Thais turned swiftly and kissed her, all her anger gone in a moment.
"There, sister, I did not mean it," she said. "May the Gods give us both our hearts' desire!"
She clapped her hands, and the tiring women who had been awaiting the summons entered.
"Give me my saffron chiton," she cried, "and my topaz necklace. We shall have visitors to-day, girls."
She seated herself before a large mirror while the women dressed her hair and robed her as she had directed. They could not hide their admiration when their task was finished and she stood before them like a living image of gold.
But Artemisia chose a linen robe of pure white, unrelieved by color. The spotless purity of her dress set off the delicate flush upon her cheeks and the soft brown of her hair.
So eager were the young women that they were scarcely able to taste the fruit and cakes that the servants set before them. They kept jumping up and running to the window to see what progress the Macedonian fleet was making, and whether the attack had begun.
"What a storm!" Artemisia exclaimed. "I wish it would stop; it hides the ships."
"Zeus is fighting on our side to-day," Thais replied gayly, as a long growl of thunder shook the walls of the house. "Tell me, what is going on in the city?" she added, turning to a Cretan maiden among the women. The girl was beautiful in face and figure, although her expression was one of sadness. She had once ruled as favorite of Phradates, and it was whispered in the household that she still loved him, in spite of the fact that she had had a score of successors since her brief day of ascendency.
"They are preparing a sacrifice to Baal-Moloch," she replied, "in the hope of persuading him to aid them."