"It is delightful there," cried the old woman, "so long as one doesn't
meet pygmies like you in the streets."
The house-keeper was struggling for breath, and her master took advantage
of the pause to murmur beseechingly, like a child who is to be deprived
of something it loves:
"Mopsus must go--merry Mopsus? Nobody knows how to lift and support me
so well."
These words softened Semestre's wrath, and, lowering her voice, she
replied:
"You will no longer need the lad for that purpose; Leonax, Alciphron's
son, is coming to-day. He'll lift and support you as if you were his own
father. The people in Messina are friendly and honor age, for, while you
jeer at me, they remember the old woman, and will send me a beautiful
matron's-robe for the future wedding."
The invalid looked inquiringly at his daughter, and the latter answered,
blushing:
"Semestre has told me. She informed me, while I was cutting the cloth,
that Leonax would come as a suitor."
"May he fare better than Alkamenes and the others, whom you sent home!
You know I will not force your inclinations, but, if I am to lose Mopsus,
I should like a pleasant son. Why has Phaon fallen into such foolish,
evil ways? The young Leonax--"
"Is of a different stamp," interrupted Semestre--" Now come, my dove, I
have a thousand things to do.
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