The three boys, meanwhile, crowded around Melas and the lamb and asked
questions of all sorts about it and about the farm. It seemed but a short
time when the porter opened the door once more and ushered in the priest.
The Twins had never seen a priest, since there were none on the island,
and they looked with awe upon this man who could read omens and interpret
dreams. He was a tall, spare man with piercing dark eyes. He was dressed
in a long white robe, and wore a wreath of laurel upon his brow, and his
black hair fell over his neck in long, straggling locks.

No sooner had he entered the court and taken his place beside the
altar than the blue curtains of a door at the right parted and a tall
noble-looking man entered the room. Dion and Daphne knew at once that it
must be Pericles. No other man, they thought, could look so majestic.
Their knees shook under them, and they felt just as you would feel if you
were suddenly to meet the President of the United States. Pericles was
not alone. A man also tall, and wearing a long white cloak, followed
him through the curtains and joined the group about the altar.

"The Stranger!" gasped Daphne to Dion in a whisper. "Don't you remember?
He said he knew Pericles!"

The Stranger spoke to Melas and laid his hand playfully upon the heads of
the Twins.

"These are old friends of mine," he said to Pericles. "I stayed at their
house one night last spring."

Pericles had already greeted the priest. Now he smiled pleasantly at the
children, and spoke to Melas.