‘I have no message of any importance for your Highness,’ I replied, scrutinising carefully the careworn features of the elderly man who sat in front of me. ‘My only message at all is one from Colonel Masileff, which is perhaps not worth your attention.’ ‘I have heard of the Colonel, and shall be pleased to hear anything on his behalf,’ the Prince replied cautiously. ‘Colonel Masileff is a little disappointed, sir, that your Highness has not offered him any token of your approbation. He would welcome some sign that you are not indifferent to your friends in Servia.’ Prince Peter looked at me with a glance which, though quiet, was not less searching than my own. ‘I thank you, Monsieur V----. Is that all?’ ‘It is the whole of the message, sir.’ ‘Again, thank you.’ ‘Your Highness does not wish to make me the medium of your answer, perhaps?’ I hinted. ‘There is no answer.’ I perceived that I was dealing with a man of no ordinary penetration and shrewdness. With such men it is always best to come straight to the point and to be frank. ‘And now, sir, for the real object of my visit. I need not tell your Highness that I did not come to Geneva to oblige Colonel Masileff.’ ‘That is already quite clear,’ the Prince commented drily. A remark from which I inferred that it was in the power of Masileff to have given me credentials which would have secured me a very different reception. ‘I have come here, then, to beg for the life of a woman.’ Karageorgevitch started slightly, and began for the first time to look uneasy. ‘I thought you said you had no important message,’ he reminded me. ‘I have none. The woman I speak of is totally ignorant of the step I take in coming here.’ ‘Then your interest in the matter is----?’ ‘Is personal merely. I make it my private prayer to your Highness that, in a certain event which no longer seems improbable, the life of this woman shall be spared.’ Prince Peter gave an imperceptible shrug, a shrug which said very plainly, nevertheless, ‘I have no motive for obliging you.’ Aloud his Highness remarked-- ‘I am strongly opposed to all bloodshed, Monsieur V----. I feel sure there is no reality in the danger you foresee, or I should be as earnest as yourself in wishing to prevent it.’ ‘I can say no more, sir; I am here, as I have said, merely in my private capacity. Still, I happen to have rendered important services to some very powerful personages’ (the Prince glanced at the names I had inscribed on my card), ‘and, without being a blackmailer, I feel confident that if I appealed to those personages for their influence on behalf of a righteous and honourable cause, I should not be refused.’ Prince Peter rose to his feet, and walked twice up and down the room before replying.