“They were only helping you,â€� she said. “Sir Richard was so interested in the cipher, he thought, perhaps, you might need assistance. That was all there—â€�
“We’ll drop that subject, Saidee. Drop it now. Sir Richard is like them all—he can’t be trusted. He told me I could come here alone—scot-free. He’d get better results if he’d trust a man. We fellows from the inside are not as black as some people imagine we are.â€�
“But this cipher-key is so fearfully important, Chester. Where have you got it?�
Fay tapped his left overcoat pocket. “Right there!� he said, glancing from the door to her. “Right where it stays, too, Saidee, till I see Sir Richard.�
“What is it like?�
“I didn’t open the package. I’m not going to. Let Sir Richard do that—after I have a word or two with him.â€�
She frowned, with faint lines showing at the corners of her mouth.
“It might be something we can memorize,� she suggested.
“It’ll keep.�
“But Dutch Gus and all those Germans are after the clue. Why, Chester, you don’t know how I’ve worked—in Geneva and Zurich, and in Austria before it surrendered. Three or four men were killed over the cipher. You may lose the key. Let me see it.â€