of the stars, but
+she had ceased to question the heavenly bodies about the time.
+
+What did she care for the progress of the hours, since the constellation
+of Charles's Wain showed her that it was past midnight?
+
+The moon no longer stood forth in sharp outlines against the deep azure
+of the vaulted sky, but, robbed of its radiance, floated in a circle of
+dimly illumined mists.
+
+Not only the feelings which stirred Ledscha's soul, but the scene around
+her, had gained a totally different aspect.
+
+Since every hope of the happiness awaiting her was destroyed, she no
+longer sought to palliate the wrongs Hermon had inflicted upon her.
+While dwelling on them, she by no means forgot the trivial purpose for
+which the artist intended to use her charms; and when she again gazed up
+at the slightly-clouded sky, the shrouded moon no longer reminded her of
+the silver orb between the horns of Astarte.
+
+She did not ask herself how the transformation had occurred, but in its
+place, high above her head, hung a huge gray spider.  Its gigantic limbs
+extended over the whole firmament, and seemed striving to clutch and
+stifle the world beneath.  The enormous monster was weaving its gray net
+over Tennis, and all the islands in the water, the Pelican Island, and
+she herself upon the seat of turf, and held them all prisoned in it.
+
+It was a horrible vision, fraught with terrors which, even when she shut
+her eyes in order to escape it, showed very little change.
+
+Assailed by anxious fears, Ledscha started up, and a few seconds later
+was urging her boat with steady strokes toward the Owl's Nest.
+
+Even now lights were still shining from the Alexandrian's tent through
+the sultry, veiled night.
+
+There seemed to be no waking life on the pirates' island.  Even old Tabus
+had probably put out the fire and gone to sleep, for deathlike silence
+and deep darkness surrounded it.
+
+Had Hanno, who agreed to meet her here after midnight, also failed to
+come?  Had the pirate learned, like the Greek, to break his promise?
+
+Only half conscious what she was doing, she left the boat; but her
+slender foot had scarcely touched the land when a tall figure emerged
+from the thicket near the shore and approached her through the darkness.
+
+"Hanno!" she exclaimed, as if relieved from a burden, and the young
+pirate repeated "Hanno" as if the name was the watchword of the night.
+
+Her own name, uttered in a tone of intense yearning, followed.  Not
+another syllable accompanied it, but the expression with which it fell
+upon her ear revealed so plainly what the young pirate felt for and
+expected from her that, in spite of the darkness which concealed her,
+she felt her face flush.
+
+Then he tried to clasp her hand, and she dared not withdraw it from the
+man whom she had chosen for her tool.  So she unresistingly permitted him
+to hold her right hand while he whispered his desire to take the place of
+the fallen Abus and make her his wife.
+
+Ledscha, in hurried, embarrassed tones, answered that she appreciated the
+honour of his suit, but before she gave full consent she must discuss an
+important matter with him.
+
+Then Hanno begged her to go out on the water.
+
+His father and his brother Labaja were sitting in the house by the fire
+with his grandmother.  They had learned, in following the trade of
+piracy, to hide the glimmer of lights.  The old people had approved his
+choice, but the conversation in the dwelling would soon be over, and then
+the opportunity of seeing each other alone would be at an end.
+
+Without uttering a word in reply, Ledscha stepped back into the boat, but
+Hanno plied the oars with the utmost caution and guided the skiff without
+the slightest sound away from the island to an open part of the water far
+distant from any shore.
+
+Here he took in the oars and asked her to speak.  They had no cause to
+fear being overheard, for the surrounding mists merely subdued the light
+of the full moon, and no other boat could have approached them
+unobserved.
+
+The few night birds, sweeping swiftly on their strong pinions from one
+island to another, flew past them like flitting shadows.  One hawk only,
+in search of nocturnal booty, circled around the motionless skiff, and
+sometimes, with expanded wings, swooped down close to the couple who were
+talking together so eagerly; but both spoke so low that it would have
+been impossible, even for the bird's keen hearing, to follow the course
+of their consultation.  Merely a few louder words and exclamations
+reached the height where it hovered.
+
+The young pirate himself was obliged to listen with the most strained
+attention while Ledscha, in low whispers, accused the Greek sculptor of
+having basely wronged and deceived her; but the curse with which Hanno
+received this acknowledgment reached even the bird circling around the
+boat, and it seemed as if it wished to express its approval to the
+corsair, for this time its fierce croak, as it suddenly swooped down to
+the surface of the water behind the boat, sounded shrilly through the
+silent night.  But it soon soared again, and now Ledscha's declaration
+that she would become Hanno's bride only on condition that he would aid
+her to punish the Hellenic traitor also reached him.
+
+Then came the words "valuable booty," "slight risk," "thanks and reward."
+
+The girl's whispered allusion to two colossal statues made of pure gold
+and genuine ivory was followed by a laugh of disagreeable meaning from
+the pirate.
+
+At last he raised his deep voice to ask whether Ledscha, if the venture
+in which he would willingly risk his life were successful, would
+accompany him on board the Hydra, the good ship whose command his father
+intrusted to him.  The firm "Yes" with which she answered, and her
+indignant exclamation as she repulsed Hanno's premature attempt at
+tenderness, might have been heard by the hawk even at a greater distance.
+
+Then the pirate's promised bride lowered her voice again, and did not
+raise her tones until she saw in imagination the fulfilment of the
+judgment which she was calling down upon the man who had torn her heart
+with such pitiless cruelty.
+
+Was this the happiness predicted for her on the night of the full moon?
+It might be, and, radiant with secret joy, her eyes sparkling and her
+bosom heaving as if her foot was already on the breast of the fallen foe,
+she assured Hanno that the gold and the ivory should belong to him, and
+to him alone; but not until he had delivered the base traitor to her
+alive, and left his punishment in her hands, would she be ready to go
+with him wherever he wished--not until then, and not one moment earlier.
+
+The pirate, with a proud "I'll capture him!" consented to this condition;
+but Ledscha, in hurried words, now described how she had planned the
+attack, while the corsair, at her bidding, plied the oars so as to bring
+the boat nearer to the scene of the assault.
+
+The vulture followed the skiff; but when it stopped opposite to the large
+white building, one side of which was washed by the waves, Ledscha
+pointed to the windows of Hermon's studio, exclaiming hoarsely to the
+young pirate: "You will seize him there--the Greek with the long, soft
+black beard, and the slender figure, I mean.  Then you will bind and gag
+him, but, you hear, without killing him, for I can only inflict what he
+deserves upon the living man.  I am not bargaining for a dead one."
+
+Just at that instant the bird of prey, with a shrill, greedy cry, as if
+it were invited to a delicious banquet, flew far away into the distance
+and did not return.  It flew toward the left; the girl noticed it, and
+her heavy black eyebrows, which already met, contracted still more.  The
+direction taken by the bird, which soon vanished in the darkness of the
+night, indicated approaching misfortune; but she was here only to sow
+destruction, and the more terrible growth it attained the better!
+
+With an acuteness which aroused the admiration of the young corsair, who
+was trained to similar plots, she explained hers.
+
+That they must wait until after the departure of the Alexandrian with her
+numerous train, and for the first dark night, was a matter of course.
+
+One signal was to notify Hanno to hold himself in readiness, another to
+inform him that every one in the white house had gone to rest, and that
+Hermon was there too.  The pirates were to enter the black-bearded
+Greek's studio.  While some were shattering his statues to carry away in
+sacks the gold and ivory which they contained, others were to force their
+way into Myrtilus's workroom, which was on the opposite side of the
+house.  There they would find the second statue; but this they must
+spare, because, on account of the great fame of its creator, it was more
+valuable than the other.  The fair-haired artist was ill, and it would be
+no difficult matter to take him alive, even if he should put himself on
+the defensive.  Hermon, on the contrary, was a strong fellow, and to bind
+him without injuring him severely would require both strength and skill.
+Yet it must be done, for only in case Hanno succeeded in delivering both
+sculptors to her alive would she consider herself--she could not repeat
+it often enough--bound to fulfil what she had promised him.
