"It is strange, when you come to think of it, that you and I should be sitting here, in peace and quietness, my boy, when there is uproar and tumult, perhaps, when great events are shaping themselves, perhaps, over there, beyond our wooded skyline," he murmured. "Does it not seem strange—to you?"
Mechanically the King swung round in his chair, and looked out, through the windows, in turn—
But the wooded skyline was not destined to hold his attention for long.
Almost at once, his eyes were drawn away, to the sunlit garden below, by a charming little interlude which was enacted there.
Bareheaded, and dressed in white, suddenly, round the side of the house, came Judith, slender and tall, her beautiful vivid face rosy with the touch of the harvest sun. On her shoulder, skilfully supported in her upstretched arms, sat Bill, with his eyes closed, nodding his cherub's head, heavy with sleep. Beside her trotted Button, animated, vivacious.
Judith was smiling happily, as she crooned in a low, sweet voice some lullaby.
Button sang, too, more loudly.
In Button's clear, young voice, the words of the song became audible in the room—
"And does it not seem hard to you,
"When all the sky is clear and blue,
"And I should like so much to play,
"To have to go bed by day?"
A moment later, tightening her hold on Bill, Judith stepped up on to the verandah and, followed by Button, disappeared from view, into the house.