The tall, lean figure pressed nearer to its English friend. Ruxton felt the clasp of a hand upon his upper arm.
"And so you came—to the cove?"
There was a deep note of appreciation in the man's voice.
"It was a friendly act," he added.
Ruxton shrugged.
"I promised you a welcome in England. It is nothing."
"No. It is nothing—to some people."
Ruxton dismissed the subject.
"They have discovered. Von Salzinger is in England."
"Yes, Vita has told me. But I knew it without the telling." Then the Prince laughed, and there was ironical inflection in his mirth. "Oh, yes. It was easy to watch—these things. I watched every move through the eyes of my few faithful friends. I saw how they kept me under surveillance, after—after they sent Von Salzinger to England. Then, when I began to feel that their interest in me was becoming threatening, when I received interrogations that were difficult to answer—easily—interrogations about the U-rays, then I said to myself that I must put to the test all those little plans I had prepared. I abandoned my works by sea."