near you."

He lay back and yawned again.

"Did you ever hear of Abraham Lincoln, Oskar?" he asked:

"I--I have heard the name, Majesty,", Oskar ventured cautiously.

"My grandfather thought he was a--great man." His voice trailed off.
"I--should--like--"

The excitements and sorrows of the day left him gently. He stretched his
small limbs luxuriously, and half turned upon his face. Oskar, who hated
disorder, drew the covering in stiff and geometrical exactness across
his small figure, and tiptoed out of the room.

Sometime after midnight the Chancellor passed the guard and came into
the room. There, standing by the bed, he prayed a soldier's prayer,
and into it went all his hopes for his country, his grief for his dead
comrade and sovereign, his loyalty to his new King.

King Otto, who was, for all the digestive tablets, not sleeping well,
roused and saw him there, and sat upright at once.

"Is it morning?" he asked, blinking.

"No, Majesty. Lie down and sleep again."

"Would you mind sitting down for a little while? That is, if you are not
sleepy."

"I am not sleepy," said the Chancellor, and drew up a great chair. "If I
stay, will you try to sleep?"

"Do you mind if I talk a little? It may make me drowsy."

"Talk if you like, Majesty," said the old man. King Otto eyed him
gravely.

"Would you mind if I got on your knee?" he asked; almost timidly. In all
his life no one had so held him, and yet Bobby, that very evening, had
climbed on his father's knee as though it was very generally done. "I
would like to try how it feels."

"Come, then," said the Chancellor.

The King climbed out of bed and up on his lap. His Chancellor reached
over and dragged a blanket from the bed.

"For fear of a cold!" he said, and draped it about the little figure.
"Now, how is that?"

"It is very comfortable. May I put my head back?"

Long, long years since the Chancellor had sat thus, with a child in his
arms. His sturdy old arms encircled the boy closely.

"I want to tell about running away," said the King, wide-eyed in the
dusk. "I am sorry. This time I am going to promise not to do it again."

"Make the promise to yourself, Majesty. It is the best way."

"I will. I intend to be a very good King."

"God grant it, Majesty."

"Like Abraham Lincoln?"

"Like Abraham Lincoln," said the Chancellor gravely.

The King, for all his boasted wakefulness, yawned again, and squirmed
closer to the old man's breast.