edy or a
tragedy, my friend? Or, tell me, what was it he meant when he said
that about the other milk?"

I explained, the matter seeming so trivial now that I came to tell
it--though it; had doubtless contributed much to La Trape's
fright--that I had to apologize.

"Still it is odd," the King said. "These drinks were not here, at that
time, of course?"

"No, sire; they have been brought up within the hour."

"Well, your butler must explain it." And with that he raised his voice
and called La Trape back; who came, looking red and sheepish.

"Not dead yet?" the King said.

"No, sire."

"Nor ill?"

"No, sire."

"Then begone. Or, stay!" Henry continued. "Throw the rest of this
stuff into the fire-place. It may be harmless, but I have no mind to
drink it by mistake."

La Trape emptied the cup among the green boughs that filled the hearth,
and hastened to withdraw. It seemed to be too late to make further
inquiries that night; so after listening to two or three explanations
which the King hazarded, but which had all too fanciful an air in my
eyes, I took my leave and retired.

Whether, however, the scene had raised too violent a commotion in my
mind, or I was already sickening for the illness I have mentioned, I
found it impossible to sleep; and spent the greater part of the night
in a fever of fears and forebodings. The responsibility which the
King's presence cast upon me lay so heavily upon my waking mind that I
could not lie; and long before the King's usual hour of rising I was at
his door inquiring how he did. No one knew, for the page whose turn it
was to sleep at his feet had not come out; but while I stood
questioning, the King's voice was heard, bidding me enter. I went in,
and found him sitting up with a haggard face, which told me, before he
spoke, that he had slept little better than I had. The shutters were
thrown wide open, and the cold morning light poured into the room with
an effect rather sombre than bright; the huge figures on the tapestry
looming huger from a drab and melancholy background, and the chamber
presenting all those features of disorder that in a sleeping-room lie
hid at night, only to show themselves in a more vivid shape in the
morning.

The King sent his page out, and bade me sit by him. "I have had a bad
night," he said, with a shudder. "Grand Master, I doubt that
astrologer was right, and I shall never see Germany, nor carry out my
designs."

Seeing the st