"What happens if I'm caught?" he asked.
"If you succeed," said the Baron, "you will be amply rewarded. You will be paid according to the value of the information you obtain. But if you fail the misfortune is yours. We wash our hands of you; we know nothing whatsoever about you. That is the principle upon which the Secret Service works."
"I see," said the man. "Whatever I do is at my own risk."
"Precisely," said the Baron.
There was another pause; and then Stork got to his feet.
"I'll do it," said he. "I've every confidence in myself. If you want my candid opinion, I think I'm the very man for the job."
"Good!" said von Essling. "Self-assurance is essential. And now, there are a few questions I would like you to answer. Have you ever been to London? Could you find your own way about in that labyrinth of a city? It will probably be necessary for you to go there."
"I know London well," said Stork, "from Whitechapel to Hammersmith. At one time, I played Iago in Shakespeare's play, in a little theatre which is now pulled down, in the Portobello Road."
"Ah," said the other, "some time in the near future you and I may meet in London. I have never been there. Though I can both speak and write English with ease, I have never set foot in England."
"You are likely to leave New York?" asked Rosencrantz.