CHAPTER VI
THE JUBILEE
The few days which elapsed before the memorable 22nd of June passedvery quickly, and we were all more or less busy making preparationsfor the festival. His Majesty would insist upon polishing up hisregalia himself in order to do honour to the occasion, and spent hoursover his crown with a piece of chamois leather and some whiteningtill, though somewhat battered by the rough usage it had sustained, itshone quite brilliantly. Mrs. Putchy herself suggested making hisMajesty some new red silk rosettes for his shoes, which he verygraciously consented to accept. The Doctor-in-Law was always so spickand span that we scarcely noticed any change in his appearance, butthe Rhymester had made arrangements with General Mary Jane to wash,starch, and iron his lace collar, and he remained in his room oneentire day while it was being done up. A. Fish, Esq., purchased anecktie of most brilliant colouring, and One-and-Nine touched himselfup here and there with some red enamel where his tunic had becomeshabby in places, so that altogether our party looked very smart as wedrove at a very early hour to our seats in Piccadilly. To avoid thecrowd we went by way of Bayswater Road, and then passed down Park Laneand through Berkeley Square, in order to reach the back entrance tothe house in Piccadilly where I had booked seats. Our gorgeouscarriage was everywhere hailed with great delight, being of coursemistaken for a portion of the Jubilee procession, and many were theconjectures heard on all sides as to who the Wallypug could possiblybe.
WITH SOME RED ENAMEL]
Our window was in the centre of the building on the first floor, andwe had it all to ourselves. A table at the back of the room wastastefully set out with an excellent cold collation, and in front ofthe window, which was most elaborately decorated with velvet curtains,flags, and trophies, and which was surmounted by a device which wasunderstood to be the Wallypug's coat-of-arms, a gorgeous, gilded,high-backed chair was placed as a throne for his Majesty, andcomfortable seats were also provided for the rest of the party.
The crowd outside greeted our appearance with quite a demonstration,as by the enormous placard outside announcing the name of thedecorators, and stating that they were by appointment to his Majestythe Wallypug of Why, of course everybody knew who we were. Indeed, onelearned-looking person in the crowd was holding forth to an eageraudience, and explaining exactly where Why was situated, andpretending that he had been there, and had seen the Wallypug before,ever so many times.
As the time approached for the procession to pass, the Wallypug becamevery excited and nervous. "Shall I really see the Queen of England?"he kept asking over and over again. "Do you think she will see me?Will she bow to me? What must I say? Must I keep my crown on or takeit off?" and innumerable other questions of the same nature.
Presently the excitement and enthusiasm reached their height, as amida confused shouting of "Here they are," the Guards in advance came insight. Slowly the mighty procession, with its innumerable squadronsand bands passed, and at last, after the English and Foreign princesand Eastern potentates, the eight cream-coloured Hanoverian horses,drawing the Jubilee landau, made their appearance, and the Queen wasseen, smiling and bowing graciously to the cheering populace. TheDoctor-in-Law, in his excitement, scrambled on to the window ledge inorder to obtain a better view; the Wallypug loyally waved his crown;while the Rhymester, hurriedly unrolling a lengthy ode which he hadwritten especially for the occasion, began reading it in a loud voice,and, though nobody paid the slightest attention to him, did not desistuntil long after the procession had passed.
THE WALLYPUG LOYALLY WAVED HIS CROWN]
The Wallypug was very thoughtful for some time after the Queen hadgone by, and, during the drive home, expressed his great surprisethat her Majesty had not worn a crown, and apparently could notunderstand why it should not be worn on all occasions.
"I suppose her Majesty has a crown of her own, hasn't she?" he askedanxiously.
"Oh yes, of course!" I replied.
"Where is it then?" persisted his Majesty.
"I believe all of the regalia is kept carefully locked up and guardedin the Tower of London," I said.
"Well, I think it's very unkind of them not to let her Majesty havethem out on an occasion like this. I shall see what I can do aboutit."
The dear Wallypug's intentions were evidently so good that I did notsay anything in reply to this, though I wondered to myself whateverhis Majesty thought that _he_ could do in the matter.
There were so many people about that we considered it best to spendthe rest of the day quietly at home, though we did venture out in theevening to see the illuminations, which delighted his Majestyexceedingly.
