understanding was effected between him and those whom he esteemed.

The last caller left him just before midnight.

Hermon now made many preparations for departure.

He intended to go into the desert with very little luggage, as the oracle
seemed to direct. How long a time his absence would extend could not be
estimated, and the many poor people whom he had fed and supported must
not suffer through his departure. The arrangements required to effect
this he dictated to the slave, who understood writing. He had gained in
him an extremely capable servant, and Patran expressed his readiness to
follow him into the desert; but the wry face which, sure that the blind
man could not see him, he made while saying so, seemed to prove the
contrary.

Weary, and yet too excited to find sleep, Hermon at last went to rest.

If his Myrtilus had been with him now, what would he not have had to say
to express his gratitude, to explain! How overjoyed he would have been
at the fulfilment of his wish to see him united to Daphne, at least in
heart; with what fiery ardour he would have upbraided those who believed
him capable of having appropriated what belonged to another!

But Myrtilus was no more, and who could tell whether his body had not
remained unburied, and his soul was therefore condemned to be borne
restlessly between heaven and earth, like a leaf driven by the wind?
Yet, if the earth covered him, where was the spot on which sacrifices
could be offered to his soul, his tombstone could be anointed, and he
himself remembered?