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Long Live the King! by Mary Roberts Rinehart
page 22 of 505 (04%)
Bobby's suggestion, taken it off and rolled it up. He decided,
as he waited in the square, to put it on again. Miss Braithwaite
was very peculiar about collars.

Came a lull in the line of carriages. Prince Ferdinand William
Otto took a long breath and started forward. As he advanced he
stuck his hands in his pockets and swaggered a trifle. It was,
as nearly as possible, an exact imitation of Bobby Thorpe's walk.
And to keep up his courage, he quoted that young gentleman's
farewell speech to himself: "What d' you care? They won't eat
you, will they?"

At the entrance to the archway stood two sentries. They stood as
if they were carved out of wood. Only their eyes moved. And
within, in the court around which the Palace was built, were the
King's bodyguards. Mostly they sat on a long bench and exchanged
conversation, while one of them paced back and forth, his gun
over his shoulder, in front of them. Prince Ferdinand William
Otto knew them all. More than once he had secured cigarettes
from Lieutenant Larisch and dropped them from one of his windows,
which were just overhead. They would look straight ahead and not
see them, until the officer's back was turned. Then one would be
lighted and passed along the line. Each man would take one puff
and pass it on behind his back. It was great fun.

Prince Ferdinand William Otto stood in the shadows and glanced
across. The sentries stood like wooden men, but something was
wrong in the courtyard inside. The guards were all standing, and
there seemed to be a great many of them. And just as he had made
up his mind to take the plunge, so to speak, a part of his own
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