And again he regarded them with a smile--they slept so soundly. And yet they knew not when they fell asleep whether they would ever awake again.
Ali did not arouse the slumberers. Thrice he sent to see if they had awakened, but he would not have them disturbed. At last the hand of the youth made his chain clank, and both of them opened their eyes at the sound.
"I was on my way to Akro-Corinth," said he, rubbing his large dreamy eyes with his hands, "and I saw them rebuilding the Parthenon."
"I stood at Thermopylæ," said the girl, "and the enemy fell before me by thousands."
"And now we shall go to the block," sighed Kleon, listening as the iron doors of his dungeon slowly opened.
"Be strong!" whispered the girl, pressing the hand of her brother which was enlaced in hers.
The dumb eunuchs surrounded them, and led them before Ali Pasha.
The pasha was sitting on a divan, and still wore his funeral robe; all the furniture was shrouded with cinder-colored cloth; there was nothing golden, nothing that sparkled in the room.
The brother and sister stood before him, pressing each other's hands.
"My dear children," said the pasha, in a voice that trembled with emotion, "don't look into each other's eyes, but look at me!"
At this unusual tone, at these kindly words, the brother and sister did look at him, and perceived that the old man was looking at them sadly, doubtfully, and that his eyes were full of tears.
Ali beckoned to the eunuchs, and they freed the brother and sister from their chains.
"Behold, ye are free, and may return to your homes," said Ali.
These words had the effect of an electric shock upon the youth, and his face lit up with a flush of joy.
"Why dost thou rejoice?" cried Artemis, casting a severe look upon him; "dost thou not perceive that the monster is mocking us? He only wants to excite joy within us that he may kindle our hopes, and then make death all the more bitter to us. Why dost thou make sport of us, thou old devil? Slay us quickly, or slay us with lingering torments, 'tis all one to us, but do not mock us!"
Tepelenti devoutly raised his eyes to heaven.
"My soul is an open book before you. Ye are free. Ye free Suliotes, we understand one another. I have sinned grievously against you, but ye have revenged yourself upon me. I burned your villages, ye, in return, have destroyed my fortresses. I have pillaged your lands, and ye have taken my possessions from me. I have slain your bridegroom and snatched thee from thy parent's house; thou hast cut off the head of my favorite grandson, and ravished from me my favorite wife. Now we are quits, and owe each other nothing. Go in peace!"