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diff --git a/44979.txt b/44979.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 72051dc..0000000 --- a/44979.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,9285 +0,0 @@ - THE SECRET MEMOIRS OF BERTHA KRUPP - - - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost -no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it -under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this -eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license. - - - -Title: The Secret Memoirs of Bertha Krupp -Author: Henry W. Fischer -Release Date: February 22, 2014 [EBook #44979] -Language: English -Character set encoding: US-ASCII - - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SECRET MEMOIRS OF BERTHA -KRUPP *** - - - - -Produced by Al Haines. - - - - - - The Secret Memoirs - of Bertha Krupp - - From the Papers and Diaries of Chief - Gouvernante Baroness D'Alteville - - - By - - HENRY W. FISCHER - - - - Author of "The Private Lives of Kaiser William II. - and His Consort," "Secret History of - the Court of Berlin," - etc. - - - - _Si Krupp nobiscum, quis contra nos?_ - - - - CASSELL AND COMPANY, LTD - London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne - 1916 - - - - - _Copyright, 1916, by Henry W. Fischer._ - - _Copyrighted in England, France, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, - and all foreign countries having international copyright - arrangements with the United States; also copyright ad interim - in the United States._ - - _All rights reserved, including those of translation, Cinematograph - rights, Dramatic rights, and so forth._ - - - - - *CONTENTS* - - -CHAPTER - - 1. Under the War Lord's Thumb - 2. Weaving the Toils Round Bertha Krupp - 3. A Mother's Reflections - 4. Bertha Krupp, War Lady, Asserts Herself - 5. How the War Lady was Cajoled - 6. Fraulein Krupp Invited to Court - 7. In the Crown Prince's Private Room - 8. Stories of Court Life - 9. What the Maid Saw and Heard - 10. The Entangling of Archduke Franz Ferdinand - 11. The Crown Prince on a Lark - 12. The Fortune Teller sees Bertha in a Haze of Blood - 13. "We will Divide the World Between Us" - 14. Getting Even with the War Lord - 15. "Auntie Majesty" and Bertha - 16. How Franz Ferdinand was Fooled - 17. Diamond Cut Diamond - 18. A Secret Service Episode - 19. Bertha and Franz - 20. "Auntie Majesty" and her Frocks - 21. Throttling Bavaria - 22. Paying the Price - 23. How Von Bohlen was Chosen - 24. The War Lord's Day in Essen - 25. A Royal Liar - 26. Explaining "The Day" - 27. Bertha's Wedding Day - 28. A Foreshadowing of "Lusitaniaism" - 29. Some More Secret History - 30. Browbeating the War Lady - 31. A Great State Secret - - - - - *THE SECRET MEMOIRS OF - BERTHA KRUPP* - - - - _*Si Krupp nobiscum, quis contra nos?*_ - - - *CHAPTER I* - - *UNDER THE WAR LORD'S THUMB* - - - The Real War Lord--Putting on the Screw--The Kaiser's Plot - Revealed--Disinheriting the Baroness--A Startler for the War - Lord--Bertha to be Sole Heiress--Frederick Makes His Will--The - War Lord Loses his Temper--A Base Suggestion - - -On a bright August day of 1902 the neighbourhood of Villa Huegel, -overlooking the forest of smoke-stacks, cranes, masts and other -erections that silhouette the town of Essen, was like an armed camp. -Its master, Frederick Krupp, cannon king and war promoter, while not -entitled to household troops, has an army of firemen as large as the -contingent of the mighty potentate of Reuss-Greiz-Schleiz-Lobenstein, -and this was pre-eminently the season and hour of military display. - -The Krupp warriors resemble Prussian infantry in dress. In discipline -and aggressiveness they are second to none serving under the eye of the -"All Highest," as the Kaiser fondly calls himself. Give their master a -dark look as he passes, and one or more of them will pounce upon you and -pound you to jelly before you can say Jack Robinson; reach for your -handkerchief or pencil in your back trouser-pocket, where a revolver -might be, and they will spit you on their fire-axe. - -To-day Krupp firemen were everywhere. They lined the roads, guarded -crossings and bridges, looked up at every window, sentinelled gates and -doors. They were posted, too, in the tree-tops and on telegraph and -signal posts, while indoors, along the corridors of the villa, you met -them at every turn. Right royal arrangement that! Yet why at Huegel? - -On this particular day Essen was alive with colour. Hussars in green -and silver--the Duesseldorf brand--galloping round and round the villa -circuit, kept their eyes keenly alert for suspicious characters; in -Essen, indeed, every stranger is looked upon as a double-crossed -suspect. Dragoons were there, too, from East Prussia, to watch the -hussars, for one never knows, you know. And, of course, there were -bodyguards--white tunic and breeches, black cuirass and silver helmet, -surmounted by the "bird of poisonous glare," as Heine described the -Imperial eagle. Many other uniforms, too--uhlans, chasseurs, mounted -infantry for the War Lord likes to strut abroad to the tune and clank of -a variety of arms. He would have horse marines if he were not so deadly -afraid of Mr. Punch. - -Before the library door of the Villa Huegel two giant cuirassiers, sabre -in hand, revolver in belt, dull men and dangerous, of the sort that -always do their duty not as they see it, but as their superior officer -sees it. - -Suppose that earthling orders a death-dealing blow for anyone attempting -to enter the room under guard. It follows, as a matter of course, that -the person is a dead man or dead woman, or maybe a dead -child--militarism rampant, but discipline triumphant! Who cares for a -corpse more or less? - -A much-bedizened personage is standing in the centre of the -high-ceilinged, wainscoted room. A gewgawed War Lord; but how -unimposing he looks on foot and unprepared to meet the gaze of admiring -multitudes! He is not much taller than the average grocer's clerk, and -until Father Time sprinkled his straight, wiry hair with grey was a -decided red-pate. - -The War Lord's clothes are Berlin pattern: all straight and right -angles, like the tunics of the impossible marbles that spoil his Avenue -of Victory. He wears jewellery of the kind the late mad King of Bavaria -used to decorate his actors with: a watch-chain thick and strong enough -to hold a two-year bull, a timepiece bulging like an alarum clock, and a -profusion--or confusion--of gold-mounted seals and medals. But the -finishing touch: sky-blue garters, set with rosettes of diamonds and -pearls alternating. - -We know his public face--stern, haughty, cast-iron, forbidding--and his -official demeanour has been brought home to us a thousand times and more -in statue and photograph, in colour and black and white, throned, on -horseback, or standing alone in Imperial self-glory under a purple -canopy--he knows how to stage-manage himself in uniform. - -The London tailor who skimped his coat in front, he hates with a deadly -hatred, for padding, plenty of it, is essential to his _mise en scene_. -See him on his well-trained, high-stepping horse, and you have the ideal -camera subject: broad shoulders, prominent chest (laden with seventy-odd -medals), strong limbs, jingling spurs, bronzed face, skyscraping -moustachios and all. - -But in the drawing-room, and in mufti--what a difference! Heavy set, -somewhat short-limbed, and the face that looks strong when framed in -military cap or helmet now seems to possess only brute force. - -At this moment his left hand sought the seclusion of a trouser-pocket, -while his right, studded with gems like a chorus-girl's, sawed the air -with coarse assertiveness. - -"My dear Frederick," he addressed his host, balancing himself on his -right foot, "while you are here to execute my orders, all's well. But -suppose something happened to you. You are not in the best of health -and"--lowering his voice--"a careless boy. Don't deny," he added -quickly when Frederick Krupp ventured to protest. "Both my Roman -ambassador and our envoy at the Holy See heard about your peccadilloes -in the island." The speech, begun in a bantering tone, terminated -shrilly. - -The Ironmaster alternately blushed and blanched. "I hope you do not -believe all you hear," he faltered. - -"Never more than a third of what I'm told," replied the War Lord, -softening his voice; "but, even so, things must not be left too entirely -to chance." - -Frederick Krupp went to the window, marking each step for the benefit of -possible listeners, then tiptoed to the great folding doors. He opened -the off wing suddenly and looked out. "All's safe," he said, returning; -"and what fine brutes those outside." - -"Fancy them?" laughed the War Lord jovially, for he knows how to unbend -when he wants to carry a point. "Now to business. We are all liable to -die almost any moment, and you, dear Frederick, are no more an exception -to the rule than I am--or those brutes." - -Frederick Krupp looked uncomfortable, and to hide his embarrassment or -gain time dropped into courtly jargon. "And what may be your Majesty's -pleasure?" - -"Make a satisfactory last will, sir--a last will guaranteeing the -Krupps' goodwill for ever and a day--likewise satisfactory -dividends--for the chief stockholder, if you please." - -Frederick Krupp bowed low. "Please?" he repeated. "Why, I lie awake -nights planning wars for your benefit. If there were not a Persian -Gulf, I would have invented one to pave the way for the little scrap -with England you are aching for." - -"Hold your horses!" cried the War Lord. "That Bagdad railway must be -finished first. What I want is a guarantee, and a most binding -guarantee, that the Krupp works be conducted in all future as now, -according to my Imperial will and pleasure, in the interest of the -Fatherland and--our pocket," he added flippantly. - -Frederick Krupp surveyed himself in the glass. "You talk as if I had one -foot in the grave," he said in the careless manner of addressing a boon -companion, or like one intimate putting things pleasant, or the reverse, -to another. Frederick Krupp died in the odour of eccentricity. There -was certainly something eccentric in his relations with the War Lord. -But the latter tolerates familiarity only so long as it suits him; and, -presently observing the clouds gather on his guest's brow, Frederick -Krupp changed his tone. - -"At your Majesty's commands, I am all ears," he murmured, as, obedient -to a sign from the Emperor, he drew up an arm-chair for him. - -"Sit down yourself," the Emperor ordered curtly, pointing to a tabouret. -Then, sneeringly: "Your idea was----" - -"To leave everything to my wife." - -The War Lord slapped his knees hard, as he always does when excited. - -"So would Herr Mueller and Herr Schulze," he cried, without attempting -to conceal the insult. "Her Ladyship--chief of the Krupp works--of what -use would the Baroness Marguerite be to _my_ interests?" - -Mrs. Frederick Krupp was _nee_ von Ende, and the War Lord, always eager -to use titles of nobility, chose to call her by her maiden name and -style. - -Frederick Krupp, who, despite his irregularities, was genuinely fond of -his wife, moved uneasily on his low chair. "Your Majesty is -pleased----" - -"To have his head screwed on tightly and in the right place," declared -the War Lord, bringing his fist down on a table at his elbow and making -the Chinese ivories jump. "Now then, without further palaver, I don't -choose to see the Baroness heiress of the Krupp works. She shall not -control my interests, do you hear? nor those of the Fatherland." - -The War Lord talked as if addressing a parcel of raw recruits. His -withered left hand had pulled from the trouser-pocket, and was making -spasmodic attempts to clutch the lapel of his coat. He has the curious -taste to give this poor hand a liberal coating of rings, and his -enormous emeralds seemed to gleam more poisonously than usual upon the -cringing form of poor Frederick. - -"Willy," gasped the Ironmaster pleadingly. - -The War Lord was not to be cajoled. - -"As I said, her Ladyship gets a pension. Leave her as big a share of -your fortune as you please," he added on second thought. "Yes, the -larger the better; it will avert suspicion--I mean forestall criticism, -of course." - -"But," remonstrated Frederick, in a weak way, "Marguerite and I have an -understanding." - -"Understanding," scowled the War Lord, brutality written all over him as -if he were rehearsing his pretty phrase: "Those opposing me I smash." - -He contemplated Frederick for a while as a big mastiff might a King -Charles before mangling and killing it. At last he remembered there are -two ways in most things. "Of course," he began rather soothingly, -"understandings among subjects are null and void when opposed to the -Imperial will. Explain to Lady Marguerite with my compliments, if you -please," the last phrase emphasised three times by hand cutting the air -vertically. - -Frederick Krupp, thoroughly cowed by this time, nodded assent. This -man, used to bull-dozing Governments the world over, a terror before his -board of directors, and a demigod to his workmen, felt a mere atom with -the eyes of the War Lord flashing wrath and contempt upon his yielding -self. - -"I will; but what may be your Majesty's precise commands?" he stammered -meekly. - -The War Lord perceived that his victim had become like wax under the -lash of his tongue. He could afford, then, to be magnanimous. "You -forget etiquette," he replied, with a half-smile; "since when is it -customary to question a majesty? Still, I am no Eulenburg" (referring to -the Grand Marshal of the palace), "and will overlook your _faux-pas_ -this time. Listen, Frederick." He softened his speech with a "dear -Frederick," and then issued his mandate: "The Baroness eliminated----" - -Herr Krupp raised his eyes supplicatingly, but the War Lord paid no -attention. "Eliminated," he repeated, accentuating each syllable. -Then, in pitying style: "Too bad you haven't got a son. However, the -Salic Law does not apply to commoners." - -The Ironmaster made bold to show annoyance at the word. "Commoner by my -own free will," he protested. "Haven't I declined Earldoms and Dukedoms -even?" - -"More's the pity that you remain plain Krupp, like a grocer or the -ashman, when you might be Prince of Essen," cried the War Lord, jumping -up. The Ironmaster rose as well. - -Courtly usage, of course, but also a measure of precaution. He meant to -be on hand in case his august guest suffered a fall, and there is always -a possibility of that when the War Lord labours under excitement, for -his whole left side, from ear to toe, is weak and liable to collapse if -the full weight of the body is thrust suddenly upon it. As a rule, the -War Lord remembers, but when carried away by passion, or for other -reasons loses control of himself, he is prone to forget or even fall in -a heap with no warning. Such a _contretemps_ happened once at Count -Dohna's, when Frederick was one of the house party, and long remained in -his memory. - -Visiting at Proeckelwitz in the summer of 1891, the War Lord had deigned -to be pleased with a pair of blacks. "Buy two more of them for a -four-in-hand, as befits the Sovereign," he said to his host. - -The hint, dropped with charming German delicacy, was a command, of -course, and a year later, in June, the War Lord started for the castle -in right royal style; but he did not get far that way, since the -four-in-hand shied and bolted when the villagers burst into patriotic -song, to the waving of a thousand and one flags. As an eye-witness put -it: The leaders rose on their hind legs, the cross pieces came loose and -began knocking against their pasterns, and off they were at a furious -rate. Count Dohna let the reins of the runaways slip, and hung the more -heavily on to those of the shaft horses, who were trying to follow the -others. He let the blacks run for a while but without losing control, -and as they were about to plunge into a bed of harrows he succeeded in -checking them. - -Then, for a mile or so, he gave them a run on freshly ploughed ground. -After that they went steadily. - -The War Lord had put his arm around his host's shoulders when the horses -started off, and, the danger past, pressed the Count's hand, but did not -say a word. Then came the collapse. He had to be helped down from his -seat, and took no notice of the greetings of the ladies awaiting him. -Leaning upon his chasseur and Adjutant Von Moltke (now Field Marshal), -he crept to his room, his face pale as death and lips compressed. - -Dinner was set back an hour, but the War Lord had not recovered his -speech when, with difficulties, he put his feet under the mahogany. His -body physician, Doctor Leuthold, was sitting opposite the august person, -and upon a sign from the medical man the War Lord rose from table after -vainly trying to swallow a spoonful of soup. Nor did he come down to -breakfast, but attended luncheon, still looking pale and haggard. Then, -for the first time, he greeted the ladies of the house, and spoke a few -words to his host; but when a forward young miss referred to the -accident he bade her keep silent by an imperious gesture, while a tremor -seemed to run through his body. He would not hear of hunting, and left -next day without having fired a shot. - -Frederick Krupp, remembering Proeckelwitz, moved as near to his Imperial -guest as politeness permitted, ready to catch him in his arms if need -be, but the War Lord no sooner perceived his intention than he became -more infuriated than ever. "For Heaven's sake no heroics, Frederick!" he -roared, sitting down again. "Draw up a stool and listen." - -"One second," pleaded the Ironmaster, "I will set the miniature -orchestrella going." He pressed a button, and almost simultaneously a -music-box near the door, sheathed in tortoise-shell and gold bronze, -began trilling out melodies, so as to confuse, if not obscure, -conversation to possible listeners if it waxed overloud again. - -The War Lord nodded. "Not half bad. You may send me one of those -things to put in Buelow's office. There are always some Italians -lurking about--to report to Madame la Princesse, I fancy--and put the -W.I.R. on the box. - -"Well, let's get back to things," he added, quickly changing his tone to -drill-ground clangour. "Madame eliminated and there being no son----" - -"Your Majesty desires me to leave the business jointly to Bertha and -Barbara?" asked Krupp. - -"Are there six crown princes or one?" inquired the War Lord in his turn, -with affected calmness. - -"I don't follow," said Herr Krupp. - -The War Lord could hardly master his impatience. Still more raising his -voice, he demanded abruptly: "Is Prussia to be divided into six petty -Kingdoms when I die because I happen to have six sons, and a small -principality besides for my daughter?" - -Herr Krupp opened his eyes wide: "Your Majesty wants me to disinherit -one of my children?" - -"I want you to proclaim my godchild Bertha Crown Princess of the Kingdom -of Cannon." - -"But my other daughter----" - -"Bertha is _my_ goddaughter!" (with the emphasis on the "my"). - -"Can I ever forget the honour conferred upon my humble house?" - -"I trust not," said the War Lord, who is careful not to let people -forget any small favours he may bestow. - -His brain works in fits and starts, in bounds and leaps, and when he -wants a thing it jumps at once to the conclusion that his fancy is a -_fait accompli_. Persuading Frederick had been easy with its bits of -browbeating and flashes of cajolery. Now, flushed with the triumph -gained, he launched forth the details. "Bertha, Crown Princess, trust -me to find the right consort for her." - -"She is only a child." - -"The very age when she ought to be taken in hand and moulded." The War -Lord illustrated the intended process by kneading the air with grasping -fingers, his "terrible right" alternately pushing and squeezing, -attacking, relaxing and coaxing, with the father looking on, -terror-stricken. - -Such, then, was to be the fate of his little girl: a vice round her -white neck, spurs to her sides. The man before him came into the world -accoutred to ride, and seventy millions of people his cattle! - -The jewels on the War Lord's ring-laden hand flashed and threatened. -That twenty-carat ruby on his little finger meant blood, and the -emerald, linked to it, might denote the poison-tongue eager to corrupt -the childish mind into an instrument of high politics. Diamonds stand -for innocence. There were diamonds galore. Oh, the farce of it! Opals, -too, a rare collection, but the stone sacred to October tells at least -an honest tale--tears. - -The War Lord stripped off a gold hoop with a large turquoise. "Wear it -in remembrance of this hour, dear Frederick," he said. "The turquoise -signifies prosperity, you know." - -He walked towards one of the windows and, standing within its deep -embrasure, pointed to the towering chimneys. "_My_ brave guardsmen," he -exulted, half to himself, "outposts of my Imperial will, avant-guard of -my seven millions of warriors; it will be great fun, old fellows, to -make you dance as I whistle!" - -Then, with a broad smile to Frederick: "That being settled, the Minister -of Justice shall draw up your testament at once. I brought him to Essen -for that. Now, don't look frightened, boy. 'Last will' does not mean -'last legs.' You will outlive us all, I bet. Let's think of a Prince -Consort now." - -"But, as said, Bertha is much too young," faltered Frederick. - -"Herr," staccatoed the War Lord, "I already had the honour to inform you -that Bertha is my godchild--m-y g-o-d-c-h-i-l-d. Do you hear?" he -yelled, while startled Frederick looked anxiously towards the door. - -The War Lord took the hint and resumed conversational tone. "Come now," -he ordered, "roll call. Some of our dear friends are still in the -marriage mart." (Reflectively): "Too bad; Fritzie got married." -Bertha's father shuddered at the mentioning of a certain Count, who, -though brother-in-law of a reigning Grand Duke, was prisoner Number 5429 -at Siegen jail, in Rhineland, a few years later for crimes unspeakable. -In 1902, however, the dashing Colonel of Horse had not yet been publicly -disgraced, and the War Lord launched into a panegyric of his friend. -"Yes, indeed, Fritz would have made a first-class master here. Not -overburdened with brains, but knows enough to obey orders. No humming -and hawing for him when the War Lord has spoken. But the Suien girl -caught him. The kind of son-in-law you want, Frederick." - -Krupp shook his head. - -"I respectfully beg to differ; none of these for my little girl." - -"_These?_" The War Lord again raised his voice, but dropped into a -hoarse whisper when he heard the officer _de jour_ address the sentinels -in the corridor. "One can't say a word without being overheard," he -grumbled; "nearer, Frederick, still closer." As he continued speaking -he laid his massive right hand on Frederick's knee and hissed between -his teeth: "These? You forgot that you were referring to _my_ friends." - -"I did not, most assuredly I did not," returned the Ironmaster, -disengaging himself by a swift movement and jumping up. - -"You dare!" hissed the War Lord, again losing control of himself. - -"I dare anything for my child!" cried Krupp, his face livid with rage; -"and I tell you to your face none of your free-living friends for my -Bertha!" - -"Insolence!" roared the War Lord. "Take a care that I don't send you to -Spandau." - -"I would endure Schlusselburg rather than suffer my child to marry one -of _these_," insisted the Ironmaster doggedly. - -The War Lord gazed at the speaker for twenty or more seconds, then said -in a tone of command: "You can go. Send in Moltke" (referring to his -adjutant, later chief of the general staff). - -With the latter he remained closeted a quarter of an hour--quite a long -space of time for a person of the War Lord's character--and it is said -that he tried to persuade the blond giant (Moltke was blond and blooming -then) that Krupp was a madman, as crazy as the Mad Hatter. Otherwise he -would never have dared oppose his plebeian will against that of the -supreme master. Of course not! - -Of Moltke's counter-arguments we know naught, but the War Lord's visit -to Essen wound up with a grand banquet of sixty covers, and in the -course of it host and Imperial guest toasted each other in honeyed -words. - - * * * * * - -Less than two months later Frederick Krupp died by his own hand, and -Bertha Krupp--sixteen, homely and already prone to embonpoint--mounted -the throne of the Cannon Kings, as the War Lord had willed. - -And, as he had insisted, she became automatically a pawn in his hand, -his _alter ego_ for destruction and misery. - -Ever since his intimacy with Frederick, the War Lord had looked upon the -Krupp plant as the power house for the realisation of his ambition--the -conquest of the world; and to a very considerable extent Frederick had -aided and abetted his plans by employing his genius for invention and -business to commercialise war, and making it fit in with the general -scheme of high finance. - -"Want a loan?" the Cannon King used to ask governments. "May we fix it -for you? But first contract for so many quick-firing guns." - -The loan being amply secured, and the quick-firers paid for, then the -suggestion would come along: "Have some more Bleichroder or Meyer funds -on top of our latest devices in man-killers." And so on, and so on; an -endless chain. - -Yet, while so eager to provide death with new-fangled tools wholesale, -Frederick could not, or would not, divest himself from the shackles of -business honesty--and his inheritance. - -He wouldn't play tricks on customers. The steel and work he put into -guns for, say, Russia or Chili were as flawless and expert as in the -guns bought by his Prussian Majesty. And that was the "besetting sin of -Frederick," the damning spot on the escutcheon of their friendship, as -the War Lord viewed it. It followed, of course, that when one hundred -of the Tsar's Krupp guns faced one hundred Krupp guns of the Government -of Berlin, they would be an even match so far as material went--a thing -and condition in strict contradiction to the Potsdam maxim: "Always -attack with superior force." - -How often the War Lord had argued with Frederick: Soft lining for enemy -howitzers; a well-concealed, patched-up flaw in the barrel of -quick-firers. - -"I know no enemy, only customers," was Frederick's invariable rejoinder, -garbed in politest language. - -Customers! Decidedly the War Lord wanted customers--plenty of them, -since, as we know, he had invested largely in Krupp stock; but to take -customers' money was one thing, and to provide them with means for -spoiling the War Lord's game was another. - -When that pistol-shot startled Villa Huegel on November 22nd did it -portend the death-knell of what the War Lord called "Krupp -molly-coddledom"? - -Even during Frederick Krupp's lifetime--just as if his early demise had -been a foregone conclusion--technical experts of the Berlin War Office -had been instructed to make extensive experiments with steel on the -lines ordered by Wilhelm the War Lord. - -The test would be the Day! - - - - - *CHAPTER II* - - *WEAVING THE TOILS ROUND BERTHA KRUPP* - - - "Your Play Days are Over"--The Baroness Speaks Out--In the Grip - of the Kaiser--A Room Apart - - -"The makings of the true German heifer," that astute Frenchman, -Hippolyte Taine, would have said of the young girl who was busy in her -garden behind Villa Huegel on the 24th of November, 1902. For her -blooming youth was full of the promise of maternity--broad shoulders, -budding figure, generous hands and feet, plenty of room for brains in a -good-sized head. Pretty? An Englishman or American would hardly have -accorded her that pleasing descriptive title, but comely and wholesome -she was, with her air of intelligence and kindly eyes. - -An abominable German custom makes scarecrows out of children at a -parent's death. So Bertha Krupp was garbed in severest black, awkwardly -put together. Her very petticoats, visible when she bent over her -flowers, were of sable crepe; not a bit of white or lace, though it -would have been a relief, seeing that the young woman's complexion was -not of the best. - -"Bertha--Uncle Majesty----" cried a child's voice from outside the -house, "wants you," it added, coming nearer. - -"To say good-bye?" called Bertha in return. One might have discerned an -accent of relief in the tone of her voice. - -"Not yet," replied her sister, running up, as she tugged at Bertha's -watering-can. "Adjutant von Moltke said something about a con-con----" - -"Conference, I suppose," completed the older girl. "Will you never -learn to speak, child?" - -"Uncle Majesty uses such big words," pleaded little Barbara. "Hurry, -sister, he is waiting, and you know how crazy he gets----" - -"But what have _I_ got to do with him? Let him speak to Mamma. Tell -them I am busy with my flowers." - -"Bertha!" cried a high-pitched voice from the direction of the villa. - -"Mamma," whispered the younger girl; "hurry up, now, or you will catch -it." At the same moment one of the library windows in Villa Huegel -opened, disclosing the figure of the War Lord, accoutred as for -battle--gold lace, silver scarf, many-coloured ribbons, metal buttons -and numerals. His well padded chest heaved under dozens of medals and -decorations, his moustachios vied with sky-scrapers. With his -bejewelled right hand he beckoned imperiously. - -"My child, my goddaughter," he said with terrible emphasis when Bertha -entered the room, breathing hard, "once and for all you must understand -that your play-days are over; at this moment you enter upon the service -of the State." He turned abruptly to Bertha's mother, adding in tones -of command: "You will put her into long dresses at once, Baroness. It -isn't fitting that the heiress of the Krupp works shows her legs like a -peasant girl." - -"But I don't want to wear long dresses, Uncle Majesty," pouted Bertha. - -The War Lord took no notice of the childish protest, but looked -inquiringly at Bertha's mother. - -"Surely in matters of dress, at least, the child's wishes should be -consulted," said the Baroness half defiantly. - -"But I insist," fumed the War Lord. - -"And I respectfully submit that your Majesty must not meddle with -matters of toilette in my house." - -The War Lord pulled a high-backed, eagle-crowned chair of silver-gilt up -to the late Cannon King's desk and pushed Bertha into it. It was the -fauteuil he had once designated as "sacred to the All Highest -person"--meaning himself, of course. As a rule its gold and purple -upholstery had a white silk cover, which was removed only when the War -Lord visited the great house. - -"Cardinal fashion," he said to the astonished child, without taking -notice of his hostess's remark. "Cardinals, Bertha, are princes of the -Roman Church, and each has a throne in his house. While the See of St. -Peter is occupied, the emblem of power is turned to the wall. So, -heretofore, this throne of mine was obsolete while I was away from -Essen, but since your father, as his testament shows, appointed you his -successor under my guardianship, you shall have the right and privilege -to sit in my place. A throne for the War Lady while the War Lord is -away!" - -The bewildered child was slow to avail herself of the grand privilege. -Shoulders bent forward, she wriggled to the edge, hardly touching the -seat, while her eyes sought her mother's with mute appeal. - -However, the War Lord was determined to do all the talking himself. "As -I pointed out, under Papa's will, you are sole owner of the Krupp -business and mistress here," he declaimed, with a disdainful glance at -the child's mother. The Purple-born did not scruple to exult over his -victim before her daughter. - -Happily, the young girl did not observe his ruthlessness, nor would she -have understood her godfather's motive. - -"Mistress here," repeated the War Lord; "responsible to no one but God's -Anointed." - -Bertha, now thoroughly frightened, burst into tears. "Don't cry," -ordered the War Lord brusquely. But Frau Krupp jumped to her feet, and, -placing herself in front of the child, exclaimed with flaming eyes: -"Such language to a little girl and on the day of her father's burial!" - -The War Lord saw that he had gone too far. "Come, now," he said -soothingly, "I meant your Uncle Majesty, of course. Uncle has always -been kind and considerate to his little Bertha, hasn't he?" - -He asked the Baroness to be seated, while he patted Bertha's shoulder -and hair. "God-daughter," he said softly, "be a brave girl and listen." -And, with the child's eyes showing increasing bewilderment every moment, -he burst into a panegyric of himself and his sublime mission on earth, -such as even his dramatic collaborators, von Wildenbruch and Captain -Lauff, had never conceived in their most toadying moments. - -He was on the most elaborately intimate terms with God, and every act of -his was approved by "his" God beforehand. "His" God had appointed him -vicar on earth, instrument of His benevolence and of His wrath. - -"My child," he sermonised in accents of fanaticism, "think of the -honour, the unheard-of honour in store for you; you, the offspring of -humble parents, shall do my bidding as my God directs." - -Bertha was stiff with astonishment, but the Baroness moved uneasily in -her chair and was about to speak, when the War Lord, who had paused to -observe the effect of his words, resumed: - -"The Krupp business, _your_ business, my dear Bertha, is unlike any -other in the world. All other manufacturers and merchants cater to the -material welfare of man, more or less; the Krupp works alone are -destined to traffic in human life for God's greater glory and at His -behest. - -"For fourteen years God has listened to my prayers for peace; for -fourteen long years I have beseeched Him, morning, noon and night, in -every crisis that arose throughout the world to permit me to keep my -sword sheathed--God's sword. But all these years myself and your -father, Bertha, have kept our powder dry, never relaxing armed -preparedness, doubling it rather, to be ready for God's first -bugle-call." - -And so the blasphemous vaingloryings went on. - -The War Lord strode over to the long wall of the room, dragging his -sword over the marble floor and giving his spurs and medals an extra -shake. He pushed a button, whereupon an illuminated map of Europe shot -into a frame where, a second before, a Watteau shepherdess had -impersonated _les fetes galantes du Roi_. Drawing the sword, he -delineated with its point the Central Empires, the Italian boot-leg, and -Turkey's European possessions. Then he double-crossed France, Russia -and Great Britain. "The enemy!" he cried. "Enemies of German -greatness, of German expansion, of German _kultur_--therefore, enemies -of the God of the Germans and of mine. - -"But with your help I will smash them, pound them into a jelly, Bertha." - -As if overcome by horror, the child glided from the impromptu throne of -the self-appointed _Godgeissel_ (the Lord's scourge) to the rug, and -buried her face in her mother's lap. - -"Uncle Majesty," she sobbed, "you mean to say that I must help you make -war? The Commandment says, 'Thou shalt not kill.'" - -"But the Lord also said, 'Vengeance is mine,'" quoted her Uncle Majesty; -"and God wreaks His vengeance through me, His elect, His chosen -instrument. - -"Still, these matters you will understand better as you grow older," he -continued. "For the present remember this: under your father's will, I -am your chief guardian, and you must obey me in everything. While -nominally, even legally, you are sole proprietress of the Krupp works -and their numerous dependencies, you hold these properties, as a matter -of fact, in trust for me. It follows, my child, that you must leave the -direction of the works to your Uncle Majesty and his subordinates, the -directors and business managers. Do you agree to that?" - -There was something hypnotic in the War Lord's delivery. As the -Baroness explained afterwards, he talked like one possessed. Add to -this his necromantic manoeuvring, his Machiavellian gestures, his -grandly weird eloquence--inherited from an uncle who died in a -strait-jacket--small wonder he prevailed upon the grief-stricken child, -when, alternately, he threatened, cajoled and flattered. - -As a matter of fact, the War Lord's words seemed to have a peculiar -appeal to the richest girl in the world, who neither divined nor -imagined their sinister purpose. What pierced her comprehension -appealed to a youngster's love of independence, of shaking off mother's -leading-strings. In the avalanche of phrases that assailed Bertha's ears -this stood out: "Your mother doesn't count; you are mistress in your own -right." Very well, she would put the promise to the test. "I don't -quite understand," said the Cannon King's heiress; rising from her -knees, and without looking at her parent, added, "but I leave it all to -you, Uncle Majesty--everything." - -"Do you hear?" cried the War Lord, addressing Frau Krupp. - -"I have heard, and Bertha will go to her room now," replied the Baroness -firmly; and though the War Lord made an impatient gesture indicating -that he meant the child to remain, she conducted her daughter to the -door, kissed her on the forehead, and let her slip out. - -When she turned round she saw the War Lord in the _Godgeissel_ chair -before the desk, resting his right arm on the blotter, his left hand on -the hilt of his sword. - -"Any further commands for the mistress of the house?" she queried in no -humble tones. - -The War Lord, seemingly absorbed in a document he had taken up, replied -without looking at his hostess: "Send in Moltke," whereupon the Baroness -retreated backward towards the door. She was about to drop a curtsy to -signify her leave-taking, when the War Lord cried out: "One thing more, -Madame la Baronne. From now on this room is _my_ room, and none but -myself or the Krupp heiress has the _entree_. My goddaughter may see my -representatives here, but no one else--no one." - - - - - *CHAPTER III* - - *A MOTHER'S REFLECTIONS* - - - The Baroness and Franz--The Power-Drunk War Lord--A Pawn in the - Game--The Sweets of Power--Germany Above All--The War Lord's - Murder Lust--Fighting the Frankenstein--At the War Lord's Mercy - - -The Baroness's boudoir in Villa Huegel is a spacious apartment, hung in -blue and silver, the colours of her noble house. Everything that -riches, mellowed by refinement, could command enhanced its luxurious -comfort. In the home of Baroness Krupp are trophies of her visits to -foreign shores: cut glass, coins, bronzes and curios of all kinds. -Silver-gilt caskets hold royal presents, precious stuffs and monstrous -ornaments from German kings and kinglets--articles of jewellery for the -most part, too big for a woman of taste. All are crowned and initialled, -but few hall-marked. Since a prince is supposed to give away the real -thing, why bother about carats? Numerous paintings, English landscapes, -French and Italian decorative art and figures. An English grand piano -in one corner. Britishers prefer German makes, but the much-travelled -Baroness wouldn't tolerate the home product. - -She is seated before a spindle-legged table with a crystal top over a -velvet-lined drawer, where Madame's royal orders and decorations -repose--crosses and stars, quadrupeds and birds of various _outre_ forms -and degrees. Pointing to one of them bearing the name of a queen famous -for her beauty and misfortunes, she murmured: "How proud I was when he -gave it to me! At that time I thought him chivalrous and believed him -sincere in his religious professions. Since he intrigues to make my -little girl the accomplice of his murderous desires, never more will I -wear it." - -"Master Franz desires to speak to your ladyship," said a manservant from -behind the portieres covering the doorway. - -"Show him up." - -Franz was a distant relative who had lived much in the Krupp household -after he finished his studies at the late Frederick Krupp's expense. At -this time he was chief electrical engineer of the establishment, -destined for still higher honours, for experts held that the mantle of -the great Edison had descended upon Franz's broad shoulders. He was -like a big brother to the Krupp girls, and looked upon the Baroness as a -mother, having never known his own. - -Tall and good-looking, Franz, as a rule, dressed like an Englishman of -distinction, but to-day he had chafed under the obligation of wearing -evening dress for breakfast, lunch and tea, because of the War Lord's -presence. Even now his nether garments belonged to the ceremonial -variety, but he wore a jacket tightly buttoned over the wide expanse of -his shirt-front. - -"So it is proposed to make two kinds of steel in future," he whispered, -after closing the door and drawing the curtains. "Has that your -approval, Frau Krupp?" - -The Ironmaster's widow heard only the first part of the sentence; she -was too amazed to listen further. - -"What is that you say, Franz?" - -The young man kissed the Baroness's hand. - -"Acting without your leave or consent--I thought so," he said. "I would -have staked my life on it that you would permit no such infamy." Seeing -the Baroness's questioning eyes focused on his, he explained: - -An hour before the War Lord left the Director-General had sent for -him--"to explain certain technical details," ran the message. He had to -wait a considerable time in the ante-room of the conference chamber -before being admitted, and while there could not help overhearing what -was going on inside, as the War Lord was arguing in drill-ground -accents. - -This was the gist of his peroration, defended with consummate sophistry: -It was a crime against the Fatherland to supply possible enemies with -arms that at one time or another might be used against the War Lord's -Majesty. That sort of thing--treason, to call it by its proper -name--had been permitted long enough, too long, in fact; and now that -the life-long defender of misguided business honesty had been removed by -God's Hand--G-o-d-'s H-a-n-d--there must be an end of it. He (the War -Lord), ever on guard against the Fatherland's enemies, had instructed -his scientists to discover a substitute for hard steel with which to -line enemy guns and armour. These substitutes were forthwith to be -experimented with, and, if the results were satisfactory, must be -employed, instead of the real steel, whenever the War Lord so directs. - -"And Frederick hardly cold in his shroud!" gasped the Baroness. - -"But you," cried Franz, "you can prevent this fraud, this disgrace! You -must, you will, I am sure of it!" - -The Baroness had risen and stared vacantly into the fire. - -"God punish me if I would hesitate a moment to do as honour dictates, -Franz, but Frederick Krupp left his widow bound hand and foot," she -replied bitterly. - -"You mean to say that you submit to the power-drunk War Lord? Abdicate -your sacred trust? Make your children and your workpeople accomplices -of fraudulent practices?" - -"Haven't you heard about the stipulations which were made in your Uncle -Frederick's last will and testament?" - -"Not a word," replied Franz. - -"I thought Bertha would tell you." - -"I was busy all the afternoon, and then came the Director-General's -order, which prevented me from saying good night to the children." - -"Sit down then and listen," said the Baroness. "As Uncle Frederick often -told you, the War Lord has tried for years to obtain control of the -Krupp works. In particular he was for ever preaching against the policy -of business integrity, the proudest of the Krupp inheritances; but -though my husband allowed himself to be dominated by him in many -respects, in this, the Krupp honesty, he remained adamant, partly thanks -to my advice and strenuous opposition, I dare say. Up to now the Krupps -have never played any government false, as you know." - -"But, Uncle Frederick dead, the War Lord is moving heaven and earth to -flog the firm into submission." There was suppressed rage in the tone -of the young man's voice. - -"Let me finish," demanded the Baroness. "Convinced that I would refuse -to be the tool of his ambition, the War Lord persuaded your Uncle to -ignore me as his legitimate successor, and the testament appoints Bertha -sole heir and, again ignoring me, the War Lord her guardian and -executor." - -"_Gott!_" cried Franz. - -The Baroness went on: "His position as supreme overlord of the Krupp -business he made perfectly clear to us." - -"Us? You mean the heads of the business?" - -"I referred to the child and myself. He talked to the directors -afterwards." The discrowned Cannon Queen told Franz the story of the -Imperial interview. "He is the master," she said in conclusion, "Bertha -his pawn, myself nobody." - -"And we, the heads of the business, and our workmen, his slaves," added -the chief electrician gloomily. - -These two people, suddenly confronted by the unexpected--a wife shorn of -her rights and wounded in her holiest maternal sentiments; an honest man -commandeered to debase his genius and become an accessory to murder most -foul--sat for a while in silence, brooding over their misfortune and the -disasters threatening mankind as a consequence. - -At last the Baroness roused herself. "And what did they want with you -at the conference, Franz?" - -"I was admitted after the War Lord had left to be closeted with the -Director-General," replied the engineer, "and the directors seemed to me -extraordinarily perturbed--far more than the master's death warrants -among equals. Herr Braun acted as spokesman. He said the War Lord -wanted the firm to experiment with a new steel lining for guns intended -for foreign countries. - -"'Foreign countries! What does that mean?' I asked, as if I had not -been an involuntary listener to the War Lord's speech. - -"'Majesty's orders--it behoves subjects to obey, not to ask questions,' -said Herr Braun, with unusual severity. 'To the point, sir, acting upon -the War Lord's orders to entrust the business to expert hands, we have -decided to turn over the job to you.'" - -Franz stopped short, then burst out: "What am I doing, Frau Krupp? You -just told me that you are not the head of the firm, and I am about to -reveal matters of the gravest importance confided to my keeping. I made -a mistake--I was led away by filial reverence for my benefactor's widow. -Pray forget what I have said." - -Franz was about to withdraw, when a voice outside called: "Mamma, can I -come in?" - -"You said good night once. I thought you were in bed and asleep, -Bertha." - -The door opened, and a hand rustled the portieres. - -"Are you alone?" - -"Only Franz." - -"Oh!" - -Bertha's blonde head thrust itself through the centre of the curtains, -while she paused on the threshold. Then a naked foot in a blue velvet -slipper with a golden heel: a vision in floating white rushed in and -nestled childishly at the Baroness's feet. - -"Howdy, Franz?" said Bertha, drawing her kimono tighter over her bosom. -And to her mother: "I couldn't sleep after what Uncle Majesty told us -to-night. So I came down. You are not angry, Mamma? Don't scold, -Mamma," she added, observing her mother's stern face. - -Frau Krupp patted the child's head. "Fate!" she said to Franz. -"_Voila_, the head of the Krupp firm. Continue." - -The engineer bowed. "With your permission, my chief," he said, -addressing Bertha. - -"Anything you please, you big booby," laughed the child. Then, -seriously: "I am your chief, indeed I am. Think of bossing a big chap -like you and that arrogant Herr Braun, too!" She motioned Franz to bend -down, and whispered in his ear, "Wouldn't it be fun to sack him?" - -"No nonsense, child, if you want to stay up," Frau Krupp was very much -in earnest, and to Franz she said: "Go on; I am impatient to hear the -rest." - -"I was telling your mother about some business Herr Braun wants to -entrust me with," explained Franz, looking at the child. - -"How very interesting," yawned Bertha; "but you can't get me to listen. -Ah, there, I see one of Barbara's dolls. I will play with it till you -get through; then supper. I didn't eat dinner with Fraulein," she -added, looking at her mother, "and there's such a goneness here," -touching her abdomen. The greatest force for destruction in the world, -yet a child to all intents and purposes! - -"Proceed," said the Baroness to Franz. - -"With the chief's permission," began Franz formally; then, as if trying -to make his disclosure as indefinite as possible: "You heard about the -order from King Leopold, secured by the War-Lord's Brussels ambassador?" - -The Baroness nodded, and Bertha took her eyes momentarily from her -plaything. "Big, big guns," she said, describing a circle in the air by -turning the doll's arm and hand round and round; "my apanage, poor Papa -said. Glad you reminded me. I must tell Herr Braun about it. All the -profits are to go to my children's hospital." She sat the doll astride -her knee, bobbing her up and down, then burst out laughing. "See that -head-dress, Franz, and her gown and apron--the Belgian colours. Looks -like a coincidence, doesn't it?" - -Bertha embraced the doll tenderly. "Thank your King for me, Dolly. The -more guns he orders, the better for our little children here. German -interests first," laughed Bertha, looking up. "Uncle Majesty told me so -ever so often." - -The "Germany-above-all" spirit, spelling moral and physical -ruthlessness, spoke out of the child. The Fatherland first, second and -third; perdition for the rest of the world, if Germany's interests be -served thereby! - -Whether the heiress had an inkling of what the War Lord really intended, -it is impossible to decide; neither can there be any positive knowledge -as to the attitude she might have assumed if, perchance, she did -understand Franz's pregnant words. - -Pupil of the War Lord, firmly believing in his preachings, saturated -with his theories, and over-awed by his claims of Divine mission, his -vapourings were gospel to her, and "Germany-above-all" was one of the -commandments, even though it conflicted with all the others. - -A monstrous case of _folie a deux_, "deux" standing for the German -nation. Here we have a man decked out in ornate regimentals travelling -about his country telling four millions of men: "You must die for Me," -and immediately each man says to his wife: "I wonder if there is a -special heaven for patriots like your husband?" - -And to a certain class of persons he points out that science is but the -handmaiden of wholesale murder, and that they must employ their -God-given inventive genius, all their brains, all their time, to devise -new ways and means for killing as many men, women and children as there -are in the world outside of the German Empire. And they do. - -And to a woman he says: "You were born to suffer. Give me your husband; -I want him for the fighting." And she forthwith tells her man to make -one more for the shambles. - -And to the golden-haired girl he says: "A truce to your vanity, off with -your locks, that I may buy more rifles; and your lover I want, too. His -manly breast will make an excellent scabbard for a French or Russian -lance." - -And the golden-haired one raves that she is thrice happy to be allowed -to sacrifice her beauty and the idol of her dreams for the War Lord. - -"I want your fathers," he says to a playground full of children, "and -your uncles and big brothers and cousins." And the little ones cry: -"Hurrah! Long live the Emperor!" - -"Would ye live for ever?" he queries of men between fifty and -sixty-five. "To the barracks with you, even if you are but good for -cannon fodder." - -Someone tells him of a bunch of boys playing marbles in an alley; not -one of them has finished his education. The War Lord examines them -critically and sniffs. "You are big enough to stop a bullet somehow," -he allows, and they are led to slaughter. - -The All Highest looks upon the earth and boasts of his winged legions of -man-killers. He declaims that Englishmen and Frenchmen and Italians and -Belgians have turned out to fight God's Anointed; but adds with a sly -smile they left their women at home and their brood, that he may -out-Herod Herod. In his mind he feels the earth trembling under the -heavy tread of his armed millions and the weight of his artillery. - -This Dancing Dervish of universal slaughter, this man given over to -murder-lust is the object of veneration not only of those whom he -addresses in person, because of their mistaken sense of duty and -patriotism; a whole nation, seventy millions strong, acclaim him -Saviour--Messiah of the Fatherland's destinies. - -One can understand individual sacrifice, but seventy millions of people, -every mother's son and daughter, turning beasts of prey! It baffles -psychological speculation. Everywhere the "Evangelium of German -superdom," as the War Lord sees it, is loud. - -Small wonder Bertha, born of man-killer stock and suckled on the breasts -of militarism, which nourished her kith and kin and their hundreds of -thousands of dependents, believes unconditionally in the doctrines -pronounced by her godfather, to her the God-head of power infinite, -omniscience incarnate! - -Hence the implied rebuke to Franz: "German interests first." After that -she returned to the nursery--her Belgian doll. - -Frau Krupp looked significantly at Franz. "You were going to say---- - -"My orders are to experiment with the War Lord's new formula for steel -on those guns for Liege." - -Franz buried his head in his hands, elbows planted on knees, leaning -forward heavily, while the Baroness sat looking at him, her nimble mind -weighing the pros and cons. At last she reached out a hand and touched -the young man's shoulder. - -"Franz," she said solemnly. - -The young man's head shot up and he stared at Frau Krupp as if she was a -ghost. Answering the question in her eyes, he almost shouted, "Never!" -holding up his right hand as if under oath. - -The Baroness placed his hand on Bertha's head. "Swear that you will -stand by this child." - -"I swear, with all my heart, so help me, God," pronounced Franz, with -severe emphasis. - -A peculiar look came into the Baroness's eyes, half satisfied, half -cunning, as with a sort of imperious finality she said: "It is well." -Then, turning to the child: "Bertha, run along now and tell them to -serve in the small dining-room in five minutes." - -"Make it ten, Mamma, so I can put on my new _negligee_." - -"All right, ten; but hurry," agreed Frau Krupp, looking at the pendule. - -When the curtain had fallen behind Bertha the Baroness turned a white, -severe face upon Franz. Then, abandoning all pretence of loyalty to the -Grand War Lord, she told the terrible secrets long locked in her bosom, -secrets imparted by her late husband or gathered from his lips during -long, sleepless nights while he tossed on his pillow. - -"It's the Frankenstein we have to fight," she said, "the pitiless, -heartless, soul-less Evil One, intent upon setting the world afire -through my child's inheritance. The plotting has been going on ever -since the crowned monster was enthroned. Almost the first communication -he made to Frederick, as head of the Empire, was: 'Now we must bend all -energies to get ready. And when we are, I will set my foot upon the -neck of the universe, Charlemagne redivivus!' - -"Previous to that, Frederick and myself had agreed gradually to drop -cannon- and ammunition-making. The Krupps were to create, instead of -facilitating destruction. No longer was Essen to be a place upon which -a merciful God looked with abhorrence. Engines of death had made us -rich and powerful; henceforth the coined results of war were to be -employed to make waste land arable, to drain morasses, to dig canals, to -prosecute every peaceful endeavour promising to enhance the German -people's chances of happiness and prosperity. The old saw of turning -swords into ploughshares was to be enacted by the firm that had made war -thrice deadly. Then the tempter came. 