"Count, take care that I do not warn my country of Russia's purpose. You are telling me very strange things." The American eyed his companion sharply.
"Warn the United States? I tell you, it will not matter. All Russia would need would be a dissatisfied clerk. What could he not do with half a million francs?" The diplomat blew a cloud of smoke through his nostrils and filliped the end of his cigarette.
"A hundred thousand dollars?"
The diplomat glanced amusedly at his American friend. "I suppose that sounds small enough to you rich Americans. But to a clerk it reads wealth."
The American was silent. A terrible thought flashed through his brain, a thought that he repulsed almost immediately.
"Of course, I am only speculating; nothing has been done as yet."
"Then something is going to be done?" asked the American, clearing his voice.
"One day or another. If we can not find the clerk, we shall look higher. We should consider a million francs well invested. America is rapidly becoming a great power. But let us drop the subject and turn to something more agreeable to us both. Your daughter is charming. I honestly confess to you that I have not met her equal in any country. Pardon my presumption, but may I ask if she is engaged to be married?"
"Not to my knowledge,"—vastly surprised and at the same time pleased.
"Are you averse to foreign alliances?" The diplomat dipped the end of a fresh-lighted cigar into his coffee.