"But why ask his permission? He is too tender-hearted by far. Let the war department manage that."
"Well, you go and tell them how to do it," returned the secretary petulantly. "What is to be done when the soldiers fire in such a way that a whole platoon volley fails to hit a single man? In St. Michael Square I saw with my own eyes the cannoneers stick their slow-matches into the mud, and heard them declare they wouldn't fire on the people."
"Heavens! what will become of us?"
"I came to give you warning. For my part, I believe the people have fixed upon certain houses as objects of their fury, and I would not pass the night in one of them for all the Rothschild millions."
"Do you think my house is one of the number?" asked Baroness Plankenhorst. The only reply she got was a significant shrug of the shoulders.
"And now I must hasten away," concluded the secretary. "I have to order post-horses and relays for the chancellor."
"What! has it come to that already?"
"So it seems."
"And do you go with him?"
"I shall take good care not to remain long behind. And you too, madam, I should advise at the earliest opportunity—"