his occurrence it may be inferred that as the great Don
Quixote says he saw there the same country wench Sancho saw on the way
from El Toboso, it is no doubt Dulcinea, and there are some very
active and exceedingly busy enchanters about."

"So I say," said Sancho; "and if my lady Dulcinea is enchanted, so
much the worse for her, and I'm not going to pick a quarrel with my
master's enemies, who seem to be many and spiteful. The truth is that
the one I saw was a country wench, and I set her down to be a country
wench; and if that was Dulcinea it must not be laid at my door, nor
should I be called to answer for it or take the consequences. But they
must go nagging at me at every step--'Sancho said it, Sancho did it;
Sancho here, Sancho there,' as if Sancho was nobody at all, and not
that same Sancho Panza that's now going all over the world in books,
so Samson Carrasco told me, and he's at any rate one that's a bachelor
of Salamanca; and people of that sort can't lie, except when the whim
seizes them or they have some very good reason for it. So there's no
occasion for anybody to quarrel with me; and then I have a good
character, and as I have heard my master say, 'A good name is better
than great riches'; let them only stick me into this government and
they'll see wonders, for one who has been a good squire will be a good
governor."

"All worthy Sancho's observations," said the duchess, "are Catonian
sentences, or at any rate out of the very heart of Michael Verino
himself, who _florentibus occidit annis_. In fact, to speak in his own
style, 'Under a bad cloak there's often a good drinker.'"

"Indeed, senora," said Sancho, "I never yet drank out of wickedness;
from thirst I have, very likely, for I have nothing of the hypocrite
in me; I drink when I'm inclined, or, if I'm not inclined, when they
offer it to me, so as not to look either strait-laced or ill-bred; for
when a friend drinks one's health, what heart can be so hard as not to
return it? But if I put on my shoes I don't dirty them; besides,
squires to knights-errant mostly drink water, for they are always
wandering among woods, forests, and meadows, mountains and crags,
without a drop of wine to be had if they gave their eyes for it."

"So I believe," said the duchess; "and now let Sancho go and take his
sleep, and we will talk by-and-by at greater length, and settle how he
may soon go and stick himself into the government, as he says."

Sancho once more kiss