“She sent you back from Florida to select and pack certain dinner gowns? Just what does madame pay you for the job?”
“Does not Mr. Cabot know the amount of my salary, none too large for one who has served——”
“I mean how much for this key-hole job?”
At his contemptuous interruption, the woman caught her breath.
“Five-hundred-dollar, m’sieu.”
“A five-hundred-dollar bonus? Madame is good to you. However, I am in a position to be better. I’ll advance that bonus to-night, if you’ll leave her employ.”
Her avaricious watch of his face eased in a disappointed laugh. “Does m’sieu think I would turn the traitor to a mistress who has ever been most generous and who trusts——”
“I do.”
“And for a wretched five hundred, already earned?”
“I do not—not for five hundred.” He contributed a short laugh. “But for that in cash, plus a check for one thousand, good in six months if you neglect to report to this trusting mistress who has been so generous with you.”