Lives of Alcyone

completed, the inevitable young man appeared on the scene, and
she fell deeply in love with him. The object of her affections (Sirius)
was something of a mystery; he had only recently appeared in the
city, and no one seemed to know who he was, nor whence he came,
and even in these earlier years that was regarded as an objection to
a possible suitor, though he was a handsome and well-set-up youth.
She saw this young man at some of the temple service, and they
were strangely attracted towards each other at first sight, so that he
began to scheme for occasions of meeting her, which were difficult
to procure, since she was constantly in attendance at the temple.
The young suitor, however, contrived, by the exercise of great
patience and assiduity, to obtain speech with her on a good many
occasions, and their strange friendship rapidly warmed into a
passionate attachment.
At first, Alcyone said nothing of this to her father, but he half-
divined that something was going on, and he put some questions to
her which presently brought forth a shamefaced confession that the
temple services were no longer the first thing in life for her. The
father was disappointed at this, but nevertheless took it both kindly
and philosophically, and gave her some sensible advice, to the
effect that it was useless to devote herself to the special service of
the Deity unless she was absolutely certain of her vocation, and that
after all she could serve the Sun-God, less directly perhaps, yet just
as truly and nobly, if she followed the dictates of her heart. He
demanded, however, to see the young man, and the latter’ s
account of himself was by no means satisfactory from the point of
view of a parent, for he could only say that though he was of noble
birth and quite equal in rank to her whom he loved, yet there was
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