“Nevertheless, we will send there.”
“The woman Hortense was also with him when last I heard of them.”
“How do you know?” began the detective, suspiciously.
“Psha!” interrupted the Judge; “that will keep. This is the time for action, and we owe too much to the General to distrust him now.”
“Thank you; I am pleased to hear you say that,” went on Sir Charles. “But if I have been of some service to you, perhaps you owe me a little in return. That poor lady! Think what she is suffering. Surely, to oblige me, you will now set her free?”
“Indeed, monsieur, I fear—I do not see how, consistently with my duty”—protested the Judge.
“At least allow her to return to her hotel. She can remain there at your disposal. I will promise you that.”
“How can you answer for her?”
“She will do what I ask, I think, if I may send her just two or three lines.”
The Judge yielded, smiling at the General’s urgency, and shrewdly guessing what it implied.