"Well--I have news for you, that no one else could bring, so I thought
you would be glad to see--even me," he answered, smiling still.
"What news? But bad, of course--or you wouldn't bring it."
"You are very cruel. Of course, you've seen the evening papers? You know
that your English friend is in prison?"
"The same English friend whom _you_ would have liked to see arrested
early last evening on a ridiculous, baseless charge," I flung at him.
"You look surprised. But you are _not_ surprised, Count
Godensky--except, perhaps, that I should guess who had me spied upon at
the Elysee Palace Hotel. A disappointment, that affair, wasn't it? But
you haven't told me your news."
"It is this: That Mr. Ivor Dundas, of England, has been on the rack
to-day."
"What do you mean?"
"He has been in the hands of the Juge d'Instruction. It is much the
same, isn't it, if one has secrets to keep? Would you like to know, if
some magical bird could tell you, what questions were put to Mr. Dundas,
and what answers he made?"
Strange, that this very thought had been torturing me before Godensky
came! I had been thinking of the Juge d'Instruction, and his terrible
cross-examination which only a man of steel or iron can answer without
trembling.
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