"I do not blame you for being loyal to your own home, sir, but isn't it rather presumptuous for you, an American, to aspire to the hand of a Princess who could marry any one of a dozen young men of wealth and social position?"
"What's the matter with my wealth and social position? I'm willing to stack up my bank-account with any other candidate. I happen to be worth eighteen million dollars."
"Dollars?" repeated the Governor-General, puzzled. "What would that be in piasters?"
"It's a shame to tell you. Only about four hundred million piastres, that's all."
"What!" exclaimed the Governor-General. "Surely you are joking. How could one man be worth four hundred million piasters?"
"Say, if you'll give me a pencil and a pad of paper and about a half-day's time, I'll figure out for you what Henry Frick is worth in piasters and then you would have a fit. Why, in the land of ready money I'm only a third-rater, but I've got the four hundred million, all right."
"But have you any social position?" asked the Governor-General. "Any rank? Any title? Over here those things count for a great deal."
"I am Grand Exalted Ruler of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks," said the visitor calmly.
"Really!"
"I am a Knight Templar."