“No?” said Cyril, with unruffled good-humour, “and yet there are two very obvious ones. In the first place, you have to reckon with my influence over my brother. You cannot persuade yourself that you know him as well as I do, and if you consider the matter a little, I think you will see that my advice is quite as likely to be followed as yours, and that the consequences of this might be unpleasant if you and I had the misfortune to disagree. In the second place, although you are very clever and very powerful, you are neither omnipotent nor omniscient, and there are circumstances in which the help of a man who has a certain amount of knowledge of the world, and some slight experience in diplomacy, might possibly stand you in good stead, even though he were the humble individual before you.” M. Drakovics gasped. The colossal impudence of his sovereign’s brother appeared literally to take away his breath. “If you were not an Englishman,” he said, slowly, “I should think that you wanted to be bought off.” “But since I am an Englishman,” said Cyril, “you can’t quite see what Thracia could offer me that I should care for; and you are about right there. I am going in for this business just for the fun of the thing, and for the sake of backing up Caerleon. I don’t know, of course, what Mrs Sadleir told you about me in the letter I forwarded; but from what she said when she wrote it, I think she must have let you know what my views were.” “She did,” said M. Drakovics, with some hesitation, “but still----” He looked thoughtfully at Cyril for a moment, and then spoke quickly, “You have no doubt studied carefully the present position of affairs in the Balkans, milord. What should be my course at the moment with regard to Roum, which holds suzerain rights over Thracia?” “Despatch a special messenger, well provided with money, to Czarigrad immediately,” said Cyril, without an instant’s pause. “Make the Government there see that the election of an Englishman as king is a fresh bulwark against Scythian aggression. Secure their moral support at any cost, and get an assurance, no matter what you have to pay for it, that even if Scythia brings pressure on them to censure or disavow your action, they will at least take no active steps against you.” “Excellent!” cried M. Drakovics. “My dear friend, the messenger has already started. How your ideas jump with mine! But tell me, what next?”