Some peasants found Daphne and took her into the city.
The plague had vanished, and she found that many friends and companions had survived. When questioned as to her journey, she said simply that the vessel had been wrecked, and that she alone had been saved, and after much toil and suffering she had been restored to Athens by a man of Grecian birth, who wished to take her to wife. She showed the treasures in token of the truth of her words.
Every day, as the old familiar life was renewed, the recollection of Thoth and his city became more odious to her.
On all sides she saw vestiges of the plague, and she could not efface from her mind the thought that he and his companions had first implanted it in Greece. How could she love a man who had done such a deed?
She began to dread his return. She knew not what to do. She feared if she let him depart from her in anger that he might renew the work of destruction.
She feared to disclose the secret to the people and those in authority. She doubted if, against his will, they could overpower him,—and in her heart she wished him no harm—least of all, death by her devices.
She could not forget the fate from which he had rescued her, and the sacrifice which he had made.
The appointed day arrived, and still her mind was divided by doubt.
Before daybreak she was at the meeting-place—alone. The scene of her former departure rose before her, and she wondered if again she could trust herself with this man.