The Princess now sadly realised that young Octavian's fancy for herself—which she had so foolishly returned with interest—had been swamped by the real love which he had conceived for the fair and charming Sophia; and, generously, she bade him woo the latter, whilst she retired to the inner chamber to secure the consent of Faninal to their union.
Gladly Octavian clasped Sophia in his arms and poured forth his love vows once more into her willing ear; and soon the joy of the lovers was crowned by the ready approval of Faninal, who was delighted to have thus secured a husband of noble birth for his daughter, after all.
All the party now retired from the inn to join in the rejoicings for the betrothal of Octavian and Sophia; and if, in the midst of the revels and gaieties that ensued, the heart of the Princess was sad, she did not complain, but only sighed regretfully because she had awakened from a fair and rosy dream that had been too sweet to last!
ELEKTRA
After the murder of Agamemnon, King of Mycene, by his own Queen, Clytemnestra, and her paramour, Ãgisthos, dark days fell to the lot of the Princesses of the land; for their unnatural mother, after marrying her guilty lover, was determined not to endure the just reproaches of her children, and, therefore, degraded them to the rank of slaves, so that they might be kept out of her sight.
Her son, the young Prince Orestes, she had tried to slay at the time of the King's murder; but he had been saved from sharing the same terrible fate by the timely help of his sister, Elektra. He had, however, been forced to leave the country, and had taken refuge in Phocis, where he remained for seven years, awaiting a favourable opportunity to return to Mycene and take vengeance upon his mother and her lover by slaying them both.
Meanwhile, his sisters, Elektra and Chrysosthemis, were enduring great hardships in the palace at Mycene, where, after being degraded to the level of the slaves, they were subjected to many indignities. But worse than their own personal sufferings was the grief in their hearts, not only for the untimely death of their beloved father, but for the banishment of their brother, for whose return they longed passionately.
In the heart of Chrysosthemis, grief and the longing for freedom only reigned; but in the heart of Elektra the desire for vengeance against her mother had obsessed every other natural feeling, and she only lived for the consummation of the vengeance she believed the gods would surely grant her.
She longed even more than did her sister for the return of their brother, Orestes, whom she intended to use as her instrument of justice; but when seven years had gone by she began to lose hope of his assistance. Her thirst for revenge, however, had not diminished one iota, but had increased with the years, having grown to be so completely a part of her being that she lived only to see it accomplished; and when, at the end of seven years, Orestes was still absent, she determined to carry out her fell design without him.