“It is very delicious,” observed the King, and settled down in his sheets. He yawned, then sat up suddenly “Oskar!”
“Yes, Majesty.”
“There is something in my trousers pocket. I almost forgot it. Please bring them here.”
Sitting up in bed, and under Oskar’s disapproving eye, because he, too, was infected with the germ idea, King Otto the Ninth felt around in his small pockets, until at last he had found what he wanted.
“Have I a small box anywhere, a very small box?” he inquired.
“The one in which Your Majesty’s seal ring came is here. Also there is one in the study which contained crayons.”—“I’ll have the ring box,” said His Majesty.
And soon the Lincoln penny rested on a cushion of white velvet, on which were the royal arms.
King Otto looked carefully at the penny and then closed the lid.
“Whenever I am disagreeable, Oskar,” he said, “or don’t care to study, or—or do things that you think my grandfather would not have done, I wish you’d bring me this box. You’d better keep it near you.”
He lay back and yawned again.