“Good. Now sit. First, you speak French without accent.”
“That was a part of my qualification for this service.”
“Yes. It is in my mind to give you an important mission—one which will require great skill and fortitude.”
Wentz listened attentively, but he made no comment.
“It is unnecessary of course to warn you to hold what I tell you in the strictest confidence.”
“I do not talk, Excellenz.”
“This is a matter of grave importance to the Empire, a matter which concerns one of the enemies of the Vaterland. The safe delivery of certain dispatches which I am to receive may mean a readjustment of the European situation—perhaps the end of the war with Germany victorious and England humiliated.”
The eyes of Captain Wentz grew a little rounder and sparkled ever so slightly, but he said nothing.
“I am telling you this that you may know the importance of the duty I am giving you. It is an honor which I hope you will appreciate, an honor that may lead to greater favors than you have hitherto received.”