Do the slaves, bringing water from the Fountain of Callirhoee, look so
very beautiful in the moonlight?"

"I marvel that you can speak so lightly," replied Philothea: "We have as
yet heard no tidings concerning the decision in the Court of Cynosarges,
on which the fate of Philaemon depends; and you know how severely his
high spirit will suffer, if an unfavourable sentence is awarded. Neither
of us have alluded to this painful topic. But why have we thus lingered
on the house-top, if it were not to watch for the group which, if I
mistake not, are now approaching, on their return from Cynosarges?"

"Then it is for Philaemon's sake, that you have so long been looking
wistfully toward the Illyssus?" said Eudora, playfully.

"I will not deny that Paralus has had the largest share of my thoughts,"
replied the simple-hearted maiden; "but for Philaemon, as your betrothed
lover, and the favourite pupil of my grandfather, I feel an interest
strong enough to keep me on the watch during a less delightful evening
than this. I think it must be Paralus who walks in the centre of the
group; we have been separated many months; and courtesy to the numerous
strangers under his father's roof has prevented our having much
discourse to-day. For his sake, I am glad once more to be in my own
happy home. He is none the less dear to me because I know that he can
never be my husband."

"And why should he not?" exclaimed Eudora: "The blood of princes flowed
in the veins of your ancestors. If Anaxagoras is poor, it is because he
has preferred wisdom to gold."

With a faint sigh, Philothea answered, "Had the good old man preferred