“I daresay you’re right,” said Steinwitz; “anyhow, in this case the authority wasn’t one that I should care to rely on. It was Madame Ypsilante—a very charming lady, but——”
He shrugged his shoulders.
“I wouldn’t care to bet my last shilling,” said Gorman, “on the truth of a statement made by Madame Ypsilante.”
“In this case,” said Steinwitz, “her story was a ridiculous one, absurd on the face of it. She said that the American girl wants to set up as a monarch and that Konrad Karl had sold her the right to call herself Queen of Salissa.”
“Either Goldsturmer was pulling your leg,” said Gorman, “or Madame was pulling his. Was she trying to get anything out of him?”
“Pearls,” said Steinwitz. “There is a certain rope of pearls——”
“That accounts for the whole thing,” said Gorman.
Steinwitz seemed quite satisfied that it did. But he was not inclined to drop the subject altogether.
“A sale of that sort,” he said, “would be impossible. The Emperor wouldn’t permit it.”
Then Gorman made a mistake. For the first time he showed a real interest in what Steinwitz said. There is every excuse for him. He wanted very much to understand the Emperor’s position; and Steinwitz had already heard—possibly believed—the story of the sale of Salissa.