“Undoubtedly.”
“Would you care to tell me what they are?”
“I like excitement,” he said, with a grim laugh. “With you as my wife I would never have to seek it.”
“My father is wealthy. I have social position here.... I suppose, if we are to think about this as barter and sale, that you have something to offset that—besides your presence and—abilities.”
He drew himself up and stared at her. “I—” he began, and checked himself. He had been on the point of a disclosure, she knew, driven by vanity. He shrugged his shoulders. “You would not be the loser,” he said.
“In case you ever leave America,” she said.
“What do you mean?”
“In war-times,” she said, “I have read that spies are shot.”
He laughed. “You have that silly idea yet? Well, so long as you don’t prattle about it, no harm is done.... And I’ll see to it you don’t prattle.”
“I’ve thought of offering to marry you if you would release my father. But that idea didn’t appeal. I knew you wouldn’t keep your promise ... so long as he was useful to you.”