The explosive
demand caught the ruler by surprise. He gasped and his lips fell apart.
Then it must have occurred to him that the question could be answered by
no one save the person to whom it was so plainly addressed. He lifted
his chin and piped up shrilly, and with a fervour that startled even
the intense Perse:
"Because Uncle Jack said we should, that's why."
We have no record of what immediately followed this abrupt declaration;
there are some things that never leak out, no matter how prying the
chronicler may be. When one stops to consider that this was the first
time a question had been put directly to the Prince--and one that he
could understand, at that--we may be inclined to overlook his reply, but
we cannot answer for certain members of the cabinet. Unconsciously, the
boy in knickers had uttered a truth that no one else had dared to
voice. John Tullis _was_ the joint stepping-stone and stumbling-block in
the deliberations of the cabinet.
It goes without saying that the innocent rejoinder opened the way to an
acrid discussion of John Tullis. If that gentleman's ears burned in
response to the sarcastic comments of the Duke of Perse and Baron Pultz,
they probably tingled pleasantly as the result of the stout defence put
up by Halfont, Dangloss and others.
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