The meccas of the world; the play of modern life in New York, Paris, Vienna, Madrid and London . n the point of collapsing. Through the babelof screams and shouting, the King spoke to her dis-tinctly: The Queen of Spain never faints! saidhe. And he placed her in another carriage, and droveoff, coolly, as though nothing had happened. Again, at the time of the attack last April, theKing was the first to see the man rushing towardshim, pistol uplifted. Instantly he started forward,on his horse, to ride down the assassin; and when theshots rang out, and people realized what was happen-ing, the Kin
The meccas of the world; the play of modern life in New York, Paris, Vienna, Madrid and London . n the point of collapsing. Through the babelof screams and shouting, the King spoke to her dis-tinctly: The Queen of Spain never faints! saidhe. And he placed her in another carriage, and droveoff, coolly, as though nothing had happened. Again, at the time of the attack last April, theKing was the first to see the man rushing towardshim, pistol uplifted. Instantly he started forward,on his horse, to ride down the assassin; and when theshots rang out, and people realized what was happen-ing, the King was the first to reach his would-bemurderer, and to protect him from the mob. Thenthe crowd forgot the criminal, and went mad overthe sovereign. Spaniards themselves say that neverhas there been such a demonstration for any monarchin the history of Madrid. One can imagine the ting-ling pride of those recruits who, when the confusionwas past, had still to go through the impressive cere-mony of kissing the cross made by their sword againstthe flag: what it must have meant to swear allegiance. THE BROKEN-DOWN ACTOR 213 to such a man at such a moment. As I heard a younggirl say, at the time: There is just one adjectivethat describes him: hes royal, through and through. He looked more than ever royal when, comingback from Chapel, he knelt head bared before theshrine at our end of the gallery. All the processionnow carried lighted candles, and their number was in-creased by the bishop and richly clad priests who hadconducted service. At each of the four shrines theyhalted, while prayers were sung; and one was struckwith the opportunity this offered for an attack uponthe King. As he knelt there, head lowered betweenthe two lines of people, he made an excellent markfor the anarchists pistol; but, as usual, seemed utterlyunconscious of his danger. The court, on its knees, looked very bored; andmade no pretence at devoutness while the beautifulAves were being sung. But the King played
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookpublishernewyo, bookyear1913
