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ot pass away from his line, had had the lad sent

for, and, in the presence of the Council, had acknowledged him as

his heir.



And it seems that from the very first moment of his recognition he

had shown signs of that strange passion for beauty that was

destined to have so great an influence over his life. Those who

accompanied him to the suite of rooms set apart for his service,

often spoke of the cry of pleasure that broke from his lips when he

saw the delicate raiment and rich jewels that had been prepared for

him, and of the almost fierce joy with which he flung aside his

rough leathern tunic and coarse sheepskin cloak. He missed,

indeed, at times the fine freedom of his forest life, and was

always apt to chafe at the tedious Court ceremonies that occupied

so much of each day, but the wonderful palace - JOYEUSE, as they

called it - of which he now found himself lord, seemed to him to be

a new world fresh-fashioned for his delight; and as soon as he

could escape from the council-board or audience-chamber, he would

run down the great staircase, with its lions of gilt bronze and its

steps of bright porphyry, and wander from room to room, and from

corridor to corridor, like one who was seeking to find in beauty an

anodyne from pain, a sort of restoration from sickness.



Upon these journeys of discovery, as he would call them - and,

indeed, they were to him real voyages through a marvellous land, he

would sometimes be accompanied by the slim, fair-haired Court

pages, with their floating mantles, and gay fluttering ribands; but

more often he would be alone, feeling through a certain quick

instinct, which was almost a divination, that the secrets of art

are best learned in secret, and that Beauty, like Wisdom, loves the

lonely worshipper.





Many curious stories were related about him at this period. It was

said that a stout Burgo-master, who had come to deliver a florid

oratorical address on behalf of the citizens of the town, had

caught sight of him kneeling in real adoration before a great

picture that had just been brought from Venice, and that seemed to

herald the worship of some new gods. On another occasion he had

been missed for several hours, and after a lengthened search had

been discovered in a little chamber in one of the northern turrets

of the palace gazing, as one in a trance, at a Greek gem carved

with the figure of Adonis. He had been seen, so the tale ran,

pressing his warm lips to the marble brow of an antique statue that

had been discovered in the bed of the river on the occasion of the

building of the stone bridge, and was inscribed with the name of

the Bithynian slave of Hadrian. He had passed a whole night in

noting the effect of the moonlight on a silver image of Endymion.



All rare and costly materials had certainly a great fascination for

him, and in his eagerness to procu
re them he had sent away many

merchants, some to traffic for amber with the rough fisher-folk of

the north seas, some to Egypt to look for that curious green

turquoise which is found only in the tombs of kings, and is said to

possess magical properties, some to Persia for silken carpets and

painted pottery, and others to India to buy gauze and stained

ivory, moonstones and bracelets of jade, sandal-wood and blue

enamel and shawls of fine wool.



But what had occupied him most was the robe he was to wear at his

coronation, the robe of tissued gold, and the ruby-studded crown,

and the sceptre with its rows and rings of pearls. Indeed, it was

of this that he was thinking to-night, as he lay back on his

luxurious couch, watching the great pinewood log that was burning

itself out on the open hearth. The designs, which were from the

hands of the most famous artists of the time, had been submitted to

him many months before, and he had given orders that the artificers

were to toil night and day to carry them out, and that the whole

world was to be searched for jewels that would be worthy of their

work. He saw himself in fancy standing at the high altar of the

cathedral in the fair raiment of a King, and a smile played and

lingered about his boyish lips, and lit up with a bright lustre his

dark woodland eyes.



After some time he rose from his seat, and leaning against the

carved penthouse of the chimney, looked round at the dimly-lit

room. The walls were hung with rich tapestries representing the

Triumph of Beauty. A large press, inlaid with agate and lapis-

lazuli, filled one corner, and facing the window stood a curiously

wrought cabinet with lacquer panels of powdered and mosaiced gold,

on which were placed some delicate goblets of Venetian glass, and a

cup of dark-veined onyx. Pale poppies were broidered on the silk

coverlet of the bed, as though they had fallen from the tired hands

of sleep, and tall reeds of fluted ivory bare up the velvet canopy,

from which great tufts of ostrich plumes sprang, like white foam,

to the pallid silver of the fretted ceiling. A laughing Narcissus

in green bronze held a polished mirror above its head. On the

table stood a flat bowl of amethyst.



Outside he could see the huge dome of the cathedral, looming like a

bubble over the shadowy houses, and the weary sentinels pacing up

and down on the misty terrace by the river. Far away, in an

orchard, a nightingale was singing. A faint perfume of jasmine

came through the open window. He brushed his brown curls back from

his forehead, and taking up a lute, let his fingers stray across

the cords. His heavy eyelids drooped, and a strange languor came

over him. Never before had he felt so keenly, or with such

exquisite joy, the magic and the mystery of beautiful things.



When midnight sounded from the clock-tower he touched
tate, and is unworthy to be our master.' But he answered them not

a word, but passed on, and went down the bright porphyry staircase,

and out through the gates of bronze, and mounted upon his horse,

and rode towards the cathedral, the little page running beside him.



And the people laughed and said, 'It is the King's fool who is

riding by,' and they mocked him.



And he drew rein and said, 'Nay, but I am the King.' And he told

them his three dreams.



And a man came out of the crowd and spake bitterly to him, and

said, 'Sir, knowest thou not that out of the luxury of the rich

cometh the life of the poor? By your pomp we are nurtured, and

your vices give us bread. To toil for a hard master is bitter, but

to have no master to toil for is more bitter still. Thinkest thou

that the ravens will feed us? And what cure hast thou for these

things? Wilt thou say to the buyer, "Thou shalt buy for so much,"

and to the seller, "Thou shalt sell at this price"? I trow not.

Therefore go back to thy Palace and put on thy purple and fine

linen. What hast thou to do with us, and what we suffer?'



'Are not the rich and the poor brothers?' asked the young King.



'Ay,' answered the man, 'and the name of the rich brother is Cain.'



And the young King's eyes filled with tears, and he rode on through

the murmurs of the people, and the little page grew afraid and left

him.



And when he reached the great portal of the cathedral, the soldiers

thrust their halberts out and said, 'What dost thou seek here?

None enters by this door but the King.'



And his face flushed with anger, and he said to them, 'I am the

King,' and waved their halberts aside and passed in.



And when the old Bishop saw him coming in his goatherd's dress, he

rose up in wonder from his throne, and went to meet him, and said

to him, 'My son, is this a king's apparel? And with what crown

shall I crown thee, and what sceptre shall I place in thy hand?

Surely this should be to thee a day of joy, and not a day of

abasement.'



'Shall Joy wear what Grief has fashioned?' said the young King.

And he told him his three dreams.



And when the Bishop had heard them he knit his brows, and said, 'My

son, I am an old man, and in the winter of my days, and I know that

many evil things are done in the wide world. The fierce robbers

come down from the mountains, and carry off the little children,

and sell them to the Moors. The lions lie in wait for the

caravans, and leap upon the camels. The wild boar roots up the

corn in the valley, and the foxes gnaw the vines upon the hill.

The pirates lay waste the sea-coast and burn the ships of the

fishermen, and take their nets from them. In the salt-marshes live

the lepers; they have houses of wattled reeds, and none may come

nigh them. The beggars wander through the cities, and eat their

food with t

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