Dio smiled and knelt before her on the couch, as a grown up person kneels before a child to caress it.
"Rejoice, Princess Ankhsenbatona, my dear, welcome guest!" she said with all her heart and was about to kiss the princess's hand, when the girl quickly drew it away.
"There, now she is grabbing my hand! Is that the way to bow to royalty?"
"Isn't it?"
"You should bow down to the ground! Well, I don't care, I don't want your bows, sit down.... Wait a minute though!"
She also knelt suddenly in front of Dio.
"Turn to the light, please; that's it!"
Dio turned her face to the lamp that stood on the floor by the couch—a flower of blue glass on a high alabaster stand. Ankhi approached her face to Dio's and with a business-like frown began to scrutinize her in silence.
"Yes, very beautiful," she whispered at last as though speaking to herself. "What rouge do you use?"
"I don't use any."