serge yachting suit with a golf cloak hanging from her
shoulders, and as she crossed the terrace she pulled nervously
at her gloves and held out her hand covered with jewels to
each of the two men.

"I bring good news," she said, with an excited laugh. "Where
is Louis?"

"I will tell his Majesty that you have come. You are most
welcome," the Baron answered.

But as he turned to the door it opened from the inside and the
king came toward them, shivering and blinking his eyes in the
bright sunlight. It showed the wrinkles and creases around
his mouth and the blue veins under the mottled skin, and the
tiny lines at the corners of his little bloodshot eyes that
marked the pace at which he had lived as truthfully as the
rings on a tree-trunk tell of its quiet growth.

He caught up his long dressing-gown across his chest as though
it were a mantle, and with a quick glance to see that there
were no other witnesses to his deshabille, bent and kissed the
woman's hand, and taking it in his own stroked it gently.

"My dear Marie," he lisped, "it is like heaven to have you
back with us again. We have felt your absence every hour.
Pray be seated, and pardon my robe. I saw you through the
blinds and could not wait. Tell us the glorious news. The
Baron's good words I have already overheard; I listened to
them with great entertainment while I was dressing. I hoped