Now Princess Anne's displeasure was aroused because she failed to see any gain that had accrued to her from the revolution. While others had attained wealth and station, she had heard a rumor that King William had expressed his astonishment at her having a revenue of thirty thousand pounds per annum, and wondered how she could possibly spend it. This alarmed her, particularly as she had been promised an additional sum by her brother-in-law, which she soon saw there was no probability of getting. King William carried economy to such an excess that he objected to Anne's having separate meals for her branch of the family; but his manners at table were so disagreeable {376}that no lady cared to be present when he ate. He was unpolished in every action, selfish, vulgar, and ill-natured in the extreme. One day a dish of early green peas was placed in front of Anne; they were the first of the season, and looked particularly inviting; but a look was all she got of them, for the king took possession of the dish and devoured the entire contents. William was inhospitable, too, excepting to his own countrymen. When he dined at St. James's Palace, Marshal Schomberg, the general of the foreign troops, sat at his right hand, and some Dutch officers occupied other places at the table; but if any English nobleman came in William neither spoke to them nor invited them to sit down and eat, which common courtesy demanded. This was very galling, for it humbled the English and placed the Dutch in the position of their conquerors. The Earl of Marlborough had an aid-de-camp named Dillon, who was intimate with Arnold von Keppel, a favorite page of King William. These boys were usually present at the royal dinners. One day Dillon said: "I have never heard your master utter a word to anybody; does he ever speak?" "Oh, yes," replied von Keppel, "he talks fast enough at night over his bottle of Holland gin, when he has only his Dutch friends about him." When Lady Marlborough questioned the young Dillon as to what he saw and heard at the king's table, he replied "That no man was ever treated with such neglect and contempt as Lord Marlborough was. "It is just what he deserves," replied the gracious dame; "he should have considered how much better he was off some months ago." This shows that Anne's favorite was not very friendly to King William at that time. Dillon told her besides that he heard the king say "that Lord Marlborough had the best talents for war of any one {377}in England; but he was a vile man, and though he had himself profited by his treason he abhorred the traitor." This may have been merely a bit of gossip; but William placed the earl in command of English troops, which he sent to Holland to fill the place of the Dutch forces he thought fit to retain near him in case of need.