My God, the way of escape lay right here. I might still get to Helga. I had to steady myself against the window frame now in the rush of this new excitement.
I turned back to the servant. He was still there.
“Why don’t you take those things away when I tell you,” I said, trying to speak in my former tone.
“I hope you will try to eat, monsieur. You have fasted long.”
I was conscious suddenly of hunger. I might have work to do for Helga, and must keep up my strength. My new thoughts had changed me.
“How long is it since I breakfasted?”
“Many hours, monsieur. It is now nearly five o’clock.”
Five o’clock. How the time had flown! My interviews with Kalkov, and the intervals, had eaten up the day. Five o’clock! I groaned. The dusk would soon fall, and if Helga were not already in the hands of her enemies, the time in which a warning could reach her might almost be counted by minutes.
I must get rid of the servant, and perhaps if I ate the food he had brought it would save time.
“I will take your advice.” I sat down to the table and ate with the speed which only Americans have cultivated as a fine art. In a few minutes I had swallowed almost everything he had brought.