I have said all that I came to say. Apart from
any question of self-interest, I can assure you, as a man who sees as
clearly as his neighbours, that you could do no good, but much evil, by
advising Norris Vine to hold up these men to the ridicule and contempt
of the world. He might sell a million copies of his paper, but he would
create an enmity which in the end, I think, would swamp him. Mrs. Deane,
I trust, is well?"
"She is in excellent health," the ambassador answered. "What can I do
for you during your stay? I presume you know that anything you desire is
open to you? You represent, you see, a great uncrowned royalty, to whom
all the world bows. Will you come to Court?"
"Not I," Duge answered. "Those things are for another type of man. There
was a further question which I wished to ask you. I have a niece who
came over here on a foolish errand, a Miss Virginia Longworth. Do you
happen to have seen or heard anything of her?"
"Nothing," the ambassador replied; "nothing personally, at any rate. I
will inquire of my secretaries."
He left the room for a few minutes, and returned shaking his head.
"Nothing is known about her at all," he declared.
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