"Unless you take me lightly--unless you are willing that we play
together," she said, "I couldn't talk to you, Don Michael. I may not
take you seriously; nor you, me. That is essential."
"I may not p-pay court to you, Thusis?"
"Oh, that? Yes--in the nice way you have been doing. At least I
thought you had been doing it, haven't you?"
"Yes--not realizing it. Yes--that's what I have really been doing....
Am I not to make love to you, Thusis?"
"W-what kind of love?"
"Honest, of course."
"D-demonstrative--love?"
"Yes."
"Oh, no! No, not that sort. No, please." For I had taken her smooth
little hand in mine, and she withdrew it swiftly.
"You know," she said, "your guests are waiting."
She laughed. Then she came up to me slowly:
"Don Michael, do you really like me?"
"Yes."
"Then--will you do something for me?"
"Yes."
"It is this. In the presence of these tourists remember always that I
am your servant and a Swiss peasant. Never by word or glance permit
them to believe otherwise. Do you promise?"
"Yes."
She smiled, laid both her hands frankly in mine.
"I'm going to tell you something," she said. "Your guests below are the
ex-king Constantine of Greece, his wife, the ex-queen; Ferdinand, King
of Bulgaria--or Tzar of all the Bulgars--as he loves to call
himself;--and their several assorted shadows."
My eyes were widening at every word.
"Thusis," I said, "what nonsense are you talking?"
"Michael," she said, using my given name for the first time without some
absurd prefix, "I am telling you the truth. Those are the people who,
dressed like ordinary tourists, are now seated below drinking coffee and
cognac and eating nice little cakes prepared by Josephine and served by
my sister Clelia."
"Do you mean to say that the ex-king and queen of Greece, and King
Ferdinand of Bulgaria are in Switzerland incognito?" I demanded
incredulously.
"They are,--that is, Ferdinand is here incognito for the first time.
You know, of course, that Constantine and his queen were living in Berne
since the Allies kicked them out of Greece?"
"I have heard so."
"Well, then, here they are, incognito, without servants or any outward
show, dressed like any tourists, arriving in an ordinary wagon. Yes,
here they are, evidently desiring to escape observation, arm in arm with
him of Bulgaria. I thought I'd tell you, Michael."
There was an odd little glint in her gray eyes; an odd smile on her
lips.
"What the devil are these birds doing here?" I asked, astonished.
"These allies of Germany?"
"Yes," I said, disgusted; "what do you suppose these fancy gentlemen are
doing here in a little obscure inn among the Alps while all the world
which they have helped to set on fire is in flames around them?"
Her firm hands pressed mine, very slightly.
"Do you feel it so keenly, Michael?"
"Feel what?"
"That these kings below have helped set the world afire?"
"Certainly I do."
She stood looking at me, her hands still resting in mine.
"And now," she mused, "the Americans are in it. But you are not a
Yankee.... Otherwise--"
"Otherwise what?"
"But you are a Chilean."
"I'm a human being, too. What do you want me to do, Thusis?"
"Permit me to assign them their rooms."
I said: "You are here to watch these kings. You knew they were coming.
You are here to watch them in the interest of your government."
"Well, Michael?"
"Is it so?"
"Yes."