George A. Birmingham

George A. Birmingham

Summary

Portrait of George A. Birmingham George A. Birmingham The Island Mystery — Chapter 22 (1918)

I am inclined to think that Miss Donovan will never be a first-rate queen. She is constitutionally incapable of that particular kind of stupidity which is called dignity. In that hour of her country’s destiny, her chief feeling was amusement at the appearance of the admiral. She did not know, perhaps, that the guns of the Megalian navy were trained on her palace. But she ought to have understood that dignified conduct is desirable in dealing with admirals. She sat on the corner of the table beside her father’s chair and swung her legs. She smiled at the admiral.
Source: Wikisource

Portrait of George A. Birmingham George A. Birmingham The Island Mystery — Chapter 22 (1918)

She was plainly quite unfit for a boat voyage and in no condition to be married. The Queen and Kalliope took up the work of nursing her with enthusiasm. The Queen would not listen to a word Gorman said to her. Her view was that Madame Ypsilante was the heroine of a splendid romance, that she had fled to her fiancé across land and sea, braving awful dangers, enduring incredible hardships for dear love’s sake. She felt that she would have done the same thing herself if Phillips, by any trick of fate, had been marooned on a South Pacific island.
Source: Wikisource

Portrait of George A. Birmingham George A. Birmingham The Island Mystery — Chapter 22 (1918)

The Queen stopped swinging her feet and laughing at the admiral. She was much more serious now. There was a gleam in her eyes which caught Gorman’s attention.
“Father,” she said, “I’m going to hoist the American flag. I have one in my room.”
“Seems a pity,” said Donovan. “Your blue banner is nice enough.”
“No one,” said the Queen, “would dare to fire on the Stars and Stripes.”
Miss Donovan, though an independent queen, was a patriotic American citizen. In those days there were a good many patriotic American citizens who believed that no one would dare to fire on the Stars and Stripes.
Source: Wikisource

Get perspective with Kwize: daily news enlightened by great literature