“This is not our regular meeting,” said Johan Zegota; “We ask no questions till the general monthly assembly.”
“I see!” And Leroy looked whimsically meditative—“Still, as we are all friends and brothers here, there is no harm in conveying to you the fact that I have so far moved, in the appointed way, that Carl Pérousse has ordered the discovery and arrest of one Pasquin Leroy, supposed to be a spy on the military defences of the city!”
Lotys gave a little cry.
“Not possible! So soon!”
“Quite possible, Madame,” said Leroy inclining his head towards her deferentially. “I have lost no time in doing my duty!” And his eyes flashed upon her with a passionate, half-eager questioning. “I must carry out my Chief’s commands!”
“But you are in danger, then?” said Sergius Thord, bending an anxious look of enquiry upon him.
“Not more so than you, or any of my comrades are,” replied Leroy; “I have commenced my campaign—and I have no doubt you will hear some results of it ere long!”
He spoke so quietly and firmly, yet with such an air of assurance and authority, that something of an electric thrill passed through the entire company, and all eyes were fixed on him in mingled admiration and wonderment.
“Of the ‘Corruption of the State,’ concerning which our fair teacher has spoken to-night,” he continued, with another quick glance at Lotys—“there can be no manner of doubt. But we should, I think, say the ‘Corruption of the Ministry’ rather than of the State. It is not because a few stock-jobbers rule the Press and the Cabinet, that the State is necessarily corrupt. Remove the corruptors,—sweep the dirt from the house—and the State will be clean.”
“It will require a very long broom!” said Paul Zouche. “Take David Jost, for example,—he is the fat Jew-spider of several newspaper webs,—and to sweep him out is not so easy. His printed sheets are read by the million; and the million are deluded into believing him a reliable authority!”