'I rely upon you, Frederick! -You are the Fatherland's only hope, for Germany can achieve its -destinies only through blood and iron.' - -"'One more supreme effort, Frederick, then the War Lord will turn -husbandman, making you manager-general of his great farm stretching from -the Arctic Circle to the Mediterranean, from the Atlantic to Siberia.' - -"As you know, the War Lord is an insinuating talker," continued Frau -Krupp, "and his autocratic manner, enhanced by occasional flurries of -condescension and persuading Frederick to join in his social -relaxations. Ah!" she cried, striking the table with her hand, "it was -these that forged the bullet which killed my husband!" - -There was a shrill tone of rage and defiance in the last words. Then -emotion mastered Frau Krupp's strength. She tottered, swayed, and would -have fallen had not Franz caught her. He knew what she had suffered -through her husband's intimacy with the War Lord and his cronies, and -shuddered. - -"Mother," he said unconsciously, as her head touched his breast. The -Baroness let it rest there a moment; here was a tower of strength, of -reserve force. - -"Alas!" she continued, after a tense silence, "in the long run they -ensnared Frederick. He succumbed to their ensnaring wiles as a foolish -man might to the flatteries of a flirt. My counsel was no longer -sought; the promises he had made--which I had exacted in happier -days--were forgotten or denied. The very ploughs and ploughshares we -were manufacturing then were thrown into the melting-pot for guns." - -She picked up a book lying on the mantel. "'Vital Statistics of the -German Empire,'" she read aloud; "'Steady Increase of Population.'" She -flung the volume on the hearth. "Multiply like the Biblical sands; it -only means that Essen works the harder to put you under the sod." - -Frau Krupp dropped her voice and went on in a whisper: "Do you -understand now what your threatened retirement would mean? It would -mean that, excepting France and Great Britain, the whole of the world, -all the smaller nations, would be practically at the War Lord's mercy, -because their guns wouldn't shoot, their swords and lances wouldn't -pierce. - -"Such is the goal he has been striving for, the goal he wants to attain -through my little girl. 'Have them all inadequately armed, and it will -be a walk-over for German arms,' he calculates." - -"And how can I prevent the world's debacle?" - -"By fighting fire with fire. You cannot fight the War Lord -openly--pretend obedience, fall in with his plans apparently, be an -enthusiastic faker, as far as he can see; but don't smirch my little -girl's business honour and submerge the world under a tidal wave of -blood by making other nations defenceless. I have your promise, Franz?" - -"It's a vast prospect," answered the young engineer, "but I have sworn -to stand by Bertha----" - -"I thank you," said the Baroness, as the portieres were noisily pushed -aside and a child's voice cried: "Supper's ready." - - - - - *CHAPTER IV* - - *BERTHA KRUPP, WAR LADY, ASSERTS HERSELF* - - - Science Steps In--Franz Incurs the Kaiser's Wrath - - -Six months of feverish activity in the Essen works, of tests and -measuring velocities, of experimenting with ingots, hardening processes, -chilled iron castings and compound steel--who knows or cares for the -technique of murder machinery save generals of the staff? As Mark Twain -at one time labelled a book, "There is no weather in this," so the -present author will not burden his pages with figures and statistics of -any sort. It would be a tantalising undertaking at best, for the War -Lord himself was directing, and insisted that his every misunderstood, -mis-stated and often wholly untenable whim be immediately gratified by -the ready servility of Krupp employes--"his people." - -Up to the time under discussion the Emperor Wilhelm had devoted nearly -all his energies to drill, political intrigue and uttering platitudes. -To dabble in formulary details, with nobody to dispute his opinion or -correct his errors, flattered him in the proportion as his judgment -about ordnance construction became more and more fantastic. - -He was always going about with a half-dozen professors at his heels, -losing no opportunity of propounding nebulous and remarkable theories to -their startled but complaisant ears. - -At the beginning of the present century the German professor was a -hundred years behind the times in his dress, manners and social habits. -The German Punch had rudely caricatured him into a new habitat, where -soap and water, clean collars, unfrayed trousers and non-Cromwellian -headgear held sway. Up to that period, he had bathed occasionally, had -curled his hair now and then, and thereafter relapsed into that state of -slovenliness which is labelled scientific preoccupation by the German -mob, and stands in awe of learning, be it ever so badly digested and -wrongfully applied. - -The War Lord had an English mother; he is a Barbarian fond of the tub. -He perceived that professors might be made useful to him. But how make -them presentable? - -A visit to England gave him the clue. - -And forthwith the new order of Court dress was launched: short clothes -and pumps, silk stockings and jabot-shirts; and the official Press -rudely informed those "entitled to the uniform" that bathing was -imperative before getting into it. - -The brotherhood of science furthermore received hints to patronise the -War Lord's own barber in regard to their flowing beards. "But Admiral -von Tirpitz wears a forked beard too," pleaded some. "No precedent, -Herr Professor, his Excellency has Majesty's special permit!" - -With the superfluous hair, the professors likewise had to shed their -accustomed hyperbole. - -"Don't speak until spoken to." "Answer in as few informatory words as -can be managed." "Invariably make your answer meet the Imperial -wishes." "Never contradict," were the Grand Master's instructions, and -the scientific men abiding by them soon found themselves in clover, -because they were "useful," while the rest were discarded. - -In particular, experts in chemistry were exploited by the War Lord. -"They must help to feed my army and people"--in case war lasts longer -than expected. "They must invent new weapons of destruction"--for while -powder and lead are well enough in their way, they do not spell the end -of things. - -German scientific men are very fond of power and have an enormous idea -of their own importance, but their notions are subject to fits of -extravagant humility if policy, or personal advantage, can be served by -Uriah Heepisms. The keener ones in the Imperial entourage found that it -would pay to cater to the mobility in the War Lord's ideas while there -was a certain degree of logic. And if, perchance, he happened to drop -into incoherency or extravagance, was it the professor's business to set -him right? Court usage registered an emphatic negative. - -Such were the beginnings of the partnership between War Lordism and the -perversion of German science into an instrument of destruction. "Science -to the rescue of the lame and halt"--an out-of-date notion. Science -makes them by the hundreds of thousands. - -The professors were powerful assistants to the War Lord in maintaining -his grip on the Krupp throat and acquiring further business concessions -from the firm; but, of course, as to realising the technical chimeras of -the War Lord's mind with respect to new-fangled war machinery, there was -more pretence than activity, for dividends had to be considered, and the -War Lord would have been the first to make an outcry if his earnings -were reduced by the fraction of a per cent. - -Franz maintained his position as chief experimenter, and, his expert -judgment in gunmaking as well as in electricity being unquestioned, he -was able openly to frustrate some of the War Lord's most bloodthirsty -plans by proving them impracticable to the satisfaction of the board of -directors, which put a stop to their execution for the time at least. - -"Uncle Majesty is very wroth with you," said Bertha to her relative one -evening, when the War Lord had returned to Berlin after one of his -unofficial visits to the Ruhr metropolis. He was in the habit of coming -to Essen every little while now, unheralded and incog. Likewise in -mufti; and what discarding of regimentals and associated fripperies -meant to him few people can imagine. - -His uniforms are built to make him appear taller and more imposing, -while affording a ready background for all sorts of decorative -material--ribbons, scarfs, stars, crosses and medals galore. - -"Wroth with me?" queried Franz. - -"Yes, with you," replied the child; "and I heard him dictate a long -letter, giving you a terrible talking to. I just signed it," added -Bertha with a satisfied grin. - -"And why am I hauled over the coals?" asked Franz. - -"I'm sure I don't know," replied the child. "'One of the things little -girls cannot understand,' said Uncle Majesty. But I do know that you -must--I said _must_--not do it again. I won't let you, do you hear? I -mean Uncle Majesty won't." - -Franz raised his hat and knocked his heels together, military fashion. -He was about to withdraw when Bertha caught him by the arm. "You are -not angry with me, Franz?" she pleaded. - -"No, my chief." - -"Say 'no, _liebe_ Bertha.'" - -"No, _liebe_ Bertha." - -At this moment a messenger caught up with the two young people on the -road to Villa Huegel and handed Franz an official-looking envelope. The -engineer looked inquiringly at Bertha. "May I?" - -Instead of answer the Krupp heiress picked up her skirts with both hands -and ran towards the house. - -Her letter informed Franz that the task of completing the Belgian guns -had been entrusted to other hands. Secondly, that, in future, -communications about experiments ordered by the War Lord must be -addressed to the heiress direct, not to the board of directors. - - - - - *CHAPTER V* - - *HOW THE WAR LADY WAS CAJOLED* - - - An Intoxication of Vanity--Barbara's Plain Words--A Shameful - Memory - - - The Imperial Chief-Court-and-House Marshal, Count Eulenburg, has - the honour to command Fraulein Bertha Krupp to attend upon their - Imperial and Royal Majesties, His Majesty the Emperor and King, - and Her Majesty the Empress and Queen, during the Christmas and - New Year's festivities at the Schloss, Berlin. - - A royal equipage will await Fraulein Krupp's pleasure at the - station, meeting the early morning train of December 22nd. - - _Dress_: Silks, Velvets and Laces. - - _Attendance_: Wardrobe mistress and maid; A footman. - - -The invitation, copperplated on an immense sheet of rather cheap paper -and sent through the mail free, created much excitement in Villa Huegel, -the more so as it was wholly unexpected, the War Lord never having -intimated that an honour of that kind was in store for his godchild. - -In the meantime Bertha had risen to the dignity of opening her own -letters and using her discretion as to divulging their contents, or not, -as she saw fit, or rather as the War Lord saw fit. This was strictly -opposed to native custom; but isn't the King above the law? And certain -reports, such as those ordered to be addressed to Bertha direct--Franz's -for instance--All-Highest wouldn't have communicated to any save -himself, not even to Frau Krupp. Hence his command that the Krupp -heiress keep her own counsel in regard to her correspondence. - -Bertha broke the great seal of the Court Marshal's office and her eyes -became luminous as she read the printed words and angular script. She -sat staring at the latter for a minute or two, while the Baroness, -chafing under her impotency, pretended to be busy with an orange. -Finally Barbara tiptoed behind her sister's chair and looked over her -shoulder. The fourteen-year-old girl being well up in Court -lore--having seen dozens of such letters addressed to her late -father--applied herself to the essentials, skipping the merely -decorative lines. - -"Christmas and New Year's festivities at the _Schloss_, Berlin," she -read aloud. Then higher up: "Fraulein Bertha Krupp." - -"Oh, Mamma!" she cried, "we are not invited, you and I. Isn't that mean -of Uncle Majesty?" She stamped her foot. "But he shan't kiss me when -he comes again--see if I let him kiss me." - -"Hold your tongue, naughty child." - -Bertha spoke with an air of unwonted authority. She folded up her -letter. - -"Just see how high and mighty we are!" mimicked Barbara. "'Naughty -child,' and what are you? I shouldn't wonder if Uncle Majesty spanked -you sometimes, when you are alone with him; you always come away full of -humility to him and of arro--arro--" (she couldn't find the word) "the -other thing to us--to Mamma and me, I mean." - -The Baroness put out her arm as if she expected the children to resort -to fisticuffs. "Barbara," she called half pleadingly. - -"She will go to her room," insisted Bertha, ringing. The butler -responded so promptly that there was no doubt he had been listening -behind the portieres. - -"Fraulein Barbara's governess," Bertha ordered. And as the man was -going out: "My secretary shall report at once in my council room." - -"Are you mad?" cried Frau Krupp, when the curtains had dropped behind -the servant. Bertha seemed so unlike herself--unlike what her child -ought to be. - -The Krupp heiress disdained to answer. - -"Since I am to be their Imperial and Royal Majesties' guest, I must -prepare for the honour," she deigned after a little while; "in half an -hour I'll leave for Cologne. You may accompany me, if you like, -Mother." - -The Baroness grew white under the lash of Bertha's patronising tone. -"You shall not go," she said hotly. - -"If you will come to the council room you can see in black and white my -authority to go where and when I please," replied Bertha, going out. - -Barbara and her mother looked at each other in blank amazement, the -child not understanding, the mother understanding but too well. Bertha -was lost to her; the supreme egotist had gained a strangle-hold on her -flesh and blood. - -With the strange intuition that often moves children to do the right -thing at the right time when grown-ups are at their wits' end, Barbara -seemed to divine what passed in her mother's mind and, burying her face -in the Baroness's lap, she sobbed out convulsively words of consolation, -of endearment and unbounded affection. Frau Krupp bent over the child's -head and kissed her again and again. "My little girl, my Barbara, won't -discard Mother, will she?" she said in broken tones. - -"Not for ten thousand Uncle Majesties," cried Barbara fiercely; and, as -if the words had freed her from a spell, she rose of a sudden and -planted herself in front of Frau Krupp. - -"---- Uncle Majesty," she said, clenching her little fists. - -Then, overcome by her breach of the conventions, she ran out of the room -and into the arms of her governess. - -Frau Krupp would not have had the heart to scold Barbara even if she had -not run away. "---- him!"--her own sentiments. With such reflections -she leaned back in her great arm-chair, undecided whether she should -follow Bertha to the council room or not. Her motherly dignity said -"No," while anxiety for her child urged her to go to her. - -"To think of him playing the bully in my own house," she deliberated; -"the coward, setting a child against her mother! But I know what it's -done for. He wants her like wax in his hand--the hand getting ready to -choke the world into submission." - -The butler entered with soft step. - -"Fraulein begs to say that she will leave for Cologne at 10.30 sharp, -and she desires your ladyship to get ready." - -"Thank you, my maid shall lay out the new black silk costume. Did you -order the horses?" - -"Fraulein's secretary is attending to everything," said the butler in a -hurt voice. "I don't know by what authority he assumes my duties," he -added. - -"He shall not do so again, Christian," promised the Baroness. - - -Three hours later Frau Krupp and Bertha were going the rounds of -Cologne's most exclusive shops. The Hochstrasse is too narrow to permit -the use of a carriage; the ladies were followed, then, by a train of -commissionaires laden with boxes, for Bertha was buying everything in -the line of frocks, costumes and millinery that was pretty and -expensive. Consult her mother? Not a bit of it. The Court Marshal's -instructions were silk, velvet, laces; nothing else mattered. - -The shopkeepers, of course, knew Frau Krupp; they had known Bertha -familiarly ever since she was in short frocks. The girl of seventeen -had blossomed into the richest heiress of the world, yet it would have -been almost indecent not to consider the elder woman first. - -So the best chair was pushed forward for the Baroness, and man-milliners -and _mannequins_ fell over each other trying to win her applause for the -goods offered. The widow of the Ironmaster smiled and talked vaguely -about their merits, but announced that Bertha was to do her own -choosing. - -Bertha went about her task like an inexperienced country lass suddenly -fallen into a pot of money. The girl seemed to be working under a sense -of assertiveness, tempered by responsibility to a higher power. That -higher power regarded her mother of no consequence. Though of a -naturally dutiful and kindly nature, Bertha assumed an air of -independence unbecoming to so young a woman. - -Indeed her want of respect was of a piece with her "Uncle Majesty's" -behaviour in a little Italian town, when his father lay dying there. -The War Lord, then a junior Prince, had crossed the Alps as the -representative of his grandsire, head of the State, and instantly -presumed to lord over his mother, who was the Princess Royal of an -Empire, compared with which his own patrimony is a petty _Seigneurie_. - -He arrived on a Saturday night, and at once ordered divine service for -seven o'clock next morning, an hour suiting his restlessness and most -unsuited to his parent, worn out with night vigils and anxieties. - -However, to humour him, and also to gain more time to spend with her -ailing husband, the Imperial Mother acquiesced in the arrangement; but -imagine her surprise when in the morning she learned at the last moment -that, at her son's behest, the House Marshal had not provided carriages -as usual, and that she was expected to walk three-quarters of a mile to -the chapel. - -Meanwhile the official procession of church-goers had started. At the -head a platoon of cuirassiers, followed by the Prince's Marshal and -staff. Next, his adjutants and a deputation of officers from his -regiment; his personal servants in gala livery; finally, himself, -walking alone, the observed of all observers. - -The father's own household was commanded to fall behind. So were his -mother and sisters; the Prince was not at all interested in them. His -Royal Mother might lean on the arm of a footman for all he cared. - -Here we have an exaggeration of the most repulsive traits of egotism, -self-indulgence, callousness, coarseness, cruelty and deceitfulness, -for, as intimated, Wilhelm had been careful to keep his parent in -ignorance of the affront to be put upon her. - -Small wonder that a person so constituted, having vested himself with -full charge of a girl's soul and mind as she approached mental and -physical puberty, upset her filial equilibrium, while her actions -reflected the impress of his own arrogance. - - - - - *CHAPTER VI* - - *FRAULEIN KRUPP INVITED TO COURT* - - - The Virtue of a Defect--Bertha's Reception--A Disappointment - - -There is a streak of malignity in the best of women. Maybe the younger -girl has nothing but praise for another a few years her senior, but she -will add that naturally "age" inspires respect. Helen has the most -beauteous eyes, the daintiest figure, the most transparent complexion, -the softest colour, the most exquisite feet, the sweetest smile and the -most delightful air of superiority, and when her friend tenders her a -box at the Play she will invite some girl conspicuously deficient in -most of these excellences--human nature, or just plain, ordinary -devilry. So Bertha's mother took a sort of grim satisfaction in the -poor taste Bertha displayed in selecting her Court gowns. - -"He taught her to ignore her mother even in matters of dress; serves him -right if her appearance jars on his sense of beauty," she said to -herself more than once when superintending the packing of Bertha's many -trunks. - -The Baroness had never visited the Berlin Court, and her conception of -its splendours resided in her own imagination. - -As a matter of fact, the Berlin Court is the home of bad taste; plenty -of fine shoulders, but draped with ugly and inappropriate material. Some -few _petite_ feet against an overwhelming majority too large and -clumsily shod. Some fine arms and hands, since such are subjects of the -War-Lord's appreciation, but faces broad, plain and uninteresting. - -The taste of a man who allows his wife to keep a bow-legged attendant is -necessarily deplorable; a king permitting that sort of thing, despite -prevailing fashions, is inexcusable. - -An anecdote in point. - -When, in the 'nineties, the Medical Congress sat in Berlin, the learned -gentlemen were commanded to a reception at the Palace, and in their -honour the whole contingent of Court beauties was put on exhibition. - -"Did you ever see an uglier lot of women?" asked a Russian professor -afterwards, addressing a table full of colleagues. All shook their -heads sadly, depressed by the remembrance of what they had witnessed. - -Into this _milieu_ of hallowed ugliness and organised _ennui_ dropped -the Krupp heiress like a pink-cheeked apple among a lot of windfalls. - -As we know, she was not pretty from the stand-point of the -English-speaking races. Her complexion was good, but it lacked the -Scottish maid's transparency; her hair was fair to look upon, but there -are a thousand English girls travelling on the Underground daily whose -glossy tresses are to be preferred; her figure was a little too full, -like that of Jerome Napoleon's Queen, Catherine of Wuertemberg, whose -finely chiselled bosoms scandalised the Tuileries when she was scarcely -sixteen. She had the heavy gait of the German woman, and the vocabulary -of them all: "_Oh Himmel_," "_Ach Gott_," "_Verdammt_," and so forth, a -dreadful inheritance, which even the "Semiramis of the North" could not -shake off after fifty and more years' residence in Imperial Russia. - - -Her Majesty's maid of honour, Countess von Bassewitz, went to the -station with Count Keller, a minor gold stick, to receive and welcome -Bertha. Bassewitz was young and pretty--"the only happy isle in an ocean -of inelegancy," as Duke Gonthier of Schleswig used to say. Her sole -perceptible defect was indifferent hands, but, strange to say, this very -blemish got her the position at Court. - -The War Lord had declared that he wouldn't have more of the "hideous -baggage" (meaning Her Majesty's ladies) that "made his house a -nightmare," and that the next Dame du Palais to be appointed was to be -good-looking, or must wear a bell, so that he could keep out of her way. -His Queen, who regards all women through the jaundiced lorgnette of -jealousy, was in despair. In her mind's eye she saw the Schloss peopled -with Pompadours, Du Barrys and Dianes de Poitiers. - -The War Lord had instructed the Court Marshal to demand photographs of -applicants for the vacant post, and Countess von Bassewitz's he -considered the most promising. "Wire her to report to-morrow morning at -eight," he ordered. She arrived while the War Lord was busy lecturing -his Council of Ministers on international law, and Her Majesty saw the -candidate first. She couldn't help admitting to herself that Ina was -comely in the extreme, and that it would require a vast deal of intrigue -to induce her husband not to appoint the young girl forthwith. Then a -happy thought struck her. "You may remove your gloves," she said -condescendingly. - -Countess Ina blushed and grew pale in turn; conscious of her weak point, -she was afraid it would work her undoing. - -But, instead, Her Majesty smiled benignly upon those unlovely hands. - -"His Majesty!" announced the valet de chambre. - -"Be gloved, my child; hurry." - -The War Lord didn't know what to make of it when "Dona" approved of his -selection. - -"She is mysteriously confiding," he said to his crony, Maxchen (the -Prince of Fuerstenberg). But he changed his mind when, a week or two -later, he had induced Ina to take off her gloves in his presence. - -The War Lord had instructed Bassewitz and Keller to treat Bertha "like a -raw egg," saying: "Her income is bigger per minute than that of all you -Prussian Junkers per annum"--a gratuitous slap, the more ungenerous -since the old Kings of Prussia gobbled up a goodly part of their landed -possessions, as Bismarck once pointed out to Frederick William IV. - -Berlin pomp and circumstance! Three flags, paper flowers on lanterns, a -much-worn red carpet leading from the spot where Bertha's saloon -carriage was to draw up to the royal reception room in the station. - -As Bertha, though Grand-Lady-Armouress-of-the-World, has no place in the -Army List, she must be content with walking through lines of royal -footmen in black and silver, on which account the War Lord sincerely -pitied the girl. "Twenty marks for a precedent to endow her with a -uniform," but even the obsequious Eulenburg failed to discover an -excuse. - -Inside the Royal waiting-room: red-plush furniture, with covers removed, -in garish glory; a bouquet of flowers from the Potsdam hothouses; a -silver teapot steaming; on a silver platter four bits of pastry, one for -each person and one over to show that we are not at all niggardly--oh, -dear, no! - -The stationmaster enters in some kind of uniform, a cocked and plumed -hat above a red face, toy sword on thigh. "The train is about to draw -into the station, Herr Graf, and may it please Her Ladyship." - -Countess von Bassewitz starts for the door. "One moment, pray," -admonishes gold stick, "the noblesse doesn't run its feet off to greet a -commoner even if she is laden with money." - -Courtiers suit their vocabulary to their lord and master. Countess -Bassewitz is young and hearty. Never before had she reflected on the sad -fact that Bertha lacked birth, but now that a gold stick had mentioned -it, a mere maid of honour must needs bow to superior judgment. - -So the richest girl in the world was left standing in the doorway of her -saloon carriage for a good half-minute before their Majesties' titled -servants deigned to approach. "Will take some of the purse-pride out of -her," observed Count Keller. - -Then, hat in hand and held aloft, three bows, well measured, not too -low, for high-born personages' privileges must not be encroached upon. - -"Aham, Aham" (several courtly grunts, supposed to be exquisitely -_recherche_), "Fraulein Krupp, I have the honour--Count Keller--Countess -von Bassewitz, dame to Her Majesty. Had a pleasant journey I hope," -delivered in nasal accents. In Germany, you must know, it is considered -most aristocratic to trumpet one's speech through the nose after the -fashion of bad French tenors chanting arias. - -Countess von Bassewitz, amiable and enthusiastic, spouted genuine -civilities. "Fraulein looks charming!" "What a pretty frock!" "I will -show you all around the shops," and more compliments and promises of -that kind. - -Childlike, Bertha had expected a coach-and-four. Another disappointment! -The carriage at the royal entrance was of the most ordinary kind--a -landau and pair of blacks, such as are driven about Berlin by the dozen. - -"If you please," said Count Keller, bowing her into the coach. She -planted herself boldly in the right-hand corner, facing the horses. -Bassewitz looked horror-stricken at the heiress's cool assumption of the -gold stick's place, and to smooth him over attempted to take the rear -seat; but Bertha pulled her to her side. "Don't leave me," she -whispered, with a look upon the ruffled face of the Count, who marvelled -that there was no earthquake or rain of meteors because he was obliged -to ride backwards, with a "mechanic's daughter" in the seat of honour. - - - - - *CHAPTER VII* - - *IN THE CROWN PRINCE'S PRIVATE ROOM* - - - A Talk with the Crown Prince--Matrimonial Affairs--Bertha - Discussed--The Empress and Her Sons - - -The War Lord had not taken any notice of Frederick the Great's -injunction against "useless beggar princes." At the time of Bertha's -visit six of them, ranging from twenty-one to thirteen years of age, -were roaming the palace, and there was a little girl of eleven besides. -Only the eldest boy was provided for, by the Crown Prince's Endowment -Fund; the rest were booked to live by the grace of their father's -munificence and such moneys as could be squeezed out of the public in -the shape of military and administrative perquisites, unless they -contracted advantageous marriages; for while the Prussian allows himself -to be heavily taxed for the Civil List, that jolly institution, grants -for His Majesty's sisters, cousins and aunts has no place in his -catalogue of loyalty. - -Talking one day to his heir, the War Lord broached the subject of a -money-marriage. - -"But mother didn't have any money," the _bete noire_, Crown Prince -William, had the temerity to interpose. - -"No cash, it's true; but our marriage quasi-legitimatised our -acquisition of Schleswig-Holstein, and those provinces are worth -something." - -"Perhaps I had better marry Alexandra or Olga Cumberland," suggested -young William, "so that the possession of Hanover can no longer be -disputed. These girls have coin besides." - -"Don't speak of them--there are reasons." - -"Or a Hesse girl of the Electoral Branch." - -"And turn Catholic like Princess Anna," cried the War Lord furiously. -"Shut up about that Danish baggage. I myself will get you a wife. Trust -father to find you the _comme il faut_ wife--_comme il faut_ in every -respect: politics, family, religion and personal attractiveness, for we -want no ugly women in our family." - -The Crown Prince opened his mouth for a pert reply, but William -forestalled him by an imperious gesture. - -"I am preparing a message for the Ministerial Council." - -In the evening William invited his younger brothers--Eitel, Albert, -Augustus and Oscar--to his rooms, providing a bottle of beer and two -cigarettes per head. Having attained his majority and consequently -succeeded to the Dukedom of Oels, the Brunswick inheritance, he might -have offered the boys a real treat, champagne and tobacco _ad lib._, but -such would have been against Prussian tradition, which stands for -parsimony at home and display where it spells cheap glory. - -"Joachim wanted to be of the party," said Augustus. - -"And tell Mamma all--not if I know myself. It's time the kid was in bed -anyhow," said the Crown Prince with fine scorn, for Joachim was only -thirteen years old at the time. - -"He will tell all the same," suggested Albert. - -"And will get a thrashing for his pains. Besides, I shall withdraw my -allowance of three marks per week. Tell him so; that will settle the -mamma-child." - -"He shall have it straight from the shoulder; you can rely on that, Duke -of Oels," said Eitel. - -"Oels," repeated Eitel, "why didn't you inherit Sibyllenort too? The -idea, giving Sibyllenort to those sanctimonious Saxons." - -"Rotten, to be sure. But old William was eccentric, you know, like his -brother, the Diamond Duke," said the Crown Prince. - -"The Diamond Duke; wasn't he the chap who made some Swiss town erect him -a monument, omitting the proviso that it must not tumble down?" asked -Albert, who sets up as a scholar. - -"Precisely so, and the monument is dust." - -Prince William shook with laughter. "But that's not the question before -the house." Willy assumed the oratorical pose favoured by Herr -Liebknecht, the Socialist. "Boys," he continued, actually using the -German equivalent for the familiar term, "what do you think? Father -presumed to find me a wife--me!" - -He repeated the personal pronoun three or four times with increasing -emphasis, while beating the board with his clenched fist--a very good -imitation of the War Lord himself. - -"I am not beholden to him financially like you, not at all," cried the -Crown Prince. "He can keep his miserable fifteen thousand thalers per -annum. - -"No," he added quickly, after reflection; "it will be the greater -punishment to take his money." - -The Crown Prince continued: "And if father dares propose wife-finding -for _me_, what will he do to you, boys? If he has his way, you won't -marry the girl of your choice, but some political or military -possibility. There is only one way to prevent it," insisted the Crown -Prince. "We must all stand together, declaring our firm determination -to do our own wooing without interference from father. He will plead -politics, interests of the Fatherland. But for my part, I won't have -father impose a wife on me, even if the alliance gained us half of -Africa or Persia." - -"And I won't marry a Schleswig," said Eitel. - -"Nor I a Lippe, no matter how much Aunt Vicky cracks up Adolph's -family." - -"Now then, all together," declaimed the Crown Prince. "We, Princes -Wilhelm, Eitel, Albert, Augustus and Oscar of Prussia, solemnly swear -not to have wives imposed upon us for reasons of State or politics, -father's threats, entreaties and personal interests notwithstanding." - -The boys repeated the impromptu troth word for word. "Shake on that," -said Wilhelm, holding out his hand. And the agreement was so ratified. -Then another round of beer on the Duke of Oels. - -As the Princes were draining their _Seidels_--conspicuous for the emblem -of the Borussia Students' Club of Bonn University on the cover--a low -whistle was heard outside. - -"The mater," whispered Oscar. - -"Push the _Seidels_ into the centre," commanded the Crown Prince, -helping vigorously. He pushed a concealed button and the centre of the -table with its contents disappeared through an opening in the floor, -while another set with glasses of lemonade and cakes shot into its -place, the floor likewise filling up again. - -The Princes were petrified with amazement. "Duplicate of the Barbarina -_table de confiance_," explained the big brother; "had it secretly -copied and installed without my Grand Master being the wiser." - -This sort of table was invented by Frederick the Great for _tete-a-tete_ -confidences with Barbarina, the famous Italian beauty. - -The sight of the lemonade made the Empress radiant. "And I had been -told that you were up to all sorts of tricks," she said apologetically. -And to the Crown Prince: "I am so glad you are setting your younger -brothers a good example." - -"Always, mother, always," vowed Wilhelm. "Believe me, if these boys were -as abstemious as I, they would save fortunes out of their lieutenant's -allowance." - -"I came to prepare you for our visitor, Fraulein Bertha Krupp," began -the Empress. - -"A mere kid, isn't she?" cried Eitel in his most blase air. - -"Don't let your father hear that," said the Empress severely; and again -addressing the Crown Prince, she continued: "She is quite a young lady, -well educated and excellently well brought up. Father wants us all to be -particularly nice to his ward--treat her as one of the family." - -"I say, mother," interrupted Eitel, "is there to be anything in the way -of a matrimonial alliance between a Hohenzollern and the granddaughter -of the Essen blacksmith? If so, mark me for the sacrifice. Judged by -her photos, Bertha is a bonnie girl, with plenty of life; wouldn't I -have a thousand and one uses for her money. To begin with, I would buy -myself a hundred saddle horses and a gold wrist-watch, such as English -officers wear, also a yacht." - -"Not a word about _mesalliance_!" The Empress had grown red in the -face, and Eitel made haste to apologise. Putting his arm around his -mother's shoulders, he kissed her on the cheek and pleaded: "Mother, -fancy his Royal Highness, Prince Eitel Frederick of Prussia, marrying -anyone not of the blood royal! Of course I was joking. Just tell us, -Willy and me, what ought to be done about that little commoner due -to-morrow, and big brother and I will see to it that your commands are -obeyed to the letter." This with a threatening look upon the younger -boys. - -"I thought father's injunction to treat her like one of the family would -suffice. It means that you must not let her see the gulf between such -as she is and Royalty. Show her the sights, but don't boast of anything -we've got. Father says she can duplicate the Schloss and Neues Palais, -all our palaces with all they contain, without considerable damage to -her purse." - -"But if none of us is going to marry the little-big gold mine, and as -papa is her guardian and can do as he likes with Bertha, what's the use -of truckling to her?" asked Augustus, who has a logical mind. - -The Empress who, as a rule, is not good at repartee, immediately replied -as if she had foreseen the question. As a matter of fact, the War Lord -had thoroughly coached her in what to say. - -"Augustus," she replied, "of course your father's will is law with -Bertha as with everybody else; but in this case he would rather coax -than otherwise, for in a few years, you see, she will attain her -majority, and might insist upon taking the bit between her teeth, if in -the interval she had been driven too hard." - -"Eminently correct," said the Crown Prince. "I endorse every word you -say, Mother, and if these youngsters don't want to understand they -needn't. They will be made to do as you suggest." - - - - - *CHAPTER VIII* - - *STORIES OF COURT LIFE* - - - Musical Honours for Bertha--Bertha in a Temper--Luncheon at - Court--A Tantalizing Procedure--A British Experience - - -"Call out the guards when Fraulein Krupp drives up," 'phoned the War -Lord to the officer _du jour_ from the Council Room between writing a -treatise on a scrap-of-paper policy and making an outline of his speech, -"An Appeal to Royalism," later delivered at Koenigsberg. - -To have fifty men under a lieutenant exercise their feet on a given spot -to the tune of fife and drum for the benefit of a person not born to the -purple seems to William the highest honour conferable, a delusion bred -by militarism. In the same spirit, the War Lord of Bismarck's time sent -his Chancellor the patent of lieutenant-general. "That won't buy me a -postage stamp," remarked Bismarck. - -The Iron One would have preferred a pipe of tobacco, while his War Lord -went about for three days patting himself on the back for his act of -generosity and telling everybody within reach of the good fortune which, -thanks to his grace, had befallen Bismarck, "really a mere civilian." - -Bertha was too young to see the absurdity of the gratuitous manoeuvre, -"the sausage intended to knock the side of bacon off the hook," as they -say in Hamburg. It cost the War Lord nothing, made healthy exercise for -the soldiers, and Bertha, still a child in experience and mode of -thought, was impressed when Count Keller, pricking up his ears at the -sound of the drum like an old army horse in a tinker's cart, shot out of -his seat, raised his hat and bowed low. - -"Signal honour, upon word, Fraulein; unprecedented--almost," he added in -an undertone. - -And Countess von Bassewitz, rolling her eyes in loyal ecstasy, squeezed -Bertha's arm. "Majesty must be exceeding fond of his godchild to treat -you like an equal--almost," she too added. - -Drum and fife still made for ear-splitting discord when Count Keller -handed Bertha out of the carriage. His lordship, by the way, was now -congratulating himself on having been deprived of the seat of honour. -Small doubt, if he had taken it, it would have been reported to the War -Lord, and Majesty, bent on showering Royal honours on the commoner, -would have been furious. - -Two lackeys at the door, more at the bottom of the stairs, still more on -the first landing--men-servants seem to be the only commodity lavishly -provided at the Berlin Court. - -"_Kammerherr_, the Noble Lord von ----" (mentioning some Masurian -village) "commanded to the sublime honour--Fraulein Krupp's service" -(long intervals between half-sentences to show that the speaker was -really a Simon-pure Prussian aristocrat) "beg to submit--with Fraulein's -permission--I will conduct Fraulein to her apartments." - -Bertha did not understand half the titled personage trumpeted in nasal -cacophony, but a word or two from little Bassewitz explained. Then -ceremonious leave-taking, as if it was for years; assurances of -"unexampled pleasure experienced," of "more in store," and "Majesty is -so graciously fond of Fraulein--she ought to be so happy"; in fact, -there wasn't a girl "in the wide, wide world so favoured," and more -polite fiction of the sort. - -Up two flights of stairs; corridor thinly and shiningly carpeted; -electric bulbs few and far between. Ante-room, saloon and bedchamber. -In the first threadbare, red plush furniture. The bedchamber was hung -in cretonne of doubtful freshness. - -"I trust Fraulein's slightest wishes are anticipated. Princess von -Itzenplitz last had these apartments, and was graciously pleased to -express her highest satisfaction," boasted the _kammerherr_. - -Her Grace of Itzenplitz may have done so, but the richest girl in the -world was not inclined to put up with such third-class hotel -accommodation! - -When the _kammerherr_ had bowed himself out Bertha sat down on the edge -of the bed and had a good cry. Received like a princess, and housed -like a charwoman! But she wasn't going to stand it, not she, Bertha -Krupp. - -Her assertiveness, newly acquired, but all the stronger for that, made -her give a vicious pull to the bell-rope. She hardly noticed that it -came off in her hand when a lackey, scenting baksheesh, responded. - -"My servants, quick!" she ordered. - -"Beg Fraulein's pardon, they haven't yet arrived from the station." - -"Didn't Count Keller provide a conveyance for them?" she demanded -peremptorily, hoping that her words would reach that worthy. "They must -be sent for instantly." - -There were sounds of carriage wheels in the courtyard below. - -"Wait," cried Bertha; "there they are at last!" She handed the servant -a small gold coin. "For the driver; let him keep the change." - -The footman withdrew with a broad smile. No doubt he robbed the cabman -of half the generous tip. - -Torrents of "Ohs!" and "_Ach Gotts!