And I was
not mistaken. The old town was put into a great state of excitement
and mystification when one day there arrived in a large official
envelope, straight from the King, the cross long since given up;
for, indeed, the Minister had told me that, my father having been
retired, the case was closed. The injustice that had been done was
itself a bar to its being undone; there was no precedent for such
action. That was what I told the King, and also that it was his
business to set precedents, and he did. Four years later, when I took
my children home to let my father bless them,--they were his only
grandchildren and he had never seen any of them,--he sat in his
easy chair and wondered yet at the queer way in which that cross
came. And I marvelled with him. He died without knowing how I had
interfered. It was better so.
[Illustration: King Christian as I saw him last.]
It was when I went home to mother that I met King Christian last.
They had told me the right way to approach the King, the proper
number of bows and all that, and I meant to faithfully observe it
all.
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