"Count Poltavo is with us—at present," she answered in a constrained voice. "How long he will remain——"
"Tell me everything, darling!" he pleaded.
"I can tell you—nothing!" she said passionately, her breast heaving. "Save only that I shall be glad, glad, when this terrible search is completed. So many lives——" For the first time, she broke down completely, and turning from him, sobbed bitterly, her face hidden in her hands. She rocked back and forth in a paroxysm of grief.
He bent over her, in an agony of distress, and put his arms about her.
"Cord!" The voice came to him, strangled with sobs.
"Darling?" his mouth was close to her lips.
"Promise me that you will give it up?"
"No."
"But they will kill you—too!" she moaned.
"Not me!" he said cheerfully. "Not after this!" He raised her tearful face to his. "Tell me, at least, where a letter may find you."