Before the Town Hall the procession stopped, when the magistrates
delivered an address, and gave up to his Majesty the keys of the city in
a large enamelled bowl.

When the King, looking calmly contented, was about to reply, he observed
a woman who had pushed her way through the French guardsmen, and staring
hard at him, appeared anxious to get close up to him. In fact, she
advanced a step or two, and the epithet that crossed her lips struck the
conqueror as being coarsely offensive.

"Arrest that woman," cried the King. She was instantly seized and
brought before him.

"Why do you insult me thus?" he asked quickly, but with dignity.

"I have not insulted you," replied the Flemish lady. "The word that
escaped me was rather a term of flattery and of praise, at least if it
has the meaning which it conveys to us here, in these semi-French parts."

"Say that word again," added the King; "for I want everybody to bear
witness that I am just in punishing you for such an insult."

"Sire," answered this young woman, "your soldiers have destroyed my
pasture-lands, my woods, and my crops. Heart-broken, I came here to
curse you, but your appearance at once made me change my mind. On
looking closer at you, in spite of my grief, I could not help exclaiming,
'So that's the handsome b-----, is it!'"

The grenadiers, being called as witnesses, declared that such was in fact