Edward the Seventh I. [antikvár]

Chapter 1Major-General the Hon. Róbert Bruce paced carefully across the deck of the small river steamer, his black, mirror-polished boots testing each step. The planks were drying after heavy rain and, in patches, treacherous underfoot At the stern, the Royal Ensign hung sodden and above his head the little coloured pennants dripped on their lines like tinkers' washing. He reached the rail and stood looking back along the wake of the steamer. They had just come out of the last of the thousand islands scattered along the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and were now sailing past the north shore of Laké Ontario. To his left he could see the shore, almost monotonously picturesque, dense woods leading down to creeks and inlets at the edge of the water. A weak sun had broken through the cloud and begun to sparkie in tiny diamond points on the wet leaves of the maples and vines and mulberries, but Bruce saw none of it.An erect, soldierly man with iron-grey hair, in full dress uniform, scarlet tunic and medals, he was schooled by discipline and temperament into not showing his feelings. But inside himself, he felt a deep sense of outrage. The whole trip to Canada had been a succesS, more than that, a triumph. They had visited innumerable towns and cities from St. John's, Newfoundland, to Quebec and Montreal where the Prince had opened the tubular Victoria Bridge on the Grand Trunk Railway, and Ottawa where the Prince had laid the foundation stone of the Federal Parliament building. He had honoured the Prime Ministers of Upper and Lower Canada, knighted the Speakers of both Parliament Houses in Quebec, accepted loyal addresses, attended balls and recep-tions. In each city, the cheers had been louder, the crowds more eager and welcoming.The Prince had made speeches, danced, flirted, been formai, royal or naturally boyish, whichever was right for that moment He had done well dammit, he'd done splendidly. It was the boy's first time on his own, the first time he had been exposed to the strain of a royal tour in a strange country. That he had turnéd curiosity into admiration, adoration even, was due solely to his own personality. In spite of the