A Royal Progress.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 51, 1 March 1913, Page 10

A Royal Progress.

By EVELYN WILLS.

- liked him the minute I saw him, nd knew instinctively that we could et on together \ he was equally inlined for friendship. He seemed quite Afferent from the general run of growns>s, for there was nothing at all stiff *, put on about him. Long before he iad come into view, I had heard him on the other side of the hedge, singing tike a schoolboy out upon a holiday. The hedge was a tall one. It grew on the top of a bank which divided the "brown common from the green fields beyond. We c'ildren felt a kindly interest 'in it, for we lutd watched its growth ',with a certain amount of interest since the early spring-time, when our governess had seen fit to institute botany lessons, and had made an object-lesson ot the hedge, which was at that time ..putting out timid green shoots that, seemed half afraid of entering into a world of cold winds. Now that summer was far advanced it had grown t wild and luxuriant ; already the June ' roues which had made their home amongst its greenery had lost thtir first blush, and the honeysuckle had begun k> creep along its topmost branches, twining and flowering far above our reach. » , ; I was sitting beneath the little shade the hedge afforded, in my favourite ; place close to the gap made by Farmer 'Hayes's cows. When the singer came to the gap he gave a leap so as to avoid ■sny possible ditch that might lurk upon the other side, nearly knocking -me over in so doing ; and thereby caus"Sng me to drop the Princess 'and the 'Jap out of my arms in my surprise. ' "Hullo! Steady there!" he exclaimed as he gave a grab at me with the evident intention of helping to restore my balance. "Where on earth did yon spring from ?" The ' question should have been the other way" about, ,1 thought. I was already there, and had tieen for fully half-an-hour before he had made his appearance and done his best "to upset me. ( Certainly it was he who had sprung into existence, but for the moment I a was much too astonished ,and dumbfounded to be capable oi putting tfie argument clearly beforp him. From his voice I had ( imagined him to* be a- -schoolboy, but instead of that lie' clearly belonged to the community of- grown-ups, and yet his manner beliedthis idea. Truly life was a mine of inexhaustible surprises, a realm of perpetual mistakes. He must have been forty at least. He was tall and broad, and his dark hair was tinged with grey. A man of ■that age had no right io sing like n schoolboy ; it' upset ami scattered rr\ preconceived ideas of age, and for the time being tied my tongue. My silence, however, did not seem to disconcert him, for he sat down on the' bank on the other side of the gap, and, taking oiit Borne tobacco, began slowly to fill his pipe. , "Why," he said at, length, looking at me with a pair of kindly grey eyes, "I believe I have »t last discovered a Brownie alter all the years I have been searching for one in vain." X might be amazed, but such a supposition as that I could not allow to go unchallenged. "Indeed, I'm not," I cried indignantly. "I'm Queen Elizabeth, and lie dolls" (f added, thinking it as well to include them in the conversation) "are a part of the pageant. We are making » Boyal Progress." "fteally?" he said in a pleasant tone of enquiry that plainly implied he was interested and wanted to hear more. "I had thought of bringing them all at first,'' I went on, "but nine is such an awkward number to carry by oneself, so in the end I only brought the Jap and the ' Princess, 'cos they are the oldest." "I beg your Majesty's pardon," he said, taking off his cap and making me a bow just as if I were a "grown-up" also. "I merely judged in the first instance hy appearances, and so came to the erroneous conclusion thatf you 'Were nn ordinary - little girl. - Appearances are deceitful at times, we all know."' "Well, don't you see it's a game of make believe?" 1 hastened to' explain, not quite understanding all that he said, but nevertheless appreciating to the fullest the gravity with which ho treated the subject. "Ah! So you, too, play the old game of make believe, just as 1 did years ago. It has lost none of its charm, I perceive." This, I felt, placed us upon a footing oi equality at once, and established a «ense of friendship that nothing else ■could have done. He next produced a sandwich case, and liToposed that I should share his frugal unch, saying at the same time that we might find it interesting to compare notes Upon the subject of the game. • No feeling of false delicacy upon my part interfered with this arrangement. By his own showing we had played the same games; henceforth we were ' comrades. Be-sides. idaming over/ the common was hungry work, and his tand>viches were excellent, and even queens anaking n Royal Progress v.ere not proof against the ravages of appetite. After wo had finished the sandwiches and he had talked for a Jong time about all kinds of things, he said : "It is very curious to find, little Queen, how entirely our opinions coincide upoii so many points. We are. for instance, dvide!ttify both of one'mind as to the way of enjoying a walking tour, being 'agreed that it is best to set off upon euch an expedition, alone." "There was no one to come with me to-day," I explained. "Nita was tiredof pageants. Sh^ was kept in over her last history lesson, and so she says she won't play at them any more. She has gone with Harry to the Isle of Wight to fee if the duck has come back yet. ' -•"Rather a long way to go in search of a duck, isn't it?" he queried, in nis sloWj careless voice. "Oh, no; not really. It is only at the end of the second field. It is the old duck pond, you know, and as thero was ' only the old white duck with the, broken wing left on it, we call it 'The Isle of •Wignt.' It kso dry in summer that the middle bumps tight up." "So the ducks deserted it, did they, and found a new home? Ah, well, that is just the way of the world, you know —to leave the old home when one finds a nice new one waiting for one. Hat* your Majesty come a- long distance, and are you journeying far?" "Not very," said I; "only home again, l was going Tight across the common fo 'look' for 5 Kenilworth, only it is /rather far, and as it is so very hot today I thought I would leave it tin-til . some- other time, and sit here and tell the dolls the story instead. They like if quits as well. It has not been a very long progress to-day, but I think it has been a very nice one." There was a long pause, during which ■he puffed away at his pipe, while I watched the smoke curling up and being gently carried away by the lazy breeze that floated about as if it Was too hot to make up its mind to do its work properly. "Did you ever play at being Queen Elizabeth going to Kenilworth?" I asked somewhat abruptly, in order to Mak the silence that Bad fallen between

