Benton's eyes seemed hypnotically drawn to the table pointed out, but he kept them tensely riveted on his coffee cup.
"Yes?" he impatiently prompted.
"Of course," continued Blanco absently, "no one could regret more profoundly than the Grand Duke any accident or fatality which might befall his royal kinsman, yet even the holy saints cannot prevent evil chances!" He paused to sip his coffee. "At the right of 'Louis, the Dreamer,' as he is called, sits the Count Borttorff, who is not greatly in favor with Prince Karyl. He, too, is a Galavian of noble birth, but Paris knows him better than Puntal. He on the left, the man with the puffed eyes and the dissipated mouth—you will notice also a scar over the left temple—" Blanco was regarding his cigarette tip as he flecked an ash to the floor—"is Monsieur Jusseret supposed to be high in the affairs of the French Cabinet Noir."
"There is one more—and a vacant chair," suggested Benton.
The toreador nodded. "True, I had not forgotten the other. Tall, black-haired, not unlike yourself in appearance, Señor, save for a heavier jaw and the mustache which points upward. He is an Englishman by birth, a native of the world by adoption. Once he bore a British army commission. Now he is seen in distinguished society"—Blanco laughed—"when distinguished society wants something done which clean men will not do. His name, just now, is Martin. In many quarters he is better known as the English Jackal. Where one sees him one may scent conspiracy."
In all the life and color compassed between the four walls of Moorish tiles and arches, Benton felt the magnet of the group irresistibly drawing his eyes to itself.
"And this gathering about a table for a cup of coffee, in Cadiz—what of it?" argued Benton. He tried to speak as if his curiosity were dilute and his thoughts west of the Atlantic. "Are they not all known here?"
Again Blanco gave the expressive Spanish shrug.
"Few people here know any of them. I only said, Señor, that if any chance should cause Galavia to mourn her new King that same chance would elevate the tall, pale gentleman from a café table to a throne. I did not say that the chance would occur."
"And yet?" urged Benton, his eyes narrowing, "your words seem to hint more than they express. What is it, Manuel?"