+
+With the exception of the two artists, only Myrtilus's servant, the old
+doorkeeper, and Bias, Hermon's slave, remained during the night in the
+house which was to be attacked, and Hanno would undertake the assault
+with twenty-five sturdy fellows whom he commanded on the Hydra if his
+brother Labaja consented to share in the assault, this force could be
+considerably increased.
+
+To take the old corsair into their confidence now would not be advisable,
+for, on account of his mother's near presence, he would scarcely consent
+to enter into the peril.  Should the venture fail, everything would be
+over; but if it succeeded, the old man could only praise the courage and
+skill with which it had been executed.
+
+Nothing was to be feared from the coast guard, for since Abus's death the
+authorities believed that piracy had vanished from these waters, and the
+ships commanded by Satabus and his sons had been admitted from Pontus
+into the Tanite arm of the Nile as trading vessels.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+While Hanno was discussing these considerations, he rowed the boat past
+the landing place from which the "garden" with the Alexandrian's tent
+could be seen.
+
+The third hour after midnight had begun.  Smoking flames were still
+rising from the pitch pans and blazing torches, and long rows of lanterns
+also illumined the broad space.
+
+It was as light as day in the vicinity of the tent, and Biamite huntsmen
+and traders were moving to and fro among the slaves and attendants as
+though it was market time.
+
+"Your father, too," Hanno remarked in his awkward fashion, "will scarcely
+make life hard for us.  We shall probably find him in Pontus.  He is
+getting a cargo of wood for Egypt there.  We have had dealings with him
+a long time.  He thought highly of Abus, and I, too, have already been
+useful to him.  There were handsome young fellows on the Pontine coast,
+and we captured them.  At the peril of our lives we took them to the
+mart.  He may even risk it in Alexandria.  So the old man makes over to
+him a large number of these youths, and often a girl into the bargain,
+and he does it far too cheaply.  One might envy him the profit--if it
+were not your father!  When you are once my wife, I'll make a special
+contract with him about the slaves.  And, besides, since the last great
+capture, in which the old man allowed me a share of my own, I, too, need
+not complain of poverty.  I shall be ready for the dowry.  Do you want to
+know what you are worth to me?"
+
+But Ledscha's attention was attracted by other things, and even after
+Hanno, with proud conceit, repeated his momentous question, he waited in
+vain for a reply.
+
+Then he perceived that the girl was gazing at the brilliantly lighted
+square as if spellbound, and now he himself saw before the tent a shed
+with a canopied roof, and beneath it cushioned couches, on which several
+Greeks--men and women--were half sitting, half lying, watching with eager
+attention the spectacle which a slender young Hellenic woman was
+presenting to them.
+
+The tall man with the magnificent black beard, who seemed fairly
+devouring her with his eyes, must be the sculptor whom Ledscha commanded
+him to capture.
+
+To the rude pirate the Greek girl, who in a light, half-transparent
+bombyx robe, was exhibiting herself to the eyes of the men upon a
+pedestal draped with cloths, seemed bold and shameless.
+
+Behind her stood two female attendants, holding soft white garments
+ready, and a handsome Pontine boy with black, waving locks, who gazed up
+at her waiting for her signs.
+
+"Nearer," Ledscha ordered the pirate in a stifled voice, and he rowed the
+boat noiselessly under the shadow of a willow on the bank.  But the skiff
+had scarcely been brought to a stop there when an elderly matron, who
+shared the couch of an old Macedonian man of a distinguished, soldierly
+appearance, called the name "Niobe."
+
+The Hellene on the pedestal took a cloth from the hand of one of the
+female attendants, and beckoned to the boy, who obediently drew through
+his girdle the short blue chiton which hung only to his knees, and sprang
+upon the platform.
+
+There the Greek girl manipulated in some way the red tresses piled high
+upon her head, and confined above the brow by a costly gold diadem, flung
+the white linen fabric which the young slave handed to her over her head,
+wound her arm around the shoulders of the ravenlocked boy, and drew him
+toward her with passionate tenderness.  At the same time she raised the
+end of the linen drapery with her left hand, spreading it over him like a
+protecting canopy.
+
+The mobile features which had just smiled so radiantly expressed mortal
+terror, and the pirate, to whom even the name "Niobe" was unfamiliar,
+looked around him for the terrible danger threatening the innocent child,
+from which the woman on the pedestal was protecting it with loving
+devotion.
+
+The mortal terror of a mother robbed by a higher power of her child could
+scarcely be more vividly depicted, and yet haughty defiance hovered
+around her slightly pouting lips; the uplifted hands seemed not only
+anxiously to defend, but also to defy an invisible foe with powerless
+anger.
+
+The pirate's eyes rested on this spectacle as if spellbound, and the man
+who in Pontus had dragged hundreds of young creatures--boys and girls--
+on his ship to sell them into slavery, never thinking of the tears which
+he thereby caused in huts and mansions, clinched his rough hand to attack
+the base wretch who was robbing the poor mother of her lovely darling.
+
+But just as Hanno was rising to look around him for the invisible
+evildoer, the loud shouts of many voices startled him.  He glanced toward
+the pedestal; but now, instead of the hapless mother, he found there the
+bold woman whom he had previously seen, as radiant as if some great piece
+of good fortune had befallen her, bowing and waving her hand to the other
+Greeks, who were thanking her with loud applause.
+
+The sorely threatened boy, bowing merrily, sprang to the ground; but
+Hanno put his hand on Ledscha's arm, and in great perplexity whispered,
+"What did that mean?"
+
+"Hush!" said the girl softly, stretching her slender neck toward the
+illuminated square, for the performer had remained standing upon the
+pedestal, and Chrysilla, Daphne's companion, sat erect on her couch,
+exclaiming, "If it is agreeable to you, beautiful Althea, show us Nike
+crowning the victor."
+
+Even the Biamite's keen ear could not catch the reply and the purport of
+the rapid conversation which followed; but she guessed the point in
+question when the young men who were present rose hastily, rushed toward
+the pedestal, loosed the wreaths from their heads, and offered them to
+the Greek girl whom Chrysilla had just called "beautiful Althea."
+
+Four Hellenic officers in the strong military force under Philippus, the
+commandant of the "Key of Egypt," as Pelusium was justly called, had
+accompanied the old Macedonian general to visit his friend Archias's
+daughter at Tennis; but Althea rejected their garlands with an
+explanation which seemed to satisfy them.
+
+Ledscha could not hear what she said, but when only Hermon and Myrtilus
+still stood with their wreaths of flowers opposite the "beautiful
+Althea," and she glanced hesitatingly from one to the other, as if she
+found the choice difficult, and then drew from her finger a sparkling
+ring, the Biamite detected the swift look of understanding which Hermon
+exchanged with her.
+
+The girl's heart began to throb faster, and, with the keen premonition of
+a jealous soul, she recognised in Althea her rival and foe.
+
+Now there was no doubt of it; now, as the actress, skilled in every wile,
+hid the hand holding the ring, as well as the other empty one, behind her
+back, she would know how to manage so that she could use the garland
+which Hermon handed her.
+
+Ledscha's foreboding was instantly fulfilled, for when Althea held out
+her little tightly clinched fist to the artists and asked Myrtilus to
+choose, the hand to which he pointed and she then opened was empty, and
+she took from the other the ring, which she displayed with well-feigned
+regret to the spectators.
+
+Then Hermon knelt before her, and, as he offered Althea his wreath, his
+dark eyes gazed so ardently into the blue ones of the red-haired Greek-
+like Queen Arsinoe, she was of Thracian descent--that Ledscha was now
+positively certain she knew for whose sake her lover had so basely
+betrayed her.
+
+How she hated this bold woman!
+
+Yet she was forced to keep quiet, and pressed her lips tightly together
+as Althea seized the white sheet and with marvellous celerity wound it
+about her until it fell in exquisite folds like a long robe.
+
+Surprise, curiosity, and a pleasant sense of satisfaction in seeing what
+seemed to her a shameless display withdrawn from her lover's eyes,
+rendered it easier for Ledscha to maintain her composure; yet she felt
+the blood throbbing in her temples as Hermon remained kneeling before the
+Hellene, gazing intently into her expressive face.
