A Fair Cousin and a Dark Brother A real king's life is perhaps a hard one; but a pretended king's is, I warrant, much harder.

On the next day, Sapt instructed me in my duties--what I ought to do and what I ought to know--for three hours; then I snatched breakfast, with Sapt still opposite me, telling me that the King always took white wine in the morning and was known to detest all highly seasoned dishes.

Then came the Chancellor, for another three hours; and to him I had to explain that the hurt to my finger (we turned that bullet to happy account) prevented me from writing--whence arose great to-do, hunting of precedents and so forth, ending in my "making my mark," and the Chancellor attesting it with a superfluity of solemn oaths.

Then the French ambassador was introduced, to present his credentials; here my ignorance was of no importance, as the King would have been equally raw to the business (we worked through the whole _corps diplomatique_ in the next few days, a demise of the Crown necessitating all this bother).
Then, at last, I was left alone.

I called my new servant (we had chosen, to succeed poor Josef, a young man who had never known the King), had a brandy-and-soda brought to me, and observed to Sapt that I trusted that I might now have a rest.