they are,
transform them into something more satisfactory."

"Do you refer to hypnotic suggestion?" asked Belturbet, with the air of
one who is being trifled with.

"Nothing of the sort. Do you understand what I mean by the verb to
koepenick? That is to say, to replace an authority by a spurious
imitation that would carry just as much weight for the moment as the
displaced original; the advantage, of course, being that the koepenick
replica would do what you wanted, whereas the original does what seems
best in its own eyes."

"I suppose every public man has a double, if not two or three," said
Belturbet; "but it would be a pretty hard task to koepenick a whole
bunch of them and keep the originals out of the way."

"There have been instances in European history of highly successful
koepenickery," said the Duke dreamily.

"Oh, of course, there have been False Dimitris and Perkin Warbecks, who
imposed on the world for a time," assented Belturbet, "but they
personated people who were dead or safely out of the way. That was a
comparatively simple matter. It would be far easier to pass oneself of
as dead Hannibal than as living Haldane, for instance."

"I was thinking," said the Duke, "of the most famous case of all, the
angel who koepenicked King Robert of Sicily with such brilliant
results. Just imagine what an advantage it would be to have angels
deputizing, to use a horrible but convenient word, for Quinston and
Lord Hugo Sizzle, for example. How much smoother the Parliamentary
machine would work than at present!"

"Now you're talking nonsense," said Belturbet; "angels don't exist
nowadays, at least, not in that way, so what is the use of dragging
them into a serious discussion? It's merely silly."

"If you talk to me like that I shall just DO it," said the Duke.

"Do what?" asked Belturbet. There were times when his young friend's
uncanny remarks rather frightened him.

"I shall summon angelic forces to take over some of the more
troublesome personalities of our public life, and I shall send the
ousted originals into temporary retirement in suitable animal
organisms. It's not every one who would have the knowledge or the
power necessary to bring such a thing off--"

"Oh, stop that inane rubbish," said Belturbet angrily; "it's getting
wearisome. Here's Quinston coming," he added, as there approached
along the almost deserted path the well-known figure of a young Cabinet
Minister, whose personality