"
"Glueck, shut the door," commanded the Prince. "Now, my dear sir,
proceed."
"Your Highness is, of course, aware," began the detective, sitting down
with a back very straight, and drooping his lids until his eyes were
almost closed, "that France is deeply interested in this question of the
succession, and that its sympathies are wholly with Prince Ferdinand,
the cousin of Your Highness, and whom, I understand, Your Highness
represents."
Markeld nodded.
"We should naturally expect France's sympathy," he said.
"France," proclaimed Tellier, raising his chin proudly, "is always on
the side of justice and decency."
"More especially," continued the Prince, drily, "when the Emperor of
Germany happens to be on the other side. Come now, confess--if the
Emperor were for us, you would be against us--is it not so?"
Tellier permitted the faintest shadow of a smile to flicker across his
lips.
"Your Highness speaks with a bluntness disconcerting," he said,
deprecatingly.
"I wished merely to clear the air," said the Prince, "and to prick at
the outset the bubble with which you were trying to dazzle me. Let me
assure you that we thoroughly understand France's attitude in this
matter. She is on our side simply because she sees an opportunity of
humiliating, through us, an old enemy.
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