“David,” she whispered, “the compact!”
He answered her unspoken question.
“It is arranged,” he said,—“finished. To-morrow morning at nine o’clock I receive it.”
“You are sure?” she begged. “Why need there be any delay?”
“It is locked up in a powerful safe,” he explained, “and the clerk who has the combination will not be on duty again till nine. Laverick is there simply waiting for the hour. You were right, Louise, as usual. I should have trusted him from the first.”
The Prince had been listening to their conversation with undisguised interest.
“There is a rumor,” he said, “that some secret information concerning the compact of Vienna has found its way to this country.”
Bellamy smiled.
“Hence, I presume, your mission, Prince.”
“We three have no secrets from one another,” the Prince declared. “Our interests in this matter are absolutely identical. What you suggest, Mr. Bellamy, is the truth. There is a rumor that the Chancellor, in the first few moments of his illness, gave valuable information to some one who is likely to have communicated it to the Government here. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. That, I know, is one of your own mottoes. So I am here to know if there is anything to be learned.”