That night, as Dallas was smoking a final cigar on the terrace of the little hotel, he was joined by Sir James, who had quite recovered from his immersion.
"I have been walking on the beach with the Lady Thalia," said the Englishman cheerfully.
"So I observed," answered Dallas. "Your philandering was likewise noted by Rosenthal and the prince. The former laughed, but the latter appeared to be displeased."
"The beastly little rotter! He would have been even less pleased if he had known what the princess was telling me."
"The result of which is, I presume, that you have decided to elope, and wish me to lend you the car."
"Right-o!" answered Sir James cheerfully. "But that is not all. We look upon you personally to conduct the elopement."
"Well," replied Dallas shortly, "I won't."
"Don't be pig-headed, Stephen. The Lady Thalia is an exceedingly clever and attractive girl. She has honored me by her confidence."
Dallas grunted.
"The whole situation," said Sir James, "is very interesting. It appears that the kingdom of Servia wants to annex this sanjak, or district, which is known as Novibazar, and which belongs to Turkey, although by the Treaty of Berlin in 1878 it came under the administrative control of Austria-Hungary, together with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Now, the Prince Emilio, backed by Rosenthal, who is half wolf, half fox, is intriguing with the Servian government, and the Lady Thalia has discovered a plot by which they intend to stir up a frontier war with Servia, which will give that country a good excuse for grabbing Novibazar. There is reason to believe that Austria will not be sorry to see it exchange Turkish ownership for Servian."
"What does the prince get out of it?"
"He is to receive a lump sum of money and a governorship which will permit him to squeeze the people even tighter than he has already, while Rosenthal is to get certain concessions to work his silver mines."
"And the Lady Thalia?"
"Ah, there's the hitch. The prince's people are all south Slavonic Serbs and precisely the same breed as the Servians themselves. They can't be made to see the sense of fighting with Servia, which is quite natural, as all of their warfare from time immemorial has been against the Turks and with the Lady Thalia's Shkipetari. So what the prince and Rosenthal are trying to do is to persuade the girl to incite her people to start a ruction on the Servian frontier."
"And she won't do it?"
"No, she's far too clever. The girl is really patriotic; she hates Servia like poison, and so do her people, who are mostly Mohammedans, while the prince's crowd, like the Servians, profess Christianity. But the Lady Thalia is intelligent enough to see how much her country has advanced under Austrian rule, and now she strongly favors the annexation of Novibazar by Austria-Hungary. She says that she has positive information that Bulgaria is shortly going to assert her own independence, and that when this happens Austria will grab Bosnia and Herzegovina, and she wants Novibazar to be included in the annexation."
"How does she hope to bring this about?"
"Merely by keeping her people quiet until Bulgaria effects her coup d'état. Her Shkipetari are forever flaying Emilio's Serbs, and what Thalia wants to do now is to get out there and persuade the chieftains of the clans to keep the peace for another six months. You see, failing to persuade her to assist in their plans, Emilio might try to stir up a fight between his faction and hers, and as the fighting would be along the Servian frontier, even that might give Servia a pretext for interference, although it is really Turkey's job."
"You make my head swim," said Dallas. "But if the princess is so anxious to hold in her hairy mountaineers, what is she doing here in France?"
"Ah, now here we come to another complication. Did you notice that very pretty maid who took the girl's peignoir when she went into the water?"
"I did."
Sir James leaned toward his friend, and dropped his voice: "She is the Countess Rubitzki!"
"Indeed! It struck me that she was rather classy for a maid. And who is the Countess Rubitzki? Upon my word, I feel very common in this crowd!"
"She is Polish, and all her family are rampant nihilists. They have been mixed up in bloodthirsty plots to slaughter every monarch in Europe—and she herself has been more or less implicated."
"Really? A nice young person to be trailing around with your inamorata!"