, and how the
lad had attempted to lather his face with kitchen soap and dishwater,
applied with a scrubbing-brush. Don Quixote thought it best here to
make the servants understand that he would tolerate no such jokes on
his squire, so he addressed them in severe fashion and then ordered
them back to the kitchen, with the Duchess' kind consent.

When the servants had left Sancho thought it a duty to himself and his
master--in order to uphold their mutual dignity and for the sake of
freeing himself from any untoward suspicion--to speak on his own
behalf: "Let them bring a comb here and curry this beard of mine, and
if they get anything out of it that offends against cleanliness, let
them clip me to the skin." And when the Duchess had acknowledged her
faith in Sancho and his virtues, the poor squire's happiness knew no
bounds. He offered to serve her for the rest of his life. He wished
that he might soon be dubbed a knight that he might carry out his
desire on that point. She thanked him for expressing such a friendly
feeling for her, and told him that she could plainly judge by his
courteous offer to her that he had been reared in no other school than
that of the great knight Don Quixote of La Mancha. And she assured
him that the Duke would not forget the island he had promised him: she
would see to that.

Don Quixote was now feeling the necessity for his mid-day nap, and
begged to be permitted to retire. Sancho wanted to do the same, and
remarked to the Duchess that he usually slept about four or five hours
in the middle of a warm summer day; but upon her earnest request he
promised her to try to wake up after an hour and come and visit with
her and her duennas.

CHAPTER XXXIII

OF THE DELECTABLE DISCOURSE WHICH THE DUCHESS AND HER
DAMSELS HELD WITH SANCHO PANZA, WELL WORTH READING AND
NOTING

As soon as Sancho had eaten his dinner, he decided to have no sleep
that afternoon, but to hasten to the Duchess' chambers that he might
talk to her the whole afternoon. The Duchess asked him innumerable
questions about his master and the Lady Dulcinea, and about Teresa
Panza and every one concerned in the book about Don Quixote; and
Sancho managed to keep the Duchess and her duennas in an uncommonly
good humor for the rest of the day. They soon drifted to Sancho's
government, and the squire expressed the belief that perhaps after a
fortnight he would be as well versed in the affairs of government as
he was in the