"True in every detail, madame."
"But this Lille of which you have spoken—is it a fortress?"
"A great fortress, madame."
"Will it not resist?"
"Not for long—perhaps not at all. If it does resist, it will fall like a house of cards. The whole world will be astonished, madame, when it learns the details of that action. We have a great surprise in store for our enemies!"
Stewart, glancing at his companion, noted with alarm the flash of excitement in her eyes. Would she push her questioning too far—would she be indiscreet; but the next instant he was reassured.
"It is most fascinating,—this puzzle!" she laughed. "I shall watch the papers for the fall of Lille. But I am very ignorant—I do not even know where Lille is."
"It is in the northwest corner of France, madame, just south of the Belgian frontier."
The girl looked at him perplexedly.
"But how can you reach it," she asked, slowly, "without crossing Belgium?"