"Not exactly," he said, wfith a sigh. "I used to be Sir Walter Raleigh when we played the game ; someone else was | the Virgin Queen." i "Who was it ?" I queried, a whole host of questions immediately crowding lip in my mind. "Your sister ?" He blew another 1 great cloud of smoke from his pipe and watched it dissolve and scatter, looking right into the middle of it as if he saw something there. Then he said : "Jfo — Molly was always Elizabeth." "Had phe red hair like I have?" I enquired, anxiously. J<t f not eh© couldn't be a real Elizabeth, you know." "Not red," he said, "auburn. Yes, she had auburn curls that- used to blow about her face like little hpt kisses, and ! make her forehead look whiter than anyone else's." I watched him again after he had lapsed into silence, simply burning io ask yet another question,' well knowing it was against rules to enquire of i strangers all that one naturally wants to know about them. It seemed to me such a silly kind of rttls to make, to forbid children to ask questions. My Sir Walter Raleigh did not seem to mind questions at ail, and had answered all that I had asked him up Ito now. Surely he would not mind one more. It had to come. "Did you even throw down your coat ' for Molly to walk over V 1 asked at length. "Yes, and more than my coat," he replied, but he did not say what other garment he had laid at her feet. "Ah~-that was because you were nofc her brother," I remarked. "Possibly," he acquiesced, taking his pipe from between his lips and looking at me. "Does your Majesty give much time to the study of philosophy?" "I don't quite know what you mean," I said, feeling rather puzzled and distressed. "Some of the words that you use are rather hard to understand, J think." I "Are they?" he said, with a smile. "Well, it is very silly of me to talk in a language that you do not understand when we are so dependent upon Ore another's conversational powers. Pray excuse me ; it shall not occur again." I felt relieved and went on. "I wish you could tell Harry about throwing down your coat ; that is jitsfc the part of the game he never will play properly. You see his blazer is a new one and made of his school colours, orange and red,' and it is his first, so naturally' he 'is rather' proud' of it, though I don't think it would hurt in a field, do you" ? ' And I promised to take otf my shoos when I Walked over it. He says In 3 old coat has too. many things in the pocket; he is afraid I might break something. I think he must carry the cuckoo's egg about in. ono of them,/ for it is not with the others, and he is so proud of it, he is always showing it to people. But it is very horrid of him to spoil so good a game for such a little thing as that, don't you think so?" "It cannot be helped," he Baid. "It is unavoidable if you will introduce such an anomaly into your play. A brother and a Sir Walter Ealeigh combined is a distinct anomaly." I waited to see if he were going to explain, but ( he did not say anything more, so I picked up the Princess, who had been lying on the ground staring up into, the sky, and, beginning to nurse her, said, "Tell me something more about your Holly." "That's the pity of it," he said with a sigh. "She is not my Molly, she chose the other man." "But it doesn't matter," I said, -because he looked very sorry, and I wanted to comfort him. "You can forget that she is not yours, and make believe that she is, just as I make believe that the Princess is a maid of honour and the Jap a courtier. They are not really, you know, go I make believe they