m the
same sphere."

"I understand," said the king, stopping in front of a rosebush. "It is
just as here, where every year brings forth new shoots that bear the
roses. But pardon me, I interrupted you!"

"I have only to add," said Gunther, "that while the masses, considered
as such, are the bearers of civilization, the highest development of
this civilization is brought about by the few who are called and chosen
for the task. To make my meaning clearer: He who is of average size, is
not tall, and he who possesses general culture has naught that
distinguishes or elevates him above the rest."

"But who measures and passes upon such claims to such distinction?"
asked the king.

"In science and art, it is the sense of being called to do certain
things, the individual impulse and energy that give shape to ideas
which others have only imperfectly conceived, and which, when they have
once found utterance, the masses gladly accept as their own. In state
affairs, this call is conveyed by means of elections, which have never
before obtained to the same extent as at present. It is of great
advantage that the occasional call to vote is opposed, or rather, held
in check, by the call which is founded on historic claims. But,
whenever the latter fails to be at one with the former, it mistakes its
strength, and at last falls."

The king walked on in silence, his eyes bent on the ground. Everything
tended to prove that there is a united mind, or totality of thought,
which is and must be more powerful than any individual mind. There was
no longer the faintest suspicion that this conclusion was the result of
an idle question.

Although the king walked on in silence, the break in the conversation
was not caused by an unresolved dissonance, jarring his soul's depths.

He was lost in thought, for he had learned how to make a new truth his
own by reflection, instead of dismissing it with light and trifling
conversation.

"May I ask," said the king, in a voice that betokened great
diffidence--"may I ask whether the views which you have just imparted
to me, and which have furnished me with much food for future thought,
are to be more fully expounded in the work on which you are now
employed?"

"Certainly, Your Majesty."

"Then allow me, at once, to pass to a question that concerns our little
life and that portion of history which we are to help make."

The king folded his arms and continued:

"Let me be frank with you. You have