"I shall not read it," persisted Gordon, "because the person chiefly concerned is not present."
"That is all the more reason for reading it," said Kalonay. "Your Majesty must reconsider."
The King whispered to Barrat, and the others waited in silence that expressed their interest more clearly than a chorus of questions would have done.
"It shall be as you ask," the King said, at last. "You may read the message, Mr. Gordon."
Gordon opened the paper and looked at it for some seconds of time with a grave and perplexed expression, and then, with a short breath, as one who takes a plunge, read it aloud. "This is it," he said.
To General Renauld. Cable Office, Tangier.—They leave Tangier Tuesday at midnight, they land at daybreak Thursday morning on the south beach below the old breakwater. The secret of the expedition was sold us for three hundred thousand francs by the Countess Zara and the Prince Kalonay.
Gordon stuck the paper in his pocket, and, crossing to Kalonay, held out his hand, with a smile. "I don't believe it, of course," he said; "but you would have it."
Kalonay neither saw the gesture nor heard the words. He was turning in bewilderment from the King to Father Paul, and he laughed uncertainly.
"What nonsense is this?" he demanded. "Whose sorry trick is this? The lie is not even ingenious."
General Renauld had not spoken since he had entered the room, but now he advanced in front of Kalonay and faced him with a threatening gesture.