power into her own hands and so confound her enemies. The King was anxious to repair the past; it was for the Queen to meet him half-way. The Queen suspiciously asked the doctor what was his object in striving to mediate between her and the King. Struensee replied, with every appearance of frankness, that he was studying his own interests quite as much as those of the King and Queen. The King had been pleased to show him especial marks of his favour, and he wished to remain in his present position. He had noticed that all the preceding favourites of the King had striven to promote disunion between Christian and his consort, and they had, one after another, fallen out of favour and been banished from court. Their fate was a warning to him, and an instinct of self-preservation prompted him to bring about a union between the King and Queen, because by so doing he was convinced that he would inevitably strengthen his own position. After some hesitation Matilda proceeded to act on this advice also, and, short of admitting the King to intimacy, she sought in every way to please him. The King, also prompted by Struensee, responded with alacrity to his wife's overtures, and came to lean upon the Queen more and more. Before long Matilda's influence over her husband became obvious to all. The young Queen delighted in the deference and homage which the time-serving courtiers now rendered to her. Holck's star was on the wane; he still filled the post of Master of the Ceremonies, but it was the Queen who commanded the revels, and changed, or countermanded, Holck's programme as she pleased. Struensee was now surely gaining ground. Both the King and the Queen placed their confidence in him, with the result, as he predicted, that he stood on a firmer footing than any former favourite. The Queen gave him audience every day, and the conversations between them became more intimate and more prolonged. There was nothing, however, at first to show that the Queen had anything more than a liking for the clever doctor, whose society amused and interested her, and whose zeal in her service was apparently heart-whole. Everything so far had succeeded exactly as Struensee foretold, and the vision of future happiness and power, which he portrayed in eloquent terms, dazzled the young Queen's imagination, while his homage and devotion flattered her vanity.