+
+Was it not too narrow wholly to please the man who had known how to
+praise her own beauty so passionately?  Did not the outlines of Althea's
+figure, which the bombyx robe only partially concealed, lack roundness
+even more than her own?
+
+And yet!  As soon as Althea had transformed the sheet into a robe, and
+held the wreath above him, Hermon's gaze rested on hers as though
+enraptured, while from her bright blue eyes a flood of ardent admiration
+poured upon the man for whom she held the victor's wreath.
+
+This was done with the upper portion of her body bending very far
+forward.  The slender figure was poised on one foot; the other, covered
+to the ankle with the long robe, hovered in the air.  Had not the wings
+which, as Nike, belonged to her been lacking, every one would have been
+convinced that she was flying--that she had just descended from the
+heights of Olympus to crown the kneeling victor.  Not only her hand, her
+gaze and her every feature awarded the prize to the man at her feet.
+
+There was no doubt that, if Nike herself came to the earth to make the
+best man happy with the noblest of crowns, the spectacle would be a
+similar one.
+
+And Hermon!  No garlanded victor could look up to the gracious divinity
+more joyously, more completely enthralled by grateful rapture.
+
+The applause which now rang out more and more loudly was certainly not
+undeserved, but it pierced Ledscha's soul like a mockery, like the
+bitterest scorn.
+
+Hanno, on the contrary, seemed to consider the scene scarcely worth
+looking at.  Something more powerful was required to stir him.  He was
+particularly averse to all exhibitions.  The utmost which his relatives
+could induce the quiet, reserved man to do when they ventured into the
+great seaports was to attend the animal fights and the games of the
+athletes.  He felt thoroughly happy only when at sea, on board of his
+good ship.  His best pleasure was to gaze up at the stars on calm nights,
+guide the helm, and meanwhile dream--of late most gladly of making the
+beautiful girl who had seemed to him worthy of his brave brother Abus,
+his own wife.
+
+In the secluded monotony of his life as a scar over memory had exalted
+Ledscha into the most desirable of all women, and the slaughtered Abus
+into the greatest of heroes.
+
+To win the love of this much-praised maiden seemed to Hanno peerless
+happiness, and the young corsair felt that he was worthy of it; for
+on the high seas, when a superior foe was to be opposed by force and
+stratagem, when a ship was to be boarded and death spread over her deck,
+he had proved himself a man of unflinching courage.
+
+His suit had progressed more easily than he expected.  His father would
+rejoice, and his heart exulted at the thought of encountering a serious
+peril for the girl he loved.  His whole existence was a venture of life,
+and, had he had ten to lose, they would not have been too dear a price to
+him to win Ledscha.
+
+While Althea, as the goddess of Victory, held the wreath aloft, and loud
+applause hailed her, Hanno was thinking of the treasures which he had
+garnered since his father had allowed him a share of the booty, and of
+the future.
+
+When he had accumulated ten talents of gold he would give up piracy, like
+Abus, and carry on his own ships wood and slaves from Pontus to Egypt,
+and textiles from Tennis, arms and other manufactured articles from
+Alexandria to the Pontine cities.  In this way Ledscha's father had
+become a rich man, and he would also, not for his own sake--he needed
+little--but to make life sweet for his wife, surround her with splendour
+and luxury, and adorn her beautiful person with costly jewels.  Many a
+stolen ornament was already lying in the safe hiding place that even his
+brother Labaja did not know.
+
+At last the shouts died away, and as the stopping of the clattering wheel
+wakes the miller, so the stillness on the shore roused Hanno from his
+dream.
+
+What was it that Ledscha saw there so fascinating that she did not even
+hear his low call?  His father and Labaja had undoubtedly left his
+grandmother's house long ago, and were looking for him in vain.
+
+Yes, he was right; the old pirate's shrill whistle reached his ear from
+the Owl's Nest, and he was accustomed to obedience.
+
+So, lightly touching Ledscha on the shoulder, he whispered that he must
+return to the island at once.  His father would be rejoiced if she went
+with him.
+
+"To-morrow," she answered in a tone of resolute denial.  Then, reminding
+him once more of the meaning of the signals she had promised to give, she
+waved her hand to him, sprang swiftly past him to the prow of the boat,
+caught an overhanging bough of the willow on the shore, and, as she had
+learned during the games of her childhood, swung herself as lightly as a
+bird into the thicket at the water's edge, which concealed her from every
+eye.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+Without even vouchsafing Hanno another glance, Ledscha glided forward in
+the shadow of the bushes to the great sycamore, whose thick, broad top on
+the side toward the tents was striped with light from the flood of
+radiance streaming from them.  On the opposite side the leafage vanished
+in the darkness of the night, but Myrtilus had had a bench placed there,
+that he might rest in the shade, and from this spot the girl could obtain
+the best view of what she desired to see.
+
+How gay and animated it was under the awning!
+
+A throng of companions had arrived with the Pelusinians, and some also
+had probably been on the ship which--she knew it from Bias--had come to
+Tennis directly from Alexandria that afternoon.  The galley was said to
+belong to Philotas, an aristocratic relative of King Ptolemy.  If she was
+not mistaken, he was the stately young Greek who was just picking up the
+ostrich-feather fan that had slipped from Daphne's lap.
+
+The performance was over.
+
+Young slaves in gay garments, and nimble female servants with glittering
+gold circlets round their upper arms and on their ankles, were passing
+from couch to couch, and from one guest to another, offering
+refreshments.  Hermon had risen from his knees, and the wreath of bright
+flowers again adorned his black curls.  He held himself as proudly erect
+as if the goddess of Victory herself had crowned him, while Althea was
+reaping applause and thanks.  Ledscha gazed past her and the others to
+watch every movement of the sculptor.
+
+It was scarcely the daughter of Archias who had detained Hermon, for he
+made only a brief answer--Ledscha could not hear what it was--when she
+accosted him pleasantly, to devote himself to Althea, and--this could
+be perceived even at a distance--thank her with ardent devotion.
+
+And now--now he even raised the hem of her peplos to his lips.
+
+A scornful smile hovered around Ledscha's mouth; but Daphne's guests also
+noticed this mark of homage--an unusual one in their circle--and young
+Philotas, who had followed Daphne from Alexandria, cast a significant
+glance at a man with a smooth, thin, birdlike face, whose hair was
+already turning gray.  His name was Proclus, and, as grammateus of the
+Dionysian games and high priest of Apollo, he was one of the most
+influential men in Alexandria, especially as he was one of the favoured
+courtiers of Queen Arsinoe.
+
+He had gone by her command to the Syrian court, had enjoyed on his
+return, at Pelusium, with his travelling companion Althea, the
+hospitality of Philippus, and accompanied the venerable officer to Tennis
+in order to win him over to certain plans.  In spite of his advanced age,
+he still strove to gain the favour of fair women, and the sculptor's
+excessive ardour had displeased him.
+
+So he let his somewhat mocking glance wander from Althea to Hermon, and
+called to the latter: "My congratulations, young master; but I need
+scarcely remind you that Nike suffers no one--not even goodness and grace
+personified--to take from her hand what it is her sole duty to bestow."
+
+While speaking he adjusted the laurel on his own thin hair; but Thyone,
+the wife of Philippus, answered eagerly: "If I were a young man like
+Hermon, instead of an old woman, noble Proclus, I think the wreath which
+Beauty bestows would render me scarcely less happy than stern Nike's
+crown of victory."
+
+While making this pleasant reply the matron's wrinkled face wore an
+expression of such cordial kindness, and her deep voice was so winning in
+its melody, that Hermon forced himself to heed the glance of urgent
+warning Daphne cast at him, and leave the sharp retort that hovered on
+his lips unuttered.  Turning half to the grammateus, half to the matron,
+he merely said, in a cold, self-conscious tone, that Thyone was right.
+In this gay circle, the wreath of bright flowers proffered by the hands
+of a beautiful woman was the dearest of all gifts, and he would know how
+to value it.
