Dikes and Ditches by Oliver Optic

Mr. Hamblin, as before intimated, did not sleep well on the night in question. The burden of being called to the state department, and even to the royal palaces of Belgium, was very trying to his nerves. When he slept, it was only to dream of the great statesman and revolutionary leader of the Low Countries, in the act of taking him by the hand or of presenting him to his majesty Leopold, "Roi de Belge."

He prepared himself with great care, in his reflections, for the stupendous occasion. He studied up courtly bows, and imagined just how he would look when in the act of making one of them. He pictured to himself various graceful gestures which he intended to use, in order to impress upon the great man the dignity of his character. He arranged the little tableau of his presentation to the king, with all the speeches, interludes, and movements. If the king said certain things, he should say certain other things in reply; and when the interview ended, he was with becoming grace to back out of the royal presence.