The door was opened behind them. The Prince turned around. A young man had ushered in Herr Selingman. For a moment the latter looked steadily at Anna. Then he glanced at the Ambassador as though questioningly.
"You two must have met," the Prince murmured.
"We have met," Anna declared, smiling, as she made her way towards the door, "but we do not know one another. It is best like that. Herr Selingman and I work in the same army—"
"But I, madame, am the sergeant," Selingman interrupted, with a low bow, "whilst you are upon the staff."
She laughed as she made her adieux and departed. The door closed heavily behind her. Selingman came a little further into the room.
"You have read your dispatches this morning, Prince?" he asked.
"Not yet," the latter replied. "Is there news, then?"
Selingman pointed to the closed door. "You have spoken for long with her?"
"Naturally," the Prince assented. "She is a confidential friend of the Emperor. She has been entrusted for the last two years with all the private dispatches between Vienna and Berlin."
"In your letters you will find news," Selingman declared. "She is pronounced suspect. She is under my care at this moment. A report was brought to me half an hour ago that she was here. I came on at once myself. I trust that I am in time?"