mmon silver."

Of course Rosina could only curtsy, but she was very much alarmed about
the consequences to her mistress.

After luncheon, the king asked Jaqueline to come into his study, as he
often did, to help him with his letters. When they had sat down his
Majesty said:

"My dear Jaqueline, I never interfere with your pursuits, but I almost
doubt whether _Cornelius Agrippa_ is a good book for a very young lady to
read. The Fairy Paribanou, I am sure, taught you nothing beyond the
ordinary magical accomplishments suited to your rank; but there are a
great many things in the _Cornelius_ which I think you should not study
till you are older and wiser."

"What does your Majesty mean?" said poor Jaqueline, feeling very
uncomfortable; for the king had never lectured her before.

"Why," said his Majesty, taking the silver cross out of his pocket, "did
you not give this to Rosina?"

"Yes, sire, I did give her the drops. She had them made up herself."

"Then give it back to her when you see her next. I am glad you are
frank, Jaqueline. And you know, of course, that the drops are not
ordinary silver? They are moon silver, and that can only be got in one
way, so far as I know, at least--when one spills the water when he, or
she, is drinking the moon. Now, there is only one book which tells how
that can be done, and there is only one reason for doing it; namely, to
find out what is some other person's secret. I shall not ask you _whose_
secret you wanted to find out, but I must request you never to do such a
thing again without consulting me. You can have no reason for it, such
as a great king might have whose enemies are plotting against his
country."

"Oh, sire, I will tell you everything!" cried Jaqueline.

"No, don't; I don't want to know. I am sure you will make no use of your
information which you think I should not approve of. But there is
another thing--that eclipse of the moon! Oh, Jaqueline, was it
honourable, or fair to the astronomers and men of science, to say nothing
about it? Their European reputations are seriously injured."

Poor Jaqueline could only cry.

"Never mind," said his Majesty, comforting her. "There is no great harm
done yet, and perhaps they would not believe you if you did explain; but
just think, if some people ceased to believe in Science, what would they
have left to believe in? But you are young, of course, and cannot be
expected to think of everything."

"I never