had seen the butler do. Then he filled it from the
cask out of which he had seen the butler drink. For
he knew that that must be very good wine indeed--
the best in the cellar. That done, he hastened up with
it again to the king's room.

The little doctor took it, poured out a full glass,
smelt but did not taste it--he did not care to taste the
kind he thought Curdie had brought--and set it
down. Then he leaned over the bed, shouted in the
king's ear, and blew upon his eyes. He pinched his
arm, and Curdie was sure he saw him run something
bright into it.

"They are poisoning him with something beside
wine!" he said to himself when he saw that.

At last the king half woke. The doctor seized
the glass, raised the king's head, poured the wine
down his throat, and let his head fall back on the
pillow again. Wiping his majesty's beard with a
show of tenderness, and bidding the princess good-
night with a show of affection, the snake-handed
doctor then took his leave. Curdie would have been
glad to drive his pickaxe into his head as he went.
But he felt that he had not been sent to do that and
so let him go.

The little round man looked carefully to his feet
as he crossed the threshold again. But there was
nothing there to trip him.

"That polite fellow of a page has taken away the
mat," he said as he walked along the corridor. "I
must remember him!"

-81-