RANSVESTIA

She paused for a second, and began:

"Saze-Gotheburg is a very small, but very old semi-republic. Semi- republic because the state is actually governed by elected representatives although there is a monarchy - much like England and the Scandinavian countries. Additionally, we have had an agreement with our large neigh- bor for provisions of defense and so on. The main industry of course lies in the very nature of the country. There is a quaintness, a piquancy of the old Europe that is retained there. It is, moreover, our most prized possession. We are, if you will, a museum state. However, even in the twentieth century or because this is the twentieth century there are other considerations. Efficiency. Big business. That sort of thing. We do things the old way everything, including our government, the tourist trade and so forth. We are not a rich country - financially speaking, but then, there is wealth and there is wealth.

—

"The monarchy itself is one of the institutions that makes the state what it is. I speak candidly, you realize. By an ancient treaty so old that the other signers of the treaty no longer exist politically, Saxe-Gotheburg stays independent so long — and only so long as she has the monarchy - a King. And to be a King, One must also have, by long custom, a Queen.

"The reasoning is obvious. In order to insure the succession, there was always provision made for the birth of an heir, subject of course, to the whims of Nature. Unfortunately, my father was the last male of the line perhaps the oldest, if the least, of the royal houses of Europe.

―

"There is an element within the country that wants to merge our state with our neighbor. True, the benefits are obvious: we should enjoy ma- terial prosperity, we could dispense with the costly business of govern- ment in short we could join the twentieth century. But at what cost? Immeasurable to the viewpoint of some of us, including my father."

She went on for more than an hour more, telling me her story. Her father and mother had had no children for a long time after marriage. The opponents of retaining the monarchy had begun a movement to have the republic joined to the giant nation next door. In the events that were leading, outside the country, to the cataclysm of war, the long-awaited birth of an heir was taken as a sign of hope. The king, however, was dis- turbed by the unmistakeable path that these events were taking, and, con- cerned with whether or not the country would survive or not, announced