“Was he so kind to you?” said Nikander. For there in the house, as so often happens, the father had not guessed the bond between these youngsters.
“Yes. Always he would stop and tell me the news I was hungry to know. He would spend time upon me when no one else thought of me. And, Father, when I was here dying of loneliness Lycophron sent Baltè to me—I know it was disobedient, but it was so kind. He gave Baltè money to use for bribes so she could get in and as if that were not enough, he sent me messages, just the ones that he knew I wanted most. He had a heart of gold!”
Suddenly Nikander bowed his head low in a passion of weeping. The unexpected praise—the unexpected bringing back of his son into the sweetness of the family life, broke him down completely.
Theria threw her arms about him, frightened at her thoughtlessness.
“Oh, Father, I should have thought of you before I said it,” she faltered.
“Dear child, you have given me something that I thought was for ever lost,” he answered.
He went out readier for the hard to-morrow than he had deemed possible.