Vita smiled faintly. But her eyes lost none of their seriousness thereby.
"I'm afraid there are liable to be some heavy penalties if—you do not respond to it promptly. Oh, dear, I have so enjoyed myself. I wish there were no Prussians in the world."
"There are fewer than there were."
"Yes, but so long as one remains there are—too many. I have had a communication from my father. It came to-day."
"A letter?"
Vita shook her head.
"We do not communicate by letter. A messenger. A funny little old man who carries samples of buttons made in Austria. He represents a button firm, and sells millions of them over here. He happens to be my father's brother, although no one is allowed to guess the relationship. He is my father's most loyal—friend."
"And he has brought you word of——"
"Von Salzinger."
Ruxton waited for her to continue. He was watching her with eyes that left him utterly incapable of forgetting her wonderful attraction. She was no longer merely a partner in the work he had marked out for himself. She was more. She was the woman of his early youthful dreams come to life, and every word that fell from her lips had for him a significance which appealed to the big soul within him apart from any verbal meaning it might convey.