"Ah yes, I forgot that I was to have a visit from His Highness," he said. He looked languidly at the little Duke of Gloucester, Anne’s sole child and heir of England. "Come here, sir," he added kindly, "and tell us of your studies." The child came obediently and stood by the King’s knee, gazing at him with very large eyes that shone as if they had a light behind them and were themselves of crystal. He was about ten, remarkably thin and as pale as wax to his very lips, which were compressed with a painful expression of control; the blue veins showed across his high temples, which were shaded by fine, light auburn hair. He wore a very stiff and heavy suit of crimson and gold, a miniature sword, and the garter under his knee. My lord his governor eyed him with the same kind of interest as a trader feels towards some object which, indifferent as it is to himself, he yet hopes to get a good price for. William took him gently by the shoulders and drew him closer. "What are they teaching you, eh?" he asked. The child answered in a precise, toneless voice— "I am progressing very well, I thank Your Majesty. The dead languages and mathematics, history, and the philosophy and errors of the ancients, the creation of the world and the feudal system; the Gothic Constitution and the beneficiary law are among my next subjects." "Doth Your Highness remember all these grave matters?" asked the King, with a faint smile. "I remember very well, sir, when I have not a headache." "What gives you headache, Highness?" The little Duke answered gravely— "If it were not blasphemy, Your Majesty, I should say that it was acquiring religious knowledge and listening to sermons; but Dr. Burnett says that is a temptation of the devil to induce me to give up my studies." "Dr. Burnet is making a scholar of you," answered William; "but you are to be a king and a soldier—do not forget that." A pale colour came into the grave little face. "Oh, I _want_ to be a soldier. I like the riding-school; but things you like are of the devil, Dr. Burnet saith." He looked anxiously at the King, as if hoping for a contradiction. "I think that is beyond Dr. Burnet to decide," replied William. "And Your Highness must not let any one speak ill of soldiers—there is nothing better for a man to be. As God hath called you to be a king you will best serve Him by being what you feel a king should be—before all, a brave soldier." The child gave a short sigh. "I fear it is a very difficult thing to be a king," he said anxiously. "Perhaps the most difficult thing in the world," answered William. "But Your Highness will reign in happier times." "Sometimes," continued the little Duke, frowning painfully, "when my head aches and I cannot remember, and Dr. Burnet is angry with me, and I feel so tired, I wish I did not have to be a king—I wish——" He paused. "What?" asked William; he put his fine hand delicately over the soft hair. "That I was in heaven," said the child simply.