It would delight me to meet
again my friend, the patriot Kossuth. But here I have many ideas
which I must work out."
"My dear Countess, you oppress me with a sense of failure! I had
so much hoped that you would lend your aid in this mission of my
own abroad. You would be valuable. You are so much prized in the
opinions of the administration, I am sure, that--"
"What do you mean? Does the administration know of me? _Why_
should it know? What have I done?"
But the old statesman before her was no such fool as to waste time
in a lost cause. This one was lost, he knew, and it booted little
for him to become involved where, even at the best issue, there was
risk enough for him. He reflected that risk must have existed even
had this young lady been a shade more dull of mind, of less
brilliant faculty in leaping to conclusions and resolutions. She
_was_ a firebrand, that was sure. Let others handle such, but not
that task for him!
"Now you ask questions whose answers lie entirely beyond my power,"
he replied easily.
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