"
Of course by De Camp she meant Delcasse. Clearly he had slipped away
from me. "Our friend" referred to the Prince. This was news indeed!
Hiring an automobile I made record time for Monte Carlo. I arrived at
my hotel about three o'clock in the morning of the tenth and found
awaiting me in my room, the Countess' maid. She delivered part of an
important conversation which had taken place between Delcasse and the
Prince, and of which I shall presently give the substance and its
explanation. Instructing the maid to inform her mistress that I
wished to see her at ten A. M. at the Casino, in the Salle des
Estranger, I dismissed her. I chose the Salle des Estranger because
it was the most frequented and for that reason the least suspicious
meeting place.
We met as appointed and the Countess confirmed the maid's report. For
about three hours on the evening of the ninth, Delcasse, of France,
and Prince Galitzin of Russia were in conference in the Prince's
chamber at the Hotel de Londres. Having changed her hotel and being
in a chamber adjoining the Prince's, the Countess had managed to
overhear most of this conversation. In her report there were
naturally some blanks. She had not been able to hear every word
uttered. But the purport and trend showed me it was of tremendous
importance.
It was evidently an arrangement between France and Russia, with the
understanding of England, to force Germany into an abject isolation.
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