"Have no fear for me, my friend. I can protect myself. But it was necessary that I should be on friendly terms with him, so as to worm myself into the confidence of his ministers and adherents, and thus learn his plans."
"But how can you do this?" inquired her husband. "Surely they are not the men to reveal State Secrets!"
"They are men, my dear, and I am a woman. I have some of my sex's wit—and I am not wholly destitute of other weapons." And she looked at him coquettishly, and laughed a merry laugh. "Foolish boy, have I no powers of fascination?"
"Ah! have I not reason to know it!" he cried with strong conviction. "You are a queen, who, if you will it, can bring all men to your feet. But tell me, how did the First Consul take it when he learned that you were married?"
"Married!" she laughed gayly, "who says that I am married? My faith, not I."
St. Just loosed his hold of her with a sudden movement that was involuntary, and looked at her in wonder, to see whether she had spoken in mere banter, or in sober earnestness. He learned nothing from her face; it was an enigma to him.
"This jest is out of place with me," he said.
"No jest, my friend," she answered airily, "but the honest truth."
His face clouded and took on a stern expression.
"What mean you, Halima?" he asked, and there was deliberation in his voice. "But now, when first we met, you addressed me as your husband."