“He seems pleased enough with us,” the Duke remarked.
“I am not so sure,” the Prime Minister answered. “He has travelled about a good deal in England. I heard of him in Manchester and Sheffield, Newcastle and Leicester, absolutely unattended. I wonder what he was doing there.”
“From my experience of him,” the Duke said, “I don’t think we shall know until he chooses to tell us.”
“I am afraid you are right,” the Prime Minister declared. “At the same time you might just drop a hint to your wife, and to that remarkably clever young niece of hers, Miss Penelope Morse. Of course, I don’t expect that he would unbosom himself to any one, but, to tell you the truth, as we are situated now, the faintest hint as regards his inclinations, or lack of inclinations, towards certain things would be of immense service. If he criticised any of our institutions, for instance, his remarks would be most interesting. Then he has been spending several months in various capitals. He would not be likely to tell any one his whole impressions of those few months, but a phrase, a word, even a gesture, to a clever woman might mean a great deal. It might also mean a great deal to us.”
“I’ll mention it,” the Duke promised, “but I am afraid my womenfolk are scarcely up to this sort of thing. The best plan would be to tackle him ourselves down at Devenham.”
“I thought of that,” the Prime Minister assented. “That is why I am coming down myself and bringing Bransome. If he will have nothing to say to us within a week or so of his departure, we shall know what to think. Remember my words, Devenham,—when our chronicler dips his pen into the ink and writes of our government, our foreign policy, at least, will be judged by our position in the far East. Exactly what that will be depends upon Prince Maiyo. With a renewal of our treaty we could go to the country tomorrow. Without it, especially if the refusal should come from them, there will be some very ugly writing across the page.”
The Duke threw away his cigarette.
“Well,” he said, “we can only do our best. The young man seems friendly enough.”
The Prime Minister nodded.
“It is precisely his friendliness which I fear,” he said.