"Thou must make it alone. Neither father nor mother nor any friend can
go with thee, my child."

"But when shall it be? I pray that you will hasten this matter with
Troy, and return home ere then."

"It may be so. But I must offer a sacrifice to the gods before we sail
from Aulis."

"That is well. And may I be present?"

"Yes, and thou shalt be very close to the altar."

"Shall I lead in the dances, father?"

Then the king could say no more, for reason of the great sorrow within
him; and he kissed the maiden, and sent her into the tent. A little
while afterward, the queen came and spoke to him and asked him about
the man to whom their daughter was to be wedded; and Agamemnon, still
dissembling, told her that the hero's name was Achilles, and that he
was the son of old Peleus and the sea-nymph Thetis.

"And when and where is the marriage to be?" asked the queen.

"On the first lucky day in the present moon, and here in our camp at
Aulis," answered Agamemnon.

"Shall I stay here with thee until then?"

"Nay, thou must go back to Mycenae without delay."