“I am proposing nothing, Fräulein. My duty is merely to act as a member of the Ministry, and the duty of the Ministry is to do what is best for the kingdom. Consider a moment. You will scarcely deny that his Majesty is developing a very imperious and violent temper. I myself saw him strike his mother in the face yesterday, when she thwarted some whim of his.”
“You saw it? The Queen was cry——talking about it last night, but she did not say you were there. But who can wonder that the King should have an ungoverned temper, Count? Think what his mother’s life has been!”
“I am not now discussing past history, which is unhappily beyond mending, Fräulein. If the King’s disposition is not to be ruined, he must be taught to control his temper and keep it in check. Since the one person who treats him sensibly is leaving him, I fear the council of Ministers will feel it necessary to place him under a stricter rule.”
“Sensibly! You are using very strange language, Count.”
“It is quite possible, Fräulein; but I mean what I say. To Mrs Jones it is all the same whether a child is a King or a beggar. If he is in her charge, she makes him ‘mind’ her, as she calls it. Now I ask you, as a conscientious woman, is not her method more likely to produce good results than that of—another lady—who alternates between humouring his most unreasonable wishes, and thwarting his most innocent ones because she is—well, angry herself?”
“I cannot remain here to listen to such words about the Queen, Count.”
“Forgive me for wearying you, Fräulein. I am afraid I am rather an enthusiast on the subject of education. But I won’t bore you any more with my theories.”
“You are trying to revenge yourself upon the Queen by torturing her through her son!” burst from Fräulein von Staubach.
“Surely, Fräulein, you must be aware that her Majesty makes my post such a delightful one, and responds with so much alacrity to the slightest suggestion I may venture to make for her guidance, that the feeling at which you hint would be entirely out of place and uncalled for?”
“She—she has not perhaps treated you as graciously as you may have expected; but then, is it noble—is it even manly—to act in this way? To work upon an unhappy mother’s feelings——”