“You have news of some kind for me, Count?” said the Princess.
“Unfortunately, I bring you bad news, Madame.”
“It could not come by a more unwilling messenger, I am sure.”
“On my honour, that is true,” I said earnestly, touched by her gentle thought.
“And half its sting will be blunted since I hear it from you. What is it? Tell me frankly.”
“Its sting cannot but be sharp enough to wound. I fear we have a traitor somewhere high up in our ranks;” and with that I told her what had passed in my interview with the Countess Bokara.
“It is ugly news indeed,” she said at the close, profoundly moved. “And as dangerous as it is ugly. What think you of it, Nathalie?”
Mademoiselle Broumoff had turned pale with sudden consternation.
“I cannot think. It is too dreadful. What does the Count propose?”
The Princess turned eagerly to me for my counsel.