“Now, now; don’t get so hot all of a sudden! Wait till you hear: Athens has sent to Delphi asking—‘Shall we fight the Persian and if so how will we come out?’ The Pythia gave them a discouraging answer. Then the Spartans came. Discouraging answer again. Something about ‘a king shall die to save you.’ But not clear. Now Father wants them to keep on asking again and again until better answers come. That’s pretty near sacrilege!” He paused a moment. “All the answers are the same, Sis. The answer to the Cretans: I heard that myself, heard the priestess give it. Confused, of course, but after the priests deliberated over it, clear as a whistle. ‘Keep out of the fight,’ it said. ‘Do you want to be whipped as the Phokians whipped you?’ “Now Father is horrified at that. He says the Oracle meant nothing of the kind. He had a terrific argument against all of them in the Council. He’s making enemies right and left. What worries me is that man Kobon. The Kobon family have always hated us and Kobon—well, he’d like to destroy Father. Now here is his chance. Sooner or later he’ll do it unless Father stops what he is doing.” Theria was speechless with horror. Lycophron leaned toward her earnestly. “Look here, Sis, why don’t _you_ talk with Father? You. I can’t talk to him any more. He won’t listen to me. Try to tell him what I’ve told you. Of course he’ll be angry. He’ll say you know nothing about it. But it may count if you tell him you’ve been warned. He’s bitter discouraged now. It may count. Will you do it?” “Yes, oh, yes!” she said. Lycophron kissed her. He was really an affectionate fellow and considered his sister a charming child. Then he hurried out of the house. Her father was in danger! Her father might be destroyed! This fact overtopped all others in Theria’s loving mind. Even the impending war was dim in this presence. And at nightfall Theria learned that her father had gone away from Delphi. He had gone on some mysterious business. Lycophron had seen him depart but even he did not know Nikander’s destination. For the next two weeks Theria was well-nigh impossible to live with. Her temper took fire at everything. “I cannot sit and spin,” she declared. “Ah, gods; but I cannot!” She threw down her distaff, defying her mother’s authority. In her room she paced up and down, maddening for activity. “If only Father were here,” she would repeat. “If only here, so that I might plead with him to keep out of danger.”