Doris ran to the peep-hole and drew the red curtain aside. A voice whispered a few words which sounded like a question.
Before Doris replied, she turned towards Clytie and said: “It is his slave Manodoros.... He asks if you are alone.”
Then she put her head through the hole and answered in a smothered tone: “Yes, entirely alone. But what do you want? Speak. My mistress’ mother has just gone out, and will be back directly.”
Again there was a whisper outside.
Doris stretched her arm through the opening as far as she could. At the same moment her neck and ears grew crimson, and she stamped her foot impatiently. “Let go!” she cried, “let go! This is no time for trifling.” When she again turned, she held in her hand a letter written on a papyrus-scroll.
“Read it, dear Mistress,” she said as she took the bath-tub and carried it away. “I’ll keep watch outside.”
Clytie seized the letter with a trembling hand and broke the seal. The dull expression of her features had vanished, and her lovely face was radiant with expectation and hope.
The letter contained the following lines, which seemed to have been hastily written, for here and there a word was erased and changed for another.
“Dearest Clytie!
“You are alone against many; I fear you may let yourself be over-persuaded. You must fly; it is the only way of escape. The priestess of Sabazius is willing to receive you. Doris must go, too, or she will be tortured and confess everything.
“In the name of all the gods, do what I advise, my beloved. Have you not yourself called me the lord of your life? You can easily escape through the garden; keep concealed a few days, and all danger will be over. I shall know how to soothe your father’s wrath. Besides, can it be counted against the many happy years awaiting us?”
If this letter had come earlier, Clytie would never have decided upon a step so entirely opposed to what was seemly for an Attic maiden. The idea of quitting her father’s roof would have appeared to her the most impossible of all. Yet, now that her aversion to Acestor had become as intense as her love for Hipyllos, she thought the letter very bold, but at the same time perceived that Hipyllos told the truth. The danger was imminent, and there was no escape save flight if they were not to be parted forever.