+
+"Until other more precious ones cast it into oblivion," observed Althea.
+"Let me see, Hermon: ivy and roses.  The former is lasting, but the
+roses--"  She shook her finger in roguish menace at the sculptor as she
+spoke.
+
+"The roses," Proclus broke in again, "are of course the most welcome to
+our young friend from such a hand; yet these flowers of the goddess of
+Beauty have little in common with his art, which is hostile to beauty.
+Still, I do not know what wreath will be offered to the new tendency with
+which he surprised us."
+
+At this Hermon raised his head higher, and answered sharply: "Doubtless
+there must have been few of them, since you, who are so often among the
+judges, do not know them.  At any rate, those which justice bestows have
+hitherto been lacking."
+
+"I should deplore that," replied Proclus, stroking his sharp chin with
+his thumb and forefinger; "but I fear that our beautiful Nike also cared
+little for this lofty virtue of the judge in the last coronation.
+However, her immortal model lacks it often enough."
+
+"Because she is a woman," said one of the young officers, laughing; and
+another added gaily: "That very thing may be acceptable to us soldiers.
+For my part, I think everything about the goddess of Victory is beautiful
+and just, that she may remain graciously disposed toward us.  Nay, I
+accuse the noble Althea of withholding from Nike, in her personation, her
+special ornament--her swift, powerful wings."
+
+"She  gave those to  Eros,  to  speed  his flight," laughed Proclus,
+casting a meaning look at Althea and Hermon.
+
+No one failed to notice that this jest alluded to the love which seemed
+to have been awakened in the sculptor as quickly as in the personator of
+the goddess of Victory, and, while it excited the merriment of the
+others, the blood mounted into Hermon's cheeks; but Myrtilus perceived
+what was passing in the mind of his irritable friend, and, as the
+grammateus praised Nike because in this coronation she had omitted the
+laurel, the fair-haired Greek interrupted him with the exclamation:
+
+"Quite right, noble Proclus, the grave laurel does not suit our gay
+pastime; but roses belong to the artist everywhere, and are always
+welcome to him.  The more, the better!"
+
+"Then we will wait till the laurel is distributed in some other place,"
+replied the grammateus; and Myrtilus quickly added, "I will answer for it
+that Hermon does not leave it empty-handed."
+
+"No one will greet the work which brings your friend the wreath of
+victory with warmer joy," Proclus protested.  "But, if I am correctly
+informed, yonder house hides completed treasures whose inspection would
+give the fitting consecration to this happy meeting.  Do you know what
+an exquisite effect gold and ivory statues produce in a full glow of
+lamplight?  I first learned it a short time ago at the court of King
+Antiochus.  There is no lack of lights here.  What do you say, gentlemen?
+Will you not have the studios lighted till the rooms are as bright as
+day, and add a noble enjoyment of art to the pleasures of this wonderful
+night?"
+
+But Hermon and Myrtilus opposed this proposal with equal decision.
+
+Their refusal awakened keen regret, and the old commandant of Pelusium
+would not willingly yield to it.
+
+Angrily shaking his large head, around which, in spite of his advanced
+age, thick snowwhite locks floated like a lion's mane, he exclaimed,
+"Must we then really return to our Pelusium, where Ares restricts the
+native rights of the Muses, without having admired the noble works which
+arose in such mysterious secrecy here, where Arachne rules and swings the
+weaver's shuttle?"
+
+"But my two cruel cousins have closed their doors even upon me, who came
+here for the sake of their works," Daphne interrupted, "and, as rather
+Zeus is threatening a storm--just see what black clouds are rising!--we
+ought not to urge our artists further; a solemn oath forbids them to show
+their creations now to any one."
+
+This earnest assurance silenced the curious, and, while the conversation
+took another turn, the gray-haired general's wife drew Myrtilus aside.
+
+Hermon's parents had been intimate friends of her own, as well as of her
+husband's, and with the interest of sincere affection she desired to know
+whether the young sculptor could really hope for the success of which
+Myrtilus had just spoken.
+
+It was years since she had visited Alexandria, but what she heard of
+Hermon's artistic work from many guests, and now again through Proclus,
+filled her with anxiety.
+
+He had succeeded, it was said, in attracting attention, and his great
+talent was beyond question; but in this age, to which beauty was as much
+one of the necessities of life as bread and wine, and which could not
+separate it from art, he ventured to deny it recognition.  He headed a
+current in art which was striving to destroy what had been proved and
+acknowledged, yet, though his creations were undeniably powerful, and
+even showed many other admirable qualities, instead of pleasing,
+satisfying, and ennobling, they repelled.
+
+These opinions had troubled the matron, who understood men, and was the
+more disposed to credit them the more distinctly she perceived traces of
+discontent and instability in Hermon's manner during the present meeting.
+
+So it afforded her special pleasure to learn from Myrtilus his firm
+conviction that, in Arachne, Hermon would produce a masterpiece which
+could scarcely be excelled.
+
+During this conversation Althea had come to Thyone's side, and, as Hermon
+had already spoken to her of the Arachne, she eagerly expressed her
+belief that this work seemed as if it were specially created for him.
+
+The Greek matron leaned back comfortably upon her cushions, her wrinkled,
+owl-like face assumed a cheerful expression, and, with the easy
+confidence conferred by aristocratic birth, a distinguished social
+position, and a light heart, she exclaimed: "Lucifer is probably already
+behind yonder clouds, preparing to announce day, and this exquisite
+banquet ought to have a close worthy of it.  What do you say, you wonder-
+working darling of the Muses"--she held out her hand to Althea as she
+spoke--" to showing us and the two competing artists yonder the model of
+the Arachne they are to represent in gold and ivory?"
+
+Althea fixed her eyes upon the ground, and, after a short period of
+reflection, answered hesitatingly: "The task which you set before me is
+certainly no easy one, but I shall rely upon your indulgence."
+
+"She will!" cried the matron to the others.
+
+Then, clapping her hands, she continued gaily, in the tone of the
+director of an entertainment issuing invitations to a performance: "Your
+attention is requested!  In this city of weavers the noble Thracian,
+Althea, will depict before you all the weaver of weavers, Arachne, in
+person."
+
+"Take heed and follow my advice to sharpen your eyes," added Philotas,
+who, conscious of his inferiority in intellect and talents to the men and
+women assembled here, took advantage of this opportunity to assert
+himself in a manner suited to his aristocratic birth.  "This artistic yet
+hapless Arachne, if any one, teaches the lesson how the lofty Olympians
+punish those who venture to place themselves on the same level; so let
+artists beware.  We stepchildren of the Muse can lull ourselves
+comfortably in the assurance of not giving the jealous gods the slightest
+cause for the doom which overtook the pitiable weaver."
+
+Not a word of this declaration of the Macedonian aristocrat escaped the
+listening Ledscha.  Scales seemed to fall from her eves.  Hermon had won
+her love in order to use her for the model of his statue of Arachne, and,
+now that he had met Althea, who perhaps suited his purpose even better,
+he no longer needed the barbarian.  He had cast her aside like a tight
+shoe as soon as he found a more acceptable one in this female juggler.
+
+The girl had already asked herself, with a slight thrill of horror,
+whether she had not prematurely called down so terrible a punishment
+upon her lover; now she rejoiced in her swift action.  If anything else
+remained for her to do, it was to make the vengeance with which she
+intended to requite him still more severe.
+
+There he stood beside the woman she hated.  Could he bestow even one poor
+thought upon the Biamite girl and the wrong he had inflicted?
+
+Oh, no!  His heart was filled to overflowing by the Greek--every look
+revealed it.
+
+What was the shameless creature probably whispering to him now?
+
+Perhaps a meeting was just being granted.  The rapture which had been
+predicted to her for this moonlight night, and of which Hermon had robbed
+her, was mirrored in his features.  He could think of everything except
+her and her poor, crushed heart.
+
+But Ledscha was mistaken.  Althea had asked the sculptor whether he still
+regretted having been detained by her before midnight, and he had
+confessed that his remaining at the banquet had been connected with a
+great sacrifice--nay, with an offence which weighed heavily on his mind.
