She also arose. “Hellen and Æole will leave me? Thou wouldst jest!”
“Another handmaid is needed in the temple. Æole hath been called. A messenger is wanted between the temple and this place. Hellen is chosen.”
A dread faintness came upon the queen. But she urged:
“Æole will die if she leaveth me. Spare her to me. Thou knowest my fond feeling.”
“Æole will go, on the morrow, to the temple.”
“Atlano, call to mind that thou gavest me these children.”
He laughed derisively. “I gave but to take away.”
“Atlano, have mercy. The temple is no place for Æole—for any maiden—any woman.”
“Beware,” he vociferated, in warning tone. “Thou ravest. Have a care. Thou wouldst mock.”
“Mock!” Such meaning was in her look that his lips paled. “Mock! Thou dost use that word, and to me.”