"Yes," he said, "I know Pericles well. I went with him only yesterday to
see the new temple he is having built upon the great hill of the
Acropolis in Athens. You have seen it, of course," he said, turning to
Melas.

"No," answered Melas. "I sell most of my produce in the markets of the
Piraeus, and go to Athens itself only when necessary to take fruit and
vegetables to the city home of Pericles. There is no occasion to
go in the winter, and the season for planting is only just begun. Perhaps
later in the summer I shall go."

"When you do," said the Stranger, "do not fail to see the new building on
the sacred hill. It is worth a longer journey than from here to Athens, I
assure you. People will come from the ends of the earth to see it some
day, or I am no true prophet."

"Oh," murmured Daphne to Dion, "don't you wish we could go too?"

"You can't go. You're a girl!" Dion whispered back. "Girls can't do such
things, but I'm going to get Father to take me with him the very next
time he goes."

Daphne turned up her nose at Dion. "I don't care if I am a girl," she
whispered back. "I'm no Athenian sissy that never puts her nose out of
doors, I can do everything you can do here on the farm, and I guess I
could in Athens too. Besides, no one would know I'm a girl; I look just
as much like a boy as you do. I look just like you."

"You do not," said Dion resentfully. "You can't look like a boy."