"Two hundred and fifty francs a week, and all expenses paid. When could you start?"
"To-morrow—to-day—when you will."
"Bien! There is a little difficulty I would mention; the journey is not without small perils. Hungary, as you are aware, is now under the ban of an Austrian tyranny."
I assured him of my sympathy.
"Hold," he cried. "It is exactly that you have no sympathy that I select you. The Baron is already suspect, and the son, inheriting his father's sentiments, has small discretion of speech. Keep Austria in the background, I implore you."
"And are you sure that the Baron will approve of your choice of an escort?"
"The mere fact, Monsieur Mortimer, that you were in the service—I beg your pardon—in the family of the Earl of Tottenbridge would be sufficient, but I am proud to say that the recommendation of François Danneris would be a carte blanche to any one to the confidence of Baron Dressdorf. He is a noble man," he added with emotion, "and to him I owe all I have in the world."
And then for half an hour the advocate poured into my ear the glories of the house of Dressdorf and stories of Austrian oppression that made me eager to serve his protégé. Nay, I was so interested in his case that I believe I would have seen the youth home, if I had had to bear all the expenses of the journey myself.
"Have you a passport?"
"It is here," I said, handing it to him—"a Foreign Office passport that protects me all over the continent."