This seemed a very great person, and the King looked on him with envy.
"To whom, then, are you actually responsible?" he inquired.
"To you, sir."
"To me alone?"
"My official title would make it indecent for me to consult any one but your Majesty."
"Ah, yes, you keep my conscience for me, don't you?" said the King. Max was right, then; here was something still left for him to do. He addressed himself to the previous question.
"What exactly is the trouble?"
"A self-advertising minority, sir, has been persistently submitting plays which it was quite out of the question to pass. Being annoyed, they are now attacking the plays which have passed."
"I should like," said the King, "to see some of these plays; to be in touch, if I may so put it, with my own conscience. Would you be good enough to send me three of those you have not passed, and three of the others which are now being attacked. I would like also," he added, "to see The Gaudy Girl in its new version."
The Lord Functionary raised his pale eyebrows.