"Here, take that sweater off the boy—don't you see he is smothering?"
The queen thanked him with a look. He leaned on the table, and bending toward her, he said in an under-tone:
"You have a lot of clumsy friends, madame. I could tell you of some who would serve you better."
An hour afterward all the mob had flowed away, and the king, accompanied by his sister, entered the room where the queen and his children awaited him.
She ran to him and threw herself at his feet, while the children seized his hands, and all acted as though they had been saved from a shipwreck. It was only then that the king noticed that he was wearing the red cap.
"Faugh!" he said; "I had forgotten!"
Snatching it off with both hands, he flung it far from him with disgust.
The evacuation of the palace was as dull and dumb as the taking had been gleeful and noisy. Astonished at the little result, the mob said:
"We have not made anything; we shall have to come again."
In fact, it was too much for a threat, and not enough for an attempt on the king's life.