“You are more sanguine than you look or your tone implies if you think so. I don’t believe it for a moment. There’s always something goes wrong where a woman is concerned.”
“I will send this one packing, and then we can consult.”
“There’s not much left worth consulting about,” he answered as I left him.
The Countess greeted me with a sharp, shrewd look, and then her face showed a keen disappointment.
“I have failed, I see. You needn’t tell me,” she said.
“You are not yet a murderess—at least of the Princess,” I returned, harshly, for I hated the woman.
“You have taken a long time over your rescue and love business; but I suppose you had much to talk about. It’s the way of lovers!” she cried with a laugh. “Besides you had to settle what to do with inconvenient me. I am afraid I am very much in your way, Count—quite as much trouble to you as if you had remained faithful to me.”
“If I had my way you would not give me much more trouble.”
“Ah, then I was right. I knew that she would never dare to try and keep me a prisoner. Will you see that a carriage is ready for me?” She spoke in a tone of indifference.
“If you have any gratitude in your nature you will remember that it is to the Princess that you owe your liberty—to the woman whose life you have just failed to take.”