But I refused to be so judged.
My spiritual backbone stiffened, and I held my head high, looking all
men in the eyes. And I did these things, not that I was an egotist,
not that I was impervious to the critical glances of my fellows, but
because of a certain hogskin belt, plethoric and sweat-bewrinkled,
which buckled next the skin above the hips. Oh, it's absurd, I
grant, but had that belt not been so circumstanced, and so situated,
I should have shrunk away into side streets and back alleys, walking
humbly and avoiding all gregarious humans except those who were
likewise abroad without belts. Why? I do not know, save that in
such way did my fathers before me.
Viewed in the light of sober reason, the whole thing was
preposterous. But I walked down the gang-plank with the mien of a
hero, of a barbarian who knew himself to be greater than the
civilization he invaded. I was possessed of the arrogance of a Roman
governor. At last I knew what it was to be born to the purple, and I
took my seat in the hotel carriage as though it were my chariot about
to proceed with me to the imperial palace.
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