"You mean to try Carpenter
for a copy of the cipher letter?"
"It won't do any particular harm, as I see it; it can't make us any
worse off and it may give us the letter. It's worth the trial, it seems
to me."
"But if Carpenter has not succeeded in finding the key-word, how will
the letter help? Do you expect to bribe the French Embassy also?"
"It may not be necessary," he replied. "I know a number of keys of
French ciphers; one of them may fit."
"Very well," said she quietly; "you are empowered to have a try at
Carpenter."
"Good--I'll start after it at once. Any further orders, madame?"
"None till evening," again holding out her hand--and again smiling him
into kissing it adoringly.
"A useful man, Marston!" she reflected when the door closed behind him.
"And one who never presumes. A smile pays him for anything, and keeps
him devoted to me. Yes, a very useful and satisfactory man. His idea of
corrupting Carpenter may be rather futile; and he may get into a snarl
by trying it, but," with a shrug of her shapely shoulders, "that is his
affair and won't involve me. And if he should prove successful, the new
French key-word which the Count, the dear Count, gave me just before I
left Paris, may turn the trick.
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