Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 65: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE PASSING OF ly obvious that your mission must have con- cerned the Foreign Office rather than the Commissioner of Police. Therefore, you must be acquainted with the present po- litical situation, which is almost as unsatis- factory in my country as in Russia. ‘Greece was discredited in the eyes of the Allies during the Great War, and she has only lost more ground in the five in- tervening years. The Hellenic people, like all other peoples, are anxious for quietude, non-interierence with their neighbors, and commercial progress, but various groups of adventurers, soldiers and so-called diplo- mats, have treated the Constitution like a football which is being kicked by half a dozen rival teams at the same time. Now, if Greece is to be saved—and she is worth saving: it is forgotten too often by the rest of the world that Greece is at once the birthplace and the bulwark of modern civil- ization—it can be done only by a few sin- cere and able men with plenty of money behind them. Such a party exists to-day. The first fruits of its policy is the enforced departure of the king and his chief sup- porters—”’ ‘““What?” broke in Furneaux, open- mouthed with interest. Sevastopolo seemed not to have expected this interruption, and was totally unable to guess whether it betokened incredulity or mere surprise. Still, he kept on without a break. ‘“T ought to explain,” he said, “ that the men I favor and whom I wanted, Mr. Lan- son to support with a loan of no less than ten millions sterling, do not form the actual government of to-day, but they inspire its policy, and will soon reveal their true iden- tity if the requisite money backing is forth- coming.” ‘Am I to understand that they brought about this latest expulsion of the mon- archy?” “ Not quite that. They are ready to link forces with either Monarchists or Repub- licans. Their sole object is to save Greece by pulling her out of the swamp in which she is almost submerged.” ‘Ts Denasch one of them?” “Ah!” The Greek’s well-shaped and re- markably white hands were thrust forward CHARLES LANSON. 855 in a gesture of repudiation. ‘‘ One has to deal with questionable agents when such affairs are in train. The big men will not, they dare not, come out into the open. That is why the new saviors of my country are posing as a commercial syndicate. Indeed, it is more than a pose. They are convinced that the regeneration of Greece lies wholly with trade. They believe that a few bar- rels of good oil or a few tons of first-rate currants are worth many acres of barren land on the way to Adrianople.” Furneaux leaned forward in his seat, and rested both hands on his knees. His small, intensely bright eyes met the larger, more dreamy eyes of the advocate of a new life for Greece with a piercing scrutiny which appeared to herald a demand for even more intimate details. Yet he only said: ‘““ Where did you learn English, Mr. Se- vastopolo?” The other man’s eyebrows rounded. It was evident that he had to focus his wits anew before dealing with this unexpected topic. ‘“‘ At school, in Athens,” he replied rather shortly. Then, bethinking himself that if he were to gain the point for which he was ‘striving he must not antagonize again the strange creature who could strike with such sharp and novel weapons, he added more graciously: “Of course, I acquired it there as your English boys pick up Greek roots in the preparatory schools, and learn a few pas- sages of Homer and Plato at the univer- sities. But three years in the London bank which acted for Mr. Lanson, plus five years as his secretary, when I met nearly every man and woman of distinction in this coun- try, rounded off the basis of grammar and stupid exercises.” “¢ And Denasch, now? I suppose /e talks the language fluently. Have you any idea where ke picked it up?” ~~ “ T’m—not—quite certain. You see, l do not know much about him—recently, at any rate. I suppose you are aware he is not a Frenchman?” ‘‘T have heard that his quite precocious childhood was passed in Smyrna, which is a long way from Paris.” “Tf every Frenchman held that view, COMIICclo@o Ss ©