in the midst.

One face amid the pyramid of countenances which hid the farther
fireplace so burned itself into my recollection in that miserable
moment, that I never thereafter forgot it; a small, delicate
woman's face, belonging to a young girl who stood boldly in front
of her companions. It was a face full of pride, and, as I saw it
then, of scorn--scorn that scarcely deigned to laugh; while the
girl's graceful figure, slight and maidenly, yet perfectly
proportioned, seemed instinct with the same feeling of
contemptuous amusement.

The play, which seemed long enough to me, might have lasted
longer, seeing that no one there had pity on me, had I not, in my
desperation, espied a door at the farther end of the room, and
concluded, seeing no other, that it was the door of the king's
bedchamber. The mortification I was suffering was so great that
I did not hesitate, but advanced with boldness towards it. On
the instant there was a lull in the laughter round me, and half a
dozen voices called on me to stop.

'I have come to see the king,' I answered, turning on them
fiercely, for I was by this time in no mood for browbeating, 'and
I will see him!'

'He is out hunting,' cried all with one accord; and they signed
imperiously to me to go back the way I had come.

But having the king's appointment safe in my pouch, I thought I
had good reason to disbelieve them; and taking advantage of their