“Eteoneus is leaving us,” said Menelaus. “He wishes to retire, and I promised to release him when Hermione returned. I never expected her so soon, or I wouldn’t have promised. I have no one as yet to take his place.”

“Couldn’t you stay with us, Eteoneus?” said Helen. “You are my oldest friend here; you opened the door of this house when I entered as a bride.”

“And when you returned from Troy,” said Eteoneus. “There’s nothing more I can do for you, and it’s time I left.”

“You mustn’t leave—we’ll have to talk it over,” said Helen. “Your decision doesn’t seem final to me.”

“You’ll stay, all right,” said Menelaus. “I foresee the end.”

“My decision is quite final, Helen, and I’d rather not discuss it at all.”

“I’m sorry,” said Helen, “but you know best. You will come in to say good-bye to me before you go, won’t you?”

“I certainly will,” said Eteoneus.

“That does for you, old man!” said Menelaus. “And you’re going to send Orestes in to-morrow, is that it?”

“No,” said Hermione, “I’m not going to send him at all. I’m just waiting to say good-bye myself to Eteoneus, and then I’m going. I shan’t return. We’re really not wanted here, and fine speeches won’t alter the fact. I don’t want to return, anyway—we never should agree.”

“Go ahead, then, and leave!” said Menelaus. “Why are you hanging round to tell us, at intervals, you don’t approve of us? Have you any sense at all of what you and your husband have done? Will any human being ever care whether or not you approve of him? We have permitted you to enter this home, and to stay in it a few minutes, just as though you were not an outcast. The next time you call on a friend, you’ll probably feel the difference!”

“Menelaus! Menelaus!” said Helen. “I don’t want Hermione to go until she has promised to send her husband to see us. If she will do that, I rather think we can some day understand one another again—all of us. It isn’t my sister’s murderer I want to talk with—it’s her son. If Hermione loves him so desperately, there must be good in him I knew nothing about. I should like to admit my error, if it is one; I’d like to see for myself.”

“He is a splendid man—you couldn’t help admiring him, if you knew what he really is. The trouble with you and father was that you didn’t know him, and you didn’t want to.”

“Of course we wanted to!” said Menelaus. “We told you to invite him for a visit, but you couldn’t find him. It wasn’t our fault that you didn’t know where he was!”