_" when the Essen contingent came in. -They had waited more than half an hour for the expected royal carriage, -and then in despair took the only public vehicle available. - -Bertha's tirewoman inspected the apartment while giving vent to her -outraged feelings. "Darling Fraulein can never sleep in that bed. It's -as hard as rocks." - -"I know," said Bertha. "But what is to be done?" - -"I will send Fritz to fetch in the car your own bed, all except the -frame," decided the tirewoman after reflection. - -"But wouldn't that be an insult to my hosts?" Bertha asked. - -"Rubbish! The late Queen Victoria always carried her bed along, even -when she came to visit her own daughter in Berlin. Besides, we can -plead doctor's orders," said Frau Martha; and when the heiress still -seemed doubtful she added: "On my own responsibility, of course; you -don't know anything about it. The Baroness will back me up, I'm sure." - -The Krupp footman was accordingly dispatched, and returned two hours -later with the bed-furnishings. - -Meanwhile Bertha, all in white silk--according to the Court Marshal's -command--was waiting upon Her Majesty, who fondly kissed her and -inquired most affably after her mother--a regular set of questions -afterwards repeated by the War Lord, all his sons, and daughter. They -are not very original, these Hohenzollerns. - -The Krupp heiress, who, as intimated, was first inclined to be rather -proud that the guards were called out in her honour, loathed herself for -that weakness ten minutes after penetrating the Imperial circle, for the -incessant reference about that piece of pomp made by the royal family -and their titled attendants was simply maddening. "Unheard-of honour"; -"Must remember it to the end of your days"; "Most unique spectacle in -Europe"; "How thoughtful of Majesty"; "Too bad madame, your mother, -didn't witness it," were among the least stupid comments assailing -Bertha's ears on all sides. The War Lord himself went into raptures of -delight, being as pleased with his surprise, as he called it, as a -schoolboy with a new top, and then forestalled possible further -speculations on the matter of his dispensations of honour by announcing -that, in honour of Bertha, he would partake of the family luncheon. - -More effusions of delight, more congratulations showered on Bertha: "He -must love his godchild very dearly"; "He wouldn't have done that for the -Emperor of China." ... - -Luncheon at Court! Bertha had pictured to herself a grand function: -courtiers in gold lace, swords at their side; ladies in grand toilettes; -swarms of servants in showy liveries; a dozen or more courses, under the -direction of the Lord Steward of the Household; golden dinner service a -la American multi-millionaire; "heavenly music," and so forth. - -Alas! And Bertha had brought her appetite along, the appetite of a -growing, young, country lass from a food-worshipping household! - -The ladies were dowdy, the gentlemen in ordinary uniform or dressed in -abominable Berlin taste; over-loud music, with which the War Lord -persistently found fault with both time and execution. The average -_Kapellmeister_ "had not the shadow of a perception" of the composer's -artistic intentions. His views were "plebeian, necessarily--maybe his -mother was a washerwoman, poor wench"; and, after all, the War Lord -himself must conduct to "get proper results." Of course, everybody was -"convinced" of that. - -"Majesty" was too "lenient." It was "truly heartrending" to hear music -so "butchered," etc. - -"_En famille_," they called it, and Bertha sat at the end of the table -between two cadets, younger sons of a principality not much larger than -Richmond Park. - -"Fraulein," whispered one, forgetting, under the impetus of youthful -confidences, to speak through his nose; "Fraulein has dined beforehand, -of course?" - -"Why, no," she replied innocently, "and I am powerfully hungry." - -"Then you will stay so"--this from the loquacious petty prince. - -At that moment the soup was put before the War Lord, and he fell to -demolishing it at starving bricklayer's rate. When he had about half -finished, the family and guests were served, and when he was through, -his plate was removed and so were the rest. Bertha had had two -spoonfuls, and the petty prince, who had gulped down four or five, -grinned broadly. - -Fish, entree and fowl were offered, and ruthlessly yanked away in the -same rapid gunfire fashion. To an empty stomach this teasing with -coveted food was uncanny! - -"I hope you have dined well," said the Empress, after the party -adjourned to the "Cup Room" for coffee. "Was the service satisfactory?" - -"Excellent," lied Bertha. - -The coffee had an abominable oily taste. "From my colonies," explained -the War Lord. "Mighty good, when one gets used to it." - -But Bertha noticed that while his guests were served _en bloc_, he -brewed coffee for himself and wife in a silver Vienna machine. - -Desultory conversation: church building, social reform, Bismarck, -orphans, knitting socks for soldiers' children. Ill-concealed yawns. -The War-Lord would have a game of billiards, and then off to the park on -Extase (his favourite saddle-horse). - -"Ride or drive, which do you prefer, Bertha?" he said to the Krupp -heiress, going out. - -"As Uncle Majesty commands," lisped the young girl, very much -embarrassed. - -"I promised Louise a sleigh ride. Perhaps she would like to go with -her," suggested the Empress. - -"All right. Two horses and outrider." - -An outrider--something, to be sure, but going to the park "with that -kid." - -Princess Victoria Louise was eleven then, and intellectually no more -advanced than a child of four. Poor child! her father's ear trouble -seemed only one of the dreadful inheritances that stamped her a sufferer -from Hohenzollern disease. And Bertha had fondly imagined that she was -to be classed with grown-ups! - -"Did Fraulein enjoy her lunch?" asked the motherly Frau Martha, when -summoned to help her young mistress change for the outing. - -"Plenty to eat, but no chance to eat it," replied the Krupp heiress -sullenly. "Get me a sandwich or two, or I shall faint." - -"We were told," wailed Frau Martha, "that lunch was dinner for servants, -and this was the menu: half-bottle of small beer each, yellow peas in -the husks, three inches of terribly salt boiled beef, three potatoes -each, two carrots, and no bread." - -The Krupp servants, it seems, were no better treated than those of the -Prince of Wales (afterwards King Edward) and the untitled attendants of -other royal highnesses and majesties, those of the King and Queen of -Italy, for instance. - -In the 'nineties it was common report in Berlin diplomatic circles that -the Prince of Wales kept away from Berlin because he "could not induce -any of his favourite servants to be of the party," these favourite -servants being the same whom the then Court Marshal, von Liebenau--a -drill sergeant with a gold stick--designated "as the hungriest and most -impudent set of menials" he ever had the misfortune to encounter in the -exercise of his duties. - -Why the epithets? - -His Royal Highness's valet and his grooms had politely asked for eggs -and bacon for breakfast, and they would not have cold pork and potato -salad for supper, even though that be the Empress's favourite menu to go -to sleep on. - -And those "impudent Englishmen" had the temerity to ridicule the -solitary bottle of small beer graciously allowed them by His Prussian -Majesty; and about this and more the first groom of His Britannic -Highness and the Berlin excellency had an exciting passage of words, -memorised, rightfully or wrongfully, as follows: - -The Englishman: "The other attendants and myself cannot possibly worry -along on the breakfasts furnished, rolls and bad tea; and salt pork and -lentils for dinner is not what we are used to." - -The Prussian Bully: "Nor do you seem to be used to household discipline. -But I will have no more of your English impudence. I will inform the -Prince of his servants' unruly behaviour." - -The Chief Groom: "Thank you. His Royal Highness will then engage board -for us at a hotel, and there will be an end to starvation diet." - -On another occasion pease pudding, pork, roast potatoes and beer were -sent to the rooms of Queen Marguerite's chief tirewoman for dinner, at -the Neues Palais, a couple of hours before she was expected to dress Her -Majesty for a State banquet. The dame refused it, and sent for the -Empress's chief titled servant, Baroness von Hahnke, stating in plain -terms that, unless she were furnished with food suitable to her rank and -station, she would drive into town to dine, even at the risk of being -late for Her Majesty's service. - -The Baroness, frightened out of her wits, told the Empress the facts, -and the Imperial lady gave Count Puckler (responsible for the sins of -the kitchen) a terrible talking-to before her other titled servants. At -the same time she ordered a suitable dinner for the Italian lady from -her own cuisine--a dinner the extras of which upset the budget for some -weeks to come. - - - - - *CHAPTER IX* - - *WHAT THE MAID SAW AND HEARD* - - - Revelations--Sauerkraut and Turnips--What the Dachshunds Did - - -FRAU MARTHA to FRAU KRUPP, -_nee_ BARONESS VON ENDE. - -BERLIN, SCHLOSS, _Christmas_. - -GRACIOUS LADY,--May it please the Gracious Lady, we arrived safely and -sound, and Fraulein just started off on a sleigh ride with the little -Princess, who is as foolish as the poor Mueller orphan in our hospital, -but, mind, she had something warm before I let her go. - -Fraulein don't want me to say nothing, but duty compels me. Gracious -Lady, I must tell you that Fraulein got up still hungry from table and -ate four ham sandwiches, three doughnuts and a cream tart, which I -bought for her with my own money (no matter about that) ere I let her -go. After I made her warm inside, I made her warm underneath, and put -on her the beautiful sables the late Gracious Gentleman, God rest his -soul, got given to him in Russia. With all respects to Majesty, the -little Princess, in her cheap _iltiz_ (_patois_) garment, looked like a -mere rag doll compared with our Bertha, please excuse me, Gracious Lady. - -Gracious Lady will forgive an ignorant girl, but the three of us, Fritz -and Lenchen and me, call the Schloss Starvation Hall. - -Except Fraulein and Fritz and Lenchen, I haven't heard a decent word -since we left home. They just snarl and hiss. Because Fraulein is -called the richest girl in the world, they fetch and carry for her, like -the mealy-mouthed menials they are; but if it wasn't for the tips, I -don't think they'd do a thing for her. - -Fraulein won't tell you, so I do, that the three of us rode to the -Schloss in a hired coach, because Uncle Majesty was too mean to send a -carriage for us--and to think of what at home we always provide for his -twenty and more attendants and the fine time we give them! - -I see now why they are always so greedy in Essen. They never get such -meat and _vittel_ as we give them, in Berlin or Potsdam; they hardly -have enough peas in the husks and potatoes in the jackets. - -Gracious Lady can't imagine their meanness in the Schloss. I am told -there isn't enough linen to give Majesties a daily change. And how the -hundreds of menservants keep clean, with only two bathrooms, and hot -water which must be carried up four flights of stairs, I can't make out. -As to the maids, they don't. - -But the poor things can't help it; all they get is two marks fifty (half -a crown) a day for from twelve to sixteen hours' work, and not a cup of -coffee or a spoonful of soup in this fierce, cold weather. And think of -it, they don't get their wages weekly, as the law allows, but on the -third day of the month. The poor wretches haven't even got a place to -eat. - -I won't say a thing about Fraulein's rooms. - -Thought Gracious Lady would be pleased to know that I am looking after -the child, trying to keep her in good health, no matter what trouble and -expense, and I remain, with respects from Lena and Fritz, the Gracious -Lady's most obedient servant, - -MARTHA. - -P.S.--I had to send for towels to the car, for the ones given to -Fraulein were as hard as boards and there were only two, and the maids -said they would be changed every second day; and I beg the Gracious -Lady's pardon, but myself and Lenchen and Fritz were given two small -huckaback towels to last through the week, and a tin wash-bowl no larger -than those we feed the Great Dane out of at the villa, and no pitcher or -foot-tubs. What are we going to do? - -MARTHA. - - -_Letter from_ FRAU MARTHA to HERR L----, -_Superintendent of the Household, Villa Huegel_. - -BERLIN, SCHLOSS, _Christmas_. - -HONOURED HERR L----,--This Schloss is a big pigsty, excuse the hard -words, and I can tell Gracious Lady only half our troubles. There is no -bathroom for Fraulein, no running water--our poorest cottagers in Essen -are better off. It takes about half an hour to get a cupful of lukewarm -water from the kitchen, and the maid looks daggers if you don't tip up -the tin every time. - -If we could only get Fraulein's car into the courtyard (there is plenty -of room) and live in it, we would be all right, for Fraulein's meals I -could cook on the new-fangled kitchen range, which makes no smoke, and -she could have her bath regularly. - -Gracious Lady will have told you about Fraulein eating at Uncle -Majesty's table. What do I say--eating? Fraulein comes back every time -half dead of hunger. Bertha says it's the quick serving, but I had a -talk with the stewardess last night, and she told me things. The -allowances even for Majesty's table, she said, are cut so fine, there is -never enough for all, family, officials and guests; and, to cover up the -shortness, the courses are served quickly as if shot from the new -machine-gun I have heard Herr Franz talk about. Some of the guests get -skipped, others are given just a mouthful, and part of the food is -carried out again for the hungry wolves of lackeys. - -Mean, now, isn't it, Herr L----? But we, I mean Fraulein, has to put up -with it while here. As to grub allowed to Fritz, me and Lenchen, it's -sauerkraut and turnips and herrings and black bread; but we don't mind, -as we can buy outside. But I can't take Bertha into eating places, and -make up for what she goes short at the royal table; she has to live on -sandwiches and cake for the most part. Other arrangements as bad. I -would be ashamed to tell you of the servants' accommodations: -back-stairs, rotten-smelling oil lamps. We won't be comfortable until -we get back home once more. - -For Fraulein's bed I got the linen from our car, but as we took just -enough for a night's run and back you must send some more. I wanted to -save you the trouble, and asked the housekeeper to have some washed. -Not here, she said; too few in help, no extra tubs, no place to dry. -When I offered to pay for the soap, that seemed to tickle her immensely, -but she had to refuse in the end. - -Honoured Herr L----, tell the servants at the Villa they don't half know -how well they are off. I never did until coming across all this -high-sounding stop-a-hole-in-the-sieve business. - -You cannot imagine, worthy Mr. Superintendent, too, what funny things -there are too--the War Lord's dachshunds, for instance, all jaws and -stomach. They look like those yellow-skinned truffle Leberwursts held -up by Frankfurters, and--what do you think?--have been taught to snap -and nibble the calves of people of quality only. - -Mine they leave severely alone, thank God; but I told Fraulein not to -put on too many "lugs," lest they mistake her for a "von." - -Of course I can't swear to it, but they do say that "Uncle Majesty" has -a way, by a mere look, of setting the dachshunds on people he dislikes; -they must be as smart as Herr Director-General's French poodles, I -reckon. Anyhow, they seem to know when "Uncle Majesty" is cross with -someone and go for him. - -I heard you tell Herr Franz of meeting Count Posadownk in Bielefeld and -what a great man he was. And surely he is a man with a lot of -authority, but here no one is bigger than a ten-pin before "Uncle -Majesty." - -George, the chief _Jaeger_ who stands behind his chair at table and -knows everything and everybody, has become quite friendly-like with me. -Well, George says Count Posadownk "gets the War Lord's goat" every time -he reads those long-winded reports of his. But the War Lord must -listen, says George; "part of Majesty's business to hear the ministers' -gab." And listen he does--the Lord knows how he manages--but ten -minutes is his limit; after hearing someone else talk approaching a -quarter of an hour, he is "ready to explode," says George. - -By that time the Count is just warming up, and you would think nothing -short of an earthquake could stop him. But the dachshunds are as good -as the fire-spitting mountain we saw in Italy--or was it Switzerland? - -A wink from "Papa"--"raising or wagging an ear," says George--shows the -dachshunds that Posadownk ought to make himself scarce, and in a -twinkling they get ready for attack round the short clothes and silk -stockings. - -While the Count talks his head off, first one, then the other bowwow -sets up a dismal howl. Posadownk raises his voice, the dachshunds yelp -more loudly, and Majesty, pretending to call them off, makes the -hullabaloo worse still. - -Just the same the Count is crazy to finish, and the dachshunds go on -inspecting his legs. Maybe he gets in a good kick or two, but the -hounds are experts in pulling at silk stockings without drawing blood. -Once or twice his Excellency went away with stockings in ribbons. - -The same thing happened to others having business at the palace; the -wonder is that no one poisons the beasts. If they bit me--a dose of -something strong for them, you bet. - -Remember, nothing about Bertha-and-nothing-to-eat to Her Ladyship.--The -Herr Superintendent's very humble servant, - -MARTHA. - - - - - *CHAPTER X* - - *THE ENTANGLING OF ARCHDUKE FRANZ FERDINAND* - - - Discussing the Archduke--"Intoxicate with Promises"--A Look at - the Map--The War Lord's Miscalculation - - -"What do you think of number one?" asked the War Lord, when the door had -closed upon Bertha at the old Chancellor's Palace. - -The diplomat performing the duties of deputy-head of the Empire is tall, -inclined to corpulence, grey moustached and bright eyed. He knocked his -heels together like a recruit trembling before the drill-ground bully. -"Majesty refers to Fraulein Krupp?" - -"Quite correct." - -"She has the benefit of Majesty's personal guidance--there's no more to -be said," declared von Buelow, with conviction. "But who may number two -be?" - -"Not quite the figurehead of number one. I refer to the gentleman coming -to see you." - -"The Archduke? I was going to beg your Majesty for instructions -concerning His Imperial Highness." - -"Plain Franz Este, if you please; his incognito must be taken very -literally." - -"At your Majesty's orders." - -"He is number two," emphasised Wilhelm; and while pretending to look out -of the window replaced his left hand, which had slipped, upon the hilt -of his sword. Then, fully accoutred, he resumed: "Number one furnishes -my arms-- - -"And those of the world," put in the Chancellor. - -"That's where you and _all_ of you are mistaken. _My_ gun works arming -_my_ enemies? As intimated, number one helps to _dis_arm my enemies." - -When he saw blank amazement on the Chancellor's countenance, he added: -"Don't ask how, for in this case purpose sanctifies the means. Number -one, then, is my right arm, while number two I intend to make one of my -men-at-arms." - -Another pause for effect. - -"I am all ears, Your Majesty," said von Buelow. - -"Well, then, bear this in mind: Franz Ferdinand has to be indulged -despite his marriage to the little school marm. He is a fool, of -course. Well, the Chotek being an encumbrance to Franz Ferdinand, we -must make her into a quarry for our own good. What do you think?" - -"I am afraid I lack capacity to follow the trend of Your Majesty's grand -ideas this morning," replied the Chancellor, remembering that he had -been chosen, not to think, but to carry out orders. - -"Well, as you know, I persuaded Francis Joseph to wink at the Chotek -indiscretion. The decree elevating the ex-governess, and making her -brats of princely estate, ought to have been dated from Berlin instead -of Ischl, for it was I who placed that plum in Her Ladyship's pie, the -Olympian Emperor notwithstanding. Hence Prince Hohenberg--for Franz -Ferdinand is more or less his wife's husband--is beholden to me for such -recognition as his marriage received, and Sophie will not let him forget -it either. Accordingly, I call him 'number two' in my combination." - -"If the children of this union----" - -"_Dis_union," interrupted the War Lord, applauding his irony with a loud -guffaw. - -"Disunion," von Buelow obediently repeated, "lay claims to the throne, -is it Your Majesty's intention to support them?" - -"All Archdukes look alike to me," replied the War Lord with fine -disdain; "all fools, bigots, or both. Rudolph was an exception. At all -events, it is to our interest to give Herr von Este to understand that, -if he is determined to make Sophie both Empress of Austria and Queen of -Hungary, Germany will support his mad scheme." - -"Your Majesty thinks Hungary will accept her as Queen?" - -"She has to, for a morganatic marriage is a real marriage according to -Hungarian law." - -"Which suggests the possibility of grave internal dissensions," said the -Chancellor. - -"Quite so; to Pan-Germanism this little governess is worth five army -corps. If her marriage causes a split in the Dual Monarchy, why, we -will annex German Austria and leave the Hungarians to die, if they -choose, '_pro Regi nostro, Sophia_.' But that's quite a long way off. -What concerns us at present is getting solid with that chap. I know -what you want to say: A brute, a beast. But so long as the Chotek is -satisfied, I am." - -The latter in response to an indication on von Buelow's part that he -meant to put in a word or two. - -"When I come to think of it," continued the War Lord, "neither -Alexander, nor Charlemagne, nor Napoleon were what you call gentlemen -overflowing with the milk of human kindness. As I see it now--my plans -are not quite matured, of course--but this is certainly beyond question -or dispute: As my ally in the conquest of the world, a namby-pamby -partner would be of confounded little use. Besides, for sentiment I -have Victor--darling fellow!" - -Saying this, the War Lord gripped his sword so hard that the point of -the scabbard threw a statuette of the King of Italy off an _etagere_, -smashing it. - -"There he goes," he sneered, kicking at the broken china; "uncertain -commodities at best, these Dagos. Always fishing outside the three-mile -limit, and everlastingly ogling with England and France." - -"Majesty is pleased to under-estimate King Victor's devotion to German -interests," ventured von Buelow warmly. - -"When you were in Rome you used to sing a different tune," said the War -Lord severely. "But _revenons a nos moutons_: Franz Este is a bit of a -mutton thief himself"--Wilhelm laughed heartily at his quibble--"very -fond of Hungary and Bohemia. We must intoxicate him with the promise of -great things to be accomplished by the union of German -arms--German-Austrian, of course." - -"May I remind Your Majesty that Franz is rather a fanatic in religious -matters?" suggested the Chancellor. - -"I was coming to that," snarled the War Lord--it simply maddens Wilhelm -to find that someone, beside himself, has an idea in his head. Whether -the religious aspect had occurred to him before we don't know, but he -pounced upon it with vulture-like gusto, adopting it _in toto_ as it -were. - -"You will say to him: 'Brothers in arms and in faith--the Protestant and -the Catholic Church, or the Catholic and the Protestant,' I don't care. -Remind him that Prussia offered the Pope an asylum before the invasion -of Rome by the Italians. - -"Yes," he continued, "curse the Italians as much as you like; promise -him Venice and the Balkans up to the gates of Constantinople." - -The War Lord pressed a button underneath a large table fronting the -Chancellor's desk, whereupon the mahogany top disappeared and another -marked off in geographical divisions, representing the map of Europe and -part of Asia, replaced it--the _Kriegsspiel_; Europe in battle-array. - -The _Kriegsspiel_--War Game--shows the military strength of each country -in plain, movable figures, horse, foot and artillery, navy and -aircraft--the figures liable to correction from time to time; the exact -location of the forces is apparent at a glance too. - -The same applies to fortresses, letters designating the origin of the -artillery equipment. - -Above each country wave its colours in the shape of a tiny silk flag, -fastened to bead-headed pins, easy to stick in anywhere. - -The War Lord pulled out a drawer and took a handful of German flags, but -before using any a new thought struck him. - -"Send for Kast," he commanded curtly. - -Adjutant Baron Kast appeared as if catapulted into the room. - -"I forget the lettering combination--I want 'k' for Belgium. You are -sure the other equipments are marked according to latest reports." - -"At Your Majesty's service." - -The adjutant fixed the 'k' as required and stood at attention. - -"I will call in case I need you further." - -The officer was drawing backwards towards the door when the War Lord -stopped him. - -"One second. I want a cross fixed to letter 'k.'" - -Kast, a martinet without ideas of his own, a mere _mannequin_ moving on -the strings of discipline, looked blank astonishment. - -"If it can't be done, send for the mechanic; he shall fix the new -combination overnight." - -"May I try, Your Majesty?" - -Kast succeeded in quick order. - -"Why did you hesitate, if it's so easy?" demanded the War Lord. - -"With Your Majesty's permission, I was wondering whether it was your -pleasure to have a cross placed against all the 'k's' on the map." - -The War Lord looked at von Buelow, who dismissed Kast by a look. - -"Out of the mouths of fools and sucklings," misquoted Wilhelm under his -breath, while a cruel sneer played about his lips. Then, to the -Chancellor, aloud: "Inborn stupidity or low cunning?"--referring to -Kast. - -"The first, Your Majesty, the first. Your Majesty will agree, when I -say that I myself do not see the significance of the cross." - -"You will--in time," said the War Lord brusquely. "But to continue." - -He took a German flag and placed it on the spot marked Rome. "The Holy -Roman Empire of German nationality," he said. - -"Which Voltaire designated as neither holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire," -remarked von Buelow drily. - -"Time's passed, time was, time is," quoted the War Lord, "or rather will -be." For awhile he remained in silent reverie, then turned upon the -Chancellor suddenly. "You asked the other day how to mark the English -Channel. _Gott!_ it's worth five million men to Edward. No, don't mark -it at all; for if the distance between Calais and Dover can be bridged -only half-way by our guns--no impossibility, you know--that strip of -water won't amount to more than a few army corps." - -Again the War Lord remained in deep thought. "Noah's ark," he demanded -after a while. - -The Chancellor pulled out a drawer at the side of the _Kriegsspiel_ -table. "At Your Majesty's service." The War Lord picked figure after -figure, dropping them on the floor, until he got hold of a small white -object. - -He held it between two fingers, eyeing it curiously; then moved it -deliberately across the Channel, holding it aloft, and planted it on the -spot marked "London." - -"The Dove of Peace," he said; "for in London we will dictate peace to -the world. Tell Franz." - - - - - *CHAPTER XI* - - *THE CROWN PRINCE ON A LARK* - - - A Gallop with the Crown Prince--On the Way to Surprise - - - _Letter of_ BERTHA KRUPP _to_ FRANZ. - -BERLIN, SCHLOSS. - -DEAR FRANZ,--When I promised to write, I expected to put a school-girl's -ability at composition to the test, being half afraid that my -description of Berlin and the Court might not pass muster with so severe -a critic as my dear half-brother. But something has happened that makes -living in the shadow of the throne and royal intimacies and reviews and -State balls, even the Grand Council of the Knights of the Black Eagle, -look insignificant. - -Listen! Yesterday after luncheon the Crown Prince came to me with a -mysterious air. "Bertha," he said, for he is quite familiar, "you look -like a good, sporty girl; let's fool those fogies, and have a lark all -by ourselves." - -You may be sure, Franz, I was frightened, and looked it I suppose, for -he added quickly: "Upon my word as an officer, your Mamma may know about -it." And then he unfolded his plan. - -"I am tired to death of the baggage that attends our rides, watching -with as many eyes as a centipede has feet; this afternoon I will lend -you one of my swift English hunters, and I will ride Circe, a devil of a -horse that can outdistance father's Extase any day. Flottwitz--you know -he is Master of Horse--promised to give the others the slowest plugs in -the stables, and we will humour their dog-trot as long as the public -gaze is upon us. But once beyond the dear public's reach, off we are, -rein and spur. Don't be afraid; the grooms, too, will be mounted on -grandmothers; they won't catch us." - -I felt quite relieved. "It will be jolly," I said. - -The Crown Prince laughed immoderately. "What a little innocent you are," -he cried; "running away is only the beginning. As soon as we are out of -sight, we will turn and gallop to Castle Bellevue. There we will -dismount, and I will punt you across the river. It is but a stone's -throw to the gipsy's cottage, and that is where I will take you." - -I became apprehensive again. "I am afraid of gipsies," I faltered. - -"Afraid in _my_ company?" cried Wilhelm. "I forbid you to be afraid of -the very devil when I am around. I am your cavalier," he added; "you -must do as I tell you." Then his tone became coaxing again. "Don't you -like to have your fortune told, Bertha? She is a 'bird at it'--makes -your flesh creep and all that sort of thing." - -"But does Auntie Majesty approve?" - -"Bother, Mother; I am not under her thumb," he answered, and I thought -it very horrid of him. - -Well, Franz, everything came off according to programme. For a young -girl from Essen to ride down The Linden with the Crown Prince, masters -of horse, maids of honour, chasseurs and grooms is lots of fun, and I -don't know that I ever enjoyed anything so much as the throngs of people -in the streets and on the sidewalk cheering and waving hats and -handkerchiefs. But, of course, they thought me a Royal Highness or some -sort of princess, the very least. - -"Can't you ride astride?" whispered the Crown Prince as we passed -through the semi-shadows of the Brandenburger Thor. - -"What is that?" I asked, and somehow got the feeling that his question -was not the correct thing. So I touched my horse with the spur and -cantered away. Wilhelm joined me quickly. "Dog-trot now," he said, and -we jogged along like Herr Director-General's family on their old brown -mares. - -After passing Castle Bellevue, promenaders became few and far between, -and then the long-legged hunters increased the distance between -ourselves and the rest of the party very considerably. Suddenly -Wilhelm--he asked me to call him by his first name, but I always prefix -his title--whispered: "Now, _ventre a terre_." Setting the example he -jumped a hedge, I after him--a fine race we ran for the next ten -minutes. - -Then back to Bellevue. We galloped right through to the water's edge, -and were half across the river before the stablemen had caught the -horses. - -_Lieber_ Franz, you must excuse; I can't write a word more. Too tired -and too excited. So good night for to-night and pleasant -dreams.--Always your good sister, - -BERTHA. - - - - - *CHAPTER XII* - - *THE FORTUNE TELLER SEES BERTHA IN A HAZE - OF BLOOD* - - Mother Zara Speaks--Ghosts of Infamy--What the Blackbird - Foretold--The Crown Prince Stands Aloof - - - BERTHA _to_ FRANZ. - -DEAR FRANZ,--The gipsy Wilhelm and I visited is not at all like the ones -that occasionally come to Essen at fair-time or by way of caravans. You -know we always thought them impostors and, small doubt, they were, for -the same yarn had to do for everybody: the tall, dark man, that would -come into one's life, was conjured up even for little Barbara at the -rate of ten _pfennigs_. - -Mother Zara is a hundred years old if she is a day; a face the colour of -an old green-back American bank-note crumpled up--thousand and one -crow's-feet to the inch. Dress: rusty black silk, edged with moth-eaten -sable; sugar-loaf hat, filigreed with zodiacal signs; white mice -following her wherever she goes. - -This much I observed while waiting. She was in an adjoining room and, -as I observed through the glass door, in no hurry to meet her visitors, -even though the servant had recognised the young master of Bellevue -Castle. - -Meanwhile the Crown Prince was walking up and down, smacking his high -boots with the riding-whip. I believe he was looking for a mirror--vain -boy--and was furious at not finding one. Young Wilhelm affects to be as -nervous and impatient as Uncle Majesty, and won't sit down a second if -there is room to move about. - -At last the door opened and the stooping figure of the clairvoyante -appeared on the threshold, a blackbird perching on her left shoulder and -half a dozen white mice circling round her feet, or riding on the train -of her dress. - -"Mother Zara," cried Wilhelm advancing, "I brought my cousin----" - -She shut him up with an imperious gesture. "Hold your tongue, young -braggart, for this is serious business." - -She spoke in a high-pitched, authoritative voice, and I tell you, Franz, -I was all a-tremble when Zara fixed her eyes upon me--eyes that looked -you through, like the eyes of a sorceress you read about in the story -books. - -"What do I see?" she murmured to herself, drawing figures on the sanded -stone floor. - -"A deuced pretty girl," remarked the Crown Prince gallantly. - -The clairvoyante shook her stick at Wilhelm. "Leave us alone," she -cried; "I want no interference." - -When the door had closed Zara turned upon me like some wild thing, and I -tell you, Franz, I wished myself at our little bower at Villa Huegel, -playing dominoes with you or Mamma. - -"Who art thou?" she cried. "So young, so gentle, so kind of aspect, yet -I see thee in a haze of blood." - -She walked around me in a circle, dragging her terrible crutch, the mice -capering and vaulting. - -"I can't make it out," she kept mumbling; "looks the German, but here -men do the ruling, and her power for destruction---- Where does it come -in?" - -Of course I was too frightened to utter a word. I merely gazed upon my -tormenter and trembled. - -The soothsayer drew her garments around her bones and settled down on a -low stool before the hearth. With her crutch she stirred the ashes, -separating them from live coals and addressing each heap in turn as if -they were human beings. As I perceived with horror, poor me was the -subject of her monologue. - -"Keep to your hell-hole, Mother Toffana," she muttered, sending a -half-dead coal into the corner (I ought to tell you, Franz, that I have -been reading Alexandre Dumas of late, otherwise I wouldn't have -understood half the things she said). "Toffana, you are not in it with -this child," she continued. "And Joanna of Naples, husband-killer and -warrior, the number of men and women and children that died by you and -for you is nothing compared with the hosts she will send to slaughter." - -"Madame la Marquise de Brinvilliers," she said to a live coal, drawing -it nearer, "come and feast your eyes on this girl. You did your work -all right for undertakers, but were a pitiful slacker just the same." - -She rose and bowed ceremoniously. - -"Your Majesty," she mumbled, pointing with her crutch to a glowing -ember, one of several detached from the rest. "You once waged war for -seven years on a stretch, yet the number of Prussians you killed, added -to that of your own people that perished in battle and by disease, may -be expressed in six noughts. And," turning to other debris, "your -record, Catherine of Russia, is quite as inadequate as Maria Theresa's -compared with the prospects for manslaughter held out by this young -lady!" - -After an ominous silence: "Sheba, Elizabeth, Semiramis, aye, ye furies -of the White Terror who dined off Lamballe's liver, miserable failures -all of you----" She did not finish, but the end of her crutch continued -to poke fire and ashes, separating and piling up, moving and sweeping -along larger and again smaller quantities like figures on a chessboard. - -She seemed dissatisfied, and as the minutes passed, her speech, or -rather her mumbling, became more and more disconnected. Suddenly she -drew her stick across the piles, levelling the lot. "No use," she -cried, turning round and addressing me; "I can't get anything out of -them. Are they holding back, or is Zara losing her cunning? But I -_will_ know," she added fiercely. "Who art thou, girl?" - -I was speechless with fright, and all engrossed with her combinations as -Zara was, she scarce noticed my silence and lumbered on regardless. -Maybe, too, no reply was expected. - -"Not the War Lord's wife," she mused. "Augusta is the mother of many -children, they tell me, nor----." (I didn't catch the rest, it was a -jumble of mumblings.) - -After she became articulate again, I heard her say: "Oceans of blood -have been poured out. But what am I saying? She is only a child." - -Then out of her black silk mantle she drew a pack of cards, threw them -on the table, and, resting her right hand heavily on the crutch, studied -the pasteboards anxiously for a while. - -"Cursed mystery," she whispered. Then to the bird: "Jezebel, help!" - -The black thing hopped on the table and scattered the cards with his -feet. Then he picked up one with his beak and presented it to his -mistress. - -"A town in flames," said Zara after scrutiny. - -More cards offered by the bird! - -"A thousand baby-hands raised above the waves! - -"A tumbling cathedral! - -"Bodies piled mountain high! - -"Women, children and old men for breastworks! - -"A graveyard-ditch a hundred miles long! - -"Death lying in wait on the floor of the ocean! - -"Fire from the heavens," read Zara, and again and again her shrill voice -rang out, recording horrors even more dreadful. - -When the bird of ill-omen had offered the last pasteboard, Zara shook my -arms with a fierce gesture. "Fiend incarnate, thy name and station!" -she yelled. - -Probably Wilhelm had been listening. "How dare you touch Fraulein -Krupp," he demanded, as, running in, he stepped between me and the -sorceress. - -At the mentioning of my name, a look of triumph came into Zara's face. - -"My cards never lie, nor do the embers," she proclaimed. "The burning -towns, the wails of babies rendered fatherless by your works, the waste -of centuries of culture, the smoke, the fire, the calling upon all -resources of nature for the wholesale annihilation of life--five letters -cover it: K-R-U-P-P." - -The feelings setting my head awhirl must have been pictured in my face, -for eventually even this fury of wrath was moved to mercy; yet like the -spirit that ever denies, Zara's pity took a cruel turn. - -"Never fear," she said, with a profound curtsy; "it is written that the -oceans of blood you will help spill will not even soil the hem of your -dress. - -"A world in arms, every mother's son turned upon every other mother's -son, shooting, stabbing, bombing, suffocating. Cities laid waste, -countrysides desolated, brave men changed to vultures, honest men to -thieves--your work, Bertha Krupp! But the War Lady remains scathless! - -"Blood's a peculiar liquor--means death to those from whom it flows, and -profits to her that forges the bullets! - -"Chimborazos of dead bodies: fathers, brothers, nephews and uncles; -excellent manure, and your dividends, little girl, going up by leaps and -bounds! - -"Towns in ruins--_your_ ruins, Bertha, but they will have to be rebuilt. -More millions in your coffers! - -"Ten thousands of miles of railways destroyed. Look out for big orders, -Bertha! - -"The world groaning under unheard-of loads of debts--debts created that -Essen might flourish. Splendid opportunities for investment, eh?" - -She continued a while longer in the same cruel vein, her basilisk eyes -glued upon mine--I couldn't get away, try as I might--while Wilhelm, my -self-proclaimed cavalier, did naught to help me. Indeed, I had to endure -her abuse till Zara herself became tired of hurling invectives, and -turned upon the Crown Prince with: "Twenty marks, please. I have wasted -enough time." - -Then, like an imprisoned wild thing, seeing the open gate, I fled. - -Oh, Franz, what does it all mean? - -BERTHA. - - - - - *CHAPTER XIII* - - *"WE WILL DIVIDE THE WORLD BETWEEN US"* - - - Dazzling the War Lord--Bartering Kingdoms--Juggling with the - Church - - -Franz Este, masquerading for incognito purposes as Duc de Lorraine, was -a tall, closely-knit man, no more at home in mufti than a gorilla in -pyjamas. A bronzed face, disfigured by the Habsburg lip and an air of -disdain, one would have picked him out of thousands as a person to -avoid! - -His speech was a cross between a military command and the snarl of an -angry dog when addressed to persons beneath his rank, and against such -the physical advantages he boasted were ruthlessly exploited. Franz was -impervious to heat or cold, hence the officers of his household and his -servants had to endure both in the extreme without proper protection. - -"If the master can do without an overcoat, or wear a close-fitting -uniform when it is a hundred in the shade, why not you, menials?" - -He had a passion for drill and for slaughter. A day on the parade -ground, meddling with the mere outer film of things, seemed to him the -pinnacle of military achievements. He never stalked, or took risks in -the chase; the proud deer and the miserable hare alike were driven -before his gun in vast numbers that he might pump lead into them, -turning forest or plain into shambles. - -He went to visit their Prussian Majesties with the fixed intention of -dazzling the War Lord with a programme of petty regulations about -military customs and appearances to be introduced at his enthronement. -A slanting row of buttons was to be set in a straight line; another was -to be lopped off altogether. Yes, indeed, he was considering, too, a -new movement in the goose-step. And those Hungarians! They had little -respect for the essentials of military obedience; but, with His -Majesty's advisory help, he would pound it into them--yes, pound it! - -Gentle methods might do for women when they are decidedly pretty, but -not for the people as a whole, etc. - -Music to the War Lord, who feeds on regulations and petty tyrannies as a -boa constrictor--if the whole can't be masticated at a gulp, why, leave -the rest for another "try." - -Brothers in spirit and in arms! - -"Franz," said the War Lord after luncheon, enlivened by French champagne -with a German label--the Court Marshal's way of encouraging home -industry to the naked eye: German products only for German Imperial -palates, but beware lest a certain august taste be displeased! A bit of -unpatriotic deception, rather than face such an eventuality! - -"Franz," said the War Lord, after that fruitful and thought-quickening -luncheon, "some day we will divide the world between us--pope-kaisers -both of us." - -"Pope?" gasped Franz, his mind tugging at the Jesuit swaddling clothes -that he never really outgrew. - -"You know," insinuated the War Lord-tempter, "there is but one way to -re-establish rulership by divine right as on a rock of bronze: -impregnate it with sacerdotal authority. I am already Chief Bishop of -Prussia; the Lutheran popeship of the world is my game, as yours should -be the Roman Catholic popeship." - -"What about the Holy Father?" suggested the Jesuits, using Franz as a -speaking-tube. - -"Holy fiddlesticks," laughed the War Lord. "As one of the English Henrys -put it: 'I will be damned ere an Italian parson dictates to me in my own -realms.'" - -The War Lord bowed ceremoniously. "Hail thee, spiritual and mundane -lord--true Emperor of Slavs, Czechs, Magyars, Poles, Russians, Servians, -Bulgarians and Montenegrins." - -"But Italy--you promised me Italy," muttered Franz. - -"Correct, in exchange for German Austria!" said the War Lord. - -"Do I have to give up Vienna?" - -"Rome is a more celebrated place, and if it gets too hot in August, -Petersburg will make a splendid summer resort. There is Prague and -Budapest besides. I thought you liked the Hradschin?" he added gaily. - -When Franz still refrained from entering into the spirit of the -proposals, the War Lord opened a miniature safe on the top of his desk. - -"Have a 'genuine,' same as Edward smokes. Have to keep them in a -burglar-proof safe--those thieving lackeys, you know. You have the same -trouble at Bellevue" (the Austrian heir's Vienna town house) "I -suppose." - -"God punish the scoundrels--yes," replied the pious Franz, and, -accustomed to the cheap and nasty output of the Austrian tobacco -monopoly with its endless stogies, helped himself eagerly. - -"A mark apiece," boasted Wilhelm, like a Jew commenting on early -strawberries. - -"Italy being a sort of apanage to the Emperor of the Slavs"--more bowing -and scraping--"you wouldn't care to have a rival court on your hands, -would you? And that's what the Vatican will always be so long as it is -allowed to exist." - -"You would abolish it?" cried Franz, alarmed. - -"Not completely; I would retain the Holy Father as a sort of Christian -Sheikh-ul-Islam, yourself to be the real responsible head of the -Church." - -"The Pope is not a married man." - -"Alexander VI. was, and also some others. Besides, the Tsar whom you are -to succeed as orthodox pope never was a stickler for celibacy." - -"Orthodox pope?" echoed Franz, his Jesuit blood a-tingle. - -To his pietist understanding the mere mention of a rival Church was as a -red rag to a bull, and no one realised that condition of his mind more -fully than the War Lord. But would he allow the even tenor of these -_pourparlers_ to be disturbed by the conscientious scruples of the surly -individual smoking his _echte_? Not he! - -Conscientious scruples, indeed, and in world politics too! He had not -previously given the subject any thought, but on his desk lay a letter -marked: "On the Service of the Holy See"--a happy coincidence and a -suggestion. - -The papal _breve_ dealt with nothing more momentous than the shifting of -the protectorate over the Christians in Turkey, but the mysterious word -State-secret covers a multitude of lies. - -"My dear Franz," said the War Lord, weighing the Pope's letter in his -hand, "the problems you seem to approach with fears and trepidation are -fully treated in this document. However, without the Holy Father's -consent, I dare not reveal his intentions. But this much I can say on -my own responsibility: after we get through with Russia, there will be -no orthodox question. The orthodox Church will have to unite with the -Catholic----" - -The late Whistler would have loved to draw Franz's face while the future -Emperor of the Slavs listened with covetousness and fanaticism, the -zealot's ardour and the brute's vindictiveness written large in his -usually stony face. - -"Will have to make submission to Rome," he interrupted, pounding the -table. - -"As you like, King of Rome." To offset the Duke's holy fervour, the War -Lord affected a tone of calmness utterly at variance with his ideas. - -"The coming union of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches----" he -continued. - -"The absorption of the schismatic Church by the only true Church," -insisted Franz. - -"Will make it particularly important for you to have the office of -Pontifex Maximus in addition to that of Emperor and King," said the War -Lord. "I'll let Buelow talk details." - -"After consultation with my father confessor?" asked Franz anxiously. - -"Why not unfold our plans to a council of Archduchesses and the whole -priest-ridden pest?" cried the War Lord, momentarily forgetful of his -role. "I beg your pardon," he added quickly; "I was quoting Bismarck. -What I meant to say is: that our _pourparlers_ are strictly -confidential--not a word to any one, confessor, Francis Joseph, or the -Princess herself. I have your word as an officer?" - -Never was a word of honour more reluctantly forthcoming than that of the -prospective Emperor of the Slavs. - - - - - *CHAPTER XIV* - - *GETTING EVEN WITH THE WAR LORD* - - - The Hungarian Nero--The Episode of the Mouse - - -Emperor of the Slavs, King of Rome, Avenging Angel of the Schism and its -Grand Lord Destroyer--Pope even--though he had misgivings as to the -propriety of the latter title--what prospects for the son of the -degenerate Karl Ludwig--and the War Lord footing the bill! A -Protestant, true enough, but his friends, the Jesuits, held that the -purpose sanctifies means, whatever their character. - -How they would rejoice at the news! - -But his word as an officer! Pshaw! The War Lord calling himself -"all-wise," "all-seeing," etc., had been fooled for once by the -simple-minded Bohemian, for Franz's left hand was on his back when -_parole d'honneur_ was demanded, and he lost no time gripping his thumb -with the other fingers and pressing it hard. - -Mental reservation! That little matter was settled, and in most -approved style. _Honi soit qui mal y pense_. - -A while later Franz asked to be confessed. - -"Not while your soul is in the state of disgrace," pronounced Father -Bauer with impressive solemnity. - -Franz's bold front melted away like butter before a blast furnace. -"Pray confess me, your reverence!" he cried, terror all over his face. - -"After due reflection," was Bauer's niggardly consent. "Your Highness -will retire to the oratory now." - -And like a schoolboy ordered to bare his skin for a birching, the -Emperor of the Slavs--so proud, so adamant, so haughty before the -War-Lord--went into his bedroom, where his _prie-Dieu_ stood in front of -the miniature travelling altar that accompanied His Highness wherever he -went. - -In respect to absolute submission to the clergy, Franz rivalled Charles -and Ferdinand of Spain; he retained, too, the utmost respect for the -persons of the reverend gentlemen who dominated him by virtue of their -priestly office. - -On his part, Franz came from the oratory a much chastened Prince. Bauer -was waiting to hear Franz's report of his interview with the War -Lord--or as much of it as the heir thought well to divulge at the time -being, for the breach of faith he had been absolved beforehand. After -all, while Bauer had full charge of Franz's personal conscience, so to -speak, the real powers behind the proposed Slav throne was the Cardinal -Archbishop of Vienna, the Papal Legate and the Czech black aristocracy. - -The latter, indissolubly wedded to Franz's interest by his marriage with -the Chotek, was his chief support in the Dual Monarchy. Hungary had -labelled him Nero, the Germans regarded him as a renegade, while Trieste -and the Trentino suspected him of harbouring treachery against the -Motherland. - -That he was wedded to the idea of the restoration of the States of the -Church was a foregone conclusion, and the re-establishment of the -Austrian Archdukes--who forfeited their Italian thronelets under Victor -Emmanuel II.