Three Tears

fears twinkled in the eyes of King Alfonso XIII of Spain last week. He was standing in Euston Station, London. He was listening to Spanish Ambassador to the Court of St. James's, the Marquis de Merry del Val.* As he listened, the tears trickled down his olive cheeks, and correspondents counted three.

The Marquis spoke of the Novedades Theatre in Madrid, how suddenly flames had whipped from the stage to the house, how the theatre had burned, children perished, and panicky men had stabbed. There were nearly 100 dead, the Marquis said, and more than 200 in hospitals.

His Majesty who was returning to Spain from Scotland via London, immediately ordered a special requiem mass at St. James's Church, and had his condolences telephoned to his people in Spain.

Later King Alfonso went to Paris and stayed incognito at a hotel in the Rue de Rivoli--not at the Ritz as is Queen Victoria Eugenie's wont. His Majesty heard of another disaster on the outskirts of Melillo, in Spanish Morocco, where 57 persons were reported killed last week and some 200 injured, when a Spanish arsenal exploded. For the killed or injured Moroccans, however, the King of Spain was not reported to have shed tears.

Meanwhile Spain's Dictator General Don Miguel Primo de Rivera gave quaint testimony to present turbulent conditions in Spain. Said he, "I feel no disquietude. . . . Not more than four per cent of the subjects of His Majesty are disposed to rebellion, so there is no need for apprehension."

* Brother of famed Raphael Cardinal Merry del Val who was twice (1914 and 1922) a leading candidate for Pope.