"
"Altogether different," I admitted.
"And mind you," he said, "the Ballplatz itself can be
largely moved from the Quirinal through the Vatican."
"Why of course it can," I agreed, with as much relief in
my tone as I could put into it. After all, what simpler
way of moving the Ballplatz than that?
The Eminent Authority took another sip at his tea, and
looked round at us through his spectacles.
It was I who was taking on myself to do most of the
answering, because it was I who had brought him there
and invited the other men to meet him. "He's coming round
at five," I had said, "do come and have a cup of tea and
meet him. He knows more about the European situation and
the probable solution than any other man living." Naturally
they came gladly. They wanted to know--as everybody wants
to know--how the war will end. They were just ordinary
plain men like myself.
I could see that they were a little mystified, perhaps
disappointed. They would have liked, just as I would, to
ask a few plain questions, such as, can the Italians
knock the stuff out of the Austrians? Are the Rumanians
getting licked or not? How many submarines has Germany
got, anyway? Such questions, in fact, as we are accustomed
to put up to one another every day at lunch and to answer
out of the morning paper.
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