Jusseret Makes a Report

In Paris a small party of gentlemen, among whom were represented all the
national types of Southern Europe, were engaged in an informal
discussion of very formal affairs. They occupied a private suite in the
Hotel Ritz overlooking the column of the Place Vendome. Upon a table
swept clean of draperies and bric-a-brac lay an outstretched map of the
Mediterranean littoral, whereon a small peninsula had been marked with
certain experimental and revised boundaries in red and blue and black.
The atmosphere was thick with the smoke from cigars and cigarettes, and
through the veneering amenities of much courtesy the gentlemen of
Europe's Cabinets Noirs wrangled with insistence. Finally Monsieur
Jusseret took the floor, and the others dropped respectfully into an
attitude of listening.

"It is hardly necessary," he began, "to discuss what has been done in
Galavia. That is long since a stale story. Our governments, acting in
concert, made it possible to remove Karyl and crown Louis." He smiled
quietly. "You know how short a reign Louis enjoyed before death claimed
him. Perhaps you do not know that his death was not unforeseen by me."

There was an outburst of exclamations under which France's
representative remained unmoved.

"Our object," he explained coldly, "was the disruption of Galavia's
integrity. In reducing this Kingdom to a province, the supplanting of
Karyl with Louis was essential only as an initial step. The instability
of that government had to be demonstrated to the world by more
continuous disorders. It was necessary to show that the Kingdom had
become incapable of self-rule. It followed that the removal of Louis was
equally natural--and imperative."