experiment on which we have embarked has come from her. By her gross
mismanagement of established institutions--the Church, the Peerage, the
Army, Land, Labor, Capital--the whole system of voluntary service and
voluntary education--she has driven the rest of Europe into
revolutionary changes for which there was no necessity whatever. In
avoiding the woeful example she has set us, of always standing still on
the wrong leg, we have run ourselves off both our own. And now she is
nourishing syndicalism like a bed of weeds, and sowing the seeds of it
into her neighbors' territories. If you are looking for moral excuse
there is no end to it; I preferred, however, to put it to you as a
business proposition."

"I must assure your Majesty," said the Prime Minister, "that your
Majesty's present advisers have no intention whatever of making
themselves responsible for a war on England, however advantageous the
circumstances may seem."

He might as well have spoken to the wind; with an increasing volubility
of utterance the King went on--

"If it were decided," said he, "that an actual invasion of England were
advisable, I have three separate plans now forming in my head, all
equally feasible and promising, and all capable of being put into
operation at one and the same time. Each one, in fact, would serve to
divert attention from the others."

It may be noted that at this point Professor Teller suddenly ceased to
be amused; his look of half-quizzical detachment becoming changed to one
of gravity, almost of distress; his Majesty's "pace" had apparently
become too much for him.

"We know, for instance," pursued the King, "that if we succeeded in
effecting a landing the German waiters would rise as one man and join us
as volunteers. Germany would, of course, officially disown them, while
for the purposes of the war we should give them letters of Jingalese
naturalization on their enlistment; these, which they would carry in
their knapsacks, would prevent them from being shot in the event of
their being taken prisoners. Our own army of twenty thousand picked
Jingalese sharp-shooters would go to England disguised as tourists. Each
in his bag would carry a complete military outfit; our new uniforms are
so like those of the English territorials that they would arouse no
suspicion at the Customs House, and even when worn only experts would
know the difference. At a given signal----"

There the Prime Minister, having extracted a loo