A little timid hope is dawning in her heart. Is it possible that this may be the lover of whom she dreamed? But she will not let him know her thoughts; and as she offers to guide him to the city, she tells him with modest dignity that he must not ride with her in the wagon. He must follow behind with the maids; and when the city walls are in sight, and they are near the houses of men, he must draw away from them and continue his journey alone. She is not discourteous, she explains; but it is not seemly for her to be seen by the people driving a strange man into the city. “_And taunting speech from them I fain would shun, Hereafter flung at this that I have done. Proud-hearted are our people; and of them Meeting us, thus might say some baser one:_ “_’And who is this, the stranger tall and gay That here beside Nausicaa takes his way? And where may she have found him? Aye, no doubt She brings a husband back with her to-day!...’_ “_So will they say; and to my shame would be That word, as I myself would think it shame,_ “_If any other girl in suchlike way While her own parents lived, should go astray In a man’s company._“[12] But she gives him minute directions, so that he may find her father’s palace after she has left him. He will pass Athena’s grove, and the well, and the king’s park, before he comes to the town and the gate of the palace. He is to go right into the palace, and not to hesitate. “_But when the forecourt and the palace-wall Have hidden you, pass quickly up the hall Straight to my mother. In the firelight she Sits by the hearth, while off her distaff fall_ “_The threads of dim sea-purple, strand by strand, Marvellous; and her maids behind her stand, By the hall pillar, and my father’s chair Next hers, where he, the wine-cup in his hand,_ “_Sits like a God. Yet pass him by, nor stay Till round our mother’s knees your hands you lay. For thus, although from very far you come, Quickly shall dawn your glad returning day._”[12] It all falls out as she has said. They start off as the sun is setting, and Odysseus follows behind the mule-cart at a little distance until they reach the sacred grove of poplars that Nausicaa has indicated. There he waits behind for a space, while she drives on to the palace. Her handsome young brothers come out to meet her, with hearty greetings and questions as to how the day has fared. But she does not make much response to them, leaving them to unharness the mules and carry out the clothing while she slips away to her room and the society of her old nurse. * * * * * Meanwhile Odysseus makes his way to the palace alone and is amazed at its size and magnificence.