Read it through once

But the evidence of that drive through the cheering streets of London was deemed conclusive and during that afternoon and the next morning the crowds increased and the excitement grew until sober-minded observers who had seen the celebrations of the Queen's Jubilee and the Diamond Jubilee and knew something of the millions then gathered together were dismayed at the prospect of the massed multitudes of Coronation day. It was at 12.45 P.M. on June 24th, when the streets were packed with moving, happy, holiday crowds and the decorations were nearing completion and their full effect and force becoming apparent to the on-lookers, that an official bulletin was posted at the Mansion House which seemed to reach every one in London at the same instant--so rapidly was the news spread. News that almost on the steps of the throne, within a day of the mightiest festival ever designed by human government and helped by a willing people, the King had been stricken down! It appeared incredible. The people of England and of the Empire were almost as dumb-founded as the masses on the streets of the Metropolis. But there was no way of getting beyond the simple words of the bulletin signed by Lord Lister, Sir Thomas Smith, Sir Francis Laking, Sir Thomas Barlow and Sir Frederick Treves: "The King is suffering from perityphlitis. His condition on Saturday was so satisfactory that it was hoped that with care His Majesty would be able to go through the ceremony. On Monday evening a recrudescence became manifest rendering a surgical operation necessary to-day."