Pagina 893 van 1116

And prithee what may be the object of this assemblage?" Quoth the

King of China, "And why dost thou ask?" "I ask," he replied, "in

order that the King's majesty may know that I am no forward

fellow or busy body or impertinent meddler; and that I am

innocent of their calumnious charges of overmuch talk; for I am

he whose name is the Silent Man, and indeed peculiarly happy is

my sobriquet, as saith the poet:

When a nickname or little name men design, * Know that nature

with name shall full oft combine."