194 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



bouring State, because the Tegeans of to-day would 

 persist in blocking up the doorway behind us ; while 

 faces of every age and description peered in at the 

 one little window which gave light to the room. One 

 of these faces, however, was worth looking at, a 

 beautifully clear-cut profile, the nose slightly aquiline, 

 full dark eyes, an olive complexion, overshadowed by 

 a rich waving mass of dark-brown hair. No cameo 

 was ever finer than this face of flesh and blood. 

 Thinking that here at last was the fair Greek maiden 

 we had pictured in our dreams, we looked eagerly 

 round, as we came out of the cottage, to find the 

 owner of the face among the crowd. Greatly to our 

 surprise we traced it to an awkward half-grown lad, 

 of some fourteen or fifteen years, who slunk about 

 among his companions as if half ashamed of his 

 beauty. It was a disappointment ; for the character 

 of the face was undoubtedly feminine and one felt 

 that in a boy its perfect beauty was marred by the 

 lack of strength and firmness. Nevertheless it was 

 a face not easily to be forgotten. 



The history of Tegea was long and eventful, reach- 

 ing from heroic times to the days of Alaric, by whom, 

 towards the end of the fourth century A.D., it was 

 utterly destroyed. Its people were brave and war- 

 like. It was long before they yielded to the suprem- 

 acy of Sparta ; and the support they accorded to that 

 State during the Peloponnesian war was rather that 

 of an ally than a subject. In the Persian wars, 



