The Spartan Twins | Page 4

see him either, but I
heard Argos howl as if some one had stepped on his tail. Maybe he
took the sausage."
Lydia went to the door and looked out into the farm-yard. Away off in
the farthest corner by the sheep-pen she saw two dark shadows.
"Come here at once," she called.
Dion and Argos both obeyed, but they came very slowly, and Argos
had his tail between his legs. Lydia pointed to the fire.
"Where is the other sausage?" she inquired, with stern emphasis.
"Argos ate it," said Dion.
"Open your mouth," said his Mother. She looked at Dion's tongue. It
was all red where it was burned.
"I suppose Argos took it off the fire and made you bite it when it was
hot," said Lydia grimly. "Very well, he is a bad dog and cannot have
any sausage with his supper. And a boy that hasn't any more manners
than a dog can't have any either. And neither one can be trusted in the
kitchen where things are cooking. Go sit on the wood-pile until I call
you."

She put both Dion and Argos out of doors and turned to her cooking
again.
"Supper is nearly ready," she called at last to Chloe. "You and Daphne
may bring out the couch and get the table ready."
Under the arcade in the court there was a small wooden table. Chloe
and Daphne lifted it and brought it near the fire. Then they brought a
plain wooden bench that also stood under the thatch and placed it
beside the table. They arranged cushions of lamb's wool upon the bench,
and near the foot set a low stool. Daphne brought the dishes, and when
everything was ready, Lydia sent Chloe to call her husband and the
Stranger, while she herself went out to the farm-yard. She found Dion
and Argos sitting side by side on the wood-pile in dejected silence.
"Come in and wash your hands," she said to Dion. "If you get yourself
clean, wrists and all, you may have your supper with us, but remember,
no sausage. You have had your fingers with your food." This is what
mothers used to say to their children in those days, because there were
no knives or forks, and often not even spoons, to eat with.
Lydia didn't invite Argos in, but he came anyway, and lay down beside
the fire with his nose on his paws, just where people would be most
likely to stumble over him.
When Melas and the Stranger came in, they sat down side by side on
the couch. Chloe knelt before them, took off their sandals, and bathed
their feet. Then the Stranger loosened his long, cloak-like garment, and
he and Melas reclined side by side upon the couch, their left elbows
resting on the lamb's-wool cushions. Chloe moved the little table within
easy reach of their hands, and Lydia took her place on the stool beside
the couch. It was now quite dark except for the light of the hearth-fire.
The Twins had been brought up to be seen and not heard, especially
when there was company, and as Dion was not anxious to call attention
to himself just then, the two children slipped quietly into their places on
the floor by the hearth-fire just as Melas and the Stranger dipped their
bread into their broth and began to eat.

It must be confessed that Melas seemed to enjoy the black broth much
more than his guest did, but the stranger ate it nevertheless, and when
the last drop was gone, the men both wiped their fingers on scraps of
bread and threw them to Argos, who snapped them up as greedily as if
his tongue had never been burned at all. Then Chloe brought the
sausages hot from the fire, and barley-cakes from the oven. When she
had served the men and had explained that these cakes were really not
so good as her barley-cakes usually were, Lydia gave the Twins each
one, and she gave Daphne a sausage. She just looked at Dion without a
single word.
He knew perfectly well what she meant. He munched his barley-cake in
mournful silence, and I suppose no sausage ever smelled quite so good
to any little boy in the whole world as Daphne's did to Dion just then.
However, there were plenty of barley-cakes, and his mother let him
have honey to eat with them, which comforted Dion so much that when
the Stranger began to talk to Melas, he forgot his troubles entirely. He
forgot his manners too, and listened with his eyes and mouth both wide
open until the honey ran off the barley-cake and down between his
fingers. Then he licked his fingers!
No one saw him do it, not even his