Blithers is. You leave it to me. There's only one way to land these foreign noblemen, and I'm—"
She faced him once more, and angrily. "Listen to me," she said. "I've had a talk with Maud. She has gone to bed with a splitting headache and I'm not surprised. Don't you suppose the poor child has a particle of pride? She guessed at once just what you had gone over there for and she cried her eyes out. Now she declares she will never be able to look the Prince in the face, and as for the Kings—Oh, it's sickening. Why can't you leave these things to me? You go about like a bull in a china shop. You might at least have waited until the poor child had an opportunity to see the man before rushing in with your talk about money. She—"
"Confound it, Lou, don't blame me for everything. We all three agreed at lunch that he was a better bargain than this measly count we've been considering. Maud says she won't marry the count, anyhow, and she did say that if this prince was all that he's cracked up to be, she wouldn't mind being the Princess of Groostock. You can't deny that, Lou. You heard her say it. You—"
"She didn't say Groostock," said his wife shortly. "And you forget that she said she wouldn't promise anything until she'd met him and decided whether she liked him."
"She'll like him all right," said he confidently.
"She will refuse to even meet him, if she hears of your silly blunder to-night."
"Refuse to meet him?" gasped Mr. Blithers.
"I may be able to reason with her, Will, but—but she's stubborn, as well you know. I'm afraid you've spoiled everything."
His face brightened. Lowering his voice to a half-whisper, he said: "We needn't tell her what I said to that old chap, Lou. Just let her think I sat around like a gump and never said a word to anybody. We can—"
"But she'll pin you down, Will, and you know you can't lie with a straight face."
"Maybe—maybe I'd better run down to New York for a few days," he muttered unhappily. "You can square it better than I can."
"In
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