are just whatever I want them to be. "But I can't," he said. "I have forgotten how. That is the difference between childhood and manhood. Childhcod can perform miracles. It does not even require a fairy's wand to transform a rocking-horse into a cavalry regiment or an inverted table into a deserted island. The mere fact of call- j ing them by the required name is sufficient. Manhood) on the other hand, cries aloud for all the trickery of twentieth century realism before it can forget it 3 surroundings, and then it only surveys the scene critically." To me all this sounded like a confused jumble of words ptnmg together anyhow, but bo was talking to me ami treating me just like a "giown-up," which was delightful even if it was unintelligible. From his voice I gathered that he wonted sympathy. I did not quite, know what to do' at first, but when he had finished I gave a little hitch round to his side and put my hand in, his and sat- quiet and listened to him as he continued: "It's awfully hard lines, as you'll find out one day, little Queen, to have grown too old to make-believe any longer. You have just to grin and bear tilings as they oie,* however disagreeable they may be. Life doesn't stop to even sympathise with you, but goes on as if nothing had happened." "But you told me you used to make believe ; you can't have quite foi gotten— you said the fairies taught you, I cried eagerly, clutching at this last chauce. " Yea, but that was ever so long ago. They grew tired, and broke their wands over xvm yeats back. It was the penalty of glowing old." "But old people can do so much," T interrupted, enviously. i "The,y can Bit up late and play the' piano, and paddle all day if they want to, and go out when it id dark, and eat as many cherries as they like, and nobody interferes with tlietti." "Oh, yes. AOB has its privileged, I admit, but, all the same, a great many people would give them all up if they could only go back to the old' day 3 and' play and make-believe as easily and as happily as you children do," he said, getting up as he spoke. "Come, Queen Elizabeth, I will be your State carriage. Jump up, I'll give you a ride as far as the farm gate. Here, we will pputt t the Maid of Honour and the Courtier into the boot/ he said (but, after all, he only put ono into each pocket, and the Princess was upside down). " The Queen shall ride in Hoyal State as befitting one of her rank who is a child, a Queen, a philosopher, and a comrade all in one. The escort, the state carriages, the gaily caparisoned . horses, the music, and all the rest of the retinue arc conjured up at will by your Majesty, who is the happy possessor of the most enviable of all gifts." His long legs strode over the pathway leading towards the farm. Truly I felt like a Queen sitting in royal state upon his broad shoulders. Too goon the gate was reached. He said " good-bye." and set me down inside, telling me to run and find the others. But in spite of his injunction. I lingered there where he had left me, waiting and watching until he was quite out of sight with my face' pressed close against the bars, straining my eyes to catch a last glimpse of him who* seemed made' -to be my friend.. . My ( heart was full of a feeling which I did not then understand, but which later years have showed mo must have been pity for the great, strong man who was so handsome and such a good companion, bat who had lost the only, two things that ho seemed^ to care

for above everything else in the "world — his red-haired Mol'y and the power to Make Believe.