ed with him of late, and to whom Monsieur de
Catinat has been showing the wonders of your Majesty's palace."

"A stranger! So much the better. Go, Bontems, and bring them both to
me."

"I trust that they have not started, sire. I will see." He hurried
off, and was back in ten minutes in the cabinet once more.

"Well?"

"I have been fortunate, sire. Their horses had been led out and their
feet were in the stirrups when I reached them."

"Where are they, then?"

"They await your Majesty's orders in the ante-room."

"Show them in, Bontems, and give admission to none, not even to the
minister, until they have left me."

To De Catinat an audience with the monarch was a common incident of his
duties, but it was with profound astonishment that he learned from
Bontems that his friend and companion was included in the order. He was
eagerly endeavouring to whisper into the young American's ear some
precepts and warnings as to what to do and what to avoid, when Bontems
reappeared and ushered them into the presence.

It was with a feeling of curiosity, not unmixed with awe, that Amos
Green, to whom Governor Dongan, of New York, had been the highest
embodiment of human power, entered the private chamber of the greatest
monarch in Christendom. The magnificence of the ante-chamber in which
he had waited, the velvets, the paintings, the gildings, with the throng
of gaily dressed officials and of magnificent guardsmen, had all
impressed his imagination, and had prepared him for some wondrous figure
robed and crowned, a fit centre for such a scene. As his eyes fell upon
a quietly dressed, bright-eyed man, half a head shorter than himself,
with a trim dapper figure, and an erect carriage, he could not help
glancing round the room to see if this were indeed the monarch, or if it
were some other of those endless officials who interposed themselves
between him and the other world. The reverent salute of his companion,
however, showed him that this must indeed be the king, so he bowed and
then drew himself erect with the simple dignity of a man who has been
trained in Nature's school.

"Good-evening, Captain de Catinat," said the king, with a pleasant
smile. "Your friend, as I understand, is a stranger to this country.
I trust, sir, that you have found something here to interest and to
amuse you?"

"Yes, your Majesty. I have seen your great city, and it is a wonderful
one. And my friend has shown me this palace, with