“By telling him what you are—the cleverest, keenest, most heartless woman spy in Russia!”
“Perhaps I also might tell something.”
“What do you mean?”
“I might tell Miss Howard who you are—the ruthless, secret——”
He rose and stood above her, his eyes glittering.
“Be careful, countess,” he said slowly, ominously. “You yourself have said that I would hesitate at nothing. Well, be warned by your own words!”
Her daring had carried her too far. She knew this man, and knew that if he but willed it she would mysteriously disappear never to be seen again. Her face kept its calm, but inwardly she could but flinch before the dark menace of his look.
After a moment, she spoke again.
“I think we will both go farther, prince, if we go together and in harmony. Come, which is it to be—fifty thousand—or am I to withdraw from the affair?”
Berloff did not answer at once; then he said: