“We are alone?” she said. “We will not be disturbed?”
Then an inspiration came to me. I remembered that Frau von Einem, according to Blenkiron, did not see eye to eye with the Young Turks; and I had a queer instinct that Rasta could not be to her liking. So I spoke the truth.
“I must tell you that there’s another guest here tonight. I reckon he’s feeling pretty uncomfortable. At present he’s trussed up on a shelf in that cupboard.”
She did not trouble to look round.
“Is he dead?” she asked calmly.
“By no means,” I said, “but he’s fixed so he can’t speak, and I guess he can’t hear much.”
“He was the man who brought you this?” she asked, pointing to the envelope on the table which bore the big blue stamp of the Ministry of War.
“The same,” I said. “I’m not perfectly sure of his name, but I think they call him Rasta.”
Not a flicker of a smile crossed her face, but I had a feeling that the news pleased her.
“Did he thwart you?” she asked.