In about half an hour, as I calculate, the worthy Queen will no longer be one of the headless women." "Where did you get the new head ?" asked Pontius.

"From the secret archives of my memory," replied Pollux.

"Have you seen it ?" "Yes." "And do you like it ?" "Very much." "Then it is worthy to live," sang the sculptor, and, as he quitted the hall, he waved his left-hand to the architect, and with his right-hand stuck a pink, which he had picked in the morning, behind his ear.
At the rotunda his pupil had done his business better than his master could have expected, but Pollux was by no means satisfied with his own arrangements.

His work, like several others standing on the same side of the platform, turned its back on the steward's balcony, and the only reason why he had parted with the portrait of Selene's mother, of which he was so fond, was that his playfellow might gaze at the face whenever she chose.

He found, however, to his satisfaction, that the busts were held in their places on their tall pedestals only by their own weight, and he then resolved to alter the historical order of the portrait-heads by changing their places, and to let the famous Cleopatra turn her back upon the palace, so that his favorite bust might look towards it.
In order to carry out this purpose then and there, he called some slaves up to help him in the alteration.