"I will go at once and tell all I know," she exclaimed excitedly.
Good. She had not told.
"It is too late. You were the decoy, but the duke is now in the hands of my men, and no power on earth can save him if I but issue the order. Do you think I do my work so poorly as to leave him where you, or those whom you send, could find him?"
She sat, her fingers interlocked and her eyes staring in a fixed, set gaze of abject fright, while her breath came and went with quick catches of agitation.
"You have played the subtle part of double treachery, and you will find it deadly dangerous," I went on sternly.
It was necessary to frighten her thoroughly for the object I had, and I let a couple of minutes pass in silence, while this conviction of her danger forced itself home. Then I opened the door of relief.
"It rests with you to save his life, and your own, and Praga's," I said.
She was too panic-stricken to act, and the hope in her face at my words made me rejoice.
"Save the Countess Minna von Gramberg. Help me to find her."
The light died out as suddenly as it had come.