CHAPTER VI
"Did you get the range?" asked the countess, when that night Braine recounted his adventure.
"Range!" he snarled. "My girl, haven't I just told you that I had to fight for my life? My boat was in flames. We had to swim for it till we were picked up by a Long Island barge tug. I don't know what became of the motorman. He must have headed straight for shore. And I'm glad he did. Otherwise he'd be howling for the price of another boat. Olga, for the first time I've had to let one of the boys have a look at my face. Doesn't know the name; but one of these days he'll stumble across it, and the result will be blackmail, unless I push him off into the dark. It was accidental."
The countess leaned forward, her hands tightly clinched.
"But the box!"
Braine made a gesture of despair.
"Leo, are you using any drug these days?"