+Yet he was grateful to the favour of the gods that had guided his
+decision, for Althea had it in her power to compensate him richly for
+what he had lost.
+
+A glance full of promise flashed upon him from her eloquent eyes, and,
+turning toward the pedestal at the same instant, she asked softly, "Is
+the compensation I must and will bestow connected with the Arachne?"
+
+An eager "Yes" confirmed this question, and a swift movement of her
+expressive lips showed him that his boldest anticipations were to be
+surpassed.
+
+How gladly he would have detained her longer!--but she was already the
+object of all eyes, and his, too, followed her in expectant suspense as
+she gave an order to the female attendant and then stood thoughtfully for
+some time before the platform.
+
+When she at last ascended it, the spectators supposed that she would
+again use a cloth; but, instead of asking anything more from the
+assistants, she cast aside even the peplos that covered her shoulders.
+
+Now, almost lean in her slenderness, she stood with downcast eyes; but
+suddenly she loosed the double chain, adorned with flashing gems, from
+her neck, the circlets from her upper arms and wrists, and, lastly, even
+the diadem, a gift bestowed by her relative, Queen Arsinoe, from her
+narrow brow.
+
+The female slaves received them, and then with swift movements Althea
+divided her thick long tresses of red hair into narrower strands, which
+she flung over her back, bosom, and shoulders.
+
+Next, as if delirious, she threw her head so far on one side that it
+almost touched her left shoulder, and stared wildly upward toward the
+right, at the same time raising her bare arms so high that they extended
+far above her head.
+
+It was again her purpose to present the appearance of defending herself
+against a viewless power, yet she was wholly unlike the Niobe whom she
+had formerly personated, for not only anguish, horror, and defiance, but
+deep despair and inexpressible astonishment were portrayed by her
+features, which obediently expressed the slightest emotion.
+
+Something unprecedented, incomprehensible even to herself, was occurring,
+and to Ledscha, who watched her with an expectation as passionate as if
+her own weal and woe depended upon Althea's every movement, it seemed as
+if an unintelligible marvel was happening before her eyes, and a still
+greater one was impending; for was the woman up there really a woman like
+herself and the others whose eyes were now fixed upon the hated actress
+no less intently than her own?
+
+Did her keen senses deceive her, or was not what was occurring actually
+a mysterious transformation?
+
+As Althea stood there, her delicate arms seemed to have lengthened and
+lost even their slight roundness, her figure to have become even more
+slender and incorporeal, and how strangely her thin fingers spread apart!
+How stiffly the strands of the parted, wholly uncurled locks stood out in
+the air!
+
+Did it not seem as if they were to help her move?
+
+The black shadow which Althea's figure and limbs cast upon the surface of
+the brightly lighted pedestal-no, it was no deception, it not only
+resembled the spinner among insects, it presented the exact picture of a
+spider.
+
+The Greek's slender body had contracted, her delicate arms and narrow
+braids of hair changed into spider legs, and the many-jointed hands were
+already grasping for their prey like a spider, or preparing to wind the
+murderous threads around another living creature.
+
+"Arachne, the spider!" fell almost inaudibly from her quivering lips,
+and, overpowered by torturing fear, she was already turning away from the
+frightful image, when the storm of applause which burst from the
+Alexandrian guests soothed her excited imagination.
+
+Instead of the spider, a slender, lank woman, with long, outstretched
+bare arms, and fingers spread wide apart, fluttering hair, and wandering
+eyes again stood before Ledscha.
+
+But no peace was yet granted to her throbbing heart, for while Althea,
+with perspiring brow and quivering lips, descended from the pedestal, and
+was received with loud demonstrations of astonishment and delight, the
+glare of a flash of lightning burst through the clouds, and a loud peal
+of thunder shook the night air and reverberated a long time over the
+water.
+
+At the same instant a loud cry rang from beneath the canopy.
+
+Thyone, the wife of Alexander the Great's comrade, though absolutely
+fearless in the presence of human foes, dreaded the thunder by which Zeus
+announced his anger.  Seized with sudden terror, she commanded a slave to
+obtain a black lamb for a sacrifice, and earnestly entreated her husband
+and her other companions to go on board the ship with her and seek
+shelter in its safe, rain-proof cabin, for already heavy drops were
+beginning to fall upon the tensely drawn awning.
+
+"Nemesis!" exclaimed the grammateus.
+
+"Nemesis!" whispered young Philotas to Daphne in a confidential murmur,
+throwing his own costly purple cloak around her to shield her from the
+rain.  "Nowhere that we mortals overstep the bounds allotted to us do we
+await her in vain."
+
+Then bending down to her again, he added, by way of explanation: "The
+winged daughter of Night would prove herself negligent if she allowed me
+to enjoy wholly without drawback the overwhelming happiness of being with
+you once more."
+
+"Nemesis!" remarked Thoas, an aristocratic young hipparch of the guards
+of the Diadochi, who had studied in Athens and belonged to the
+Peripatetics there.  "The master sees in the figure of this goddess the
+indignation which the good fortune of the base or the unworthy use of
+good fortune inspires in us.  She keeps the happy mean between envy and
+malicious satisfaction."  The young soldier looked around him, expecting
+applause, but no one was listening; the tempest was spreading terror
+among most of the freedmen and slaves.
+
+Philotas and Myrtilus were following Daphne and her companion Chrysilla
+as they hurried into the tent.  The deep, commanding tones of old
+Philippus vainly shouted the name of Althea, whom, as he had bestowed his
+hospitality upon her in Pelusium, he regarded as his charge, while at
+intervals he reprimanded the black slaves who were to carry his wife to
+the ship, but at another heavy peal of thunder set down the litter to
+throw themselves on their knees and beseech the angry god for mercy.
+
+Gras, the steward whom Archias had given to his daughter, a Bithynian who
+had attached himself to one school of philosophy after an other, and
+thereby ceased to believe in the power of the Olympians, lost his quiet
+composure in this confusion, and even his usual good nature deserted him.
+With harsh words, and no less harsh blows, he rushed upon the servants,
+who, instead of carrying the costly household utensils and embroidered
+cushions into the tent, drew out their amulets and idols to confide their
+own imperilled lives to the protection of higher powers.
+
+Meanwhile the gusts of wind which accompanied the outbreak of the storm
+extinguished the lamps and pitch-pans.  The awning was torn from the
+posts, and amid the wild confusion rang the commandant of Pelusium's
+shouts for Althea and the screams of two Egyptian slave women, who, with
+their foreheads pressed to the ground, were praying, while the angry Gras
+was trying, by kicks and blows, to compel them to rise and go to work.
+
+The officers were holding a whispered consultation whether they should
+accept the invitation of Proclus and spend the short remnant of the night
+on his galley over the wine, or first, according to the counsel of their
+pious commandant, wait in the neighbouring temple of Zeus until the storm
+was over.
+
+The tempest had completely scattered Daphne's guests.  Even Ledscha
+glanced very rarely toward the tents.  She had thrown her self on the
+ground under the sycamore to beseech the angry deity for mercy, but,
+deeply as fear moved her agitated soul, she could not pray, but listened
+anxiously whenever an unexpected noise came from the meeting place of the
+Greeks.
+
+Then the tones of a familiar voice reached her.  It was Hermon's, and the
+person to whom he was speaking could be no one but the uncanny spider-
+woman, Althea.
+
+They were coming to have a secret conversation under the shade of the
+dense foliage of the sycamore.  That was easily perceived, and in an
+instant Ledscha's fear yielded to a different feeling.
+
+Holding her breath, she nestled close to the trunk of the ancient tree to
+listen, and the first word she heard was the name "Nemesis," which had
+just reached her from the tent.
+
+She knew its meaning, for Tennis also had a little temple dedicated to
+the terrible goddess, which was visited by the Egyptians and Biamites as
+well as the Greeks.
