To the great vexation of her father who, after her mother's death, in an
hour when his heart was softened, had promised that he would never impose
any constraint upon her in the choice of a husband, she had hitherto
rejected every suitor. She had showed even the distinguished Philotas in
Pelusium, without the least reserve, that he was seeking her in vain; for
just at that time she thought she had perceived that Hermon returned her
love, and after his abrupt departure it had become perfectly evident that
the happiness of her life depended upon him.

The terrible misfortune which had now befallen him had only bound her
more firmly to the man she loved. She felt that she belonged to him
indissolubly, and the leech's positive assurance that his blindness was
incurable had only increased the magic of the thought of being and
affording tenfold more to the man bereft of sight than when, possessing
his vision, the world, life, and art belonged to him. To be able to
lavish everything upon the most beloved of mortals, and do whatever her
warm, ever-helpful heart prompted, seemed to her a special favour of the
gods in whom she believed.

That it was Demeter, to the ranks of whose priestesses she belonged, who
was so closely associated with his blinding, also seemed to her no mere
work of chance. The goddess on whom Hermon had bestowed the features of
her own face had deprived him of sight to confer upon her the happiness
of brightening and beautifying the darkness of his life.

If she saw aright, and it was only the fear of obtaining, with herself,
her wealth, that still kept him from her, the path which would finally
unite them must be found at last. She hoped to conquer also her father's
reluctance to give his only child in marriage to a blind man, especially
as Hermon's last work promised to give him the right to rank with the