The royal coach had already borne its occupants along two miles of the route; and continued exercise was making them warm.
"Good Heavens!" exclaimed the King, "it's very stuffy in here; I feel as if I were in a furnace. Why did you ask to have the windows closed, my dear?"
"It makes one feel so much safer," said the Queen, keeping her stereotyped smile, and sweeping a bow as she spoke.
"Safer from what?" Here his Majesty responded to a fresh burst of cheers.
"Accidents," replied his consort; "one never knows."
"Glass, my dear, does not protect one from the accidents of Kings. Glass can't stop bullets, you know."
"I didn't mean that sort of accident; and I wish you wouldn't talk about them just now."
"You always take out an umbrella when you don't want it to rain; and if one talks about accidents then they don't happen. At least that has always been my experience. What sort of accident do you mean?"
"Dust, and microbes, and infection, and all that sort of thing. There must be a lot of it about in so large a crowd; I wonder how many people with measles."
"What an idea!" exclaimed the King: "people with measles don't come out to see shows."