“The astute Mr. Steinmetz may be removed to some other sphere of usefulness. There is a new spoke in his Teutonic wheel.”
“Ah!”
“Prince Paul is about to marry—the widow of Sydney Bamborough.”
“Sydney Bamborough,” repeated Vassili musingly, with a perfect expression of innocence on his well-cut face. “I have heard that name before.”
De Chauxville laughed quietly, as if in appreciation of a pretty trick which he knew as well as its performer.
“She is a friend of mine.”
The attachi, as he was pleased to call himself, to the Russian Embassy, leant his arms on the table, bending forward and bringing his large, fleshy face within a few inches of De Chauxville’s keen countenance.
“That makes all the difference,” he said.
“I thought it would,” answered De Chauxville, meeting the steady gaze firmly.