movement begins again,
among the waiting gala-carriages. Now the procession returns to St.
Ladislas, but behind the Emperor Oscar's carriage Othomar and Valerie
now ride together. And the city cheers and shouts its hurrahs; the
houses groan with the clamour among all the flags and trophies. The
guards present arms; and amid this festive uproar it passes unperceived
how yonder in the smaller streets fighting goes on, arrests are made, a
well-known anarchist is almost murdered by the imperialistic
populace....

With its costly pageant, now heightened by the white presence of the
young Duchess of Xara and her own retinue, the endless and endless
procession returns, through the town, up the Castle Road; and there too
the villas now obtain a sight of Valerie and cheer and cheer and
cheer....

It is in the white throne-room that Othomar and Valerie hold their
court; one and all defile before them: the ministers and ambassadors,
the members of both houses, of the courts of justice, corporations and
deputations. After the court, the breakfast, at which the table glitters
with the ceremonial gold and jewelled plate, used only at imperial
weddings. After the breakfast, the last observance: in the gold hall--a
vast low hall, Byzantine in architecture and decoration, ages old and
unchanged--the torch-dance; the procession of the ministers, who carry
long, lighted links in gilt handles, while Othomar and Valerie keep on
inviting the highnesses according to rank, invite all the highnesses in
turns and march round behind the ministers.... It is a monotonous
ceremony, continually repeated: the ministers with the torches, Othomar
with a princess and surrounded by the Knights of St. Ladislas, Valerie
with a prince and all her white suite; and it is a relief when the
function is finished and the newly-married couple have withdrawn to
change their dress. Then they appear: Othomar as commanding officer of
the Xara Cuirassiers, Valerie in her white cloth travelling-dress and
hat with white feathers; and they make their adieus. An open landau
awaits them; and with a compact escort of Xara Cuirassiers they drive
anew through the town, drive in every direction, showing themselves
everywhere, bowing to one and all, and at last drive out to the castle
where they will spend the first days of the honeymoon: Castle Zanthos,
quite near the town, on the broad river....

And the old weather-beaten capital, which remains full of majesties,
which st