"Supper is nearly ready," she called at last to Chloe. "You and Daphne
may bring out the couch and get the table ready."

Under the arcade in the court there was a small wooden table. Chloe and
Daphne lifted it and brought it near the fire. Then they brought a plain
wooden bench that also stood under the thatch and placed it beside the
table. They arranged cushions of lamb's wool upon the bench, and near the
foot set a low stool. Daphne brought the dishes, and when everything was
ready, Lydia sent Chloe to call her husband and the Stranger, while she
herself went out to the farm-yard. She found Dion and Argos sitting side
by side on the wood-pile in dejected silence.

"Come in and wash your hands," she said to Dion. "If you get yourself
clean, wrists and all, you may have your supper with us, but remember, no
sausage. You have had your fingers with your food." This is what mothers
used to say to their children in those days, because there were no knives
or forks, and often not even spoons, to eat with.

Lydia didn't invite Argos in, but he came anyway, and lay down beside the
fire with his nose on his paws, just where people would be most likely to
stumble over him.

When Melas and the Stranger came in, they sat down side by side on the
couch. Chloe knelt before them, took off their sandals, and bathed their
feet. Then the Stranger loosened his long, cloak-like garment, and he and
Melas reclined side by side upon the couch, their left elbows resting
on the lamb's-wool cushions. Chloe moved the little table within easy
reach of their hands, and Lydia took her place on the stool beside the
couch. It was now quite dark except for the light of the hearth-fire.