"It does sound, at first hearing, like a joke, to suppose that a couple of mere outsiders can, at their own sweet will and pleasure, stir up a war between two Great Powers."
"A joke is a mild way of describing it, my friend."
"Alec, would you mind asking Mrs. Macmathers to form a third on this occasion?"
Mr. Macmathers eyed his friend for a moment, then got up and left the room. When he returned his wife was with him. It was to the lady Mr. Railton addressed himself.
"Mrs. Macmathers, would you like to be possessed of wealth compared to which the wealth of the Vanderbilts, the Rothschilds, the Mackays, the Goulds, would shrink into insignificance?"
"Why, certainly."
It was a peculiarity of the lady's that, while she was English, she affected what she supposed to be American idioms.
"Would you stick at a little to obtain it?"
"Certainly not."
"It would be worth one's while to run a considerable risk."