"My friends!" Chares cried in bewilderment, seeing Leonidas and Clearchus for the first time.
"Alexander speaks the truth," Clearchus said quickly. "We are all too late, because he had already given orders for the safety of your family."
"I ask your forgiveness; I spoke without understanding," Chares said, turning to the king.
"Thou hast courage," Alexander said with a smile, "but I would not choose thee as my envoy on a delicate mission. Thou wert not here to defend thy home?"
"Because I knew not that there was need," Chares admitted. "I am sorry."
"And I am glad," the young king rejoined, "for hadst thou been inside the walls, I fear I might have lost men whom I cannot spare. Didst thou come from Athens?"
"I left Athens with the army," Chares answered, "but it halted on the frontier when news arrived that Thebes had fallen."
"Then there will be no more fighting!" Alexander exclaimed, turning to Ptolemy. "I am glad of it. Greet thy mother for me, Chares, and tell her to fear nothing. Ptolemy will conduct you."
Escorted by the Macedonian captain, the three friends descended from the citadel. Order had been restored in the city as though by magic. Only the military patrols and the bodies of the dead remained in the streets. The living had been driven into their houses, taking the wounded with them. The plunderers had retired to the camp outside the walls.
Chares strode eagerly in advance, asking many questions regarding the experiences of his friends in Delphi. The house of Jason, a mansion built near the northern end of the city, had been saved by its location from the desperate fighting that had taken place about the southern gate and in the market-place. They found a guard stationed at the door.