The Prince asked her if Alexandre had never called her bad names--if he had never beaten her. She replied, 'Never.' He asked again if she had not seen nor heard that he had ill-treated her sister. She replied, 'No, she had never either heard or seen it.' At this the governess became furious; she spoke to the prince in a low voice; the prince replied aloud, 'What do you wish me to do? I have no order from the King to constrain her to anything.' Well, Alexandre gained his cause; the governess could not dislodge him, and our lady gained more than she had imagined in possessing the affection of the King, the goodwill of the Prince, of the priest, and of all those who knew her. But the governess from that moment took every opportunity of revenging herself on our lady. At length she found one, which was rather absurd. The old Jean Meinicken, who taught our lady the spinette, one day, in a passion, seized the fingers of our lady and struck them against the instrument; without remembering the presence of her governess, she took his hand and retaliated so strongly that the strings broke. The governess heard with delight the complaints of the old man. She prepared two rods; she used them both, and, not satisfied with that, she turned the thick end of one, and struck our lady on the thigh, the mark of which she bears to the present day. More than two months elapsed before she recovered from the blow; she could not dance, nor could she walk comfortably for weeks after. This governess did her so much injury that at last our lady was obliged to complain to her betrothed, who had a quarrel with the governess at the wedding of M. Sophia, and went straight to the King to accuse her; she was at once dismissed, and the four children, the eldest of which was our lady, went with the princess[14] to Nikoping, to pass the winter there, until the king could get another governess. The King, who had a good opinion of the conduct of our lady, who at this time was thirteen years and four months old, wrote to her and ordered her to take care of her sisters. Our lady considered herself half a governess, so she took care not to set them a bad example. As to study, she gave no thought to it at this time; she occupied herself in drawing and arithmetic, of which she was very fond, and the princess, who was seventeen years of age, delighted in her company. Thus this winter passed very agreeably for her. [14] Namely, Magdalena Sybilla of Saxony, then newly married (October 5, 1634) to Prince Christian, the eldest son and elected successor of Christian IV. M. Sophia's wedding to Chr. Pentz was celebrated on the 10th of the same month.