CHAPTER XIV.
Outside the door of the tent Hermon was trying to banish Althea's imagefrom his mind. How foolishly he had overestimated last night thevalue of this miserable actress, who as a woman had lost all charm forhim--even as a model for his Arachne!
He would rather have appeared before his pure friend with unsightlystains on his robe than while mastered by yearning for the Thracian.
The first glance at Daphne's beloved face, the first words of hergreeting, taught him that he should find with her everything for whichhe longed.
In simple, truthful words she reproached him for having neglected herto the verge of incivility the evening before, but there was no trace ofbitterness or resentment in the accusation, and she gave Hermon littletime for apology, but quickly gladdened him with words of forgiveness.
In the opinion of her companion Chrysilla, Daphne ought to have keptthe capricious artist waiting much longer for pardon. True, the cautiouswoman took no part in the conversation afterward, but she kept hercharge in sight while she was skilfully knotting the fringe into a clothwhich she had woven herself. On account of her favourite Philotas, itwas well for Daphne to be aware that she was watched.
Chrysilla was acquainted with life, and knew that Eros never minglesmore arbitrarily in the intercourse of a young couple than when, after along separation, there is anything whatever to forgive.
Besides, many words which the two exchanged escaped her hearing, forthey talked in low tones, and it was hot in the tent. Often the fatigueshe felt after the sleepless night bowed her head, still comely with itsunwrinkled face, though she was no longer young; then she quickly raisedit again.
Neither Daphne nor Hermon noticed her. The former at once perceived thatsomething was weighing on the sculptor's mind, but he did not need anylong inquiry. He had come to confide his troubles to her, and she kindlylightened the task for him by asking why he had not gone to breakfastwith the Pelusinians.
"Because I am not fit for gay company today," was the reply.
"Again dissatisfied with Fate?"
"True, it has given me small cause for contentment of late."
"Put in place of Fate the far-seeing care of the gods, and you willaccept what befalls you less unkindly."
"Let us stick to us mortals, I entreat you."
"Very well, then. Your Demeter does not fully satisfy you."
A discontented shrug of the shoulders was the reply.
"Then work with twofold zeal upon the Arachne."
"Although one model I hoped to obtain forsook me, and my soul isestranged from the other."
"Althea?" she asked eagerly, and he nodded assent.
Daphne clapped her hands joyfully, exclaiming so loudly that Chrysilla'shead sprang up with a jerk. "It could not help being so! O Hermon!how anxious I have been! Now, I thought, when this horrible womanrepresented the transformation into the spider with such repulsiveaccuracy, Hermon will believe that this is the true, and therefore theright, ideal; nay, I was deceived myself while gazing. But, eternalgods! as soon as I imagined this Arachne in marble or chryselephantinework, what a painful feeling overpowered me!"
"Of course!" he replied in an irritated tone. "The thirst for beauty, towhich you all succumb, would not have much satisfaction to expect fromthis work."
"No, no, no!" Daphne interrupted in a louder tone than usual, and withthe earnest desire to convince him. "Precisely because I transportedmyself into your tendency, your aspirations, I recognised the danger. OHermon! what produced so sinister an effect by the wavering light ofthe lamps and torches, while the thunderstorm was rising--the strands ofhair, the outspread fingers, the bewildered, staring blue eyes--doyou not feel yourself how artificial, how unnatural it all was? Thistransformation was only a clever trick of acting, nothing more. Beforea quiet spectator, in the pure, truthful light of Apollo, the foe ofall deception, what would this Arachne probably become? Even now--I havealready said so--when I imagine her executed in marble or in goldand ivory! Beauty? Who would expect to find in the active, constantlytoiling weaver, the mortal daughter of an industrious dyer in purple,the calm, refreshing charm of divine women? I at least am neitherfoolish nor unjust enough to do so. The degree of beauty Altheapossesses would entirely satisfy me for the Arachne. But when I imaginea plastic work faithful to the model of yesterday evening--though Ihave seen a great deal with my own eyes, and am always ready to defer toriper judgment--I would think, while looking at it: This statue came tothe artist from the stage, but never from Nature. Such would be my view,and I am not one of the initiated. But the adepts! The King, with histhorough connoisseurship and fine taste, my father, and the other famousjudges, how much more keenly they would perceive and define it!"
