“All right. Suppose you go in the garb of a palmer?”
“Eh?”
“I was thinking of another first meeting, case not dissimilar, you know, Romeo and Juliet. My poor, mad friend, there's more hope for a Montague with a Capulet than for a Casa Triana with a friend of the future Queen of Spain, and the daughter of a Lady Vale-Avon.”
“Romeo won Juliet.”
“It wasn't exactly a fortunate marriage. See here, if you're going in for the part of Romeo, it's no good asking me to play Mercutio.”
I looked at Dick and smiled. “I shall ask nothing,” I said. “Yet—”
“Yet, you know mighty well, if you want a Mercutio, I'll be [pg 16]ready to take up the rôle at a moment's notice all for the sake of your beaux yeux. Well, you're right. There's something queer about you, Ramón, which makes us others glad to do what we can, even if it were to cost our lives. If you'd been a king in exile, you'd have had no trouble in finding followers. From your French valet to your Russian soldiers; from your English chauffeur to your American friend, it's pretty well the same. I expect you'll get to that masked ball.”
“If I don't, it won't be for lack of trying,” said I.
“But—”
“But what—”