“I’ve seen a good deal of wickedness in my time,” said Eteoneus, “and some think I had my share in it, but I don’t know enough about devilry to understand how that girl could get your boy into trouble. If I were responsible for her, I might fear your boy, but she can’t do him any harm.”

“Yes, she can,” said Charitas, “she can ruin his career—she can marry him.”

“There’s something in that,” said Eteoneus, “and yet, marriage isn’t necessarily fatal. He’ll take after his father and be a docile husband, and with such a wife he’ll have every reason to be.”

“You speak as though the whole affair were settled.”

“It ought to be settled soon,” said Eteoneus. “The gossip about the house is that they consider themselves man and wife, and when two young people in love begin to feel that way toward each other, it’s practically settled.”

“Do you mean they are living together now?”

“I couldn’t prove it,” said Eteoneus, “but that’s what I think, and we all approve—that is, we feel that Damastor has won him a fine wife.”

“He has, has he? You do, do you? She’ll never set eyes on him again! I’ll see to that before this day is over. I’ll send that boy to a safe place till he’s cured. I knew from the first what would happen if Helen were allowed to do as she chose! Menelaus has a lot to answer for! Of all the wicked things—to entice such a boy into a house like this!”

“See here, that’s strong talk, if you know what you’re saying!” said Eteoneus. “Nobody enticed your son over here. I couldn’t keep him out, though Helen told me to. And it seems to me you’ll do a pretty mean thing if you separate them now. The boy made love to her and won her, and perhaps it’s just the time when he shouldn’t desert her. It wouldn’t be decent of him.”

“The airs you people put on in this house, talking to me of decency!” said Charitas. “Was it decent of Helen to bring that girl to my home, and send her off to talk to him at the end of the garden? That’s what she did—that’s where it began, right under my eyes! Was it decent—”