When this man’s voice reached Hermon, he repeated to himself the words of refusal with which the great physician had formerly declined to devote his time and skill to him.  Perhaps he was right then—­and how differently he treated him to-day!

Thyone had informed the famous scientist of everything which she knew from Hermon, and had learned of the last period of his life through Bias.

She now listened with eager interest, sometimes completing Hermon’s acknowledgments by an explanatory or propitiating word, as the leeches subjected him to a rigid examination, but the latter felt that his statements were not to serve curiosity, but an honest desire to aid him.  So he spoke to them with absolute frankness.

When the examination was over, Erasistratus exclaimed to his professional colleague:  “This old woman!  Precisely as I would have prescribed.  She ordered the strictest diet with the treatment.  She rejected every strong internal remedy, and forbade him wine, much meat, and all kinds of seasoning.  Our patient was directed to live on milk and the same simple gifts of Nature which I would have ordered for him.  The herb juice in the clever sorceress’s salve proved the best remedy.  The incantations could do no harm.  On the contrary, they often produce a wonderful effect on the mind, and from it proceed further.”

Here Erasistratus asked to have a description of the troubles which still affected Hermon’s vision, and the passionate eagerness with which the leeches gazed into his eyes strengthened the artist’s budding hope.  Never had he wished more ardently that Daphne was back at his side.

He also listened with keen attention when the scientists finally discussed in low tones what they had perceived, and caught the words, “White scar on the cornea,” “leucoma,” and “operation.”  He also heard Herophilus declare that an injury of the cornea by the flame of the torch was the cause of the blindness.  In the work which led him to the discovery of the retina in the eye he had devoted himself sedulously to the organs of sight.  This case seemed as if it had been created for his friend’s keen knife.

What expectations this assurance aroused in the half-cured man, who felt as if the goal was already gained, when, shortly after, Erasistratus, the greatest physician of his time, offered to make the attempt in Alexandria to remove, by a few little incisions, what still dimmed his impaired vision!

Hermon, deeply agitated, thanked the leech, and when Thyone perceived what was passing in his mind she ventured to ask the question whether it would not be feasible to perform the beneficent work here, and, if possible, the next day, and the surgeon was ready to fulfil the wish of the matron and the sufferer speedily.  He would bring the necessary instruments with him.  It only depended upon whether a suitable room could be found in the crowded city, and Thyone believed that such a one could not be lacking in the great building at her disposal.