Dick's wits returned. "Cannot you see, mademoiselle? I have been chosen by a certain society to make your father a present of them, in token of the society's feelings towards him." Whereupon Dick, to show Necker that everything had been changed by the revelation that he was Germaine's father, moved courteously to the desk, laid both swords thereon, and stepped back.
"Leave us alone, my child," said Necker, gently; "and beg your mother to grant me another half-hour."
"Very well," said the girl, and then, still somewhat puzzled, but with a parting smile for both Dick and her father, she disappeared through the doorway.
"And now you will be good enough to explain this scene?" said Necker, in a tone of authority, having put himself between the swords and Dick.
"All that I said, before the arrival of mademoiselle, was perfectly true," replied Dick. "But now that I find you are her father, what I proposed is impossible."
"It is strange you should have known my daughter and not known who her father was."
"I made her acquaintance at some children's games, and without learning her name."
"That a youth who amuses himself at children's games should amuse himself also by belonging to an assassination society, is a novel idea, to say the least."
"It is a very strange story, monsieur. But if you will take the trouble to look out into the street, you will see a carriage waiting; with it are four men who must be already impatient for my return to them. When I do return, if I tell them you are alive, they will kill me. If I tell them you are dead, they will guard me closely while they await confirmation through the public news. When they find that I lied, they will kill me."
"It begins to appear as if these men ought to be arrested," said Necker, ringing a bell. He then sat down at the desk and wrote a note, Dick standing all the while at a respectful distance. A servant entered, and, in response to a slight gesture from Necker, went close to the latter, and received some low-spoken instructions, of which Dick caught only the word "police." The servant then took the note, and hastened from the room. Throughout this time, Necker had kept an oblique glance on Dick.