Part 7 (1/2)

”Be still!” she commanded sharply. ”You were not paid to be impertinent, captain. I have only one more request to make of you before I leave this house tomorrow morning.”

He shrugged his shoulders, and glanced at me, as though definitely to a.s.sure himself that I was listening.

”I do not think that Mademoiselle will leave the house at that date,” he said, with a second bow.

”And what does the captain mean by that?” she asked quickly.

”Simply that the house is already watched,” said my father, ”watched, Mademoiselle, by persons in the pay of the French government. Do not start, Mademoiselle, they will not trouble us tonight, I think.”

For the first time her surprising self-confidence left her. She turned pale, even to her red lips, stretched out a hand blindly, and grasped the table.

”And the paper?” she whispered. ”You have destroyed it?”

My father shook his head.

”Then,” gasped Mademoiselle, ”give it to me now! At once, captain, if you please!”

”Mademoiselle no longer trusts me?” asked my father, in tones of pained surprise. ”Surely not that!”

”Exactly that!” she flung back at him angrily.

He bowed smilingly in acknowledgment.

”And Mademoiselle is right,” he agreed. ”I have read the paper. I have been tempted.”

”You rogue!” she cried. ”You mean--”

”I mean,” he interrupted calmly, ”that I have been tempted and have fallen. The doc.u.ment I carry has too much value, Mademoiselle. The actual signatures of the gentlemen who had been so deluded as to believe they could restore a king to France! Figure for yourself, my lady, those names properly used are a veritable gold mine, more profitable than my Chinese trade can hope to be! Surely you realize that?”

”So you have turned from cards to diplomacy,” I observed. ”How versatile you grow, father!”

”They are much the same thing,” my father said.

”And you mean,” Mademoiselle cried, ”you are dog enough to use those names? You mean you are going back on your word either to destroy that list or to place it in proper hands? You mean you are willing to see your friends go under the guillotine? Surely not, monsieur! Surely you are too brave a gentleman. Surely a man who has behaved as gallantly as you--No, captain, I cannot believe it!”

”Mademoiselle,” he said blandly, ”still has much to learn of the world.

Take myself, for instance. I am a gentleman only by birth and breeding.

Otherwise, pray believe I am quite unspeakable, quite. Do you not see that even my son finds me so?”

He nodded towards me in graceful courtesy.

”For me,” he continued smoothly, ”only one thing has ever remained evident, and well-defined for long, and that, my lady, is money. Nearly everything else seems to tarnish, but still money keeps its l.u.s.tre. Ah!

Now we begin to understand each other. Strange you should not realize it sooner. I cannot understand what actuated so many persons, supposedly rational, to sign such a ridiculous doc.u.ment. That they have done so is their fault, not mine. I believe, Mademoiselle, in profiting by the mistakes of others. I believe in profiting by this one. Someone should be glad to pay a pretty price for it.”

He stopped and shrugged his shoulders, and she stood before him helpless, her hand raised toward him in entreaty. For a moment my father glanced away.

”You couldn't! Oh, you couldn't!” she began. ”For G.o.d's sake, Monsieur, think what you are doing. I--we all trusted you, depended on your help.

We thought you were with us. We---”