This was the old Judith.
"I shall have to leave at seven o'clock in the morning, as usual. I must be back in town by eight o'clock at the latest," he said.
"Then you must have a drink, and something to eat, at once," Judith, the old Judith, announced taking absolute command of him again, from that moment, as was her wont. "We'll stay out here, and listen to the nightingales, for half an hour, if you like. I am glad they are singing for you, tonight. And then, and then you will go straight to bed."
Drawing another chair up to the table, as she spoke, she sat down. Then she proceeded to wait upon him with the easy, unembarrassed grace which gave such an intimate charm to all her hospitality.
"Whisky and soda? And a biscuit? Or will you smoke?" she asked.
"I am too tired to smoke. I am almost too tired to drink, I think," the King murmured.
Judith looked at him keenly.
"What you want is sleep, Alfred," she said. "Drink this! It will do you good. Don't bother to talk. I'll do the talking."
The King took the glass which Judith held out to him, and drank, as he was told.
Then he leant further back still in his chair.