"Yes—Madame, I know, but, it is so hard to wait; do you not understand how I count the minutes every day until—"
"Yes, yes, I've heard all those fine excuses before. To your business. The other can wait, business first, then—"
"Pleasure?" he supplemented with an eagerness strangely at variance with the rigid self-control he had hitherto shown.
"I did not say pleasure," she gravely broke in, "your business."
The man submitted with the patience of one quite accustomed, yet not wholly resigned to such a reception, and spread numerous papers upon the table before her. Selecting one he began to explain:
"Your wishes in regard to this matter have been carried out; I had the man detained in the city where he is at your command. He suspects nothing, though fretful at the restraint."
"Very good. And the other?"
"Yes, here it is. You see this has been so arranged that the Duke quite naturally selected Menezes to bear these dispatches. You may remind him that Menezes is a brother of the man Perrault, whom he had hanged some years ago. Here is the man's history, which you can look over at leisure. The Duke has forgotten all this in his impatience to remedy the Yvard fiasco. It will serve, however, to make him think you even more clever and devoted to him."
I listened closely at the name "Yvard."
"Well, now so far so good. And the question of finance? That is of more importance."