Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1902-01-11

1t is true; but this was the new fash
ion. Heartiness had come to be &C.
counted barbarism by this new cul-
ture.
A pair Of posturing, Sinking
chamberlains took me in charge, and
ushered me with their fimsy golden
wands to the dais at the farther end.
! 1t appeared that I was to sit on
Phorenice's divan and eat my meat
out of her dish.
"There is no stint to the honor the
empress puts upon me-" 1 said, as I
knelt down and took my seat.
! She gave me one of her queer, side
long looks. "Deucalion may have
more beside, if he asks for it prettily.
He may have what all the other men
in the known world have sighed for,
and what none of them will ever get.
But [ have given enough of my own
accord; he must ask me warmly for
those further favors.''
81 ask" 1 said, first, that 1 may
| sweep the boundaries clear of this
rabble which is clamoring against the
city walls
"Pah!" she said and frowned.
"Have you appetite only for the
sterner pleasures of life? My good
Deucalion, they must have been rus
tic folk in that colony of yours.
/ Well, you shall give me news now of
| the toothsomeness of this feast"
Dishes and goblets were placed be-
fore us, and we began to eat, though
! [ had little enough appetite for
victual so broken and so highly spiced.
But if this finiclling cookery and these
| luscious wines did not appeal to me,
the other diners in that gorgeous hall
| appreciated it all to the full. They
sat about in groups on the pavement
| beneath the light-jets like tang1e
of rainbows for color, and according
to the new custom they went into rap
| lures and ecstasies over their enjoy
ment. Women and men both, they
! fingered over each Utilization of the
palate as though it were a caress of
the gods. :
Phorenice, with her quick, bright
eyes, looked on, and occasionally flung
| one or another a few words between
| her talk with me, and now and again
!
receive a scrap of Wand from the royal
dish. This the honored one would eat
with eXtravagant gesture, or (as hap
pened twice. would put it away in the
folds of his clothes as a treasure too
dear to be profaned by human lips.
To me this flattery appeared gross
and disgustful, but Phorenice, through
/ use, perhaps, seemed to take it as
mel ely her due. There was, one had
| to suppose, a weakness in her some
where, though truly to the outward
seeing none was apparent. Her face
was strong enough, and it was
subtle also, and, moreover, it was
wondrous comely. All the courtiers
in the banqueting hall raved about
! Phorenice's face and the other beau
ties of her body and limbs; and though
not given to appreciation in these mat
| tiers, / could not but see that here at
| least they had a groundwork for
! their admiration; for surely the gods
| have never favored mortal woman
more highly. Yet lovely though she
might be, for myself l preferred to
| look upon Ylga, the girl, who, because
| of her rank, was privileged to sit on
! the divan behind us as immediate at
| tendant. There was an honesty in
! Ylga's face which Phorenice's lacked.
They did not eat to nutrify their bod
les, these feasters in the banqueting
hall of the royal pyramid, but they
| ate to cloy themselves, and they strut
| ted forth new usages with every plat
| L ! c1nr III
To me some of their manners were
closely touching on disrespect. At
the halfway of the meal gorgeous
| popin iay-he was a governor of an
| out-province driven into the capital
! by a rebellion in his own lands-this
gorgeous fop, I say, walked up be-
tween the groups of feasters with
! flushed face and unsteady gait, and did
! obeisance before the divan. "Most
astounding empress" cried her, 'fair-
est among the goddesses, queen reg
nant of my adoring heart, hall"
And so the feast went on, the guests
practicing their gluttonies and their
absurdities, and the guards standing
to their arms round the circuit of the
walls as motionless and as stern as
| the statues carven in the white stone
| beyond them. But a term was put to
! the orgie with something of sudden
ness. There was a stir at the farther
doorway of the banqueting hall, and
clash, as two of the guards joined
their spears across the entrance. But
the man they tried to stop-or per-
haps it was to pin-passed them I'M
| harmed, and walked up over the pave
ment between the lights and the
groups of feasters. All looked round
at him; a few threw him ribald words;
but none ventured to stop his prog
ress. A few, women chiefly, I could
| see shuddered as he passed them by,
as though a wintry chill had come over
| them; and in the end he walked up
and stood in front of Phorenice's d.
van and gazed fXedly on her, but
without making obefsance.
He was a frail old man, with white
hair tumbling on his shoulders and
ragged beard. The mud of wayfaring
hung in clots on his feet and legs.
His wizened body was bare save for
a single cloth wound about his shout
ders and his loins, and he carried in
his hand wand with the symbol of
our Lord the Sun glowing at it's tip.
| That wand went to show his caste,
| but I'M no other way could 1 recog
nize him.
l took him for one of those ascetics
of the Priests clan, who had for
sworn the steady nurtured life of the
Sacred Mountain, and who lived out
in the dangerous lands among the
burning hills, where there is daily
peril from falling rocks, from fire
streams, from evil vapors, from sud-
den assuring of the ground and from
other movements of those unstable
territories, and from the greater liz
ards and other monstrous beasts
which haunt them. These keep con-
slant in the memory the might of the