‘Perhaps you can tell me something of my brother’s views?’ he said, feeling his way.
‘I think his Highness expects to receive full information before he takes a step which will be irrevocable.’
‘Ah!’
‘He thinks, perhaps, that you may have been deceived by exaggerated promises, and that he has the right to forbid any premature attempt whose failure would damage the Bonapartist cause.’
Prince Louis gnawed his moustache with some impatience.
‘My brother must not be unreasonable,’ he murmured. ‘One is never certain of success in these attempts.’
‘If you will allow me to advise you, you will give him the fullest opportunity of judging of your prospects. It would be a serious thing for everybody if he were provoked into any public demonstration against you.’
The younger Prince changed colour.
‘Is it so serious as that?’ he exclaimed. And during the remainder of the drive he continued wrapped in thought, only the working of his brow betraying the anxiety within.
The greeting between the brothers was cordial, if not affectionate. I took it for granted that I was to be a party to the conference, and as each brother believed that I was secretly friendly to him, neither suggested that I should retire.