Strybele anxiously entered, approached Ariston, and seized his arm.
“What will be done to her?” she asked.
“Justice.”
“Will she be punished?”
“Yes, if she has sinned.”
With these words Ariston led his daughter into the inner room. A cold perspiration stood on his brow, and the muscles around his lips quivered. He who had cleansed Byssa from blood did not yet know whose blood she had shed.
“Speak!” he said, “and conceal nothing from us.”
Strybele silently pressed her daughter’s hand.
Byssa raised her calm black eyes to her father’s face and answered:
“I have nothing to conceal.”