. And we drink _kvass_.

"What do you think of Bulgaria, now?" Count S---- asks me gloomily,
after dinner.

"I still think she will go with Russia," I reply. "In every Bulgarian
house I've ever been in there is the picture of the Czar liberator. A
Bulgarian regards a Russian as of his own blood. Bulgaria gave Russia
her alphabet, and the languages are much the same: only the Russian is
richer in words and expressions. Why, there is a Bulgarian, General
Dimitrief, holding a high command in the Russian army. When I left
Bulgaria there was no talk of her going with Germany. 'We will never go
with Germany,' I've heard over and over."

"But there is a strong German party?"

"Yes, and they're being paid well. If England and the Entente only took
the trouble to understand the Balkans. Germany has sent her ablest men
to Sofia with unlimited credit. The English representatives offend by
their snobbery."

"Do you think they'll go in at all?" S---- persists.

"Probably they'll be forced in, in the end. But the people don't want to
abandon their neutrality. They're making money. They're recouping after
the Balkan wars. Bulgaria has had nothing but wars and crises for the
last five years."

"They say there are already German officers in the Bulgarian army."

"I don't believe it's so. The Bulgarians are very independent. If they
went in I think they would command their own army."

"But this war is not conducted along Balkan war lines," K---- said
amusedly.

"No," I agreed. "You know more about the situation now than I do. I
can't even read a newspaper. All I know is the spirit of Bulgaria when I
left."

"Isn't Bulgaria's Government autocratic enough to declare war without
consulting the people?" K---- continued.

"Perhaps--unfortunately. The Bulgarians say, 'We have a wonderful
constitution, if the Czar would only use it.'"

"The papers to-day already speak of Bulgaria's treason and ingratitude,"
K---- observed.

I was angry. "In Bulgaria, some think Russia doesn't want them to go in
on the Entente side. They think Russia wants to make a Russian lake out
of the Black Sea, and a Russian province out of Bulgaria. They say
Russia is the obstacle to their having joined the Entente months ago."

"She will go with Germany," Count S---- insisted fatalistically.
"Everything is going Germany's way."

"No--no--no!" I cried.

"Of course she will go where she sees her advantage," said K----.

"All she wants is to fight fo