In a month from now, I do not question we shall be able to meet any command your Highness may lay upon us; but at this hour I fear that, even in so small a matter, he must prepare himself for disappointment.

Our zeal is no less, although our power may be inadequate.' 'How much, Herr Grafinski, have we in the treasury ?' asked Otto.
'Your Highness,' protested the treasurer, 'we have immediate need of every crown.' 'I think, sir, you evade me,' flashed the Prince; and then turning to the side-table, 'Mr.Secretary,' he added, 'bring me, if you please, the treasury docket.' Herr Grafinski became deadly pale; the Chancellor, expecting his own turn, was probably engaged in prayer; Gondremark was watching like a ponderous cat.

Gotthold, on his part, looked on with wonder at his cousin; he was certainly showing spirit, but what, in such a time of gravity, was all this talk of money?
and why should he waste his strength upon a personal issue?
'I find,' said Otto, with his finger on the docket, 'that we have 20,000 crowns in case.' 'That is exact, your Highness,' replied the Baron.

'But our liabilities, all of which are happily not liquid, amount to a far larger sum; and at the present point of time it would be morally impossible to divert a single florin.

Essentially, the case is empty.