Dr. Fronz smiled feebly. “We underestimated the great number of converts and of people of Jewish extraction. Today the state police, having a better view of the situation, no longer count with half a million, but with eight hundred thousand, perhaps even a million persons who are subject to the law. I might mention, incidentally, that the expulsion has had some untoward consequences, frequently very unpleasant, sometimes merely grotesque. Ten Christian-Social deputies had to be expelled as being of Jewish origin; almost a third of the Christian newspapermen were affected either directly or through members of their families. It has developed that our best Christian citizens are steeped in Israel--our oldest families are being torn apart. Indeed, there has occurred something that has made us the laughing-stock of not only the Jewish papers, which of course will badger us to the last minute, but of the foreign press as well. A sister of the princely Archbishop of Austria, Cardinal Rössl, is married to a Jew, and his brother to a Jewess, so that the law robs His Eminence of his closest relatives, including all his nieces and nephews! Perhaps it would be advisable, under these circumstances, to submit to the National Assembly an amendment to the law, providing that in certain cases persons of Jewish origin be permitted to stay....” The Chancellor sprang to his feet and brought down his fist on the desk with such violence that the ink spattered out from its container. “Never! Never, while I am in office. The granting of any such exceptions would make the entire law a universal joke, international Jewry would celebrate an unprecedented triumph, and all doors would be opened wide to corruption and bribery. You know our regional and government clerks with their open hands and empty pockets! No, there can be no exceptions, the grief of individual families may not shake the foundations of the law! The war that we waged in the name of the Hapsburgs cost a million lives--and no one dared say a word. Compared to that, what is a little inconvenience or vexation for a few thousand, or a hundred thousand persons? I will ask you to instruct the Christian papers accordingly. Better still, let the political press bureau immediately send out a statement on this to the papers. And I beg you never again to let yourself become the vehicle for such suggestions!” Paling, Dr. Fronz bowed. “Then it would be superfluous for me to tell Your Excellency of the terribly pitiful scenes that occur every day at the departure of the evacuation trains--scenes which often become so heart-rending that even the mob, gathered about the outgoing trains to abuse the exiles, is moved to silence and tears.”