“ Don’t be uneasy, friend Sancho,” said the duchess; “I will take care that my damsels wash you, and even put you in the tub if necessary.”
“ I’ll be content with the beard,” said Sancho, “at any rate for the present; and as for the future, God has decreed what is to be.”
“ Attend to worthy Sancho’s request, seneschal,” said the duchess, “and do exactly what he wishes.”
The seneschal replied that Señor Sancho should be obeyed in everything; and with that he went away to dinner and took Sancho along with him, while the duke and duchess and Don Quixote remained at table discussing a great variety of things, but all bearing on the calling of arms and knight-errantry.
The duchess begged Don Quixote, as he seemed to have a retentive memory, to describe and portray to her the beauty and f
