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"
Come, come," said the king, impatiently, "have you nothing to suggest?"
I am endeavoring to think of something novel," replied the dwarf,
"
abstractedly, for he was quite bewildered by the wine.
"
Endeavoring!" cried the tyrant, fiercely; "what do you mean by that?
Ah, I perceive. You are Sulky, and want more wine. Here, drink this!"
and he poured out another goblet full and offered it to the cripple, who
merely gazed at it, gasping for breath.
"
Drink, I say!" shouted the monster, "or by the fiends-"
The dwarf hesitated. The king grew purple with rage. The courtiers
smirked. Trippetta, pale as a corpse, advanced to the monarch's seat,
and, falling on her knees before him, implored him to spare her friend.
The tyrant regarded her, for some moments, in evident wonder at
her audacity. He seemed quite at a loss what to do or say--how most
becomingly to express his indignation. At last, without uttering a
syllable, he pushed her violently from him, and threw the contents of
the brimming goblet in her face.
The poor girl got up the best she could, and, not daring even to sigh,
resumed her position at the foot of the table.
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