Here she hesitated, for the blood had left Hermon's cheeks, and she sawwith surprise the deep impression which the candid expression ofher opinion had produced upon the artist, usually so independent anddisposed to contradiction. Her judgment had undoubtedly disturbed, nay,perhaps convinced him; but at the same time his features revealed suchdeep depression that, far from rejoicing in so rare a success, shepatted his arm like an affectionate sister, saying: "You have not yetfound time to realize calmly what yesterday dazzled us all--and you,"she added in a lower tone, "the most strongly."
"But now," he murmured sadly, half to himself, half to, her, "my visionis doubly clear. Close before the success of which I dreamed failure andbitter disappointment."
"If this 'doubly' refers to your completed work, and also to theArachne," cried Daphne in the affectionate desire to soothe him, "apleasant surprise will perhaps soon await you, for Myrtilus judges yourDemeter much more favourably than you yourself do, and he also betrayedto me whom it resembles."
She blushed slightly as she spoke, and, as her companion's gloomy facebrightened for a short time, went on eagerly: "And now for the Arachne.You will and must succeed in what you so ardently strive to accomplish,a subject so exactly adapted to your magnificent virile genius and sostrangely suited to the course which your art has once entered upon.And you can not fail to secure the right model. You had not found itin Althea, no, certainly not! O Hermon! if I could only make you seeclearly how ill suited she, in whom everything is false, is to you--yourart, your only too powerful strength, your aspiration after truth--"
"You hate her," he broke in here in a repellent tone; but Daphne droppedher quiet composure, and her gray eyes, usually so gentle, flashedfiercely as she exclaimed: "Yes, and again yes! From my inmost soul Ido, and I rejoice in it. I have long disliked her, but since yesterday Iabhor her like the spider which she can simulate, like snakes and toads,falsehood and vice."
Hermon had never seen his uncle's peaceful daughter in this mood. Theemotions that rendered this kindly soul so unlike itself could only bethe one powerful couple, love and jealousy; and while gazing intentlyat her face, which in this moment seemed to him as beautiful as DallasAthene armed for battle, he listened breathlessly as she continued:"Already the murderous spider had half entangled you in her net. Shedrew you out into the tempest--our steward Gras saw it--in order, whileZeus was raging, to deliver you to the wrath of the other gods alsoand the contempt of all good men; for whoever yields himself to her shedestroys, sucks the marrow from his bones like the greedy harpies, andall that is noble from his soul."
"Why, Daphne," interrupted Chrysilla, raising herself from her cushionsin alarm, "must I remind you of the moderation which distinguishes theGreeks from the barbarians, and especially the Hellenic woman--"
Here Daphne indignantly broke in: "Whoever practises moderation in theconflict against vice has already gone halfway over to evil. She utterlyruined--how long ago is it?--the unfortunate Menander, my poor Ismene'syoung husband. You know them both, Hermon. Here, of course, you scarcelyheard how she lured him from his wife and the lovely little girl whobears my name. She tempted the poor fellow to her ship, only to cast himoff at the end of a month for another. Now he is at home again, but hethinks Ismene is the statue from the Temple of Isis, which
has gainedlife and speech; for he has lost his mind, and when I saw him I felt asif I should die of horror and pity. Now she is coming home with Proclus,and, as the way led through Pelusium, she attached herself to ourfriends and forces herself in here with them. What does she care abouther elderly travelling companion? But you--yes, you, Hermon--are thenext person whom she means to capture. Just now, when my eyes closed Butno! It is not only in my dreams; the hideous gray threads which proceedfrom this greedy spider are continually floating before me and dim thelight." Here she paused, for the maid Stephanion announced the coming ofvisitors, and at the same time loud voices were heard outside, and themerry party who had been attending the breakfast given by the commandantof Pelusium entered the tent.
Althea was among the guests, but she took little notice of Hermon.
Proclus, her associate in Queen Arsinoe's favour, was again assertinghis rights as her travelling companion, and she showed him plainly thatthe attention which he paid her was acceptable.
Meanwhile her eager, bright blue eyes were roving everywhere, andnothing that was passing around her escaped her notice.
As she greeted Daphne she perceived that her cheeks had flushed duringher conversation with Hermon.
