"Possibly not. Still, as a peacemaker----"
"You put me into the Beatitudes, then?"
"Why not, if you achieve your object in reconciling enemies?"
"The signing of the treaty depends upon you, M. Aksakoff."
"Consider it signed--on conditions."
"Which means that it is not signed. H'm! M. Demetrius is anxious, even willing, to renounce your daughter."
A dull red stained Aksakoff's opaque skin. "How flattering to my fatherly pride! There is, then"--the hint was delicate--"another?"
Lady Jim retorted in kind. "So you said at Monte Carlo."
"Mademoiselle Ninette? I believe I did. She lured him to Paris, then?"
"How should I know? He has never mentioned the creature's name to me, nor would he dare to. He came, so he declares, to see me."