She had been one of the very few persons who had always been able to appreciate the Prince Consort's jokes; and, when those were cracked no more, she could still roar with laughter, in the privacy of her household, over some small piece of fun--some oddity of an ambassador, or some ignorant Minister's faux pas.

When the jest grew subtle she was less pleased; but, if it approached the confines of the indecorous, the danger was serious.

To take a liberty called down at once Her Majesty's most crushing disapprobation; and to say something improper was to take the greatest liberty of all.

Then the royal lips sank down at the corners, the royal eyes stared in astonished protrusion, and in fact, the royal countenance became inauspicious in the highest degree.

The transgressor shuddered into silence, while the awful "We are not amused" annihilated the dinner table.