Sleep, as we have said, had lulled to rest also the recollection of this; and the evil thoughts had not yet awoke again in him.

To sign an order of arrest or a death-warrant was with the king such a usual and every-day matter, that it constituted no epoch in his life, and neither burdened him with troubles of conscience nor made his heart shudder and tremble.
But Catharine thought of it, and as the king's hand stroked her cheek, it was as though death were just then touching her, never again to release her.

However, she overcame this momentary horror, and had the courage to preserve her serene and innocent air.
"You call me your good angel, my husband," said she, with a smile; "but yet I am nothing more than your little Puck, who bustles about you, and now and then makes you laugh with his drolleries." "And a dear little Puck you are, Katie," cried the king, who always gazed upon his wife's rosy and fresh countenance with real satisfaction.
"Then I will prove myself this very day your Puck, and allow you no more repose on your couch," said she, as she made a mock effort to raise him up.

"Do you know, my husband, why I came here?
A butterfly has tapped at my window.

Only think now, a butterfly in winter! That betokens that this time winter is spring; and the clerk of the weather above there has confounded January with March.