He walks back
and forth, waving his hands, pulling his mustache and muttering dire
threats."
"Might I not take to my legs?" I asked. After all, I cared more than I
thought I should in regard to what the King might do to me.
The Chancellor gave my back a sounding thump, and roared with laughter.
"Cheerful, my son; be cheerful! You are a favorite already."
"You bewilder me."
"You have powerful friends; and if the King is angry you need have no
fear."
"I should like to know--" I began.
"Ah!" interrupted the Chancellor, "the audience is ended; it is our
turn. The Austrian Ambassador," he whispered as a gray-haired man
passed us, bowing. There was an exchange of courtesies, and once more
I stood before the King.
"I believe you have kept me waiting," said the King, "as Louis once
said." He gazed at me from under knotted eyebrows. "I wish,"
petulantly, "that you had remained in your own country."
"So do I, Your Majesty," I replied honestly. The Chancellor shook with
laughter, and the King glared at him furiously.
"What is your name?" asked the King in a milder tone.
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