"There is also Adonis." "Adonis!" Don John laughed, not at the name, for it was familiar to him, but at the mere mention of the person who bore it and who was the King's dwarf jester, Miguel de Antona, commonly known by his classic nickname.
"Bring Adonis here--he is an old friend." The door opened again, and Dolores heard the well-known voice of the hunchback, clear as a woman's, scornful and full of evil laughter,--the sort of voice that is heard instantly in a crowd, though it is not always recognizable.

The fellow came in, talking loud.
"Ave Caesar!" he cried from the door.

"Hail, conqueror! All hail, thou favoured of heaven, of man,--and of the ladies!" "The ladies too ?" laughed Don John, probably amused by the dwarfs antics.

"Who told you that ?" "The cook, sir.

For as you rode up to the gate this afternoon a scullery maid saw you from the cellar grating and has been raving mad ever since, singing of the sun, moon, and undying love, until the kitchen is more like a mad-house than this house would be if the Day of Judgment came before or after Lent." "Do you fast in Lent, Adonis ?" "I fast rigidly three times a day, my lord conqueror,--no, six, for I eat nothing either just before or just after my breakfast, my dinner, and my supper.