temporal Power Author:Marie Corelli Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III A NATION OR A CHIJECH ? AN approaching step echoing on the marble terrace warned him that he was no longer alone. He re-seated himself at his w... more »riting-table, and feigned to be deeply engrossed in perusing various documents, but a ready smile greeted the intruder as soon as he perceived who it was,—one Sir Roger de Launay, his favourite equerry and intimate personal friend. " Time's up, is it, Roger ? " he queried lightly,—then as the equerry bowed in respectful silence — "And yet I have scarcely glanced at these papers! All the same, I have not been idle—I have been thinking." Sir Roger de Launay, a tall handsome man, with an indefinable air of mingled good-nature and lassitude about him which suggested the possibility of his politely urging even Death itself not to be so much of a bore about its business, smiled doubtfully. " Is it a wise procedure, Sir ? " he enquired—" Conducive to comfort I mean ? " The King laughed. "No — I cannot say that it is! But thought is a tonic which sometimes restores a man's enfeebled self-respect. I was beginning to lose that particular condition of health and sanity, Roger! — my self-respect was becoming a flaccid muscle—a withering nerve;—but a little thought-exercise has convinced me that my mental sinews are yet on the whole strong!" Sir Roger offered no reply. His eyes expressed a certain languid wonderment; but duty being paramount with him, and his immediate errand being to remind his Sovereign of an appointment then about due, he began to collect the writing materials scattered about on the table and put them together for convenient removal. The smile on the King's face deepened as he watched him. " You do not answer me, De Launay,"—he resumed, " You think perhaps that I am talking in parables, and that...« less