If they don't
suit your purpose as they are, transform them into something more
satisfactory.''
``Do you refer to hypnotic suggestion?'' asked Belturbet, with
the air of one who is being trifled with.
``Nothing of the sort. Do you understand what I mean by the
verb to koepenick? That is to say, to replace an authority by a
spurious imitation that would carry just as much weight for the
moment as the displaced original; the advantage, of course, being
that the koepenick replica would do what you wanted, whereas
the original does what seems best in its own eyes.''
``I suppose every public man has a double, if not two or three,''
said Belturbet; ``but it would be a pretty hard task to koepenick a
whole bunch of them and keep the originals out of the way.''
``There have been instances in European history of highly successful
koepenickery,'' said the Duke dreamily.
``Oh, of course, there have been False Dimitris and Perkin Warbecks,
who imposed on the world for a time,'' assented Belturbet,
``but they personated people who were dead or safely out of the
way. That was a comparatively simple matter.
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