"No man is invulnerable," said the little man, as though he were talking to himself. "No man ever was, no man ever will be. Every man has his price, and if one can pay it——"
"There is no question of price," said the Count eagerly; "nothing need stand in the way, any price can be paid."
"I see, I see," and the little man's foxy eyes flashed. "You want to work the man's moral downfall," he added. "You want to make him a slave to your will—not to make him a saint?"
The Count was silent.
"If I wanted to make such a man a slave to my will, and I had such means as you suggest, I should find a woman to help me. A woman beautiful, fascinating, unscrupulous. I would instruct her to be an angel of light. I would make her be the medium whereby he could obtain all that such as he desires, and I would make him believe that in getting her he would find the greatest and best gift in life, a gift whereby all that was highest and best in this life, and in the life to come, could be got. At the same time she must be a woman, a woman that should appeal to his desires, and make his pulses throb at the thought of possessing her."
For some time they spoke eagerly together, the Count raising point after point, which the little man was not slow to answer.
"Polonius, did I not know otherwise, I should say you were the devil," laughed Romanoff.
"I know you are," replied the little man in great glee.
"What do you mean?" and there was a kind of fear in the Russian's voice.
"Only that your cleverness is beyond that of ordinary mankind. You have thought of all this long before you asked me."