“‘Paris and Berlin have each their good points,’ I replied.
“‘Quite so,’ she acquiesced; ‘just now, however, we ask you to favour Berlin and for a consideration.’
“‘I don’t want a consideration,’ I smiled; ‘tell me what’s the favour you seek?’
“‘We ask you,’ she replied instantly, ‘to take a letter to the French Ambassador and tell him that it is the letter Madame Durrand gave you in New York, and that it has just been returned to you by the American State Department.’
“‘Have you the letter with you?’ I asked.
“‘I have,’ she replied, producing it from her bag. ‘It may not exactly resemble the original.’
“‘It doesn’t,’ said I.
“‘But the French Ambassador won’t know it,’ she smiled. ‘Further, so as to make the matter entirely regular with you, you will receive an appointment in the German Secret Service and five thousand dollars in advance.’
“‘Is it usual to—change sides so suddenly?’ I asked.
“‘You’re not changing sides,’ she explained. ‘You’ve never had a side, in the diplomatic sense. It is entirely regular in diplomacy for you to take such a course as is proposed; there is nothing unusual about it. And, my dear Mrs. Clephane, a position in the German Foreign Secret Service is a rare plum, I can assure you, even though you may not care to be—active in it.’