"I happen to be," he said pleasantly, "an officer in a certain branch of the Italian Army."
"Military Intelligence!" exclaimed Clelia. "And we were warned by Monsieur Venizelos!"
Thusis flung out her arms in a passionate gesture: "We offer the King of Italy two royal scoundrels! And he refuses. We offer the King of Italy two islands? And you tell us he refuses. When we were in Rome he laughed at us, teased us as though we had been two school-girls bringing him some crazy plan to end the war. And now when we are practically ready to prove our plan possible—ready to consummate the affair and give him the two most dangerous royal rascals in Europe—restore to Italy two islands stolen from her centuries ago—the King of Italy turns timid and sends a gentleman to ruin everything!"
"Because," said Smith pleasantly, "although King Constantine and Queen Sophia have been deposed, yet, were you to seize them and carry them across this frontier into France, Greece would resent it. So also would Switzerland. And the Allies would merely make two enemies out of an Allied country and a neutral one for the sake of a few odd kings and queens.
"And, moreover, if you should proceed, as you had planned, to the Cyclades; and if you succeed in fomenting a revolution in Naxos and Tenedos, and induce these two islands to declare themselves part of Italy, because seven hundred years ago a Venetian conquered them, then you turn Greece into a bitter enemy of Italy and of the Allies. And that is what you accomplish in exchange for a couple of little islands in the Ægean which Italy does not want."
"Then," retorted Thusis violently, "why did Monsieur Venizelos suggest that we attempt these things? Is the greatest patriot on earth a traitor or a fool?"
"No, but Constantine of Greece is. And the boche is his tutor. Oh, Thusis—Thusis! Can't you see you have been tricked? Can't you understand that Venizelos had no knowledge of these things you are attempting in all sincerity?—that you have been deluded by the treachery of the hun—that those who counseled you to this came secretly from Tino and the Kaiser, not from Venizelos?"
Thusis gazed at him bewildered. Clelia, too, seemed almost stunned.
"Do—do you mean to tell me," stammered Thusis, "that these kings know that Clelia and I are here to try to kidnap them?"
"No," said Smith coolly, "because I censored their mail in Berne. Their agents in Rome had warned them, in detail, by letter."