For that reason he brightened to see me--was delighted to find a through-journey companion who would take him on terms of greatness.

In the railway carriage, divested of troublesome bags that imparted anxiety to his small face and a stagger to his walk, he swelled to his normal dimensions.
"So you're--going to--Paris," he meditated, "for the _Hour_." "I'm going to Paris for the _Hour_," I agreed.
"Ah!" he went on, "you're going to interview the Elective Grand Duke...." "We call him the Duc de Mersch," I interrupted, flippantly.

It was a matter of nuances.

The Elective Grand Duke was a philanthropist and a State Founder, the Duc de Mersch was the hero as financier.
"Of Holstein-Launewitz," Callan ignored.

The titles slipped over his tongue like the last drops of some inestimable oily vintage.
"I might have saved you the trouble.