That is all! Such a trifle! Church, State, Prayer and Power
--it can all be summed up in one line--'I have not the thing I want--
give it to me!'"
He resumed his writing, and did not interrupt it again till it was time
to join the Royal party at the Opera.
That evening was one destined to be long remembered in the annals of
the kingdom. The beautiful Opera-house, a marvel of art and
architecture, was brilliantly full; all the fairest women and most
distinguished men occupying the boxes and stalls, while round and
round, in a seemingly never-ending galaxy of faces, and crowded in the
tiers of balconies above, a mixed audience had gathered, made up of
various sections of the populace which filled the space well up to the
furthest galleries. The attraction that had drawn so large an audience
together was not contained in the magnetic personality of either the
King or Queen, for those exalted individuals had only announced their
intention of being present just two hours before the curtain rose.
Moreover, when their Majesties entered the Royal box, accompanied by
their two younger sons, Rupert and Cyprian, and attended by their
personal suite, their appearance created very little sensation. The
fact that it was the first time the King had showed himself openly in
public since his excommunication from the Church, caused perhaps a
couple of hundred persons to raise their eyes inquisitively towards him
in a kind of half-morbid, half-languid curiosity, but in these days
the sentiment of Self is so strong, that it is only a minority of more
thoughtful individuals that ever trouble themselves seriously to
consider the annoyances or griefs which their fellow-mortals have to
endure, often alone and undefended.
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