“Was that what you wanted to ask me about?”

“No, sir⁠—that was only in passing. I was curious to know just what made you drop your own name⁠—if I’m not taking too much of a liberty?”

“Not a bit. I’ll tell you. I killed myself from the purest motives, Battle. My mother was English, I’d been educated in England, and I was far more interested in England than in Herzoslovakia. And I felt an absolute fool knocking about the world with a comic opera title tacked on to me. You see, when I was very young, I had democratic ideas. Believed in the purity of ideals, and the equality of all men. I especially disbelieved in kings and princes.”

“And since then?” asked Battle shrewdly.