clothes. And these gentlemen crowded in front of my father, shoved
him to the wall, hid him from the eye of the king, who passed
through the hall at the side of the queen, and with a pleasant face
received all the petitions which were handed to him. Sadly we turned
home, but on the following day we repaired to the gallery again, and
I had the courage to crowd back some of the elegantly-dressed men
who wanted to press before my father, and to secure for him a place
in the front row. I was rewarded for my boldness. The king came, and
with a gracious smile took the petition from the hand of my father,
and laid it in the silver basket which the almoner near him
carried."

"Thank God," cried Margaret, with a sigh of relief, "thank God, you
were saved!"

"That we said too, Margaret, and that restored my father's hope and
made him again happy and well. We went the next day to the gallery.
The king appeared, the grand almoner announced the names of those
who were to receive answers to their petitions--the name of my
father was not among them! But we comforted ourselves with the
thought, it was not possible to receive answers so quickly, and on
the next day we went to the gallery again, and so on for fourteen
successive days, but all in vain; the name of my father was never
called. Still we went every day to the gallery and took our old
place there, only the countenance of my father was daily growing
paler, his step weaker, and his poor boy more trustless and weak. We
had no longer the means of stilling our hunger, we had consumed
every thing, and my father's cross of St. Louis was our last
possession. But that we dared not part with, for it was our passport
to the palace, it opened to us the doors of the great gallery, and