Martinsburg W Va evening journal. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1913-1920, 1918-02-28
CHAPTER XIV.
- T.,
King Karl.


King Karl.
'They love us dearly!" said King
Karl.
The chancellor, who sat beside him
in the royal carriage, shrugged his
shoulders. ''They have had little rea.
son to love, in the past, majesty" he
said briefly.
Karl laughed, and watched the
crowd. He and the chancellor rode
alone, Karl's encourage, a very modest
one, following In another carriage.
There was no military escort, no pomp.
1t had been felt unwise. Karl, paying
ostensibly visit of sympathy. had
come unofiicially.
The chancellor was not SO calm as
he appeared. He had lined the route
from the station to the palace with his
men; had prepared for every contin-
gency so far as he could without CALI
ing out the guard. As the carriage,
drawn by its four chestnut horses,
moved slowly along the streets, his
eyes under their overhanging thatch
were watching ahead, searching the
crowd for symptoms Of unrest.
Anger he saw in plenty, and
suspicion. Scowling faces and frown-
ing brows. But as vet there was no
disorder. He sat with folded arms,
magnificent in his uniform beside Karl,
who wore civilian dress and looked
less royal than perhaps he felt.
And Karl, too, watched the crowd,
feeling it's temper and feigning an in
difference he did not feel Olga Los
chek had been right. He did not want
trouble. More than that, he was of
an age now to crave popularity. Many
of the measures which had made him
beloved in his own land had no higher
purpose than this, the smiles Of the
crowd. So he watched and talked Of
Indifferent things.
"It is ten years since I have been
here" he observed, 'but there are few
changes"
1--WE have built no great buildings"
said Mettllch bluntly. WARS have left
us no money, majesty, for buildingw
That being closed road, so to
speak, Karl tried another. "The
crown prince must be quite lad" he
experimental. HE was babe In
arms, then, but frail, thought"
"He is sturdy now" The chancellor
relapsed into watchfulness.
Before / see the Princess Hedwig,n
Karl made another attempt, sit might
be well to tell me how she feels about
things. I would like to feel that the
prospect is at least not disagreeable to
her"
The chancellor was not listening.
There was trouble ahead. 1t had come,
then, after all. Vie muttered some
thing behind his gray mustache. The
horses stopped, as the crowd suddenly
closed In front Of them.
"Drive ont" he said angrily, and the
coachman touched his whip to the
horses. But they only reared, to be
grasped at the brides by hostile hands
ahead.
Karl half rose from his seat.
"Sit still, majesty" said the chancel-'
Tor. TT is the students. They will
talk, that is ALL"
But it came perilousIy near to be-
Ing a riot. Led by some students,
pushed by others, the crowd sur
rounded the two carriages, first NUT
tering, then yelling. A stone was
hurled, and struck one of the horses.
Another dented the body Of the car
riage itself. A-xnan with handker-
chief tied over the lower half Of his
face mounted the shoulders of two
companions, and harangued the crowd.
They wanted no friendship with Kar-
MA We're they to lose their national
existence? He exhorted them madly
through the handkerchief. A babel Of
noise, Of swinging back and forth, OF
mounted police pushing through to
surround the carriage, Of cries and the
dominating voices OF the student
demagogues. Then at last semblance
of order. low muttering, an escort or
police with drawn revolyers around the
carriage, and 1t moved ahead.
Through It all the chancellor had sat
with folded arms. Only his livId fnce
told Of his fury. Kari, too, had SAT- I'm
passive, picking at his small mustache.
Esls as the carriage. laoyed On. he
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