Struensee at first did not occupy a prominent place in the King's suite. His profession of itself did not entitle him to be a member of the first three classes who were received at court. His position was a middle one, between the lackeys and those members of the King's suite who ranked as gentlemen, and it must have been uncomfortable. Some little difficulty arose as to with whom he should travel, but he was finally given a seat in the coach of Bernstorff's secretary. Struensee was not a man to be content to remain long in an anomalous position, and he proceeded, very cautiously at first, to make his situation better. As the King's physician he had unique opportunities, and made the most of them. Christian was a hypochondriac, who imagined himself ill when he was not, and often made himself really ill from his excesses; he loved to talk about his ailments, and Struensee listened with sympathetic deference. The King, who was always wanting to be amused, found the doctor a pleasant companion. He discovered that he could talk on a great many matters besides his profession, that he was widely read, and had a considerable knowledge of philosophy and French literature, in which Christian was genuinely interested. He supplied a void which could not be filled by Holck, who cared nothing for literature or abstruse speculations, and whose tastes were purely material. The King's suite soon began to remark the pleasure which the King took in conversing with his doctor, but Struensee was so modest, so anxious to please every one, that he did not arouse feelings of jealousy. He was especially careful to avoid political discussions, and never made the slightest allusion to affairs at home. He was also very discreet, and never spoke about his royal master, or his ailments, or made any allusion to the escapades in which the King and his favourites indulged. So far did Struensee carry this caution, that during the King's tour he rarely wrote home to his parents and friends, and when he did, he restricted himself to indifferent topics. His father thought this apparent forgetfulness was because his son had lost his head in consequence of his good fortune. "I knew," he said to a friend, "that John would not be able to bear the favour of his monarch." But Struensee had intuitively learned the lesson that the word written over the gateway of all kings' palaces is "silence!" His position, though pleasant, was precarious; he was only the travelling physician, and his appointment would come to an end when the King returned home. It was Struensee's object to change this temporary appointment into a permanent one, and from the first moment he entered the King's service he kept this end steadily in view. Struensee had another characteristic, which in the end proved fatal to him, but which at first helped him with both the King and Holck. Side by side with his undoubted brain power, there existed a strong vein of sensuality, and