"And he?"
"Fancy the great popular leader. Patriot, Democrat, what not, discovered fawning to the tyrant's wife! Why, the impropriety alone would disgust many. And more than that,—observe him begging for mercy, grovelling at the President's feet,—a pretty picture! It would ruin him; ridicule alone would kill him."
"It might," said Molara. The picture pleased him.
"It must. It is the only chance that I can see, and it need cost you nothing. Every woman is secretly flattered by the jealousy of the man she loves, even if he be her husband."
"How do you know these things?" asked Molara, looking at the ugly pinched figure and glistening hair of his companion.
"I know," said Miguel with a grin of odious pride. The suggestion of his appetites was repulsive. The President was conscious of disgust. "Mr. Secretary Miguel," he said with the air of one who has made up his mind, "I must request you not to speak to me of this matter again. I consider it shows less to the advantage of your heart than of your head."
"I see by Your Excellency's manner that further allusion is unnecessary."
"Have you the report of the Agricultural Committee for last year? Good,—please have a précis made of it; I want some facts. The country may be kept, even if we lose the capital; that means a good part of the army."
Thus the subject dropped. Each understood the other, and behind lay the spur of danger.
After the President had finished the morning's business, he rose to leave the room, but before he did so he turned to Miguel and said abruptly: "It would be a great convenience for us to know what course the Opposition intends to pursue on the opening of the Senate, would it not?"