A Spy’s Story.
“I know nothing of diamond eyes,” I replied, surprised at Paul’s excited inquiry. Instead of showing a good-natured friendliness towards me as usual, he had suddenly become agitated and suspicious. He glanced at me in doubt, saying,—
“Sonia has been revealing something. It is useless now to try and disguise the fact.”
“No,” I replied quickly. “She has not explained anything. What do you expect her to reveal?”
“Oh, nothing, my dear fellow, nothing,” he answered, smiling, with that indifference cultivated by the diplomat. “The expression you used was as original as it was unusual, that’s all.”
“I don’t claim originality for it,” I laughed. “To Sonia is the credit due.”
“To Sonia?” he exclaimed uneasily, glancing sharply at me. “Then it is true, as I suspected, that she has been telling you some of her ingenious falsehoods.”
“Scarcely that,” I replied, thrusting my hands deeply into my pockets. “She has merely urged me to go to Ella and ask her whether she is acquainted with anyone with diamond eyes.”
“As I thought,” he cried, rising and pacing the room furiously. “It is exactly as I expected. She is trying to entrap you as she has the others, and has embarked upon the first step by speaking thus of Ella, and sowing seeds of suspicion in your mind. This is the character of the woman you seek to help, and you invoke my assistance in your efforts! No, Geoffrey,” he said, halting suddenly, and looking me straight in the face, “I shall not stir on her behalf.”
“But remember, that in return for the passport, she has promised to tell me all regarding Ella,” I cried anxiously.