Volume I Part 39 (1/2)
”There was an old demi-G.o.d with an eye in his forehead. Notaras' best orb just now is in the back of his head. He may be looking at the bay; he is really watching the portico”--such was the reply.
”Out! He cares nothing for us.”
”Very true--we are not the Emperor.”
”My Lord Duke is not happy to-day,” was remarked in another coterie.
”Wait, my dear friend. The day is young.”
”If this match should not be made after all”--
”He will know it first.”
”Yes, nothing from the lovers, neither smile nor sigh, can escape him.”
The Professor of Philosophy and his brother the Professor of Rhetoric ate and drank together, ill.u.s.trating the affinity of learning.
”Our Phranza is in danger,” said the latter, nervously. ”As thou art a subscriber to the doctrine of the _Phaedon_, I wish we could disembody our souls, if only for an hour.”
”Oh, a singular wis.h.!.+ What wouldst thou?”
”Tell it not; but”--the voice dropped into a whisper--”I would despatch mine in search of the wise Chamberlain to warn him of what is here in practice.”
”Ah, my brother, thou didst me the honor to read and approve my treatise on the Philosophy of Conspiracy. Dost thou remember the confounding elements given in the thesis?”
”Yes--Goodness is one.”
”Under condition; that is, when the result is dependent upon a party of virtuous disposition.”
”I remember now.”
”Well, we have the condition here.”
”The Princess!”
”And therefore the Duke, not our Phranza, is in danger. She will discomfit him.”
”May Heaven dispose so!” And the Rhetorician almost immediately added, ”Observe thou. Notaras has established himself within easy hearing of the two. He has actually invaded the s.p.a.ce reserved for them.”
”As if to confirm my forecast!”
Then the Philosopher raised a cup.
”To Phranza!”
”To Phranza!” the Rhetorician responded.
This episode hardly concluded when the Emperor's brother sauntered to the Duke's side; and on the appearance of the Emperor and the Princess, he exclaimed, enthusiastically:
”Come of it what may, my Lord, the damsel is comely, and I fear not to compare her with the best of Trebizond or Georgia.”