FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48  
49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   >>   >|  
down between his legs, Mr. Quin answered modestly-- "I am not worthy. I cannot reasonably claim to equal the great men who have previously swayed the sceptre of Britain. Perhaps the only peculiarity that I can claim is that I am probably the first monarch that ever spoke out his soul to the people of England with his head and body in this position. This may in some sense give me, to quote a poem that I wrote in my youth-- A nobler office on the earth Than valour, power of brain, or birth Could give the warrior kings of old. The intellect clarified by this posture--" Lambert and Barker made a kind of rush at him. "Don't you understand?" cried Lambert. "It's not a joke. They've really made you King. By gosh! they must have rum taste." "The great Bishops of the Middle Ages," said Quin, kicking his legs in the air, as he was dragged up more or less upside down, "were in the habit of refusing the honour of election three times and then accepting it. A mere matter of detail separates me from those great men. I will accept the post three times and refuse it afterwards. Oh! I will toil for you, my faithful people! You shall have a banquet of humour." By this time he had been landed the right way up, and the two men were still trying in vain to impress him with the gravity of the situation. "Did you not tell me, Wilfrid Lambert," he said, "that I should be of more public value if I adopted a more popular form of humour? And when should a popular form of humour be more firmly riveted upon me than now, when I have become the darling of a whole people? Officer," he continued, addressing the startled messenger, "are there no ceremonies to celebrate my entry into the city?" "Ceremonies," began the official, with embarrassment, "have been more or less neglected for some little time, and--" Auberon Quin began gradually to take off his coat. "All ceremony," he said, "consists in the reversal of the obvious. Thus men, when they wish to be priests or judges, dress up like women. Kindly help me on with this coat." And he held it out. "But, your Majesty," said the officer, after a moment's bewilderment and manipulation, "you're putting it on with the tails in front." "The reversal of the obvious," said the King, calmly, "is as near as we can come to ritual with our imperfect apparatus. Lead on." The rest of that afternoon and evening was to Barker and Lambert a nightmare, which they could not properly realise
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48  
49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Lambert

 

people

 

humour

 

Barker

 

reversal

 

obvious

 

popular

 

riveted

 
apparatus
 
imperfect

firmly

 
darling
 

Officer

 

ritual

 

nightmare

 
impress
 

gravity

 
properly
 

situation

 

realise


adopted

 
continued
 

evening

 
public
 

Wilfrid

 

afternoon

 
messenger
 

ceremony

 

consists

 

officer


Auberon
 

gradually

 
Majesty
 

Kindly

 

priests

 

judges

 

moment

 

bewilderment

 

ceremonies

 

celebrate


startled

 

calmly

 
putting
 
manipulation
 

embarrassment

 

neglected

 

official

 

Ceremonies

 

addressing

 

election