They drove slowly so that everybody on either side of the road could see them and, what was more, there were no soldiers lining the route.
The people ran beside the carriage cheering and throwing flowers into it and their happiness was so infectious that Giona felt as if she wanted to cheer too.
“They love you, Miklōs, they love you!” she enthused when she could make herself heard.
“And they love you too!” he replied. “Do you see how many children have been carrying a rose? You captured their hearts when you accepted the rose from the little boy outside the House of Parliament and then carried him back to his mother.”
“You heard about that?”
“A great many people told me,” he replied, “but it was Otho Darius who told me about it first.”
“I had a feeling, and I was right, that he was y
