Alec's gallant attempt to avert the storm failed again. His Serene Highness muttered words in a foreign tongue that sounded anything but serene. The Princess did not understand; but her son did. His brows wrinkled, and the good humored gleam died out of his eyes.
"Perhaps, sir," he said stiffly, "this subject had better be discussed when my mother is not present."
Prince Michael looked at him fixedly. For some reason the little man was very angry, and he seemed to resent the implied slur on his good taste.
"I am determined to end this farce once and for all," he vowed. "Before you joined us, I told the Princess——"
The door was flung open. The young man who had followed Joan and Alec into the Louvre that morning rushed in. His pink and white face was crimson now, and his manner that of unmeasured, almost uncontrollable excitement. He gazed at them with a wildness that bordered on frenzy, yet it was clear that their own marked agitation was only what he expected to find.
"Ah, you have heard?" he snapped, biting at each syllable.
"Heard what, Julius?" demanded Monseigneur, with an instant lowering of the princely mask, since Julius dabbled in stocks and was reputed well to do.
"The news! The news from Kosnovia!"
Prince Michael affected to yawn. "Oh, is that all?" he asked.
"All! Grand Dieu, what more would you have? It means—everything."