"And this palace?" asked Kitty.

"Not one stone on another. The proletariat rose up and destroyed
it. To mobs anything beautiful is offensive. Palaces looted, banks,
museums, houses. The ignorant toying with hand grenades, thinking
them sceptres. All the scum in the world boiling to the top. After
the Red Day comes the Red Night."

"Whatever will become of them - the little kings and princes and
dukes?" After all, thought Kitty, they were human beings; they would
not suffer any the less because they had been born to the purple.

"Maybe they'll go to work," said Cutty, dryly. "Sooner or later,
all parasites will have to work if they want bread. And yet I've
met some men among them, big in the heart and the mind, who would
have made bully farmers and professors. The beautiful thing about
the Anglo-Saxon education is that the whole structure is based upon
fair play. In eastern and southeastern Europe few of them can play
solitaire without cheating. But I would give a good deal to know
what has happened to those emeralds - the drums of jeopardy. They'll
probably be broken up and sold in carat weights. The whole family
was wiped out in a night.... I say, will you take lunch with me
to-morrow?"

"Gladly."

"All right. I'll drop in here at half after twelve. Here's my
telephone number, should anything alter your plans. If I'm going
to be godfather I might as well start right in."