At this moment one of the higher inspectors came into the room.
"Address--occupation?" went on his interlocutor, busy with his form.
The King named the dwelling from which he emanated.
"Come, come!" said the official voice, "no nonsense here! What address?"
The inspector was now looking at the prisoner. He touched the sergeant upon the shoulder, and made a gesture for the two constables to stand back.
"Will you please to come this way, sir?" he said, in a tone of very marked respect.
The inspector closed the door. "I beg your Majesty's pardon," he said. "This is a most regrettable occurrence. Fortunately, none of those men know."
The King smiled. "I tried not to give myself away before I was obliged to," he said.
"Your Majesty must think we are all quite mad."
"Not at all. So far as I know, every man I have encountered has merely done his duty. Your methods of arrest are a little--arbitrary, shall I say?"
"That is unavoidable, sir, when we have large crowds to deal with."
"I can understand that. A woman was being crushed; I helped her to get over the railings. I suppose that was wrong?"
The inspector smiled apologetically. "Men have been fined for it, before now, sir," said he.
"Very well, I will pay my fine," smiled the King. "And then, if you don't mind, I will go home."
His Majesty's kindly humor won the inspector's gratitude. "I'm sure it's very good of your Majesty to treat the matter so lightly."
"It was entirely my own fault," said the King. "How was I to be recognized?"
"You took us off guard, sir. We were not informed that your Majesty would be going anywhere to-night."
"It would still, sir, have been our business to find out."
"You surprise me!" said the King. It had never dawned upon him that he was so watched. "And so to-night, for the first time, I gave you the slip?"
"I take the blame, sir," said the inspector; his voice was grave.
"Why should you? No harm has been done. The only question now is how am I to get back?"
"I can get you a cab, sir, at once. Or would your Majesty rather I sent word to the palace?"
"No, certainly not. If I have not been missed, nobody need know."
"Your Majesty was missed by us four hours ago. That is what brought me here."
"Yes, sir. As head of the special department, I have to be there every night."