Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III THE TRAGEDY OF THE RUE DE MONCEAU SUSY d'ORSEL, tired of waiting for her royal lover, was sound asleep before the fire in her bedroom. Suddenly she was awakened by a loud noise. Still half asleep, she sat up listening. The sounds came from the stairs. Mechanically Susy glanced at the clock, which marked the quarter after three. "I'll bet it's him, but how late he is!" As the sounds drew nearer, she added: "He must be as drunk as a lord! After all, Kings are no better than other men." She quickly passed to the outer door and listened. "Why, it sounds as if there were two of them!" A key fumbled in the lock, then the owner of it apparently gave up the task as hopeless and began ringing the bell. Susy opened the door and Frederick-Christian staggered in followed by a man who was a total stranger to her. The latter, bowing in a correct and respectful manner, carried himself with dignity. The King bubbled over with laughter and leaned on the shoulder of his lady-love. "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 repe...