How reserved and embarrassed the sculptor's manner was now to hisuncle's daughter, whom only yesterday he had treated with as muchfreedom as though she were his sister! What a bungler in dissimulation!how short-sighted was this big, strong man and remarkable artist! He hadcarried her, Althea, in his arms like a child for a whole quarter of anhour at the festival of Dionysus, and, in spite of the sculptor's keeneye, he did not recognise her again!
What would not dyes and a change of manner accomplish!
Or had the memory of those mad hours revived and caused hisembarrassment? If he should know that her companion, the Milesian Nanno,whom he had feasted with her on oyster pasties at Canopus after shehad given the slip to her handsome young companion was Queen Arsinoe!Perhaps she would inform him of it some day if he recognised her.
Yet that could scarcely have happened. He had only been told what shebetrayed to him yesterday, and was now neglecting her for Daphne's sake.That was undoubtedly the way the matter stood. How the girl's cheekswere glowing when she entered!
The obstacle that stood between her and Hermon was the daughter ofArchias, and she, fool that she was, had attracted Hermon's attention toher.
No matter!
He would want her for the Arachne, and she needed only to stretch outher hand to draw him to her again if she found no better amusement inAlexandria. Now she would awaken his fears that the best of models wouldrecall her favour. Besides, it would not do to resume the pleasant gamewith him under the eyes of Philippus and his wife, who was a followerof the manners of old times. The right course now was to keep him untillater.
Standing at Proclus's side, she took part gaily in the generalconversation; but when Myrtilus and Philemon had joined the others, andDaphne had consented to go with Philippus and Thyone that evening,in order, after offering sacrifice together to Selene, to sail forPelusium, Althea requested the grammateus to take her, into the openair.
Before leaving the tent, however, she dropped her ostrich-feather fanas she passed Hermon, and, when he picked it up, whispered with asignificant glance at Daphne, "I see that what was learned of her heartis turned to account promptly enough."
Then, laughing gaily, she continued loudly enough to be heard by hercompanion also: "Yesterday our young artist maintained that theMuse shunned abundance; but the works of his wealthy friend Myrtiluscontradicted him, and he changed his view with the speed of lightning."
"Would that this swift alteration had concerned the direction of hisart," replied Proclus in a tone audible to her alone.
Both left the tent as he spoke, and Hermon uttered a sigh of reliefas he looked after them. She attributed the basest motives to him, andDaphne's opinion of her was scarcely too severe.
He no longer needed to fear her power of attraction, though, now that hehad seen her again, he better understood the spell which she had exertedover him. Every movement of her lithe figure had an exquisite grace,whose charm was soothing to the artist's eye. Only there was somethingpiercing in her gaze when it did not woo love, and, while making thebase charge, her extremely thin lips had showed her sharp teeth in amanner that reminded him of the way the she-wolf among the King's wildbeasts in the Paneum gardens raised her lips when any one went near hercage.
Daphne was right. Ledscha would have been infinitely better as a modelfor the Arachne. Everything in this proud creature was genuine andoriginal, which was certainly not the case with Althea. Besides, sternausterity was as much a part of the Biamite as her hair and her hands,yet what ardent passion he had seen glow in her eyes! The model solong sought in vain he had found in Ledscha, who in so many respectsresembled Arachne. Fool that he was to have yielded to a swift and falseebullition of feeling!
Since Myrtilus was again near him Hermon had devoted himself with fresheagerness to his artistic task, while a voice within cried more and moreloudly that the success of his new work depended entirely upon Ledscha.He must try to regain her as a model for the Arachne! But whilepondering over the "how," he felt a rare sense of pleasure when Daphnespoke to him or her glance met his.
At first he had devoted himself eagerly to his father's old friends,and especially to Thyone, and had not found it quite easy to remain firmwhen, in her frank, kindly, cordial manner, she tried to persuade himto accompany her and the others to Pelusium. Yet he had succeeded inrefusing the worthy couple's invitation. But when he saw Philotas, whoseresemblance to the King, his cousin, had just been mentioned by one ofthe officers, become more and more eager in his attentions to Daphne,and heard him also invited by Philippus to share the nocturnalvoyage, he felt disturbed, and could not conceal from himself that theuneasiness which constantly obtained a greater mastery over him arosefrom the fear of losing his friend to the young aristocrat.
