"Then you don't know the Titian Ambassador has been recalled."
"Indeed! Well, I still doubt if it means fight."
Courtney stroked his grey imperial. "Getting rather near one, don't you think?" he said.
"No closer than France and Turkey were only a short while ago," I answered. "Moreover, in this case, the Powers would have a word to say."
"Yes, they are rather ready to speak out on such occasions; but, unless I'm much mistaken, if the Titians and the Valerians get their armies moving it will take more than talk from the Powers to stop them."
"And it's all over a woman," I observed carelessly.
Courtney gave me a sharp glance. "I thought that was rather a secret," he replied.
I laughed. "It's one, at least, that the newspapers have not discovered—yet. But, where did you get it?"
"From a friend; same as yourself," he said, with the suggestion of a smile.
"My dear fellow," I said. "I know more about the Kingdom of Valeria than—well, than your friend and all his assistants of the State Department."