The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1895-08-04

subject and retire to my own apartments.
leaving the king TO dress.
Consequently, I was not with him when
the strange discovery which followed was
made. In the ordinary course of dressing.
one of the servants going TO the fireplace
to throw away piece of waste linen,
thought that he heard rat stir among
the boughs He moved them, and in a
moment a small snake Crawled out. hiss
ing and darling out its tongue. 1t was
killed. and then tx at once occurred to the
king that he had the secret Of the cats
death. He came TO me hot-foot with the
news. and found me with Du Laurens.
who was If the act of ordering me 10 bed.
L confess that heard the story almost
with apathy. so i'll was ]. Not so the
physician. After examining the snake,
which by tho kings orders had been
brought for my inspection. he pronounced
that Il was not of French origin. 1T has
escaped from some snake charmer,' ne
said.
The king seemed to be incredulous.
II assure you that / speak the truth.
sire" Du Laurens persisted.
But how, then. did 1t come IN my
room?'
THAT is what / should like TO know.
sire" the physician answered, severely;
"aId yet think that can guess. 1t was
put there, l fancy. by the person who sent
UP the milk TO your chamber"
why do you say so?' Henry asked.
Because, sire. all snakes are inordi-
nateiy fond OF milk
"Ahv' the king said. slowly, with a
change of countenance and a shudder
which he could not repress; and there
was milk on the floor in the morning"
Yes, sire; on the floor. and beside the
head OF your bed
But at this stage I was attacked by a
fit of Illness so severe that / had TO break
- - 81 = t~ze~ -
withdraw. The sickness increased on me
during the day. and by noon I was pros
trated. neither taking interest in anything
nor allowing others, who began to fear
for my life, to divert their attention.
After twenty-four hours ! began 10 mend.
but still several days elapsed before was
able to devote myself to business; and
then found that, the master-mlnd being
absent, and the king, as always, luke
warm in the pursuit, nothing had been
done to detect and punish the criminal.
could not rest easy. however, with so
abominable a suspicion attaching TO my
house. and as soon as ! could bend my
mind 10 the matter l began an inquiry.
At the first stage, however, l came to an
impasse: the butler, who had been long
in my service, cleared himself without diff
fculty. but few questions discovered the
fact that a person who had been in his
department on the evening in question
was now to SEEK having indoso dlsap-
reared from that time. This was the
gipsy girl whom la Trape had mentioned,
and whose presence in my household
seemed 10 need the more elucidation the
farther 1 pushed the inquiry. In the end
I had the butler punished. but though my
agents sought the girl through Paris, and
even traced her 10 Meaux. she was never
discovered
The affair, at the kings instance. was
not made public: nevertheless IL gave him
so strong a distaste for the arsenal that
he did not again visit me. nor use the
roonns I had prepared. That later. when
the first impression wore off, he would
have done so. Is probable; but, alas, with
IN a few months the malice of his enc
mics prevailed over my utmost precau-
tons and robbed me of the best OF mas
ters. strangely enough. as all the world
now knows. at the corner of that very
Rue de Ia Feronnerie which he had seen
in his dream.