“I refuse!” he exclaimed. “Let me remind you, Streuss, that I am in charge of this expedition. It was I who planned it. It was I”—he dropped his voice and touched his chest—“who struck the first blow for its success. I think that we need talk no more,” he went on. “I welcome your companionship. It makes for strength that we travel together. But for the rest, the enterprise has been mine, the success so far has been mine, and the termination of it shall be mine. Watch me, if you like. Stay with me and see that I am not robbed, if you fear that I am not able to take care of myself, but do not ask me to behave like an idiot.”
Von Behrling stepped away quickly. The siren was already blowing from the steamer.
CHAPTER VI
VON BEHRLING IS TEMPTED
The night was dark but fine, and the crossing smooth. Louise, wrapped in furs, abandoned her private cabin directly they had left the harbor, and had a chair placed on the upper deck. Von Behrling found her there, but not before they were nearly half-way across. She beckoned him to her side. Her eyes glowed at him through the darkness.
“You are not looking after me, my friend,” she declared. “By myself I had to find this place.”
Von Behrling was ruffled. He was also humbly apologetic.
“It is those idiots who are with me,” he said. “All the time they worry.”
She laughed and drew him down so that she could whisper in his ear.
“I know what it is,” she said. “You have secrets which you are taking to London, and they are afraid of me because I am a Servian. Tell me, is it not so? Perhaps, even, they think that I am a spy.”
Von Behrling hesitated. She drew him closer towards her.