Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: May 22, 2025
Philip Harris, a happy adventure wherein she, Betty Harris, who had never before set foot unattended in the streets of Chicago, had wandered for an hour and more in careless freedom, and straying at last into the shop of a marvellous Greek one Achilles Alexandrakis by name had heard strange tales of Greece and Athens and the Parthenon tales at the very mention of which her eyes danced and her voice rippled.
In another week Achilles Alexandrakis had made ready to call on Betty Harris. There had been many details to attend to a careful sponging and pressing of his best suit, the purchase of a new hat, and cuffs and collars of the finest linen nothing was too good for the little lady who had flitted into the dusky shop and out, leaving behind her the little line of light.
Men were hurrying by with light step. Little children laughed as they ran. Betty skipped a few steps and laughed softly with them.... She would walk home. It was not far. She had often walked as far in the country, and she knew the way quite well.... And when she looked up again, she stood in front of the glowing fruit-stall, and Achilles Alexandrakis was regarding her with deep, sad eyes.
Plain Mr. Alexander would have had small effect upon him; but Achilles Alexandrakis ! He mounted the long staircase, holding the syllables in his set teeth. "Alexandrakis?" His mistress turned a little puzzled frown upon him. "What is he like, Conner?" The man considered a safe moment. "He's a furriner," he said, addressing the wall before him with impassive jaw.
It is safe to say that the members of the Halcyon Club had never listened to anything quite like the account that Achilles Alexandrakis gave them that day, in the gloomy room of the red-fronted house overlooking the lake, of the land of his birth. They scarcely listened to the actual words at first, but they listened to him all lighted up from far away.
When they should question him, in this new land, he must not fail them. They would be hungry for the beauty of the ancient world they who had no ruins of their own. He knew in his heart how it would be with them the homesickness for the East all its wonder and its mystery. Yes, he would carry it to them. He, Achilles Alexandrakis, should not be found wanting.
The president was on her feet, introducing Mr. Achilles Alexandrakis, who, in the unavoidable absence of Professor Trent, had kindly consented to speak to them on the traditions and customs of modern Greek life. Achilles's eyes fell gently on the lifted faces. "I like to tell you about my home," he said, simply. "I tell you all I can." The look of strain in the faces relaxed.
The hand dropped from the box. The man turned about, waiting. If heaven were to open to him now ! "I've always wanted to see a Greek man," said the child, slowly, "a real Greek man. I've wanted to ask him something he would know about. Have you ever seen the Parthenon?" She put the question with quaint seriousness. A light came into the eyes of Achilles Alexandrakis. It flooded the room.
Truly it had been a wonderful day for Achilles Alexandrakis. He paused in his work and looked about the little shop. The same dull-shining rows of fruit, the same spicy smell and the glowing disks of yellow light. He drew a deep, full breath. It was all the same, but the world was changed.
She glanced down at the slip of paper in her hand. It bore the name, "Achilles Alexandrakis," and below it a generous sum to his order. She made her way toward him, and waited while he disengaged himself from the little throng about him and came to her, a look of pleasure and service in his face. "You speak to me, madame?" "I wanted to give you this." She slipped the check into the thin fingers.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking