“A woman?”
He fell back in his chair in sheer surprise.
“The other,” I repeated in my most serious tone, “is a woman, perhaps the most formidable woman now living, not even excepting the Dowager Empress of China.”
“And her name?”
“Her name would tell you nothing.”
“Still——”
“If you really wish to hear it——”
“I more than wish. I urge you.”
“Her name is the Princess Y——.”