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100 can until you are called upon to assume your new duties." The captain withdrew.

"Now," said the King to me, "who are you?"

"An astrologer, your Highness," I answered with some natural pride.

"A star-gazer, eh?" he said pleasantly. "Well, what did you come here for?"

"I don't know," I answered after a moment's reflection.

The King seemed vexed.

"Does anybody know anything about anything in particular?" he asked with fine sarcasm. It made me shake in my sandals, especially as the headsman, who was standing beside the King, here tightened his belt and took a large and shiny ax from a page at his left.

But, as usual, my niece came to the rescue, and said, in her quiet and unpretending way, that she knew considerable about