"I've a mind to toss you out of the carriage," said I.
"Do it,--and save me the trouble of getting myself out," he answered;
and then we drew under the _porte cochere_ at the Embassy.
The matter of a residence had not bothered Courtney. He simply took
General Russell's lease off his hands, and twenty thousand a year rent
with it. I was to live at the Legation, there being no Ambassadorial
women folks to make the staff _de trop_. Naturally, I was quite
satisfied. It was a bit preferable to hotel hospitality. And, then,
the assistants were good fellows.
Cosgrove, who had been First Secretary for ten years, was from the
estate next my own on the Eastern Shore. It was through him I had been
able to preserve my incog. so securely during my former visits to
Valeria. And if he had any curiosity as to my motives, he was
courteous enough never to show it. "The best assistant in Europe,"
Courtney had once pronounced him.
Then there was Pryor, the Naval Attache. He had been off "cruising
with the Army," as Cosgrove put it, pending my arrival and was not yet
returned to Dornlitz. The others of the office force were young
fellows,--rich boys, either _in presente_ or _futuro_,--who, likely,
could only be depended upon to do the wrong thing.
Pages:
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38