--would be the logical sequence. - -"Of course, there is the Triple Alliance," faltered Franz. - -"Not at all binding," decided Bauer, "since one of the signatories is -under the ban of the Church, and the other" (with a mock bow before a -painting of the War Lord) "a heretic." - -Franz reverently kissed the Jesuit's hand. "A relief, a priceless -relief of grave conscientious scruples," he said warmly. "Thank you, -Father Bauer." Then, giving his voice quite an Olympian intonation: "We -have no further commands for you to-night." - -Franz Este swore lustily when he discovered a red silk nightgown under -his pillow. After a Vienna haberdasher had told him that Alexander of -Servia had worn a night garment of this colour, he had banished them -from his wardrobe, intending to use the supply on hand for presents. - -Franz tugged viciously at the crystal knobs of the rococo chest of -drawers, pulling one to the ground and dislocating the handles of -others. "Confound it! All red, Alexander-red--red as blood!" - -An ill omen? A thorough fanatic, Franz was the most superstitious of -men. However, as subsequent events showed, in this case superstition -was the mother of horrors unparalleled. Alexander's fate had been -sealed eight months before, when the red-nightgowned King and his Queen -were slaughtered in their bedchamber; but somewhere among the Balkan -principalities the plot that eventually did away with Franz and his -Duchess might have been hatching even then--who knows? - -The taciturn, soured, cruel Franz forgot about the Alexander-hued -nightgown when he prepared to report the day's events to his wife, for -he loved Sophie. He used a small table at the foot of the big rococo -couch for a writing-desk, and as he sat there, facing the silvered -canopy with China silk curtains falling from a crown held aloft by -cupids, his face recalled the features of a French soldier who had been -condemned to death for a series of crimes, and who, to his judges and -fellow-men, had boasted of his utter lack of feelings. - -The soldier had never loved anyone, neither parents nor friends, neither -woman nor man, neither animal, nor money, nor precious things. He hated -them all, and his only aim in life was destruction. But when he lay in -the sands, bleeding from a dozen wounds, as ordered by the court -martial, a little mouse was seen to emerge from the sleeve of his tunic, -went capering up the prostrate form, and glued his nozzle to the man's -mouth. And with his last breath the apostle of hate kissed the tiny -rodent. - -Like the trooper, so Franz, the man who spurned a nation's love, was not -entirely barren of sentiment. He had a tender spot in his heart for -Sophie, even as Sophie, mouse-like, loved the man who made a point of -being hated. Human nature: even Nero loved Poppaea once. - - - - - *CHAPTER XV* - - *"AUNTIE MAJESTY" AND BERTHA* - - - A Royal "Commercial"--Blood and Benevolence - - -"My dear child," continued Auntie Majesty, "you ought to thank God on -your knees for permitting you those grand opportunities to do good." - -"I hope I am duly grateful, Auntie Majesty." - -"And, of course, next to God, it is your Uncle Majesty to whom you are -most indebted." - -Bertha curtsied with the readiness peculiar to German girls, whose left -knee seems always on the point of "knixing," which word signifies an -arrested attempt at kneeling. Since Napoleonic times kneeling before -royalty has gone out of fashion, even in Spain, where the Prime Minister -was formerly obliged to play chess with the King while down on his -knees, and woe to the excellency who attempted to sit on his haunches. - -Bertha assured Auntie Majesty how much she appreciated the War Lord's -efforts on behalf of the Krupp works. Her own father could not have -done more. Truly wonderful orders are coming in, the Herr -Director-General had informed her this very morning. East, west, north -and south--everybody seemed to want Krupp guns now. - -"All your Uncle Majesty's doings," insisted the "crowned auntie." "His -ambassadors and consuls in all parts of the world have orders to drum up -trade for you, and those that do not succeed pretty soon find themselves -A.D. (retired), they say." - -"I hope not!" cried Bertha, emphasising the last word. "I don't care -for people to lose their positions on my account, and will speak to -Uncle about it." - -To say that Her Majesty was amazed at the outburst is putting it mildly. -She had been given to understand that Bertha was tractability -personified, and here she was talking in "Majesty's" own vein, a thing -Augusta had never dreamt of doing in all the years of her married life. - -"Fraulein Krupp," she said very seriously, "shall have to report to your -mother what you have said." - -"Mamma has nothing to do with affairs of that sort. They rest entirely -with Uncle Majesty and myself!" said Bertha. - -What language, and to her! And from a mere child, too! Auntie Majesty -opened her mouth for a sharp rebuke, when she remembered what the War -Lord had said about a certain lady. - -"Vulgar," had been Her Majesty's estimate. - -"_Non olet_," corrected Wilhelm. "If her words are offensive, let the -jingle of her millions drown them; if she insists upon eating peas with -her knife--why, remember that Croesus ate with his fingers." - -And Count Wedell (Minister of the Royal House) had only recently told -her (with a thousand apologies, to be sure) that Bertha's income was -larger than the War Lord's. - -Besides, "Auntie Imperial" had promised a portion of Bertha's vast -income to "her God." She uses the personal pronoun in connection with -the Deity without blasphemous intention, of course, nor does she allow -herself to speculate on the War Lord's theory that the Hohenzollerns -control a god of their own, and that another god is keeping a benevolent -eye on Prussian baby-killers. - -Augusta Victoria decided, after reflection, to give the subject a turn -favouring her pious schemes. - -"Remember what the fathers of the Church have said: 'Women have no -voice'--they certainly should not meddle in administrative matters." -Her Majesty affected a smile. "Leave these to your guardian, and, when -at times his measures seem harsh or incomprehensible, acquiesce -nevertheless, for in the end it's results that count." - -The Queen of Prussia is a good woman at heart. She wouldn't hurt a fly, -but a million men put under the sod roused no squeamish sentiments; for, -of course, if the War Lord makes war, it is for God's greater glory, and -did he not tell the recruits the other day that it was inexpressibly -sweet to die for him? So let the million perish. - -Auntie Majesty was careful not to mix blood and iron with her arguments -in favour of gun-making and explosives. If Essen manufactured Nuremberg -toys or Munich honey cake, she could not have used more innocuous terms -referring to its death-dealing industry. At any rate, it must be kept -up--nay more, its output must be doubled and trebled to continue the -charities and works of benevolence inaugurated by the Krupp family on -the present grand scale and to extend them farther, as Bertha had -planned. - -It all sounded good to the young War Lady. With Zara's perturbing -admonitions still fresh in her mind, she welcomed justification of the -course mapped out by Uncle Majesty, and the conference closed to mutual -satisfaction. - -Augusta Victoria received the promise of an annual subscription of -50,000 marks for her church-building schemes, and Bertha that of Her -Majesty's hearty co-operation in Essen's social-work campaign. More -than that, Her Majesty would come to inspect Bertha's hospitals, -schools, old people's homes and asylums. - - - - - *CHAPTER XVI* - - *HOW FRANZ FERDINAND WAS FOOLED* - - - Vienna's Opinion of the Kaiser--Afternoon Tea for the War - Lord--Playing Up to Ferdinand--When Britain Slammed the - Door--The Archduke is Not Satisfied - - -"There goes our Lady of the Guns," whispered the War Lord to Franz Este, -as they stepped from the private gate into the palace yard, where their -entourage, already mounted, was awaiting their advent. - -"The Krupp heiress I heard about? You are her godfather, are you not?" - -"More!" - -Franz was so taken aback that he forgot for the moment to swing his -right leg, whereupon Umberto, objecting to such left-sided proceedings, -reared and would have thrown him, had not two energetic grooms pounced -upon the charger. - -"Be careful, it's Italy you are riding," chaffed Wilhelm, when the -cavalcade was safely under way. Quite a stately procession: masters of -horse in scarlet and gold; the adjutants on duty, outriders, grooms and -a platoon of gendarmes. - -"How so Italy?" queried Franz. - -"Victor Emmanuel's father used him on his several visits to Berlin, and -he has been reserved for heavy-weights like yourself ever since. A -wilful beast, even treacherous." - -"Hence well named," said Franz sententiously, at the same time locking -his thighs more closely. "As to the Krupp girl, what were you going to -say?" - -"First tell me what Vienna thinks of my connection with Krupp affairs." - -"You won't take offence?" - -"Not a bit." - -"And won't be annoyed even if it smacks of _lese-majeste_?" - -"Rot and nonsense. Go on." - -Franz drove his brute nearer to the War Lord's side. - -"They _do_ say," he whispered, "that you sort of kidnapped Bertha -against her mother's will, and are now conducting the business solely -with an eye to dividends." - -"They think me Leopold II.," quizzed the War Lord, alluding to the -business methods of the late King of the Belgians. "Excellent; a lie to -be encouraged! But as a matter of fact--_entre nous_, of course; -strictly _entre nous_--I acted upon the principle of _jus primae -noctis_. In olden times, when the vassal died, the liege lord assumed -charge of the property for the dead man's eldest son, presumably his -lordship's, which action forestalled wastage of the estate. As liege -lord of Prussia I deemed it my duty to prevent the disintegration of the -Fatherland's war machinery, and had myself appointed Bertha's guardian, -with full power to act. Of course, the Baroness does not like that; -neither did the vassal's widow cherish the idea of becoming a chattel." - -"And is she easily managed?" asked Franz, as he dealt the fractious -Umberto a vicious blow between the ears. - -"Not that fashion," replied the War Lord, when he had caught up with his -guest; "flattery is the thing with girls. That and a certain amount of -unctuousness, backed by divine right, I found quite an irresistible -combination." - -"You mean to say that you flatter where you can command?" asked Franz. - -"Certainly not," replied the War Lord, pulling himself up straight. "I -merely insinuate that my wishes with regard to the running of the plant -are her own; consequently, I do as I like at Essen." - -The War Lord raised his riding-whip in the direction of the Master of -the Horse, trotting behind, whereupon that functionary gave spur and -galloped ahead. Thirty seconds later the advance guard wheeled right -and left, drawing up at the sides of the avenue, and leaving a clear -space for Wilhelm and Franz. - -"May they enjoy the dust we are kicking up," laughed the War Lord, as -they pressed on. When, on their return to the palace, the General Staff -building was in sight, Wilhelm consulted his wristwatch. "Gottlieb's -tea hour," he said quite incidentally. "Suppose we stop and have a -cup!" - -He referred to Count Haeseler, sometimes called the German Galliffet, -though as a cavalry officer in active service his epaulettes never knew -more than two stars. However, subsequently he won much fame as an -administrator and organiser, and, by catering to the War Lord's love for -mounted rifles, dragoons, hussars and uhlans, enjoyed rapid and steady -advancement. Still, having a will of his own and small hesitation to -state it when goaded to opposition, he might never have achieved the -supreme honour of field marshalship had he not been in his youth the -favourite adjutant of the War Lord's "sanctified uncle," the Red Prince -Frederick Charles, father of the Duchess of Connaught. - -In the War Lord's opinion, Frederick Charles ranked next to his _Herr -Grossvater_ (Mister Grandfather), and whenever Wilhelm became too -insistent on some strategic madness of his own, Haeseler had but to say: -"That's one of the things His Royal Highness was most strenuously -opposed to," to cause the Imperial nephew to cave in. - -Of course, the meeting with Franz Este had been prearranged, but -Haeseler played the surprised to perfection: Too bad Imperial Highness -was incog.; otherwise he might run over to Posen to inspect his -regiment, the Tenth Hussars. He (Haeseler) had just had that pleasure. -_Schneidig, grossartig_ (cutting, immense), and Haeseler knocked his -heels together. "Horses, men, uniforms, drill, perfect as new-laid -eggs." - -"Hard boiled, I hope," said the War Lord; and all three shook with -laughter. - -"And what may my marshal have been doing?" asked the War Lord. - -"Reading up the testament of Frederick the Great." - -"Any relation to the testament of Peter the Great?" asked Franz -anxiously. - -"Imperial Highness is pleased to jest," replied Haeseler. "Peter the -Great's last will, so called, was an invention of Napoleon to justify -his making war on his friend Alexander, while the third Napoleon revived -the fraud for purposes of the Crimean campaign." - -In his surprise the War Lord, who knows history only as taught in -school, dropped a bit of marmalade on his white cloth tunic. - -"Unless you can prove these statements, you will have to pay for -cleaning this," he said, looking sharply at Haeseler. - -"May it please Your Majesty, I will consult the card index." The -marshal pulled out a drawer. "Here it is," he said: "'_Napoleon Auteur -du Testament de Pierre le Grand_,' and here is another volume: '_Les -Auteurs du Testament du Pierre le Grand_.'" - -"Authentic?" queried the War Lord. - -"Abundantly so. Shall I send these volumes to the Schloss?" - -"No; I have no time for reading _olle scharteken_" (ancient tomes). - -"In that case I'll want them," said Franz, who was of a studious nature. -"Have you got anything more on the subject?" - -"Only an essay printed in the _Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung_." - -"Send that too." The Bavarian town being a stronghold of Catholicism, -Franz evidently concluded that anything printed there was akin to -gospel. - -"But you referred to the testament of Frederick the Great." The War -Lord's voice betrayed impatience, and Haeseler made haste to explain, -i.e. repeat his lesson, as it were. - -"May it please Your Majesty and His Imperial Highness." - -"'Herr von Este,' if you please," interrupted Franz. - -"Herr von Este," repeated the marshal obediently, bowing low, "the most -precious inheritance come to us from the hero of the Seven Years' War is -his admonition that Prussia must correct her coast line. He had -intended doing so himself, but time and opportunity were unfavourable, -and so his plans for blazing a road to the oceans are awaiting our -initiative. By grasping it we will carry out the last will of Frederick -the Great." - -"And what were his late Majesty's plans?" asked Franz. - -"To move Prussian mile-posts up to the Channel and ocean, to plant -ourselves in the sea area between the English, French and Belgian -coasts, the waters through which most of the world's trade must pass," -cried Haeseler enthusiastically. - -"But that would mean annexation of Belgium and Holland," demanded Franz. - -Count Haeseler, having instructions not to answer questions of that -kind, bent over a series of maps illustrating the history of Frederick -the Second, while the War Lord, disregarding the question, commanded -curtly: "The strategic points, please." - -Count Haeseler traced them at the end of a blue pencil: - -"King Frederick planned a quick march from the Rhine through Belgium, -forcing Liege, then the capital of an ecclesiastical principality, and -pouncing upon Nieuport on the North Sea. Next, he intended to attack -Dunkirk and Gravelines. Then to Calais. His final objective point was -Paris, of course." - -"Never heard of such a plan," said Franz. - -"Because at Frederick's time these territories were an apanage of the -Habsburgs," volunteered the War Lord. "Proceed, Haeseler." - -"I can only reassert what I have submitted to Your Majesty more than -once--namely, that King Frederick's plan is as sound to-day as at the -time----" - -"When Prussia presented England with Canada and made secure her Empire -in India," interrupted the War Lord. "And isn't she grateful for the -inestimable services rendered by us with a generous heart?" he -continued, warming his thighs and his wrath at the gas logs. "Won't -allow us to acquire coaling stations in any part of the world. Shuts -the door in our face in Africa, Asia and America, and supports with -treasure and blood, if necessary, any scheme intended to impede -Germany's progress, territorially and economically. - -"We depend for our very life on foreign trade, yet England would -restrict us to the Baltic and a few yards of North Sea coast. - -"Franz," he cried, rising and holding out his hand, "I will turn the -Adriatic into an inland lake for the Emperor of the Slavs if you will -help me secure the French Channel coast line, the north-eastern -districts and the continental shores of the Straits of Dover. Is it a -bargain?" - -Franz, too, had risen, and was about to clasp the War Lord's hand when -his eye lit upon the field-marshal. "You bound me to secrecy," he said -doggedly, "yet our private pourparlers seem to be property of your -General Staff." - -"The heads of my General Staff know as much as I want them to, Herr von -Este, no more, no less," replied the War Lord in a strident voice. Then, -in less serious mood: "Come, now, the _Kapellmeister_ does not play -_all_ the instruments, does he? and don't you think I have more -important things to do than worry over charts and maps and figures. -That is _his_ work," inclining his head toward the field-marshal. - -When Franz the Sullen still withheld acquiescence the War Lord continued -in a bantering tone: "He is preparing the way, is Haeseler. While at -Strassburg and neighbourhood, take a look at his sixteenth army corps, -kneaded and knocked into invincibility by him. If there is a superior -war machine, then our Bluecher was beaten at Waterloo. Let his boys -once get across the French frontier--they will never again leave La -Belle France. Haeseler catechism!" - -And more in the same boastful martinet vein, winding up with the promise -of sending to the Austrian heir _de luxe_ editions of Haeseler's -contributions to the General Staff history of the Franco-German War and -of his technical writings on cavalry exercises and war discipline--a -sure way of pleasing Franz. Yet it was patent enough that the Jesuit -disciple was only half mollified. Desperate means were in order! - -"I tell you what"--the War Lord dropped his voice--"I will lend you -Haeseler for a fortnight or a month. Invite him to Konopischt" (the -Austrian heir's Hungarian seat) "and find out everything. What he -doesn't know about horse, foot and artillery, especially horse, is not -worth knowing." - -At last Franz's face lit up. "I'll take you at your word," he said -warmly. - -Franz's thirst for military knowledge was insatiable. He had read most -of the books, ancient and modern, on the science of war; had consulted -all living army leaders of the day; was, of course, in constant -communication with his own General Staff; and knew the methods of the -Austrian, Russian, German and Spanish cavalry, both by practice and -observation, since he took his honorary proprietorship of the Bavarian -Heavy Troopers, the Saxon Lancers, the Russian 26th Dragoons and the -Spanish Mounted Chasseurs very seriously. But to have Haeseler for -private mentor and adviser, to be hand and glove with the premier -cavalry expert of the world, at one time apprentice of Frederick -Charles, the Red Prince, was indeed a priceless privilege. - -"Will you come?" he asked Haeseler. - -"Oh yes, he is coming, don't you worry," cried the War Lord, even before -Haeseler finished the phrase: "At your Imperial Highness's command." - -"His Excellency shall demonstrate to me that the offensive partnership -you propose will be to mutual advantage," said Franz quickly, to -forestall possible further arguments on the exchange of the Italian -Adriatic for the French-Belgian-Dutch Channel coasts. - - - - - *CHAPTER XVII* - - *DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND* - - - The War Lord's Secret Staircase--Some Outspoken Opinions--Royal - Fisticuffs--Otto of Bavaria--A Secret Service Man--More Dreams - - -The reports of two meetings between exalted personages, held on the eve -of the day memorable for the conference at the General Staff building, -would furnish a clever editor with "deadly parallels" of vast interest. - -_Dramatis personae_ of one meeting: The War Lord and Buelow. Scene: The -library of the Frederick Leopold Palace, nearly opposite the -Chancellory. - -Meeting number two: Franz von Este and Lorenz Schlauch, Cardinal -Archbishop of Gross Wardein, Hungary. Scene: A private parlour in the -Hotel de Rome, near the Schloss. - -The pall of secrecy hung over both trysting places. Cardinal Schlauch, -of his Hungarian Majesty's most obnoxious Opposition, would have lost -caste with his followers if seen with the "Habsburg Nero," and the -latter would have had a strenuous _quart d'heure_ with Francis Joseph -had "Uncle" known of his intimacy with Schlauch. Hence the room at the -hotel, and Adolph Muehling, guard of honour, outside the door. - -Why press the old proprietor into service, when a word to the Commandant -of Berlin would have brought sentinels galore? - -Because Count Udo von Wedell, head of the German Secret Service, -occasionally unloads a uniformed stenographer on an unsuspecting, but -suspected, visitor to Berlin; and, Udo failing, Captain von Tappken, his -right-hand man, might be tempted to do so. Spy mistrusts spy, you know. - -On his part the War Lord was as anxious to keep his conference with -Buelow from Franz, as Este was to invent excuses for wishing a night -free from social duties or official business. Accordingly Wilhelm had -twice changed the programme. - -His first idea was to receive Buelow at the Schloss. No; Franz might -hear of it. His valet (Father Bauer) was singularly well supplied with -money, and royal lackeys (confound them!) prefer _trinkgeld_ to medals, -even. Again, he might drive to the Wilhelmstrasse himself, if it were -not for those penny-a-liners at the Kaiserhof, a whole contingent of -them, bent on getting coin out of nothing. Already vague hints at an -incognito royal visitor had appeared in one or two gutter journals. - -"Augustus tells me that Frederick Leopold had his Berlin house -thoroughly overhauled. Nothing unusual about inspecting the renovated -lair of the Prussian Croesus?" suggested Prince Phili Eulenburg. He -referred, of course, to the Grand Master of Ceremony and the Lord of -Klein-Glenicke, the War Lord's cousin and brother-in-law. - -"By Jove, you are almost too smart for an ambassador, Phili," cried -Majesty; "you deserve a wider field, the Wilhelmstrasse or the -Governorship of Klein-Popo should be yours. Meanwhile, and until one of -those posts becomes vacant, 'phone Buelow to meet me in Leopold's -library at nine sharp. Moltke shall send six men of the First Guards to -investigate garden and all, and they will remain for corridor duty. -Augustus, of course, must communicate with Leopold's _maitre d'hotel_." - -At 8.55 P.M. the War Lord, in mufti, fur collar of his great-coat -hugging the tops of his ears, slipped down the secret staircase leading -from his apartments to a side door, and into Count von Wedell's quiet -coupe. The Secret Service man who acted as groom had mapped out a -circuitous route, avoiding the Linden and Charlottenstrasse. - -When the carriage passed the Kaiserhof the War Lord could not resist the -temptation to bend forward. "Udo," he said, "are you not ashamed of -yourself, robbing these poor devils at the journalists' table? If they -knew how I am suffering in your springless cab--oh, but it does -hurt!--it would mean at least ten marks in their pocket." - -"Confound their impudence," said Count von Wedell. "But Your Majesty's -criticism of the coupe is most a propos--just in time to insert the item -for a new one in the appropriation." - -"The devil!" cried the War Lord. "I thought this ramshackle chariot -your personal property." - -Wilhelm likes to spend other people's money, but with State funds it is -different, for every _pfennig_ spent for administration reduces the -total His Majesty "acquires." - -True, Prussia spells despotism tempered by Parliament, but her kings can -never forget the good old times when appropriations for the Court were -only limited by the State's utmost resources. - -"My own!" gasped Wedell. "Would I dare worry Your Majesty's sacred -bones in an ark like this?" - -The carriage entered the palace stableyard, the gates of which opened -noiselessly in obedience to a significant crack of the whip. - -Sentinels posted inside and out, civil service men in frock-coats and -top-hats, who muttered numbers to their chief, replying in kind! - -"Everything all right, Buelow upstairs," whispered Udo in Russian. He -went ahead of the War Lord through lines of his men, posted at intervals -of three paces in the courtyard and at the entrance. The vestibule was -splendid with electric light for the first time in the history of the -old palace. - -As the suspicious War Lord observed, Marshal Augustus had been busy -indeed. Heavy portieres everywhere, over doors, windows, and -_oeils-de-boeuf_; to passers-by the Leopold Palace was as dead and -forlorn as during the past several years. - -Up the newly carpeted grand stairway the War Lord rushed. The smiling -Buelow stood at the library door. Wilhelm merely extended his hand; he -was too full of his subject to reply to Buelow's respectful greetings -and inquiries after his health. - -"Wedell will stay," he said, "for our talk will concern his department -no less than yours." - -Buelow had arranged arm-chairs about the blazing fireplace, but the War -Lord was in no mood to sit down. - -"Here's a devil of a mess," he said, "just discovered it in time. That -confounded Este is too much of a blackleg to be trusted." - -"Too deeply steeped in clericalism," suggested Buelow. - -"That and Jesuitism, Romanism, Papism and every other sableism. Found -him out in our first confab, and to-day's meeting with Haeseler -confirmed it. He will never consent to a Roman Empire of German -nationality. Wants all Italy for himself and Rome for his Church. -Intolerable!" cried the War Lord, as he strode up and down. "Twenty -marks if Otto were in his place." - -The War Lord's joke drew tears of appreciative hilarity from the -obsequious eyes of the two courtier-politicians. - -"Your Majesty's remark reminds me of a patriotic speech made by the -Prince of Bueckeberg at the beginning of the railway age: 'We must have -a railway in Lippe, even if it costs five thousand thalers,' said His -Transparency, amid thunderous applause." - -This from the Chancellor, who, like Talleyrand, delights in quotations -and has a knack of introducing other people's witty, or stupid, sayings -when desiring to remain uncommittal on his own part. In this instance -he would rather exhaust Bartlett and his German confrere Hertslet than -discuss that Prince of _mauvais sujets_, Otto of Austria. - -At the time of the discussion (it was in 1903--three years before the -royal degenerate died) the father of the present heir to the Dual -Monarchy was on the apex of his ill-fame. - -He beat his wife and his creditors, he disgraced his rank, his manhood, -and, though thirty-eight years of age, was frightened from committing -the worst excesses at home only by the threat of corporal punishment at -the hands of his uncle, the Emperor. For Francis Joseph, most Olympian -of monarchs, according to the upholders of Spanish etiquette at the -Hofburg, is very apt indeed to give a good imitation of the petty -household tyrant when roused. For this reason, probably, his late -consort, the Empress Elisabeth, used to liken him to a cobbler. - -Francis Joseph's most recent fistic exploit at Otto's expense was still, -at that time, the talk of the European Courts. It appears that His -Imperial Highness, at dinner with boon companions, had emptied a dish of -spinach over the head of uncle's marble statue, and prolonged the fun by -firing over-ripe tomatoes, pimentos, spaghetti and other dainties at the -already abundantly decorated effigy. - -When finally he ordered Count Salm, his Court marshal, to send for a -"mandel"--fifteen pieces--of ancient eggs to vary the bombardment, Salm -refusing, of course, he assaulted the Excellency, sword in hand, and a -general medley ensued, in which considerable blue blood was spilt. No -lives lost, yet the innocent bit of _passe-temps_ brought the Emperor's -fist and cane into play again. - -But our mutton is getting cold. - -"Unfortunately," said von Buelow, "Franz Ferdinand is a particularly -healthy specimen of humanity." - -"And even should he die like a Balkan royalty----" suggested von Wedell. - -"I thought you had been unable definitely to trace Russia's fine Italian -hand in the Belgrade murders?" demanded the War Lord sharply. - -"For which many thanks," murmured Buelow. - -"With Your Majesty's permission, I referred to the older generation of -Balkan assassins," said Udo. - -"Well, let it pass, Monsieur le Duc d'Otrante." The War Lord frequently -addressed his Minister of Police by Fouche's title, while commenting -upon Napoleon's bad taste in raising that functionary to so high an -estate. "After all," he used to say, "he was nothing but a spy, and as -treacherous as the Corsican himself." - -This, it will be observed, came with peculiar ill grace from Wilhelm, -who, like the first Emperor of the French, demeaned himself to direct -personally his Secret Service, and to associate with the cashiered army -officers, _agents provocateurs_, etc., of this branch of government. - -"What if Otto, as Emperor of the Slavs, sets up a claim for all Poland, -Your Majesty's with the rest?" Buelow had asked. - -"I would rather see my sixty millions of people dead on the battle-field -than give up an inch of ground gained by Frederick the Great and the -rest of my ancestors!" cried the War Lord, as if he were haranguing a -mob. "Besides, why should Otto, more than Franz, covet my patrimony?" - -"Because of his relationship with the Saxon Court through her Imperial -Highness Josepha." - -"Pipe-dreams----" snarled the War Lord contemptuously. Then, seeing -Buelow redden, he added: "On Otto's part, I mean." - -"I beg Majesty's pardon--not entirely," quoth Wedell. "Dresden is still -making sheep's eyes at Warsaw, and when Your Majesty spoke about a grand -Imperial palace to be built in Posen, King George remarked: 'Suits me to -the ground. I hope he'll make it after the kind American -multimillionaires boast of.' This on the authority of a Saxon noble -whose family established itself in the kingdom long before Albert the -Bold." - -"Children and disgruntled aristocrats tell the truth," commented the War -Lord; "sometimes, at least," he added after a while. Then suddenly -facing Buelow, he continued in an angry tone: "That black baggage, -wherever one turns. Unless there be a Lutheran Pope, Monsieur l'Abee de -Rome will try and catholicise Prussia, even as Benedict XIV. tried to do -through Maria Theresa." - -"It was another Benedict, was it not, who offered public prayers that -Heaven be graciously pleased to foment quarrels between the heretic -Powers?" suggested Buelow, pulling a volume on historic dates from the -shelf as if to verify his authority. - -"What of it?" demanded the War Lord impatiently. - -"One of the heretic Powers prayed against was England, Your Majesty." - -"And you want to insinuate that I must pocket all the insults Edward may -find it expedient to heap upon me?" - -"Nothing is farther from my mind, of course. I merely meant to point to -the historic fact that the Catholics always pool their interests, always -fight back to back, while the disunity and open rivalries among -non-Catholic Powers----" - -"I know the litany," interrupted the War Lord rudely; "but let's return -to Este. What do you intend to do with that chap?" - -"Make him work for us tooth and nail," said Buelow, "and as for any -extra dances with the Saxon or His Holiness--well, Udo will keep an eye -on him. From this hour on he must be kept under constant observation, -whether at home or abroad, in his family circle or the army mess, at -manoeuvre or the chase, at the Hradschin or at Konopischt." - -The War Lord, visibly impressed, laid his massive right hand on Count -von Wedell's shoulder. - -"Where is Este now?" looking at the clock. - -"Suite eighteen, Hotel de Rome." - -"With whom?" - -"Cardinal Schlauch." - -"Bishop Tank of Gross-Wardein? And who is watching them?" - -"Number 103, garlic and _bartwichse_ to the backbone." - -"Under the bed?" - -"No, Your Majesty; in it. I varied the programme for His Highness's -sake. Like an old maid who persists in the hope of catching a man -sometime, he never misses looking under the bed." - -"I will examine '103' in Koeniggraetzerstrasse at 9 A.M. to-morrow," -commanded the War Lord; "and, Udo, if you love me, have him well aired. -An hour or two of goose-step would do the garlic-eater the world of -good." - -The number, of course, referred to a Secret Service man. They have no -names so far as the Government knows, or wants to know, and, despite -their usefulness, are looked upon as _mauvais sujets_. To make up for -this their pay is rather better than that of the average German -official. They get a little less than the equivalent of L4 a week and -10s. a day for expenses. These sums constitute the retaining fee; their -main income depends on the jobs they are able to pull off. They get -paid for all business transacted, in accordance with its importance. -When on a foreign mission, they may send in bills up to L2 per day for -personal expenses, but in all ordinary circumstances the 10s. per diem -must suffice. - -The War Lord turned once more to Buelow. "You said: 'Make him work for -us.' I would willingly sentence him for life to the treadmill. What's -your idea of work for Franz?" - -"I refer to Your Majesty's complaint that the Austrian army is in a -state of unreadiness, of unpreparedness for war. Now, while I have no -opinion whatever as to Herr von Este's capacity as a general, I do know -that organisation and discipline are ruling passions with him." - -"He would rather beat a recruit than go to Mass," interpolated Udo. - -"The right spirit," approved the War Lord, "and it shall serve my -purposes. I taught the Bavarians to out-Prussian the Prussian; the -Austrians shall follow suit, or Franz will know the reason why. - -"A drill-ground bully by nature and inclination, he will know how to -make an end to Blue Danube _saloperie_; and if strap and rod won't do, -he will use scorpions, like that ancient King of Judea--or did he hail -from Mecklenburg, Buelow?" Autocratically ruled Mecklenburg is Buelow's -own particular fatherland. - -"I am sure the riding-whip always sufficed in our domains," smiled the -Chancellor; "but Your Majesty is right: rose water wouldn't make much -impression on Slovaks and Croatians." - -"Well then," said the War Lord, "here is the programme: No more about -Lutheran popeship, Holy Roman Empire of German nationality, future of -the Holy See and so forth. Nauseate him, on the other hand, with -Austrian military _schweinerei_ (piggishness), which ought to disappear -from the face of the earth in the shortest possible order to make room -for the glories of Prussian drill, discipline and efficiency. - -"With von der Goltz knocking the Turk into shape and Franz Este driving -the devil of irresolution and maniana out of the Dual Monarchy, we will -be in a position to defy the world--and to fight it, too." - - - - - *CHAPTER XVIII* - - *A SECRET SERVICE EPISODE* - - - No. 103 Arrives--The Spy's Report--The Archduke and the - Cardinal--The Ruling of the Church - - -Count von Wedell's office on Koeniggratzerstrasse. - -Royal coupe driving up and down the opposite side of the street. No -groom--dismounted chasseur with feather hat stands guard at the big -oaken door entrance. - -Long-legged brown horses, evident habitat: England. As a rule, the War -Lord drives with blacks or greys; likewise the wheel-spokes of the -vehicles used by him are gilded. Those of the carriage we observe are -chocolate colour, with just a thin silver line. Wilhelm sometimes -travels incog. in his own capital. By the way, why always -chocolate-coloured carriages when royalty does not wish to radiate -official lustre? In the reminiscences of the third Napoleon "the little -brown coupe" figured largely when the Emperor of the French went -poaching on strange preserves, and other monarchs had the same -preference. - -Inside the Imperial office building: sentinels with fixed bayonets at -each corridor entrance; over the coco-nut mat, covering the right-hand -passage, a thick red Turkey runner; Secret Service men in top-hats and -Prince Albert coats every ten paces. At the extreme end a big steel -double door. - -"No. 103," whispered the speaking-tube into Count Wedell's ear. - -"Three minutes late," snarled that official; "but I will pay him back." - -"No. 103," in faultless evening dress (though it is nine in the -morning), is conducted through the right-hand passage. He is at home -here, but no one recognises him. Secret Service rule: No comradeship -with other agents of the Government. You are a number, no more. - -As he is ushered through the lines of sentinels, the royal chasseur, -drawn broadsword in his right, opens the door with his left hand. Count -Wedell meets him on the threshold. - -"Kept Majesty waiting," grumbled the Privy Councillor _sotto voce_. - -"Cab broke down, Excellency," No. 103 excused himself. - -"Don't let it happen again. You will stand under the chandelier facing -the inner room. Attention!" commanded the chief. - -And at attention, every nerve vibrating with excitement and expectancy, -No. 103 stood like a statue in the Avenue of Victory, but with rather -more grace, for no man living could imitate the War Lord's marble dolls -without provoking murder. Wedell had gone into the inner room, the -entrance of which was framed by heavy damask portieres with gold lace -set _a jour_. - -"Portholes," thought No. 103, sizing up the decorations; and, keyhole -artist that he is, he soon met a pair of eyes gazing at him through the -apertures. - -"Majesty taking a peep," he reflected. "I wonder what he thinks of the -man who went back on his native Nero for filthy lucre." - -Whether he thought well of him or not, the War Lord kept No. 103 -standing full twenty-five minutes. If in his youth he had not had a -particularly cruel drill-ground sergeant, he could not have endured the -pain and fatigue. - -Suddenly the portieres parted: the War Lord, seated at a "diplomat's" -writing-desk; Count Wedell, toying with a self-cocking six-shooter, -stood at his left. - -"If that thing goes off and accidentally hits me," thought No. 103, -"there is a trap-door under this rug, and a winding staircase leading to -a sewer, I suppose, as in the Doge's Palace." Comforting thought, but -who cares for a spy? - -"Approach," ordered the War Lord in a high-pitched voice. When No. 103 -was within three paces of the Majesty, Wedell held up his hand. - -"His Majesty wants to know all about last night," said the Privy -Councillor. - -"Did Herr von Este really look under the bed?" queried the War Lord, -tempering the essential by the ridiculous. - -"He did indeed," replied No. 103; "and I nearly betrayed my presence -between the sheets watching him." - -"What happened?" - -"Nothing, Your Majesty; just a thought passing through my mind." - -"Out with it," cried the War Lord, when No. 103 stopped short. - -The _agent provocateur_ looked appealingly at Count Wedell. "I humbly -beg to be excused." - -"I command you!" - -"Well then, Your Majesty, it occurred to me that I ought to have planted -a mark's worth of asafoetida under that bed." - -Did the stern Majesty laugh? He guffawed and roared enough to split his -sides--the lines between the sublime and the low are not tightly drawn -in Berlin. - -"This fellow has wit," said the War Lord to Udo. "When you come to -think of it, asafoetida is mighty appropriate ammunition to use against -the Jesuit disciple." Then, with a look to No. 103: "Proceed." - -"Details and all," commanded von Wedell. - -"The minutest," emphasised the War Lord. - -"May it please Your Majesty, I was in that bed three hours before the -parties came into the room. The Cardinal had hired Suite 18 expressly -for the meeting, his lodgings being elsewhere in the hotel. He was -first to arrive, and swore lustily because there was no crucifix or -_prie-Dieu_, as ordered. - -"Cursed like a trooper, eh?" cried the War Lord. "Make a note of that, -Udo. When I am Lutheran pope I will visit the grand bane upon any -cardinal guilty of saying naughty words." - -"Your Majesty will have the All Highest hands full," remarked von -Wedell. "What about Prince Max?" - -"I shall take devilish good care that the Saxon idiot never achieves the -red hat. Making eyes at Warsaw and a friend at the Curia! What next?" -To No. 103: "Proceed." - -"An impromptu altar was quickly set up, and when Herr von Este was -announced----" - -"What name?" interrupted the War Lord. - -"Ritter von Wognin, Your Majesty." - -Count von Wedell promptly explained: "One of the minor Chotek titles." - -"I always said he was his wife's husband," affirmed the War Lord, with -an oath. Then, to No. 103: "Well?" - -"The Cardinal had taken his stand at the side of the crucifix, and when -the Ritter walked in elevated his hand pronouncing the benediction, -whereupon the Austrian heir dropped on his knees. The Cardinal seemed -in no hurry to see him rise, but finally held out his hand, saying: 'In -the name of the Holy Church I welcome thee, my son.' - -"And Este kissed his hand, didn't he?" cried the War Lord. - -"He certainly bent over the Cardinal's hand, and I heard a smack," -replied No. 103. - -"That settles it," said the War Lord; "the foot-kiss for me when I am -pope of the Lutheran Church." - -"May it please Your Majesty," continued No. 103, "the two gentlemen then -settled down in easy chairs and engaged in a long, whispered -conversation in which alleged sayings of Your Majesty were freely quoted -by Herr von Este." - -"Enough," interrupted the War Lord; and at a sign from Wedell No. 103 -backed towards the door, which opened from outside. "You will await a -possible further summons in here," said Count Wedell's secretary, -ushering No. 103 into a waiting-room. - -"How much has that fellow got on credit?" demanded the War Lord. - -Wedell pulled out a card index drawer. "Upwards of thirteen thousand -marks." - -"He knows that he'll lose it to the last _pfennig_ if he squeals?" - -"The case of our man who exchanged Barlinnie Jail for the service of Sir -Edward Grey brought that home with peculiar force to everybody in the -Wilhelmstrasse and Koeniggraetzerstrasse," replied Udo. - -It should be interpolated here that German spies receive only two-thirds -of the bonuses accruing to them. One-third of all "extras" remain in -the hands of the Government at interest, to be refunded when his spyship -is honourably discharged. If he is caught and does not betray his -trust, then these savings _par order de mufti_ are paid over to his -family or other heirs; if he betrays his Government, then the Government -gets even with him by confiscating the spy's accumulated savings, which -arrangement gives the Secret Service office a powerful hold on its -employees. - -"Very well, recall the millionaire-on-good-behaviour," quoth the -Majesty. - -No. 103 proved the possession of a marvellously retentive memory. -Quoting His Highness's confidences to the Cardinal, he repeated almost -word for word the War Lord's conversation with Franz, both at the -Schloss and at the General Staff office. - -"Any memoranda used?" demanded Wilhelm abruptly. - -"None, Your Majesty." - -"Did the Cardinal take notes?" - -"No, Your Majesty. When Herr von Este urged him to do so, he said it -was unnecessary, since he never forgot matters of importance; in fact, -could recite a text verbatim after tens of years." - -"Curse their stenographic memories," said the War Lord. "I hope you -were careful to note what Schlauch said," he added in a stern, almost -threatening voice. - -"I memorised his talk to the dotlets on the i's," replied the Secret -Service man, bowing low. "Quite an easy matter, for His Eminence used -words sparingly-- - -"To conceal his thoughts, of course." This from the War Lord. - -Then No. 103 read the "notes" from his mental memorandum pad. The -Cardinal, it appears, laid down three rules "for the guidance of his -'dear son' and all other Catholic princes: - -"I. Agreements with heretic sovereigns do not count unless they serve -the interests of the Church. - -"II. If the proposed Slav Empire would bring about the submission of the -orthodox heretics to the Church of Rome, no amount of blood and treasure -spent in so laudable a cause may be called extravagant, the sacrifice -being for God Almighty. - -"III. But if there should be a by-product" (our own term, the Cardinal's -being too circumstantial) "a by-product in the shape of a heretic -pope--pardon the blasphemous word--then Franz's ambition would be a -stench in the nostrils of the Almighty, excommunication would be his -fate in this world, the deepest abyss of hell in the other." - -Count von Wedell, misinterpreting his master, thought "it was to laugh," -but a look upon the War Lord's face caused him to change his attitude. - -"Pay No. 103 five thousand marks, half in cash, half in reserve," said -Wilhelm, disregarding the one-third clause for a purpose, no doubt. "I -have no further commands for him at present." - -Count Wedell stepped forward from the inner room, and the portieres -automatically closed before No. 103 had finished his obeisance. - - - - - *CHAPTER XIX* - - *BERTHA AND FRANZ* - - - On Forbidden Ground--A Talk on Brain-Curves--Bertha is - Afraid--Shades of Krupp--"Charity Covers ----"--A Dramatic Exit - - -"Oh, Franz, tell me what it all means!" - -If Bertha and the chief engineer had been real lovers, and had selected -the moon for a place of rendezvous, they could not have been safer from -intrusion than in the late Frederick Krupp's library with the door -unlocked, for the "room sacred to His Majesty" was a sort of Bluebeard -chamber into which no eye but the War Lord's and Bertha's must look. - -Bertha had shown her mother a parcel of documents which Uncle Majesty -had ordered her to read carefully. "I will go to the library, where I -will be undisturbed," she said in her decisive tone, while the butler -was serving early strawberries sent from Italy. Strawberries in January -in a little Rhenish town! It reminds us that when Charles V., warrior -and gourmet-gourmand, sucked an orange in winter-time, his Court was -prostrate with astonishment and admiration. - -And Alexis Orloff won Catherine the Great from his brother -Gregory--temporarily, at least--by sending to the Semiramis of the North -a plate of strawberries for the New Year. Yet nowadays any well-to-do -person can indulge all the year round in the luxuries that made Charles -and Catherine the envied of their Imperial class. - -Bertha was in the War Lord's chair, for she felt very Olympian since she -had returned from the Berlin Court, while Franz sat on the _tabouret_ -affected by the Krupp heiress during the interviews with her guardian. - -"What did Zara really mean?" repeated Bertha. - -"Are you prepared to hear the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but -the truth?" queried Franz. - -Bertha Krupp moved uneasily in her high seat. Her mental stature had -advanced rapidly under the War Lord's teachings, disguised as coaxings, -and while the sound principles implanted in her bosom by a good mother -were at bottom unimpaired, she was beginning to learn the subtle art of -putting her conscience to sleep when occasion demanded--a touch of -Machiavellism! - -Just now she would have loved to shut up Franz, as she was wont to -silence her mother by a word or look, though less rudely, perhaps, but -her fondness for the man--though she was not at all in love with -Franz--forced her to be frank with him. - -"Speak as a friend to a friend," she said warmly. - -"Well then----" began Franz. - -Bertha covered his mouth with her hand. "A moment, please. May I tell -Uncle Majesty?" - -"What I have to say is no secret of mine and certainly it is not news to -the War Lord. By all means tell him if you dare." - -"If I dare?" echoed Bertha. - -"My own words." - -Franz spoke very earnestly, almost solemnly: "Will you hear me to the -end, whether you like the tune or not?" - -"If it relates to Zara's prophecies, I will," said Bertha. "But," she -added falteringly, "you know I mustn't listen to criticism of my -guardian." - -Franz shrugged. "I quite understand. Forbidden ground even for your -Mother." - -Bertha felt the sting of reproval keenly, and did not like it. Indeed, -at the moment she would have given up gladly a considerable portion of -her wealth to be restored to Franz's unconditional and unrestricted good -graces. So, humbling herself, she temporarily abandoned her high estate -and again became the unsophisticated girl whom Franz used to call -sister. "_Do_ go on," she urged; "it was all so romantic, so strange, -so mysterious, and you know I love to feel creepy." - -Franz had risen and approached the great central window. "May I draw -the curtains?" he asked, looking over his shoulder. - -"They must not see you. I will." - -Bertha tugged the golden cords. "Working overtime again?" she queried, -as she observed the blazing smoke-stacks. - -"More's the pity, for every pound of steam going up those chimneys means -so many lives lost, and for all those lives, Bertha, you will have to -account to God." - -"Old wives' tales," commented the Krupp heiress, as if the War Lord in -person played souffleur. "On the contrary, as you well know, war -preparedness means peace, means preservation; and with us in particular -it means happiness and prosperity to the ten thousands of families in -this favoured valley. It spells education, arts, music, care of -children and of the sick and disabled. It means cheerfulness, such as -ample wage and a future secured confer; it means care-free old age." As -she recounted these benefits her enterprises were actually dispensing -Bertha looked at the chief engineer with a slightly supercilious air. - -"Well rehearsed," remarked Franz dryly. - -"Oh, if you want to be rude----" - -"I do," said Franz, taking hold of her wrist; "I am sick of all this -lying palaver about good coming out of evil, and I want you to be sick -of it too, Bertha." - -The Krupp heiress leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms. "At the -American Embassy I heard rather a quaint saying day before yesterday: -'Go as far as you like.' - -"A most apt saying," admitted Franz. "Thank you for the licence. As I -was going to point out, you did attach too little significance to Zara's -words, thought them mere piffle of the kind for sale in necromancers' -tents. There is enough of that, God knows, but do not lose sight of the -fact that at all times and in all walks of life there have existed -persons having the gift of prophecy. Who knows but Zara has?" - -Bertha was now rigid with attention. She had moved knee from knee; her -feet were set firmly on the carpet, while the upper part of her body -straightened out. "I don't follow," she said almost pleadingly. - -"Let me explain," continued Franz. "You and I and the vast majority of -people can look into the past--a certain curvature of our brain -facilitating the privilege. Another similar or dissimilar set of -brain-cells, or a single curvature, might lift for us the veil that now -obscures the future." - -"The future?" gasped Bertha. - -"Indeed, the future; and, practically considered, there is nothing so -very extraordinary about it, for what will happen to-morrow, or the day -after to-morrow, is in the making now. If, for instance, the Krupp -works were going into bankruptcy a year hence, the unfavourable -conditions that constitute the menace to our prosperity would be at -their destructive work now. Do you follow?" added Franz. - -"I think I do," said Bertha. - -"Hence I say the gift of prophecy presupposes a correct interpretation -of the past and present as well as the peculiar gift of extraordinary -brain development--a rare gift, so sparsely distributed that in olden -times prophets were credited with interpreting the will of the -Almighty." - -"Franz," cried Bertha, her face pallid and drawn, her hands twitching. -"_Oh_, my God!" she screamed, as if nerve-shattered by an awful thought -suddenly burst upon her; "you don't believe--no, you can't----! Tell me -that you do not think it was God's voice speaking through Zara?" And, -as if to shut out some horrible vision, the Girl-Queen of Guns covered -her face with both hands. - -"It is not for me to pronounce on things I don't know," replied Franz. -"Judged by what you have told me, Zara suited her prophecy for the most -part to facts and to existing tendencies, conditions and ambitions on -the part of political parties and high personages." - -"She called me the coming arch-murderess of the age, insisted that the -warrior-queens of past times, even the most heartless and most cruel, -had been but amateurs compared with me in taking human lives---- Oh, -Franz, tell me it is not true! She was romancing, was she not? She lied -to frighten me and to get a big _trinkgeld_." - -"I wish it were so," said Franz earnestly; "but, unfortunately, she had -a clear insight into the future as it may develop, unless you call a -halt to incessant, ever-increasing, ever-new war preparations." - -Many years ago I read a manuscript play by a Dutch author, in the -opening scenes of which a Jew tried to sell another Jew a bill of goods. -Shylock number two wanted the stuff badly, but calculated that by a show -of indifference he might obtain them for a halfpenny less. On his part, -Isaac was as eager to sell as the other was to buy, but the threatened -impairment of his fortune called for strategy. So he feigned that he -did not care a rap whether the goods changed hands or not, and the two -shysters remained together a whole long act engaging in a variety of -business that had nought to do with the original proposition, each, -however, watching for opportunity to re-introduce it, now as a threat, -again as a bait, and the third and seventh and tenth time in jest. So -Bertha, having once disposed of the war preparation bogey, according to -Uncle Majesty's suggestion, now returned to it in slightly different -form. She was determined to discount Zara's prophecies at any cost. - -Getting ready to fight was tantamount to backing down; spending billions -for guns and ammunition and chemicals and fortifications and espionage -and war scares and whatnots was mere pretext for keeping the pot boiling -in the workman's cottage, and the golden eagles rolling in the -financier's cash drawer, and so on _ad infinitum_. When Bertha had -finished she thought Zara's prophecies very poor stuff. - -Franz came in for the full quota of that sort of argument out of a bad -conscience so warped by hypocrisy. Our Lady of the Guns no doubt -believed every word she said, or rather repeated--dear woman's way! She -always firmly trusts in what suits her, logic, proof to the contrary, -stubborn facts notwithstanding. Instinct or intuition, she calls it. - -"That is no way to dispose of so grave a subject," said Franz. - -"But what can I do?" - -"Prevent more wholesale family disintegration, forestall future -mass-murder, future dunging of the earth with blood and human bones." - -Franz put both hands on the girl's shoulders. "Bertha," he said -impressively, "make up your mind not to sign any more death-warrants, -stop making merchandise intended to rob millions of life and limb and -healthy minds, while those coming after them are destined physical or -moral cripples that one man's ambition may thrive." - -"Shut down the works, you mean?" cried Bertha; and, womanlike, indulged -once more the soothing music of self-deception: "It would ruin the Ruhr -Valley, throw a hundred thousand and more out of work; and what could -they do, being skilled only in the industries created by my father and -grandfather? - -"Papa, Uncle Alfred, the first Krupp--God bless their souls!