Part 29 (1/2)
”And what has he promised?”
”To shoe seek”
She nodded
”Good!” she said
”So now I proh sternly ”To- morrow-to-day-I shall eat black shao to France Later again, I will cohed Yas him away
If I must lie, who love the truth, (And honour bids me lie), I'll tell a lordly lie forsooth To be remembered by
If I must cheat, whose fame is fair, And fret my fame away, I'll do worse than the devil dare That men may rue the day!
CHAPTER XIII
Beyond question Yasenius-as does all true genius-extends to the almost infinite consideration of small details The medium in which she works-human weakness-affords her unlireat artists win, of not letting her general plan be known before the climax Neither friend nor enemy is ever quite sure which is which until she solves the problem to the enemy's confusion
But Yash overmuch finesse She was not used to Germans, and could not realize until too late that her compliance with this man's every demand only served to make him more pereent, offering the alrown already into a dictator, de action as a prelude to reward He had even threatened to cause her, Yasmini, to be reported to the police unless she served his purpose better!
If she had obeyed the general and had picked a trooper for the business in hand, it is likely that Yasmini would have had to write a failure to her account She had come perilously near to obedience on this occasion, and it had been nothing less than luck that put Ranjoor Singh into her hands, luck being the pet nah was needed in the instant when he ca the German back to earth and a due sense of proportion
The Sikh had a rage in his heart that the German mistook for zeal and native ferocity; his ht almost have been Prussian, and, rows lih lied with such audacity and so much skill that it would have needed Yasmini to dare disbelieve hireatand received, one after another, liars by the dozen from the hills where lies are current coin Some of them had listened to his lectures, and some had learned of them at second hand; every man of them had received his cue fro thereed too readily to what the Ger alh came in
There was no trooper behind hiier, and take hirooht be done toward securing the risaldar-major's kit; but under no condition was the kit to have precedence
”Groom him until he shi+nes! Guard him until I call for hi through the trooper's head and overcame astonishment in the hurry to obey
Noas the Gerh strode in, dressed as a Sikh farmer, and frowned down Yasmini's instant desire to poke fun at hied the salute with a nod such as royalty ht spare for a menial
”Coh the door to the stair-head where so hsure they were not overheard, while the Geruise frorowled Ranjoor Singh ”I will attend to that First, listen! Other than your talk, I have had no proof at all of you! You are a spy!”
”I am a-”
”You are a spy! All the spies I ever round up! I a to save my country froe and treachery if I would win But you are merely one who sows trouble You are like the little jackal-the dirty little jackal-who starts a fight between two tigers so that he may fill his mean belly! Don't speak- listen!”
The German's jaw had dropped, but not because words rushed to his lips He seemed at a loss for them