. Court life from within . hat my brother had sent to bring us to Madrid; andwe were started on our railroad journey with cheer-ing and congratulations, in great state, among officersof the Court and personages of the was a journey that lasted all night, and the trainwas stopped at every station so that we might smileand bow to the crowd. At first I enjoyed it; it wasexciting. But when it grew dark and I was tired andwanted to sleep, I found I had to wake up to beshown to the people, who came even in the middleof the night to see us pass. I rebelled. My motherinsisted. Very well,
. Court life from within . hat my brother had sent to bring us to Madrid; andwe were started on our railroad journey with cheer-ing and congratulations, in great state, among officersof the Court and personages of the was a journey that lasted all night, and the trainwas stopped at every station so that we might smileand bow to the crowd. At first I enjoyed it; it wasexciting. But when it grew dark and I was tired andwanted to sleep, I found I had to wake up to beshown to the people, who came even in the middleof the night to see us pass. I rebelled. My motherinsisted. Very well, I said, Ill make silly facesat them, and theyll think you have an idiot for adaughter. My mother was furious, but she knewthat I would do it, so she left me alone, and I slept. I had learned that we were not going direct toMadrid, but to the palace of the Escurial, in themountains, a little distance from the capital. It wasnot considered wise that my mother should go toMadrid, because her presence there might encourage 26. < I—I H A (X5 h3 IRKSOME DUTIES OF A PRINCESS the formation of a party in her favour as a rival toher son, and because it was necessary to avoid anyappearance that the King was taking directions fromher in affairs of State—in short, because the men whohad recalled my brother were willing to have mymother and her children in Spain, but were not will-ing to have her rule there. This fact, for me, rathertook away the sweet odour of sincerity from the in-cense that had been burned for us; but it did notseem to make any difference to my mother, who ac-cepted such considerations as matters of course. My brother met our train at a station some dis-tance from Madrid, and we had a little family re-union that was very happy. He was so glad to haveus and we to have him. My mother insisted that hemust scold me for threatening to make faces at thepeople, but he laughed and would not. He jokedand chatted gaily with me, as we used to in the oldschool days that seeme
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectcourtsandcourtiers
