The amazed cabman whipped up his horse and a short while afterwards reached Buckingham Palace, the home of the King and Queen in London. At either side of the gate was a tall sentry box, and a magnificent red-coated soldier with a high bear-skin shako on his head paced along the path.
"There he is now," said the Unwiseman, excitedly, pointing at the guard.
"Isn"t he a magnificent sight. Come along and I"ll introduce you."
The Unwiseman leapt jauntily out of the hansom and Mollie and Whistlebinkie timidly followed.
"Howdido, Mr. King," said the Unwiseman stepping in front of the sentry and making a profound salaam and almost sweeping the walk with his hat.
"We"ve just arrived in London and have called to pay our respects to you and Mrs. King. I hope the children are well. We"re Americans, Mr. King, but for the time being we"ve decided to overlook all our little differences growing out of the Declaration of Independence and wish you a Merry Fourth of July."
The sentry was dumb with amazement at this unexpected greeting, and the cabby"s eyes nearly dropped out of his head they bulged so.
"Mollie, dear," continued Mr. Me, "Come here, my child and let me introduce you to Mr. King. Mr. King, this is a little American girl named Mollie. She"s a bit bashful in your h. r. h"s presence because between you and me you are the first real King she"s ever saw. We don"t grow "em in our country--that is not your kind. We have Cattle Kings and Steel Kings, and I"m expecting to become a Fresh Air King myself--but the kind that"s born to the--er--to the purple like yourself, with a gilt crown on his head and the spectre of power in his hand we don"t get even at the circus."
[Ill.u.s.tration: MOLLY MAKES HER COURTESY TO MR. KING]
"Very glad to meet you," gasped Mollie, feasting her eyes upon the gorgeous red coat of the sentry.
The sentry not knowing what else to do and utterly upset by the Unwiseman"s eloquence returned the gasp as politely as he could.
"She"s a mighty nice little girl, Mr. King," said the Unwiseman with a fond glance of admiration at Mollie. "And if any of your little kings and queens feel like calling at the hotel some morning for a friendly Anglo-American romp, Mollie will be very glad to see them. This other young person, your h. r. h., is Whistlebinkie who belongs to one of the best Rubber families of the United States. He looks better than he talks. Whistlebinkie, Mr. King. Mr. King, Whistlebinkie."
Whistlebinkie, too overcome to speak, merely squeaked, a proceeding which seemed to please the sentry very much for he returned a truly royal smile and expressed himself as being very glad to meet Whistlebinkie.
"Been having pretty cold weather?" asked the Unwiseman genially.
"Been rawther "ot," said the sentry.
"I only asked," said the Unwiseman with a glance at the guard"s shako, "because I see you have your fur crown on. Our American Kings wear Panama crowns this weather," he added, "but then we"re free over there and can do pretty much what we like. Did you get my letter?"
"Beg your pardon?" asked the sentry.
"Mercy!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the Unwiseman under his breath. "What an apologetic people these English are--first the cabby and now the King." Then he repeated aloud, "My letter--I wrote to you yesterday about this H dropping habit of your people, and I was going to say that if after reading it you decided to make me a Duke I"d be very glad to accept if the clothes a Duke has to wear don"t cost more than $8.50. I might even go as high as nine dollars if the suit was a real good one that I could wear ten or eleven years--but otherwise I couldn"t afford it. It would be very kind of your h. r. h. to make me one, but I"ve always made it a rule not to spend more than a dollar a year on my clothes and even a Duke has got to wear socks and neckties in addition to his coats and trousers. Who is your Majesty"s Tailor? That red coat fits you like wall-paper."
The sentry said something about buying his uniforms at the Army and Navy stores and the Unwiseman observed that he would most certainly have to go there and see what he could get for himself.
"I"ll tell "em your h. r. h. sent me," he said pleasantly, "and maybe they"ll give you a commission on what I buy."
A long pause followed broken only by Whistlebinkie"s heavy breathing for he had by no means recovered from his excitement over having met a real king at last. Finally the Unwiseman spoke again.
"We"d like very much to accept your kind invitation to stay to supper, Mr. King," he observed--although the sentry had said nothing at all about any such thing--"but we really can"t to-night. You see we are paying pretty good rates at the hotel and we feel it a sort of duty to stay there and eat all we can so as to get our money"s worth. And we"d like to meet the Queen too, but as you can see for yourself we"re hardly dressed for that. We only came anyhow to let you know that we were here and to tell you that if you ever came to America we"d be mighty glad to have you call. I"ve got a rather nice house of my own with a kitchen-stove in it that I wouldn"t sell for five dollars that you would enjoy seeing. It"s rented this summer to one of the most successful burgulars in America and I think you"d enjoy meeting him, and don"t hesitate to bring the children. America"s a great place for children, your h. r. h. It"s just chock full of back yards for "em to play in, and banisters to slide down, and roller skating rinks and all sorts of things that children enjoy. I"ll be very glad to let you use my umbrella too if the weather happens to be bad."
The sentry was very much impressed apparently by the cordiality of the Unwiseman"s invitation for he bowed most graciously a half dozen times, and touched his bear-skin hat very respectfully, and smiled so royally that anybody could see he was delighted with the idea of some day visiting that far off land where the Unwiseman lived, and seeing that wonderful kitchen-stove of which, as we know, the old gentleman was so proud.
"By the way," said the Unwiseman, confidentially. "Before I go I"d like to say to you that if you are writing at any time to the Emperor of Germany you might send him my kind regards. I had hoped to be able to stop over at Kettledam, or wherever it is he lives--no, it"s Pottsdam--I always do get pots and kettles mixed--I had hoped to be able, I say, to stop over there and pay my respects to him, but the chances are I won"t be able to do so this trip. I"d hate to have him think that I"d been over here and hadn"t paid any attention to him, and if you"ll be so kind as to send him my regards he won"t feel so badly about it. I"d write and tell him myself, but the fact is my German is a little rusty. I only know German by sight--and even then I don"t know what it means except Gesundheit,--which is German for "did you sneeze?" So you see a letter addressed to Mr. Hoch----"
"Beg pardon, but Mr. Who sir?" asked the Sentry.
"Mr. Hoch, der Kaiser," said the Unwiseman. "That"s his name, isn"t it?"
The sentry said he believed it was something like that.
"Well as I was saying even if I wrote he wouldn"t understand what I was trying to say, so it would be a waste of time," said the Unwiseman.
The sentry nodded pleasantly, and his eyes twinkled under his great bear-skin hat like two sparkling bits of coal.
"Good bye, your h. r. h.," the Unwiseman continued, holding out his hand. "It has been a real pleasure to meet you, and between you and me if all kings were as good mannered and decent about every thing as you are we wouldn"t mind "em so much over in America. If the rest of "em are like you they"re all right."
And so the Unwiseman shook hands with the sentry and Mollie did likewise while Whistlebinkie repeated his squeak with a quaver that showed how excited he still was. The three travellers re-entered the hansom and inasmuch as it was growing late they decided not to do any more sight-seeing that day, and instructed the cabby to drive them back to the hotel.
"Wonderfully fine man, that King," said the Unwiseman as they drove along. "I had a sort of an idea he"d have a band playing music all the time, with ice cream and cake being served every five minutes in truly royal style."
"He was just as pleasant as a plain everyday policeman at home," said Mollie.
"Pleasanter," observed the Unwiseman. "A policeman at home would probably have told us to move on the minute we spoke to him, but the King was as polite as ginger-bread. I guess we were lucky to find him outside there because if he hadn"t been I don"t believe the head-butler would have let us in."
"How-dy"u-know he was the King?" asked Whistlebinkie.
"Oh I just felt it in my bones," said the Unwiseman. "He was so big and handsome, and then that red coat with the gold b.u.t.tons--why it just simply couldn"t be anybody else."
"He didn"t say much, diddee," whistled Whistlebinkie.
"No," said the Unwiseman. "I guess maybe that"s one of the reasons why he"s a first cla.s.s King. The fellow that goes around talking all the time might just as well be a--well a rubber-doll like you, Fizzled.i.n.kie.
It takes a great man to hold his tongue."
The hansom drew up at the hotel door and the travellers alighted.
"Thank you very much," said the Unwiseman with a friendly nod at the cabby.
"Five shillin"s, please, sir," said the driver.
"What"s that?" demanded the Unwiseman.
"Five shillin"s," repeated the cabby.
"What do you suppose he means?" asked the Unwiseman turning to Mollie.
"Why he wants to be paid five shillings," whispered Mollie. "Shillings is money."
"Oh--hm--well--I never thought of that," said the Unwiseman uneasily.
"How much is that in dollars?"
"It"s a dollar and a quarter," said Mollie.
"I don"t want to buy the horse," protested the Unwiseman.
"Come now!" put in the driver rather impatiently. "Five shillin"s, sir."
"Charge it," said the Unwiseman, shrinking back. "Just put it on the bill, driver, and I"ll send you a cheque for it. I"ve only got ten dollars in real money with me, and I tell you right now I"m not going to pay out a dollar and a quarter right off the handle at one fell swoop."