Feast and a Question

10So spoke the prince, and to the palace led
The unhappy man, his guest. When now they reached
The stately pile, they both laid down their cloaks
Upon the benches, and betook themselves
To the well-polished baths. The attendant maids
There ministered and smoothed their limbs with oil,
And each received a tunic at their hands,
And fleecy mantle. Then they left the baths
And took their seats. A damsel came, and poured
Water from a fair ewer wrought of gold
Into a silver basin for their hands,
And spread a polished table near their seats;
And there the matron of the household placed
Bread, and the many dishes which her stores
Supplied. The queen was seated opposite,
Beside a column of the pile, and twirled
A slender spindle, while the son and guest
Put forth their hands and shared the meal prepared.
And when the calls of hunger and of thirst
Had ceased, thus spoke the sage Penelope: —

11“Telemachus, when I again go up
Into my chamber, I shall lay me down
Upon the couch which, since Odysseus sailed
For Troy with Atreus’ sons, has been to me
A couch of mourning, sprinkled with my tears.
And now you have not chosen to reveal,
Ere yet the haughty suitors throng again
Into these halls, what in your voyage you
Have haply heard concerning his return.”