ew what
a pleasure this affords me! I wish to make my good city of Bleiberg a
thing of beauty--parks, fountains, broad and well paved streets."

"The Diet was unanimous in regard to this loan?"

"In fact they suggested it, and I was much in favor."

"You have many friends there, then?"

"Friends?" The king's face grew puzzled, and its animation faded away.
"None that I know. This is positively the first time we ever agreed
about anything."

"And did not that strike you as rather singular?"

"Why, no."

"Of course, the people are enthusiastic, considering the old rate of
taxation will be renewed?" The diplomat reached over and pulled the
dog's ears.

"So far as I can see," answered the king, who could make nothing of this
interrogatory.

"Which, if your Majesty will pardon me, is not very far beyond your
books."

"I have ministers."

"Who can see farther than your Majesty has any idea."

"Come, come, my friend," cried the king good-naturedly; "but a moment
gone you were chiding me because I did nothing. I may not fill my
coffers as you suggested, but I shall please my eye, which is something.
Come; you have something to tell me."

"Will your Majesty listen?"

"I promise."

"And to hear?"

"I promise not only to listen, but to hear," laughing; "not only to
hear, but to think. Is that sufficient?"

"For three years," began the Englishman, "I have been England's
representative here. As a representative I could not meddle with
your affairs, though it was possible to observe them. To-day I am an
unfettered agent of self, and with your permission I shall talk to you
as I have never talked before and never shall again."

The diplomat rose from his seat and walked up and down the path, his
hands clasped behind his back, his chin in his collar. The bulldog
yawned, stretched himself, and followed his master, soberly and
thoughtfully. After a while the Englishman returned to his chair and sat
down. The dog gravely imitated him. He understood, perhaps better than
the king, his master's mood. This pacing backward and forward was always
the forerunner of something of great importance.

During the past year he had been the repository of many a secret. Well,
he knew how to keep one. Did not he carry a secret which his master
would have given much to know? Some one in far away India, after putting
him into the ship steward's care, had whispered: "You tell the governor
that I think just as much of him as ever."