He nodded.
“Impossible!” she replied decisively. “First, I don’t intend to run any risk, and, secondly, I know quite well that nobody is allowed in that room alone. The door is always kept locked.”
“There are two keys,” he interrupted. “Here is one of them. I secured it yesterday.”
“And in return for this service, what am I to receive?” she inquired coldly, sitting erect, without stirring a muscle.
“In return for this service”—he answered gravely, his dark eyes riveted upon hers—“in return for this service you shall name your own price.”
Chapter Twenty Four.
By Stealth.
Before she had parted from the Marquis she had made a demand boldly and fearlessly, to which, not without the most vehement protest, he had been compelled to accede. She knew him well, and was aware that, in order to gain his own ends, he would betray and denounce his nearest relative; that, although a shrewd, clever statesman, he had won universal popularity and esteem in Italy by reason of certain shady transactions by which he had posed as the saviour of his country. The revelations she could make regarding the undercurrent of affairs in Rome would astound Europe. For that reason he had been forced to grant her what she asked in return for the incriminating paper from the archives of the Embassy.