“The Princess! you mean,” said Courtney quickly, lifting his own and clicking mine.

I looked at the picture again—­and again it seemed to smile at me.

“The Princess!” I echoed; and we drank the toast.  “We’re a pair of old fools,” said I, when the glasses were emptied.

Courtney picked up the News and held the picture before me.

“Say that to her,” he challenged.

“I can’t be rude to her very face,” I answered lamely.

Just then one of the “buttons” handed me a telegram.  I tore open the yellow envelope and read the sheet, still damp from the copy-press.  It ran:—­

“Titia declares war.  Detail as attache open.  If desired report at headquarters immediately.  Hennecker relieves you in morning.  Answer.”

“(signed) Henderson, A. A. G.”

I tossed it over to Courtney.  “You’re that much nearer the dinner,” I said.

“And the Princess also,” he added.

“Then you’re actually going?” I asked.

“My dear Major, did you ever doubt it?”

“Your vagaries are past doubting,” I answered.

“And yours?”

“I am going under orders of the War Department.”

“Of course,” he answered, “of course.  And, that being so, you won’t mind my confessing that I’m going largely on account of—­a woman.”

“I won’t mind anything that gives me your companionship.”

“So, it’s settled,” he said.  “Let us have some dinner, and then cut in for a farewell turn in the game of hearts upstairs.”

“It will be another sort of game over the water,” I observed.

“Yes—­with a different sort of hearts,” he said thoughtfully.

“Is it possible, Courtney, you are growing sentimental?” I demanded.

He shrugged his shoulders.  “There’s no fool like an old fool, you know,” he answered.

“Unless it be one that is just old enough to be neither old nor young,” said I.

Then we went in to dinner.

Courtney is a good fellow; one of the best friends a man can have; well born, rich, with powerful political connections in both Parties, and having no profession nor necessary occupation to tie him down.  His tastes ran to diplomacy, and Secretaries of State—­knowing this fact, and being further advised of it at various times by certain prominent Senators—­had given him numerous secret missions to both Europe and South America.  Legations had been offered to him but these he had always declined; for, as he told me, he preferred the quiet, independent work, that carried no responsible social duties with it.

It happened that General Russell, our representative at the Court of Valeria, was home on vacation.  Naturally, he would now return in all haste.  Here, I imagined, was an explanation of my sudden orders.  He was an intimate of our family; had known me since childhood, and, doubtless, had asked for my detail to his household, and also for Courtney’s.  And Courtney, naturally, having been early consulted in the matter, knew all the facts and so was able to bluff at me with them.  It would be just as well to call him.