Suddenly the hands on which his eyes were fastened came to a standstill. A grain of sand had checked the mechanism, and the master-piece was dead.
On seeing this misfortune, the royal one forgot what he had come to do. He opened the clock-case glazed door, and put his head inside to see what was the matter. All at once he uttered a cry of joy, for he had spied a screw loose, of which the head had worked up and caught another part of the machinery. With a tortoise shell pick in one hand, and holding the wheel with the other, he began to fix the screw, with his head in the box. Thus absorbed he never heard the usher at the door, cry out: "The king!"
Louis was some time glancing about before he spied the prince's legs as he stood half eclipsed before the clock.
"What the deuse are you doing there?" he asked, as he tapped his son on the shoulder.
The amateur clockmaker drew himself out with the proper precautions for so noble a timepiece.
"Oh, your majesty, I was just killing time while you were not present."
"By murdering my clock! Pretty amusement!"
"Oh, no, only setting it to rights. A screw was loose and——"
"Never mind mechanics! What do you want of me? I am eager to be off to Marly."
He started for the door, always trying to avoid awkward situations.