--were they -founders of murder-factories, as you suggest? No, a thousand times no. -Their skill, their genius, their enterprise has been the admiration of -the world. Everybody admits that they were men animated by the highest -motives and principles. They made Germany." - -"I don't deny it; I underline every word you have said, Bertha. The -foundations for Germany's greatness were laid within a stone's throw of -this window; much of her supremacy in politics and economics was -conceived between these four walls. But now that the goal is achieved, -that the Fatherland enjoys unprecedented wealth and prosperity--let well -enough alone." - -"You talk as if I were the War Lord!" cried Bertha. - -"You are his right hand: the War Lady." - -"He is my guardian, my master." - -"Only for a while. You don't have to submit to his dictation when of -age." - -Carried away by emotion, Franz had spoken harshly at times, but now his -tone became coaxing. - -"When you come into your own, promise me, Bertha, to accept no more -orders for armament and arms of any kind. Dedicate the greatest steel -plant of the world to enterprises connected with progress, with the -advancement of the human race! Build railways, Eiffel towers for -observation, machinery of all sorts, ploughs and other agricultural -implements, but for God's sake taboo once and for all preparations for -murder and destruction!" - -Bertha covered her ears. "Don't use such words; they are uncalled for, -inappropriate." Then, with a woman's ill-logic, she repeated the last. -"'Destruction'--you don't take into consideration what your -'destructive' factors have done for my people, what they are doing for -humanity right along. Auntie Majesty thinks our charities and social -work superior to Rockefeller's, and God forbid that I ever stop or -curtail them." - -"Yes! Think of your charities," said Franz; "take the Hackenberg case. -What is he--a soldier blasted and crippled in mind and body by the war -of 1870. Essen's industry made a wreck of Heinrich, and he costs you -one mark a day to keep for the rest of his life; three hundred and -sixty-five marks per year, paid so many decades, what percentage of your -father's profits in the war of 1870-71 does the sum total represent?" - -"A fraction of a thousandth per cent., perhaps. Another fraction pays -for the son Johann's keep, another for that of the two younger boys, -another for Gretchen, etc., etc." - -"But if there had been no war, Heinrich would not have been disabled, -and consequently would not have burdened charity with human wreckage! Do -you see my point?" - -"Go on," said Bertha. - -"Because you are used to it, maybe the Hackenberg case does not -particularly impress you. You were not born when Heinrich sallied forth -in the name of patriotism. But reflect: there are thousands of -charitable institutions like yours, not so richly endowed, not so -splendid to look upon, but charnel-houses for Essen war victims just the -same. And all filled to overflowing--even as the Krupp treasury is. -Yet that Franco-German war, that made the Krupps and necessitated the -asylums and hospitals, was Lilliputian compared with the Goliath war now -in the making--partly thanks to you, Bertha." - -"But I have told you time and again there will be no war, that I have -the highest authority for saying so!" cried Bertha angrily. - -"Authority," mocked Franz. "The French of 1870 had the no-war -'authority' of Napoleon III., the Germans that of William I., before the -edict went forth to kill, to maim, to destroy, to strew the earth with -corpses and fill the air with lamentations! So it will be this month, -this year, next year--for history ever repeats itself--until the hour -for aggression, which will be miscalled a defence of our holiest -principles and interests, has struck. - -"The air pressure has increased," continued Franz, parting the window -curtains; "see the lowering clouds! And watch the storm coming up, -lashing them in all directions. West and east they are spreading, and, -look, north too! They are falling on Northern France, on the Lowlands -and Russia like a black pall." - -"You prophesy a universal war?" shrieked Bertha. - -"The answer is in your ledger. For thirty and more years your firm has -been arming the universe. Since your father's death you have distributed -armaments on a vaster scale than ever, and now, I understand, the pace -that killeth is to be still more increased. - -"When you have furnished Germany with all the guns, the ammunition, the -chemicals, the flying machines, the cruisers, the submarines, the hand -grenades--what then? Presto! a pretext of the 1870 pattern, or -something similar, and Zara's prophecy will come true as sure as light -will burst from this Welsbach now." - -Franz touched a button. - -"Voila, Madame War Lady," he said, bowing himself out. - - - - - *CHAPTER XX* - - *"AUNTIE MAJESTY" AND HER FROCKS* - - - Bertha on Her Dignity--On Thin Ice--Barbara Wants to Know--The - Empress's Toilette - - -"And now for a good talk," said Barbara, with a look upon the tirewoman -who had accompanied Bertha to Court. "Tell me all about Auntie -Majesty's 'Martha.'" - -"Oh, she's far more important than this one," Bertha replied, patting -the "Frau's" cheek; "a Baroness like Mamma and in the Almanach de -Gotha." - -"Better looking too than our Martha, is she not?" mocked Barbara. - -"I won't go as far as that. She is too tall and angular and -spinster-like, and has a nose like Herr Krause--always red." - -"Does she drink?" inquired Barbara. - -"No," said Martha, thrusting out her formidable bosom; "she laces too -tight, poor thing!" - -It was after ten p.m., and Barbara ought to have been in one of two -white-and-pink beds gracing the Young Misses' Chamber in Villa Huegel, -but Frau Krupp was away in Cologne and Martha the most indulgent of -governesses. Hence it had not been necessary for Bertha to exert her -authority to gain an hour out of bed for sister. - -Bertha, who was sitting on a low "pouf," was convulsed with laughter at -Martha's pantomime. Shrieking, she knocked her forehead against her -knees, Barbara joining. - -"And Auntie Majesty's Martha--the Baroness, I mean--does she put out the -linen and mend silk stockings and serve tea on the waitress's day out?" -continued Barbara her inquiries. - -"Why not ask whether she makes the help's beds?" demanded Martha; and -then, in her drastic manner: "You are a baby, Fraulein Barbara." - -But the Krupp heiress treated the question seriously. "No," she -replied, assuming an air of superiority. "The Baroness tells the -Empress what is fit to wear." - -"_Unfit_, Fraulein means to say," whispered Martha. - -"And besides----" continued Bertha. - -"She tyrannises over the lower servants, such as Lenchen and me." -Barbara laughed heartily at Martha's sallies, but Bertha "had an attack -of dignity," as Barbara put it, and said to Martha: "Come now, who was -in Auntie Majesty's confidence, you or I?" - -"Fraulein certainly had the run of Her Majesty's rooms, and I do hope -they were nicer and cleaner than Fraulein's," bristled up Martha. - -"Don't quarrel," pleaded Barbara. "Soon it will be eleven, and then -both of you will shout 'bed' until you are hoarse. _Do_ go on, Bertha, -and don't you dare interrupt her again, Martha." - -"Well," said Bertha, "I promised----" She settled down in the big -velvet fauteuil nearest the fire and assumed an oldish mien. - -"I was sometimes present when the Baroness and Auntie Majesty discussed -new frocks and hats," she continued, "and I think if Mamma was in Madame -von H.'s place, Her Majesty would be--what shall I say?--more tastefully -dressed. - -"Once she persuaded Auntie Majesty to accept a hat that made her look -seventy to a day: Gold lace and heliotrope velvet. I will buy Granny -one like it next time I go to Duesseldorf. At first Auntie did not seem -to care for it at all, but the Baroness made such a fuss. 'Majesty -looks enchanting,' she kept saying." - -Here Martha dropped the courtliest of curtsies, "flapping her arms like -wings"--Barbara's description. - -"'Charming,' 'ever youthful,' continued Bertha, imitating the Baroness. - -"The right sort of talk too," said Martha. "Tell a woman of our -age--mine and Auntie Majesty's--that we look like sweet sixteen, with a -teapot for a bonnet, and we will wear it even at the opera." - -"Well, did Auntie get Granny's hat?" asked Barbara. - -"She did, and wore it when we went to the children's matinee at the -theatre in the Neues Palais; and I heard her sister, Princess Frederick -Leopold, tell her: 'Thank your stars that Will is not coming. He would -certainly advise you to send your new chapeau to----'" Bertha stopped -short. - -"To?" asked Barbara, flipping a slipper in the air and catching it on -her naked foot. - -"I can't tell," said Bertha; "it was not intended for me anyhow." - -Barbara looked at Martha. "You say it." - -"It commences with an 'H.'" - -"Hohenlohe--Grandma Hohenlohe," explained Bertha quickly. - -Barbara was thinking hard. "No, she did not say Hohenlohe; and, -besides, she is dead." - -"Getting warm," murmured Martha. - -"Now you stop." Bertha looked very serious. "The Princess Leopold -referred to their grandmother, of course. What else should she have in -mind?" - -The tirewoman bent low over Barbara's ear. "Majesty's _Jaeger_ told me -that the War Lord is in the habit of consigning old lady relatives of -his to a hot place, whether dead or alive." - -Barbara clapped her hands. "I know," she laughed; "you need not try and -keep things from this child, Bertha. I was not born yesterday." - -"I shall tell Mamma, and you will get it too, Martha." The Krupp -heiress was on her dignity once more. - -"Why not put me across your knee and spank me?" said Barbara derisively. -Then, coaxingly: "_Do_ go on, Bertha; it is all so interesting; and if -Martha does not behave (stamping her foot) she will leave the room this -minute. Did you hear what I said, Martha?" - -"Indeed, Your Majesty, and the other Majesty will now proceed," mocked -the tirewoman, who was unimpressed, having known the girls "all their -born days." - -"Well," began Bertha anew, "there were a few days of Court mourning -while I was in Berlin, and I had to wear all white, no jewellery, no -flowers. All the gentlemen had mourning-bands around their left arm, -and Uncle Majesty wore the uniform of Colonel of Artillery--black and -velvet." - -"Auntie was in black too--silk, of course, and heavy enough to stand by -itself; but at her throat I saw a large diamond brooch." - -"'That will get Mother into trouble if the old man peeps it,' observed -the Crown Prince, who took me in to dinner, and who knows all the -English and French slang." - -"How perfectly delightful he must be!" cried Barbara. - -Bertha continued: "'Why?' I asked." - -"'Mourning and brilliants--absurd,' whispered Wilhelm Wiseacre. But -Uncle Majesty either did not see, or knew less than his talented son, -and Auntie escaped a scolding that time." - -"Scolding a Queen. You are joking," cried Barbara. - -Before the Krupp heiress could speak, Martha delivered herself of a few -"_Mein Gotts_." - -"Oh," she said, "royal ladies are just like other girls' mammas." - -"Like Aunt Pauline and Rosa?" - -"Well, yes. They have a husband, children and an allowance." - -"An allowance? I thought they were wallowing in gold pieces like you, -sister," said Barbara, loojving up admiringly at the older girl. - -"I suppose Auntie Majesty has about a million per year to dress on," -said Bertha loftily. - -"A million," repeated Frau Martha contemptuously. "Fraulein ought to -have heard some of the stories the maids told me about Auntie Majesty's -lingerie. One of them used to be dresser to a French diva, whatever -that is, and on the Q.T.----" - -Bertha was anxious to change the subject, and remarked, with a hard look -upon Martha: "And the troubles they have with servants! One afternoon -on _Bal-Pare_ night Auntie's _coiffeur_ did not show up--sickness, or -something of the kind--and the Baroness did her hair. 'How very frail,' -I thought, particularly as Auntie was going to wear the grand tiara with -the Regent diamond. However, the head-dress, being so very heavy, is -put on only before she enters the royal box. - -"Her Majesty was fully dressed when Uncle's _Jaeger_ handed in a -dispatch from Queen Victoria, asking about Prince Joachim. She -immediately sat down to write an answer, and as she leaned over the -paper--for she is rather short-sighted--the whole _coiffure_ came down -in a heap. I never saw her cross before, but I tell you----" Bertha -checked herself. - -"Now about the jewellery," cried Barbara. "She has wagon-loads of them, -has she not?" - -"Of her own, no more than Mamma, I guess, for those you read so much -about on festive occasions belong to the State, and the Baroness is -responsible for their safety. Once, I was told, she left a valise -containing several Crown jewels and some of Auntie's own in the Imperial -saloon carriage when they were going to Stuttgart. Through the -stupidity of a guard the valise got misplaced, and was discovered only a -month later in an out-of-the-way railway station. That time Uncle -Majesty himself lectured the Baroness, ordering her at the same time to -use her own baronial fingers to sew the diamond buttons on Her Majesty's -dresses. Furthermore, to make sure that the fastenings of ear-rings, -brooches, bracelets and chains, etc., were intact." - -Barbara wanted to know whether the Berlin Crown jewels were as fine as -Queen Victoria's in the Tower of London. - -"Not quite," said Bertha thoughtfully. - -The child nodded. "I know, for when I asked Miss Sprague whether the -Regent was as beautiful as the Koh-i-noor, she said: 'You might as well -liken your shabby German South-West Africa to the Indian Empire, Miss -Barbara.'" - -"Don't let the War Lord hear that!" Frau Martha raised a warning finger. - -"Now about the dresses! She wears a new one every day, doesn't she?" - -"At least she never wears the same twice unaltered." - -"What jolly shopping!" cried Barbara. "Does she go round herself? I -would." - -"That's the ladies'--the Baroness and the Mistress of the -Robes--business, of course. She sees the fashion through their eyes -and, when Auntie is ill-dressed, the blame really attaches to her women. -One morning Auntie called me in and said: 'Bertha, what do you think of -my dinner toilet for to-night?' - -"The gown on the _mannequin_ was of light red silk with white flounces -and blue train, set off by rosebuds." - -"Kakadoo!" laughed Barbara. - -"That's how it struck me," said Bertha. "But there stood the Baroness -pleased as Punch about the new 'creation,' and certainly expected me to -say something nice. I was in despair, but Auntie Majesty came to my -rescue. 'It's quite impossible,' she said, 'isn't it? Tell -Schwertfeger and Moeller----' - -"She did not finish, but took up the Alnumach de Gotha lying on the -dressing-table. 'I thought so--Wilhelmina's colours. If Wilhelm had -seen me in this, he would have said: "You are rushing things, Dona. -Wait till we annex Holland."' Then she turned to the Baroness: 'Have it -unripped at once. The silks shall be used any way except in this absurd -combination. I will wear white this evening.'" - -"To bed at once; enough for to-night," ordered Frau Martha, turning back -the clothes on Barbara's bed. - - - - - *CHAPTER XXI* - - *THROTTLING BAVARIA* - - - The Etiquette of Dress--Buelow in a Fix--That "Place in the - Sun"--"That Idiot Bismarck"--Prussianize the British Empire - - -In the grandchamber where Bismarck sat so long enthroned and Caprivi, -the general "commanded to the office," as he might have been ordered to -occupy a bastion, spent troublesome years; at the desk where Prince -Hohenlohe's thoughtful face shone between colossal oil-lamps; in the -very chair where the Iron One swore lustily at petty kings, sat Bernhard -von Buelow, Chancellor and Major-General. - -Don't forget the Major-General, for the War Lord had more trouble making -him that than conferring the Imperial Chancellorship. Military titles -are sadly embroidered with precedents and rules and things. - -Frederick the Great used to own silk mills, therefore his ministers of -State were compelled to wait upon him in satin breeches and long-tailed -satin coats, and no man who loved his job would appear more than six -times in the same garments before the Majesty, since the royal merchant -would have considered himself cheated out of the sale of so many ells. -Frederick's descendant, the War Lord, is interested in army cloth--hence -his dislike for mufti. - -Jovial, talkative, on good terms with himself, Bernhard felt quite -guilty in his velvet jacket--a present from the Princess, his wife--when -he heard a sharp voice call out his name. It came from the garden path -adjoining the high French windows. - -"Must be coming from the War Ministry. What's up?" thought the -Chancellor, ringing frantically for a dress coat. If those sentinels -would only challenge Majesty, there might be time to change. - -In the summer of 1905 the proverbial Buelow luck was still in full -swing. At the moment it sent Phili Eulenburg to the rescue, for the -ex-ambassador, still undisgraced, was, as usual, in attendance upon the -War Lord. - -"Fine chap, that," said Phili, pointing to one of the sentinels who -guarded the inner court of the Chancellor Palace; "may I put him through -the paces just to show I did not get my epaulettes for form's sake?" - -"Anything as long as you don't make me ridiculous, Phili." Maybe the -War Lord was curious to see whether his friend had any military talents. -Perhaps he remembered that Bismarck, talking to Maximilian Harden or -Moritz Busch, let drop a remark to the effect that persons of the -Eulenburg type made great generals--sometimes, _vide_ Alcibiades, -Caesar, Peter the Great, Frederick, etc.--good diplomats never! - -"Advance," "retreat," "right," "left," "charge," "about face," crowed -Phili, repeating the last order several times. - -"_Pack ein_" ("Cheese it!"), said the War Lord, "if these are the only -commands you remember." However, when the pair entered through the -glass doors, Bernhard, to his intense satisfaction, was resplendent in a -frock-coat, with the ribbon of the Red Eagle in buttonhole, Majesty -missing the chance to scold him for a sybarite. To Wilhelm's mind, male -humanity is "nude" when unaccoutred with knapsack and bayonet, or else -unshrouded in evening dress at nine a.m. Buelow had flatly refused to -array himself _en frac_ in daytime, and in his hussars' breeches he -always fidgeted "in a nerve-racking way." So he must be allowed a -Prince Albert coat--Chancellor's exclusive privilege, of course! -Bismarck used to ride to the old Kaiser's palace in a fatigue cap, but -at the door donned the steel helmet. But let none of lesser rank and -importance imitate these worthies. - -"Here's a pretty kettle of fish," said the War Lord, acknowledging -Buelow's respectful greetings by a wave of the hand. "Phili tells me -that Victor will require pretty strong proof it's defensive before he -joins our war. And Udo has secured tell-tale correspondence to the same -effect, which will be sent to you presently." - -"Italy making demands before she has even lost a battle?" cried Phili, -without indicating quotation marks. - -Buelow knew of course that the _bon mot_ was Bismarck's, but the War -Lord thought it original. "Don't repeat that to the Princess, please," -he said to Buelow, "lest she put our Phili on her index. As to Victor, -what do you think of the ingrate?" - -"With Your Majesty's permission, I rather think that the information" -(Buelow looked straight at Eulenburg, then thought better of it) -"of--Count Wedell is not well founded. Your Majesty knows how such -rumours arise. Maybe King Victor has, at one time or another, expressed -himself to the effect that he meant strictly to adhere to the -stipulations of the Triple Alliance, whereupon some person in the secret -found out that the Triple Alliance obliges Italy to take up arms only in -case Germany or Austria are attacked. Presto, the mischief-maker -concludes that King Victor is not in sympathy with Germany's world -politics, etc. etc." - -"Maybe, but Udo's and Phili's reports must be sifted to the bottom," -commanded the War Lord. "I told Wedell to put a man of pronounced -political instinct on the work--an Italian, of course; there shall be a -wrestling match between Dago cunning and German political shrewdness." - -Up to then the War Lord had spoken quite to the point. Now he indulged -in one of those _saltomortales_ of uncontrolled thought that tends to -incoherency. - -"We must get rid of Otto," he said abruptly, pounding his knee with his -terrible right. - -Prince Bismarck's Christian name had been Otto, and Wilhelm got rid of -him. Count Buelow, perceiving no connection with matters discussed, -wondered whether the War Lord had reference to the former occupant of -the Chancellor Palace, or maybe to a dog or horse. So, to be on the -safe side, he smiled broadly and asserted: "Precisely, Your Majesty." - -"Of course, there is that _Schweinhund_ (pig-dog) Ruprecht." - -Buelow began to scent a connection; however, the War Lord saved him -further cogitation by doing all the talking. - -"A madman, this Ruprecht; thinks his petty State an Indian Empire. -Period: Thirteenth century, or thereabout. Dwells longingly on such -scenes as Mohammed Toghlak enacted, having hundreds of rebels tossed -about by elephants on steel-capped ivories, and then trampled to death -to the sound of trumpets and beating of drums. 'I would like to treat -our Socialists that way,' he told me time and again." - -"Using wild boars instead of elephants, I suppose," said Phili. The -sally caused the War Lord much merriment. - -"Egad," he laughed, "your mileage from Liebenberg is not thrown away; -you liquidate the bill by _bons mots_ every time." - -"I dare you tell the Reichstag," cried Phili. - -"Buelow shall," said the War Lord; "but"--facing the Chancellor once -more--"those muttons! With Italy a possible _quantite negligeable_, we -must make doubly sure of Bavaria's unquestioned and enthusiastic support -of Berlin. Now, Phili, who has been living there many years, tells me -that the Bavarian people as a whole----" - -"The great unwashed," put in Phili, who will live up to his reputation -as a wit or burst--in Germany one need not be a Mark Twain to succeed. - -"The Bavarian unwashed," repeated the War-Lord, "do not like Prussia. -The only means of gaining national support for our war in Bavaria, then, -is by favour of the Crown. Otto's is a harlequin's cap, and you can't -ask people to rally around a War Lord more beast than man, and certainly -as crazy as a march-hare. It follows: we need a sane man in Munich, -Buelow--nothing short of a sane man will serve our purpose. I -understand that Maximilian Joseph, 'the creature of that upstart, -Napoleon,' had a royal diadem built which has never been used. Pull it -from the vaults of the Munich Hofburg, Buelow, and place it on -Luitpold's head, and if he persists in his silly refusal, on Ludwig's." - -"Majesty knows these gentlemen's objections: 'There can be no real king -in Bavaria, they say, until the constitutional incumbent is dead,'" -spoke the Chancellor gravely. - -"Then kill Otto," cried the War Lord. "What, miss our place in the sun -for a madman! Not if I know Wilhelm, Imperator Rex. Briefly, Buelow, as -there is no king in Bavaria, we must make one--one who recognises that -he is _Rex Bavariae par la grace de Roi de Prusse_ and, accordingly, is -willing to do the King of Prussia's bidding." - -"But the people, will they rally to a standard bearer of that kind?" -asked the Chancellor. - -"The mob," cried the War Lord. "What has the mob to do with it? We -show him a puppet in ermine and purple with Maximilian Joseph's unused -crown on his silly pate, and 'hurrah,' '_Heil Dir im Siegeskranz_.'" - -"With the aid of the loyal Press," suggested Phili. - -"Of course, the Press bandits are part and parcel of the plebs; let -Koeniggraetzerstrasse see to them at once. And, Buelow," continued the -War Lord, "the _Norddeutsche Allgemeine_--not a word!" - -"That's where Majesty shows his wisdom," said Phili, nearly doubling up -in a profound bow. And as the War Lord seemed to enjoy the compliment, -he added: "I am not the bird to befoul his own nest; but if it be true, -as the London papers sometimes assert, that Germany produces no real -diplomats, I point to Your Majesty and say: Here stands the greatest of -them all, greater than Cavour and Bismarck, Talleyrand and Wotton." - -"Talleyrand was a great liar," mused the War Lord. - -"And preserved Prussia." This from the Chancellor. - -"My motto," said Wilhelm, "is: 'Keep a silent tongue where one's own -interests are concerned, lest the itch of controversy produce a scab -that even the unknowing may perceive.' He was boldly plagiarising -Wotton, but if his auditors noticed the theft they were wise enough to -keep it to themselves. - -"Your Majesty's idea is that, in case Italy prove disloyal, Bavaria must -act the buffer, the people offering stubborn resistance." - -"---- stubborn!" cried the War Lord, striding toward the great wall -where a series of maps were displayed on rollers. Of course Phili got -ahead and pushed the button. "---- stubborn!" repeated Wilhelm. "Look -at the Bavarian frontier--as naked of fortresses as a new-born babe of a -dinner dress--no defensive works to speak of. If the Italians make good -their threats against Austria and reach Innsbruck, good-bye Munich! The -whole of Bavaria would be at the mercy of the Dago dogs of war! -Buelow," cried the War Lord, "Phili brought documents to show that the -Italian General Staff is mapping out a road to Berlin via Munich, -Leipzig, Potsdam. That idiot Bismarck," he added, with an oath, "the -question of collars and epaulettes was not the only one he decided in -favour of the Bavarians. Four years previously he failed to squeeze -Bayreuth out of them--Bayreuth, one of the Hohenzollerns' earliest -possessions. With small pressure he might have regained the -principality in 1866 in place of the miserable few millions of thalers -as war indemnity that the Bavarians had to pay. We could have made -Bayreuth-land an armed camp, a second Heligoland, as it-is-to-be!" - -The "collars and epaulettes affair," to which the War Lord referred, -cropped up in November, 1870, during the _pourparlers_ for the -Bavarian-Prussian treaties. King Ludwig insisted that Bavarian army -officers should continue to wear the badge of their rank on their -collar, while King Wilhelm said their shoulder straps were the correct -place. The Chancellor, Bismarck, saved the situation by arguing: "If in -ten years' time, perhaps, the Bavarians are arrayed in battle against -us, what will history say when it becomes known that the present -negotiations miscarried owing to collars and epaulettes?" - -No wonder Prince Pless (Hans Henry XI., late father-in-law of Princess -Mary, _nee_ Cornwallis-West) said to the Iron Chancellor: "Really, if at -the time we were discussing the criminal code we had known what sort of -people these Sovereigns are, we should not have helped to make the -provisions against _lese-majeste_ so severe." - -"Now if Bayreuth were in our hands," continued the War Lord, "the -Italians could whistle for the new road to Berlin, as the English can -for the promenade to Hamburg, since Salisbury, good old man--God rest -his soul--presented us with that little islet in the North Sea." - -"Maybe Bavaria could be induced to fortify her frontiers on the Austrian -border," suggested the Chancellor. - -"And _I_ postpone my war until half a dozen Lieges and Namurs and Metzs -and Strassburgs are built--man alive," thundered the War Lord. "Life is -short, and the longer England and France are left in possession of the -best colonies, the harder it will be for us to Prussianise them when -things are being adjusted to our liking." - -"Prussianise England and France, excellent idea, _tres magnifique_!" -crowed Phili the irrepressible. - -"Not quite so fast," said the War Lord. "I was thinking of India and -Ceylon, of Cochin China and Tonking, of Algeria, Hongkong, the Straits -Settlements and the French Congo, of Madagascar and Natal, of Rhodesia, -Gibraltar, the Senegal and other dainties in the colonial line." - -"Even so--a jolly mouthful for Prussianisation, Majesty." - -"You don't suppose I would tolerate the loose discipline encouraged by -Downing Street and Quai d'Orsay," cried the War Lord. "Subject peoples -and tribes must have a taste of the whip and spur. Where would Poland -be without them--yes, and Alsace-Lorraine! But those Bavarians, Buelow. -I hope I made it perfectly clear that Otto must go and that severest -pressure must be brought on Luitpold." - -"Together with the Italian problem, the matter shall have my closest -attention," said the Chancellor. - -"And don't forget that they are a crazy lot at best, and hand and glove -with Franz Ferdinand's black masters." - -"Matters can't be hurried, though," ruminated Buelow, "and I am afraid -there is little store to be set by Luitpold." - -"His ambition is to go thundering down the ages as the man who refused a -crown," sneered Phili. - -"Thank Heaven he is eighty-four," said the War Lord piously. - -"And Ludwig tickled to death with the idea of becoming king," added -Eulenburg. - -The War Lord was making his adieux, when he suddenly turned upon Buelow. -"What are you going to do with Ruprecht?" - -"Promise him a field marshal's baton in our war." - -"The right bait," assented Wilhelm, "but I pity the country under his -supreme command. Do you know," he added, "that the lowest of his -subjects would not permit him to cross his threshold?" - - - - - *CHAPTER XXII* - - *PAYING THE PRICE* - - - What Edward VII. Thought--No Room for Art--A Vision of - Threadneedle Street - - -Buelow, who loved being Chancellor, hated Phili Eulenburg. - -However, the Imperial ex-Ambassador at the Hofburg was then in the -zenith of his ill-gotten empire over Majesty, and to incur his -displeasure spelt disgrace or enforced resignation. - -At the moment the grand old man's thunderbolts were under lock and key -in Harden's Grunewald villa, and the exalted personages marked for -lightning carried things with a high hand, using the German Empire like -an entailed estate. - -Pretty evenly parcelled out this _fidei commissum_ favoured by the -Prussian Constitution, which makes suffrage a mockery. Phili, of late -enriched by Hertefeld, the Rhenish domain that guarantees him an -independent income of L5,000 sterling a year and by a couple of millions -cash, which Baron Nathan Rothschild, of Vienna, left him. Phili was -practically the overseer of the Government personnel, and of the -diplomatic corps in particular. His card index of prominent men and -women, reinforced by reams and reams of correspondence, characterised -each person--diplomats, deputies, ministers, councillors, governors, -politicians, commanding generals and aspirants for high honours in the -army or navy--according to his own viewpoint, the avowed object being to -people the highest offices within the gift of the Crown with people -like-minded with himself. - -And it must be admitted that Phili pretty thoroughly succeeded, since -the War Lord, seeing everybody through Eulenburg's eyes, selected in the -main only persons of mediocre intellect, or plain bullies, as his -representatives abroad and at home. The reference to Eulenburg's -optics, by the way, recalls another Bismarck sally: "One look at Phili's -eyes is enough to spoil the most elaborate dinner for me!" - -Could gourmet-gourmand express himself more emphatically? What the Iron -Chancellor thought of ambassadors appointed under that regime has -already been quoted; it coincides with the reputation for clumsiness and -inefficiency the War Lord's diplomatic servants have in all quarters of -the world. In _ante bellum_ days few of them were "honest men sent -abroad to lie"; the great majority were liars intent upon bulldozing or -deceiving the personages who mistook them for gentlemen. Of course, -"like master, like servant." The late King Edward maintained that -Wilhelm was vulgar and ungentlemanly; hence Baron H or Count Y might -think it presumptuous to be otherwise. Besides, the Berlin Foreign -Office will employ nobles only, and we have the authority of Gunther, -Count von der Schulenburg, Lord of Castle Oest, Rhineland, for the -illuminating fact that every tenth German aristocrat is unspeakable. So -much for the German diplomatic service. - -General Count Kuno von Moltke presided over another self-gratifying -clique--that of the Army; and if Germany had invaded Belgium ten years -previous to toying with the scrap of paper, she would probably have been -overthrown in short order, for at that time the Commander of Imperial -Headquarters held the same sinister sway over the military as Phili did -over the civil branches of the Government. - -"Lovey," "sweetheart," "my soul," "my all" (Kuno Moltke's epistolary -titles for Majesty), "hears as much of affairs as I want him to know, no -more," was Moltke's boast, according to the sworn evidence of Frau von -Ende, Count Moltke's former wife, in the famous Harden slander case. - -Yet though Moltke lost his case, the War Lord declared "there is nothing -definite against Moltke, but he must remain on half-pay." - -Can you imagine King George V. so flaunting the decisions of Old Bailey -and thereafter saddling the British public with a life pension of about -L500 per annum in favour of the guilty party? - -Can you imagine why such "sweet affection for the All Highest" should -make up for lack of military qualities in a general officer slated for -supreme command in the field? - -For his crusade Maximilian Harden won much praise from English writers, -but if he had let it flourish in high places for a decade longer, Great -Britain would be richer in blood and treasure. - -Another of these coteries of men who dispensed high offices among -themselves for their own ends existed in the Imperial Court--aye, it -lodged there, not in the Schloss or Neues Palais exactly, but--oh, -irony!--in the Princess's Palace, the hideous _dependance_ of the Crown -Prince Palais, Unter den Linden, the apartments granted for life to -Royal Chamberlain Count von Wedell being its headquarters. - -Oh, the jolly tea-parties they enjoyed in the great high-ceilinged -rococo chambers, full of discarded furniture and appointments of the -Frederick the Great and Watteau period; Louis Quatorze and Quinze, Boule -and Chippendale, Empire, here and there--antique regularity and -capricious _bizarrerie_, gems of Art some, also pieces chipped and -disjointed. - -Carlyle called Frederick "the last of the Kings"; he was certainly the -last of Prussian kings possessed of an appreciation of the beautiful. -The present War Lord kicked from his palaces--none were built since the -eighteenth century--all _objets d'art_ that would please the eye of -anybody not a German boor, substituting unmentionables of the goose-step -type, square-jointed, clumsy, coarse, and wholly _mauvais gout_. - -What the "majestic" chambers lack, then, those of the Excellencies -_nolens volens_ boast. Wedell's rooms in particular contained a variety -of eighteenth century _chef d'oeuvres_ selected by the Count himself -from heaps of "ancient rubbish" sent from the Neues Palais and -Sans-Souci by order of Court Marshal von Liebenau, a corporal dignified -by a gold stick. - -No doubt the Knights of Wedell's Round Table enjoyed what was "_caviare_ -to the general." At any rate, their tea-parties seem to have been a -delight to "high and low," for no one admitted to the charmed circle -ever sent his regrets. - -We find there General of Cavalry Count Wilhelm von Hohenau, son of the -War Lord's uncle, the late Prince Albrecht of Prussia, and Sailor Trost, -of His Majesty's yacht _Hohenzollern_; the gentleman already introduced, -Count Kuno von Moltke, also Lord of the Cathedral and Private Riedel of -the Uhlans; Count Lynar, brother-in-law of the Grand Duke of Hesse and -Colonel of His Majesty's Horse Guards, and Gus Steinhauer, midshipman; -Count Frederick von Hohenau, brother of Wilhelm, and Court Councillor -Kestler, who rose from the ranks to gentlemanly estate and high honours -in His Majesty's service; His Serene Highness Prince Philip of -Eulenburg, Right Honourable Privy Councillor to the Prussian Crown, -member of the House of Lords, etc., and Raymond Lecomte, French charge -d'affaires. These men were regular attendants, under the presidency of -the noble-born host, of course, but there was a fair sprinkling of -counts and barons and so on in this royal palace connected by a covered -archway with the town residence of the Crown Prince and his family! - -That was strange enough--audacity to the point of recklessness, one -might call it--but stranger still is the fact that all these men were in -the War Lord's good graces, if not on intimate terms with him like -Eulenburg. - -With the Hohenaus he was on "Willy" and "Freddy" footing; Count Johannes -von Lynar he called "Jeanie"; and His Excellency Lieutenant-General Kuno -von Moltke was his "Tuetue"--with dots over both u's, if you please. - -Nor were Wedell and Moltke the only tea-party members admitted to high -positions at Court. Wilhelm Hohenau was governor to His Imperial -Highness the Crown Prince, and, on Moltke's recommendation, Count Lynar -was about to be gazetted personal adjutant to His Majesty--an office -giving him apartments at the royal residence--when he was vulgarly -"pinched" and lugged off to jail for the crime of--being found out. - -Because he was the War Lord's "Jeanie," Lynar would not listen to -"Tuetue's" and "Willy's" and "Freddy's" hints about the Bank of England -as a safe depository. - -"Some day," he used to bluster, "a few weeks or a month after 'The Day,' -I will ride up Threadneedle Street and straight into the vaults of that -venerable pile, and leap my charger over mountains of gold--will be -quite a change, don't you know, from jumping fences at Hoppegarten." - -As to the others, Sailor Trost and ditto Gustav Steinhauer each enjoyed -a meteoric career, rising in quick order to petty -officership--impossible to advance them higher, because they were men -without education; and whenever and wherever an excuse could be found -for employing them in that extraordinary capacity, they were given -charge of the Imperial person. Thus Gustav Steinhauer always acted as -chief guardian of the War Lord's lodging in Castle Liebenberg when the -Majesty visited his beloved Phili. - -Kestler was a miserable subaltern, destined to starve on a daily wage of -four marks, when Eulenburg discovered and introduced him to Majesty. -Under the War Lord's favour, he was transferred to a more lucrative -department in the service, and decorated! - -Yet why the _Pour le Merite_ for Kestler, and for Eulenburg, Wedell, -etc.? What _were_ their peculiar merits? Has anyone ever been able to -discover? - -To-day Eulenburg, twice tried, is a prisoner for life on his estate; the -two Hohenaus are banished from Germany, and dare not come back on pain -of arrest; Count Kuno von Moltke is a pensioner of the German people on -foreign soil; Count Wedell forfeited the two gold buttons on the tails -of his _frac_ and his residence at the Princess's palace. - -Why did they get off so easily in comparison when the crash came? - -The answer is obvious enough. These persons had been careful to deposit -in London, E.C., the letters they had received from a certain exalted -party who shall be nameless, and Count Lynar, prisoner No. 5429 at -Siegburg Jail, had neglected that simple precaution. - - - - - *CHAPTER XXIII* - - *HOW VON BOHLEN WAS CHOSEN* - - - The First Step--Prussian Manners--The War Lord Finds His - Man--Putting Buelow to the Test--Discussing the Husband to - Be--von Bohlen is Chosen - - -On the morning after the Bavarian debate in the Chancellor's palace the -War Lord and Prince Phili met early in Sans-Souci Park for an hour's -horseback exercise and scandalmongering. Be sure that _chronique -scandaleuse_ was thoroughly discussed, as well as the personnel of -Phili's favourites, and if there was anybody at Court and in Society, in -high official places and in the royal theatres whose ears did not tingle -with the calumnies or malicious tittle-tattle launched, the gossipers' -memory was at fault, not their capacity for impertinent innuendo. - -These personages were walking their horses in a secluded avenue of the -woods beyond Klein Glienecke when they heard galloping behind. "My -courier," said the War Lord; "we'll wait." They drew rein, and -presently a red-coat shot by them in a parallel road. When some fifty -paces ahead, the courier leaped his horse across the intervening ditch, -then stopped short at the imminent risk of being thrown, and waited, hat -in hand. - -"Get the mail bag," commanded Wilhelm curtly, after the style of -Napoleon, who thought nothing of ordering a king to see how dinner was -progressing. Phili trotted off, and presently returned with a red -morocco leather portfolio. A silver-gilt key dangling on the War Lord's -bracelet gave access to the contents: two letters, both postmarked -Essen. - -"From Bertha," said the War Lord, glancing at the bigger envelope, and -put it into his pocket. The other he tore open in great haste. "Wonder -what the Baroness wants from me?" he muttered. - -Phili having returned the portfolio, the courier was dismissed by a wave -of the hand, and Wilhelm plunged into the epistle _sans ceremonie_. - -"The devil!" he cried, before he had finished the first page, and drove -his horse so hard against Eulenburg's side that Phili could not suppress -an outcry. - -"Listen to this: Bertha has fallen in love with Franz, sort of -foster-brother, you know; they were children together." - -"The electrical expert you told me about?" - -"Precisely. But I won't allow it; she might as well aspire to be wife -No. 777 to our friend Abdul. But here comes the Baroness and pleads that -the dear child may have her way, Franz being such a good young man; -marriages are arranged in heaven, and her blessed Frederick will be -tickled to death, etc., and more tommy rot like that." - -"You don't think Franz exactly the right person?" - -"Phili," cried the War Lord, "if you were not such an old sinner and -bald-headed and married and the father of children of marriageable age, -I would order you to marry her." - -"Another woman--are there none but women in the world?" groaned the -ex-ambassador. "Besides, I have not the least talent for bigamy; try -Kiderlen-Waechter." - -"Would be the right sort, but he is nearly as old as you." - -Once more Extase's flank squeezed Phili. "I've got it," Wilhelm -exclaimed suddenly. "When you get back home, browse for an hour or two -on your card index, picking out the most desirable and up-to-date -Benedicts in the thirties or thereabout, preferably men in the -diplomatic service. Got everybody's photo up there, haven't you?" - -"At Your Majesty's service, the whole gallery." - -"Pictures and personalia you'll bring to the Neues Palais this -afternoon, and maybe I will run over to Essen in the night to show the -_creme de votre creme_ to the Baroness. This folly about Franz must be -nipped in the bud, and with a girl the better and handsomer man does the -trick every time." - -The War Lord wheeled his horse around and trotted off in the direction -of his residence. He never takes the trouble of telling his riding -companions of his intentions. "Let them keep their eyes open and do as -I do." The Queen herself fares no better when out riding with him. If -her harness gets out of order or something of that sort, and she has to -dismount, Wilhelm presses on unconcernedly. "Let the Master of Horse -look after her." - -Phili, arrived at his apartments, had no sooner got into his -dressing-jacket of flowered silk, when the telephone rang furiously. "I -command," admonished a hard voice. - -"Here, Phili, at Your Majesty's service." - -"Are you at work on the cards?" - -"Head over heels," lied Phili. - -"And in this connection--has nothing occurred to you?" - -The obsequious courtier was in a quandary. Woe to him if he attempted to -be wiser than his master! - -"The old story; I have to think of everything," the War Lord thundered. -"Can't you see you must take your selection of names to Buelow and -pretend to get advice on the candidates from him? If you don't, he will -be offended." - -"Like the old woman he is," ventured Eulenburg. - -"Don't you criticise _my_ Chancellor." There was a brutal emphasis on -the "my," and Phili stuttered a dozen excuses for his slip of the -tongue. - -"Never mind, to work, Prince! It was Louis XIV. who almost waited on -one particular occasion. Remember, Phili, I don't want to repeat his -experience." - -Phili rang for Jaroljmek, his secretary. - -"I do wish Majesty could get along without me for a day or two," he -said. "More pressing business. All the young men in the diplomatic -service to be inquired into, liver and kidneys. At once, of course! -Beastly bore unless I may count on your assistance." - -"Of course, Serene Highness." - -"Have the maids bring in the card index, then." - -"With Highness's permission, I will ask the butler to help me. It's too -heavy for girls." - -"Not at all. Women were put into the world to wait on such as you and -I. The woods are full of girls, while nice boys are few and far -between. And you vulgarise a high-stepping horse by hard work." - -So two nine-stone girls were ordered to carry in from an upper storey -the great wooden case weighing a hundredweight, while His Highness and -secretary looked on and, moreover, increased their task by foolish -directions. - -"The smaller legations where I am sending the unlicked cubs--fellows -without an inkling of Greek art and antique beauty--we'll go through -those first," said the Prince. - -"May I ask Highness the purpose of our research?" - -"Majesty is trying to find a hubby for--_Nomina sunt odiosa_. However, -you know the party." - -"Rich?" - -"Wealthiest girl in the world." - -"Old Frederick's daughter! I heard some queer stories about Papa." - -"Naughty boy!" with an indulgent smile from Phili. "Well, Majesty wants -a Benedict for Bertha who will paddle the War Lord's canoe even more -enthusiastically than his wife's baby-carriage." - -"Why doesn't Majesty consult von Treskow and Kopp?" said the secretary. - -"Don't mention those rude plebeians." - -And so the pretty pair went on. They selected a round dozen should-be -aspirants for Bertha's hand. - -These the Emperor examined later. - -"Receding chin," announced the War Lord disdainfully, reviewing the -first few while the friends sipped their China tea. - -"All the ear marks of the wife-beater," he commented on an attache -accredited to the Court of St. James's. "That fellow is sure to give -trouble," he commented on photo No. 4. No. 5 was dismissed with a -contemptuous: "Meddlesome snout." He continued to throw the photographs -on the carpet, but suddenly sat up straight as a bolt. - -"My man!" he cried. "Get Buelow on the 'phone. No; order Augustus to -have an extra train ready for the Chancellor to leave Potsdamer Bahnhof -in half an hour at the latest." - -The Court Marshal 'phoned back that a regular train was leaving at the -time prescribed, and that a saloon carriage might be attached for Count -Buelow. - -"Very well, but express--Neues Palais first stop. Now call up Buelow." -The War Lord was continually filling his teacup and absorbing large -quantities of cucumber sandwiches. He had his mouth full when the red -disc annunciator reported Buelow at the other end, and emptied it with a -gulp. - -Yes--immediately. Most important. Would not he bring the Princess? -His wife would be delighted. - -In an hour's time a royal landau and four set Chancellor von Buelow and -his Princess down in the Sandhof, the War Lord stepping from one of the -tall door-windows of his study on to the terrace to welcome them, and -Countess Brockdorff, Mistress of the Robes, receiving Her Serene -Highness on Her Majesty's behalf. - -Do these august ladies love each other? Assuredly--after the fashion of -Empress Eugenie and Princess Pauline Metternich. The Princess thought -herself as good as the Empress any day, and never hesitated to say so, -and when on one occasion Eugenie's tantrums were excused on the plea -that she had an uncle in the strait-jacket, Pauline quickly responded: -"There are a few lunatics in my family too." - -So the Princess Camporeale, whose husband was to be "princed" a few -weeks hence, regarded herself as good as the _nee_ Schleswig-Holstein, -arguing that the Beccadello were more ancient than Her Majesty's family. -And her Margraviate of Altavilla was worth more in lires and centimes -than Her Majesty's title of Margravine of Brandenburg. - -So the Princess Maria told Countess Brockdorff she could not move until -the ladies of her Court arrived from the station, and the House Marshal -was warned that Her Highness's lackeys must not be allowed in the palace -canteen. German beer and sausage always upset them. - -Four exceedingly pretty Italian women came in the second carriage. "My -governess, Marchesa ----." "My reader, the Countess ----." "My maids of -honour, Contezzina ---- and Baroness ----"--all members of former -sovereign or semi-sovereign houses. - -Buelow beamed in his animated fashion when he did not see Eulenburg, -whom he rather expected to find, since he was always where least wanted. - -"And what may be Your Majesty's pleasure?" he asked in his courtly way, -when they were alone in the study. - -"I want your opinion on the husband I've selected for a certain young -lady." The War Lord had quite forgotten his own admonition to Phili. -"Look!" He laid a hand partly over the photograph on the table, -allowing only the forehead to be seen. - -"Good, capable forehead," observed Buelow; "something behind that." - -"No obstinacy, I hope," said the War Lord. Next he let the photograph's -eyes be seen. - -"Cold, steadfast, may be some disposition for cruelty," was Buelow's -verdict. - -"A good nose, mouth disdainful, somewhat high cheekbones--it's von -Bohlen und Halbach!" cried the Chancellor. - -"You know him?" - -"To some extent, both officially and unofficially. Never had any chance -to distinguish himself, but decidedly adaptable, yet not lacking -executive ability, I believe." - -The War Lord was delighted with the endorsement his own views received. - -"Look at that chin," he said; "firm isn't the word for it--bulldog, -regular bulldog. He will lead you the deuce of a dance, Bertha!" - -At the mention of the name the Chancellor winced perceptibly. "I -endorsed his capacity for business; I know nothing about his personal -character," he ventured, adding: "He must be at least fifteen years -older than Bertha." - -The War Lord consulted Phili's notes. "Old enough to vote, as they say -in the States--to vote for me, _nota bene_, at directors' meetings. -Call up your office and find out what kind of subordinate he is." - -"I looked at his papers only the other day. He seems to give his chief -no trouble, carrying out orders punctually and painstakingly; never -harasses the minister with original suggestions, but is quite content to -do his duty and say naught about it." - -"Is his family good enough?" - -"Gentle born," explained the Chancellor; "father was Baden Minister, -mother not of noble birth--Sophie Bohlen--but she had money, I believe. -The present Councillor of Legation is university bred, of course, and -belongs to the Guard Hussars, _Landwehr, Chef d'escadron_, says the army -'Who's Who.' Nevertheless," concluded the Chancellor in his most -persuasive style, "I don't think him the right sort of husband for -Bertha." - -"Right sort for _me_," cried the War Lord. - -Buelow, conscious that His Majesty at the time could not afford to -quarrel with him, risked a none too gentle rebuke by disregarding the -interruption. - -"She is so young," he went on, "and, as I pointed out before, there is -the making of a cruel master in his face. Think of