The next afternoon the whole party, with the exception ofOne-and-Nine, drove over the route taken by the procession, in orderto see the street decorations. I remained at home, and late in theafternoon there was a knock at my door, and General Mary Jane entered.She was nervously wringing a handkerchief wet with tears, and her eyeswere quite red with weeping.
"Please, sir," she began, sniffing pathetically, "I want togi--gi--give no--notice."
"Why! what ever for?" I asked in surprise, for General Mary Jane wasan excellent servant, and Mrs. Putchy had always been very pleasedwith her.
"Please, sir, it's Sergeant One-and-Nine; he's broken my 'art, sir,and I can't bear it no longer," and the poor girl burst into a floodof tears.
"Bless me!" I cried, "whatever do you mean?"
"Well, sir, you see ever since he's been 'ere, sir, he's been a makinghup to me; leastwise that's what I thought he meant, sir; but thisafternoon bein' my day hout, I went up to Kensington Gardens for awalk (him a saying as he would be there), and what should I see whenI gets there, but him a walkin' about with half-a-dozen of themnursemaids in white frocks a followin' of him. Not that I says as it'saltogether his fault; they will run after the military; but it's morethan I can stand, sir, me bein' that proud at 'avin' a soldier for asweetheart, and all," and she began to cry again.
THEY WILL RUN AFTER THE MILITARY]
I hardly knew what to do, but suggested that she should not think tooseriously about it, and General Mary Jane, saying she hoped I wouldexcuse her troubling me in the matter, decided to go to her marriedsister at Barnes and spend the rest of her day out there, and talkthe matter over with her. I had a lot of writing to do all theafternoon, and the time passed so quickly that until the gong soundedfor dinner I did not realize that the Wallypug and his party had notreturned. It was now past seven, and they should have been home hourssince.
I was so anxious about them that I could scarcely eat any dinner, andas soon as the meal was over I hurried to the livery stables to hearif they knew anything about the matter.
The first person I encountered when I arrived there was the coachman,now divested of his fine livery, and busy in the yard.
"Bless you, sir, yes, back hours ago," said he. "I set his Majesty andthe others down at your door about five o'clock, and I did hear themsay something about going down to Hammersmith for a walk."
"To Hammersmith?" I echoed in surprise.
"Yes, sir--they wanted to see the Suspension Bridge and the riveragain, so I told them the way to get there. They're all right, sir,I'll be bound. The Doctor-in-Law is too wide awake for anything tohappen to them while he is with them."
I walked home somewhat easier in my mind now that I knew the party hadreturned safely, though still somewhat anxious as to theirwhereabouts.
About nine o'clock it began to get quite dark, and I was just settingout to see if I could find any trace of them when General Mary Janereturned.
"AND DONKEY RIDES"]
"Oh, sir!" she exclaimed directly she saw me, "what do you think? HisMajesty and the Doctor-in-Law and the others are down at the fair byHammersmith Bridge, and they are 'aving such a lark. I see them all'aving a roundabout as I was coming past on my way 'ome from mysister's just now; such a crowd there was a cheering and a hollering.Cocoa-nut shies, too, a boy told me they had been 'aving, and old AuntSally, and donkey rides along the towing path.
"
"THEY ARE 'AVING SUCH A LARK"]
I hurriedly put on my hat and rushed off to Hammersmith, for I didn'tknow what might happen to my guests among the rough crowd which I knewusually gathered there.
When I arrived on the scene I found the whole party on the roundabout,and when they alighted I learned that the Doctor-in-Law had arrangedwith one of the show people to share the proceeds of exhibiting theWallypug and A. Fish, Esq., in separate tents, at 3d. a head.
I met with considerable opposition from the show people in myendeavours to persuade my guests to come home, as they had evidentlybeen a source of considerable profit to them, though the man with thecocoa-nut shies declared that the Doctor-in-Law had claimed a greatmany more nuts than he was properly entitled to.
The crowd made quite a demonstration when we departed in afour-wheeler, and the Rhymester evidently considered it a complimentthat the contents of so many "ladies' tormentors," as the little tubesfilled with water are called, were directed at him. Altogether thewhole party had evidently been delighted with their evening'samusement, though, as I explained to them while we were driving home,it was highly inconsistent with the dignity of his Majesty's position,and calculated to cause him to be treated with a certain amount ofdisrespect. I could see, however, that all I said had very littleeffect on any of the party, and that they were one and all highlydelighted with their adventure.