n."

Iago having given jealousy one blow, proceeded to feed it with the
remark that Desdemona deceived her father when she eloped with Othello.
"If she deceived him, why not you?" was his meaning.

Presently Desdemona re-entered to tell Othello that dinner was ready.
She saw that he was ill at ease. He explained it by a pain in his
forehead. Desdemona then produced a handkerchief, which Othello
had given her. A prophetess, two hundred years old, had made this
handkerchief from the silk of sacred silkworms, dyed it in a
liquid prepared from the hearts of maidens, and embroidered it with
strawberries. Gentle Desdemona thought of it simply as a cool, soft
thing for a throbbing brow; she knew of no spell upon it that would work
destruction for her who lost it. "Let me tie it round your head," she
said to Othello; "you will be well in an hour." But Othello pettishly
said it was too small, and let it fall. Desdemona and he then went
indoors to dinner, and Emilia picked up the handkerchief which Iago had
often asked her to steal.

She was looking at it when Iago came in. After a few words about it he
snatched it from her, and bade her leave him.

In the garden he was joined by Othello, who seemed hungry for the worst
lies he could offer. He therefore told Othello that he had seen Cassio
wipe his mouth with a handkerchief, which, because it was spotted with
strawberries, he guessed to be one that Othello had given his wife.

The unhappy Moor went mad with fury, and Iago bade the heavens witness
that he devoted his hand and heart and brain to Othello's service. "I
accept your love," said Othello. "Within three days let me hear that
Cassio is dead."

Iago's next step was to leave Desdemona's handkerchief in Cassio's room.
Cassio saw it, and knew it was not his, but he liked the strawberry
pattern on it, and he gave it to his sweetheart Bianca and asked her to
copy it for him.

Iago's next move was to induce Othello, who had been bullying Desdemona
about the handkerchief, to play the eavesdropper to a conversation
between Cassio and himself. His intention was to talk about Cassio's
sweetheart, and allow Othello to suppose that the lady spoken of was
Desdemona.

"How are you, lieutenant?" asked Iago when Cassio appeared.

"The worse for being called what I am not," replied Cassio, gloomily.

"Keep on reminding Desdemona, and you'll soon be restored," said Iago,
adding, in a tone too low for Othello to hear, "If Bianca c