"I'll make a bargain with you, Mrs. Spencer," I said: "My motive for the order, in exchange, in strict confidence, for your motive for coming to Dornlitz."
Of course, I had no notion she would disclose the actual motive in the plot. What I was after was the story they had prepared to explain why I came to Valeria alone and left her to follow and, in the interim, posed as a bachelor.
"Surely, Armand, you're not serious!" she exclaimed.
"I never was more so," I said.
"But why should you want me to tell you something you already know?" she asked—with a quick glance at Moore.
"Come, come!" said I; "Colonel Moore is totally deaf, at times. I promise your secret shall remain within this room."
"My secret!" she laughed. "Really, Armand, you are delicious."
"I don't quite understand," I said.
She laughed again. "It seems to me that why I followed you to Valeria, instead of coming with you, is, particularly, your secret. You wouldn't care for His Majesty to know it, would you?"
"If it's my secret," said I, "don't you think I ought to be let into it?"