The years have laid us under a
certain handicap, my friend. Yet were this lady quite unattached,
or her duena not wholly impossible, one might consider the
distinguished role of disinterestedly saving one's country in the
capacity at least of chaperon."
They looked at each other, and broke into laughter. Yet minds so
keen as theirs long before them had read between lines on the
printed page, under the outward mask of human countenances.
"Stranger things have happened!" said the gentleman from Kentucky.
"My soul and body' My dear Sir, you do not speak seriously?" His
surprise was feigned, and the other knew it.
"I was never so serious in my life. My friend, it seems almost as
though fate had guided me to your side to-night. At this time,
when our diplomacy abroad is none too fortunate, and when our
diplomacy at home is far more delicate and dangerous, you yourself,
known the country over as a man of tact and delicacy, are the one
man in the world to handle this very mission.
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