“Well—the maid was shadowed. She met an army chaplain whose name is Keith and who comes from Louisville, Kentucky. We don’t know what passed between them, but it is possible that the money came from that chaplain.... I wasn’t going to tell you the whole story until we finish, but you may as well know it, I suppose.”
I couldn’t help feeling an aching hurt, but I didn’t say anything.
He noticed my change, however, and promptly explained it all away by saying, “We just wanted you to go ahead with the Madame as if nothing had happened and we thought you could do it better if you had no idea of what had happened. However, now that you know it, you’ve just got to act your part in spite of the knowledge. We can’t close in on her yet: we can’t take this chaplain in for questioning just yet, because we want to keep our eyes on him and see what he does with his days and nights. And meantime, you’ve got to go through with your part. You’re doing fine—better than anyone could have done with a woman like her. And sooner or later, we’ll nab her. It’s only a question of time now. So keep up the good work, and don’t let her get suspicious, for that would spoil the whole plan.”
So back to the Madame’s that night. Ben and I went to see the General late in the afternoon and then he dropped me at the Madame’s.
“Want me to call fer ya, General?” he mocked as I stepped out.
“After all, why not?” I replied. “Say, about ten o’clock to-night?”
Ben was surprised but he went through with it gamely. “All right, General, sir—only if I get in trouble fer runnin’ around in this car, you’ll have to take the blame, General, sir!”
I never expected him to show up, but he did just that and in typical Ben-like fashion, opening the door without knocking and walking right into one of the most mixed up lovin’ scenes that ever happened. The Madame and I had finally come to a show-down and I was having the time of my life trying to keep her away from the secret sections of my anatomy. God, how that woman could make love! I learned about women from her all right—but I couldn’t see any fun in it at all and was just about ready to start throwing things when Ben appeared. I mean, I had gone as far as I could, and I couldn’t go any further because if I had the Madame would have found out the truth and then she’d have been suspicious of my motives immediately—and then the Captain’s plans for a coup would be all ruined. And anyone who thinks it isn’t a delicate problem to keep a woman from finding out that you’re a woman and at the same time keep her from getting mad at you—well, a trial will illustrate how I felt.
She didn’t see Ben at first and he was treated to a choice line of endearing terms and brazen invitations. He stood dumfounded for a moment, as if he couldn’t quite get the drift of the situation, but when he started to tiptoe out again I yelled and the Madame saw him. And maybe she wasn’t mad!
She pulled herself together in just one movement and lit on him in a veritable fit of denunciations and deprecatory explosions. She didn’t give him a chance to explain his presence, and when she acted like that I couldn’t say anything because I was afraid she was near the limit as it was.