Page:Frank Stockton - Vizier of the two-horned Alexander.djvu/215

TWO-HORNED ALEXANDER world would have lost. Suppose I had induced Petrarch not to come back to Avignon after his travels; suppose he had not settled down at Vaucluse, and had not spent three long years writing sonnets to Laura while she was occupied with the care of her large family of children; suppose, in a word, that I had been successful in my good work, and that Petrarch had shut his eyes and his heart to Laura; suppose—" "I don't choose to suppose anything of the kind," said Mrs. Crowder. "Thee tried to do right, but I am glad thee did not deprive the world of any of Petrarch's poetry. But now I want thee to tell us something about ancient Egypt, and those wonderfully cultivated people who built pyramids and carved hieroglyphics. Perhaps thee saw them building the Temple of the Sun at Heliopolis."

Mr. Crowder shook his head. "That was before my time," said he. This was like an electric shock to both of us. If we had been more conversant with ancient chronology we might have understood, but we were not so conversant.