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KING FERDINAND [chap. ii.
of his life and calling greatly aggravated this tendency.
To this is due his indecision, unsuspected by the public
at large, and also his suspiciousness, so patent to every
one. Ferdinand has never been able to come to a
decision unaided. He could evolve, and cleverly
elaborate the details of, a political combination; when
the moment came to carry it out he needed another will
to impose itself on his and to force him to act. For a
long time his mother had furnished the necessary
willpower. With Princess Clementine’s death, Ferdinand’s
indecision assumed formidable proportions. In 1908,
when the annexation of Bosnia nearly set all Europe by
the ears, Ferdinand, warned in time by M. d’Aerenthal,
prepared to follow up the Austrian step by the
proclamation of Bulgarian independence and sovereignty.
Everything was carefully arranged and prepared ; but
at the vital moment it was necessary for M. Malinov
and his colleagues to force themselves on him in his
saloon-carriage and to drag a decision from him—they
succeeded far more by threats than by persuasion. And
this is no solitary example.
Touching his deep distrust I must say that I have
seldom seen any one more suspicious than
King-Ferdinand. Nearly every conversation that I had with
him began in a favourable manner; one was face to face
with an intelligent, cultivated and subtle questioner
willing to use his intellectual charm and entering to a
certain extent into one’s point of view; then all of a
sudden, without any apparent reason, a shadow would
cross his face, his expression became crafty, and the
King’s thoughts were abruptly hidden from one, and one
had to be content with a medley of evasions and
commonplaces. This was because at a given moment
the usual thought had crossed the King’s mind: " Ah!
but who knows whether he is not laying a trap for me?
Whether he is not seeking an answer from me which
may compromise or bind me ? " From that moment all
one’s arguments were futile.
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