‘But he isn’t thirty years of age?’
‘What of that? He isn’t the only European Prince who has run up a million of debts in a dozen years. To a Prince the thing is as easy as eating a sandwich.’
‘And why has he taken this sudden resolution to liquidate them?’
‘Because the Emperor and the lady’s parents won’t let him marry till he has done so! And quite right, too! He’s got to show a clean sheet, or the Princess Anna of Eckstein-Schwartzburg will never be Princess of Posen. Even now the Emperor has no idea how much Prince Eugen’s debts amount to. If he had—!’
‘But would not the Emperor know of this proposed loan?’
‘Not necessarily at once. It could be so managed. Twig?’ Mr Sampson Levi laughed. ‘I’ve carried these little affairs through before. After marriage it might be allowed to leak out. And you know the Princess Anna’s fortune is pretty big! Now, Mr Racksole,’ he added, abruptly changing his tone, ‘where do you suppose Prince Eugen has disappeared to? Because if he doesn’t turn up to-day he can’t have that million. To-day is the last day. To-morrow the money will be appropriated, elsewhere. Of course, I’m not alone in this business, and my friends have something to say.’
‘You ask me where I think Prince Eugen has disappeared to?’
‘I do.’
‘Then you think it’s a disappearance?’
Sampson Levi nodded. ‘Putting two and two together,’ he said, ‘I do. The Dimmock business is very peculiar—very peculiar, indeed. Dimmock was a left-handed relation of the Posen family. Twig? Scarcely anyone knows that.