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1913] AN ARTIFICIAL SETTING
was being too high-handed with Ministers to whom he
would soon have to address entreaties.
" Listen, gentlemen ! " whispered one of the Ministers
to two intimate colleagues in a corner: "all this has a
truly lugubrious appearance. First that door will open,
then another, and we shall be led into an inner court and
there by torchlight we shall see either Danev or Savov
having his head cut off! " " Or else," replied some one
else, "the door will open and dear Dobrovitch will appear
with his usual amiable giggle to inform us that the
King has bolted and that we shall never see him again !"
At last the famous door opened, and Dobrovitch really
appeared, and begged us to follow him. We went
through two or three half-dark rooms and suddenly
found ourselves in the state saloon, which was brilliantly
lit up and quite empty. We were asked to stand up in
order of seniority and we did so. The senior at this
time was the German Minister von Below; I took the
second place, then came the Minister of Great Britain,
then the others; we were placed far apart. Two or
three minutes after the door at the far end of the saloon
opened and the King entered in full dress with
decorations (whereas we had been invited to come in
morning-dress !). His Majesty was preceded by his Lord
Chamberlain and his aide-de-camp, and followed at a
distance of ten feet by his new Foreign Secretary
Gennadiev, in evening clothes, with a white tie and all
his Bulgarian and Saxe-Coburg decorations. The King,
making a bow which included every one, took up his
position in the middle of the room and made us a speech
obviously prepared beforehand, in which he revealed the
critical situation of Bulgaria. Having alluded, somewhat
pointedly, to the so-called hostility of the Great Powers
towards Bulgaria as being the cause of this situation, he
entreated us to transmit to our Governments his earnest
prayer not to allow the total shipwreck of the country
to ensue.
All this artificial setting and this pretentious speech—
somewhat unseemly from Ferdinand’s lips—ended by
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