Jacko looked
at him quizzically.
"Hem!" she answered, demurely. "I'm sure I'm so awestricken, your
worship, that I can scarcely find the use of my tongue to obey your
reverence. I hope your excellency won't be offended with me. But I was
wondering in general, whether the Lord really did make all the people
upon earth, and in particular, whether He made you, and if so, for what
inscrutable reason He did it."
"You are an impertinent minion. But, by the saints, I will have an
answer to my question, and know what you were thinking of while gazing
in that mirror."
"Sorry the first explanation didn't please your eminence. But now,
'honor bright!' I'll tell you truly what I was thinking of. I was
thinking--thinking how excessively pretty I am. Now, tell the truth, and
shame the old gentleman. Did you ever, in all your life, see such a
beautiful, bewitching, tantalizing, ensnaring face as mine is?"
"I think I never saw such a fool!"
"Really? Then your holiness never looked at yourself in a mirror! never
beheld 'your natural face in a glass!' never saw 'what manner of man'
you are."
"By St. Peter! I will not be insulted, and dishonored, and defied in
this outrageous manner. I swear I will have your thoughts, if I have to
pluck them from your heart.
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