an illimitable, armed bodyguard, as though he were entering—not Paris—but
the Valley of the Shadow of Death.
Numbers of Russian decorations for the Paris detective police, when
the Tsar had departed in safety! Out of prison came the perfectly
innocent “revolutionaries”: the Russian girls were permitted to resume
their studies in the Latin Quarter... not the silliest little bomb had
spluttered, not a seditious cry had been raised... and a high police
official of my acquaintance was granted by a grateful Government a
prolonged holiday on increased pay. He deserved it. Dark shadows under
his eyes, hectic spots in his cheeks, dyspepsia, insomnia, acute
neurasthenia: such was his plight after the glorious visit to Paris of
the Tsar of All the Russias. To-day, eighteen years later, my detective
friend has risen to one of the highest positions at the Sûreté, and he
can produce many a decoration or gift awarded him by foreign Royalty,
and is particularly proud of a gold watch presented to him by King
Edward the Seventh. The late King was so popular in Paris that he was
known familiarly and affectionately as “Edouard.” Nevertheless, he was
watched over by the private detective police. “_Mais oui_, we had even to
attend to the safety of ‘Edouard,’ the most admirable of kings; he often
gave me cigars, and you have already seen the gold watch,” my detective
friend recently told me. “We were concerned about the Indians in Paris.
Oh, nobody else would have assailed Edouard. As for the Indians, they
were kept under observation day and night.” The detective was alluding
to the notorious Krishnavarna, who “ran” a scurrilous little newspaper
in a house off the Champs Élysées. Odd, sinister-looking Indians (I am
still quoting my police friend) called frequently at the place. They
remained there for hours and hours: what were they doing? But the police
have their eye on them—especially closely and keenly fixed on them now
that King George and Queen Mary are about to make their entrance into
Paris. Also—so I am informed by the same high detective official—the
police have been instructed to beware of the militant Suffragettes.
Miss Christabel Pankhurst “under observation”; the comings and goings
of her visitors watched and recorded; the lady passengers on the Havre,
Dieppe and Calais steamers carefully scrutinised on their arrival; the
police actually taught to shout “Votes for Women” in order that they may
promptly distinguish that cry in the event of its being uttered! Dear
Paris—dear, excitable, incoherent, wonderful, incomparable Paris—into
what difficulties as well as delights, into what a whirl of pleasure and
confusion, does a Royal visit plunge you!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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