tolerably well behaved in one point at least.

Every day as Vikram sat upon the judgment-seat, trying causes and
punishing offenses, he narrowly observed the speech, the gestures,
and the countenances of the various criminals and litigants and
their witnesses. Ever suspecting women, as I have said, and
holding them to be the root of all evil, he never failed when some
sin or crime more horrible than usual came before him, to ask the
accused, "Who is she?" and the suddenness of the question often
elicited the truth by accident. For there can be nothing thoroughly
and entirely bad unless a woman is at the bottom of it; and,
knowing this, Raja Vikram made certain notable hits under the
most improbable circumstances, which had almost given him a
reputation for omniscience. But this is easily explained: a man
intent upon squaring the circle will see squares in circles wherever
he looks, and sometimes he will find them.

In disputed cases of money claims, the king adhered strictly to
established practice, and consulted persons learned in the law. He
seldom decided a cause on his own judgment, and he showed great
temper and patience in bearing with rough language from irritated
plaintiffs and defendants, from the infirm, and from old men
beyond eighty. That humble petitioners might not be baulked in
having access to the "fountain of justice," he caused an iron box to
be suspended by a chain from the windows of his sleeping
apartment. Every morning he ordered the box to be opened before
him, and listened to all the placets at full length. Even in this
simple process he displayed abundant cautiousness. For, having
forgotten what little of the humanities he had mastered in his
youth, he would hand the paper to a secretary whose business it