Page:Et Cetera, a Collector's Scrap-Book (1924).djvu/202

 Drive the sow off! Her paws are muddy. She smells like a litter of hogs.”

The Empress stunned, remained kneeling. The Governor-General opened and closed his mouth,—the broken black teeth of the upper jaw seeking in vain to touch the broken black teeth of the lower jaw. The Emperor walked slowly to the window, sighing deep, circular sighs like mournful winds.

“Arise, Your Majesty,” at last the Governor-General managed to say, trying in vain to bend to lift her.

“It does not matter, dear friend,” the Empress answered, “if my Lord thinks me a sow. I shall be his devoted, his faithful sow.” She arose, and walked off, two tears like two great pearls, like two small stars, piercing her magnificent eyes.

Sancho-Panza, Governor-General of Micamaca, watched the Emperor press his nose against the window-pane.

“My master is mad!” he thought. “But that should not hinder me from embracing the beautiful Micamaciennes who give themselves up like delicious fruit, nor from eating the lambs as white as milk, and the pigeons with feet of cardinals.”

“Sancho, my friend, come here, and watch this great ugly wind-mill turn.”

The Governor-General walked slowly, heavily to the window, his feet clanking with the silver spurs, his studded scimitar beating lightly against