you please."

"I'm afraid I appear to you like another animal that once donned
a lion's skin, but whose ears, alas, protruded."

"That is rather a skilful retreat; but I imagine that you think
yourself a veritable lion."

"If you insist on my being a lion, I must refer you to ancient
mythology, where one of these overrated beasts is held a crouching
captive by Diana."

"Well, that is quite a transition. First compared to a mouse, and
then to the moon. I fear that if you have not visited 'questionable
places,' you have permitted your mind to dwell on the 'questionable'
myths of the past.

"O, that was in the regular order of things," he replied. "Before
coming to the study of theology, we are put through mythology;
that is, under the guidance of reverend professors we make the
acquaintance of a set of imaginary beings who, had they veritably
lived, and in our day, would have soon found their way to the
penitentiary."

"At the door of which the 'lion' and 'Diana' would part company,
and so I should lose my gentle 'captive' and become as disconsolate
as auntie would have been had you trodden on the reverse extremity
of her pet."

"O, pardon me, but Diana was an exception to the rest."