'We ought to have brought a tankard for that beer,' he said.
Firmin produced a folding aluminium cup, and the king was pleased to
drink.
'I wish, sir,' said Firmin suddenly, 'I could induce you at least to
delay your decision----'
'It's no good talking, Firmin,' said the king. 'My mind's as clear as
daylight.'
'Sire,' protested Firmin, with his voice full of bread and cheese and
genuine emotion, 'have you no respect for your kingship?'
The king paused before he answered with unwonted gravity. 'It's just
because I have, Firmin, that I won't be a puppet in this game of
international politics.' He regarded his companion for a moment and then
remarked: 'Kingship!--what do YOU know of kingship, Firmin?
'Yes,' cried the king to his astonished counsellor. 'For the first time
in my life I am going to be a king. I am going to lead, and lead by
my own authority. For a dozen generations my family has been a set of
dummies in the hands of their advisers. Advisers! Now I am going to be a
real king--and I am going to--to abolish, dispose of, finish, the crown
to which I have been a slave. But what a world of paralysing shams
this roaring stuff has ended! The rigid old world is in the melting-pot
again, and I, who seemed to be no more than the stuffing inside a regal
robe, I am a king among kings.
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