She gazed at him with her whole soul in her eyes,—then suddenly, and with the tenderest grace in the world, dropped on her knees and kissed his hand.
“God save your Majesty!” she said, with a poor little effort at smiling through her tears; “For many and many a long and happy year, when Lotys is no more!”
This beautiful passage alone is a literary tour-de-force. “Temporal Power,” in short, shows no abatement of Marie Corelli’s energetic and varied genius, and the public will await her next work with all possible interest.
CHAPTER XV
SPEECHES AND LECTURES
Miss Marie Corelli’s career as a public speaker has been a short one, but, so far as it has gone, full of promise. She has a good enunciation and a sweet, penetrating voice; she takes the platform with the whole of her address clearly mapped out in her mind, her only aids to memory being a few notes scribbled on slips of paper, which at first glance look like a number of broad spills. Consulting these occasionally by way of mental refreshment, she says what she has to say with easy self-possession, never hesitating for lack of a suitable word or phrase.
The novelist’s first speech in public was made in connection with a bazaar at Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire, in July, 1899. The announcement that Miss Corelli was to open the proceedings attracted a large number of people to this picturesque little town, which is situated some eight miles from Stratford-on-Avon, on the high road to Birmingham.
When Miss Corelli had mounted the improvised platform, she first thanked the organizers of the bazaar for the compliment that had been paid her in their invitation, and then proceeded as follows:
“I think we all know very well what a bazaar is. It is peculiar and distinctive; it is a way of charming the money out of our pockets. We wish it to be charmed to-day, because we always know when such money is obtained it is for a good purpose. Sometimes it is for a hospital, frequently it is for the restoration of a parish church. That is our object this afternoon. Now, there are some people who say that a parish church does not always require repair, but in this special case you cannot possibly offer that as an excuse for not spending your money. The parish church of Henley-in-Arden is in a very sad state; indeed, there are holes in the wooden floor through which rats and mice, quite uninvited, may come to prayers. Also the pavement of the central aisle is so broken up that it has literally risen in wrath, and become divided against itself. I hope this day you will come forward with your money and make the parish church a thing of beauty and a joy forever. It is a very old building. It is, I believe, five or six hundred years old, and all that time it has been a place of prayer and praise. I am sure you will not allow it to suffer, or fall into neglect and ruin at your hands. Now, I want you to set your hearts to the tune of generosity this afternoon, and I want you to spend regardless of expense; I want you to be absolutely extravagant and reckless. The bazaar is full of very pretty things, some useful, some not useful, but all ornamental; and I can only recommend you to buy everything in the place. In the words of the Immortal Bard, whose very spirit permeates the whole of your beautiful county,