Thus, and in this wise did Keraunus and the tailor converse, while the assistant plaited up Arsinoe’s hair with strings of false pearls that she had brought with tier, and fitted and pinned on her the costly white and blue silk robes of an Asiatic princess.  At first Arsinoe was very still and timid.  She no longer cared to dress for any one but Pollux; but the garments prepared for her were wonderfully pretty—­and how well the fitter knew how to give effect to her natural advantages.  While the neat-handed woman worked busily and carefully many merry jests passed between them—­many sincere and hearty words of admiration—­and before long Arsinoe had become quite excited and took pleased interest in the needle-woman’s labors.

Every bough that is freshly decked by spring seems to feel gladness, and the simple child who was to-day so splendidly dressed was captivated by pleasure in her own beauty, and its costly adornment which delighted her beyond measure.  Arsinoe now clapped her hands with delight, now had the mirror handed to her, and now, with all the frankness of a child, expressed her satisfaction not only with the costly clothes she wore, but with her own surprisingly grand appearance in them.

The dress-maker was enchanted with her, proud and delighted, and could not resist the impulse to give a kiss to the charming girl’s white, beautifully round throat.

“If only Pollux could see me so!” thought Arsinoe.  “After the performance perhaps I might show myself in my dress to Selene, and then she would forgive my taking part in the show.  It is really a pleasure to look so nice!”

The children all stood round her while she was being dressed, and shouted with admiration each time some new detail of the princess’s attire was added.  Helios begged to be allowed to feel her dress, and after satisfying herself that his little hands were clean she stroked them over the glistening white silk.

She had now advanced so far that her father and the tailor could be called in.  She felt remarkably content and happy.  Drawn up to her tallest, like a real king’s daughter, and yet with a heart beating as anxiously as that of any girl would who is on the point of displaying her beauty—­hitherto protected and hidden in her parents’ home—­to the thousand eyes of the gaping multitude, she went towards the sitting-room; but she drew back her hand she had put forth to raise the latch, for she heard the voices of several men who must just now have joined her father.

“Wait a little while, there are visitors,” she cried to the seamstress who had followed her, and she put her ear to the door to listen.  At first she could not make out anything that was going on, but the end of the strange conversation that was being carried on within was so hideously intelligible that she could never forget it so long as she lived.

Her father had ordered two new dresses for her, beating down the price with the promise of prompt payment, when Mastor came into the steward’s room and informed Keraunus that his master and Gabinius, the curiosity-dealer from Nicaea, wished to speak with him.