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THE EMPEROR WILLIAM 53
one must endeavour to answer equally quickly and clearly.
A good answer never fails to elicit the Emperor’s approval.
He is exceedingly impulsive and his conversation is a mixture
of earnest and jest . A ready repartee or an amusing tale causes
him to laugh so heartily that his shoulders shake with it.
At the Emperor’s bidding we passed into the dining-room.
Admiral von Miiller sat on the left, I on the right of our august
host, and opposite him was Adjutant-General von Gontard.
The table was simply laid. The only luxury that could be
discovered was a bell of gold placed in front of the Emperor’s
cover, and which he rang when a new course was to be brought
in. The dinner was equally plain, consisting of soup, meat
with vegetables, a sweet dish and fruit with claret. I have
seldom been as hungry as when I rose from this table : not on
account of the dishes, but because there had not been a
moment’s silence up to the time when the bell rang for the
last time and bade the uniformed servants withdraw our
chairs as we rose. The Emperor talked to me all the time.
He began by reminding me of my last lecture in Berlin, at
which he was present, and he conjectured that Tibet, where
I had passed through such stirring times, would probably
soon be the only country in the world where peace reigned.
Then we spoke of the political position and of the storms that
are sweeping over Europe. It pleased me especially to hear
with what respect and sympathy the Emperor referred to
France. He regretted the necessity which, contrary to his
wish, compelled him to lead his army against the French, and
he hoped that the time would come when Germans and French-
men might live on amicable and neighbourly terms with one
another. For this goal he had striven for twenty-five years
and he hoped that quite a new order of things would arise out
of the present war. An understanding between Germany and
France would of necessity lay the solid foundation for future
peace. But first there must be victory over the innumerable
legions which four great powers had hurled against Germany’s
frontiers and the German possessions in other continents, then
an honourable and assured peace in all directions, and finally
the great and abiding world-peace. First and foremost the
Emperor placed his faith in God, but he also relied implicitly
on the German people, on this great and noble army which
had now for six weeks asserted itself so gloriously, and on his
powerful fleet, longing to fight out its battle on the waves of
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