“I have more than once noticed that if I say anything reasonable it arouses astonishment, because I happen to be a prince. Doesn’t that in itself imply that princes are superfluous? Indeed, is not the whole history of social progress marked by the gradual disappearance of once acknowledged necessities?”
Thus they talked for a while about generalities, but their interest and their thoughts were not so much directed to the subject of their conversation as to the mutual observation of their personalities; what they each felt was that they were satisfied with each other and that they were sympathetic. But others soon joined them and Prince Victor Adolph took his leave.
In another corner of the salon stood John A. Toker surrounded by a dozen of his most distinguished guests.
“I have just learned, my good friends,” said Mr. Toker, “that in the course of the next few days the heads of two European countries are coming here in order to be present at some of our public functions—the King of Italy and the President of the French Republic. We must manage it so that the address ‘The War in the Air’ which is put down on our programme will be heard by these exalted personages. In the first place, there is nothing more interesting to the leaders of the nations than the subject, War. There is no surer guarantee of their fame:—if they carry it on, they are glorious War-Lords; if they manage to avoid it, then they are sublime Princes of Peace. In the second place, the way in which the war-problem is treated among us can only prove useful when it reaches the rulers of human society.”
“Or the wide masses,” remarked one of the bystanders.
“Well, yes,” assented Toker; “the masses also constitute a ruling order. Whoever wishes the welfare of human society will not care whether it is attained from above or from below. Best of all, when both meet and complement each other.”
The same bystander again remarked: “Opposites do not complement, but mutually destroy each other.”
“Ah, my worthy friend,” retorted Toker, “we must not be checked in our endeavors by such generalities. If phrases like that do contain a truth, still we must find out whether they can be applied to the special case that lies before us. A thing must be seized from all sides. That offers the best chance of finally hitting upon the right side or several right sides. Not merely one road leads to Rome. All of you, my dear Knights of the Rose, are a living proof to me how varied are the ways that lead to the heights of Humanity—every one of you has struck out in a different path, and yet they all meet in—”
“Lucerne!” interpolated some one.
Toker nodded. “Quite right! In Lucerne: that means, since our ‘Rose-Week,’ something else than the mere name of a city.”