He knew well enough I was dangerous to him; and filling up a pause by drawing some large sheets of official paper before him and selecting a pen, he said—
“Your statement, monsieur.”
“You won’t find it advisable to put it all down there; but you can please yourself. First, we’ll clear up the mystery of your prisoner. His name is—but wait, here are some of his papers, including his passport. I used that with his consent to pass your men at Kovna;” and I handed over such of Siegel’s cards and papers as I had with me.
“You admit this?” he asked.
My action surprised him.
“Oh yes. Fortunately I met him on the train, and we arranged that I should use his passport.”
“You conspired together?”
“Put it how you like. It doesn’t matter five cents. If I didn’t know that, I shouldn’t have told you. Shall I wait while you write that down?” I asked, for his paper was as blank as my hand.
“I can trust my memory for his crime,” he replied when I waited for an answer.
“Then you can have my first condition. M. Siegel must be liberated the moment he expresses the wish to leave. I don’t want him to lose material for his article. He was so useful to me, you see.”