The child, however, was something entirely new, and his heart, which
usually beat as slowly as a clock that is running down, quickened its
pulsations whenever he thought of his son. During the first weeks of its
life he sat for hours at a time beside the gilt cradle, staring
thoughtfully through his eye-glass at the future Wendelin XVII. Soon
this occupation ceased to interest him, and he drifted along once more on
the sluggish waves of his former existence, from minute to minute, from
hour to hour.
The queen, his companion on this placid journey, had grown to be like
him in many ways. The two yawned as other people breathe. They knew no
desires, for as everything they possessed was always the best that could
be had, to-morrow could give them nothing better than to-day. Their life
was like a long poplar alley through which they wandered lazily side by
side.
Pepe, the major-domo, after Wendelin came to the throne, was made body-
servant to the king; he, above all others, was inclined to regard his
master, born under a lucky star and possessing everything that one could
desire, as a person favoured by Fortune; yet, after he had listened to
his sighs and murmurs through many a quiet night, he reflected: "I am
better off in my own shoes.
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