prepare myself for all the dignity of rank, and make ready to tread
the formalities of vast and gorgeous ceremonial.

But, be these things how they may, a self-respecting man must
preserve his individuality also, and though I consented to enter a
pavilion of crimson cloth, specially erected to shelter me till the
Empress should deign to arrive, there my complaisance ended. Again
the matter of clothes was harped upon. The three gorgeously
caparisoned chamberlains, who had inducted me to the shelter, laid
before me changes of raiment bedecked with every imaginable kind of
frippery, and would have me transform myself into a popinjay in
fashion like their own.

Curtly enough, I refused to alter my garb, and when one of
them stammeringly referred to the Empress's tastes I asked him with
plainness if he had got any definite commands on this paltry matter
from her mightiness.

Of course, he had to confess that there were none.

Upon which I retorted that Phorenice had commanded Deucalion,
the man, to attend before her, and had sent no word of her pleasure
as to his outer casing.

"This dress," I said, "suits my temper well. It shields my
poor body from the heat and the wind, and, moreover, it is clean.
It seems to me, sirs," I added, "that your interfering savours
somewhat of an impertinence."

With one accord the chamberlains drew their swords and pushed