old and mean; and they rejoiced, and were glad. They ran to the doors,

and knocked, and strangers opened, and looked inquiringly upon them.

And

they said, with great excitement, while their hearts beat high, and the

color in their faces came and went, Where is my father? Where is my

mother? Where are Dionysius and Serapion, and Pericles, and Decius? And

the strangers that opened said, We know not these. The Seven said, How,

you know them not? How long have ye dwelt here, and whither are they

gone that dwelt here before ye? And the strangers said, Ye play upon us

with a jest, young men; we and our fathers have sojourned under these

roofs these six generations; the names ye utter rot upon the tombs, and

they that bore them have run their brief race, have laughed and sung,

have borne the sorrows and the weariness that were allotted them, and are

at rest; for nine-score years the summers have come and gone, and the

autumn leaves have fallen, since the roses faded out of their cheeks and

they laid them to sleep with the dead.

Then the seven young men turned them away from their homes, and the

strangers shut the doors upon them. The wanderers marveled greatly, and

looked into the faces of all they met, as hoping to find one that they

knew; but all were strange, and passed them by and spake no friendly

word. They were sore distressed and sad. Presently they spake unto a

citizen and said, Who is King in Ephesus? And the citizen answered and

said, Whence come ye that ye know not that great Laertius reigns in

Ephesus? They looked one at the other, greatly perplexed, and presently

asked again, Where, then, is the good King Maximilianus? The citizen

484

The Innocents Abroad