better--he was much the same.

I expected the doctor to feel his pulse and look at his tongue, but the
buffo told me that this is not done in leprosy and that it was wrong of
his brother at the afternoon performance to outrage realism by making one
of them lay his hand upon the emperor's fevered brow; his father had
reproved him for it and the action was not repeated in the evening. One
cannot be too careful in dealing with diseases of a contagious nature.

The doctors consulted, and with unexpected unanimity and rapidity
recommended the emperor to bathe in the blood of six children. He
agreed, and said to the sentinel--

"Let six children be arrested at once and brought to me."

The sentinel showed the doctors out and departed to execute the order,
returning with six children already half dead with fright. The emperor
addressed him--

"Children," he said, "for twelve years I have suffered from a painful and
irritating disease. My learned physicians advise me that a bath of your
blood will restore me to health. The remedy is so simple that I have
resolved to try it. Of course, the first step will be to put you all to
death. This I regret, but--"

Here he was interrupted by the sobs and cries of the children--

"We do not want to die, your Majesty!"

He assured them of his sympathy, but begged them not to stray from the
point, explaining that, as it was a question of saving the life of the
Emperor of the World, their personal wishes could not be consulted and
they had better prepare to have their blood shed at once. They trembled
violently and, choking with tears and anguish, knelt to him for mercy.

"Pieta, Maiesta, pieta!"

It was a view of the situation which had not occurred to him. The
children, being too young to understand the nature of his complaint,
rashly leapt on the bed and embraced him. The noble sufferer
reconsidered while the children continued to cry--

"Pieta, Maiesta, pieta!"

He was touched with compassion, he wavered, he could resist no longer.

"It is not just," he declared, "to kill all these children; if that is
the only remedy, I am content to die."

So he pardoned them and they danced away, joyfully shouting, "Evviva
Costantino!"

The doctors puzzled me. After languishing for twelve years, why should
the patient suddenly call in a specialist? I wondered whether perhaps he
disbelieved entirely in doctors, and had at last yielded to the
reiterated entreaties of his ad