“Yes, I can prove it! You have a description of the woman charged with the attempted shooting of Prince Berloff?”
“I have.”
She raised her veil. “Compare the two faces.”
He scrutinized the flushed countenance thus revealed. “A—ah!” he breathed.
“Did I not speak the truth?” she cried.
“You did,” said he deliberately. “And you spoke it also when you said you had put your life in my hands.”
There was a new light in his little eyes—a gloating light. It sent a shiver through her.
“There is a reward of ten thousand rubles for your arrest. Madame”—he bowed to her—“I thank you for those ten thousand rubles!”
His words, the gleam of his eyes, left no doubt of his purpose. She steadied herself and looked at him with calm eyes.
“But you are not going to arrest me,” she said. “To let me go, to help free Borodin, will mean much more to you than ten thousand rubles.” She tossed a packet of notes upon the desk.