Something in the Duke's manner, a note of unexpected vehemence in his sonorous voice, arrested the King's wandering attention. His boyishness fell from him. "What is it?" he asked. "I remember, now, you said you brought news. Is it--bad news?" "No. It is good news, sir. I could not bring you better news," the Duke replied. "But, I am afraid, in spite of all my warnings, you are not prepared for the announcement which I have to make." He paused there, for a moment, and looked away from the King. "The storm, which we have been expecting, for so long, sir," he added, slowly, dwelling on each word, "is about to break." The King started, and winced, as if he had been struck. "The storm?" he exclaimed. "Is about to break, sir," the Duke repeated. There was a long, tense pause. Then, suddenly, the King laughed, a bitter, ironic laugh. "I have been a fool," he exclaimed. "In my mind, the glass was 'Set Fair.' I had--forgotten--the storm! I was going to take hold of my job. I was going to put my full weight into my work. I was even going to cultivate the Family, as I was telling you--" He checked himself abruptly. "What is going to happen?" he asked. The Duke drew out his watch, an old-fashioned, gold-cased, half hunter, and looked at it judicially. "It is now nearly eleven o'clock. In an hour's time, at twelve noon precisely, a universal, lightning strike will take effect, throughout the length and breadth of the country, sir," he replied. "All the public services will cease to run. The individual workman, no matter where, or how, he is employed, as the clock strikes twelve, will lay down his tools, put on his coat, and leave his work. Such a strike is no new thing, you will say. But this is no ordinary strike, sir. Although whole sections of trades unionists, up and down the country, we have good ground to believe, have no very clear idea, why they are striking, although many of their local leaders appear to have been deceived into the belief that the strike has been called for purely industrial reasons, we have indubitable evidence that it is designed as a first step in the long delayed conspiracy to secure the political ascendency of the proletariat. A little company of revolutionary extremists have, at last, captured the labour machine, sir. It is they who are behind this strike. Behind them, I need hardly tell you, are the Internationalists, and the Communists, on the Continent, ready, and eager, to supply arms, ammunition, and money, if the opportunity arises, on a lavish scale.