‘Fear nothing, sweet lady, thy fair fame hath been kept guarded and unsullied by me. Not a word is given of which thou needest be ashamed. In this recital thou art truly pictured; gentle, modest, and unsuspecting up to the point where knowledge is forced upon thee, and the deceiver shows his hand. Then, the art of the seducer utterly fails in its purpose, for thine irreproachable virtue shielded thee as a coat of armour; thy sense of honour to thy fellow-woman was as a wall of defence to thy shoulders, for thou didst refuse the most tempting blandishments rather than blight the happiness of a wife; albeit thou wert offered the crown of an Empress as the reward of thy dishonour. But what of thy letter of resignation; I wish I had seen it beforehand; for the Emperor makes a bitter enemy, and will revile thee soundly to his ministers?’ ‘I think I have made myself pretty clear,’ replied Mercia, who had considerably calmed down by this time; ‘here is a copy of my letter; read it.’ ‘Good!’ exclaimed Sadbag as soon as he had finished perusing the document; ‘this is fine! Canst thou trust it with me for one night and I will return it to-morrow morning without fail?’ ‘Seeing thou hast done so much already,’ returned Mercia in a weary tone of voice, ‘there can be no harm in giving it thee to make what use thou mayest choose. But, listen, here comes Geometrus—I will invite him to dine with us, and we three will discuss the matter together.’ At the next moment Geometrus had entered the apartment, and startled the two with the look of painful concern on his countenance. ‘Why so glum, my friend?’ cried Sadbag cheerily; ‘this is but a passing cloud which will be carried away presently by the fair breezes of public opinion. No one can hurt thee, or Mercia: I cannot say so much for myself, for indeed I have meddled considerably in this business, and nobody knows how it will turn out for me. But ye twain are innocent victims, and have naught to fear in this advanced period of the world’s history. Truth and justice should prevail in the dawn of the twenty-first century, if ever it is to prevail at all on this earth. Ah, I wonder if anything approaching perfection can ever be reached here!’