Page:Roy Norton--The unknown Mr Kent.djvu/204

 "But the dignity of the throne!" she remonstrated, highly shocked by his confession.

"Hang all that stuff!" he retorted in vulgar slang, also learned from Kent. "The only thing that counts is what you are doing and how well you get it done. Kent said so, and I want to tell you, Eloise, that what Kent says is good enough for me to go by. We—how is it he says it in English?—We are making the old dry bones rattle!"

She affected contempt for these barbarisms and in distress sought that staid old gentleman, the Minister of War, for consolation; but here again she was rebuffed.

"Haw! Haw! Haw!" roared Von Glutz. "One can't attend to all things, Your Royal Highness. Of course none of us are as polite as we used to be. Haven't the time. No, indeed."

"There is time for civilities, isn't there?" she demanded hotly, and the red-faced old man became grave.

"Eloise," he said, "I trotted you and Karl on my knees when you were nothing but babies. I was chancellor under your father. Your grandfather used to pat my head when he met me in these gardens out here. Now listen! I want to tell you something. In all its history there has never been a Marken like this. It's a kingdom, now! It is going to be able to buy and sell a lot [200]