"Loyal, hie, and Christian," added Pastor Zillich.
"Are you gentlemen really serious?" asked Rothgroschen in a voice of gentle entreaty. "I thought it was a joke."
Then Diederich lost his temper.
"We do not trifle with sacred things! Do you want me to prove it to you in acts as well as words, you broken-down scholar?"
As Rothgroschen's gestures indicated complete submission, Diederich quieted down again and said: "Your health!" The major shouted as if he would burst: "We are the gentlemen on whom His Majesty can rely!" Jadassohn begged him to be quiet and began to read.
"This meeting of loyal and Christian citizens, gathered in session at the Ratskeller in Netzig, humbly extends to Your Majesty its unanimous and enthusiastic approval of Your Majesty's Royal testimony to revealed religion. We register our deepest loathing of revolution in every form, and in the courageous act of a sentry in Netzig to-day we greet the gratifying evidence that Your Majesty, no less than Hammurabi and Emperor William the Great, is the instrument of Almighty God." Jadassohn gave a flattered smile when they all applauded.
"Let us sign!" cried the major. "Or has any gentleman anything to say?" Rothgroschen cleared his throat. "With the utmost deference, just one point."
"I cannot allow that," said Diederich. The alcohol had given the editor courage, and he rolled on his seat, sniggering senselessly.
"I have nothing to say against the sentry, gentlemen. In fact, I have always held that soldiers are there to shoot."
"Well, what then?"
"Yes, but how do you know that the Emperor thinks so?"
"Of course, he does! Look at the Luck case."
"Precedents—he, he—are all very well, but we know that the Emperor is an original thinker and—he, he—and very im-
