ait on
anybody.

Constable. What? Oh, Master Olof! Why, first you sit at the door playing
lackey, and then you drop the mask and step forth as the Lord Himself!
And I took you to be a proud man. (He picks up his cloak and places it
on a bench.)

Olof. My Lord Constable!

Constable. But, no, you are only a vain upstart! Please step forward and
be seated, Mr. Secretary.

[He points Olof to a seat and goes out into one of the side-rooms.]

[Olof sits down. A young Courtier enters through the gallery and salutes
Olof.]

Courtier. Good morning, Secretary! Is nobody here yet? Well, how is
everything in Stockholm? I have just arrived from Malmoe.

Olof. Oh, everything is going wrong here.

Courtier. So I have heard. The mob has been muttering as usual whenever
the King's back is turned. And then there are those fool priests!--I beg
your pardon, Secretary, but, of course, you are a freethinker?

Olof. I don't quite understand.

Courtier. Don't mind me, please. You see, I have been educated in Paris.
Francis the First--O Saint-Sauveur!--that's a man who has extreme views.
Do you know what he told me at a bal masque during the last carnival?
(Olof remains silent.) "Monsieur," he said, "la religion est morte, est
morte," he said. Which didn't keep him from attending mass.

Olof. Is that so?

Courtier. Do you know what he replied when I asked him why he did
so?--"Poetry! Poetry!" he said. Oh, he is divine!

Olof. What did you answer?

Courtier. "Your Majesty," I said--in French, of course--"fortunate the
land that has a king who can look so far beyond the narrow horizon
of his own time that he perceives what the spirit of the age demands,
without trying to urge the masses to embrace that higher view of life
for which they will not be ready for many centuries to come!" Wasn't
that pretty clever?

Olof. Oh, yes, but I think it must have lost a great deal in being
translated. Things of that kind should be spoken in French.

Courtier (preoccupied). You are quite right.--Tell me--your _fortune_
ought to be assured--you are so far in advance of your time?

Olof. I fear I shall not get very far. My education was neglected,
unfortunately--I studied in Germany, as you may know--and the Germans
are not beyond religion yet.

Courtier. Indeed, indeed! Can you tell me why they are making such a
hubbub about that Reformation down there in Germany? Luther is a man of
enlightenment--I know it--I believe it--but why shouldn'