out of bed.

The two old people screamed in their astonishment, then laughed louder
in their joy; but the Court physician, who was just entering the room,
looked very much disgusted and disappointed, for he saw the beautiful
prospect of saving the life of one of the royal children dissolve before
his very eyes.

At the time of this accident the Duchess was away from home. On her
return she forced herself to reprove George for his recklessness before
she yielded fully to her motherly affection. When George threw his arms
around her neck and asked her if it were really true that he was an
ill-starred child, and would never have anything but bad luck as long
as he lived, she nearly burst into tears. But she restrained herself,
called Pepe and Nouna a couple of old geese, and the "signs," which they
had talked about, stupid nonsense. Then she left the room hurriedly and
George thought that he heard her crying outside. He had gathered from
her tone that she was not convinced of what she was saying, and was only
trying to quiet his fears, and from that hour he, too, regarded himself
as a child destined to adversity. This was indeed unfortunate, yet it
had its compensation, for each morning he anticipated an unhappy day,
and when in the evening he looked back on nothing but pleasure and
sunshine, he went to bed with a heart full of gratitude for the good
which he had enjoyed but which did not rightfully belong to him. From
this time his mother had him more carefully guarded than before, she
herself even followed him about anxiously, like a hen who has hatched a
duckling, and forbade him to build any more stone-houses.

The noble Duchess was just then weighed down with other cares. One of
her neighbors, a king, who had often been defeated in battle by her
husband and her husband's father, thought it an excellent opportunity,
while the duchy of the Greylocks was ruled only by a woman and her
Councillors, to invade the land, and win back some of the provinces
which he had formerly lost. Moustache, her Field-marshal, had led forth
the army, and a battle was now imminent, which like all other battles,
must end either in victory or defeat.

One day a messenger came from the camp, bringing a letter from the
brave marshal, who demanded more troops, saying that the enemy far
out-numbered him. Then the Prime Minister called the Great Council
together, from which, of course, the Duchess could not be absent, and
during the time that