Yet I was pleased in spite of
myself.
"What!" I exclaimed, "they know my works of humour in
Germany?"
"Do they know them?" said the General. "Ach! Himmel!
How they laugh. That work of yours (I think I see it on
the shelf behind you), The Elements of Political Science,
how the Kaiser has laughed over it! And the Crown Prince!
It nearly killed him!"
"I will send him the new edition," I said. "But tell
me, General, what is it that you want of me?"
"It is about my own book," he answered. "You have read
it?"
I pointed to a copy of Germany and the Next War, in its
glaring yellow cover--the very hue of Furchtbarkeit--lying
on the table.
"You have read it? You have really read it?" asked the
General with great animation.
"No," I said, "I won't go so far as to say that. But I
have TRIED to read it. And I talk about it as if I had
read it."
The General's face fell.
"You are as the others," he said, "They buy the book,
they lay it on the table, they talk of it at dinner,--they
say 'Bernhardi has prophesied this, Bernhardi foresaw
that,' but read it,--nevermore.
Pages:
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185