It was odd that an old scholar, knowing nothing but history, could thus stir a listener whose touch had hitherto only skimmed the surface of life.
"No," answered Marvin, with assurance.

"I saw it myself in their faces.
Ah! if another such as Napoleon could only arise--such as he, but different.

Not an adventurer, but a King and the descendant of Kings--not allied, as Napoleon was, with a hundred other adventurers." "Yes," said Loo, in a muffled voice, looking away toward the fire.
"A King whose wife should be a Queen," pursued the dreamer.
"Yes," said Loo again, encouragingly.
"They could save France," concluded Marvin, taking off his spectacles and polishing them with a silk handkerchief.

Loo turned and looked at him, for the action so characteristic of a mere onlooker indicated that the momentary concentration of a mind so stored with knowledge that confusion reigned there was passing away.
"From what ?" asked Loo.

"Save France from what ?" "From inevitable disaster, my boy," replied Marvin, gravely.