[The Napoleon of Notting Hill by Gilbert K. Chesterton]@TWC D-Link book
The Napoleon of Notting Hill

CHAPTER III--_Enter a Lunatic_
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The augurs must wink sometimes from sheer fatigue of the eyelids.

Let us enjoy this for half an hour, not as actors, but as dramatic critics.

Isn't it a joke ?" Adam Wayne looked down like a boy, and answered in a constrained voice-- "I do not understand your Majesty.

I cannot believe that while I fight for your royal charter your Majesty deserts me for these dogs of the gold hunt." "Oh, damn your--But what's this?
What the devil's this ?" The King stared into the young Provost's face, and in the twilight of the room began to see that his face was quite white and his lip shaking.
"What in God's name is the matter ?" cried Auberon, holding his wrist.
Wayne flung back his face, and the tears were shining on it.
"I am only a boy," he said, "but it's true.

I would paint the Red Lion on my shield if I had only my blood." King Auberon dropped the hand and stood without stirring, thunderstruck.
"My God in Heaven!" he said; "is it possible that there is within the four seas of Britain a man who takes Notting Hill seriously ?" "And my God in Heaven!" said Wayne passionately; "is it possible that there is within the four seas of Britain a man who does not take it seriously ?" The King said nothing, but merely went back up the steps of the dais, like a man dazed.


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