'Was it proposed,' he inquired, 'to send this paper forth without a knowledge of my pleasure ?' One of the non-combatants, eager to trim, volunteered an answer.

'The Herr Doctor von Hohenstockwitz had just entered his dissent,' he added.
'Give me the rest of this correspondence,' said the Prince.

It was handed to him, and he read it patiently from end to end, while the councillors sat foolishly enough looking before them on the table.
The secretaries, in the background, were exchanging glances of delight; a row at the council was for them a rare and welcome feature.
'Gentlemen,' said Otto, when he had finished, 'I have read with pain.
This claim upon Obermunsterol is palpably unjust; it has not a tincture, not a show, of justice.

There is not in all this ground enough for after-dinner talk, and you propose to force it as a _casus belli_.' 'Certainly, your Highness,' returned Gondremark, too wise to defend the indefensible, 'the claim on Obermunsterol is simply a pretext.' 'It is well,' said the Prince.

'Herr Cancellarius, take your pen.