“On us? And what do you expect of us?”
“What I have done, sirs—to take your shoes off.”
The king laughed aloud. “Can no one, then, enter that room with shoes on?”
“Never, sir. It was a custom of my great-grandfather. He had this house built, and never since then has any one entered it with shoes. Please, therefore, take them off.”
Balby hastened to comply with her peremptory command. “Madame, it will suffice you for me to follow this custom of your ancestors—you will spare my brother this ceremony.”
“And why?” asked Madame Witte, astonished. “His shoes are no cleaner or finer than yours, or those of other men. Have the kindness to take off your shoes also.”
“You are right, madame,” said the king, seriously. “We must leave off the old man altogether; therefore, you ask but little in requiring us to take off our shoes before entering your state apartment.” He stooped to undo the buckles of his shoes, and when Balby wished to assist him, he resisted. “No, no; you shall not loosen my shoes—you are too worthy for that. Madame Witte might think that I am a very assuming person—that I tyrannize over my brother. There, madame, the buckles are undone, and there lie my shoes, and now we are ready to enter your state apartment.”
Madame Witte opened the door with cold gravity, and allowed them to pass. “To-morrow I can dust again,” she said, gleefully, “for the strangers’ clothes are very dirty.”
In the mean time, the two strangers awaited the arrival of Mr. Witte. The king enjoyed his comic situation immensely. Balby looked anxiously at the bare feet of the king, and said he should never have submitted to Madame Witte’s caprice. The floor was cold, and the king might be taken ill.
“Oh, no,” said Frederick, “I do not get sick so easily—my system can stand severer hardships. We should be thankful that we have come off so cheaply, for a rich banker like Witte in Amsterdam, is equal to the Pope in Rome; and I do not think taking off our shoes is paying too dearly to see the pope of Holland. Just think what King Henry IV. had to lay aside before he could see the Pope of Rome—not only his shoes and stockings and a few other articles, but his royalty and majesty. Madame Witte is really for bearing not to require the same costume of us.”