the wealthiest girl -in the world tied to a man who will not let her have her own way--a sort -of drill-sergeant husband. Your Majesty is too whole-hearted, too -generous, too gallant," he added with a smile, "to impose a husband of -that kind upon your ward." - -In response the War Lord dropped the high falsetto of command which had -marked his interruptions, and said in a more conciliatory tone: "There -is not a man alive against whose choice as a husband objections may not -be marshalled _a la advocatus diaboli_. Now, for a change, listen to -the _advocatus Dei_, please: It goes without saying that I have my -ward's happiness very much at heart. Indeed, if she was of my own flesh -and blood, I could not cherish more tender feelings for her. I love her -like one of my own children, and haven't I accepted Cecile much as I -loathe her mother? But with Bertha it's not a mere matter of getting -married and preserving her unexampled wealth, if you will----" The War -Lord stopped short, but after a moment's thought continued: "It will be -more public spirited for Bertha to marry the man of my selection than to -imperil the Fatherland's right arm. Where would we be if she chose for -lord and master one of those fool-pacifists, some von Suttner milksop, -seeing that without Krupp's loyal co-operation our great war would go to -pot--that even a mere defensive war would better be avoided." - -"If Fraulein Krupp or her husband went to extremes, the State could step -in and take over the Krupp works," objected the Chancellor. - -"And do you suppose that our agents in Brussels, Lisbon, Rome, the South -Americas and so forth would be allowed to buy guns from the King of -Prussia?" The War Lord answered his own question with an emphatic "No!" -then suggested slyly: - -"To sell the enemy war materials is part of our ante-war programme, is -it not?" - -After walking the length and breadth of the room, he planted himself -firmly before Buelow, whom, by the way, he had not asked to be seated. - -"I command," he said with an air of finality; "Bohlen is the man. Your -own suggestion, you can't escape from it," he quickly added, when Buelow -protested. "You said the fellow, though capable, is not -self-opinionated--no swelled head--always obeys orders--in short: -adaptable. That kind of man we need at the head of the Krupp -establishment to do the Fatherland's work according to my -directions--hence Bertha will marry him and no one else." - -Then, to forestall further arguments: "Let's join the ladies now." - -He rang for an orderly. "The Grand Master," he commanded. - -Count Augustus zu Eulenburg had evidently anticipated that he would be -wanted, as he stood waiting in the Shell Grotto, facing the park. The -walls and ceiling of this gorgeous entrance hall are clad with -semi-precious stones in their natural growth: mountain-crystal and -malachite, coral trees and amethyst rocks, agate and garnets, gold and -silver ore; presents from royal friends for the most part. - -"I'll leave for Essen to-night. Wire Frau Krupp to expect me for -breakfast. The small entourage, and warn messieurs my humble servants -not to take too many lackeys. I am tired of carting their households -around." - -"At Your Majesty's orders." The Marshal bowed low. Then in a whisper: -"Is Phili to be of the party?" - -"Certainly not," replied the War Lord so Buelow might hear him. "Report -to me later," he added in an undertone. - -"Later" the following _tripotage_ was overheard: - -War Lord: "Phili hasn't left?" - -"He is awaiting Your Majesty's further commands." - -"Tell him to get ready for Essen." - -"He begs to remind Your Majesty that he is not in the Baroness's good -graces." - -"Am I not painfully aware of that? She would prefer the measles to a -morning call from Phili." - -"Then he is to stay on the train while Your Majesty visits Villa -Huegel?" - -"Until I require him. He may be needed to quicken her ladyship's -decision about matters in hand, as under pressure of his presence she -will consent more readily, just to get your precious cousin out of the -house." - - - - - *CHAPTER XXIV* - - *THE WAR LORD'S DAY IN ESSEN* - - - The Krupp Free Hotel--The War Lord and the Cinder--Bertha's - Little Surprise--The Blue Ribbon of the Son--A Mad Idea--The War - Lord Apes the Expert--Enter the Pawn--A Wily Game--Disposing of - Franz - - -"A wonderful country, the United States," said the War Lord to -Chief-Engineer Franz; "it produced two Maxims. The British War Office -captured Hiram, but there is another, Hudson, who seems to know as much -about explosives and guns as his more celebrated namesake. I want you -to take a year's leave and study him--him and Pittsburgh. Your salary -goes on, of course, and there will be a suitable allowance for expense. -I will arrange this with the Director-General." - -Franz bowed his thanks, for Wilhelm, big with his subject, showed -plainly that he meant to do all the talking. - -"Hudson Maxim," he continued, "claims priority as inventor of half a -hundred discoveries that would seem to spell success in war. He knows a -lot about dynamite, torpedoes, and detonating fuses too, and is great in -chemistry. Try and learn all he knows by fair means or--foul," he -added. Then, musingly: - -"I have lately looked into some recipes suggesting chemical preparations -for means of attack. The War Office will furnish details. Consult -Hudson Maxim and other American authorities on the subject, using the -utmost discretion, of course, for I don't quite trust those Yankees. -They manage to cover up their British sympathies, but I have had a peep -or two beneath the surface. I know Armour." His mind took a sudden -leap. "How soon will you start?" he demanded. "Do you want a week's -time? Very well." - -"May it please Your Majesty, Frau Krupp invited me to accompany herself -and daughters on their jaunt--sort of _marechal de logis_----" ventured -Franz. - -"Duty, sir! Fatherland first. Tuesday's French liner, then; and don't -fail to investigate whether steamers of this class are liable to be of -use as auxiliary vessels in case of war. Ballin and the Norddeutscher -Lloyd people pronounce them veritable men-of-war. But, to my mind, -Ballin and Company are after subsidies." - -Thus was Franz politely requested and cruelly coerced to leave Villa -Huegel. It was on the eve of the day after the interview between War -Lord and Chancellor. Events had moved swiftly since then. - -A comfortable night on Majesty's train _de luxe_, preceded by a variety -performance by Phili Eulenburg, star impersonator. - -Breakfast, 9 A.M., at the Krupp villa, better and more plentiful than at -home. - -A drive next? No; Uncle Majesty would not allow Bertha to handle the -ribbons of the four-in-hand. Never doubted her ability, of course--yet -that experience of his at Count Dohna's. No amateurs on the box for -him. "His little girl was to sit by his side," and they were to discuss -"grave business matters." - -Wilhelm, who always looks for chances to combine business with pleasure, -asked to be driven to the _Essener Hof_, a hotel in the city of Essen -proper, where intending buyers of guns and ammunition are lodged, and, -it may be added, wined and feasted at the War Lady's expense. Be sure -that the Krupp hostelry is never lacking in guests pretending to be -unsatisfied with the tests of war material conducted for their benefit -as long as there is the slightest excuse for delay in going home, since, -once satisfied, they must buy, and, the deal concluded, give up their -comfortable apartments at the _Hof_. - -Wilhelm left half a dozen of his large, ugly visiting-cards at the door -of the hotel for the Jap, Chinese, Turkish and other representatives, -bending down the lower right-hand corner of the pasteboards to indicate -his regrets that he had failed to find the gentlemen in. - -"If any of them attempt to pay me a return visit, I shall put them under -'old Fritz' and pulverise their yellow bones," he said to Bertha. - -But before they had finished laughing at the piece of raillery the War -Lord uttered a cry of anguish. An infinitesimal cinder or a bit of soot -had got into his left ear, causing him the most excruciating pains. - -"Home," he gasped piteously. "Let's pick up a physician on the way." -(For some reason or other no doctor was included in the small Imperial -party.) - -Dr. Shrader was dumbfounded when the royal chasseur, in feather hat, -broadsword at his side, summoned him. "My consulting hour; dozens of -people waiting," he protested. The chasseur bent over the doctor's ear -and whispered, whereupon Shrader ran into the street in his -dressing-gown, apparently to interview the gutter, for, in his anxiety -to pacify the War Lord with stammered excuses, his nose was close to the -stream of mucky water running down the hill. - -Naturally, the humour of the thing did not appeal to Wilhelm, racked -with pain as he was. He rose from the seat, and, pushing the obsequious -doctor aside, jumped up the steps, saying: "Attend me, I command." Of -course, in the meanwhile the doctor's household had got wind of the -royal radiance, and flocked from parlour, bedrooms and scullery, males -and females and children, all eager to prostrate themselves in hall or -on staircases, wherever they might be. - -The War Lord turned to Shrader: "Send them upstairs; lock them in if -necessary." And, with a look through the glass door of the -waiting-room: "These people must leave instantly; I won't be their -_Grossebeest_." - -He let himself drop into the doctor's ample desk-chair. - -"The ear-pump and antiseptics!" he commanded with a cry of pain. Then, -as the doctor approached with the instruments: "Oh, take off that dirty -dressing-gown first. Roll up your sleeves. Wash your hands." - -More insulting orders were thundered at the man of science by a supposed -gentleman, but their execution gave Shrader time to recover. - -He handled the ear-pump with consummate ease, as he happened to be a -specialist in the line, and soon had the satisfaction of showing the War -Lord the annoying fragment of cinder which his skill had discovered and -extracted. - -"May it please Your Majesty, it would be well to clear all the passages -by blowing air through them," he humbly suggested. - -"Do all that's necessary, doctor." - -Shrader produced another instrument fitted with a spiral trumpet and a -long rubber tube, and went to work vigorously. By the time the War Lord -was ready to leave the doctor laid down his microscope: "I congratulate -Your Majesty; no evidence of putrefaction, hence no gangrenous -inflammation." - -"Who said there was?" demanded the War Lord severely. - -"I meant to submit to Your Majesty that the ear will give no further -trouble." - -"That's better," said Wilhelm in a pleasant voice. He strode through -the hall at such a pace that the chasseur had hardly time to open the -door for him. - -The street was black with people. "Hochs!" resounded from a thousand -throats, basso, tenor, soprano, what not. A good many people had been -talking to Bertha--all at once, of course. "Prating of their -misfortunes--the usual racket," suggested the War Lord, with a look of -contempt, as he sat down beside the heiress. And when the carriage was -clear of the mob he added: "You ought to have walked the horses up and -down in the neighbourhood while I was with the doctor." - -"I thought of that, likewise that the carriage might not have been on -hand when you wanted to start, Uncle Majesty. You told me the remark of -the French king: 'I almost waited,'" replied Fraulein Krupp. - -Dr. Shrader had indeed relieved the Majesty, who felt fresh and buoyant -after the invigorating ride over the hills and along the -shooting-ranges. The latter, while fully manned, were silent, for the -chasseur had telephoned to Count Helmuth von Moltke, and the adjutant -had countermanded all trial practice. - -"Let's look at 'old Fritz' again," said the War Lord, after -refreshments. Unlike Charles V., the War Lord is never awakened during -the night to swallow some favourite dish, but five meals a day are his -rule, and to revive his animal spirits he takes a number of raw eggs in -a glass of cognac after the slightest exertion, when at home, i.e. at -his own expense, while more substantial and elaborate provision is -expected at friends' houses. - -At Villa Huegel he is never disappointed. Even if he brought those -"forty scientist friends" he once imposed upon Dom Carlos of Portugal, -poor man!--indeed, even if he asked Frau Krupp to lodge and feed a whole -regiment of gold-laced or fringe-trousered nobodies or impostors, there -would be the most generous response on her part and no questions asked. - -"When I heard you were coming, Uncle Majesty, I planned a little -surprise," said Bertha, when showing the War Lord a short cut to "old -Fritz's" habitat. She led the way to a section of the armour-plate -department, whose employes burst into feverish activity at their -approach. No doubt they were expected. - -"Eighty tons," said Bertha, pointing towards the huge crucible steel -block being placed under a giant hydraulic press. - -"How will you move a cannon of that size?" queried the War Lord, who is -liable to get his figures mixed. - -"But it is not going to be a cannon, Uncle Majesty," explained the -mistress of the works. - -"You are going to roll it out into an armour-plate for Chimborazo, -then?" - -"Once more Uncle Majesty is pleased to be mistaken." - -"Maybe it's a statue of England's lord high admiral you are making?" - -"Burning," said the smiling Bertha; "it has something to do with the -sea." - -There was more guessing and repartee during the first half of the thirty -minutes required to coax and squeeze and handle and form the block and -drag its slow length along--150 feet of it. Seeing that, the War Lord -no longer could master his curiosity. - -"What is it to be, Bertha?" he asked in a tone that would not be denied, -and the wonder is that he did not add the polite: "I command!" of -average Prussian bully ship. - -"The shaft of a big steamer, Uncle Majesty; the biggest----" - -"I know, I know," shouted the War Lord above the din of machinery, "for -Ballin. Wants to snatch the speed record from Bremen. Fetch the -superintendent, Bertha." - -To the official, who was undecided whether he ought to drop dead with -devotion or burst with pride, he said in the tone of an ancient Father -of the Church: "Work of the utmost importance is entrusted to you--in a -measure you are the guardian of the Fatherland's supremacy at sea. -England is building a giant steamship to steal our speed record. Her -new ocean greyhound is to be ready for passenger service in 1907. Pray -to God fervently, asking Him to grant you success that you may help to -defeat the enemy of German commerce and our development as a sea power. -To assist in taking the blue ribbon of sea power away from Great Britain -should be the aim of all good Germans, even as it is your War Lord's -duty to secure for the Fatherland the ocean coast-lines she needs." He -dismissed the man with a wave of the hand. - -It is interesting to note here that this speech was delivered a month -before Wilhelm met King Edward at Wilhelmshohe to spout "his sincere -wishes for a frank understanding with Great Britain" and for the -"desirability of common action" where German or British interests were -involved. - -Meanwhile the shaft had been completed, a towering, solid mass, and the -War Lord, walking round it, remarked admiringly: "Fine, looks as if come -out of Vulcan's own smithy. What next?" he added, with his customary -impatience. - -The young girl was anxious to show her familiarity with the business. -Had she not undergone much coaching by Franz for this very reason? - -"Extracting the kernel," she answered, with an air of superiority. - -"I should like to see the removal of the kernel," ordered the War Lord, -as if the idea were original with him. Bertha pulled his sleeve and -whispered again, after which Wilhelm admonished the superintendent: -"Take care that it comes out in one piece." - -No doubt the man would have died of mortification if the well-known -"cussedness" of "inanimate objects" had played him a trick; but, luckily -for him, it refrained, which encourages the thought that the supposed -"inanimation" is not quite so hopeless after all. Maybe in this case -the "inanimate object" was intent upon beating the War Lord out of a -chance to scold and air his views on mechanics. - -"Any more novelties?" asked Wilhelm, disappointed because the machinery -worked to perfection. - -"The hydraulic shears are busy in the next shop," said Bertha. - -There the War Lord saw sections of armour-plates for one of his -Dreadnoughts cut as if they were so many enormous Swiss cheeses. - -"Some fine day," he commented, "we will mount one of these shears on the -Calais coast, and next to it a giant magnet." He paused, contemplating -the picture of his imagination. - -"Yes, yes, Uncle Majesty!" cried the eager Bertha. - -"The magnet," continued the War Lord, "will pull the English Dreadnought -fleet out of the Channel, and toss ship after ship over into the jaws of -the shears to be made mincemeat of. Fine heap of scrap-iron for you, -Bertha." - -"But the sailors!" cried the young girl. - -"_Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori_," declared the War Lord, -shrugging. - -Next they looked at some enormous presses capable of bending -armour-plates to any shape desired. This amused the Majesty hugely. He -likes to bend men and things. - -"Any shape desired?" - -"Any Your Majesty will be pleased to command." - -"Very well. Model one on the left half of my moustache." - -The supervisor shouted orders and the machinery stopped for a little -while, then turned out the desired shape with photographic accuracy. But -the War Lord would not have it: "The point's missing," he declared. - -"I leave it to Fraulein," murmured the superintendent, wincing under the -rebuke. And with the vivacity and carelessness of youth Bertha divined -the situation, and instantly came to her employe's rescue. - -"Herr Grier is right; Your Majesty's moustaches are not trimmed alike. -The left one is much shorter." - -Wilhelm put his hand up to his cheek. "So it is," he admitted -grudgingly. "I remember I set fire to it last night on the train -lighting a cigarette." This was addressed to Bertha. He was too small -a person to excuse his rudeness to the superintendent. - -"There is a ninety-ton block of steel making. Would Uncle Majesty like -to see how it's done?" said Bertha, on the way back to Villa Huegel. - -"Ninety tons! What a cannon that would make! Of course I would like to -see it." - -Bertha led the way to the crucible works, where at that moment fifty -pairs of workers were engaged in carrying about on long bars white-hot -crucibles of metal. They were acting with the utmost precision, and one -shudders to think of the wounds and mutilation that would have ensued -had either one of them stumbled or been seized by sudden illness. As -each couple of men advanced and tilted the glowing mass into the mould, -the War Lord observed: - -"Much too long-winded and laborious. I will talk to the -Director-General about that, Bertha." - -And, turning to the supervisor, he demanded curtly: "The composition of -the mixture?" - -The man bowed to the ground to hide his confusion, and once more Bertha -jumped into the breach. - -"He doesn't know--nor do I. Secret formula of Grandfather Frederick. -Don't press him, Uncle Majesty, for even to speculate on these -technicalities means dismissal and disgrace for an employe." Though she -spoke in a pleading tone of voice, the War Lord continued to frown. - -"Perhaps he is allowed to explain why no shorter process is used." - -The supervisor fairly beamed with readiness and satisfaction. "May it -please Your Majesty, our way--I beg Fraulein's pardon, the Krupp way--is -the only absolutely sure method to forestall bubbles and flaws." - -"And a flaw, is it a serious matter?" asked the War Lord, very much -alert. - -"Indeed, Your Majesty, for it may cause the shattering of a shaft, the -breakdown of machinery, the bursting of cannon." - -"And all cannon turned out by the works have the benefit of this -process?" - -"All without exception, Your Majesty." - -A bystander says he heard the War Lord mutter under his breath: "What -rot!" And there is a further report that he burst into the -Director-General's room, and roared: "Fine kettle of fish I discovered. -Guarding against flaws in cannon intended for enemy countries! Why not -turn over to France and England and Russia all the secret plans of the -German War Office?" - -But no authoritative record of Wilhelm's sayings relating to this -particular point has been obtainable. As a matter of fact, it isn't -worth the pains of special research. It is to be noted, however, that -after the Turkish defeat at Lule Burgas and Kirk Kilisse Bertha's -husband was moved to say that the stories about the "inefficiency of -Krupp guns and Krupp workmanship" were "fables," and that he was ready -at any time "to take the field against all comers with Krupp guns and -Krupp armour." - -After tea the War Lord had a long, serious talk with Frau Krupp. -Happily her ladyship had been mistaken. Bertha was not actually in love -with Franz; just a sort of sisterly attachment, momentarily intensified -by girlish longings. So much the better, since the right sort of -husband for his ward had been found: Doctor von Bohlen und Halbach, the -young diplomat, distinguished, well-bred, sound business head and -ambitious. "Highest ambition to serve his king." - -"Supposing Your Majesty understood Bertha correctly with respect to -Franz, her change of heart does not mean that she will fall in love with -Your Majesty's candidate for her hand," said Frau Krupp. - -"Preparing to jump," thought Wilhelm; "I wish Phili were here." And as -accident would have it, His Highness was announced that very moment. -Eulenburg, or Hohenzollern luck? - -The Baroness opened her mouth to deny herself to the visitor on the plea -of unavoidable business, but Wilhelm got ahead of her. "The Prince is -most welcome," he said to the major-domo. - -There is no denying that His Highness, ten or more years ago, was a -striking personality and had a peculiar charm. As Murat knew more about -the art of dressing than Napoleon, so Eulenburg overshadowed Wilhelm as -a glass of fashion, avoiding the latter's all-too-apparent striving for -effect and pretence. - -Despite their close relations, he greeted Wilhelm without a trace of -familiarity and kissed Frau Krupp's hand. - -"Just in time," cried the War Lord. "I was telling the Baroness about -the Chancellor's young friend, von Bohlen. Buelow told me he would ask -you to allow him sight of your records concerning the diplomat. Was he -satisfied? Tell us all you know about Bohlen?" - -That he was well aware of Frau Krupp's loathing for him need not be -reiterated, and that in her ladyship's eyes praise from Sir Phili spelt -the worst of condemnation for the party approved of he fully realised, -and framed his answer accordingly: - -"I am pained to acknowledge that I have no personal acquaintance with -the young man who rejoices in the great Pontiff's love and -friendship----" - -"You have Pius's own opinion," cried the War Lord. His astonishment was -equalled only by his appreciation of the lie told. - -"At Your Majesty's service--through the kindness of the papal legate. -When Majesty commissioned me to get reliable information about our -foreign representatives, I went to headquarters--may it please Your -Majesty." - -"It pleases me immensely. What did the Pontiff say?" - -"Exemplary habits, God-fearing, able and ambitious--these few words sum -up the Holy Father's estimate of Bohlen." - -"Did you hear that?" asked Wilhelm, addressing Frau Krupp. "We will get -the details from Buelow." And turning to Phili, he said: "You wanted to -meet my ward. I will summon her, and she shall show you over the house -and grounds. Beats Liebenberg," he added in an undertone. - -Phili beamed. "His Majesty is joking," he said to Frau Krupp. "To -compare my poor Tusculum to Villa Huegel and surroundings is to put my -Skalde songs next to the immortal ballads of Beranger." - -Frau Krupp dared not object to Wilhelm's arrangements. She played into -the War Lord's hands. - -"I will meet you and His Highness at the fountain in five minutes," she -told Bertha--a welcome cue to Uncle Majesty. - -"Aside from the Pope's estimate, does the Chancellor himself approve of -Herr von Bohlen?" asked Frau Krupp. - -"Enthusiastically. Bohlen's record in Washington and in Peking equalled -his success at the Holy See. _Gnaedige Frau_," added Wilhelm in a tone -of conviction, "let's hope that the estimable young man's heart is still -free. I have no doubt that he would be a _dieu-donne_ to Bertha, -yourself and--Essen." - -"And Your Majesty desires me to broach the matter to my daughter?" - -"What is _gnaedige Frau_ thinking of? Do you suppose I would have wooed -Augusta if I had known that Bismarck wanted me to marry her? No, no; -matters of that kind must be left to accident, or apparent accident. -This is the time for diplomatic furloughs. Tell me where you want to -take the girls on their holiday, and I will have your son-in-law-to-be -introduced quite casually. Buelow will manage." - -"Bertha spoke of having another look into Rome before the hot season," -said the Baroness. - -"Fate," cried Wilhelm (if he was a Catholic he would have crossed -himself). "God's will," he corrected his lapsus _linguae_. "Herr von -Bohlen und Halbach will be ordered not to leave his post until further -notice. When you are in Rome he will present himself with Buelow's -compliments, offering to act as my ward's cicerone. This will give you -abundant opportunity for intimate observation and Bertha a chance to -fall in love if she cares. - -"All's arranged, then," he added in the finality vein peculiar to his -nature, when he kissed Frau Krupp's hand at the door, which he had -opened for her. In the Teuton Majesty's eye this was a great and almost -overpowering act of condescension; the twentieth-century -Prussian-en-chef rather prides himself on such mannerisms, fondly -mistaking them for dignity. - -Well satisfied with the success of his stratagem, Wilhelm rang for his -adjutant and dictated to him a long dispatch to the Chancellor, giving a -well-coloured version of the interview with Frau Krupp and instructing -Count Buelow how to answer the lady's forthcoming inquiries. - -"The holiest of the holies, of course," ordered Wilhelm, referring to -the telegraphic code. "I don't trust these Essen fellows," he deigned -to explain; "the Chasseur shall take the message to Duesseldorf and -personally hand it to the President to be sent over the official wire." - -Afterwards he joined the ladies and Phili, finishing up the day's -strenuous work of intrigue and sight-seeing with the talk to Franz, -recorded at the opening of this chapter. - -Just before leaving Villa Huegel he had another _tete-a-tete_ with Frau -Krupp. "I have conferred signal honours on your protege" (meaning the -chief engineer), he said. "I am sending him to the States to study new -inventions and investigate patents relating to war materials--greatest -chance that ever came to a young man. If he does as well as I expect, I -will make him special representative of my General Staff. Is your -Ladyship satisfied now?" - -Frau Krupp breathed her humblest thanks. What else could she do? - - - - - *CHAPTER XXV* - - *A ROYAL LIAR* - - - High-Placed Plagiarists--Diplomatic Trickery--The Kaiser - Whitewashes Himself--"What of the German Navy?"--Clumsy - Espionage - - -_October 10th_, 1905, 6 _p.m._ - -The red disc betraying the War Lord's presence at the other end of the -wire thrust itself between the Chancellor's eyes and the copy of _Echo -de Paris_ he was reading. - -"I command Bohlen," said Wilhelm's impatient voice. - -"I am afraid he is not available just now, Your Majesty. Gone shopping -with his fiancee the last I heard." - -"Order Wedell to find him. He shall be at the Chancellery at nine -sharp, when I expect to find you too, Prince." - -"Gracing my wife's soiree?" - -"Soiree to-night? Excellent! I will order all my boys to kiss Madame's -hand. It will put her into good humour, and she will the more readily -allow you to attend to business." - -"And, Majesty," said Buelow, hopefully, "the Princess Maria is counting -on having the honour of Your Majesty's presence." - -"I will send the insignia of _dell' Annunciata_ instead." - -"I beg Your Majesty, don't. Maria might not remember that Charles XII. -sent his boots to preside at the Swedish Council of State." - -As before remarked, it is one of Buelow's tricks always to have on the -tip of his tongue some historic _bon mot_ suitable to the occasion. - -There was an outburst of rough laughter. "He did, did he? And yet they -called him the Madman of the North. Next time Herr Bebel has a -congress, I will send the Reds a pair of my riding breeches, and no new -ones either. But _revenons a_ Bohlen. Devil of a chap! Made Bertha -his goods, his chattel, his stuff, his field, his barn, his horse, his -ox, his ass, his everything! That's the way! Make them eat out of your -hand, Prince!" - -Buelow was a Prince since the 6th of June, and the War Lord never tired -of calling him by the title of his own creation. He had just borrowed -boldly from the Bard, and the theft being apparently undiscovered by his -literary Chancellor, Wilhelm felt justified in relaxing his imperious -mien some more. - -"Can't you prescribe a dose of sleeping sickness for that fool Liebert? -His shouting about 'our war' to obtain supreme sea power is -co-responsible for the _Entente Cordiale_. Of course I like to strike -terror into the hearts of the enemy, but in his Navy League speech -Liebert went too far. If he keeps it up, I shall put him on half-pay. -Tell him so." (The War Lord referred to General von Liebert, -ex-Governor of German East Africa, who had made a speech threatening -Great Britain and France.) - -And more talk of that kind. The more gossipy, the better for Buelow, as -there had been no time to digest the _Echo de Paris_ article and to -enter into its discussion before he had fully made up his mind what to -say about the reported Anglo-Franco-Russo-Japanese Alliance. His -comments might lead to serious dissension with Majesty, for Wilhelm was -sure to fasten on to some supposed negligible point in the Chancellor's -argument to distort the whole tenor of his interpretation. - -Tit for tat. Only when Buelow was the victim, there was no -prearrangement like in the case of the repudiations of the Joseph -Chamberlain and the London _Daily Telegraph_ interviews. - -When in England five years before, the War Lord had prompted Mr. -Chamberlain to make his historic appeal in favour of co-operation -between Great Britain, Germany and the United States, assuring him that -Germany's future policy would rest on such an understanding as on a -_roche de bronze_. - -Mr. Chamberlain, being under the impression that only gentlemen were -invited to Sandringham House, thought His Majesty sincere and gave -public utterance to the message, promising peace and mutual -understanding. - -But the _Roi de Prusse_ had no sooner shaken the dust of England from -his boots than Buelow was ordered to repudiate the whole thing (without -directly impugning his Sovereign's word, of course) and to ridicule -Chamberlain's "Utopian schemes." - -Notwithstanding, the then German Ambassador in London, Count -Wolff-Metternich, later had the impudence to complain to Sir F. -Lascelles, British representative in Berlin, that the state of English -opinion toward Germany and the British Foreign Office's coldness toward -the Wilhelmstrasse gave him considerable uneasiness; whereupon Sir -Lascelles demanded to know whether Germany expected British Secretaries -of State, having been struck in the face, were to turn the other cheek -for further castigation and insult? - -Three years after the birth of the Quadruple Alliance, at which we are -now assisting, the War Lord and his Chancellor had another repudiation -game between them. Mr. Harcourt having prepared the way in his amazing -Lancashire speech,[#] Wilhelm strove to outdo the Father of Lies in the -notorious _Daily Telegraph_ interview, the general theme of which was: - - -[#] Mr. Harcourt's speech in Lancashire, October, 1908: "I wil not offer -to other nations the temptation which would be afforded by a defenceless -England, but let me assure you ... there has not been any period in the -last ten or fifteen years--and I speak with knowledge and a sense of -deep responsibility--in which our relations with Germany--commercial, -colonial, political, and dynastic--have been on a firmer and more -friendly footing than they are to-day. - -"Our rivalries are only in trade and education, and though I should -claim for us the supremacy of the former, I would yield to Germany the -palm for perfection in the latter; but of personal animosity there is -none between the rulers, the Governments, or the peoples. And if in -either country there is a small class of publicists who, for selfish and -unpatriotic ends, desire to set the nations at variance--well, they are -the footpads of politics and the enemies of the human race." - - -"You English are mad, mad--mad as March hares. What has come over you -that you are so completely given over to suspicions quite unworthy of a -great nation? What more can I do than I have done? I declared with all -the emphasis at my command, in my speech at Guildhall, that my heart is -set upon peace, and that it is one of my dearest wishes to live on the -best of terms with England. Have I ever been false to my word? -Falsehood and prevarication are alien to my nature. - -"My actions ought to speak for themselves, but you listen, not to them, -but to those who misinterpret and distort them. That is a personal -insult which I feel and resent. To be for ever misjudged, to have my -repeated offers of friendship weighed and scrutinised with jealous, -mistrustful eyes, taxes my patience severely. I have said time after -time that I am a friend of England, and your Press--or, at least, a -considerable section of it--bids the people of England refuse my -proffered hand, and insinuates that the other holds a dagger. - -"I repeat that I am the friend of England, but you make things difficult -for me. My task is not of the easiest. The prevailing sentiment of -large sections of the middle and the lower classes of my country is not -friendly to England. I am therefore, so to speak, in a minority in my -own land. - -"It is commonly believed in England that throughout the South African -War Germany was hostile to her. German opinion undoubtedly was -hostile--bitterly hostile. The Press was hostile; private opinion was -hostile. But what of official Germany? Let my critics ask themselves -what brought to a sudden stop, and indeed caused the absolute collapse -of the European tour of the Boer delegates who were striving to obtain -European intervention? They were feted in Holland; France gave them a -rapturous welcome. They wished to come to Berlin where the German -people would have crowned them with flowers. But when they asked me to -receive them I refused. The agitation immediately died away, and the -delegation returned empty-handed. Was that, I ask, the action of a -secret enemy? - -"Again, when the struggle was at its height, the German Government was -invited by the Governments of France and Russia to join with them in -calling upon England to put an end to the war. The moment had come, -they said, not only to save the Boer Republics, but also to humiliate -England to the dust. What was my reply? I said that, so far from -Germany joining in any concerted European action to put pressure upon -England and bring about her downfall, Germany would always keep aloof -from politics that could bring her into complications with a Sea Power -like England. - -"Posterity will one day read the exact terms of the telegram--now in the -archives at Windsor Castle--in which I informed the Sovereign of England -of the answer I had returned to the Powers which then sought to compass -her fall. Englishmen who now insult me by doubting my word should know -what were my actions in the hour of their adversity. - -"Nor was that all. Just at the time of your Black Week, in December of -1899, when disasters followed one another in rapid succession, I -received a letter from Queen Victoria, my revered grandmother, written -in sorrow and affliction, and bearing manifest traces of the anxieties -which were preying upon her mind and health. I at once returned a -sympathetic reply. Nay, I did more. I bade one of my officers procure -for me as exact an account as he could obtain of the number of -combatants in South Africa on both sides, and of the actual position of -the opposing forces. - -"With the figures before me I worked out what I considered to be the -best plan of campaign under the circumstances, and submitted it to my -General Staff for their criticism. Then I dispatched it to England, and -that document, likewise, is among the State papers at Windsor Castle, -awaiting the serenely impartial verdict of history. - -"And, as a matter of curious coincidence, let me add, that the plan -which I formulated ran very much on the same lines as that which was -actually adopted by Lord Roberts, and carried by him into successful -operation. Was that, I repeat, the act of one who wished England ill? -Let Englishmen be just. - -"But you will say, what of the German Navy? Surely that is a menace to -England. Against whom but England are my squadrons being prepared? If -England is not in the minds of those Germans who are bent on creating a -powerful fleet, why is Germany asked to consent to such new and heavy -burdens of taxation? My answer is clear. Germany is a young and growing -empire. She has a world-wide commerce, which is rapidly expanding and -to which the legitimate ambition of patriotic Germans refuses to assign -any bounds. - -"Germany must have a powerful fleet to protect that commerce and her -manifold interests in even the most distant seas. She expects those -interests to go on growing, and she must be able to champion them -manfully in any quarter of the globe. Germany looks ahead. Her -horizons stretch far away. She must be prepared for any eventualities -in the Far East. Who can foresee what may take place in the Pacific in -the days to come, days not so distant as some believe, but days at any -rate for which all European Powers with Far Eastern interests ought -steadily to prepare? - -"Look at the accomplished rise of Japan; think of the possible national -awakening of China; and then judge of the vast problems of the Pacific. -Only those Powers which have great navies will be listened to with -respect, when the future of the Pacific comes to be solved; and if for -that reason only, Germany must have a powerful fleet. It may be that -even England herself will be glad that Germany has a fleet when they -speak together on the same side in the momentous debates of the future." - -When the interview set the world guessing, disputing, imputing and -passing the lie freely, Prince Buelow again disavowed his master, with -His Majesty's consent and at his instigation, of course, otherwise the -fate of Bismarck would have seemed much too good for the obstreperous -servant. - -But to return to the 10th of October, 1905, 6 P.M. While the -Chancelleries of all Europe were quaking with deliberations on the -Anglo-Russian _rapprochement_ in connection with the Anglo-Japanese -Alliance, the War Lord's chief minister spent an anxious _quart d'heure_ -trying to convince His Majesty that he was not intriguing against one of -the numerous Eulenburg-maggots, fattening in the public cheese, -Limburger brand. - -Majesty, it seems, was deeply concerned about a certain titled member of -the German Embassy in London who had befouled his record by spying. -This pretty gentleman attended the Essex manoeuvres in the fall of 1904, -notebook in hand, and sent elaborate reports, accompanied by sketches -and diagrams, to the Berlin General Staff, acting the part of Secret -Service agent no less treacherously, but rather more clumsily, than the -German aristocrat who was convicted at Edinburgh in 1911. - -Subsequently, of course, no British Army officer could afford to know -this individual, and Mayfair, too, showed a decided inclination to cut -dead the _chevalier d'espionnage_. - -"Quite naturally!" Prince Buelow saved himself by adding: "From the -English standpoint." - -The telephone fairly "zizzled" as the War Lord shouted back: - -"What? Ostracise a man who has done nothing but his ---- duty toward me -and the Fatherland. Intolerable! ----!! He must be reinstated in -clubs and Society. He must be able to hold up his head in Piccadilly as -proudly as in Unter den Linden. I command it. Speak to Lascelles about -it, and have this boycott ended at once. - -Of course Buelow promised--with his left hand on his back, which, as -explained, allows a good German to vow one thing and mean another. - - - - - *CHAPTER XXVI* - - *EXPLAINING "THE DAY"* - - - The True Wilhelm--The War Lord is Angry--More - Disclosures--Buelow Sums Up--Dreams of Conquest--The Subjugation - of England--Peace Must Wait on War--The New Big Gun--von Bohlen - is Dense - - -Prince Buelow emptied a small phial of double-distilled extract of eau -de Cologne on his handkerchief, for a message from the palace said that -the War Lord's ear trouble had again become acute, and that, -consequently, all windows and doors must be hermetically shut during his -visit at the Chancellery. Again he was called up. Wilhelm had -dismissed his Chasseur, with a record of twenty years' faithful service, -because the man kept the carriage door open while he asked whether a -hot-water bag was wanted. "Instanter!" Wouldn't suffer him to take his -place on the box again. - -"Pleasant evening in store for us, Herr von Bohlen," said the Prince to -Bertha's fiance. - -He rang for his adjutant. "You would not like to go back to -Brandenburg?" he began pleasantly. - -"Nor to any other provincial hole, Your Highness," answered the Baron -Reiff, clicking his heels together. - -"In that case see that His Majesty does not complain of draughts while -here." - -The adjutant raised a hand to his left ear. Buelow nodded. "I will have -to hold you responsible, Reiff," he said in tones of unwonted severity. - -The Chancellor's palace was _en fete_. The brilliantly lit corridors -and stairs were alive with guests, eager to pay homage to Princess -Maria: Scions of Royalty and mere beggar counts, as the great Frederick -used to style poor nobles; masters of statecraft and prima donnas; -generals and blue-blooded cornets, courtiers and members of the -hierarchy. And as many lackeys in blue and silver as visitors. - -Most of the guests longed for sight of the Chancellor, and would have -given much to have a peep at the room where Bismarck bullied and ruled -Europe, but the glass doors leading to the grand garden salon were -guarded inside and out by Secret Service men, while Baron Reiff flitted -to and fro, scrutinising faces and keeping an eye on everybody. - -In the grand salon of the Bel Etage, Enrico Caruso was exchanging notes -of purity for the immaculate ones of the Bank of England, when the siren -of the royal automobile cried shame on Verdi. Three blasts and a half. -Her Highness's master of ceremony, at the foot of the staircase, rapped -frantically; the doorkeeper rushed forward with an enormous umbrella, -though the sky was clear; Baron Reiff looked daggers, and conversation -was cut as by the executioner's axe. - -Narrow lips frozen together under a carroty-greyish moustache with -points threatening the white of his eyes; face a dead yellow; a -masterful, defiant chin thrust forward; eyes flashing, but dark of -aspect in general appearance despite his white, red and silver -accoutrements, the War Lord strode into the Chancellor's room. - -He looked so stony, a stranger both to joy and pity, that Herr von -Bohlen told Bertha afterwards that the War Lord seemed, to him, like a -man whose veins were clogged with salt and clay instead of running warm -blood. - -A stiff, mechanical salute, squaring of shoulders, inflating of chest, -pecking at the two men, who nearly bent double. Wilhelm acted as if his -spine were paralysed. No graven image of his own design appears -stiffer, more jointless. Somebody has likened him to a coloured plate -out of a book of etiquette. He certainly looked it, for etiquette -taboos smiles, real courtesy, humanity itself. - -While his eyes swept the room, the silver helmet came crashing down on a -table. He would have given much to discover reasons for complaint, and -Prince Buelow's precautions against draughts discomforted him more than -his negligence would have done; it robbed him of the chance for flying -into a passion. - -"Pretty goings on at Downing Street and Quai d'Orsay," he snarled. -"Yesterday it was Kiau-chau. To-day it's German Belgium and Northern -France they ask. Any additional insults since then?" - -"All the dispatches are in Your Majesty's hands," replied the -Chancellor, looking significantly at Herr von Bohlen. - -"Report." If the Lord of Statecraft and gentleman born and bred, -Chancellor and Prince, had been a thieving valet, Wilhelm could not have -spoken with more contemptuous severity. - -"Will Your Majesty be pleased to be seated?" This with another -questioning look at Bertha's fiance. Prince von Buelow had more than a -little respect for the dignity of his office. - -"Without reserve," muttered the War Lord, dropping into an arm-chair. -"I want him to know, and knowing, to understand the imperativeness of -his duties as head of the Krupp works. Report, sir." - -The Chancellor, who wore Hussar uniform with the insignia of -Major-General and more decorations than the most beloved of cotillon -favourites at 2 A.M., bowed ceremoniously, then stood bolt upright and -somewhat constrainedly. - -"May it please Your Majesty," he began, weighing a parcel of dispatches -in his hand, but not looking at them. "The Paris disclosures just made -seem to be the direct outcome of the friendly understanding between -Great Britain and France----" - -"The abortion called _Entente Cordiale_," interrupted the War Lord--a -red rag to a bull already wounded. - -The Chancellor continued: "The British assume that we are planning the -destruction of France, and, that accomplished, the invasion of England. -British statesmen recognise that the French army is no match for ours, -that even with the assistance of the English Yeomanry----" - -"Miserable hirelings, whom the German Boers thrashed four years in -succession," cried Wilhelm, rising and stamping his foot. - -"Even with their assistance Germany would remain supreme on land," -resumed Prince Buelow. "Hence Quai d'Orsay's overtures to Downing -Street: Paralyse German land supremacy by supremacy on sea, and----" - -"Steal my colonies, that's their game," thundered the War Lord, -addressing Bohlen. "Do you know what that means, sir? That the -Hohenzollern wouldn't have a stone to lay his head on when the Reds have -their way. To me colonies are entailed estates, on which to fall back -when the civil list at home fails us. Suppose Germany--which God -forbid--turned republic. Off we are to Africa like a shot, there to -await our chance to return at the proper time. And there won't be any -doffing the chapeau to the mob if we do come back, I warrant you."