"That is a point," said Tony politely, "on which I am not quite in agreement with you, Colonel. The Princess has placed herself under my guardianship and I should be neglecting my duty if I encouraged her to mix herself up with an attempted revolution. I consider it a very unhealthy profession for a girl of her age."
The Colonel glared at him. "Sir!" he stammered. "Do you dare to thrust yourself in between the throne of Livadia and its Divinely appointed occupant?"
"Oh, no," said Tony cheerfully; "I don't go as far as that. When you have managed to make the throne vacant, I shall be very pleased to advise the Princess to step into it. Until then she is much happier and safer in Hampstead."
"I am inclined to think that Sir Antony Conway may be right, Colonel," broke in the voice of Señor Congosta. "The Princess's welfare must be our first consideration. To take her to Livadia at present is out of the question, and I don't know any place where she would be safer from Da Freitas than in this house. We have had personal proof of the excellence of Sir Antony's arrangements. As for her being identified in any way with our plans—" he paused—"well, the Republican government has been recognized by England, and it would be madness on our part to give them any avoidable cause for complaint."
There was still a doubtful frown upon the Colonel's brow.
"I do not approve of the situation," he said stiffly. "It is not fitting that the future Queen of Livadia should be living in this house—unchaperoned and unprotected."
With a solemn face Tony drew himself up to his full height.
"Sir!" he said. "You forget that you are addressing a member of the English nobility."
The magnificence of the retort seemed to have a temporarily paralysing effect upon the Colonel, and before he could recover Señor Congosta, who was evidently the directing brain of the two, had taken the matter into his own hands.
"It is well spoken," he said with another low bow. "Sir Antony Conway—on behalf of my country, permit me to express the confidence and gratitude with which we accept your assistance."