+
+A triumphant smile flitted over her unveiled features, for there was no
+other divinity on whose aid she could more confidently rely.  She could
+unchain the vengeance which threatened Hermon with a far more terrible
+danger than the thunder clouds above, under the protection--nay, as it
+were at the behest of Nemesis.
+
+To-morrow she would be the first to anoint her altar.
+
+Now she rejoiced that her wealthy father imposed no restriction upon her
+in the management of household affairs, for she need spare no expense in
+choosing the animal she intended to offer as a sacrifice.
+
+This reflection flashed through her mind with the speed of lightning
+while she was listening to Althea's conversation with the sculptor.
+
+"The question here can be no clever play upon the name and the nature of
+the daughter of Erebus and Night," said the Thracian gravely.  "I will
+remind you that there is another Nemesis besides the just being who
+drives from his stolen ease the unworthy mortal who suns himself in good
+fortune.  The Nemesis whom I will recall to-day, while angry Zeus is
+hurling his thunderbolts, is the other, who chastises sacrilege--Ate, the
+swiftest and most terrible of the Erinyes.  I will invoke her wrath upon
+you in this hour if you do not confess the truth to me fully and
+entirely."
+
+"Ask,"  Hermon interrupted in a hollow tone.  "Only, you strange woman--"
+
+"Only," she hastily broke in, "whatever the answer may be, I must pose
+to you as the model for your Arachne--and perhaps it may come to that--
+but first I must know, briefly and quickly, for they will be looking for
+me immediately.  Do you love Daphne?"
+
+"No," he answered positively.  "True, she has been dear to me from
+childhood--"
+
+"And," Althea added, completing the sentence, "you owe her father a debt
+of gratitude.  But that is not new to me; I know also how little reason
+you gave her for loving you.  Yet her heart belongs neither to Philotas,
+the great lord with the little brain, nor to the famous sculptor
+Myrtilus, whose body is really too delicate to bear all the laurels
+with which he is overloaded, but to you, and you alone--I know it."
+
+Hermon tried to contradict her, but Althea, without allowing him to
+speak, went on hurriedly: "No matter!  I wished to know whether you loved
+her.  True, according to appearances, your heart does not glow for her,
+and hitherto you have disdained to transform by her aid, at a single
+stroke, the poverty which ill suits you into wealth.  But it was not
+merely to speak of the daughter of Archias that I accompanied you into
+this tempest, from which I would fain escape as quickly as possible.  So
+speak quickly.  I am to serve you in your art, and yet, if I understood
+you correctly, you have already found here another excellent model."
+
+"A native of the country," answered Hermon in an embarrassed tone.
+
+"And for my sake you allowed her to wait for you in vain?"
+
+"It is as you say."
+
+"And you had promised to seek her?"
+
+"Certainly; but before the appointed hour came I met you.  You rose
+before me like a new sun, shedding a new light that was full of promise.
+Everything else sank into darkness, and, if you will fulfil the hope
+which you awakened in this heart--"
+
+Just at that moment another flash of lightning blazed, and, while the
+thunder still shook the air, Althea continued his interrupted
+protestation: "Then you will give yourself to me, body and soul--but
+Zeus, who hears oaths, is reminding us of his presence--and what will
+await you if the Biamite whom you betrayed invokes the wrath of Nemesis
+against you?"
+
+"The Nemesis of the barbarians!" he retorted contemptuously.  "She only
+placed herself at the service of my art reluctantly; but you, Althea, if
+you will loan yourself to me as a model, I shall succeed in doing my very
+best; for you have just permitted me to behold a miracle, Arachne
+herself, whom you became, you enchantress.  It was real, actual life, and
+that--that is the highest goal."
+
+"The  highest?"  she  asked  hesitatingly.  "You will have to represent
+the female form, and beauty, Hermon, beauty?"
+
+"Will be there, allied with truth," flamed Hermon, "if you, you peerless,
+more than beautiful creature, keep your word to me.  But you will!  Let
+me be sure of it.  Is a little love also blended with the wish to serve
+the artist?"
+
+"A little love?"  she  repeated  scornfully.
+
+"This matter concerns love complete and full--or none.  We will see each
+other again to-morrow.  Then show me what the model Althea is worth to
+you."
+
+With these words she vanished in the darkness, while the call of her name
+again rang from the tents.
+
+"Althea!" he cried in a tone of mournful reproach as he perceived her
+disappearance, hurrying after her; but the dense gloom soon forced him to
+give up the pursuit.
+
+Ledscha, too, left her place beneath the sycamore.
+
+She had seen and heard enough.
+
+Duty now commanded her to execute vengeance, and the bold Hanno was ready
+to risk his life for her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+The following day the sun shone radiantly, with scorching brilliancy,
+upon Tennis and the archipelago, which at this season of the year
+surrounded the little city of weavers.
+
+Young Philotas, without going to rest, had set out at dawn in pursuit of
+game, accompanied by a numerous hunting party, to which several of the
+Pelusinian officers belonged.  He, too, had brought home a great quantity
+of booty, with which he had expected to awaken Daphne's admiration, and
+to lay as a token of homage at her feet.  He had intended to lead before
+her garlanded slaves bearing, tied by ropes, bunches of slaughtered wild
+fowl, but his reception was very different from what he had anticipated.
+
+Instead of praising his exploit, he had been indignantly requested to
+remove the poor, easily killed victims from her presence; and, wounded
+and disappointed, he had retired to his magnificent Nile boat, where,
+spent by his sleepless night, he slumbered so soundly on his soft
+cushions that he did not appear at the breakfast which the gray-haired
+commander of Pelusium had invited him to attend on his galley.
+
+While the others were still feasting there, Daphne was enjoying an hour
+alone with her companion Chrysilla.
+
+She had remained absent from Philippus's banquet, and her pale cheeks
+showed the ill effects produced by the excitement of the previous night.
+
+A little before noon Hermon came to see her.  He, too, had not gone to
+the Pelusinian's breakfast.
+
+After Althea had left him the evening before he went directly back to the
+white house, and, instead of going to rest, devoted himself to Myrtilus;
+for the difficulty of breathing, which during his industrious life in
+quiet seclusion had not troubled him for several months, attacked him
+with twofold violence after the gaiety of the previous night.  Hermon had
+not left him an instant until day brought the sufferer relief, and he no
+longer needed the supporting hand of his kind nurse.
+
+While Hermon, in his own sleeping room, ordered Bias to anoint his hair
+and beard and put on festal garments, the slave told him certain things
+that destroyed the last remnant of composure in his easily agitated soul.
+
+With the firm resolution to keep the appointment on Pelican Island,
+Hermon had gone at sunset, in response to the Alexandrian's invitation,
+to attend her banquet, and by no means unwillingly, for his parents' old
+friends were dear to him, and he knew by experience the beneficial
+influence Daphne's sunny, warmhearted nature exerted upon him.
+
+Yet this time he did not find what he expected.
+
+In the first place, he had been obliged to witness how earnestly Philotas
+was pressing his suit, and perceived that her companion Chrysilla was
+most eagerly assisting him.  As she saw in the young aristocrat a
+suitable husband for the daughter of Archias, and it was her duty to
+assign the guests their seats at the banquet, she had given the cushion
+beside Daphne to Philotas, and also willingly fulfilled Althea's desire
+to have Hermon for her neighbour.
+
+When Chrysilla presented the black-bearded artist to the Thracian, she
+would have sworn that Althea found an old acquaintance in the sculptor;
+but Hermon treated the far-famed relative of Queen Arsinoe as coldly and
+distantly as if he now saw her for the first time, and with little
+pleasure.
+
+In truth, he was glad to avoid women of Althea's stamp.  For some time
+he had preferred to associate with the common people, among whom he found
+his best subjects, and kept far aloof from the court circles to which
+Althea belonged, and which, thanks to his birth and his ability as an
+artist, would easily have been accessible to him also.
+
+The over-refined women who gave themselves airs of avoiding everything
+which imposes a restraint upon Nature, and therefore, in their
+transparent robes, treated with contempt all that modest Macedonian dames
+deemed worthy of a genuine woman's consideration, were repulsive to him--
+perhaps because they formed so rude a contrast to his noble dead mother
+and to Daphne.
