36 THE HAPPY BEAUTY 



" What is your name, fair girl ?" 



" They call me Nydia/* 



" Your country V 



" The land of Olympus — Thessaly." 



" Thou shalt be to me a friend," said lone, caressingly, " as 

 thou art already half a country-woman. Meanwhile, I beseech 

 thee, stand not on these cold and glassy marbles — There 1 now 

 thou art seated, I can leave thee for an instant." 



" lone to Glaucus greeting, — come to me, Glaucus," wrote 

 lone ; " come to me to-morrow — I may have been unjust to thee ; 

 but I will tell thee, at least, the fault that has been imputed to 

 thy charge. Fear not, henceforth, the Egyptian — fear none. 

 Thou sayest thou hast expressed too much — alas ! in these hasty 

 words I have already done so — farewell !" 



As lone reappeared with the letter, which she did not dare to 

 read after she had written — (Ah ! common rashness, common 

 timidity of love !) — Nydia started from her seat. 



" You have written to Glaucus ?" 



" I have." 



" And will he thank the messenger who gives to him thy 

 letter ?" 



lone forgot that her companion was blind ; she blushed from 

 the brow to the neck, and remained silent. 



" I mean this," added Nydia, in a calmer tone; "the lightest 

 word of coldness from thee will sadden him — the lightest kind- 

 ness will rejoice. If it be the first, let the slave take back thine 

 answer; if it be the last, let me — I will return this evening." 



'^ And why, Nydia," asked lone, evasively, " wouldst thou 

 be the bearer of my letter ?" 



" It is so, then !" said Nydia. " Ah ! how could it be other- 

 wise ; who could be unkind to Glaucus ?" 



" My child," said lone, a little more reservedly than before, 

 " thou speakest warmly — Glaucus, then, is amiable in thine 

 eyes ? " 



" Noble lone ! Glaucus has been that to me which neither 

 fortune nor the gods have been — a friend /" 



The sadness mingled with dignity with which Nydia uttered 

 these simple words, affected the beautiful lone ; she bent down 

 and kissed her. "Thou art grateful, and deservedly so ; why 

 should I blush to say that Glaucus is worthy of that gratitude ? 

 Go, my Nydia — take to him thyself this letter — but return again. 

 If I am from home, when thou returnest — as this evening, per- 



