“What do you want to know?”
“Everything.”
“All right,” said Selden, and filled his pipe. Scott also fished his out of his pocket.
“May I suggest that monsieur speak in French?” asked one of the French correspondents, who had followed this rapid interchange with the utmost difficulty.
“Is there anybody here who doesn’t understand French?” Selden asked.
“No, I guess not,” said Scott. “Fire ahead.”
So Selden told the story very much as he had told it in his telegram, with perhaps an added detail or two and a little more colour, and they all sat and listened, and the Frenchmen made notes of the unfamiliar American names and asked how they were spelled.
“I always thought you were a democrat,” said Scott, when he had finished.
“Yet I infer from your tone that you are in favour of letting this old reprobate bribe his way back to power.”
“He won’t have to do any bribing. When his people know he has some real money to spend on the country, they’ll be only too anxious to have him back.”