"By the way, Mr. Premier," he said, "as you already know, the Prince of Schnapps-Wasser arrives in a day or two; and there are certain possible eventualities arising out of his visit which we must be prepared for. Hitherto the Princess Charlotte has had no definite grant made to her. While she was still living with us, without an establishment of her own, I preferred to let the matter stand over. But now--well, now a change may be necessary." The Prime Minister's face beamed with congratulatory smiles. "Your Majesty may be sure that the matter shall have immediate attention." "There will be no difficulty?" "Oh, none whatever." "I will leave all question of the amount to be discussed later. I believe that it is etiquette, in the case of a reigning Prince, for him also to be consulted." "That is so, sir." "The Prince himself is very wealthy; and I think that you will find him disinterested. Still there is, of course, a certain balance to be observed." "Oh, quite." "I leave the matter, then, entirely in your hands." The Prime Minister bowed. And then the conversation changed. "You know what happened to me last night, I suppose," said the King. "Ah, yes, indeed, sir! You will pardon my silence; I was most horrified. But I thought that perhaps your Majesty did not wish to speak of it." "On the contrary," replied the King, "I have got a great deal to say." And then, with much detail and particularity, he narrated his experience--all those hours which he had spent in the crowd; and the Prime Minister listened, saying nothing. "Well," said the King, when he had done, "that is what I have seen; and you cannot tell me it is something that does not matter." "By no means, sir; I admit that it is very serious." "I was never told so before." "We did not wish unnecessarily to trouble your Majesty. This is hardly a case for Cabinet intervention; the Home Office does its duty, takes preventive measures as far as is possible, and puts down the disturbances when they arise." "Yes, yes," said the King, "but is nothing going to be done?" The Prime Minister raised his eyebrows, as though asked to reply once more to a question already answered. "Everything possible is being done, sir." "Legislatively, I mean." "Oh, sir," exclaimed the head of Government in a tone of the most deferential protest, "that surely is a matter for the Cabinet." "Quite so," said the King. "That is why I ask." So then the Premier explained circumstantially and at great length why, in that sense, nothing whatever could be done. We need not go into it here--those who read Jingalese history will find the Prime Minister's reasons published elsewhere; and it all really came only to this: "It is the duty of a government to keep in power; and if it cannot do justice without endangering its party majority, then justice cannot be done."