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i io THE BALKAN WAR, 1912 [chap. ix.
entry into the cathedral in a khaki uniform, which, by
the way, did not suit him at all! The service over, he
hurried up to me, shook hands with me and said that
he greatly regretted not to see my colleagues.
" We have received no official invitation, sir," I said
to the King.
"Oh ! there has doubtless been some mistake," replied
Ferdinand sharply. " Please tell all your colleagues
this, and convey to them my best wishes for the year
just beginning."
Having exchanged congratulations and good wishes
with me, the King left the cathedral.
The second time I saw Ferdinand was at the Requiem
Mass for King George of Greece, who had been
assassinated at Salonika by an insane Greek anarchist on the
6th (19th) March. When this sad news was known, the
Court of Sofia ordered a Solemn Mass to be held in
the Sofia Cathedral, to which all the Diplomatic Corps,
in full dress, were invited. The service over, the King,
who appeared to be genuinely moved, went up to the
Greek Minister, and talked for some time with him,
expressing his condolences. Then passing the other
Ministers by, Ferdinand sprang towards me, seized
my hand, and keeping it in his, repeated: " M.
Neklu-doff, it’s horrible! . . . it’s horrible! . . . horrible! . . .
horrible!"
Now, for some weeks and even months, I had tried
in vain to obtain an audience of the King, or at least
to seize an opportunity to present to his Majesty my
newly-appointed Counsellor to the Legation, M. Sabler.
Very little impressed by the King’s manner, I was not
going to allow the opportunity to escape of at last
introducing my chief collaborator to him : " Sir, allow me
to present to Your Majesty the new Counsellor to the
Russian Legation, M. Sabler."
The King, with an angry frown, drew his hand away
from mine and held it out to M. Sabler—who bowed
low—and went on repeating: " It’s horrible . . .
horrible ! . . . horrible!"
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