"Isn't it?" he approved. "I don't know anything more pleasant--unless it
is the finishing stroke of an _affaire Diplomatique_."
"Do you anticipate the finishing stroke to the present affair?"
"In due time."
"Due time?" she inflected.
"Whatever is necessary in the premises," he explained.
"It hasn't then gotten beyond the premises?"
"No, it hasn't gotten beyond the premises," he replied--with an inward
chuckle.
There was no occasion to explain that, by the latter premises, he meant
herself. His whole scheme was dependent on her having the traitorous
letter in her possession. He was quite sure Snodgrass had received it by
mail at the Rataplan; and why had he put the unopened envelope in his
pocket unless to give it to her on their way to the Chateau. And as he
(Harleston) had caught her as she alighted from the taxi, and had
hurried her off to the State Department, she must still have it. Of
course, there was the possibility that Snodgrass had not yet delivered
it; so Snodgrass was being looked after by others.
"Won't you give me a line on his Excellency, Guy?" she asked. "Is he
easy, or difficult, or neither?"
"I may not betray the weak points of my chief!" Harleston smiled.
"Moreover, here we are," as the taxi came to a stop on the Seventeenth
Street side of an atrociously ugly, and miserably inadequate building
that partially houses three Departments of the great American
Government.
Pages:
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275