Fair Game 



armored in my piety. It was only necessary to 

 look rapt. 



But with an eye fixed vigilant upon me, it 

 seemed the part of prudence not to trust too far 

 the right of sanctuary. The henediction fell 

 upon the multitude as I put safe space between 

 me and the chancel door. The self-confidence 

 of Dido was not in me. I lacked her regality 

 of aspect. I wanted the assurance of her slow- 

 traveling gaze. 



Far better to try graciousness, that other 

 queenly attribute. Since it came more easily 

 to stoop the head than rear it, I might, by conde- 

 scending to grant favors, conceal my inner quak- 

 ings and the tremor in my limbs. Besides in my 

 next ordeal as preceptress in a Western univer- 

 sity, I was not given chance for flight. A sub- 

 terranean cavern was my throne room. Here 

 with my sole barricade my desk, I must sit imper- 

 ative, grant interviews, and levy tax of daily 

 themes. I could not abdicate. There was no 

 egress save where my servitors came crowding 

 through the door. Indeed, my bleak cellar vault 

 was so devoid of aU appurtenances — is not that 



[185] 



