"Meanwhile what?"
"Well, hasn't the Pope made things easier for you?"
"Yes, in a way. But what is His object? What concession, for example——"
"He doesn't seem to have left Himself any opening for extorting concessions."
"But did Your Imperial Majesty ever hear of a priest who gave something for nothing?"
"One of my cardinals tells me that this is a madman, whose pose is to be primitive, apostolic."
"Ha! For a primitive apostle He has a singularly dictatorial method. Have you read His Epistles, and His denunciations of the socialists, for example?"
"I have. I entirely approve of them. They have assisted me greatly in dealing with some rebels of my own."
"Oh no one could find fault with His sentiments—so far. But they are so unusual, so extra-pontifical, that one wonders what they are concealing."
"Is Your Majesty sure that they conceal something?"