To the homesick Æole, this presence of the king was doubly unbearable. She wished Hellen had not been there, that she might have slipped away. The queen, who comprehended her feeling, could only motion to Atlano to sit beside herself, the while murmuring:
“We have been to the sands.”
“I saw you as ye drove back. Thou goest there but little, Æole.”
She bowed in affirmation.
“Thou likest not the water?”
“King Atlano, I like the water, but it causeth me the more to think of my home.”
“It is time thou didst forget thy home, Æole. Hellen, thou hast no such longing?”
“King Atlano, my sister and myself feel the same. At sight of the sea we sicken for our home.”
The king frowned.
“How old art thou, Hellen?”