truth that is very striking--not a shade of exaggeration in describing
feelings or facts; like very few other people I ever knew. Many may be
as true, but I think it goes often along with some reserve. She talks
all out; just as it is, no more and no less." She talked all out; and
she wrote all out, too. Her letters, in the surprising jet of their
expression, remind one of a turned-on tap. What is within pours forth
in an immediate, spontaneous rush. Her utterly unliterary style has at
least the merit of being a vehicle exactly suited to her thoughts and
feelings; and even the platitude of her phraseology carries with it a
curiously personal flavour. Undoubtedly it was through her writings that
she touched the heart of the public. Not only in her "Highland Journals"
where the mild chronicle of her private proceedings was laid bare
without a trace either of affectation or of embarrassment, but also in
those remarkable messages to the nation which, from time to time, she
published in the newspapers, her people found her very close to them
indeed. They felt instinctively Victoria's irresistible sincerity, and
they responded. And in truth it was an endearing trait.

The personality and the position, too--the wonderful combination of
them--that, perhaps, was what was finally fascinating in the case. The
little old lady, with her white hair and her plain mourning clothes,
in her wheeled chair or her donkey-carriage--one saw her so; and
then--close behind--with their immediate suggestion of singularity,
of mystery, and of power--the Indian servants. That was the familiar
vision, and it was admirable; but, at chosen moments, it was right that
the widow of Windsor should step forth apparent Queen. The last and the
most glorious of such occasions was the Jubilee of 1897. Then, as
the splendid procession passed along, escorting Victoria through the
thronged re-echoing streets of London on her progress of thanksgiving
to St. Paul's Cathedral, the greatness of her realm and the adoration
of her subjects blazed out together. The tears welled to her eyes, and,
while the multitude roared round her, "How kind they are to me! How kind
they are!" she repeated over and over again. That night her message flew
over the Empire: "From my heart I thank my beloved people. May God bless
them!" The long journey was nearly done. But the traveller, who had
come so far, and through such strange experiences, moved on with the
old unfaltering step. The