These I always made it a point to offer before the King rose; nor
was this year an exception, for I found his Majesty still in bed,
the Queen occupying a couch in the same chamber. But whereas it
generally fell to me to arouse them from sleep, and be the first
to offer those compliments which befitted the day, I found them
on this occasion fully roused, the King lazily toying with his
watch, the Queen talking fast and angrily, and at the edge of the
carpet beside her bed Mademoiselle D'Oyley in deep disgrace. The
Queen, indeed, was so taken up with scolding her that she had
forgotten what day it was; and even after my entrance, continued
to rate the poor girl so fiercely that I thought her present
violence little less unseemly than her condescension of the night
before.
Perhaps some trace of this feeling appeared in my countenance;
for, presently, the King, who seldom failed to read my thoughts,
tried to check her in a good-natured fashion. "Come, my dear,"
he said; "let that trembling mouse go. And do you hear what our
good friend Sully has brought you? I'll be bound--"
"How your Majesty talks!" the Queen answered, pettishly.
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