ll Japanese presses and cabinets of
lacquer which she loved especially.

There was a fire of Scotch coal burning on the hearth, as in His
Majesty's own bedchamber; and on a great silver couch, beside this,
covered with silk tapestry, sat the King, smiling to himself, with two
or three dogs beside him, and Her Grace of Portsmouth on the same
couch. The Duchesses of Cleveland and Mazarin were on chairs very near
the couch.

There was a great clamour of voices from the basset-table as I came in
and the King looked up; and, as I went across to pay my respects to His
Majesty, he said something to the Duchess, very merrily. She too glanced
up at me; and indeed she was a splendid sight in her silks and in the
jewels she had had from him.

"Why; here is my friend!" said the King, as he put out his hand to me;
and once more the dogs yapped at me from his side. He put his left hand
out over their heads and pressed them down.

"You must not bark at my friend Mr. Mallock," he said. "He is off to be
a holy monk."

For a moment I thought the King was making a mock of me; but it was not
so. He was smiling at me very friendly.

* * * * *

He was in wonderful good humour that evening; and I heard more of his
public talk than ever before; for he made me draw up a stool presently
upon the hearth. Now and again a gentleman came across to be presented
to him; and others came and looked in for a while and away again. There
were constant comings and goings; and once, as a French boy was singing
songs to a spinet, near the door, I saw the serious face of Mr. Evelyn,
with two of his friends, look in upon the scene.

I cannot remember one quarter of all the things that were said. Now the
King was silent, playing with the ears of his dogs and smiling to
himself; now he would say little things that stuck in the memory, God
knows why! For example, he said that he had eaten two goose's eggs for
supper, which shewed what a strong stomach he had; and he described to
us a very fierce duck that had snapped his hand that afternoon in the
park. History is not made of these things; and yet sometimes I think
that it should be; for those be the matters that interest little folk;
and most of us are no more than that. I do not suppose that in all the
world there is one person except myself who knows that His Sacred
Majesty ate two goose's eggs to his supper on that Sunday night.

He spoke presently of his new palace at