“My name is Agis,” said the boy. “I am commanded by Sheshà, greatest of magicians, to be your guide through our city of Athens. Later, I understand, he himself will conduct you to the Olympian games.” Again, as it had so often happened before, though the language spoken by the boy was not her own, Rachel understood him perfectly. “I suppose it’s Greek he’s talking,” she thought hurriedly before she began to ask questions. “That’s the Parthenon, isn’t it?” she asked, pointing to the gleaming temple. “We’ve seen those statues up there before. At least, we’ve seen——” She was going to say “bits of them,” but Diana pulled her sleeve, and she stopped just in time to remember that it was no use trying to explain to a boy who lived thousands of years ago, all about the British Museum! “Will you tell us what god is worshipped here?” put in Diana, politely. “No god, but a goddess, the great Pallas Athene,” returned the boy, glancing at her with his bright eyes. “She’s the same as _Minerva_, you know,” whispered Diana quickly, having learnt this from her father. “Within,” the boy went on, “stands the statue of the goddess made by Phidias, the wondrous sculptor.” “Is he alive now?” enquired Rachel. Agis laughed. “Nay. He has been dead two hundred years and more. You must have come from a very far country, O maidens, to be so ignorant!” “We have,” said Rachel, smiling in her turn. If only the boy could have known. It was only two hundred years for _him_ since the sculptor Phidias died, while for her and for Diana it was considerably more than two _thousand_ years. “We don’t know anything about your country,” she continued, “so will you please explain everything.” “That would take me far too long, because I must soon return to the gymnasium, whither you may accompany me. I have only brought you here for a moment that you may glance at the most famous of our temples and public buildings. The city itself lies down yonder.” He pointed to a sea of white flat-roofed houses below. “What is that place, high up on the hill?” asked Diana. “The citadel—our fort of defence which we call the Acropolis. Beneath it, as you see, and under its protection, as it were, are the other buildings, of which the most precious is the Parthenon.” “Can’t we go in, and look at the statue of the goddess?” begged Rachel. Agis shook his curly head. “Time is lacking. But it may be that, some days hence, you will see another, and perhaps even more famous statue, carved also by Phidias. It stands in the temple of Zeus at Olympia.” The children exchanged quick glances at the mention of the word. “What _is_ Olympia?” asked Diana, and as she put the question she suddenly remembered asking it before. Yesterday, was it?... It seemed ages and ages ago, or like something in a dream. She and Rachel had been then on their way to the circus at _Olympia_, and she had asked Aunt Hester——