d by his royal escort wearing their splendid uniforms
and long white plumes. He knows personally all the soldiers who form his
escort, and the moment he sees the Captain, as soon as the carriage
leaves the palace gate, he speaks to him, and continues chatting with
him all the way to the villa, the Captain riding beside the carriage
door. He is accompanied by his tutor, his governess, and generally one
other person.

In the villa he is instructed in the studies suitable to his age,
particular attention being paid, however, to military science. The
venerable priest, who is his religious instructor, teaches him also the
Basque language, which is altogether different from the Spanish. In the
afternoon his two sisters, Isabel Teresa Cristina Alfonsa Jacinta, the
Princess of Asturias, who is now about fourteen years of age, and Maria
Teresa Isabel Eugenia Patrocinio Diega, the Infanta of Spain, who is
about twelve, often go out to take afternoon tea with him. In the
gardens of the villa he runs about and plays, after lessons are over,
just like other boys of his age, playing as familiarly with the children
of the gardener as if they were the sons of princes. Whatever money he
happens to have with him he gives to the children of the guard and to
such poor people as he may chance to meet on the way, for he is
extremely charitable and generous, both by nature and education, the
Queen, his mother, instilling into his mind the best and noblest
sentiments.

In appearance Alfonso is interesting and attractive. His complexion is
very fair, his hair light and curly, his expression rather serious. His
usual dress is a sailor jacket and knickerbockers, sometimes sent from
Vienna by his grandmother, the Archduchess Isabel, sometimes ordered
from London by the Infanta Isabel, his aunt.

He is a very intelligent child, is very vivacious, and his manners,
notwithstanding the high honors that have been paid to him since his
birth as the chief of a great nation, are entirely free from arrogance
and self-conceit. When the Queen Regent is holding audience in her
apartments in the palace, which are directly below his, he will often go
down and salute those who are waiting in the antechamber, giving them
his hand, even though he may never have seen them before, this frankness
of manner being a trait of the Spanish people, who are of all people the
most democratic.

[Illustration: ALFONSO XIII., WITH HIS MOTHER AND SISTERS.]

He is very affe