'
"And now to business," said the prime minister, a very fat man.
"Yes," said the King; "Come lend us your assistance. Characters,
my fine fellow; we stand in need of characters- all of us- ha! ha!
ha!" and as this was seriously meant for a joke, his laugh was
chorused by the seven.
Hop-Frog also laughed although feebly and somewhat vacantly.
"Come, come," said the king, impatiently, "have you nothing to
suggest?"
"I am endeavoring to think of something novel," replied the dwarf,
abstractedly, for he was quite bewildered by the wine.
"Endeavoring!" cried the tyrant, fiercely; "what do you mean by
that? Ah, I perceive. You are Sulky, and want more wine. Here, drink
this!" and he poured out another goblet full and offered it to the
cripple, who merely gazed at it, gasping for breath.
"Drink, I say!" shouted the monster, "or by the fiends-"
The dwarf hesitated. The king grew purple with rage. The courtiers
smirked. Trippetta, pale as a corpse, advanced to the monarch's
seat, and, falling on her knees before him, implored him to spare
her friend.
The tyrant regarded her, for some moments, in evident wonder at
her audacity. He seemed quite at a loss what to do or say- how most
becomingly to express his indignation. At last, without uttering a
syllable, he pushed her violently from him, and threw the contents
of the brimming goblet in her face.
The poor girl got up the best she could, and, not daring even to
sigh, resumed her position at the foot of the table.
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