“She is called Countess Narnine. She acknowledges the given name of Juno. In Paris, St. Petersburg, Vienna, and other cities of Europe, she was long known as ‘The Leopard.’ And I wish to assure you, Mr. Carter, that she is more dangerous than all the others put together—if she is a—er—Siamese spy.”
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE WOMAN SPY.
“Juno again,” the detective had mused, when he heard that statement; but he did not say it aloud, although he did question the ambassador on one more point which the mention of her name had brought to his mind.
“Your letter to me implied that you had some reason to suspect Turnieff; if not of the theft itself, then of something. What was it, and why did you select him?” he asked.
“I do not suspect Turnieff, and I do not wish to be so understood. My belief in him is as thorough as it can be, and I would require positive proof to convince me of his disloyalty. Yet, Mr. Carter, in a case of this kind, one suspects everybody.”
“Well, go on, please. Tell me exactly why you mentioned him to me in your letter, in the manner you used; why you thought it necessary to write a special letter to me about it.”
“I had two reasons,” the ambassador replied, without hesitation. “I will give them to you exactly as they occurred to me.”
“Please.”