Instead of taking the chair I offered him, he stood regarding me with an expression that seemed one of awe.
“Monsieur V——,” he said at length, “your conditions are accepted by his imperial majesty.”
“What conditions?” I asked, bewildered for the moment.
“Last night you informed me that an American citizen occupied the same rank as royalty.”
“Well?”
“The Mikado offers to make you a member of the imperial family by adoption, and one of his majesty’s cousins has consented to make you his son!”