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.