“Tell me. What’s to be done?” she was asking.
“Act as before,” replied a man’s voice in the same language. “You received your instructions from the Ministry to-day.”
“They might have spared themselves the trouble, for I have already completed my investigations.”
“You have!” cried the man. “What is the plot? Explain it to me.”
“I have not yet made out my report,” she replied coldly. “Besides, I am in the employ of the Ministry, not in yours.”
“Ah! my dear Madame, pardon me if I have given offence. It was out of sheer curiosity that I asked.”
“Curiosity of a kind that would ruin me, eh? You would sell the secret to General Gresser, and claim the reward; but I am as wary as yourself, m’sieur.”
“I beg Madame’s pardon—she speaks too harshly. Indeed, your secret would be quite safe——”
“As safe as when, by your devilish ingenuity, you learnt of the conspiracy I had unearthed in Paris, and telegraphed it in detail to Petersburg as the result of your own vigilance. On that occasion who was rewarded?—who was decorated by the Emperor? Why, you! As for me, I——”