"Nearly everything is brought to your door in Athens," said Uncle Andreas. "The street sellers peddle not only everything to eat, but dry goods, notions, hats, shoes, and nearly everything else, from trays hung around their necks." Suddenly their cab stopped and drew up at the edge of the sidewalk. Zoe wondered what was the matter as she saw the driver take off his cap, and her uncle exclaimed, "Well, Zoe, you are in luck! Here comes the royal carriage." "Oh, Uncle, is it the King?" she cried, bouncing up and down with excitement. "His Majesty, the Queen and Prince Constantine," said her uncle as a handsome carriage drove by. Zoe had a glimpse of a fine-looking man, and a sweet-faced woman gave her a bright smile. Then the cab drove on again and she sat down with a gasp of astonishment. "Is that all?" she said. "Why, Uncle, it was only a two-horse carriage, and there wasn't any music or soldiers or crowns on their heads or anything!" Her uncle and Marco laughed heartily. "You are all mixed up, Little One," said Marco. "Crowns on whose head--the horses? Our king is the most democratic monarch in Europe. He often walks around Athens without any one with him at all. He is quite safe, for every one likes him. He likes a joke and does not care at all for fuss and ceremony. They tell a story that one day he was out walking and met an American, who stopped him to ask if it was permitted to see the royal gardens. Of course the American did not know to whom he was talking, but the king said, 'Certainly, sir, I will show them to you;' and he took him all around the gardens, talking with him pleasantly and telling him many interesting things about Athens. At last the American said, "'What kind of a woman is the queen?' "'She is beautiful and good as she is beautiful,' answered the king. "'What about the king?' asked the stranger. "'Oh, he isn't of much account,' said King George. 'He hasn't done much for the country.' "'That's strange,' said the American. 'You are the first person I have met in Greece who did not speak well of the king.' "'Indeed,' said the king with a laugh. 'Well, I know him better than most people.' The man found out afterwards that he had been talking to the king, and he was very much astonished. "When the king first came to reign," said Uncle Andreas, "people thought he would not be popular. He was a stranger, the son of the King of Denmark, and brother of the Queen of England, but he brought to our country such a magnificent present that our people felt kindly to him from the first. You know the miserable Turks had taken away from us the Ionian Isles, and England had taken them from the Turks and ruled well over them for the years in which they occupied them. When the king came to us he brought to us, a free gift, those beautiful islands, the loss of which every Grecian had mourned for years."