"
Duge smiled.
"Well," he said, "if I remember your politics, and I think I do, you are
going to try and take away that title from me. You are amongst those,
are you not, who have set themselves to dam the torrents?"
Deane shook his head a little stiffly.
"In the diplomatic service," he said, "we have no politics."
"Sometimes," Duge murmured, "you come in touch with them. For instance,
I should like to know what advice you are going to give Norris Vine
about the publication of that little document in his paper."
Deane looked for a moment annoyed.
"I am afraid," he said, "that I cannot answer you that question."
"If you advise him one way or the other," Phineas Duge said, "you give
the lie to your own statement, that in diplomacy there are no politics.
Your advice will show on which side you intend to stand."
"I have not given any advice," Deane replied.
"Nor must you," Phineas Duge said pleasantly enough. "It is not your
affair at all, Mr. Deane. I grant your cleverness, your shrewdness, even
your common sense, but all three are academic. They have no direct
relation to the actual things of the world. Wealth is one of those
forces which only strong fingers can gather, a stream which if you like
you can divert, but you cannot dam.
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