was very
seriously displeased; and that unless I could keep myself determined, he
would have the best of the interview; and that I was resolved he should
not have.

Suddenly he spoke, still writing.

"You can go, Chiffinch," said he. "Come back in half an hour."

He looked up for a flash and nodded; and I thought, God knows why, that
he had in mind the guards outside, and that they should be within call.
I knew precisely what my legal offence would be--that of brawling within
the precincts of the palace; and the penalties of this I did not care to
think about; for I was not sure enough what they were.

When the door closed behind Mr. Chiffinch I felt more alone than ever. I
regarded the King's dark face, turned down upon his paper; his dusky
ringed hand with the lace turned back; the blue-gemmed quill that he
used, his great plumed hat. I looked now and again, discreetly, round
the room, at the gorgeous carvings, the tall presses, the innumerable
clocks, the brightly polished windows with the river flowing beneath. I
felt very little and lonely. Then, in a flash, the memory came back that
not fifty yards away was Dolly's little parlour, and Dolly herself; and
my determination surged up once more.

Suddenly His Majesty threw down his pen.

"Mr. Mallock," he said very sternly, "there is only one excuse for
you--that you were drunk last night. Do you plead that?"

He was looking straight at me with savage melancholy eyes. I dropped my
own.

"No, Sir."

"You dare to say you were not drunk?"

"Yes, Sir."

His Majesty caught up an ivory knife and sat drawing it through his
fingers, still looking at me, I perceived; though I kept my eyes down. I
could see that he was violently impatient.

"Mr. Mallock," said he, "this is intolerable. You come back from France
where you have done me good service--I will never deny that--and you
win my gratitude; and then you fling it all away by a piece of
unpardonable behaviour. Are you aware of the penalties for such
behaviour as yours?--brawling in the Palace itself, knocking my men
down, forcing your way into the lodgings of Her Majesty's Ladies? Have
you anything to say as to why you should not go before the Green Cloth?"

A great surge of contradiction and defiance rose within me; but I choked
it down again. It was there if I should need it. The effort held me
steady and balanced.

"Do you hear me, sir?"

"Yes, Sir," said I.

"Well--what have you to say?"

He glanc