'
'Explain yourself.'
'I propose to do so. You were kidnapped - it is a horrid word, but
we must use it - in Ostend.'
'True.'
'Do you know why?'
'I suppose because that vile old red-hatted woman and her
accomplices wanted to get some money out of me. Fortunately,
thanks to you, they didn't.'
'Not at all,' said Aribert. 'They wanted no money from you. They
knew well enough that you had no money. They knew you were
the naughty schoolboy among European Princes, with no sense of
responsibility or of duty towards your kingdom. Shall I tell you
why they kidnapped you?'
'When you have done abusing me, my dear uncle.'
'They kidnapped you merely to keep you out of England for a few
days, merely to compel you to fail in your appointment with
Sampson Levi. And it appears to me that they succeeded.
Assuming that you don't obtain the money from Levi, is there
another financier in all Europe from whom you can get it - on such
strange security as you have to offer?'
'Possibly there is not,' said Prince Eugen calmly. 'But, you see, I
shall get it from Sampson Levi. Levi promised it, and I know from
other sources that he is a man of his word. He said that the money,
subject to certain formalities, would be available till - '
'Till?'
'Till the end of June.'
'And it is now the end of July.'
'Well, what is a month? He is only too glad to lend the money.
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