“I am sorry,” he went on, “that neither my son nor myself can accompany you to-morrow.  All the elder members of my family are engaged to attend at some distance hence before the hour at which you can return.  But I should not like you to be alone with strangers; and, independently of this consideration, I should perhaps have asked of you a somewhat unusual favour.  My daughter Eveena, who, like most of our women” (he laid a special emphasis on the pronoun) “has received a better education than is now given in the public academies, has been from the first greatly interested in your narrative and in all you have told us of the world from which you come.  She is anxious to see your vessel, and I had hoped to take her when I meant to visit it in your company.  But after to-morrow I cannot tell when you may be summoned to visit the Campta, or whether after that visit you are likely to return hither.  I will ask you, therefore, if you do not object to what I confess is an unusual proceeding, to take Eveena under your charge to-morrow.”

“Is it,” I inquired, “permissible for a young lady to accompany a stranger on such an excursion?”

“It is very unusual,” returned my host; “but you must observe that here family ties are, as a rule, unknown.  It cannot be usual for a maiden to be attended by father or brother, since she knows neither.  It is only by a husband that a girl can, as a rule, be attended abroad.  Our usages render such attendance exceedingly close, and, on the other hand, forbid strangers to interrupt or take notice thereof.  In Eveena’s presence the Regent will find it difficult to draw you into conversation which might be inconvenient or dangerous; and especially cannot attempt to gratify, by questioning you, any curiosity as to myself or my family.”

“But,” I said, “from what you say, it seems that the Regent and any one who might accompany him would draw inferences which might not be agreeable to you or to the young lady.”

“I hardly understand you,” he replied.  “The only conjecture they could make, which they will certainly make, is that you are, or are about to be, married to her; and as they will never see her again, and, if they did, could not recognise her—­as they will not to-morrow know anything save that she belongs to my household, and certainly will not speak to her—­I do not see how their inference can affect her.  When I part with her, it will be to some one of my own customs and opinions; and to us this close confinement of girls appears to transcend reasonable restraint, as it contradicts the theoretical freedom and equality granted by law to the sex, but utterly withheld by the social usages which have grown out of that law.”

“I can only thank you for giving me a companion more agreeable than the official who is to report upon my reality,” I said.

“I do not desire,” he continued, “to bind you to any reserve in replying to questions, beyond what I am sure you will do without a pledge—­namely, to avoid betraying more than you can help of that which is not known outside my own household.  But on this subject I may be able to speak more fully after to-morrow.  Now, if you will come into the peristyle, we shall be in time for the evening meal.”