[#] - - -[#] In March, 1848, Frederick Wilhelm IV., Wilhelm's grand-uncle, was -ordered by the Berlin revolutionists to come out on the balcony and to -salute when the victims of his soldiery were carried past the castle. -He bowed obsequiously--an act that is gall and wormwood to the War Lord. -Hence it is permissible in the Fatherland to call Frederick Wilhelm IV. -an ass--no more or less. An editor who called him a mouse-coloured ass -got three months for his pains. - - -"It must be conceded, though," said the Chancellor, with a conciliatory -smile, "that the British are profoundly pacific and that there is no -itch for war in the Island Kingdoms. If ever there was, it lies buried -somewhere on the African veld. Neither is France likely to provoke war." - -"She knows better," cried Wilhelm. "French women don't want children." - -"So much for the _Entente Cordiale_," continued Prince Buelow--the War -Lord had sat down on the edge of a table, swinging his right leg to and -fro--"British statesmanship contending that Europe needs a strong -France, and that a blow struck at France is a blow aimed at England." - -"Donnersmarck's talk. If it was not for his money and his age, I would -muzzle the old fool. But as I told him only the other day, he will be -punished sure enough." - -Donnersmarck is a Prince of the War Lord's creation, better known by his -hereditary title of Count Henckel. The family achieved the lower grades -of nobility at the beginning of the seventeenth century, and has always -been noted for considerable landed possessions. Prince Guido is one of -the richest men on the Continent, and the King of Prussia sometimes uses -him as a speaking tube, never scrupling of course to disavow his -utterances when it suits the Majesty-souffleur. In the disclosures -referred to, Donnersmarck and Professor Schiemann had boldly announced -in Paris that, if France contracted an alliance with England, Germany -would fall upon her, crush her and exact a staggering indemnity, enough -to pay for all damage the British fleet could possibly do to the German -merchant marine and trade. - -These threats were not repudiated at the time (the latter half of June) -and the War Lord had considered them quite legitimate clubs for pounding -French opinion while the _Entente Cordiale pourparlers_ were on. - -Professor Schiemann is a publicist, a historian and a lecturer on -military academics. He is held responsible for some of the -misinformation on historic topics the War Lord frequently betrays in his -public utterances. - -"We now come to the Anglo-Japanese Alliance," said Prince Buelow. - -"Aiming at Kiau-chau," finished the War Lord grimly. - -"Which Your Majesty's foresight will preserve for the Fatherland," -declaimed Buelow, who ought to have been a great courtier instead of an -indifferent chancellor. But the War Lord was not in the mood for -compliments. He was out to smash things. - -"By Heaven!" he vowed, "I would rather turn the Pacific and the Yellow -Seas into Red Seas and exterminate those brown devils to the last than -allow a stone to be touched in my glorious colony of Kiau-chau." - -"Spoken like an emperor," seconded Buelow. Then, with a look at the -clock: "May it please Your Majesty, I would submit that our young friend -here must not be misled by the statements in the Press. I have here a -copy of the agreement, stating clearly that the Alliance becomes -operative only by reason of attack or aggressive action resulting in war -against either England or Japan." - -"Words, words!" cried the War Lord contemptuously. "I suppose Herr von -Bohlen's heard of Bismarck's editing of the Ems dispatch! But proceed." - -Buelow cleared his throat before he approached the momentary _cause -celebre_. - -"To-day it is reported from Paris, Tokyo, London and Petersburg--in the -leading journals, though not officially--that a quadruple alliance is -about to be ratified, terminating once and for all the seemingly -interminable quarrels between Great Britain and Russia, and drawing each -empire's own ally into close relations with the other: Britain's ally, -Japan, automatically becomes Russia's ally, while Russia's -brother-in-arms, France, becomes England's, and all four have agreed to -defend either when driven to war by unprovoked attack." - -"Four to three," mused the War Lord gloomily, "and number three as -unreliable as a girl with nerves." - -"Majesty is pleased to forget Turkey." - -"What's an ally without a navy in a conflict with Great Britain?" -demanded Wilhelm. "That old thief, Abdul, rather invests in Circassian -beauties than cruisers. But" (impatiently) "sum up, Buelow, sum up!" - -The Prince resumed his lecture: "It is argued that Japan, being bound to -give military support to Great Britain under certain eventualities, is -of course interested in maintaining amicable relations between the other -three empires and joined as a logical consequence of her alliance with -England." - -"England, always England," cried the War Lord. "Ostertag writes that it -was on the advice of England that the fortifications of Antwerp and the -Meuse were strengthened before and after the Morocco trouble." -(Ostertag, German military attache at the Court of St. James's.) -"Bohlen," he continued abruptly, "is there anything in the situation -that is not quite clear to you?" - -The Councillor of Legation with the bulldog jaw and the cruel eyes -answered modestly, but firmly: "May it please Your Majesty, I think I -understand fully." - -"Then you also understand what is expected of you as future head of the -Krupp works," quoth the War Lord, laying his heavy right hand on -Bohlen's shoulder. - -"To obey Your Majesty's instructions and carry them out as a Prussian -officer should." - -The only great king Prussia boasts, Frederick, said on his death-bed: "I -am tired of ruling slaves." His successor would have his Prime Minister -_une ame damnee_, and never tires of telling about his "great, his -inestimable reward" to a sentinel who murdered a man. The latter was -drunk, German fashion, and did not at once respond to the sentinel's -"Who goes there?" Bang, bang popped the sentinel's gun, and the man in -mufti was ready for the undertaker. - -"Next day, while a vile Press was assailing the soldier," said the War -Lord, "I had him called before the ranks, promoted him, decorated him -and, as a supreme honour, shook him by the hand." - -"Obey Your Majesty's instructions." The War Lord, who would tell the -Deity what to do, had expected as much of course, but Bohlen's evident -sincerity, nay, enthusiasm, was not to be despised, particularly since -it outweighed the latent fear that, after all, Bertha, when of age, -might elect to take the bit between her teeth and make trouble. - -"My advice and commands shall never fail you," said Wilhelm, with the -air of a great Lord conferring L500 for life upon a dustman. "Now to -Germany's aims--the grand future in store for her under my guidance. -When you know my plans, you will begin to realise the magnitude of the -work expected of Essen--of you." - -"At Your Majesty's orders," saluted von Bohlen. - -The War Lord was too excited to accept the gilded and crowned arm-chair -Buelow offered, thereby obliging the older man in tight-fitting -accoutrements and high boots to remain standing. "We must have an -adequate seaboard," he poured forth; "the waters between the English, -French and Belgian coasts and the harbours, fortresses and towns -commanding that area will do for a start. That means Calais and Dover, -Portsmouth and Boulogne, Antwerp and perhaps Havre, for Germany's future -lies on the water, as I have said time and again, and those few miles of -wet element circumscribe the focus of the world's trade, which must be -ours by reason of superior military, scientific and commercial -achievements--by our Kultur." - -"Your Majesty orders a further extension of the Germania shipyards," -submitted Bohlen. - -"Everything in time," corrected the War Lord. "We may lay down ships as -fast as our utmost resources permit, or faster. Still those confounded -English can beat us. A great navy we will have, of course a greater and -a better one even than the skunks of the London gutter Press credit my -imagination with, but not to be knocked to bits. We will keep it safe, -and at the end of the war will augment it by the French fleet and the -fleets of the minor countries. Then good-bye for ever, British Sea -Power! - -"Of course," continued Wilhelm, "the French and Belgians will have to be -forced before they recognise my claims to those parts of their territory -that formerly belonged to Germany. Flanders is German to the core, Liege -and Limburg provinces were never anything but German, while the southern -half of the Netherlands belonged to Germany since Charles the Fat, even -as Alsace and Lorraine. Franche Comte is German of course, and Toul and -Verdun were once German Free Cities like Metz." - -As he dilated on his claims the War Lord grabbed a walking-stick leaning -against von Buelow's desk, and tapped and stabbed at the map of Europe -on the wall, puncturing and piercing it in places he particularly -coveted. - -"Montbeliard," he continued, "is Moempelgard, an old-time apanage of -Wuertemberg. My title to the principality of Orange is more legitimate -than King Edward's as Emperor of India, and who will deny that Bourgogne -is German Burgund, and that the original Burgunders came from the Mark -and West Prussia? Not to have inserted Duc de Bourgogne in the grand -title of the _roi de Prusse_ is a mistake, for which its maker ought to -be kicked." - -He had nearly ruined the map, when his fury changed to an attitude of -calm deliberation. With an air of magnanimity, he said: "However, as to -France, I am willing to exchange these inland territories for the coast -departments, from Dieppe to Dunkirk, provided we do not find it -necessary, from a strategic standpoint, to annex Havre too." - -He paused, and von Buelow tried to curry favour by suggesting: "Your -Majesty intends the absolute conquest of France?" - -"As a preliminary to the subjugation of England," said the War Lord -solemnly. - -"I am half-English myself," he continued, "and have no illusions -whatever as to Great Britain's submission. After our victory the -Wilhelmstrasse and Downing Street will have to enter into a gentleman's -agreement: Myself, Admiral of the Atlantic; the United Kingdom to retain -home-rule; Germany to be confirmed in the possession of the whole -Continental shore of the Straits of Dover and in that of the French and -Belgian Colonies; we, on the other hand, to guarantee England's -occupation of India. - -"Now to the part Essen will play in the coming upheaval." - -Wilhelm was facing von Bohlen, and took hold of a button of his -silver-braided Hussar jacket, the button nearest the throat. If he had -intended to throttle Bertha's future husband, his grip and mien could -not have been more menacing. - -"We will probably have less than ten years to prepare; it's time that -you get to work, young man," he said. "How do you stand with Bertha? -Has she agreed to leave business to you?" - -"Everything, according to Your Majesty's wishes. She promised me only -to-day. We have divided our kingdom. I to be regent of the works under -Your Majesty's guidance; Bertha to devote herself exclusively to social -work and charities." - -"Approved," said Wilhelm like a schoolmaster handing out diplomas. -"When is the wedding to be?" - -"May it please Your Majesty, we fixed on the second week of October next -year." - -"It doesn't please me a bit. Why lose so much time postponing?" - -"Her ladyship will not have Bertha marry before her twentieth birthday." - -"The Baroness, of course," cried the War Lord, with an oath. "When it -comes to doing things, there is always a woman in the way. But I will -thwart her. You shall take virtual, if not active, control of the Krupp -works at once. Your resignation as my Councillor of Legation is -accepted as from to-day," he added, with a look at Buelow. - -The Chancellor smiled. "I submit that Herr von Bohlen is entitled to -six months' leave of absence." - -"Six months for making yourself solid with my ward, and prepare for the -greatest job ever entrusted to one man," decided the War Lord. "Now -listen: - -"I've already told you that I will hack my way to Calais and crush -France absolutely. Essen's business, then, is to make all so-called -works of peace wait upon the necessities of war--all, everything I say. -Is that clear?" - -"We are to attend only to orders from the German General Staff," replied -von Bohlen. - -"They come first, of course," said the War Lord, "but foreign orders for -guns and ammunition must also be attended to if Berlin so advises. On -that point there will be special instructions. But it's only the -beginning--an obvious one, and the Krupp's have always been more than -equal to regular demands from my War Office. However, in future these -are sure to increase immeasurably, out of all proportion both in size -and in variety." - -Exhausted by the intense mobility of his ideas, the War Lord abruptly -threw himself into the armchair, held in readiness for him by the -obsequious Buelow, crossed his legs and struck a match. He carried it -to his lips, holding it there; then, having burnt his fingers and -moustache, dropped it, cursing madly. He now took a cigarette out of -the silver gilt box offered him for the tenth time or oftener, but was -too busy to light it. - -"Krupp," he said, "I mean Bohlen--Krupp von Bohlen, a good name, we'll -stick to it--Krupp, I want you to make me a gun capable of mowing down -Dover Castle from Calais. Can't be done? It will have to be done!" And -he brought his fist down on the table with a bang. - -"I looked in at the Photographic Society the other day," he proceeded, -"and saw an Adolf Menzel photo enlarged five times the original size. -The operator just extended a piece of framework. I don't suppose it's -quite as easy to double or treble the size or range of cannon, but the -mind and energy now experimenting with my new twelve-inch howitzer -should be capable of turning out a seventeen-inch or twenty-inch -howitzer, and that's what you will have to do, Krupp." - -The ex-Councillor of Legation, just renamed, bowed low. "I assure Your -Majesty that, as head of the Krupp works, I will not rest until such a -war machine is produced," he vowed. - -"And take my word that I won't let you go to sleep." The War Lord's -tone was a cross between banter and threat, but its brutal meaning was -photographed on the speaker's face. "You will now make your bow to -Madame la Princess," he continued, pulling out his watch: "Return in -fifteen minutes. - -"Bertha's husband must not know everything at the start," he said, when -the door closed behind Krupp von Bohlen. "As to that twelve-inch -howitzer, I did not have a chance to talk to you about my recent -clandestine visit to Meppen, where we had the final test. The -twelve-inch howitzer quite suffices for Calais if the plans for longer -range guns miscarry or war comes quicker than we calculated. At Calais, -you know, the Channel narrows to a width of twenty-two and a half miles, -and the new twelve-incher covers fourteen miles." - -"That means Kent is safe for the present," the Chancellor made bold to -comment. - -"It is easy to see that you are a general of cavalry and not of -artillery," he was immediately corrected, "else you would perceive that -a howitzer of the range given, planted at Calais, will allow our -warships to advance within eight and a half miles of the English coast -and pound everything into muck and pulp there. Where--what will your -Kent be then? A heap of rubbish and scrap-iron!" - -"I presume Tirpitz is satisfied that there can be no blockade?" - -"We will guard against that by mine fields and destroyers, submarines, -cruisers, scouts and Zeppelins," explained Wilhelm. "Old Zep's _Echte_" -(alluding to the cigar-like shape of Zeppelins) "will be as safe in our -French harbours--for we will probably take Havre and Dieppe at the same -time as Calais--as in Kiel Canal." - -The War Lord was going strong on technical details when the return of -Krupp von Bohlen was announced. - -"So the ladies dismissed you!" he cried, at the same time unbending -enough to ask von Buelow to be seated, while the younger man must remain -standing. "Got the howitzer-Calais-Dover question pat, have you not? -Well, the twenty-three miles' range gun is only one of the achievements -you owe me and the Fatherland. In addition, the Krupp works and -associated interests must extend their facilities for mines and -mine-laying a hundred-fold, for we will have to cut Portsmouth and -Plymouth off from the North Sea and provide safety zones for our -warships the whole breadth of the Channel. - -"Thirdly, Essen will have to turn out submarines at a much faster rate -than your firm is doing now; have to arm the numerous forts we will set -up along the French-Belgian coast with the heaviest of artillery, and -furnish air fleets to prosecute a guerilla war against English trade -and--stomachs." - -Von Bohlen looked puzzled. He had imbibed enough of the Krupp spirit to -encourage him in the belief that he might rival an earthquake as a -destroyer of life and property, but his ambition had never extended to -interference with other people's digestion. - -"Explain, Buelow," ordered the War Lord, considering it beneath his -dignity to give information on so trifling a subject. - -"His Majesty refers, of course, to the disturbance of England's food -supplies. Unlike Germany, Great Britain cannot feed herself, being -dependent for the sustenance of the inner man on imports. And these His -Majesty intends to stop by the means referred to." - -"And, speaking of aircraft, you must provide means for bringing airships -down," continued the War Lord, "for there is every indication that the -enemy will attempt to fight our aerial fire with ditto fire, especially -the French. The slow English will fall behind, of course." Abruptly: -"Have you got any ideas to offer in that line?" - -"Not at the moment," confessed von Bohlen; "but I will ask Bertha to -lend me her most enterprising constructor of light ordnance and the -airship expert. They will be given three months for experiments." - -The War Lord nodded. "Not half bad, but offer a premium if the question -is solved within three weeks."[#] - - -[#] Neither three weeks nor three months nor three years sufficed, and -Krupp's balloon-gun, mounted on automobile carriages, is one of the -latest additions to the German artillery. It is effective at about 7,000 -yards, and throws projectiles weighing 12 lb. Its dead weight of 11,000 -lb. operates against its usefulness in the field, but it is well adapted -to forts and fortresses. This gun can describe a complete circle in the -horizontal plane and can fire vertically. - - -He rose. "More of this in a day or two, after I have seen Moltke, -Tirpitz and old Zep. In the meantime remember this: Super is the thing. -We must have super-guns, super-submarines, super-aircraft--ordinary arms -will not do in the struggle to come. Our enemies are ordinary men, -fighting with ordinary means, while we are supermen bent on superhuman -effort, and consequently need super-arms." - -He turned from Bohlen. "Announce me to the Princess Maria," he -commanded Buelow. - - - - - *CHAPTER XXVII* - - *BERTHA'S WEDDING DAY* - - - Krupp Hospitality--A Nasty Custom--"Old Fritz at Play--The Bride - Arrayed--Abdul's Present--The Wedding Service--A Glimpse of - Essen - - -On October the 15th, 1906, Bertha Krupp was married, and, presto! -Wilhelm jumped into the saddle: Krupp _en croupe_ was meant for both the -heiress and her husband-to-be. - -To be sure, Essen was _en fete_ for the War Lady and Gustav. For them -flags and garlands and paper flowers. Rivers and oceans of paper -flowers! They recalled Unter den Linden when some yellow or brown, or -maybe a white, majesty is expected to make his state entry through the -Brandenburg Gate. And almost as many girls in white as paper flowers on -lantern posts and over doorways, while every boy had his face and his -hands washed, and all the professors and directors wore their locks in -curls. - -To-day all victims of Moloch labour, of burns and crashing irons, of -scaffolds that gave way and mountains of steel a-tremble, of engines -gone wrong and cars off the track, and a thousand and one other -accidents connected with work, were freshly shaved and voluble of their -sufferings and Fraulein's kindness. Johann gave a leg to prevent -bubbles in the casting of a royal Prussian cannon, and Fraulein bought -him an artificial one, offering this advantage over the real article: he -might throw it at his wife when nettled. Heinrich had lost the sight of -an eye in the service of the works, and Fraulein not only procured him a -glass one, but added a steel pince-nez that made him look like a -twopenny clerk. And Mariechen and Maertchen had good jobs in the -ammunition shops, since their husbands were killed in an earth-slide at -the Germania shipyards near Kiel--"Fraulein looks after everything and -everybody." In short, city and country-side, town hall and hospital, -the well-to-do and the poor, old and young, the joyous and the lame and -the halt--all looked their best in Bertha's honour and acted -_gemuetlich_-like (which was mostly noise) in Bertha's honour--when the -War Lord came into sight! - -Once upon a time the War Lady had been sternly admonished not to bring -more than three attendants on her state visit to Berlin; in repaying -that visit--for his intervening comings to Essen were more or less -impromptu or on business--the War Lord brought twenty times three, -sixty: personal friends, courtiers, generals and army officers. - -When, years before, he inflicted two-thirds of this number on King -Christian, the Continent stood aghast at his inconsiderate impudence, -for the Copenhagen Court was notoriously poor then. But Bertha was his -ward and was under his thumb, and, besides, had "money to burn." - -So he embraced this opportunity for paying off old debts by inviting to -Essen a number of nobles whose hospitality he had enjoyed, for there -they would be more sumptuously lodged and dined and wined than at his -own house. - -The call to Villa Huegel was snapped up by all who could crowd into the -Imperial train, for Krupp hospitality is proverbial in the Fatherland's -mansions and country houses; and the Prussian aristocrat, living at home -on superannuated venison, herrings and potatoes, washed down by diluted -fusel-oil called Schnapps, likes nothing better than to gorge himself at -the expense of persons whose lack of rank precludes dreaded return -visits. - -Savings in the household exchequer weigh heavy enough with the War Lord -to put him into royal good humour, but the limelight radiating from -Essen, because the richest girl on the planet married a poor but capable -man, was the main thing, of course. For the Wolff Bureau, that feeds -the Continental Press with "pap" about "All Highest" doings and with -governmental lies, would mention Wilhelm and his myrmidons twenty times -as often as the bride and groom. - -There would be--as a matter of fact, there were beforehand--long-winded -litanies about the War Lord's love for his ward and his surpassing -efficiency as a guardian; his consummate wisdom in the selection of a -husband for Bertha; the unheard-of increase in the value of the Krupp -property under Wilhelm's guidance--columns of that sort of symphony to -Imperial ears. - -And the War Lord's show: State coach and six, forty more horses from the -royal stables, one hundred flunkeys, and the "great surprise!"--but that -did not come off. "That woman wouldn't stand it." - -When the War Lord was shown into Frau Krupp's boudoir he beamed most -graciously. "I cannot make Bertha a Royal Princess," he said, "but I -will treat her like one. How many guests have we?" - -"In the villa a little over three hundred, Your Majesty." - -"Well, I had a thousand ribbons printed--have the rest distributed among -the loyal people. But let the police do it, as there is sure to be a -terrible scramble for these souvenirs, and we don't want the Moscow -tragedy repeated." (He referred to the crushing and killing of hundreds -of men, women and children at the People's Festival during the Tsar's -coronation.) - -Meanwhile the Master of Ceremonies had opened the silver-gilt casket -filled with layers upon layers of pieces of white ribbon, about one inch -broad by five long. There was a baronial crown above the letter "B" at -the top, and gold fringe at the bottom. - -The Baroness turned purple at the sight, but her son-in-law pulled her -sleeve in time. "Mamma will arrange with His Excellency," he said; and -the unsuspecting War Lord got busy with one of his quintette of meals, -served to him separately. - -"An unheard-of honour," pleaded Herr Krupp von Bohlen, who had followed -Her Ladyship into an inner room, as he dangled one of the garter-ribbons -before her eyes. - -"I call it a nasty, indecent custom, and my daughter will have none of -it," replied Frau Krupp hotly. - -Krupp von Bohlen looked both hurt and indignant. "Pardon me, madam, the -customs of our Royal Family must not be spoken of in that style where I -am. And what is deemed honourable for Royal Prussian Princesses can but -add dignity and renown to a subject favoured like one of them." - -"If an announcement of that kind is considered fair and decent in royal -circles," angrily replied Frau Krupp, "it is their affair; as to the -daughter of the Baroness von Ende, she would blush to think of such a -custom." - -Krupp von Bohlen advanced his chin an inch more. - -"Matters affecting the Royal Family are beyond discussion," he said -haughtily, "and if you ever again approach the subject, please remember -that I am a Prussian officer. But that aside. His Majesty has -graciously commanded, and the order is to be carried out to the letter." -He bowed stiffly and retired. - -The Baroness let herself fall into an arm-chair, and, elbows on knees, -buried her face in both hands. A scandal in the air, but she was -determined to risk it. Let the feelings of Prussian Princesses be what -they may in regard to the ancient custom; there was to be no -distribution of _her_ daughter's garter for the War Lord's friends and -her own cottagers to gloat over. - -She had spent half an hour in this sort of brown study, agitated by -reflections bordering on _lese-majeste_ most horrible, when Barbara -rushed in: "Oh, Mamma, Uncle Majesty and everybody are at 'Old Fritz's,' -and Uncle wants all the gentlemen to take chances under the hammer. He -is making them give up watches and decorations, and he whispered to me -he hopes some get smashed. Come and see the fun." - -To be sure Frau Krupp was in no humour to attend the Imperial circus--it -is a stock joke with Wilhelm to frighten under-dogs out of their wits by -subjecting their valuables to seeming destruction, and Her Ladyship had -been an unwilling witness more than once. But Barbara's naive: "What a -beautiful box--more presents?" made her sit up. Why should not "Fritz," -oldest of family servants, essay to _corriger la fortune de la maison de -Krupp_? A chance in a million, but stranger things have happened! - -As everybody knows, "Fritz" has a falling weight of fifty tons, and has -been hammering steel blocks into shape since 1860. When Bertha's -grandfather started building it family, friends and competitors the -world over thought him crazy, and said so, but "Fritz" has never missed -a day's work in fifty-four years, and seems to be good for a century -still. Indeed, the marvellous delicacy of his adjustment remains -unimpaired, and occasionally the manager makes him crack nuts without -injuring the kernel. - -The War Lord was smashing his friends' watch-glasses without hurt to -dial or hands when Frau Krupp and Barbara came upon the scene. - -"The trunk of the Krupp heiress, containing some of her choicest -wardrobe," explained Wilhelm banteringly in an undertone. Then aloud: -"I'll forfeit ten marks to any charity madam may name if Fritz injures -the casket in the slightest. Those with me raise a hand." Two dozen -hands went up. "Sorry I did not make it a hundred marks," whispered -Wilhelm to von Scholl, as he placed the casket on the steel table. -Then, standing off, he commanded: "One--two--three." - -Down came the Brobdingnagian not like fifty, but like a hundred thousand -tons, hitting the table an earthquake-like smack. It was all over in a -second, but both Wilhelm and the War Lady's mother thought a lot in that -tiny fragment of time. The casket was, of course, as flat as a -window-pane and not much thicker, while of its contents there was no -trace, the silk having become part and parcel of the metal. Nothing -short of the melting-pot, said the expert, would yield isolated strains -of the thousand bedizened ribbons. And, on top of it, Fraulein Krupp -collected 250 marks for her orphanage! - - -Was it the loss of his ten marks, the blotting out of his "indecent -surprise," or thoughts of the murderous fruit which the marriage about -to be solemnised would yield him that clouded the War Lord's brow as he -walked up the middle aisle of the chapel? He was to give the bride -away. The groom was the War Lord's man, his discovery, his creature! -He found him secretary of legation with the least of the kings, grubbing -along on a salary of five hundred pounds a year, and destined in all -probability to marry either a spindle-shanked or a bull-necked "Fraulein -von" with an infinitesimal dot. The goal of his ambition: a berth as -minister plenipotentiary at the Court of a minor king! Salary: seven -hundred pounds per year. - -Well, he (the War Lord) was about to give in marriage this candidate for -polite poverty and subaltern honours a nice, healthy, well bred and -intelligent girl of good family, likewise revenues compared with which -the civil list of the average German king were twopence! It surely -should follow as a matter of course that common gratitude, if not inborn -discipline, would make Krupp von Bohlen the instrument of any warlike -mischief the author of his good luck might contemplate. Indeed, he had -vowed so much. - -Now Lohengrin and rustling silks: The bride and groom. - -The latter, like most of the men present, in showy uniform, blue and -gold; the War Lady in lilac _crepe de Chine_, myrtles in her blonde -hair. - -She was rather pleasant than pretty to look upon: a massive face, -indicating a not unkindly disposition; blue eyes, wavy hair, a firm -mouth; a bit strong on figure. - -Her head-dress was typical enough for Germany: myrtle, the "bleeding," -commemorating the cruelty of the barbarous islanders who pierced the -shipwrecked with spears and arrows! - -Ancient history aside, the sign of the myrtle leaf was indeed prophetic -of the horrors this marriage would impose upon humanity, in accordance -with the compact between the War Lady's husband and the War Lord; but, -as nine out of every ten German brides are myrtle-bedecked, the -fashionable crowd in the chapel had no mind for the augury. - -Still, why mauve, the colour of mourning and old age, for the wedding -gown? Since it was of the War Lady's own selection, it suggested almost -a premonition of the evil in store for Europe. - -Did Bertha's lens of imagery conjure up the ghosts of the millions who -must die by the output of her factories that her own unborn offspring -have more milliards to play with, and was she mourning in advance for -the children she would render fatherless, for the hosts doomed to -extinction because profits in the wholesale murder of men are surpassing -high? - -Who knows? - -It is almost inconceivable that a person like the War Lady, engaged in -the appalling trade of death-dealing, regarded her business other than a -gigantic slaughter monopoly--a privileged one, to be sure, yet the most -heinous of crimes against God and men just the same. - -At the Courts of the eighteenth century "punishment boys" were kept, to -be thrashed when small highnesses deserved to have their jacket warmed. -Here, at the altar, Bertha, used to Royal State on account of her -wealth, was about to engage a punishment boy. In future Gustav was to -take the blame for all the enormities her factories would visit upon -humanity! - -The old-time punishment boys were well paid for their pains; the Krupp -punishment boy was to have an income of seven hundred and fifty thousand -pounds sterling per annum. The old-time punishment boys were frequently -loved by the masters for whom they suffered; Herr Krupp von Bohlen was -loved by the young woman whom he relieved of grievous responsibility. -Yet the note of mourning in her attire, and at her bosom the mark of -"Abdul Hamid the Damned"! - -The War Lady is sincerely religious, and so is the War Lord's Imperial -lady, only more so. Indeed, with Her Majesty the Church is almost an -obsession, yet both the Queen of Prussia and the Queen of Essen have -accepted presents from the wholesale assassin of Christians, who -remembered only one thing to his credit in the course of thirty-three -years of absolute rule: that he did not murder his brother. This was -his plea to the Young Turks when deposed. - -For many years the Berlin Court was a pensioner of the man who prided -himself on having spared the life of his mother's son, making up for -this unnatural restraint by spilling the blood of forty thousand -"Christian dogs." Five millions cash "Abdul the Damned" lent to the War -Lord (and he is still whistling for its return), and season after season -he sent material for the Queen of Prussia's underlinen and summer -dresses. Bales of Oriental stuffs, gauzes, linens, laces and silks from -Tscheragan Serai used to be delivered at the Neues Palais about every -April the first, filling the house with real "Turkish delight," of which -Her Majesty's sisters, the rich and the poor, likewise partook according -to their needs or the favour in which they were held at the moment. - -And when Her Prussian Majesty is _en grande tenue_ she often augments -the great Napoleon's diamonds, captured at Waterloo (the same that once -blushed at the generous bosom of his sister Paulette), by those that the -great Frederick gave to his lovely mistress La Barbarina, the dancer, -and took back again when he tired of her; and when even multiplication -fails to give satisfaction--for a Queen of Prussia must have more -diamonds than an American multi-millionairess--she adds the parure of -brilliants and the numerous brooches and buttons and bracelets given her -by The Damned. - -After all, this seems appropriate enough for the Queen of a country -pieced together of territories gained by assassination, war, treachery -and other atrocities; but think of the War Lady accepting gifts from the -most despicable of men and kings! Surely there must be some -fellow-feeling of malign camaraderie between the makers of murderous -tools and their users, a sort of revival of swordsmiths-worship and the -veneration in which the great men of old held their Curtanas and -Flamberges! - -Possible, or shall we set it down to mere female thoughtlessness, which -in some respects seems akin to that of half-savages after the style of -the story Mark Twain once told the War Lord: - -"Where is 'Liza?" asked the master of the house, when he missed the -coloured waitress at breakfast. - -"Can't come round for a few days. Just had a tiny wee baby," answered -the housemaid, grinning. - -"A baby! How's that?" - -"Oh, just nigger-shiftlessness, I reckon." - -But it wasn't thoughtlessness, or shiftlessness alone, that made the War -Lady pin to her breast the grand cordon of the _Osmanie_ Order of -Virtue; it spelled, at the same time, a bid for war material, decreed by -the businesslike groom. The War Lord saw it and smiled. "Bravo, -Gustav, you are the stuff," and "Bertha, as is fit, the yielding lamb." - -And the organ pealed and cooed, and the chorus of cathedral singers -chanted off the key, and the voice of the officiating minister droned, -and everybody thought it most "heavenly," but boring; and the generals -and army officers smacked their lips, anticipating the table delicacies -in store; and the courtiers congratulated themselves because it was all -fun and no work; and each lady thought she looked a heap better than her -best-beloved friend; and the War Lord stared at the ceiling -contemplating ways and means for mining the Krupp quarry of wealth and -efficiency to within an inch of hell. - -"And so I pronounce you man and wife," sang out the minister, expecting -the biggest fee! - -"Hail thee, Frankenstein," thought Wilhelm. He inflated his chest as the -archangel aspiring to omnipotence may have done: from this moment on the -means for such aggrandisement as only Napoleon dreamt of were in his -hands, and he was free to plunge the world into irremediable ruin if he -liked. - -Through Bertha's resignation, through von Bohlen's connivance, he now -owned the Krupp works; he _was_ Frankenstein--Frankenstein, the hideous, -the abhorred, whose malignity was equalled only by the accumulated -wretchedness he meant to visit on all resisting. - -Even as he extended his hand to the bride, with lip congratulations, he -thought of the riot of despair the troth just sealed spelt for his own -people and the nations to be subdued! Was he then--is he then--the -hideous fantasm of one bent on naught but destruction? - -God knows--mere physical observation discerns no more than the frightful -selfishness that has lashed the War Lord to ever-increasing efforts of -fury since Bertha's wedding day and is driving him still. - -As overlord of the greatest industrial plant in the world, he -deliberately diverted it from its legitimate _raison d'etre_ as a cradle -of life and progress and turned it into a dividend-mill for the -cultivation of human hatred and the making of corpses, at the same time -endowing it with a soul still more monstrous: his thrice-abhorred -Kultur. - -He had steel hammers enough to line, side by side, a road reaching from -Liverpool Street Station to Hyde Park; steel boilers enough to start a -second Pittsburgh; more machinery than the rest of the kingdom boasts; -more electric motors than Paris or London employs in its public -conveyances, etc.; and with unparalleled selfishness in evil suborned -them exclusively to his passion for destruction, adding unlimited -capital and business capacity, utter disregard for human life and -extraordinary facilities for chemical-physical research, begetting -inventive genius of a high order. There is the explanation of the -frightful catalogue of Hunnish sins that have disgraced civilisation -since the 29th of July, 1914, according to the findings of Lord Bryce's -Committee. - -"The _Kapellmeister_, at Your Majesty's orders?" reported Count -Eulenburg. - -"Hohenfriedberger March," replied the War Lord, locking his teeth. - -Hohenfriedberg is a shining mark in Prussian history, for in June, 1745, -Frederick the Great overwhelmed the Austrians near the small Silesian -village, nearly annihilating Prince Karl and his Saxon allies. He -composed a march in honour of the event, a rather stirring piece of -musical claptrap, among the best that came from his pen. - -"I can drive the Austrians too," thought the War Lord, as he stepped -from the chapel, the bride's mother on his arm. And, the military band -outside executing some flourishes when he passed, he added grimly: -"Bayonet in back, if necessary." - - - - - *CHAPTER XXVIII* - - *A FORESHADOWING OF "LUSITANIAISM"* - - - The Rise of Herr Ballin--A Woman's Vanity--Herr Ballin at the - Schloss--"Frightfulness" on the Sea--Smoothing the Way--The War - Lord and Wedell--A Spy Plot--Overrunning England with Spies - - -On the eve of the day when the _Lusitania_ snatched the world's speed -record from the North German Lloyd, the red discs in the Chancellor's -and in Count Wedell's office bobbed up almost simultaneously: - -"I want to see the Jew Ballin. To-morrow morning at the earliest. You -heard about the _Lusitania_?" Before Prince Buelow could say "Yes," the -War Lord had hung up the receiver, simultaneously pressing the button -marked Wedell, whom he asked to bring in the Ballin personalia. - -"No ordinary Jew," explained the chief of the Secret Service. - -"But common stock?" - -"Very, Your Majesty." - -"How does Ballin dress?" - -"Affects the American business man, All Highest, in demeanour and -dress." - -"A genius, you said?" - -"For making money, absolutely, Your Majesty." - -"Let's hear about his beginnings." The War Lord sat down in a low chair -and lit a cigarette. No such luxuries for Count Wedell, though. The -head of the Secret Service stood while he read from his card index in -telegraphic style: - -"Born emigrant agents.--Son, brother and nephew of drummers-up of -steerage cargo.--Learnt rudiments of trade in his native -Hamburg.--Finished in London----" - -"Perfect finishing school for aspiring German boys," interrupted the War -Lord; "the English educating their future business rivals--touching!" - -"I have often thought about that in connection with our war," said -Wedell. "Of course, Your Majesty expects to win, but victory does not -beget good will. Suppose London, Birmingham, Liverpool and the rest say -no more foreign clerks and other employes, especially none of Teutonic -origin?" - -"Don't you worry. Any little game of that kind will be forestalled in -the terms of peace. Finish your Ballin." - -"Returned home," read Wedell from his cards, "secured employment in -minor steamship line to bring Poles and Hungarians to Hamburg for -shipment to the States. Hapag people soon awoke to the fact that the -devil of a genius was weaning their quarry away from them.--Approached -Ballin with promises of double salary. Ballin refused--then acquired -controlling interest in employer's line.--Then sold out to Hapag." - -"That happened when?" - -"In 1886, Your Majesty." - -"Since then business has grown immensely, hasn't it?" - -"Its gross profits climbed from L125,000 to L2,825,000 per annum in -twenty-five years, while its fleet increased from twenty-six to one -hundred and eighty pennants. Tonnage in 1886, 50,000; to-day, exceeding -one million." - -"That will do," said Wilhelm. "Send in Haeseler." - -Count Haeseler had arrived the night before from Konopischt, had been -waiting to report to His Majesty for an hour or more, and, to kill time, -had been paying visits to officials and pensioners living in the big -pile. There had been cigars and cognac galore, and Gottlieb was on -excellent terms with himself when he saw His Majesty. - -"Went to bed with an attack of the heart, and got up refreshed and -happy," he said. - -"I see Franz Ferdinand's reputation at home is of the value of nothing, -but, still, he treated you like a white man," interpreted the War Lord. - -"Majesty hit the nail upon the head, as usual. Not an Austrian, -Hungarian, Croatian, Servian, Bosniak or Pollack alive would not gladly -spend his last _heller_ to buy a dose of prussic acid for the heir to -the throne, but to Your Majesty's representative he was all charm. -Nearly gave me a horse." - -"Forgot to send it to the station with the other baggage, eh? Well, -aside from cheating my field marshal, how is he going on?" - -"Like a steam-roller. The next time Your Majesty will deign to inspect -the Sixth Infantry or the Wilhelm Hussars, Majesty will not recognise -them. Fellows like me are being relegated to the scrap-heap by the -dozen, and he cares no more for archdukes' privileges than the white -souls of valets de chambre. His iron broom is busy with horse, foot and -artillery, with the navy and the air fleet all at the same time, and -wherever he touches there is a clean sweep and a howl of dismay, pitiful -enough to move a tiger, but not Nero." - -"He is stirring them up," rejoiced the War Lord. - -"He is making the Austrian army a worthy adjunct of Your Majesty's -forces," said Haeseler, very earnestly. - -"And you taught him these new stratagems?" - -"I would never have been allowed to leave the country alive if the -Hungarians knew what I did teach Nero." - -"Dirty trick," said the War Lord, "not to give Gottlieb the horse." -Then imperiously: "I expect your detailed report about all the reforms -in the Austrian army and navy in a fortnight." - -"There will be no gun missing, I promise Your Majesty." - -Count Haeseler referred, of course, to the astounding memory and -precision of the great Napoleon. Once, when occupied by much business, -the Emperor sent an officer to Belgium to investigate military stores. -The officer handed in his report. Napoleon gave him back the document -with these words: "There are two guns missing at Ostend." And there -were two missing. - -"And your general opinion of Franz based on intimate observation?" -queried Wilhelm. - -"He seems to regard himself as a sort of necessary barricade to -progress, yet has no patience with the idea uppermost in Austria that -_laissez faire_ must be perpetuated for ever and a day simply because -it's as old as the hills." - -"And the Duchess?" - -"With Your Majesty's leave, confidently expects to be Empress of -Austria." - -"Must have Pan-German leanings." - -"No, Your Majesty; only the truly womanly passion to be the most envied -of her sex." - -"Slav conflict with Austria suits me all right," said the War Lord. -"The Czechs and Hungarians wanting Sophie, the Austrian Germans will -feel the more inclined to join my Germanic Federation." - -"But," said Haeseler, "Franz counts upon Your Majesty to help at the -enthronisation of Sophie by force, if necessary." - -The War Lord went to a bookshelf and pulled out a volume bound in red -with atrocious gold decorations. "And Franz brags about having read -every strategic work ever written," he commented. - -"Majesty refers to Moltke's introduction of the Franco-Prussian war." - -"Yes, but this isn't the volume. Can you quote from memory?" - -"I will try my utmost, Your Majesty: 'The days are past when for -dynastical ends armies went forth----'" - -"Take an '_echte_,' Edward's brand," said the War Lord. - - -There was a royal carriage at the station for Herr Ballin, and the royal -coachman, keen for marks, waved his whip frantically to attract -attention, and coin: the shipping king, emerging from a first-class -compartment, affected not to see. Berlin has two kinds of cabs, and -Ballin chose the Noah's Ark brand at threepence a mile. When he said -"Schloss," the driver quizzed him curiously and decided at once to put -him down at the kitchen entrance. "Must be a relative of some -housemaid," he calculated, and could not understand at all why the royal -carriage, though empty, drove plumb ahead of him when they reached the -Schlossplatz. Of course the War Lord's livery meant to impress upon the -Court Marshal that he had been on the spot. - -Court Marshal von Liebenau left the reception to his aide and ran -upstairs. - -"With Majesty's permission. Regular Jewski, second-class cab. How long -shall he wait?" - -"Show him up instantly." - -From this it may be gathered as from the scene witnessed at the -Wilhelmstrasse, that waiting for Majesty is a punishment meted out on -religious or other grounds. - -Ballin had anticipated questions, and received instructions. "The -_Lusitania_," said the War Lord, after the curtest, not to say abruptest -of welcomes, "must teach you Hamburgers and the Lloyd people this -important lesson: In the ocean greyhound to be built hereafter, the -naval value is obviously of greater importance than trade or dividend -considerations, for the moment war is declared all your vessels will -pass under my exclusive control, and I need all the auxiliaries, with a -prodigious coal supply and a speed unsurpassable by cruisers, I can get. -If war with England came to-morrow, the _Lusitania_ would be turned -loose upon our commerce at once, and neither Wilhelmshaven, nor Bremen -nor Hamburg boasts a vessel capable of overtaking her. She can sink our -ships right and left, and show a clean pair of heels every time. Until -yesterday I considered _Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, der Kroenprinz, die -Deutschland_ and the flyer named after me capable commerce destroyers, -but the _Lusitania_ could sink either of these giants, and boast of her -record in the nearest English harbour protected by mines." - -"But Majesty doesn't anticipate that merchantman will turn upon -merchantman, and that passenger steamers in particular will be sunk -either by vessels of the same lay calibre or by regular men-of-war?" -ventured Herr Ballin, who evidently believed at that time in "scraps of -paper." - -"Herr Ballin," said the War Lord, "you were described to me as the most -far-seeing and progressive of sea lords outside of my navy. Surely you -can't be of opinion that in the great war to come international niceties -will be allowed to cut any figure? If Germany must draw the sword -before my navy is superior to the British, I propose to save my -men-of-war and trust to submarines." - -"But passenger steamers----" quoth Herr Ballin rather more timidly. - -"Passenger steamers carry freight, and in time of war all goods that -might possibly be of use to the enemy in any way, manner or form I -consider contraband. And contraband spells destruction." - -"Does Your Majesty anticipate that the English, French or Russians would -attack Hamburg liners while engaged in the passenger traffic?" - -"If they half know their business they will. For my part, I would not -hesitate a moment to sink the _Lusitania_, or any other Cunarder at -sight, since all are supposed to be in the service or, at least, at the -service of their Government." - -Herr Ballin breathed hard as he said: "May it please Your Majesty, what -about neutrals? Like the Cunarders, the Hapag carries on every journey -hundreds of American citizens." - -"I don't know anything about a Yankee's food value," replied the War -Lord cynically. "I think the denizens of the big herring-pond will have -to make the best of them." - -Herr Ballin bowed low. "As Your Majesty commands." - -"It is settled then," continued the War Lord. "On your part, bigger and -faster boats than the English; on my part, I promise to advise you of -the date of the outbreak of hostilities long enough beforehand to save -your vessels for the Fatherland. Even if circumstances decree their -internment _en masse_, Germany will be the gainer in the end, when both -our navy and our merchant marine remain unbroken." - -Ballin was retreating backwards toward the door, when the War Lord -recalled him. "I am dickering with Wilhelmina about Curacao for a -coaling station, and"--banteringly--"if you could stir up war between -the Netherlands and some other colonial power I would be very much -obliged. We got the coaling station in the Red Sea through our pro-Boer -sympathies. Curacao would make an excellent _aperitif_ after getting -over Dutch troubles." - -"The United States would object." - -"Of course, but there are some twenty-six millions of Germans in -America, every mother's son of them fighting-mad for me--part of my -invisible army and almost as important as the other. The Germans in -America have an immense vote-swaying power; they control Washington to a -large extent, and some of the State Legislatures absolutely. And, as -you know, each American State is sovereign. Suppose I would threaten to -decree secession for the States between New York and Seattle, taking in -New York, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Missouri, etc. etc., -where would Washington be? Would Roosevelt risk Civil War because I -want a place to coal my ships not exactly five thousand miles from the -Panama Canal? - -"I tell you, my men controlling a large portion of the American Press -won't let him. And, by the way, Ballin, the Hapag, the Lloyd, Woermann, -etc., will have to give more extensive support to my German Press in -America than is done now. _Die Staats Zeitungs_, the _Herolds_, and -whatever-they-call-them can't live on wind. Ridder is a rapacious cuss -and a Jesuit besides; but my Washington bureau tells me that his -complaints are not altogether groundless. As my Germans become more and -more Americanised, the German papers' circulations are dwindling, and -likewise slumps the advertising. For this we must make up. German -shipping and the industries engaged in international trade must support -the German Press in New York, Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Kansas City -and the minor towns, as my Government supports the _Norddeutsche -Allgemeine_ and Krupp his _Neueste Nachrichten_. - -"By the way," he added, grabbing a "Bismarck pencil" suspended from a -wire and scribbling on his calendar block, "I will have to tell Krupp, -Loewe and the rest of the ammunition hogs to loosen up on those German -papers in America. Podbielski shall see them about it. Of course he is -no stockholder, but his dear Emma is." (The War Lord referred to the -scandals connecting a German general with subserviency to army purveyors -to the extent of awarding contracts exclusively to firms in which he was -financially interested.) - -"It might serve the Hapag and '_meine Wenigkeit_' (literally my -inferiority, meaning your humble servant) if specifically informed -respecting the invisible army Your Majesty was graciously pleased to -allude to," bowed Herr Ballin. - -"In the States," explained the War Lord, "my volunteers are mostly -full-fledged citizens--universal suffrage, otherwise a stench in my -nostrils, is working overtime for the German Cause there--but in the -rest of the world merchant-princes, manufacturers, trade agents and -skilled workmen do yeoman duty for me and the Fatherland. Of course we -have a lot of adherents in England--'naturalised' they call them. Funny -term! I hold that it would be most unnatural for a German to embrace -another nationality, especially the English." - -"Whenever you hear of troubles in Ireland, put it down to my invisible -army. That same army has before this fomented labour troubles in -Russia, and it never sleeps in France, particularly not in Paris." - -And, lowering his voice, the War Lord talked of invisible forces -building concrete gun-platforms along the French and Belgian -frontiers--"foundations for manufacturing plants," he added -sarcastically. - -"Of course I am doing my bit in other respects too," he concluded. "I -have fed some of these German editors from the States at my own table, -and ---- bad manners they had too; and I have baited them with minor -orders in plenty. If Ridder behaves himself I will make him a 'von' -some day, and that German Congressman from Missouri--I forget his -name--will get a five-pronged coronet too. But to return to Curacao. If -I get a foothold there, I will have both French and English for -neighbours--excellent chances for picking a quarrel if desirable." - -The War Lord put a finger down vigorously on the Wedell--and Adjutant -von Moltke buttons. The nephew of the great Field Marshal responded -almost instantly. "I want Wedell." - -"Count Wedell is in waiting, Your Majesty." Even while the equerry -spoke, the sign language of the telephone announced that the Chief was -at the Schloss. - -"That Jew of yours will be useful," said Wilhelm approvingly. "He will -obey orders like Krupp, but remember His Majesty can't do all the -reconnoitring himself. I tell you for the hundredth time that your -department is negligent with respect to England. You must get Ballin to -help you." - -Count Wedell winced. "If I have had the misfortune to fall short of -Your Majesty's expectations----" he stuttered. - -"'My resignation is, etc.' The old Wedell complaint; I know what you -want to say. Only recently I stopped your cousin's litany by remarking: -'I thought you liked your salary and perquisites.' None of that -nonsense, please. Listen: I have played sleuth for you at Portsmouth; I -know the dockyards there like my pocket. The Solent and Cowes are open -books to my General Staff, owing to descriptive matter and diagrams I -have furnished, and what I did not tell Tirpitz about Gibraltar is not -worth knowing. Really," he added, "English _naivete_ is astonishing, -particularly in the face of the Press campaign. With the most