+
+Although he had been very frequently in feminine society, Althea's manner
+at first caused him a certain degree of embarrassment; for, in spite of
+the fact that he believed he met her here for the first time, there was
+something familiar about her, especially in the tone of her voice, and he
+fancied that her first words were associated with some former ones.
+
+Yet no!  If he had ever met her, he would surely have remembered her red-
+gold hair and the other peculiarities of a personality which was
+remarkable in every respect.
+
+It soon proved that they were total strangers, and he wished matters to
+remain so.
+
+He was glad that she attracted him so little, for at least she would
+scarcely make the early departure to the Biamite, which he considered his
+duty, a difficult task.
+
+True, he admired from the first the rare milk-white line of her delicate
+skin, which was wholly free from rouge--his artist eye perceived that and
+the wonderfully beautiful shape of her hands and feet.  The pose of the
+head on the neck, too, as she turned toward him seemed remarkably fine.
+This slender, pliant woman would have been an admirable model!
+
+Again and again she reminded him of a gay Lesbian with whom he had
+caroused for a night during the last Dionysia in Alexandria, yet, on
+closer inspection, the two were as different as possible.
+
+The former had been as free and reckless in her conduct as Althea was
+reserved.  The hair and eyebrows of the Lesbian, instead of reddish gold,
+were the deepest black, and her complexion--he remembered it perfectly--
+was much darker.  The resemblance probably consisted merely in the shape
+of the somewhat too narrow face, with its absolutely straight nose, and a
+chin which was rather too small, as well as in the sound of the high
+voice.
+
+Not a serious word had reached his ears from the wanton lips of the
+Lesbian, while Althea at once desired information concerning his art,
+and showed that she was thoroughly familiar with the works and the
+aspirations of the Alexandrian sculptors.  Although aware that Hermon had
+begun his career as an artist, and was the leader of a new tendency, she
+pretended to belong to the old school, and thereby irritated him to
+contradiction and the explanation of his efforts, which were rooted in
+the demands of the present day and the life of the flourishing capital.
+
+The Thracian listened to the description of the new art struggling to
+present truth, as if these things were welcome surprises, grand
+revelations, for which she had waited with eager longing.  True, she
+opposed every statement hostile to the old beliefs; but her extremely
+expressive features soon betrayed to him that he was stirring her to
+reflect, shaking her opinions, and winning her to his side.
+
+Already, for the sake of the good cause, he devoted himself with the
+utmost zeal to the task of convincing Althea; she, however, did not
+make it an easy one, but presented clever arguments against his
+assertions.
+
+Whenever he or she, by way of example, mentioned any well-known work
+of art, she imitated, as if involuntarily, its pose and action with
+surprising fidelity, frequently also in admirable caricature, whose
+effect was extremely comical.  What a woman!
+
+She was familiar with whatever Grecian art had created, and the animated
+conversation became a bewitching spectacle.  When the grammateus Proclus,
+who as Althea's travelling companion had a certain claim upon her
+attention, mingled for a while in the discussion and attracted Althea's
+notice, Hermon felt injured, and answered his sensible remarks with such
+rudeness that the elder man, whose social position was so much higher,
+angrily turned his back upon him.
+
+Althea had imposed a certain degree of restraint upon herself while
+talking to the grammateus, but during the further conversation with
+Hermon she confessed that she was decidedly of his opinion, and added to
+the old reasons for the deposition of beauty and ideality in favour of
+truth and reality new ones which surprised the sculptor.  When she at
+last offered him her hand for a firm alliance, his brain was fevered,
+and it seemed a great honour when she asked eagerly what would occupy him
+in the immediate future.
+
+Passionate sympathy echoed in every word, was expressed in every feature,
+and she listened as if a great happiness was in store for herself when he
+disclosed the hopes which he based upon the statue of Arachne.
+
+True, as time passed he had spoken more than once of the necessity of
+retiring, and before midnight really tried to depart; but he had fallen
+under Althea's thrall, and, in reply to her inquiry what must shorten
+these exquisite hours, had informed her, in significant words, what drew
+him away, and that his delay threatened him with the loss of a model such
+as the favour of fate rarely bestowed upon an artist.
+
+Now the Thracian for the first time permitted her eyes to make frank
+confessions.  She also bent forward with a natural movement to examine
+the artistic work on a silver vase, and as while doing so her peplos fell
+over his hand, she pressed it tenderly.
+
+He gazed ardently up at her; but she whispered softly: "Stay!  You will
+gain through me something better than awaits you there, and not only for
+to-day and to-morrow.  We shall meet again in Alexandria, and to serve
+your art there shall be a beloved duty."
+
+His power of resistance was broken; yet he beckoned to his slave Bias,
+who was busied with the mixing jars, and ordered him to seek Ledscha and
+tell her not to wait longer; urgent duties detained him.
+
+While he was giving this direction, Althea had become engaged in the gay
+conversation of the others, and, as Thyone called Hermon, and he was also
+obliged to speak to Daphne, he could not again obtain an opportunity for
+private talk with the wonderful woman who held out far grander prospects
+for his art than the refractory, rude Biamite maiden.
+
+Soon Althea's performance seemed to prove how fortunate a choice he had
+made.  Her Arachne appeared like a revelation to him.  If she kept her
+promise, and he succeeded in modelling her in the pose assumed while
+imagining the process of transformation, and presented her idea to the
+spectators, the great success which hitherto--because he had not yielded
+to demands which were opposed to his convictions--he had vainly expected,
+could no longer escape him.  The Alexandrian fellow-artists who belonged
+to his party would gratefully welcome this special work; for what grew
+out of it would have nothing in common with the fascination of superhuman
+beauty, by which the older artists ensnared the hearts and minds of the
+multitude.  He would create a genuine woman, who would not lack defects,
+yet who, though she inspired neither gratification nor rapture, would
+touch, perhaps even thrill, the heart by absolute truth.
+
+While Althea was standing on the pedestal, she had not only represented
+the transformation into the spider, but experienced it, and the features
+of the spectators revealed that they believed they were witnessing the
+sinister event.  His aim was now to awaken the same feeling in the
+beholders of his Arachne.  Nothing, nothing at all must be changed in the
+figure of the model, in which many might miss the roundness and plumpness
+so pleasing to the eye.  Althea's very defects would perfect the figure
+of the restless, wretched weaver whom Athene transformed into the spider.
+
+While devoting himself to nursing his friend, he had thought far less of
+the new love-happiness which, in spite of her swift flight, was probably
+awaiting him through Althea than of the work which was to fill his
+existence in the immediate future.
+
+His healthy body, steeled in the palaestra, felt no fatigue after the
+sleepless night passed amid so many powerful excitements when he retired
+to his chamber and committed himself to the hands of his slave.
+
+It had not been possible to hear his report before, but when he at last
+received it Hermon was to learn something extremely unpleasant, and not
+only because no word of apology or even explanation of his absence had
+reached Ledscha.
+
+Bias was little to blame for this neglect, for, in the first place, he
+had found no boat to reach the Pelican Island, because half Tennis was on
+the road to Tanis, where, on the night of the full moon, the brilliant
+festivals of the full eye of Horns and the great Astarte were celebrated
+by the mixed population of this place.  When a boat which belonged to
+Daphne's galley was finally given to him, the Biamite girl was no longer
+at the place appointed for the meeting.
+
+Hoping to find her on the Owl's Nest with old Tabus, he then landed
+there, but had been so uncivilly rebuffed on the shore by a rough fellow
+that he might be glad to have escaped with sound limbs.  Lastly, he stole
+to Ledscha's home, and, knowing that her father was absent, had ventured
+as far as the open courtyard in the centre of the stately dwelling.  The
+dogs knew him, and as a light was shining from one of the rooms that
+opened upon the courtyard, he peeped in and saw Taus, Ledscha's younger
+sister.  She was kneeling before the statue of a god at the back of the
+room, weeping, while the old housekeeper had fallen asleep with the
+distaff in her lap.
