“Ah; there you have me again. I do not know. I cannot answer that question save in a most general way.”
“Well, in a general way, then.”
“I know that woman’s possibilities; I know her capabilities—or at least some of them. Wherever she is concerned, I am afraid; not for myself, for I think I am above and beyond her wiles; but for others.”
“Just what do you mean to imply, prince?”
“That Turnieff would be as clay in her hands, if she chose to exert herself against him; that she would play with him as a tigress might play with a tiny mouse—or as her namesake, the leopard, might toy with a kitten. With her, he is as a child in the hands of a giant.”
“Still I do not see——”
“No, nor do I. But I have heard it said that she has great powers of fascination; that strong men have gone down beneath her wiles; that she molds men as potters mold clay. May it not be that she has found a way to mold him, and to turn him into a traitor to me and to his emperor?”
“That is going rather far, isn’t it, prince?”
“Yes; too far. I admit that. But I try to look on every side. Mr. Carter, I would like to make a suggestion, if you will permit it. I have said that you should go your own way entirely about this case, but all the same there is one suggestion that I would like to make.”
“What is it? Make it by all means.”