“Yes. The Maxims are wonderful.”
“I am expecting,” he said, “that the donor will be paying us a visit here soon.”
She looked up inquiringly.
“An American was it not?”
“An American and his daughter, Mr. and Miss Van Decht. If they come I hope that I may count upon you, Countess, to help me make their visit an enjoyable one.”
“I will do all that I can,” she answered, coldly. “I have never met any Americans. They must be wonderful people. In England they are intermarrying, is it not so, with the aristocracy?”
“There have been many such marriages,” Ughtred assented.
“It is the worst of England,” she murmured. “A great nation, but indeed a nation of shopkeepers. Amongst the nobles, the pride of race seems to have died out. The fear of poverty is to them as the fear of death. Ah, see.”
Through the pass below was a sudden movement. Little puffs of smoke burst out all over the hillside. General Dartnoff and his staff came galloping up.