comfortable as he had ever been in the downy couches of the regal palace

of Westminster.

Pleasant thoughts came at once; life took on a cheerfuller seeming. He

was free of the bonds of servitude and crime, free of the companionship

of base and brutal outlaws; he was warm; he was sheltered; in a word, he

was happy. The night wind was rising; it swept by in fitful gusts that

made the old barn quake and rattle, then its forces died down at

intervals, and went moaning and wailing around corners and projections

--but it was all music to the King, now that he was snug and comfortable:

let it blow and rage, let it batter and bang, let it moan and wail, he

minded it not, he only enjoyed it. He merely snuggled the closer to his

friend, in a luxury of warm contentment, and drifted blissfully out of

consciousness into a deep and dreamless sleep that was full of serenity

and peace. The distant dogs howled, the melancholy kine complained, and

the winds went on raging, whilst furious sheets of rain drove along the

roof; but the Majesty of England slept on, undisturbed, and the calf did

the same, it being a simple creature, and not easily troubled by storms

or embarrassed by sleeping with a king.

188

The Prince and The Pauper