ast compelled to retire
without having gained his object. And well might his annoyance be
keen! For that paper was the king's will, drawn up by the
attorney-general; nor until they had the king's signature to it was
there much use in venturing farther. But his worst sense of
discomfiture arose from finding the king with so much capacity left,
for the doctor had pledged himself so to weaken his brain that he
should be as a child in their hands, incapable of refusing anything
requested of him: His Lordship began to doubt the doctor's fidelity to
the conspiracy.

The princess was in high delight. She had not for weeks heard so many
words, not to say words of such strength and reason, from her father's
lips: day by day he had been growing weaker and more lethargic. He was
so much exhausted, however, after this effort, that he asked for
another piece of bread and more wine, and fell fast asleep the moment
he had taken them.

The lord chamberlain sent in a rage for Dr Kelman. He came, and while
professing himself unable to understand the symptoms described by His
Lordship, yet pledged himself again that on the morrow the king should
do whatever was required of him.

The day went on. When His Majesty was awake, the princess read to
him--one storybook after another; and whatever she read, the king
listened as if he had never heard anything so good before, making out
in it the wisest meanings. Every now and then he asked for a piece of
bread and a little wine, and every time he ate and drank he slept, and
every time he woke he seemed better than the last time. The princess
bearing her part, the loaf was eaten up and the flagon emptied before
night. The butler took the flagon away, and brought it back filled to
the brim, but both were thirsty and hungry when Curdie came again.

Meantime he and Lina, watching and waking alternately, had plenty of
sleep. In the afternoon, peeping from the recess, they saw several of
the servants enter hurriedly, one after the other, draw wine, drink it,
and steal out; but their business was to take care of the king, not of
his cellar, and they let them drink. Also, when the butler came to
fill the flagon, they restrained themselves, for the villain's fate was
not yet ready for him. He looked terribly frightened, and had brought
with him a large candle and a small terrier--which latter indeed
threatened to be troublesome, for he went roving and sniffing about
until he came to the r