The inn-keeper bowed.
“Certainly, madame—and the gentleman?”
She considered.... “He is one high in rank, very high—indeed, no one in Valeria is higher—tell him I’m here; and admit him instantly; but don’t, do you hear me, don’t tell him I’m a woman.”
Old Scartman coughed and hesitated.
“But please you, madame,” he ventured, “if I’m to tell him you’re here, but not to tell him you’re a woman, how’s he to be sure you are you?”
“True, O patron of rendezvous!” she laughed. “If he ask for proof, you may tell him I’m the one who knows.”
“Now, that’s more to rule,” he said, with a nod and a chuckle.
They went into the house, and he opened the door into the big room.
“This is what madame wishes?”
“Yes,” said she—“and remember, no interruptions, now nor later—understand?”