When dogs are excited and confused, they may bite; when men are excited and confused, they may fight. Dogs are great pets because they are loyal, but if a pet is all a man is, he is a bad man, I think. Dogs can be brave, but they may also be cowards that will howl in the dark or run away from danger with their tails between their legs. A dog is just as eager to lick the hand of a bad master as he is to lick the hand of a good one, because dogs don’t know the difference between good and bad. A dog will eat slops, vomit up the part his stomach can’t stand, and then go back for more.”

She fell silent for a moment, perhaps thinking of what was going on in the banqueting hall right now-men and women roaring with good-natured drunken laughter, flinging food at each other, and sometimes turning aside to vomit casually on the floor beside their chairs. Roland was much the same, and sometimes this made her sad, but she did not hold it against him, nor did she tax him with it. It was his way. He might promise to reform in order to please her, and he might even do it, but he would not be the same man afterward.

“Do you understand these things, Peter?”

Peter nodded.

“Fine! Now, tell me.” She leaned toward him. “Does a dog use a napkin?”

Humbled and ashamed, Peter looked down at the counterpane and shook his head. Apparently the conversation hadn’t wandered as far as he had thought. Perhaps because the evening had been very full and because he was now very tired, tears rose in his eyes and spilled down his cheeks. He struggled against the sobs that wanted to come. He locked them in his chest. Sasha saw this and admired it.

“Don’t cry over an unused napkin, my love,” said Sasha, “for that was not my intention.” She rose, her full and pregnant belly before her. The delivery of Thomas was now very near. “Your behavior was otherwise exemplary. Any mother in the Kingdom would have been proud of a young son who behaved himself half so well, and my heart is full with admiration for you.