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 the hilts
towards me.

"It would be a favour," said their spokesman, "if the great Lord
Deucalion would take his vengeance now, instead of delivering us to the
tormentors hereafter."

"Poof," I said, "the matter is forgotten. You make too much of a
little."

Nevertheless, their action gave me some enlightenment. They were
perfectly in earnest in offering me the swords, and I recognised that
this was a different Atlantis that I had come home to, where a man had
dread of the torture for a mere difference concerning the cut of a coat.

There was a bath in the pavilion, and in that I regaled myself gladly,
though there was some paltry scent added to the water that took away
half its refreshing power; and then I set myself to wait with all
outward composure and placidity. The chamberlains were too well-bred to
break into my calm, and I did not condescend to small talk. So there we
remained, the four of us, I sitting, they standing, with our Lord the
Sun smiting heavily on the scarlet roof of the pavilion, whilst the
music blared, and the welcoming fires dispersed their odours from the
great paved square without, which faced upon the quay.

It has been said that the great should always collect dignity by keeping
those of lesser degree waiting their pleasure, though for myself I must
say I have always thought the stratagem paltry and beneath me. Ph