"Surely," I said—"Surely, you are not serious?"
He gave me one of his quick glances and his hand went back to his chin.
"'Quién sabe?' as the Spaniard would say, Major; 'Quién sabe?'" he replied.
"Don't be an ass, Courtney," I exclaimed. "And don't play me for one, either."
A lift of the eyebrows was his answer—but Courtney could say much that way.
"It's not a bad sort of occupation—being a King," he reflected.
I ignored him.
"And you could fill the place quite as well as Ferdinand of Lotzen," he went on.
"You will be offering presently to wager that I'll be the next King of Valeria," I scoffed.
"With the proper odds, I'd risk it."