Page:Maria Felicia.pdf/107

 Buried in his thoughts, he sat, giving almost no sign of life; he moved only when some trick of more than usual harshness was played on his father.

Among the talkers of the evening, the steward occupied the foremost place, being considered not only as the highest dignitary at the Palace, but also as a man of superior knowledge. He had been for many years a hostler in the Felsenburk Palace at Prague, and remembered many public events that occurred when he was a young man. These he loved to relate as fully as possible, but during his narrations his audience sometimes took a nap.

The steward remembered well the coronation of Charles VI., which took place in Prague amid general rejoicing. It was just sixty-seven years since an Emperor of Austria had been crowned in Prague as King of Bohemia. The Bohemian nobility, the steward said, already had much anxiety lest Charles should do as had been done by his brother, Joseph I., who reigned without being