In Warsaw newspapers shouting headlines about Hitler's triumph in Prague.
Inside Palace the men who led Poland sat around a long table.
Marshal Edward Śmigły-Rydz, commander-in-chief, sat stiff in his uniform, his baton resting across his knees like a scepter.
His gray eyes scanned the room with impatience.
Across from him, Foreign Minister Józef Beck adjusted his tie and drummed his fingers lightly on a folder of cables from Paris and London.
The President, Ignacy Mościcki, looked more like a professor than a head of state round spectacles, hair too thin, face too soft for a room like this.
At the far end, Prime Minister Felicjan Sławoj Składkowski tapped his cigarette against an ashtray and muttered, "So the Germans walk into Prague, and not a shot fired. The world applauds. And yet the same world tells us to be calm."
