"Sentiment?" he inflected. "I wasn"t aware of its entry."
She shrugged mockingly. "Beware, old friend and enemy! You"re losing your cleverness. Mrs. Clephane is very charming and alluring, but remember, Guy, that a charming woman has no place in the diplomatic game--save to delude the enemy. She seems to be winning with you--who, I thought, was above all our wiles and blandishments. Oh, do not smile, sir--I recognize the symptoms; I"ve played the innocent and the beauty in distress once or twice myself. It"s all in our game--but I"m shockingly amazed to see it catch so experienced a bird as Guy Harleston."
"I"m greatly obliged, Madeline, for your shocking amazement," Harleston chuckled. "Meanwhile, and returning to the letter; who has the better t.i.tle to possession, Mrs. Clephane or yourself?"
"As I remarked before, either of us has a better t.i.tle to the letter than yourself. Also--I have heard you say it many times, and it is an accepted rule in the diplomatic game--never meddle in what does not concern you; never help to pull another"s chestnuts out of the fire."
"My dear lady, you are perfectly right! I subscribe unreservedly to the rule, and try to follow it; but you have overlooked another rule--the most vital of the code."
"What is it, pray!"
"The old rule:--Never believe your adversary. Never tell the truth--except when the truth will deceive more effectively than a lie."
"That is entirely regular, yet not applicable to the present matter. I"m _not_ your adversary."
"You say you"re not--yet how does that avoid the rule?"
"Won"t you take my word, Guy?" she murmured.
"I am at a loss whether to take it or not," he reflected; "being so, I"m in a state of equipoise until I"m shown."
"Tell me how I can show you?" she smiled.
"I haven"t the remotest idea. You know as well as I that if you were to tell me truthfully why you are here, and what you aim to accomplish, I couldn"t accept your story; I should have to substantiate it by other means."
"You mean that I can"t show you?" she said sorrowfully.
He nodded. "No more than I could show you were our positions reversed."
What her purpose, in all this talk, he failed to see--unless she were seeking to establish an _entente cordiale_, or to gain time. The latter was the likelier--yet time for what? They both were aware that all this discussion was twaddle--like much that is done in diplomacy; that they were merely skirmishing to determine something as to each other"s position.
"I had hoped that for once you would forget business and trust me," she said softly; "in memory of old times when we worked together, as well as when we were against each other. We played the game then for all that was in it, and neither of us asked nor gave quarter. But this isn"t business Guy,--" she had gradually bent closer until her hair brushed his cheek--"that is, it isn"t business that concerns your government.
You may believe this implicitly, old enemy, absolutely implicitly."
"With whom, then, has it to do?" he inquired placidly.
She sighed just a trifle--and moved closer.
"You will never tell, nor use the information?" she breathed.
"Not unless my government needs it?"
"_Peste!_" she exclaimed. "You and your government are--However, I"ll tell you." Her voice dropped to a mere whisper. "It has to do with England, Germany, and France: at least, I so a.s.sume. It has to do with Germany or I wouldn"t be in it, as you know."
"And what is the business?" he continued.
"I"m not informed--further than that it"s a secret agreement between England and Germany, which France suspects and would give much to block or to be advised of. As to what the agreement embodies, I am in the dark--though I fancy it has to do with some phase of the Balkan question."
"Why would England and Germany conclude an agreement as to the Balkan question--or any question, indeed--in Washington?" Harleston asked.
"I do not know; I"m quite ready to admit its seeming improbability.
Possibly Germany desired the experience of her new Amba.s.sador, Baron Kurtz, and didn"t care to order him to Europe. Possibly, too, they chose Washington in order to avoid the spying eyes of the secret service of the other Powers. At all events, I"ve told you all that I know."
"Why are _you_ here?" he went on.
"I"m here to watch--and to do as I"m directed. I"m on staff duty, so to speak. I"m not quite in your cla.s.s, Guy. I"ve never operated quite alone." She looked at him thoughtfully. "We two together would make a great pair--oh, a very great pair!"
"I"m sure of it," he replied. "Sometime, I hope, we can try it."
"Why not try it now?" she said gently.
"I"m in the American secret service--and, you said, America is not involved."
"Join with Germany--and me--for this once."
He shook his head. "I serve my country for my pleasure. Germany is another matter. If, sometime, in an affair entirely personal to you, Madeline, I should be able to a.s.sist you, I shall be only too glad for the chance."
"You don"t trust me," she replied sadly.
"Trust is a word unknown in the diplomatic vocabulary!" he smiled.
"Moreover, I couldn"t do what you want even if I believed and trusted your every word. You want the letter--the Clephane letter. I haven"t it--as you know. It"s in the possession of the State Department."
"Then let it remain there!" she exclaimed.
"It probably will until it"s translated," he replied.
"It"s in cipher?"
Harleston nodded. "Do you know what it contains?" he asked.
"Unfortunately, I don"t."
"You would like to know?"
"Above everything!"
"And until then you would not have the French Amba.s.sador advised of the letter, nor of the adventure of the cab?"
"Precisely, old friend, precisely."
"How will you prevent Mrs. Clephane telling it?"
"We must try to provide for that!" she smiled.
"Why didn"t you keep her prisoner, when you had her last night?"
"That was a serious blunder; it won"t happen again."