"Take off your overcoat," she said, at length, and while he was attempting to obey her, she whispered: "If your Maj ..." Before she could finish the sentence the King put his hand over her mouth. "My ... my ... my dear Susy ... I'm very fond of you ... but don't begin by saying stupid things.... I am here ... incog ... incognito. Call me your little Cri-Cri, Susy...." "My dear," she replied, "introduce me to your friend." "Eh," cried the King, "if I'm not forgetting the most elementary obligations of the protocol; but after fourteen whiskeys, and good whiskey, too, though I've better here.... Susy don't drink any, she prefers gooseberry syrup ... queer taste, isn't it?" Susy saw the conversation was getting away from the point, so repeated her request: "Introduce me to your friend." Frederick-Christian glanced at his companion and then burst out laughing: "What is your name, anyway?" Fandor did not need to ask that question of the King. The moment he had set eyes on him in Raxim's he recognized in the sturdy tippler his Majesty Frederick-Christian II, King of Hesse-Weimar, on one of his periodic sprees. It was this fact which had made him break his rule and indulge freely himself. With a serious air he explained: "Sum fides Achates!" "What's that?" cried the King. "Exactly." Susy d'Orsel now thought both men were equally drunk. She fancied they were having fun with her. "You know I don't want English spoken here," she said drily. The King took his mistress round the waist and drew her to him. "Now don't get angry, my dear, it's only our fun, and besides it's not English, it's Latin ... bonus ... Latinus ... ancestribus ... the good Latin of our ancestors!... the Latin of the Kitchen! Cuisinus ... autobus ... understand?" Turning to the journalist he stretched out his hand: "Well, my old friend Achates, I'm jolly glad to meet you." "Achates isn't a real name," cried Susy, still suspicious. "Achates," explained Fandor, "is an individual belonging to antiquity who became famous in his faithful friendship for his companion and friend, the well-known globe-trotter, AEneas." "Come and sit down," shouted the King, as he rapped on the table with a bottle of champagne. "Hurry up, Susy, a plate and glass for my old friend, whose name I don't know ... because, you see, he's no more Achates than I am." "Oh, no, Madame," Fandor hastened to say, "I couldn't think of putting you to the trouble, besides spoiling the effect of your charming table. In fact, I am going home in a few moments." "Not on your life," shouted the King, "you'll stay to the very end." "Well, then, a glass of champagne, that's all I'll take." By degrees Susy had become reassured in regard to the young man. Although slightly drunk, his polite manner and good form pleased her. She took her place on the divan beside the King. Fandor sat opposite them and lighted a cigarette. Suddenly Susy rose from the table. "Where are you going?" demanded the King.