The wife paid the wager, for the Queen of France had
really been executed, and she had lost. She provided two bottles of
brandy and a plum cake, and the son of the murdered queen had a
share in the entertainment. He ate a piece of the plum cake, and,
under the fear of being beaten if he refused, he drank some of the
brandy that was so offensive to him.
From this time the unhappy boy remained under the hands of the
cobbler and his cruel wife. In vain his aunt and his sister implored
their keepers to be allowed to see and to talk with the prince. They
were put off with abusive words, and only now and then could they
see him a moment through a crack in the door, as he passed by with
Simon, on his way to the winding staircase. At times there came up
through the floor of their room--for Simon, who was no longer
porter, had the rooms directly beneath these occupied by the
princesses--the crying and moaning of the little prince, filling
their hearts with pain and bitterness, for they knew that the
horrible keeper of the dauphin was giving his pitiable ward a
lesson, i.e., he was beating and maltreating him. "Why? For what
reason? One day, perhaps, because he refused to drink brandy, the
next because he looked sad, or because he asked to be taken to his
mother or the princesses, or because he refused to sing the ribald
songs which Simon tried to teach him about Madame Veto or the
Austrian she-wolf.
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