"You mean we shall have to recognize it?"
"If we recognize anything at all."
"Gentlemen," said the Prime Minister, "it must not be recognized; it would mean for us not merely defeat but disaster. As against the Bishops we have a certain amount of popular opinion to back us; but if once it appears that dislike for our policy has driven the King into abdication, then our ruin will be immediate and irremediable. We have to recognize that during the past year his popularity has greatly increased, while our own, to say the most, is stationary."
"Yes, and he knows it!" said the Minister of the Interior, bitterly.
"I call it a treacherous and a cowardly act!" exclaimed the Secretary for War.
"He is trying to bully us!" said the Commissioner-General.
"I should say that he is succeeding," remarked Professor Teller in a dry tone. "Had we not better recognize, gentlemen, that his Majesty has made a very shrewd hit? Can we not—compromise?"
"Impossible!" asseverated the Prime Minister. "It is too late."
Professor Teller leaned back in his chair and let the discussion flow on. His attitude was noticeable; he was the only minister who was taking it sitting down.
"When does this abdication take effect?" asked one. "I mean, how long can it be kept from the press?"