I have to play my part at the head of
things and put an end to blood and fire and idiot disorder.'
'But, sir,' protested Firmin.
'This man Leblanc is right. The whole world has got to be a Republic,
one and indivisible. You know that, and my duty is to make that easy.
A king should lead his people; you want me to stick on their backs like
some Old Man of the Sea. To-day must be a sacrament of kings. Our trust
for mankind is done with and ended. We must part our robes among them,
we must part our kingship among them, and say to them all, now the
king in every one must rule the world.... Have you no sense of the
magnificence of this occasion? You want me, Firmin, you want me to go
up there and haggle like a damned little solicitor for some price, some
compensation, some qualification....'
Firmin shrugged his shoulders and assumed an expression of despair.
Meanwhile, he conveyed, one must eat.
For a time neither spoke, and the king ate and turned over in his mind
the phrases of the speech he intended to make to the conference. By
virtue of the antiquity of his crown he was to preside, and he intended
to make his presidency memorable. Reassured of his eloquence, he
considered the despondent and sulky Firmin for a space.
'Firmin,' he said, 'you have idealised kingship.
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