handkerchief around his head in the shape of a cap, as was his custom
every evening.

"That would be the finishing stroke indeed! To bring a wife here to turn
everything upside down; to take me out when I want to stay in, or keep
me in when I want to go out; to talk to me when I want quiet; to open
the window when I am chilly, because she is too warm; or to close it
when I am warm, because she is too cold!" and with that he shut the
window.

"Marriage may be all very well for the young; but when a man has reached
years of discretion, such folly is not to be thought of. I have escaped
the fetters so far, and I am not going to throw away my liberty at this
late day!

[Greek text] Craftily they contrived against my freedom,"

He remembered the woman who had been chosen for him in his youth, as he
had seen her the year before while on a visit to his native island,--
with her gray hair and premature wrinkles,--surrounded by a troop of
children, playing, quarrelling, and crying.

"Thank Heaven," he said aloud, "I haven't that load to carry! I wish the
man joy that fills my place!"

Florou interrupted him by opening the door. She looked about the room in
astonishment, but seeing that her master was only talking to himself,
she shook her head and said curtly:

"Supper!"