“Will he die soon?” Bobby put in. He found kings as much of a novelty as to Prince Ferdinand William Otto they were the usual thing. Bobby’s idea of kings, however, was of the “off with his head” order.
“Who knows? But when he does, the city will learn at once. The great bell of the Cathedral, which never rings save at such times, will toll. They say it is a sound never to be forgotten. I, of course, have never heard it. When it tolls, all in the city will fall on their knees and pray. It is the custom.” Bobby, reared to strict Presbyterianism and accustomed to kneeling but once a day, and that at night beside his bed, in the strict privacy of his own apartment, looked rather startled. “What will they pray for?” he said.
And old Adelbert, with a new bitterness, replied that the sons of kings needed much prayer. Sometimes they were hard and did cruel things.
“And then the Crown Prince will be a king,” Bobby reflected. “If I were a king, I’d make people stand around. And I’d have an automobile and run it myself. But has the Crown Prince only a grandfather, and no father?”
“He died—the boy’s father. He was murdered, and the Princess his mother also.”
Bobby’s eyes opened wide. “Who did it?”
“Terrorists,” said old Adelbert. And would not be persuaded to say more.
That night at dinner Bobby Thorpe delivered himself of quite a speech. He sat at the table, and now and then, when the sour-faced governess looked at her plate, he slipped a bit of food to his dog, which waited beside him.
“There’s a very nice old man upstairs,” he said. “He has a fine sword, and ring-doves, and a wooden leg. And he used to rent opera-glasses to the Crown Prince, only he turned them around. I’m going to try that with yours, mother. We had sausage together, and he has lost his position, and he’s never been on the Scenic Railway, father. I’d like some tickets for him. He would like riding, I’m sure, because walking must be pretty hard. And what I want to know is this: Why can’t you give him a job, father?”
Bobby being usually taciturn at the table, and entirely occupied with food, the family stared at him.