Today a new foe: the demon of cloth which consumes one, beginning with the head.

Sensing its foul designs upon me, I removed it at once.

It must have some influence over the weak-minded, as, once I had finally freed myself from its terrible jaws, the attendants attempted to replace it.

This struggle continued until I denounced its evil at such volume and with such passion that the creature was hastily banished to the underneath of the moving apparatus and I was taken to the cool place beneath the leaves.

I doubt this fiend will attempt such an assault upon me again.

I awoke, as usual, to the first call of the first bird, before the arrival of the light.

In a genial mood, I sounded a cheerful greeting to my attendants, so that they might join me.

They did not.

It was only when summoned at great volume that one of them finally and sluggishly made way to my chamber.

It became once again clear to me, in the interminable silence between the bird’s first and second salutation, that even the smallest gesture of civility is invariably interpreted as laxness and gives way to licence.