“Oh, it was lovely!” they exclaimed together.
“Aunt Hester said we were to ask you why it’s called Olympia,” put in Rachel, as they began to walk slowly through a statue-lined room that had become familiar.
“We may find the answer this afternoon,” answered the old gentleman, turning into a room that Rachel knew already. It was the room containing the statues of the headless women clothed in beautiful drapery.
“These are Greek statues, aren’t they?” she began, pointing to the group in the middle of the room. “They were on the outside of a temple once, weren’t they? I forget what it was called.”
“The Parthenon in Athens,” Mr. Sheston told her. “There’s a model showing the temple as it stood in ancient days, over there in that glass case. We’ll go and examine it in a minute. But first look up and see those young men riding on horseback.”
He pointed to a frieze in marble which ran the length of the walls and represented a procession of youths mounted upon beautiful horses.
“Now let us have a look at this model which shows part of Athens as it appeared two thousand years or so ago,” he went on, after a moment. The children followed him to a stand upon which, modelled in plaster, was a rocky hill with various buildings like fair-sized toys scattered over its slope. The names of these buildings were written below them, on the white plaster hill, and Diana had just exclaimed, “Here’s the Parthenon!” when a young voice, which neither of the children recognised, but which sounded close at hand, said:
“Seven times with closed eyes shall you bow.”
“Diana!” cried Rachel, a few seconds later, “It’s Athens. Real Athens, you know!”
There was no doubt about its reality, for they felt the warmth of the sun, saw the overarching blue sky, and gazed with wonder and delight upon a beautiful scene.