Page:The Song of the Sirens.djvu/254

 but plainly and unaffectedly ill in body, haggard and worn with worry, weary in mind and weighed down in spirit with care and disappointments. He was leaning back in a deep armchair upholstered in green leather, against which his face showed also an almost greenish tinge. His neck was scrawny and stringy to the edge of the dark crimson, elaborately embroidered robe which wrapped him about to his ankles. His feet were on a hassock and the gold thread eagles worked on his light blue shoes showed conspicuously. There was a low backless chair beside him.

He looked at Bassus with no symptom of his dreaded dissimulation, but openly wrathful in expression, his eyes glaring, one just visible across the bridge of his hooked nose.

He spoke harshly.

"Are you well enough to talk to me? Mind, I won't be bothered with any more unrepaired wrecks. If you need nursing go back and get well."

"I am entirely myself again," Bassus asserted.

"Sit down," the Emperor commanded, motioning to the low chair beside him. "No, don't hesitate, sit down!"

Bassus, bowing deeply in silence, obeyed.

The Emperor glowered at him.