"Temporarily," I replied, and he laughed again as loudly as before. There was reason for his levity, because placing my resignation in the hands of the secretary had become a habit with me. I was periodically depressed by the duties of a secret service agent and as often determined to leave the service for good. But as often, I had returned to it upon the request of one department or another of my government, when my services were required in the line of some particular duty which officialdom was pleased to assure me could not be so well accomplished by any other person of its acquaintance. That was why Alexis Saberevski laughed.
"Is your resignation still on file? Or is it only lying on the table awaiting action, Daniel?" he asked me, and there was just a touch of ironic suggestion in his manner, which nettled me.
"The resignation is a fact this time," I replied. "I have earned a period of rest, and I propose to take it."
"Going abroad, Derrington?"
"No."
"Prefer to undergo the process of dry rot, here in New York?"
"Yes; for a time at least."
"Is there nothing on the other side of the water, that attracts you?"
"Nothing at all."
He switched his right leg to his left knee and blew a cloud of smoke into the air.