“Ah, has he set you to find out what I think of him?”
“I could tell you things,” he said slyly, lowering his tone and glancing about him.
She paused a moment and her eyes questioned him. She checked the mocking reply which was on her lips, and asked, as if with an assumed indifference, covering real curiosity—
“What could you tell me?”
“I have eyes to see, ears to hear, and I know what I know of his plans—and you would like to know, too.”
Lucette started and bent her head over her wheel that her face might not be seen by his ferrety eyes. She resolved to get it from him.
“Bah! Am I a fool, Master Dauban, that you would fill my ears with lies about a good man? You say truly, the Baron de Proballe is in no favour of mine, but at least I know him to be an honest, fair-speaking, straight-dealing gentleman.”
The man laughed unctuously, as from the enjoyable vantage point of superior knowledge.
“I know what I know,” he said cunningly.