“Find out if I can see the German ambassador at once. Then communicate with the French and American embassies, and make appointments with the ambassadors for two o’clock. You had better go to them yourself and make my excuses for bringing them here. But the matter is of vital importance,” he said to his private secretary.
Half an hour later Sir Keith entered Prince Von Lichtenstein’s library.
“Good-morning, your Excellency. This is a copy of a cable which the Baron de Croiseuil has received from Brussels. It concerns the Congo.”
The Prince read the document, and nodded his head once or twice.
“The situation has its danger,” Sir Keith continued, “yet on the other hand, it may be a blessing in disguise. Now we have an opportunity of settling a matter, once for all, that might cause trouble when we are not so prepared to meet it.”
“I see that a German ship has been detained and damaged,” the Prince remarked reflectively.
“This is so. Also English ships. Also Belgian ones. This pirate has made no distinction as to nationality. Now, Prince, I am going to drop the diplomat in favor of the philanthropist.”
Whereat the Prince smiled.
“I think the Congo question has troubled your conscience as much as it has mine and that you would have been prepared to intervene, had it not been for considerations to which I will not more particularly refer.”
Again the Prince smiled.