"The King suggests to the Foreign Office that these facts be put before
our Ambassadors abroad, and, to pacify the public mind, be given at once
to the newspapers."
My God, and you want peace!
MINISTER OF WAR
[_Harshly._
Well, how do you like it?
CHIEF OF STAFF
He's backed down, he's backed down. All the world will be shouting
tomorrow how our King has backed down. _Christo!_ To accept defeat
before you've begun to fight!
[_He turns again to the map._
If this other plan should be frustrated by the enemy's navy, look, we
could land here and here and--
[_The door opens and the_ PRIME MINISTER _enters. He is a
stern, titanic figure in the sixties, sallow-skinned, gray-haired._
PRIME MINISTER
[_Standing in the doorway._
Good evening, gentlemen. Counting your battalions?
CHIEF OF STAFF
[_Absorbed._
And here, joining our armies at--
MINISTER OF WAR
Thank God, you're here. Where in sin have you been?
PRIME MINISTER
Home on my estates, saying good-bye to my family.
[_He smiles grimly, and with his cane makes a thrust in carte and
tierce.
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