Excerpt from Mendoza and a Little Lady He required a good light in order the better to examine, through the big round magnifying glass which he held in his right hand - the pen drawing which he held in his left hand - the pen drawing which caused him to praise God. It was done on a large sheet of fine Bristol board in black ink. It represented a lady in bed. The lady was very small and the bed (in comparison with the lady) was very large; about one part lady to ten parts bed was the formula. She lay among innumerable cushions, sipping from a cup. Beside her on a hexagonal table stood a tray with a curiously shaped jug, presumably of chocolate, and a dish of cakes. She was extremely beautiful and exquisitely elegant. On either side of her the bed-curtains fell to the floor from a corona in the ceiling. The bed and the corona were elaborately lacquered. The curtains were elaborately brocaded. The cup was elaborately painted. All the designs were different and clearly perceptible. The lady's cap was a miracle of laundered lace. In the dish were six cakes. The size of this drawing was five inches by four. It was signed Ottilie. The Righteous Man had but one eye of flesh. The other was made of porcelain - an admirable match, however. Many people supposed it to be real; a trifle stiff perhaps. The Righteous Man had taken great pains and spent a lot of money over this porcelain eye. He valued himself on his appearance, did the Righteous Man. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.