'Who is he that interrupts the Chancellor?' cried another from near
the throne.
'Glump,' answered several voices.
'He is our trusty subject,' said the king himself, in a slow and
stately voice: 'let him come forward and speak.'
A lane was parted through the crowd, and Glump, having ascended the
platform and bowed to the king, spoke as follows:
'Sire, I would have held my peace, had I not known that I only knew
how near was the moment, to which the Chancellor had just referred.
In all probability, before another day is past, the enemy will have
broken through into my house - the partition between being even now
not more than a foot in thickness.'
'Not quite so much,' thought Curdie to himself.
'This very evening I have had to remove my household effects;
therefore the sooner we are ready to carry out the plan, for the
execution of which His Majesty has been making such magnificent
preparations, the better. I may just add, that within the last few
days I have perceived a small outbreak in my dining-room, which,
combined with observations upon the course of the river escaping
where the evil men enter, has convinced me that close to the spot
must be a deep gulf in its channel.
Pages:
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84