“That’s no reason why father should not go. He knows I can arrange the marriage without his help; he can ignore Clytemnestra, if he prefers.”

“I wonder if he can ignore her in this revenge,” said Eteoneus. “Didn’t you think your mother and your father were evading that aspect of the case? It was half mentioned, but they didn’t follow it up. In justice Clytemnestra ought to be punished for murdering her husband. Your mother doesn’t wish to plead for her sister, or seem to plead, but naturally she doesn’t want her own husband to kill her sister. It’s quite a situation. Orestes certainly won’t kill his mother, so if anybody is to take vengeance on her, it must be Menelaus. What kind of mess would it be if he came home and told us that the ghost of Agamemnon had been properly satisfied by the blood of his murderers, Clytemnestra and Ægisthus? Do you think he and Helen could sit down comfortably to their dinner, after that, and talk about the news of the house since he went away? Helen says severe things of her sister, but Menelaus knows he had better not lift his hand against Clytemnestra.”

“Eteoneus, do you think Orestes is strong enough to meet Ægisthus?”

“Alone, yes; but if Clytemnestra is helping her lover, Orestes should be careful. The combination was too much for Agamemnon. That’s another reason why Menelaus will stay here, I think. Even if they leave Clytemnestra alone, she’s not likely to repay them by keeping out of the quarrel; no doubt she’d be glad to stick a knife into your father, if he came with any unkind designs on Ægisthus. They ought to cut her throat first, and deal with Ægisthus afterward.”

“How bloody-minded you are, Eteoneus!” said Hermione. “You could have been another Pyrrhus, if you had given your attention to it.”

“I suspect you mean no compliment,” said Eteoneus. “What’s the trouble with Pyrrhus?”

“He’s a brute,” said Hermione. “He doesn’t mind killing women, not a bit; in fact, if he were in Orestes’ place, I dare say he’d rather kill Clytemnestra and let Ægisthus go free.”

“There’s something to be said for that point of view; she’s the guilty one,” said Eteoneus, “and she’s a woman.”

“Just the reason for sparing her,” said Hermione.

“I know,” said Eteoneus, “that’s the last word in fine manners, but I don’t believe in it. Women make most of the trouble in the world, and it’s weakness, I say, to spare them their punishment. Otherwise they’d always be doing as they liked.”

“You are talking nonsense, Eteoneus, and you know better. Woman’s life is a succession of trouble and sorrows. It’s hard enough just to be a woman, but men make her lot infinitely wretched.”