Lives of Alcyone

harmonious. Education was simply, and was chiefly given at home,
for in most of the valleys there was nothing in the nature of a school.
Alcyone grew up happily, and was a strong and healthy boy.
He deeply admired his father and mother, but his love for his elder
sister, Mercury, was the dominant factor in his early life. As a small
boy he could not bear to be parted from her, and did nothing without
consulting her; and indeed as long she lived she was the principal
influence over him.
At a harvest festivity, when he was only ten years old, he first
saw Vega, who was to be his future wife; he singled her out at once,
and would play with no one else, and the small maiden, who was
about his own age, was flattered by his attentions and reciprocated
his affection. He never forgot her, though as he grew older he
became more shy in expressing his sentiments. When she was
sixteen she had grown unusually beautiful, and several suitors were
already eagerly applying for her hand—among them Alcyone’ s
elder brother, Albireo, who was the heir to the estate and therefore
could offer a better position than Alcyone could as a younger son.
This troubled Alcyone greatly; he loved his brother and did not wish
to stand in his way, nor to prevent Vega from becoming mistress of
the whole valley, as she would eventually be if she married Albireo;
and yet he felt that he could not give her up.
As usual he confided in Mercury, who sympathised deeply,
and told him that the matter must be left to the decision of Vega,
who might after all have a personal preference which could take no
account of wealth in hand or in flocks and herds. Alcyone kept
himself in the background, and gave Albireo every chance, and only
when Vega had definitely refused the latter did he venture to offer
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