"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 attaché 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 Bülow 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 Bülow.