artillery regiments, and sharp-shooters by the score. It was a sort of
military Noah's Ark; but I knew that the prejudice against me was so
strong that nobody would believe what I told them. So I said nothing. My
prophecies never came true, they said, failing to observe that my warning
as to what would be was in itself the cause of their non-fulfilment. But
desiring to save Troy, I sent for Laocoon and told him all about it, and
he went out and announced it as his own private prophecy; and then, having
tried to drown his conscience in strong waters, he fell a victim to the
usual serpentine hallucination, and everybody said he wasn't sober, and
therefore unworthy of belief. The horse was accepted, hauled into the
city, and that night orders came from hindquarters to the regiments
concealed inside to march. They marched, and next morning Troy had been
removed from the map; ninety per cent. of the Trojans died suddenly, and
Æneas, grabbing up his family in one hand and his gods in the other, went
yachting for several seasons, ultimately settling down in Italy. All of
this could have been avoided if the Trojans would have taken the hint from
my prophecies. They preferred, however, not to do it, with the result that
to-day no one but Helen and myself knows even where Troy was, and we'll
never tell."

"It is all true," said Helen, proudly. "I was the woman who was at the
bottom of it all, and I can testify that Cassandra always told the truth,
which is why she was always so unpopular. When anything that was
unpleasant happened, after it was all over she would turn and say,
sweetly, 'I told you so.' She was the original 'I told you so' nuisance,
and of course she had the newspapyruses down on her, because she never
left them any sensation to spring upon the public. If she had only told a
fib once in a while, the public would have had more confidence in her."

"Thank you for your endorsement," said Cassandra, with a nod at Helen.