Then the Count and Countess made their victory procession through Terre-moyenne; the Count was smoking a delicately carved ivory chibouque that depicted himself and the Countess seated on thrones with Terre-moyenne as their footstool. At first the only people who cheered were those who had been warned by the Nazghoules and knew what was happening and wanted it to happen. But then all the children joined in because they liked a procession and had seen very few that weren't obnoxiously Numénoréan or else involved drunken hobbites searching for free grub. And then all the schoolboys joined in because they also liked processions and felt that the more noise and disturbance there was the less likely they would be to have in school writing poor verse in Quenyois or translating Ciceraldarion into Parler commun that morning. And then all the old women put their heads out of doors and windows and began chattering and cheering because it was a Count, and what is a banker compared with that? And all the young women joined in for the same reason and also because Monte Fato was so handsome and had the best taste in top hats since the days of Thingolaud. And then all the young men came to see what the young women were looking at and cheered because Rosédès was so beautiful and her fan more exquisite than that of Luthienne in the flower of her youth, so that by the time the Count and Countess reached the gates of Annuminas, nearly the whole of Terre-moyenne was shouting, and the opera-houses were emptied.
