Audiences of members of the Bulgarian Cabinet—Dr. Dimitri Stancioff, Minister for Foreign Affairs, the coming man of Bulgaria—His policy—Facts about the mineral wealth and mining laws—Advice to traders and capitalists by the British Vice-Consul in Sofia—Our methods as compared with those of other nations 191 CHAPTER III WILL BULGARIA DECLARE WAR? A sitting of the Sobranje—Declarations by the late Prime Minister Petkoff and Dr. Stancioff—The new Minister of Foreign Affairs—A sound progressive government—Strong army and firm policy—Will the deplorable state of Macedonia still be tolerated?—Ominous words 197 CHAPTER IV THE BULGARIAN EXARCHATE AND THE PORTE A difficult and little-understood problem—Bulgaria the “dark horse” of the Peninsula—An explanation of the question between Bulgaria and Turkey—The Bulgarian Church and the Imperial Firman—The present position of the Exarchate—Europe should listen to the Bulgarian demand—Chats with Macedonian orphans—Their terrible stories 206 CHAPTER V AT A ROSE DISTILLERY Tobacco growing in Bulgaria—The otto-of-rose industry—About adulteration—Difficulties of obtaining the pure extract—Corrupting the peasant—What Monsieur Shipkoff told me—Some tests to discover adulteration—Interesting facts about roses 217 CHAPTER VI THE FUTURE OF BULGARIA Bulgaria’s future greatness—Her firm policy in Macedonia—An audience of Dr. Stancioff, Minister of Foreign Affairs—A chat with the Prime Minister—Turkey the enemy of Bulgaria—Balkan “news” in the London papers—How it is manufactured—Turkish dominion doomed 226 ROUMANIA CHAPTER I BUCHAREST OF TO-DAY My friend the spy—How I was watched through the Balkans—An exciting half-hour—The Paris of the Near East—Gaiety, extravagance, and pretty women—Forty years of progress—The paradise of the idler—Husbands wanted! 235 CHAPTER II ROUMANIA’S AIMS AND INTENTIONS Monsieur Take Jonesco, Minister of Finance—The smartest man in Roumania—An interview with General Lahovary, Minister of Foreign Affairs—Secret aims of Roumania—A better frontier wanted—Germany’s insincerity—Some plain truths—The question of a Balkan Federation—Oil wells waiting to be exploited by British capital 244