‘Now,’ his Majesty demanded, turning to me, ‘who are you, and what are you doing here?’
“‘Now,’ said the Kaiser, stepping close to my side, ‘tell me the truth—the real truth, mind—and I will spare your life.’”
‘Does your Majesty wish me to speak before these men?’
The Kaiser hesitated.
‘Yes,’ he said at last; ‘speak out.’
I shrugged my shoulders.
‘I am here as the agent of the Federal Council,’ I declared. The Federal Council, as most readers will remember, is the Senate of the German Empire. It represents more especially the dynasties of Bavaria, Saxony, and the other small kingdoms united with Prussia to form the modern Empire.
Wilhelm II. started as I pronounced the name of this body. It is well known that his Imperial Majesty does not enjoy the full confidence of some of his satellite kings. In the army there has been a good deal of friction beneath the surface. It was therefore not at all improbable that the lesser royalties of Germany should have employed a spy to detect the designs of their erratic and overbearing suzerain.
‘Did you tell this to Herr Finkelstein?’ was the next question.