if you put in a demand to become a citizen of our State.”
“Aha!”
“What did you say?”
“Nothing, only aha!”
“Aha! that’s all, eh? All you have to do is to make a formal demand and . . . apart from that . . . Well, you will understand of course that . . . that we should demand some guarantee, eh? You will have to earn the right to the honour which is being bestowed on you . . . for exceptional services, eh? Let’s assume that . . . that you hand over to the Army Council . . . you understand, that you hand over . . .”
There was a dead silence. The Prince looked out of the window and Carson’s eyes disappeared behind the glitter of his glasses. Prokop was deeply uneasy.
“. . . that you hand over . . . simply hand over . . .” gulped Carson, also breathing with difficulty.
“What?”
Carson wrote a large K in the air with his finger. “Nothing further,” he said, relieved. “The next day you’ll get a document nominating you as an extra statum captain in the engineers . . . stationed in Balttin. Straight away. So.”
“That is to say only a captain to begin with,” said Uncle Charles. “We haven’t ventured any farther. But we have been given a guarantee that if it should suddenly come to a war”
“Within a year,” cried Carson, “within a year at the latest.”
