“I had given you up, signorina,” he said. “I have waited for you over an hour.”
“I could not get away before,” she replied somewhat timidly. “At home they seemed suspicious, and I had the greatest difficulty in coming here.” And she smiled, a faint flush suffusing her sunburnt cheeks.
“You came in a closed cab?”
“No, I went to the station and drove here in the hotel omnibus, as though I had arrived by train. I thought it would excite less suspicion.”
“Excellent!” laughed the Under-Secretary, glancing to see that the door was closed. “You are clever—always clever, Filoména. You will make a first-class agent of the Ministry some day,” he added approvingly.
She laughed as she seated herself in the chair he politely offered, and laid the little fan she carried upon the table, replying—
“I always do my best. But my mother watches so closely that I have to be most cautious.”
“You have done exceedingly well,” declared the schemer. “In this last affair you have rendered me the greatest assistance. Without you we should have failed. But I have invited you here to learn all the details. I was in Paris at the time, and all I have gathered is from the official reports of the court-martial. They did not call you up to Turin, I hope?”
“No. They took my evidence in secret at the barracks here.”
“And what did you tell them?”