“Wait here,” he whispered. “I’ll be back.”
With that he rejoined the lady and immediately escorted her down the hill. It was fully an hour before he returned and I saw he had regained his composure.
“I suppose you are wondering who that lady was?” he began lightly.
“Well, yes, just a little. Is she the woman you told me about—the countess?”
“No, no! But she’s a very remarkable person,” he explained. “She is known in every capital of Europe. They say the German government pays her fifty thousand dollars a year.”
“She’s quite a beauty,” said I.
He looked at me sharply. “I suppose she is, but that’s not the point. She’s at the head of the German secret service work in America. She knows all about Edison.”
“Oh!”
“She has told me where he is. That’s why we came up here. Do you see that building?”
I followed his gesture across the valley and on a hill opposite saw a massive brick structure with many small windows, and around it a high white painted wall.