widely -circulated and best informed newspapers constantly reminding them that -my whole naval policy is directed against Great Britain, English -officials--military, naval and civilian--extend me every opportunity for -the study of old England's defence and weakness. Thanks to my -inspection, my General Staff is as well informed about the Gibraltar -signal station as the first English Sea Lord--it is to laugh. - -"And how they opened their ports to me: Leith, Port Victoria, Folkestone -were as free to the _Hohenzollern_ as Piccadilly Circus. - -"The next time I visit Edward I will drive my yacht right up above -Tilbury. See if I don't." - -"Poor devil of a pilot," mocked Count Wedell. - -"Now, don't credit the English War Office with more circumspection than -the average German schoolboy has," guffawed Wilhelm; "the pilot will -probably get the V.C., and I promise Tirpitz some astounding information -for, while on the bridge, I will pump the pilot dry--absolutely dry. - -"I really worked hard for your department," concluded Wilhelm; "now show -that you can follow my lead." - -"Perhaps Majesty favours establishment of semaphores on the British -coast on a larger scale." - -"After we prohibited the keeping of carrier pigeons in the neighbourhood -of German naval stations? No, _Herr Graf_, I am not dispensing meal -tickets to penny-a-liners just now. Think of something new, something -Ballin can do for us." - -"I submit that cheap excursions to English harbours and seaside resorts, -arranged by the Hamburg line during the holiday season----" - -"I take it all back," cried Wilhelm. "You are earning your salary, -Wedell. Capital idea. The Naval Intelligence Service shall subscribe -for a hundred berths, sending its most expert photographers, -topographers, surveyors, fortification experts and naval men. In mufti, -of course, and you will have men on board to spot fools that betray -their official connections. Tell Ballin I want some of his largest -steamers for this service, so that my army and my navy men get well lost -in the crowd. The larger the crowd, the more men of military age and -reservists, of course." - -"Your Majesty thinks of everything." - -"I have to," said the War Lord. "And make a note of it. Amateur -photography is to be encouraged in the schools, the press, in society. -No use sending crowds of Germans to England unless they bring back -plenty of photographic evidence relating to the enemy coast and land -defences. As a special inducement, Ballin shall have a dark-room on -board and develop films free of charge. In that way we will get -duplicates of everything." - -"I beg to submit," said Wedell, "there is still another aspect to Your -Majesty's enlightened prospect." - -"Fire away!" - -"The legend of impossible invasion will suffer a collapse with everybody -observing that the supposed impregnability of Dover is all moonshine." - -"Not half bad," said the War Lord. "Those tourists will make splendid -_commis voyageurs_ for our army of invasion." - -"_Agents provocateurs_!" - -Wilhelm shrugged impatiently. "Fouche's business! Of course my War -Office will furnish the dates for the excursions. Sounds ridiculous, -but England's little vest-pocket army indulges in annual manoeuvres like -my own, and it would be curious if some valuable information could not -be gleaned from a boat full of military and semi-military sightseers. -Of course the English naval manoeuvres are much more important. -Sometimes a simple tourist sees things for which the official and -unofficial representatives of my Admiralty and your own department, -Wedell, search in vain." - -The discussion continued in the same vein for another half-hour, the War -Lord impressing upon Wedell the absolute necessity of increased -espionage in England. "Thirty-six years ago," said Wilhelm in -conclusion, "Bismarck had over thirty thousand spies and sympathisers in -France doing his work. Have we got as many in England to-day? How many -are on the pay-rolls of English railways, of Scotch railways and, -particularly, of Irish railways? You can't tell off-hand? Report within -three days. And don't forget the proofs, if you please. I likewise -want to know how many of your men are detailed to attack British -arsenals, harbours, wireless stations and so forth in the event of war. -Whatever their number, duplicate, nay, treble it, and don't be sparing -with promises. If we invade England, we won't get out in a hurry, tell -them, and there will be plenty of pickings for our friends while we are -on the Insular side of the Channel. - -"Remind them that our army of occupation remained in France two years -and five months after peace had been signed. I propose to enjoy English -hospitality even a while longer, and the people that serve us 'before -and aft' can make enough money while we are in England to evacuate with -us and live on their interests in the Fatherland after Threadneedle -Street has paid the last instalment. Think of it! Serve the War Lord -and feather one's own nest at the same time." - -Wilhelm had been sitting down uncommonly long. Indeed he had been -almost confidential with his pal in the conspiracy international. He -now rose, squared his shoulders and assumed his favourite character of -the graven image. - -"I don't like Krupp's ignorance of things English. Shall make a few -trips into England, and see what there is to be seen," he said in a tone -of command. He continued: "I want a talk from Court Chaplain Dryander -on the chosen people, not on the Jews--on the term. Got impressed with -it while talking to Ballin. Germans the chosen people! Sounds good!" - -"Dryander will report at eleven to-morrow morning. Order (Professor) -Delbrueck to be here at the same time. I will see him after the -sky-pilot has gone. Parsons are such romancers; it's well to digest -their palaver to the accompaniment of historic facts." - -"One thing more." The War Lord grabbed a pencil and marked asafoetida -on half a dozen pages of his daily calendar. "I want to have a -conference with chemists by and by." - - - - - *CHAPTER XXIX* - - *SOME MORE SECRET HISTORY* - - - Deluding Rathenau--Callous Experiments--What Lord Palmerston - Said--The Kaiser's Aims - - -"What is this I hear?" demanded the War Lord, having scantily -acknowledged Herr Krupp von Bohlen's low obeisance. "I want you to -understand once and for all that your wife is my ward, and that any -offence to her spells disrespect to Majesty." - -The Overlord of the Krupp works was confused with surprise. He -attempted to make answer, but did not get further than a formal: "May it -please Your Majesty." - -"I have no further commands for you at the moment," he was cut short. -"Wait in the Adjutant's room until called." - -"A.E.G.," cried Wilhelm to the adjutant of the House Marshal's office, -opening the door for Krupp. - -"My dear Rathenau," he said, when an old man, stout and stockily built, -with a philanthropic chin and a complexion denoting indifferent health, -walked in. "My dear Rathenau, being credited with seeing ahead, perhaps -you'll tell me what this means?" And he pointed to half a dozen entries -topping his daily calendar. - -"Asafoetida," read the electrical end of the Jewish triumvirate of -self-made men--Ballin, Thyssen, Rathenau. "Does Majesty want me to -create a corner in the reverse of eau de Cologne?" - -"Yes and no," said Wilhelm. "But like Ziethen did before Frederick, sit -down. And so you may not fall asleep like the great cavalry leader when -visiting the king in his old age, I will tell you a story." - -He retailed the yarn about the meeting between Franz Ferdinand and -Cardinal Schlauch, the Secret Service man in the bed, and what No. 103 -wished he had placed under the bed before the interview. - -"It gave me an idea," he continued, "an idea, I confess, strengthened at -Essen. Why not bottle the noxious gases set free in the furnaces, and -let them loose on the enemy?" - -"What, kill them wholesale?" cried Rathenau, moving uneasily in his -chair. Philanthropy is one of his hobbies, and underhanded methods go -against his grain. The War Lord knows this, and clapped the silencer on -his savage bluntness. - -"Kill them? No. Wholesale? No, too. There is to be no gale of these -gases--just a breeze to knock out, or knock over, offensive or -defensive. I figure this way: Maybe the enemy, entrenched, has to be -dislodged at any price to gain some given point. We can't get at them -with the ordinary style of weapon; they won't come out even to be -hand-grenaded. In such cases, I hold it good strategy to smoke them -out." - -"Asphyxiating gas," mumbled Rathenau half to himself. - -"A good name--something suspending animation--suspending it while we -take the coveted place. We won't lose a man, and the enemy is mulcted -out of prisoners only, for all placed _hors de combat_ by our chemicals -will be cared for by the Red Cross." - -"Majesty does not intend to have the gases absolutely poisonous?" -inquired Rathenau. - -"Now, would I have asked you, whose humanity all Berlin admires, if I -did?" cried the War Lord; "if I was signing death warrants, I would not -have applied to you, but to Krupp. He is a natural born butcher, I tell -you. Krupp devises means to destroy life with the gusto of an American -barkeeper mixing cocktails. They blamed Nero for saying he wished the -Roman people had but one head that he might knock it off. You should -see Krupp gloat over my new howitzers." - -"And those noxious gases, the workings of which Your Majesty observed at -Essen, do not inflict permanent injury?" - -"In the majority of cases black coffee suffices to make the men fit for -work again; in a minor number of cases mild palliatives are required. I -advised free distribution of milk for those suffering from a weak -stomach. Hypodermic injections are resorted to once or twice a week. -So you see our 'gassing' will be quite harmless." - -When the President and Owner of the "A.E.G." (German for General -Electric Company) still refused to wax enthusiastic, the War Lord tried -a new tag. "It's the charitableness--I almost said the Christianity--of -the thing that mainly attracts me," he lied. "You remember Valentina's -husband in _The Huguenots_. He was murdered during St. Bartholomew's -night, at the side of my ancestor, Admiral Coligny. The Comte de Nevars -had been asked a little while before to join in the massacre of the -Protestants, but refused, pleading that his family contained a long list -of warriors, but not a single assassin. So am I trying to curtail -killing by the proposed new method of attack. Prisoners, yes; the more -the merrier; but deaths and wounds as few as possible." - -"Hydrochlorine, with the accent on the hydro, might possibly serve Your -Majesty," said Rathenau, after thinking hard for a few seconds. - -"Very well, write it down," ordered the War Lord. "Besides Krupp, who -can furnish this chemical?" - -"The Ruhr Chemical Works and the Ludwigshafen Aniline Factory might." - -Rathenau was dismissed with scant thanks, and Krupp was readmitted to -listen to the substance of Wilhelm's conference with the President of -the A.E.G., the latter's philanthropic objections being carefully marked -as the War Lord's own, while the diluting advised was dismissed as -namby-pamby. - -Krupp, after listening respectfully, said: "May it please Your Majesty, -I have had a little experience with asphyxiating gas. We used it to -destroy a number of consumptive cows, thinking it the more humane -method. They were to be benumbed before slaughter. - -"God forbid that Bertha, who is very much attached to the animals on the -estate, ever learns what really did happen. As for myself, I had an -inkling, but where experience is to be gained charity must take a back -seat." - -"Well said," commented the War Lord. "Go on!" - -"We tethered the cattle in an enclosure, their heads over a furrow from -which the poison gas was rising. It had a sharp, bitter smell, and as -it caught the animals' throat they gasped and choked. Some attempted to -breathe deeply and could not, and all went giddy, it seemed, but did not -lose consciousness. - -"The chief vet. had predicted that the intense irritation of the -bronchial mucous membrane would fill the tubes with a fluid which the -animals could not expel, and this is what did happen. - -"We let them suffer for experience's sake, then gave them salted water. -This cleared their lungs and forestalled complete suffocation." - -"You have gathered the technical information from the medical report?" -asked the War Lord. - -"Partly from that, partly from observation," replied Krupp. "When the -vets. stated that the animals were on the point of slow -suffocation--drowning, we killed them by the quicker method. But one cow -was allowed to die by poison gas, to give necessary clues to the medical -men. They stated, after investigation, that the gas had had a corrosive -action, destroying the mucosa." - -"Very interesting," said the War Lord, who had seemingly forgotten about -his pretended motives of philanthropy. "Your chief vet. shall report in -full to my Ministry of Cult. I shall order that from now on condemned -animals shall be delivered to the concerns manufacturing this kind of -gas for scientific experiments." - -The red disc on the War Lord's desk went up. Wilhelm looked at the -clock. "Delbrueck." Then, turning to Krupp: "You shall wait and hear -what he has to say." - -The successor of Professor Treitschke was bringing the War Lord an essay -on "Germany as the Land of the Chosen People," a sort of -theological-political tract, suggested by Wilhelm and partly formulated -by Court Chaplain Dryander. Its present form had been decided on by -Professors Harnack, Schiemann, Meyer and the editor of the Prussian -Annals (_Preussische Jahrbuecher Magazin_). - -"Typed," said the War Lord approvingly. "I wish you would instil that -modern idea into those of your colleagues, who annoy me by their -handwriting. The worse it is, the more scientific they deem it. I will -read it presently. Now tell Krupp how you view the situation with -regard to England." - -"The United Kingdom they call it," sneered Delbrueck, the most -loquacious of "that damned band of professors," to quote Palmerston. -"Well, there will be one less in the quartette when war comes--Ireland. -The Green Isle will join us when the first shot is fired by a German -battery. Further, there is every reason to believe that the title of -Emperor of India will be as obsolete as that of King of Jerusalem before -hostilities are under way a month, while New Zealand, Australia, South -Africa and Canada will certainly not miss the chance for gaining -independence." - -Herr Krupp looked at His Majesty in quite bewildered fashion. Evidently -he had not reckoned on such far-reaching eventualities, but the War Lord -had. - -"Miss their chance for independence? Not likely! Go on, Delbrueck. -Tell him about the Boers." - -"I needn't assure you, Herr Krupp, on which side the defeated of 1901 -will fight. It is self-evident," said Delbrueck. - -"And Egypt?" ventured Herr Krupp, to show his patriotism. - -"German industry and discipline shall fructify the land of the Pharaohs -like the Nile itself. We will drive out the English of course," cried -the War Lord. - -"The arming of India will be a tremendous task," he continued. "As you -know, I am sending the Crown Prince to India, and the military experts -accompanying him will furnish all missing links." - -"May I suggest that His Imperial Highness sound the Indian Princes," -interpolated Professor Delbrueck. - -"All that is provided for," retorted the War Lord. - -But Delbrueck would not be discouraged in his optimisms. "In addition," -he went on, "Krupp guns will bark forth the declaration of independence -by South Africa, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and the rest of the -British dominions, territories and Island Kingdoms. Quite an -undertaking, eh?" - -At this point the War Lord came to Delbrueck's relief. "Finally there -is that beggar Turkey. You mustn't be hard on Abdul Hamid, Krupp. Bad -pay, of course, but he never hesitates about pulling chestnuts out of -the fire for me, and I like him. Besides, since we pay China a subsidy -of a million per year for getting ready to wallop Nicholas, why not -treat Constantinople with liberality?" - -Krupp bowed and promised to talk the matter over with his board of -directors, but the War Lord scarcely listened. He had deigned to -express a wish--woe to the person, or persons, not interpreting the wish -as an All Highest command. - -He turned to the professor. "Delbrueck," he said, "I had a letter from -Francis Joseph. He has set his heart on Bosnia, and wants me to support -him. Is there any way of arguing with Russia from the historic point of -view?" - -"I will look into the matter for Your Majesty at once." - -"Very well. If you do not succeed, Russia will get a glimpse of my -shining armour, which is the best argument, after all." - -"Now you know my friends, official and otherwise," concluded Wilhelm, -again addressing Krupp; "about my aims I have talked to you before. -Always bear in mind that I am German Emperor--an expansive title -relating to all lands and peoples of the Germanic family, no matter what -name they may go under. - -"We must have German Holland and German Belgium, German Tyrol and German -Switzerland, and, of course, German Austria. As you know, I have a good -title to the whole of North-Eastern France, too, but I will waive that -for the Continental Channel coast." - -"Your Majesty must have Trieste," said Delbrueck. - -"I must have and mean to have all the naval outlets and outposts -necessary to German trade and my protection," said Wilhelm in most -Olympian style. - - - - - *CHAPTER XXX* - - *BROWBEATING THE WAR LADY* - - - A Letter from Count Metternich--Scaring the Kaiser--Bertha - Offends the War Lord--Using the Secret Code--For "The Day"--An - Awful Oath--The Kaiser Wins - - -"I can almost forgive Metternich for allowing himself to be bested by -Sir Frank, for that last yarn he sent me is not to be sneezed at. -Bertha and Krupp are on the point of a momentous quarrel. Some pacifist -idiot--a woman, probably--put a plea in her ear about 'trade in murder,' -'profit in man-killing,' and that sort of thing, and the baby did the -rest. - -"She sits on the Huegel, befouling the machinery for conquest-making -below her windows. - -"'Some of the ordnance we are sending to China to-day may kill my unborn -child,'" she writes, "and things have come to such a pass that Krupp had -to instruct the coachman to avoid certain roads where Bertha's carriage -might meet with ammunition and other transports. - -"And ever since, all day long and half the night, she accuses Krupp of -using her money to forge guns and bullets that, by and by, may seek the -heart or limbs of his own son. - -"'Don't I know when war will break out?' he retorted angrily the other -day. 'Long before that our boy will be on a journey round the world.' -Think of a Prussian officer forced to indulge in such damnable stuff!" -cried the War Lord. - -"I submit, Your Majesty, that one has to temporise with women, -especially with a young mother," suggested Prince Buelow. - -"Silly sentimentalities," sneered the War Lord; "I want none of them. -Bertha has to be broken of her freak--broken," he repeated, gritting his -teeth. "Why," he continued, "she even refuses to take joy in her -charities now, because, she says, 'money made out of armaments is -tainted and no good can come from it.' - -"If I allow that sort of thing to go on there will be a -_Kladderadatsch_" (fatal _denouement_), "one fine day. She may attempt -to wrest from Krupp the power of attorney under which he acts as my -agent, and there is such an abomination as divorce, you know--oh, _mille -pardons_, you do know. And, worse luck, my courts deal in it as well as -the Vatican." (The War Lord referred to Princess Buelow, whose first -marriage to Count von Donhoff was dissolved by the Holy See in 1881.) - -Buelow reddened under the insult. "I am wholly unsuited to interfere in -other people's family affairs," he blurted. Then, frightened at losing -his temper, added: "I beg Your Majesty's pardon." - -"My ward's affairs are my own," declared the War Lord haughtily. "I'll -settle with Bertha myself, make her eat out of my hand--take my word for -it--and this will help." - -He showed the Chancellor a long, handwritten letter, with the imprint of -Carlton House Terrace, marked "Private and Confidential," and asked him -to read it aloud. The address was that of the German Embassy at the -Court of St. James's, and Count Wolff von Metternich, His Majesty's -Ambassador, was the correspondent. He had been permanently in London -since 1901, previously serving his diplomatic apprenticeship there, off -and on, between 1885 and 1890. His naive complaint in the Joseph -Chamberlain affair has been noted. As he was the War Lord's confidant -while in the service of the Berlin Foreign Office, Count Metternich -could not have been altogether without knowledge of Wilhelm's -treacherous conduct in and toward England. The War Lord claimed British -hospitality time and again to combine espionage with all too successful -attempts to hoodwink the English Sovereign and his statesmen about his -real intention toward Great Britain. King Edward was not too blind, -though, to what was going on; he is credited with the remark that the -War Lord was not a gentleman. - -"Important, if true," said Prince Buelow, handing back the letter. - -"Just as important if it _isn't_ true--for my purposes," quoth Wilhelm. -He walked up and down the room for several minutes, mumbling things, -then suddenly confronted the Chancellor: "A belated answer to my letter -to Tweedmouth--can it be that?" - -Prince Buelow was surprised beyond words. The War Lord referring to his -clumsy attempt (in the early part of the year 1908) to throw dust in the -eyes of a British Minister of State in regard to his responsibilities, -by an act of unprecedented condescension! - -Wilhelm's personal letter to the First Sea Lord had caused considerable -excitement in Germany, but there had been no discussion of it at the -Chancellery. The subject was too ticklish for that--particularly its -aftermath, with its references to "foolish stratagems," "unintelligent -attempt to deceive," "refusal to be perturbed by such little incidents," -and last, but not least, England's avowed determination to thwart -Wilhelm's plans to be supreme upon the sea, since "there is nothing for -Great Britain between foreign sea supremacy and ruin." - -And those "wretched _Temps_ articles" (Majesty's description was -stronger), admonishing England not to put faith in the War Lord's -protestations, but strengthen her navy and double her army. - -The War Lord seemed to divine what was going through his Chancellor's -mind. He changed the subject. "Edward and Nicki have been talking it -over; they are afraid of me, despite boasted Anglo-Russian and -Anglo-French propositions, and want to give me a good scare!" he cried. -"But I will show them that I don't care a fig for their Entente. The -Mediterranean trip is off. My purple standard shall fly at Cowes, and -Wedell shall arrange for a little trip into France. Yes, France," he -insisted. "I have long wished for a view of the strategical passes of -the Vosges, and you must persuade Fallieres to invite me to see the -_Schlucht_.[#] Less than an hour's motor trip from the frontier, you -know." - - -[#] The proposed motor tour across the French frontier was actually -"arranged," as suggested by the War Lord, and was billed to come off in -the first or second week of September (1908). However, at the last -moment the War Lord showed the white feather, having been informed that -he would never leave French soil alive, a number of patriots having -vowed to kill him. Previous to this there had been much irritation in -France and talk of "impudence," "cynicism," and "espionage." - - -"I will leave no stone unturned to execute Your Majesty's commands," -said Prince Buelow, indulging in a profound bow to hide his face and -avoid betraying an astonishment bordering on perplexity. - -"Wonder if Edward can be persuaded to meet me in the Solent," mused the -War Lord. "I would love to tell him about my trip to Heligoland, our -coastal defences there, and preparations for aerial invasion. Of -course, the details will be Greek to Uncle, since he knows less of -military matters than my two-year-old fillies at Trakehnen, but my tale -may possibly induce him to be more careful in matters of his _amours -impropre_: Russia and France. Don't you think so, Buelow?" - -"The Quadruple Alliance, Your Majesty? I can only repeat the conviction -previously expressed--that it is entirely pacific, a defensive measure -absolutely. As to King Edward, his political strategy is certainly -superior to his military talents, but I was under the impression that he -introduced Your Majesty to the Maxim gun." - -"He happened to be my guest on the day set for the trial of that -incomparable man-killer, and I took him to Lichterfelde to show him how -I would annihilate his vest-pocket army if he wasn't as careful as his -Mamma. Strange to say, he seemed to be quite _au fait_. I had bet -Moltke a dozen _Echte_ that Uncle couldn't distinguish a Nordenfeldt or -Gardner from the old-time Gatling; but he did. 'Confound your -impudence,' I said to Moltke, when I paid the price; but Helmuth -convinced me that I got off dirt cheap. The Maxim gun, he persuaded me, -must have undreamt of possibilities if even Edward recognises its -importance as a war machine. - -"So the empty _echte_-box taught me that every copper invested in Maxim -guns means one dead--an enemy--hence, that I can't have enough Maxims. -I want fifty, no, a hundred thousand." - -Wilhelm smiled sardonically as he added: "I told Krupp he would lose his -job unless he improves on Maxim and gets up a machine-gun as light as -our army rifle and as easily fired. But that reminds me. I will go to -Essen to-night to impress Bertha with her patriotic duties. You'll keep -Krupp here." - - -"Frau Krupp," said Wilhelm, as he retired with the War Lady to the -library of Villa Huegel. - -"Bertha," she pleaded. - -"Bertha is treating her Uncle Majesty very badly." - -"May it please Your Majesty to say in which way I have offended?" - -"In every way, in the surest way, in the most traitorous way!" cried the -War Lord, trying to stab the floor with the point of his sheathed -sword--a pitiable sight, since his poor left hand was powerless to move. -"You are thinking of diverting the works from their sacred purpose: The -Fatherland's defence." - -Wilhelm struck a sentimental pose. "That's my reward for the love and -care I bestowed on Frederick's child," he half monologued. "I educated -her, exalted her above all women in her station of life, treated her -like a child of my own, like my own sons and daughter. I have bestowed -as much thought on Essen as on my army and navy; made her business and -fortune the grandest of their kind; selected for her loving husband a -man of surpassing capacities and gave her wedding the _eclat_ of a royal -function. Emperors, sultans and kings have bedizened her with -courtesies and high decorations for my sake--the legend of 'the richest -girl' has melted into 'the happiest woman in the world'--_semper -fidelis_, and Madame, satiated and ungrateful, turns me the cold -shoulder." - -"Oh, Uncle Majesty, how can you say such things?" - -"Bertha," cried the War Lord, laying his hand on her knee, "if you were -not Frederick's daughter, were not rich beyond the dreams of avarice, I -would ask: How much--how much did England pay you for deserting me and -the Fatherland?" - -Frau Krupp slipped from the chair, and on her knees implored her -terrifying visitor to show mercy. - -"The King of Prussia never pardons traitors." - -The word awakened Frau Krupp's self-respect. "Traitor!" she cried; "I -would be a traitor to humanity if I continued making faggots to set the -world afire." - -The War Lord broke into wild laughter. "So that's the melody," he -shouted, "echoes of the gutter Press in London, Paris, Petersburg, -Tokyo! It's well you mentioned it, Frau Krupp; I know now exactly how -we stand, you and I, the benefactor and the unworthy object of my -magnanimity." - -Bertha lay on the silken rug sobbing her heart out, but for Wilhelm the -quivering form of the girl for whom he professed a father's love was -mere air. - -Sitting down at the great desk, he shouted: "I command" into the -speaking-tube sacred to his All Highest person, and, Adjutant Baron -Dommes responding, he ordered: "Prepare for a confidential message to -the Chancellor by secret code. Have the line cleared. You will attend -to the wire in person." - -He grabbed a block of paper and began to write, tearing off sheet after -sheet with partially finished sentences, rejecting his own words as fast -as he wrote them, and talking to himself in tones considerably above a -stage whisper. - -"Would suit the Austrian Baroness to turn Krupps into an ironmongery for -household and farm goods," he sneered savagely, "but the mollycoddles -shall know presently that they haven't got a silly girl to deal with." -He paused, giving a furtive look to the prostrate Bertha; then began -scribbling again and reading his hasty scrawl to himself: - -"Bethmann-Hollweg shall consult with Kuentzel and Harnier about -condemnation proceedings against---- Never mind, I will give names by -'phone after receipt of message is acknowledged. Must be kept a profound -State secret. Anyone mentioning it even in the presence of his -secretary will be dismissed _cum infamia_. Remember, the best legal -talent only." (The persons named were high officials in the Ministry of -Justice.) - -Excitement would not let Wilhelm be seated long, and he began pacing the -floor, dragging his sword. - -"Preposterous!" he alternately mumbled or hissed. "A mere slut foiling -my plans, interfering with my life's work! Stop making implements of -war: the great Alexander held up on the road to India by a blacksmith!" -He laughed hysterically, lunging forth to both sides with his clenched -fist as if striking at imaginary enemies. - -"But the maw of death will be glutted with or without your assistance, -Frau Krupp--glutted to nausea!" he cried, pausing before the trembling -girl. "There will be an accumulation of anguish such as the world has -never witnessed, despite thee, ingrate that thou art." - -The War Lady raised her hand and looked at him with ghastly, -tear-stained eyes. - -"Don't--oh, don't!" she breathed. - -"The more you plead the quicker the catastrophe will come! You mean to -keep me in a state of unreadiness, but my enemies are even less -ready--time to strike!" - -"Even Your Majesty can't make war without pretext," wailed Bertha. - -"I can't, eh? I can't? And there are no pretexts, either? What about -Morocco? If I seize the smallest harbour of that ---- country, isn't -that tantamount to invading Algiers? I tell you in such event France -and Great Britain must fight whether they like or not. And their blood -upon your head, Bertha, the blood of France and Great Britain and -Russia, and of the German people, too." - -He affected to shudder. "A thing of horror such as even Dante could not -have conceived!" he exclaimed pathetically. - -"And I the cause?" faltered Bertha. - -"Who else, since you are driving me to war! Can I, dare I wait until Le -Creusot, Woolwich and the Putiloffs have finished their preparations? I -be ---- if I will!" he added rudely, "so I propose to seize the Krupp -plant and manufacture my own war material until 'The Day' and after." - -The War Lady, trembling with amazement, half raised herself from the -floor and, balancing on her right arm, stared wildly. - -"Seize my plant?" she gasped; but the War Lord paid no attention. -Kicking his sword aside, he once more seized pencil and writing-block. - -"_Cum infamia_," he read, as if for Bertha's benefit. Then his pencil -flew rapidly over the paper: "The plant to be taken over by the act of -the Sovereign, Gwinner and Emil Rathenau to look to the financial end, -Dernburg and Thyssen to examine the business end." (Arthur von Gwinner, -German railway magnate; August Thyssen, mine owner and merchant prince.) -He was grabbing the speaking-tube, when Bertha took hold of his -shoulder. - -"Uncle Majesty," she whispered softly. - -"If you please, Frau Krupp, no familiarities," barked the War Lord. -"You are interfering in business of State." - -"Listen, Uncle," pleaded Bertha. - -"No, _you_ listen to your King," said the War Lord coaxingly, "that is, -if you will be once more my good little girl, and not presume to mix in -my affairs, in affairs of the State." - -"I am at Your Majesty's mercy," sobbed Bertha. - -"You ought to have thought of that before." - -"Forgive me, forgive me, Uncle Majesty." - -"On one condition: that never again you lend ear to outsiders in matters -affecting the Krupp works, whatever may be their character or claims to -recognition." - -"I promise, Uncle Majesty." - -The War Lord leaned back in his chair and motioned to Bertha to sit -down. - -"The most terrible War Office secret has just been communicated to me by -Metternich," he began, "and I would be unworthy of the trust imposed -upon me by the Almighty if I did not use every preventive to undo this -new dreadful peril to the Fatherland. Prevention spells: 'Increase of -armaments on land and sea and, indeed, above the sea.' That's why I am -forced to seize the Krupp works if you dare oppose my will----" - -"But I don't, Uncle Majesty. I swear I don't!" cried Bertha. - -The War Lord sunk his penetrating eyes into Bertha's as if trying to -read the War Lady's very thoughts. "Ring for the baby," he said; and -when the child was brought in he whispered to her to dismiss the nurse. - -"Swear on the life of your child that you will not attempt to wrest the -control of the Krupp works from my agent, or agents, and that your -factories and shipyards shall ever be at my exclusive disposal, your -Uncle Majesty to control the output and mode of manufacture absolutely, -and decide on all measures deemed essential for the success of the works -and the armament and defence of the Fatherland." - -For a few moments the War Lady stared at the speaker, then allowed him -to take her right hand and place it on the baby's head. - -"I swear," she said in a hardly audible voice. - -"On the life of your child," demanded Wilhelm. There was a scarcely -concealed threat in his tones. - -"Mercy, Uncle Majesty!" - -"Mercy begins at home. There are thirty thousand families depending -upon you--all told, about one hundred and fifty thousand people are -living in Essen and suburbs. Do you want to see them all wiped off the -face of the earth?" - -"I don't follow, Your Majesty." - -"I asked a question; I am not after argument. Once more I ask: Would you -rather see Essen, my fortress of Cologne, Duesseldorf, the whole Rhine -and Ruhr valleys blasted out of existence than say these eight words: 'I -swear on the life of my child'?" - -"I can't conceive the meaning of Your Majesty's words; but I love my -people, and I would much rather die myself than have them suffer on my -account," said the War Lady. She kissed the child, and, with tears -streaming from her eyes, pronounced the fatal words. - -"In the name of the Fatherland I thank you," said Wilhelm, touching -Bertha's forehead with white lips cold as ice. Then, striking a -theatrical pose, he added: "_Si Krupp nobiscum, quis contra nos_?" (If -Krupp is with us, who can stand against us?) He rang the bell. -"Dommes," he whispered into the 'phone, adding a word of the secret -code. Presently there was a knock at the door. The War Lord himself -opened it. Dommes was standing at attention, naked sword in hand. A few -more words in the secret code. The door closed, and Dommes began -patrolling the corridor. - - - - - *CHAPTER XXXI* - - *A GREAT STATE SECRET* - - - The Great Dundonald Plan--The Menace to Essen--Who Holds the - Secret?--An Infallible Plan--England Will Have to Pay--The World - Will be Mine - - -A minute passed while the War Lord listened for the steady tread of his -epauletted sentinel on the marble floor and seemed to count the steps. -If Dommes had strayed an inch upon the purple runner which he was -ordered to avoid, Wilhelm would have rushed out and abused him for a -spy. Not until satisfied that the possibility of being overheard was out -of the question, he told of the things weighing upon his mind, or of -those, rather, that he wanted to weigh on Bertha's mind. - -"You heard of Lord Dundonald?" he asked abruptly. - -"The father of Baron Cochrane, who announced the death of Gordon and the -fall of Khartoum," replied Bertha. "Gustav met him at Brooks's, I -believe." - -"The desert rider doesn't interest us now," retorted Wilhelm, "though I -would love to have him on my staff--just the man to lead my African -forces and to help in the Boer uprising. I am talking of Thomas -Cochrane, the tenth Earl. Surely you learned about his good work -against Napoleon and his exploits in South American waters? For a time -he was admiral of the Chilian Fleet, re-entering the British naval -service in the last years of William IV.'s reign." - -"I recollect now," said Bertha. - -"Well, the two elder Dundonalds were scientists, like your father and -grandfather. Indeed, Dundonald _grand-pere_ made several epoch-making -chemical discoveries--I suspect Heydebrand is stealing his ideas on -every hand" (Dr. Ernst von Heydebrand, leader of the Agrarian party and -a husbandman of note), "for Earl Archie enlarged on the relations -between agriculture and chemistry even during the French Revolution; but -Thomas Dundonald, his son, the same who defeated the Corsican at sea, -was, or rather is, the man who threatens the Fatherland, even though -buried these fifty years and more. Industry is indebted to him for -discoveries in the line of compressed air, improvements in engines and -propellers, but his _chef d'oeuvre_ was a war machine. - -"I tell you, Bertha, it looms up larger and larger as the struggle that -is sure to come approaches--a perpetual threat menacing the stability of -my Empire. - -"The enemy--I mean the British War Office--has wrapt that thing of -horror in darkest mystery ever since its inception a hundred years ago, -and Haldane is as secretive about it as the Prince Regent was in the -early decades of the nineteenth century. - -"During my every visit to England I have tried to find out from princes, -statesmen and military men on the Dundonald plan, only to meet with -patriotic objections in one place, with bluff in another. Lord Roberts -went so far as to say there was no such thing. But King Edward, when -Prince of Wales, contradicted Roberts, without suspecting, of course, -that I had quizzed the Field Marshal. He had seen the document, he said; -it rested in a secret drawer of the War Minister's safe. 'No other War -Office official has access to it,' he told me, 'and it's the only copy -in existence.' - -"His word notwithstanding, there was a possibility, of course, that the -plans of the great war machine might be concealed somewhere about Lord -Dundonald's town residence in Portman Square, or in the archives of -Gwyrch Castle, his seat in Wales, and Wedell has spent ten thousands -upon ten thousands, bribing confidential servants, librarians and -secretaries and what not? I had half made up my mind to approach the -present Earl, when Metternich, by the merest accident, came upon some of -the information sought after. - -"Bertha," continued Wilhelm, "though we don't know its exact nature yet, -the last doubt as to its limitless efficacy as a destroyer is -removed--hence, the famous secret of the London War Office constitutes a -peril to the German Empire that only war preparations on the largest -possible scale can hope to check." - -He dropped into melodramatic style, _tutoyering_ Bertha: "Dost -understand now, child, why I contemplated taking over the Krupp works -for the State in case you failed your Uncle Majesty? Such would have -been my duty, my sacred duty." - -"I understand now, understand fully, and I humbly beg Your Majesty's -pardon." - -"It is granted," said the War Lord, with the air of a tyrant annulling a -death sentence. "And now you want to know about the menace Dundonald's -plan holds out to Essen, of course. But for your fuller understanding -we must first go into the history of the case." - -The War Lord lit a cigarette and settled comfortably into his throne -chair. "Some two years before the battle of Leipzig," he began, "Lord -Dundonald first startled the British War Office by a device for -annihilating all fortified places and armies of Europe, should Bonaparte -succeed in uniting them against England. However, his plan was so -terrible, the Secretary for War refused to take the responsibility of -either rejecting or accepting it, and persuaded the Regent to appoint a -committee for its investigation _en camera_. The Duke of York, Lord -Keith, Lord Exmouth and the two Congreves were chosen, and their verdict -was: 'Infallible, irresistible, but too inhuman for consideration.' And -at that time, Bertha, Englishmen and Englishwomen were hanged for -stealing a sheep or an ell of cotton. So you may be sure that Lord -Dundonald's war machine is no more burdened with sentimentality than -'old Fritz' yonder. - -"The terrible plan was reluctantly pigeon-holed, and, as you know, -Prussia, not the English, smashed Napoleon. - -"In 1817 Lord Dundonald went to South America, having previously pledged -his word of honour that he would not use his invention for the benefit -of foreigners, and that, on the contrary, it should remain for ever at -the disposal of England's War Office. Later, his lordship confessed -that he had been tempted time and again to employ his invention, but -refrained from self-respect. - -"After 1832 he was back in London, and from then on until his death in -1860 he submitted his terrible plan to each succeeding War Minister, and -each of these gentlemen declared the method capable of realisation with -the awful results predicted by the author, yet too savage for adoption -by a Christian government. - -"Followed the Crimean War, with its initial anxieties, particularly to -my grandmother. To her Lord Dundonald, then quite an old man, submitted -his plan anew, which he said would shorten the war; but Queen Victoria -hadn't the heart to listen to the inhuman proposal. However, Lord -Palmerston had the invention officially investigated, appointing the -most progressive scientists of the day for the task. As expected, they -upheld Lord Dundonald's claims in every particular, but the inhumanity -clause attached forbade its acceptance under a ruler like Queen -Victoria, and once more the plan was shelved. - -"Of course," added the War Lord, "they were fighting against Russia -then. If it had been Germany, that blackguard Palmerston would have -hanged the committee that declared against its acceptance. - -"That happened sixty years ago," he went on, "and the British War Office -has kept Dundonald's terrible plan in reserve ever since. Nor has its -exact nature leaked out, though time and again one or other of the -Powers have offered millions for the betrayal of the secret. Now, if I -had been War Lord when Lord Dundonald was travelling in Germany--but -that's neither here nor there," he added gloomily. - -Wilhelm walked to the empty fireplace and stared at the lifeless logs, -while a sinister and cruel expression intensified the brutality of his -features, "You heard of Frederick the Great stealing the dancer La -Barbarina from the Venetians, bodily snatching her out of the -ambassador's coach? So would I have kidnapped Lord Dundonald, 70 -Wilhelmstrasse" (the palace of the British Embassy) "notwithstanding. - -"I would have clapped him into Spandau, and kept him at a diet of bread -and water until he revealed his secret in every detail--yes, and put to -the test, too. And if starvation hadn't fetched him round--why, we have -a lot of that Nuremberg _bric-a-brac_--thumb-screws, Spanish boots and -toys of that sort--hidden away in some of the old castles and -prisons----" True to his habit of manual illustration, he described -some of the workings of the torture machinery by attacking the -atmosphere. - -"But, as said, it's neither here nor there," he resumed finally. "Back -to our muttons, then, _mon amie_. This is the story which Metternich -obtained from two sources: Whitehall and Gwyrch Castle. - -"To-day Dundonald's terrible plan plays a more decisive part in -England's foreign policy than ever, being regarded as the supreme -reserve force, a reserve force such as the world has never dreamt of. -Its point is against Germany, as a matter of course, but I doubt not -that Asquith would use it upon his own allies if ever they turned -against him. Hence, France, Russia, even Japan, dare not act -independently of Great Britain lest she employ Dundonald's terrible -secret. - -"As to its nature, according to certain vague information deduced from -some of the late Lord Thomas's manuscript notes found at the Welsh -castle, the hope that in the meantime it had been superseded by modern -explosives, and that its main principle, or allied principles, were no -longer the last cry in the line of destruction, has proved absolutely -untenable. His menacing method is as infallible and irresistible to-day -as it was a hundred years ago; all your dynamiters, nitro-glyceriners, -lydditers and the rest of them notwithstanding, Bertha." - -The War Lord struck a tragic pose: "To sum up, in concocting this crime -against humanity the English lord degraded his intellect beneath the -meanest animal. Your poor child," he murmured, "like my fortresses and -towns on the coast of the North Sea or Baltic, so Essen and the peaceful -Ruhr valley may be swallowed up in the whirlwind of his enormities." - -"I shall defend my boy with my last breath!" cried Bertha, jumping to -her feet, "him and all my people. Tell me, Uncle Majesty, why is Essen -especially menaced?" - -"Its proximity to the frontier is our most vulnerable point. Pray, and -pray hard, Bertha, that Wilhelmina remains our friend. If she joined -our enemies, Lord Dundonald's devilish invention might be brought to -your very doors, through the Zuyder Zee and Waal, and Germany's armoury, -the Krupp works, obliterated; the Fatherland itself could be wiped off -the map. - -"I hope to prevent this by throwing an iron wall across Belgium and -Northern France," he continued, tracing a line on the wall-map, while -Bertha faltered out: - -"And this English menace----" - -"How it works, you mean? With the resistless energy of Etna in eruption -and the iron grip of the flow of ashes that buried Pompeii and -Herculaneum. Only here will be no escape by water; but for my -protecting arm you will all be suffocated in bed, or standing or going, -as it were." - -The War Lord stepped to the window and looked through the telescope -fixed on a stand. "As far as the eye travels," he monologued, "one vast -ghastly cemetery. Every house and cottage a grave, this villa a -mausoleum." - -"Save us!" shrieked Bertha. "Your Majesty alone can save us!" - -"I will," said the War Lord, "my Imperial word: they shall not harm a -hair on your child's head. With the Krupps working according to my -plans, I will save Essen and my ships and my fortresses, too, for danger -anticipated is half overcome; and when 'The Day' arrives I will move so -quickly Whitehall won't have time to put the Scottish nobleman's -surprise into practice. Listen, Bertha: - -"The Japs disembarked eight thousand men at Sakhalin in a single hour, -and whatever these brown devils did my army will have to go them one -better. I will fall on Belgium, and, as I told Krupp, hack my way to -Calais. By that time, maybe, you will have completed the howitzer that, -planted at Calais, will make Dover Castle tumble into the dust. If you -haven't, my air fleet alone must pull off the job. After closing the -mouth of the Thames----" - -"Sheerness to be blockaded?" - -"By mines, Zeppelin, admiral. And before they have recovered from their -surprise I will have three hundred and fifty thousand men on the way to -Threadneedle Street. About the same time King George and Mr. Asquith, -or whoever is in power, will get a wireless to the effect that, to the -indemnity England will have to pay, a thousand million pounds will be -added if there is an attempt to interrupt the march of my armies by -using the Dundonald plan, or if same is used anywhere or at any time -against my possessions. My admonition will be in time, for to launch an -undertaking so gigantic as to baffle even the most enterprising of your -own lieutenants, Bertha, will take the slow English months and months; -the swiftness of my movements, then, can be relied upon to forestall the -evil intended to make our own warlike invention pale into -insignificance." - -"But the English fleet, Your Majesty?" - -"Obsolete, old iron so far as the Channel is concerned. If I have -enough airships, I won't bother about George's Dreadnoughts at all, for -my nine army corps can be shipped from Calais in half an hour's time. - -"As you know, my latest Zep. carries a hundred persons, and I have been -talking it over with your Board and the Count: there are no technical -obstacles against the construction of airships four times the size; -airships can expand even more readily than howitzers. - -"And the dream of my little girl need not be abandoned, either," added -the War Lord in softer tones, "for the telegram to King George will -further stipulate that the Dundonald secret must be turned over to me, -and that I will have a hundred hostages to guarantee my absolute -monopoly of this war machine--all the living war ministers and the heads -of the families of the war ministers for the last hundred years, with a -sprinkling of dukes, princes, high statesmen and low politicians to -boot. Lady Warwick has sometimes wondered what the English nobility is -good for--I'll show her. - -"The Dundonald secret in my exclusive keeping," concluded Wilhelm, "you -can devote the Krupp plant in all future to the ideals of the pacifists; -for the world, awed into submission and silence lest I make a vast -Pompeii out of a rebel country--the world will be mine!" - -With the War Lady's astonished eyes following him as he strode the -length and breadth of the room, the War Lord chuckled to himself. "Lord -Dundonald's crude notes, found by my agents, have put me on the track of -the secret; anyhow, we are now experimenting in Charlottenburg. My -experts call it a liquid perambulant fire, a hundred per cent. more -efficacious than my asphyxiating gas for clearing a road through a human -wall, as each cylinder is guaranteed to lay low man, beast and technical -obstacle for a space of a hundred and more square feet. What do you say -to that, Bertha?" - -"You are wonderful, Uncle Majesty," said Bertha. - -"Invincible, arm in arm with the War Lady," declaimed Wilhelm. - - - - - PRINTED BY - CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED, LA BELLE SAUVAGE, - LONDON, E.C. - F100.116 - - - - - - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SECRET MEMOIRS OF BERTHA -KRUPP *** - - - - -A Word from Project Gutenberg - - -We will update this book if we find any errors. - -This book can be found under: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44979 - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one -owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and -you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission -and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth in the -General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying and -distributing Project Gutenberg(tm) electronic works to protect the -Project Gutenberg(tm) concept and trademark. 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