"--Shouting out that you want the taxes abolished--"

"But we didn't shout," said Walter Furst.

"I really cannot speak if I am to be constantly interrupted," said
Arnold of Sewa severely. "What I say is, that you ought to employ tact.
Tact; that's what you want. If I had been chosen to represent the Swiss
people in this affair--I am not saying I ought to have been, mind you;
I merely say _if_ I had been--I should have acted rather after the
following fashion: Walking firmly, but not defiantly, into the tyrant's
presence, I should have broken the ice with some pleasant remark about
the weather. The conversation once started, the rest would have been
easy. I should have said that I hoped His Excellency had enjoyed a good
dinner. Once on the subject of food, and it would have been the
simplest of tasks to show him how unnecessary taxes on food were, and
the whole affair would have been pleasantly settled while you waited. I
do not imply that the Swiss people would have done better to have
chosen me as their representative. I merely say that that is how I
should have acted had they done so."

And Arnold of Sewa twirled his moustache and looked offended. His
friends instantly suggested that he should be allowed to try where the
other three had failed, and the rest of the crowd, beginning to hope
once more, took up the cry. The result was that the visitors' bell of
the Palace was rung for the second time. Arnold of Sewa went in, and
the door was banged behind him.

Five minutes later he came out, sucking the first finger of his left
hand.