, had become a
Naboth's vineyard to a country almost land-bound and yet dreaming of the
supremacy of the four seas. On this ambition and its possible
consequences the other Great Powers looked, to speak diplomatically,
with coldness.

It was generally understood that the English Foreign Office desired the
maintenance of the _status quo_; France was supposed to be ready to clap
a young republic on the back and to accord it her protection, while
Russia played her own dumb and blinding game, of which none could
definitely pronounce the issue. The political world thus stood at gaze,
watching every change and prepared to take advantage of any chance that
offered. The honours of the game so far had lain with M. Selpdorf, who
scored each trick with the same bland smile. Whenever the Treasury of
Maasau was at a low ebb Selpdorf usually had a thirteenth card to lay
upon the table, and as the nations cautiously proceeded to frustrate
each other's purposes royal remittances from Heaven knows where flowed
in abundantly to replenish the bankrupt exchequer of the State.

When Major Counsellor expressed his emphatic disapproval of the
intended resignation of Rallywood a new development was in the air.
Hitherto the lead had mostly devolved upon Selpdorf; on this occasion he
was known to be hanging back, and the question of who would take the
initiative was the question of the day. The fact that Germany had lately
accredited a new representative, a certain Baron von Elmur, to the Court
of Maasau,--an able man whose reputation rested mainly on the successful
performance of missions of a delicate nature,--added to the tension of
the moment.

'So you say they are getting up steam in Maasau?' said Rallywood again.
'I have been out in the wilds for the last six months, and don't know so
much about events as I might.'

'Steam?' growled Counsellor. 'Steam enough to wreck Europe! I almost
wish I'd never godfathered you into this blessed little stoke-hole. Why
the deuce didn't you enlist at home instead of coming here?'

'That was out of the question, of course.'

'Why? Isn't our army good enough for you to fight in?'

'If it was only that!--I could fight in the ranks, God knows, but I
couldn't parade in them! Besides, the life here suited me--then.'

'What's gone wrong with it now? I should have thought you would have got
used to it by this time,' observed Counsellor with the air of the older
man. It was not the first occasion on which