Frantically were they pressing about her when waved back by the ‘Silent Priest.’ The queen and Electra, of their trembling, required support. As to Atlano and Oltis, they seemed as if turned to stone.
There came another cry from Hellen:
“She doth breathe! Her eyes open!”
He bent over her in such agitation that the ‘Silent Priest’ thought best to lead him away, and beside Electra. She held out to him her hand, which he seized.
“Hellen, dear Hellen, be calm,” she whispered. “Our strength is needed. The gods are with us.”
She cast a grateful look at Sensel, who stood between them and Æole vibrating and brilliant, and who returned her look with one that meant victory.
Meanwhile, the handmaids had been applying to Æole’s nostrils a sponge dampened with a pungent liquor brought by Oltis. Under its influence, she quickly revived, and shortly was being propped up on cushions, whilst about her was tucked the robe of lambs’ wool. Afterward, the ‘Silent Priest’ brought her a drink which caused her to be quite herself, though her bewilderment at her surroundings proved her unconsciousness of what had occurred.
But the priests, of their doubt, would question her. Therefore, Oltis was not long in asking: “Handmaid Æole, didst thou dream in thy sleep?”
Æole, reddening and paling, replied feebly:
“Most Honored and High Priest, I dreamed not.”