“I have heard the story that you met her when you were in the Bosnian hills under circumstances....”
But I wasn’t having that and cut him short pretty brusquely.
“I should regard any question on such a subject as verging upon impertinence, Colonel Petrosch. Please ask none.”
He smiled. “That is very much like confirmation. You must not lose your temper with me. I am an old man, you a young one, and I want to help you. If the Princess had been other than....”
“Stop right there, if you please,” I cried, angrily.
But he only smiled. “Well, I’ll put it another way. The Princess is a very obstinate young woman and——”
“The Princess has decided rightly, Colonel Petrosch.”
“And the result of her decision is that in a few hours she will be sorely in need of a friend.”
“What do you mean?”
“May I speak plainly what’s in my mind—what was in it when I went out of the room just now?”