Violet came down the great staircase a few moments later, still in her dinner gown, her face a little pale, her eyes luminous. Bernadine smiled as he accepted her eagerly offered hand. She was evidently anxious. A thrill of triumph warmed his blood. Once she had been less kind to him than she seemed now.
“My husband gave you this!” she exclaimed.
“A few minutes ago,” Bernadine answered. “He tried to make his instructions as clear as possible. We are jointly interested in a small matter which needs immediate action.”
She led the way to the study.
“It seems strange,” she remarked, “that you and he should be working together. I always thought that you were on opposite sides.”
“It is a matter of chance,” Bernadine told her. “Your husband is a wise man, Baroness. He knows when to listen to reason.”
She threw open the door of the study, which was in darkness.
“‘If you will wait a moment,” she said, closing the door, “I will turn on the electric light.”
She touched the knobs in the wall and the room was suddenly flooded with illumination. At the further end of the apartment was the great safe. Close to it, in an easy chair, his evening coat changed for a smoking jacket, with a neatly tied black tie replacing his crumpled white cravat, the Baron de Grost sat awaiting his guest. A fierce oath broke from Bernadine’s lips. He turned toward the door only in time to hear the key turn. Violet tossed it lightly in the air across to her husband.
“My dear Bernadine,” the latter remarked, “on the whole, I do not think that this has been one of your successes. My keys, if you please.”