This was jealousy, and where it flamed so hotly love could scarcelybe absent. Yet, had the shaft of Eros really struck him, how was itpossible that the longing to win Ledscha back stirred so strongly withinhim that he finally reached a resolution concerning her?
As soon as the guests left Tennis he would approach the Biamite again.He had already whispered this intention to Myrtilus, when he heardDaphne's companion say to Thyone, "Philotas will accompany us, and onthis voyage they will plight their troth if Aphrodite's powerful sonaccepts my sacrifice."
He involuntarily looked at the pair who were intended for each other,and saw Daphne lower her eyes, blushing, at a whisper from the youngMacedonian.
His blood also crimsoned his cheeks, and when, soon after, he asked hisfriend whether she cared for his companionship, and Daphne assented inthe most eager way, he said that he would share the voyage to Pelusium.Daphne's eyes had never yet beamed upon him so gladly and graciously.Althea was right. She must love him, and it seemed as if this convictionawoke a new star of happiness in his troubled soul.
If Philotas imagined that he could pluck the daughter of Archias like aripe fruit from a tree, he would find himself mistaken.
Hermon did not yet exactly understand himself, only he felt certain thatit would be impossible to surrender Daphne to another, and that for hersake he would give up twenty Ledschas, though he cherished infinitelygreat expectations from the Biamite for his art, which hitherto had beenmore to him than all else.
Everything that he still had to do in Tennis he could intrust to hisconscientious Bias, to Myrtilus, and his slaves.
If he returned to the city of weavers, he would earnestly endeavourto palliate the offence which he had inflicted on Ledscha, and, ifpossible, obtain her forgiveness. Only one thing detained him--anxietyabout his friend, who positively refused to share the night voyage.
He had promised his uncle Archias to care for him like a brother, andhis own kind heart bade him stay with Myrtilus, and not leave him to thenursing of his very skilful but utterly unreliable body-
servant, afterthe last night had proved to what severe attacks of his disease he wasstill liable.
Myrtilus, however, earnestly entreated him not to deprive himself onhis account of a pleasure which he would gladly have shared. There wasplenty of time to pack the statues. As for himself, nothing would do himmore good just now than complete rest in his beloved solitude, which,as Hermon knew, was more welcome to him than the gayest society. Nothingwas to be feared for him now. The thunderstorm had purified the air,and another one was not to be expected soon in this dry region. He hadalways been well here in sunny weather. Storms, which were especiallyharmful to him, never came at this season of the year.
Myrtilus secretly thought that Hermon's departure would be desirable,because the slave Bias had confided to him what dangers threatened hisfriend from the incensed Biamite husbands.
Finally, Myrtilus turned to the others and begged them not to let Hermonleave Pelusium quickly.
When, at parting, he was alone with him, he embraced him and said moretenderly than usual: "You know how easy it will be for me to depart fromlife; but it would be easier still if I could leave you behind withoutanxiety, and that would happen if the hymeneal hymns at your marriageto Daphne preceded the dirges which will soon resound above my coffin.Yesterday I first became sure that she loves you, and, much good as youhave in your nature, you owe the best to her."
Hermon clasped him in his arms with passionate affection, and afterconfessing that he, too, felt drawn with the utmost power toward Daphne,and urging him to anticipate complete recovery instead of an earlydeath, he held out his hand to his friend; but Myrtilus clasped it along time in his own, saying earnestly: "Only this one frank warning:An Arachne like the model which Althea presented yesterday evening woulddeal the past of your art a blow in the face. No one at Rhodes--and thisis just what I prize in you--hated imitation more, yet what would usingthe Arachne on the pedestal for a model be except showing the world nothow Hermon, but how Althea imagines the hapless transformed mortal? Evenif Ledscha withdraws from you, hold fast to her image. It will live onin your soul. Recall it there, free it from whatever is superfluous,supply whatever it lacks, animate it with the idea of the tirelessartist, the mocking, defiant mortal woman who ended her life as theweaver of weavers in the insect world, as you have so often vividlydescribed her to me. Then, my dear fellow, you will remain loyal toyourself, and therefore also to the higher truth, toward which every oneof us who labours earnestly strives, and, myself included, there is noone who wields hammer and chisel in Greece who could contest the prizewith you."