must help me, Luis. Did you see the Emperor yesterday after vespers?"

"I had the honour, your Majesty."

"And did not the conviction that he is in evil case force itself upon
you?"

"I felt it so keenly that I spoke to Dr. Mathys of his feeble appearance,
his bowed figure, and the other things which I would so gladly have seen
otherwise."

"And these things? Speak frankly!"

"These things," replied the major-domo, after a brief hesitation, "are
the melancholy moods to which his Majesty often resigns himself for
hours."

"And which remind you of Queen Juana, our unhappy mother?" asked the
Queen with downcast eyes.

"Remind is a word which your Majesty will permit me to disclaim," replied
Quijada resolutely. "The great thinker, who never loses sight of the
most distant goal, who weighs and considers again and again ere he
determines upon the only right course in each instance--the great general
who understands how to make far-reaching plans for military campaigns as
ably as to direct a cavalry attack--the statesman whose penetration
pierces deeper than the keen intelligence of his famous councillors--the
wise law-giver, the ruler with the iron strength of will and unfailing
memory, is perhaps the soundest person mentally among all of us at court-
nay, among the millions who obey him. But, so far as my small share of