"
Marston blinked and said nothing.
"Why don't you say something?" she asked sharply.
"What is there to say that you don't already know," he replied placidly.
"Very little, Marston, about the subject in hand," she replied curtly.
"And now let us see how matters stand to date. First--the French
Ambassador knows that a cipher letter to him from his Foreign Minister
has been intercepted and is in the hands of the American State
Department. Second--as it is in letter cipher, there isn't much
likelihood of it being translated. Third--the matter covered by the
letter must be something that they are reluctant to send by cable; for
you know, Marston, that the United States, in common with European
nations, requires all telegraph and cable companies to forward
immediately to the State Department a copy of every cipher message
addressed to a foreign official. Maybe they are not able to translate
it, but of that the sending nation cannot be sure and it makes it very
careful, particularly when the local government is affected.
Fourth--France will have to choose between consuming a week in getting
another letter from Paris to Washington, or she will have to chance the
cable with the risk of America learning her message.
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