“I am half a Roumanian, General, with considerable possessions there,” I returned, equivocally.
“You are a very ambitious, or a very reckless, or a very clever young man, Count. You have thought over your course well?”
“I am not given to act on impulse.”
“Yet cleverer men than you have tried unsuccessfully the dangerous policy of attempting to ride on two horses at once.”
“I can but fail,” I answered, indifferently.
“Then you decline to enrol yourself in my service?”
“I neither decline nor accept, General.” The reply was unwelcome, and he sat a moment with brows knitted.
“You will fail, sir, as certainly as you make the attempt. But I must know, in view of future possibilities, whether you claim the status of a British subject or that of a Roumanian Count, or whether, again, I am to regard you merely as a captain in a Bulgarian regiment.”
“I shall be in the unique position of enjoying all three,” said I, and noticed with some amusement the effect of this answer; and then added with a laugh, and in a light tone: “I don’t expect you to take me too seriously, General Kolfort.”
“If you are a British subject, I can ask your Government to recall you; if a Roumanian Count, I can use other influence to deal with you; while, if you are merely a Bulgarian officer, you will be responsible to me for the deed which you have already committed.” His tone was tense, concentrated, and full of earnestness. “Understand me; I do not alter. If you will not join me, you shall not stay in Bulgaria. I am not to be trifled with.”