And when the young man doubted whether this was so, the Queen told him the pattern of the clothes; that there was one which she had woven being yet a girl, not finished with skill, but like rather to the task of one that learns, and that there was wrought upon it the head of the Gorgon, and that it was fringed about with snakes, like to Pallas’s shield, the aegis.  Also she said that there were necklaces wrought like to the scales of a snake, and a wreath of olive besides, as befitted the child of a daughter of Athens.

Then Ion knew that the Queen was his mother; yet was he sore perplexed, for the god had given him as a son to King Xuthus, nor did he doubt but that the god ever speaketh that which is true.  Then he said that he would himself inquire of Apollo.  But as he turned to go, lo! a great brightness in the air, and the shape as of one of the dwellers in heaven.  And when he was afraid, and would have fled with the Queen, there came a voice, saying, “Flee not, for I am a friend and not an enemy.  I am Pallas, and I come from King Apollo with a message to this youth and to the Queen.  To Ion he saith, ’Thou art my son, whom this woman bare to me in time past.’  And to the Queen, ’Take this thy son with thee to the city of Athens, and set him on the throne of thy father, for it is meet that he, being of the race of Erechtheus, should sit thereon.  And know that he shall become a great nation, and that his children in time to come shall dwell in the islands of the sea, and in the lands that border thereon, and that they shall be called Ionians after his name.  Know also that thou shalt bear children to Xuthus—­Dorus and AEolus—­and that these also shall become fathers of nations.’”

And when the goddess had thus spoken she departed; and the two, Ion and Queen Creuesa, with King Xuthus also, went to their home in great joy and peace.

THE AJAX SERIES

Each volume bound like this book

For sale at all bookstores

* * * * *

By E.P.  ROE

  Barriers Burned Away
  Day of Fate, A
  Driven Back to Eden
  Earth Trembled, The
  Face Illumined, A
  From Jest to Earnest
  He Fell in Love with His Wife
  His Sombre Rivals
  Home Acre, The
  Knight of the XIX.  Century, A
  Miss Lou
  Nature’s Serial Story
  Near to Nature’s Heart
  Opening of a Chestnut Burr
  Original Belle, An
  Success with Small Fruits
  Taken Alive
  What Can She Do? 
  Without a Home
  Young Girl’s Wooing, A

By AMELIA E. BARR

  Bernecia
  Between Two Loves
  Border Shepherdess, A
  Bow of Orange Ribbon, The
  Christopher
  Cluny MacPherson
  Daughter of Fife, A
  Feet of Clay
  Friend Olivia
  Hallam Succession, The
  Household of McNeil
  Jan Vedder’s Wife
  King’s Highway, The