"That, dear lady," Panormus replied, "is the only place to which I cannot go."

"Well, I knew it would be thus," said the fair one, looking on the ground with a distressing bashfulness, and addressing Alvattes; "Why did you insist on my accompanying you in a task so unfit for my sex?"

"How did I know," the slave pettishly replied, "but that he would have disbelieved me? and had he refused at the moment to have accompanied me, he had not possessed the power of deciding, to-morrow."

"Think not, dear Nausicaa," said the young warrior, "that I can have any feelings towards you but those of affection and gratitude. A life twice saved by you must be devoted to your protection and happiness. But a vision, that checked my presumption when I followed Euephnus over the border, appeared to me again last night, and, predicting my escape, warned me of coming dangers at Egila. Follow us, Nausicaa, to Messene, and be the companion and friend of Helen.

"It is enough, Panormus," said the maiden, "haste you then to Messene, but I, I must return to

Archimidea, whose love and sacred office will not fail to throw a protection over me. May the gods bless you and Messenia; the gods only know whether we shall ever meet again."

Alvattes and Nausicaa having proceeded on their journey, Panormus took a secret path over the Taygetus, and arrived safely in his native country. Delighted as he was by his unexpected freedom and return, he could not avoid the reflection that he had at least thwarted the wishes, and, perhaps, had offended Nausicaa, to whose kindness he had been so much indebted, and for whom he felt an increased, but still indefinable regard."

CHAPTER V.

"A woman's heart should be all love."

THE CHALLENGE.

THE effects of a sudden and continued success, says the moralist, are more to be feared than misfortune: under a less active and thoughtful leader, the Messenians might have been doomed to experience the truth of this observation; but Aristomenes, who availed himself of every advantage, pursued his good fortune with so much caution, that he might have been thought a loser, rather than a gainer, in the precarious trade of war. The wisest, however, are sometimes foiled in spite of their prudence, and bend to unforeseen circumstances.

The Spartans, defeated, and almost despairing,

now felt themselves to be completely at the mercy of their enemies. Afraid to venture again into the field, the country was left unprotected, and Aristomenes, with a chosen band of veterans, entered the Spartan territory, destroying the defenceless villages, and carrying the inhabitants into captivity.

The same night as that on which Panormus escaped from his imprisonment in Sparta, the hero and his faithful adherents approached Egila. At Pharæ they had seized a large booty, and had sent to Messenia much valuable commodity, as well as a considerable sum of money. At Carya they were still more successful, for they took as prisoners the daughters of the principal inhabitants, when dancing in the chorus of Diana. To protect these unfortunate girls from the rudeness of his followers, was the first consideration with Aristomenes; and all were within a few hours returned to their parents, upon the payment of the ransom he demanded. The reader may possibly think, that Aristomenes should have withdrawn his uncouth and hasty soldiers from a place dedicated to beauty, and that, so far from demanding a ransom for his fair captives, their presence should have been a protection to the town in which they

resided, and the Such was not the modern usage.

families to which they belonged. spirit of the times, nor indeed of Nor did his captives entertain the same opinion of the Messenian hero as the fastidious modern objector, for there were many who were by his urbanity deeply interested in his fortunes, and none attempted to plant the thorn of evil report in his laurels.

The sun was set, and night had spread her sable wings over the beautiful country, when Aristomenes and his companions commenced their march to Egila. During the hottest period of the day they had rested under the shade of a grove which equally protected them from the eye of man, and the fierce glare of the sun. Proceeding along a narrow road sheltered on each side by lofty trees, they approached the town. The Messenian soldiers, remembering what they had at various times suffered from their Spartan foes, had been sometimes led into excesses, which had grieved their noble commander. Gonippus was in the present expedition his companion, and he entertained some fear that they might be repeated from the over zeal and impetuosity of this young noble.

"I trust, my good friend," said Aristomenes, "that