“I met him just this evening,” said Selden; “but I rather like him.”
“Oh, he’s all right,” agreed Davis; “deucedly clever and all that—makes me feel like I belong in the infant class; but he is too blamed serious and he seems to think the whole world centres in that little speck he calls his country. I give you my word, I hunted it on the map for half an hour the other day before I found it, and then I could scarcely see it. Do you know anything about it?”
“Yes, I’ve been there.”
“The deuce you have! Now tell me,” and he leaned closer; “did this old king really amount to anything?”
“How do you mean?”
“I mean did his position amount to anything. Was he really a king, or was he just a joke?”
“Of course he was a king, the social equal of any other king. He married his children into the most exclusive courts of Europe.”
“Yes, I know that. And if he got back again, it would be the same thing?”
“If he got back, he might have even more prestige,” said Selden, “since there are fewer kings in business these days, and to get back would be a great feat.”
“I see,” said Davis, and settled back again in his corner.