"But frankly, dear lady, I don't see what I can do. The case has passed out of my hands——"
"Send these children home with a caution, Monsieur le Général," Rosemary went on pleading. "That is what we would do in England in a like case."
"To hatch more treason," he retorted, with a shrug. "Give us more trouble—more buzzing of bees and pestilential backbiting——"
"No!" she protested hotly. "Not for that, but to be immensely grateful to you for your generosity, and show their gratitude by striving to work for the good of their country, hand in hand with yours."
"Ah, what noble sentiments, dear lady!" General Naniescu said with a sigh and clapped his white, fat hands together. "I wish I could believe that some of them will sink into those young hotheads."
"They will, general, they will," Rosemary asserted eagerly. "If you will send those two children back to their parents, I will not leave Transylvania until you yourself are satisfied that I have brought them to a reasonable frame of mind."
"A hard task, dear lady," Naniescu said, with a smile.
"I would undertake a harder one than that," Rosemary rejoined, with an answering smile, "to show my appreciation of your generosity."
"Words, dear lady," he said softly. "Words!"
"Try me!" she challenged.