The nature of the admission was totally unexpected. Carl whistled softly.
"Ah!" said he, raising expressive eyebrows.
"My mother," said Themar sullenly, "was of Galituria. There is hatred there for Houdania—a century's feud—"
"And you in the employ of the rival province hunting this to earth! What a mess—what a mess!"
Followed a battery of merciless questions punctuated by the diabolic clank of metal.
Themar had been deputed solely to report to Baron Tregar—
"And murder me!" supplemented Carl curtly.
"Yes," said Themar. "Under oath I was to obey Ronador's commands without question. But he did not even trust me with the cipher message of instruction. That was mailed to the Baron's Washington address written in an ink that only turned dark with the heat of a fire. I too was sent to Washington. Ronador knew nothing of the Baron's trip to Connecticut."
By spying before he had sailed, Themar added, at a question from Carl, he had learned of the cipher.
"You read the paper of course when you stole it from my desk?"