"Where are thy friends?" he asked. "They seem to have forgotten me."
"I will fetch them," the Spartan replied.
He ran to the apartment where he had left the lovers, and burst in, to find them nestled among the cushions, telling each other of all they had endured.
"Come," he cried. "The king has asked for you."
"Tell him that we will come presently," Chares said, but Thais promptly boxed his ears and slipped out of the arm that encircled her waist.
"I don't suppose there is a woman in the palace to smooth my hair," she exclaimed.
"Do you think Alexander will look at you?" Chares asked. "He has more important things to think about, indeed."
Nevertheless, Artemisia and Thais made Leonidas wait five minutes while they aided each other to make the best appearance possible under the circumstances, before they followed him to the great council chamber. Artemisia entered shyly, casting down her eyes before the bold glances of so many men; but Thais walked beside Chares with head erect, her red lips parted in a smile, and a gleam of excitement dancing in her eyes.
With the license that Alexander permitted, the captains raised a shout of welcome when Chares and Clearchus appeared. Before Artemisia could catch her breath, she was standing in front of Alexander, and Clearchus was presenting her to him.
"She looks like a rosebud when the dew is on it," Clitus whispered to Hephæstion.