Only once during the meal he relapsed, and then he leaned towards me and chuckled.
"They've all gone!" he cried; "they come suddenly at times, and try and steal my boat, but they never see it, and then, when they realize they never will, they leave altogether. Sometimes they stay a whole week," he continued, in a whisper, "and threaten me all the time, until I fear I shall go mad, but last night, after you had left, I told them boldly what I thought of them, and silently, one by one, they crept away."
"You promised me that I should see the boat?" I said, softly.
"It is a lie," he cried, with a blaze of fury.
"Very well, it's a lie," I answered, coldly, with simulated scorn.
For an instant he remained silent, and then, with a grave smile, he craved forgiveness.
"If I promised, I will keep my word," he said, quietly. "I will trust you; you shall see what no one in this world has seen, because I know you are an honorable woman, and will not betray my secret."
"Thank you," I said, devoting more attention to my cutlet than I had ever given to a Count, "but if you would rather not—"
"I never break my word," he responded. "Come to this room at five o'clock to-morrow morning, and you shall breakfast off the Isle of Wight at nine," and with that he rose from the table, and, courteously bowing to me, strolled from the apartment.
The day passed swiftly, for I was absorbed in pleasant thoughts at my own good fortune. That I could win him to sell his invention I doubted greatly, but that I should be able to gain some insight into the mechanism of the boat during the promised cruise, I felt assured.