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I can hear him cry now, poor little dear." "Too many figs are bad for the stomach," replied the old man, very slowly and distinctly, but not too loud, that he might not remind her of her deafness. Then seeing Semestre smile, he drew nearer, and with winning cheerfulness continued: "Be sensible, and don't try to part the children, who belong to each other.
Now we'll go and greet my brother." Xanthe, hand in hand with her lover, hurried on in advance of the procession, lovingly prepared her father for what had happened, told him how much injustice he, old Semestre, and she herself had done poor Phaon, led the youth to him, and, deeply agitated, sank on her knees before him as he laid her hand in her playfellow's, exclaiming in a trembling voice: "I have always loved you, curly-head, and Xanthe wants you for her husband.
"How many cheeses?" asked the housekeeper." "Two," replied Lysander. "One will be more than enough," cried Semestre. " Bring only one, Chloris." The invalid smilingly shrugged his shoulders, clasped Xanthe's hand as she stood beside him, and said in so low a tone that the old woman could not hear: "Haven't I grown like little thick-skull's hens? Semestre commands and I must obey.
"Mopsus has entered our service," replied Jason, laughing; "and, if our Phaon's bride will permit, he wants to wed the dark-haired Dorippe. Henceforth our property is yours." "And ours yours," replied Xanthe "Be good-natured, Semestre; I will marry no man but Phaon, and shall soon win my father over to our side, rely upon that."
For some time the amused master of the house could not succeed in shaking his head disapprovingly; but when the old housekeeper, who had never ceased scolding and shaking her myrtle-staff, began to totter from anger and excitement, Lysander thought the jest was being carried too far, and, turning to his daughter, exclaimed: "Go, rescue Semestre and drive those crazy people away.
Semestre laughed scornfully, and, striking the hard stone floor with her myrtle-staff, exclaimed: "My spit is enough, and perhaps Eros is helping it with his arrows, for Xanthe no longer asks for your Phaon, any more than I fretted for a person now standing before me when he was young. Eros loves harder work.
"Deaf?" asked the old man in astonishment. "Yes, they scarcely understand a word correctly, and even Xanthe, who has just reached her seventeenth year, is beginning to be hard of hearing." A smile flitted over Jason's face, and, raising his voice to a louder tone, he said, flatteringly: "Every one can't have senses as keen as yours, Semestre; have you time to listen to me?"
But she is cheerful, active, and clever, and will aid Phaon and Xanthe in their young house-keeping with many a piece of good advice." "I shall go to my daughter in Agrigentum," said Semestre, positively. "Go," replied Lysander, kindly, "and enjoy yourself in your old age on the money you have saved." "Which my father," added Leonax, "will increase by the sum of a thousand drachmae.
Semestre laughed scornfully, and, striking the hard stone floor with her myrtle-staff, exclaimed: "My spit is enough, and perhaps Eros is helping it with his arrows, for Xanthe no longer asks for your Phaon, any more than I fretted for a person now standing before me when he was young. Eros loves harder work.
As soon as she had vanished behind the doors, Lysander threw the man half a drachm, and, clapping his hands, exclaimed: "Now, children, kick up your heels; we sha'n't see Semestre again immediately. You did your business well, friend: but now come here and interpret your hen's oracles."
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