SWIFT AND OLD-GOLD 205 



barely move it, although Achilles alone could 

 thrust it home. But the bright herald easily- 

 pushed it aside and opened the door without 

 making any noise; and then, having bidden the 

 king good-by, he as silently disappeared in the 

 darkness. 



" I do believe that he is Hermes, the kind mes- 

 senger of the gods," said Old-Gold. 



King Priam left the groom to mind the horses 

 and the mules, and went boldly across the court- 

 yard into the room where his great enemy sat ; nor 

 was Achilles aware of his coming till he saw him 

 standing silently before him. As the warrior 

 leaped astonished to his feet, the old king clasped 

 his knees and entreated his pity, and reminded 

 him of his own dear father Peleus in his lonely 

 palace in far-off Phthia. And the heart of Achilles 

 was strangely stirred within him as he remem- 

 bered his boyhood and his native land and his 

 sorrowing parents, to whom he should never re- 

 turn ; and he gave kind heed to Priam's petition, 

 and the two lifted up their voices together and 

 wept. 



" This," said Achilles, " is the thread of fate 

 which the gods have spun for miserable men, that 

 they should live in sorrow. For although they 



