"Can this be possible?"
"Anything is possible in Germany."
Rowland pursed his lips in a tenuous whistle.
"I can well believe that. You have heard that Khodkine is a Prussian agent?"
"I know nothing of Khodkine. Our paths have not crossed except at Nemi. But I am ready to suspect him of anything. There is much energy conserved in twenty-five millions of francs," she finished cynically.
"Well, rather," he laughed. "Twenty-five millions--five million dollars! Phew, but that's a lot of money! Think of the eats and shows and things----"
"You'd get a lot of jimmy-pipes with that, mon vieux," she laughed and then lowered her tone suddenly. "Where are you going to put this money if you recover it?" she questioned.
Rowland puffed his cigarette quite calmly but hid his thoughts under the cloak of his perpetual smile.
"Would you like a new hat?" he asked.
"There are many things I would like, mon Philippe," she said coolly. "A villa at Monte Carlo, an hotel in Paris, a very tiny one, but--" she halted suddenly and shrugged, "but I'm not apt to get those things with the money of Nemi." And then with a dramatic gesture, "Is it not pledged to the Cause?"