"And if they lose?" Artemisia asked anxiously.
"If they lose," Thais replied slowly, "then we shall return to Athens. But they will not. The Gods are faithful to their promises. I had intended to wait until the battle had been fought, but Mena, the same who set Phradates upon me in Thebes, found me out. From him I discovered that you were here in the care of Iphicrates, and I came."
Artemisia kissed her. "I would have died if you had not come," she said simply. "But how did Mena know where I was?"
"He would not tell me and I did not wait to learn," Thais said.
"Will he not find out where you have gone and inform Phradates?" the young girl suggested. "Would it not be better to leave this house and conceal ourselves somewhere?"
"I have thought of that," Thais replied. "I cannot leave the city, since I am to meet Chares here; and if we were to go to some other house, Iphicrates would know where we were. The Rhodian general sent me here and Iphicrates fears me. As for Phradates," Thais smiled slightly, "we need not try to avoid him, for he loves me. He is my slave."
"Do you love Chares much?" Artemisia asked.
Thais threw her arms around her and crushed her in a fierce embrace. "Love him!" she cried. "To the last drop of my blood—in every fibre of my body! He is my God! If I lay dead before him, my eyes would see him, as they do now."
"I think you love him as much as I love Clearchus, only differently," Artemisia said. "Does he love you?"
"As much as he can," Thais replied. "There will always be more of the boy than the man in him; but he loves me more than any other."