"You have passports--you might get through----"
"And you--where is your resourcefulness? Are you not the President of Nemi? Give Frau Nisko your coin to take to Herr Yaeger. He is not unlike you in appearance. His papers would serve----"
But Rowland shook his head.
"Impossible. My faith in your associates has failed. When Markov returns he will help you to freedom and I----"
"You would desert me, mon brave?" she said softly, one hand upon his arm. "Can it be true that after all my admiration for you, my aid in your cause, my faith, my devotion, you will turn against me? Don't say that, mon Philippe. You do not know the depths of the heart of a woman of my kind. You are a man of experience. You know what a woman who has come from nothing must suffer to rise in the world."
"Oh, I say, Zoya," he broke in with a smile, "I haven't reproached you----"
"Perhaps I should be more happy if you did. For then I would know that you cared. But you say nothing--say nothing and only smoke and smile." She broke off with a bitter little laugh. "You do not flatter me, mon vieux."
"Is this a time for flattery, Zoya? Over a hundred miles of hostile country to be passed----"
"We will not pass them more quickly by losing confidence in each other----"
He caught her hand and pressed it to his lips. "Have I not remained----?" he asked.