+
+He called cautiously to the pretty child.  She was awaiting the return of
+her sister, who, she supposed, was still detained on the Owl's Nest by
+old Tabus's predictions; she had sorrowful tidings for her.
+
+The husband of her friend Gula had returned on his ship and learned that
+his wife had gone to the Greek's studio.  He had raged like a madman, and
+turned the unfortunate woman pitilessly out of doors after sunset.  Her
+own parents had only been induced to receive her with great difficulty.
+Paseth, the jealous husband, had spared her life and refrained from going
+at once to kill the artist solely because Hermon had saved his little
+daughter at his own peril from the burning house.
+
+"Now," said Ledscha's pretty little sister, "it would also be known that
+she had gone with Gula to his master, who was certainly a handsome man,
+but for whom, now that young Smethis was wooing her, she cared no more
+than she did for her runaway cat.  All Tennis would point at her, and she
+dared not even think what her father would do when he came home."
+
+These communications had increased Hermon's anxiety.
+
+He was a brave man, and did not fear the vengeance of the enraged
+husband, against whom he was conscious of no guilt except having
+persuaded his wife to commit an imprudence.  What troubled him was only
+the consciousness that he had given her and innocent little Taus every
+reason to curse their meeting.
+
+The ardent warmth with which Gula blessed him as the preserver of her
+child had given him infinite pleasure.  Now it seemed as if he had been
+guilty of an act of baseness by inducing her to render a service which
+was by no means free from danger, as though he wished to be paid for a
+good deed.
+
+Besides, the slave had represented the possible consequences of his
+imprudence in the most gloomy light, and, with the assurance of knowing
+the disposition of his fellow-countrymen, urged his master to leave
+Tennis at once; the other Biamite men, who would bear anything rather
+than the interference of a Greek in their married lives, might force
+Gula's husband to take vengeance on him.
+
+He said nothing about anxiety concerning his own safety, but he had good
+reason to fear being regarded as a go-between and called to account for
+it.
+
+But his warnings and entreaties seemed to find deaf ears in Hermon.
+True, he intended to leave Tennis as soon as possible, for what advantage
+could he now find here?  First, however, he must attend to the packing of
+the statues, and then try to appease Ledscha, and make Gula's husband
+understand that he was casting off his pretty wife unjustly.
+
+He would not think of making a hasty departure, he told the slave,
+especially as he was to meet Althea, Queen Arsinoe's art-appreciating
+relative, in whom he had gained a friend, later in Alexandria.
+
+Then Bias informed him of a discovery to which one of the Thracian's
+slave women had helped him, and what he carelessly told his master drove
+the blood from his cheeks, and, though his voice was almost stifled by
+surprise and shame, made him assail him with questions.
+
+What great thing had he revealed?  There had been reckless gaiety at
+every festival of Dionysus since he had been in the artist's service,
+and the slaves had indulged in the festal mirth no less freely than the
+masters.  To intoxicate themselves with wine, the gift of the god to whom
+they were paying homage, was not only permitted, but commanded, and the
+juice of the grape proved its all-equalizing power.
+
+There had been no lack of pretty companions even for him, the bondman,
+and the most beautiful of all had made eyes at his master, the tall,
+slender man with the splendid black beard.
+
+The reckless Lesbian who had favoured Hermon at the last Dionysia had
+played pranks with him madly enough, but then had suddenly vanished.  By
+his master's orders Bias had tried to find her again, but, in spite of
+honest search, in vain.
+
+Just now he had met, as Althea's maid, the little Syrian Margula, who had
+been in her company, and raced along in the procession of bacchanals in
+his, Bias's, arms.  True, she could not be persuaded to make a frank
+confession, but he, Bias, would let his right hand wither if Hermon's
+companion at the Dionysia was any other than Althea.  His master would
+own that he was right if he imagined her with black hair instead of red.
+Plenty of people in Alexandria practised the art of dyeing, and it was
+well known that Queen Arsinoe herself willingly mingled in the throng at
+the Dionysia with a handsome Ephebi, who did not suspect the identity of
+his companion.
+
+This was the information which had so deeply agitated Hermon, and then
+led him, after pacing to and fro a short time, to go first to Myrtilus
+and then to Daphne.
+
+He had found his friend sleeping, and though every fibre of his being
+urged him to speak to him, he forced himself to leave the sufferer
+undisturbed.
+
+Yet so torturing a sense of dissatisfaction with himself, so keen a
+resentment against his own adverse destiny had awaked within him, that he
+could no longer endure to remain in the presence of his work, with which
+he was more and more dissatisfied.
+
+Away from the studio!
+
+There was a gay party on board the galley of his parents' old friends.
+Wine should bring him forgetfulness, too, bless him again with the sense
+of joyous existence which he knew so well, and which he now seemed on the
+point of losing.
+
+When he had once talked and drunk himself into the right mood, life would
+wear a less gloomy face.
+
+No!  It should once more be a gay and reckless one.
+
+And Althea?
+
+He would meet her, with whom he had once caroused and revelled madly
+enough in the intoxication of the last Dionysia, and, instead of allowing
+himself to be fooled any longer and continuing to bow respectfully before
+her, would assert all the rights she had formerly so liberally granted.
+
+He would enjoy to-day, forget to-morrow, and be gay with the gay.
+
+Eager for new pleasure, he drew a long breath as he went out into the
+open air, pressed his hands upon his broad chest, and with his eyes fixed
+upon the commandant of Pelusium's galley, bedecked with flags, walked
+swiftly toward the landing place.
+
+Suddenly from the deck, shaded by an awning, the loud laugh of a woman's
+shrill voice reached his ear, blended with the deeper tones of the
+grammateus, whose attacks on the previous night Hermon had not forgotten.
+
+He stopped as if the laugh had pierced him to the heart.  Proclus
+appeared to be on the most familiar terms with Althea, and to meet him
+with the Thracian now seemed impossible.  He longed for mirth and
+pleasure, but was unwilling to share it with these two.  As he dared not
+disturb Myrtilus, there was only one place where he could find what he
+needed, and this was--he had said so to himself when he turned his back
+on his sleeping friend--in Daphne's society.
+
+Only yesterday he would have sought her without a second thought, but
+to-day Althea's declaration that he was the only man whom the daughter
+of Archias loved stood between him and his friend.
+
+He knew that from childhood she had watched his every step with sisterly
+affection.  A hundred times she had proved her loyalty; yet, dear as she
+was to him, willingly as he would have risked his life to save her from a
+danger, it had never entered his mind to give the tie that united them
+the name of love.
+
+An older relative of both in Alexandria had once advised him, when he was
+complaining of his poverty, to seek her hand, but his pride of manhood
+rebelled against having the wealth which fate denied flung into his lap
+by a woman.  When she looked at him with her honest eyes, he could never
+have brought himself to feign anything, least of all a passion of which,
+tenderly attached to her though he had been for years, hitherto he had
+known nothing.
+
+"Do you love her?" Hermon asked himself as he walked toward Daphne's
+tent, and the anticipated "No" had pressed itself upon him far less
+quickly than he expected.
+
+One thing was undeniably certain: whoever won her for a wife--even
+though she were the poorest of the poor--must be numbered among the most
+enviable of men.  And should he not recognise in his aversion to every
+one of her suitors, and now to the aristocratic young Philotas, a feeling
+which resembled jealousy?
+
+No!  He did not and would not love Daphne.  If she were really his, and
+whatever concerned him had become hers, with whom could he have sought
+in hours like these soothing, kind, and sensible counsel, comfort that
+calmed the heart, and the refreshing dew which his fading courage and
+faltering creative power required?
+
+The bare thought of touching clay and wax with his fingers, or taking
+hammer, chisel, and file in his hands, was now repulsive; and when, just
+outside of the tent, a Biamite woman who was bringing fish to the cook
+reminded him of Ledscha, and that he had lost in her the right model for
+his Arachne, he scarcely regretted it.
+
+
+
+
+ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
+
+Secluded monotony of his life as a scar over memory
+
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ARACHNE, BY GEORG EBERS, V3 ***
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