We had slurred over Kara's personal interest in his fortunes, but even so, the incident, to quote Betty's analysis, was "romantic to the nth degree."
"I don't see that it is," asserted Betty stubbornly, "and I intend to play my part. You are short-handed—"
"You forget that Nikka has seven men hidden away in Stamboul," I reminded her.
"On the contrary, I take them into account," she retorted. "But you have all been saying that it is advisable not to use them, except in a final emergency."
"That is true," agreed Nikka. "The more we bring into this row, the noisier it will become. Also, as we decided before, we ought to have an ace or two in the hole. Take my advice, and hang on to Wasso Mikali and his young men to the last."
"I'm not disputing you," said Betty, still belligerent. "What you say is only what I've been saying. But would you mind telling me why you are so set against using your Gypsies?"
"If we use them there will be killing on a big scale," said Nikka succinctly. "That sort of thing is bound to become known."
"I met Riley-Gratton, the O.C. of the M.P.s this morning, and he gave me a wad of town gossip," cut in Hugh, "but he didn't say anything about our lads' scrap at Tokalji's house."
"Oh, we can get away with it once or maybe twice," returned Nikka, "but if we keep it up we'll run into trouble."
"No question of it," I said.