“The demand for new elections is becoming more and more stormy; and I am the last man to refuse to heed that demand. On the contrary, I am, personally, in favor of doing what the people want, and of determining, by means of new elections, whether the voters of Austria still approve of what the government did more than two years ago or whether they want a radical change. I--and doubtless you also, gentlemen--see only one goal: To make possible the rehabilitation of our country, to bring back the light of day to our unfortunate nation, hurled into a labyrinth by the Entente--but, perhaps, by grave errors of its own also. Gentlemen, we may be guided by no dogma, no fanaticism, no personal likes or dislikes, but only by the thought of what is best for our land!” Kallop saw to it that the Municipal Press Bureau gave over the Mayor’s speech to the papers word for word that very night; and the next day even the simplest among the Viennese knew that at the proper moment Karl Maria Laberl would leave the Chancellor in the lurch. When Dr. Schwertfeger read the Mayor’s speech in the morning papers--of which only the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_ provided adequate comment--bitter gall rose in his mouth, and he spat it out. Then he looked long, forlornly, dully over the public park, covered with a white shroud. But in the City Hall Herr Kallop gaily rubbed his hands. And after making sure that neither a colleague nor an inferior was in the room, he said loudly and distinctly, “_Mazeltov!_” knocking thrice on the under side of the table. Incidentally, it might be divulged that Herr Kallop admired a voluptuous Jewess--twice divorced, to be sure, but blessed with many millions by way of compensation--who now lived in exile in Prague. And he longed for nothing so much as for the return of her person and her millions to his beloved country--if for no other reason, than because he could not possibly cope any longer with the rising cost of living on his salary as President of the Municipal Council, and because, furthermore, he had made a mistake in his speculations on the Polish mark. CHAPTER XVI. “DOWN WITH THE GOVERNMENT!” The Mardi Gras season of this year was powerless to improve the humor of the Viennese. Bitter cold, much snow, rooms unheated because a hundred-weight of coal cost a hundred thousand kronen, failure after failure, the closing of a great bank in which many had deposited their money. Dances and fancy dress balls were held in the sign of the peasant costume exclusively. As extravagant dress was not being indulged in, necessity was made into a virtue, only country dances were given, and Vienna looked more like a country fair than a metropolis.