Beatrice—And Patricia learned to speak Bulgarian.
Dominica—Fluently. But nothing came of that either. She was married in Sweden to Prince Olaf. Now, with all her Bulgarian erudition, she lives among the Swedes. I hear that the Bulgarian minister to Stockholm is delirious with joy because she always speaks Bulgarian with him. And out of that, between Sweden and Bulgaria . . . came an enormous trade in pig iron. To this day the good Bulgarians do not dream to what they owe all that iron.
Beatrice—And don't you know why nothing came of the Bulgarian marriage?
Dominica—I understand that the Serbs thwarted Delcassé's schemes.
Beatrice—That is the official explanation. The real reason is more interesting. Patricia's family sent Arthur and the Bulgarian court sent Philip for a final conference. As you know, Arthur can't hear a thing with his left ear, and Philip is totally deaf in his right ear. At the court dinner, where the conference was to take place, they were seated side by side, in the order that rank and etiquette demanded, so that each had his deaf ear turned to the other. But neither of them realized it. In the beginning each spoke a few words, but receiving no answer, became offended and said no more. Both
