He would
impress himself upon them, as was his way; for he was sincerely social by
instinct, and would go far to do a kindness for people he really liked.
"Ah me! You have arrived opportunely, Miss Claiborne. There's mystery in
the air--the great Stroebel is here--under this very roof and in a
dreadfully bad humor. He is a dangerous man--a very dangerous man, but
failing fast. Poor Austria! Count Ferdinand von Stroebel can have no
successor--he's only a sort of holdover from the nineteenth century, and
with him and his Emperor out of the way--what? For my part I see only
dark days ahead;" and he concluded with a little sigh that implied
crumbling thrones and falling dynasties.
"We met him in Vienna," said Shirley Claiborne, "when father was there
before the Ecuador Claims Commission. He struck me as being a delightful
old grizzly bear."
"He will have his place in history; he is a statesman of the old blood
and iron school; he is the peer of Bismarck, and some things he has done.
He holds more secrets than any other man in Europe--and you may be quite
sure that they will die with him.
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