"To the secret agent the world is neither sweet nor bitter. He has no sense of taste or of feeling. He is merely a pair of ears—a pair of eyes which nothing must escape——"
"Deaf to music—blind to beauty," sighed Marishka. "From the bottom of my heart I pity you."
Captain Goritz gazed at her for a long moment, in silence, then his eyes narrowed slightly and his voice was lowered.
"It is rather curious, Countess Strahni, that you should hold in such low esteem a profession practiced by one of your most favored friends."
"Mine?" she questioned, startled.
"Herr Renwick," he replied dryly, "is a secret agent of the Serbian government."
A gasp escaped her, and she struggled for her composure at the mention of Hugh Renwick's name.
"That is impossible."
"I beg your pardon," he said politely, "I happen to know it to be the truth."
She laughed uneasily.