“Like this?” she said in dismay, and he laughed.
“I have an office in this street,” he said; “you can go in and dress. I’ll wait for you outside.”
He showed her into the tiny room which served as the headquarters of the Angera Gold Mining Syndicate, and sat on the irregular stone steps, waiting until she was dressed. Presently she came out, a presentable and an attractive figure.
“I have just thought,” he said, “that you had better to go the Central—I am staying at the Continental and it wouldn’t look nice.”
“I’ve been thinking something of the sort myself,” she said. “What about my broken engagement? Were you joking when you said you would pay? I hate talking about money, but I am broke—Jose owes me a week’s salary.”
“I’ll make good the money to-morrow,” he said. “I can give you a tenner now.”
“What is the idea?” she asked him again. “I’ve read a lot of books, and I know the knight errant business backwards. You don’t strike me as being a something-for-nothing man.”
“I’m not,” he said coolly. “It occurred to me when I saw you on the stage, that you might be useful. I want a person in Paris I can trust—somebody who could look after my interests.”
“I’m not a business woman,” she said quickly. “I hate business.”
“Business is done by men,” said he significantly. “And there are a few men I want you to keep track of. Do you understand that?”