In a little affair
of this sort you wouldn't have a leg to stand on. Even your ambassador
would turn you down cold. He wouldn't dare do anything else. This is the
last call for dinner in the dining-car, for you. Last time I wanted
to tell you the facts of the case you wouldn't listen. Will you listen
now?"
I considered.
"Yes," I said, "I'll listen. Go ahead!"
He foundered for a moment, and then plunged in boldly.
"About this young lady who's brought you and me to Bleau. Oh, you
needn't lift your eyebrows, much as to say, 'What young lady?' You know
she's here, and I know it; and she knows I've come and has put her light
out and is shaking in her shoes over there. I can swear to that. Well, I
want to tell you I never started out to get her; I just stumbled across
her on the steamer by a fluke. But I kept my eyes open and I saw a
lot of things; and when I got to Paris to-day I told them at the
_Prefecture_. You can see what they thought of the business by my being
here. I wasn't keen to come. I've got my own work to do. But they
want me to identify her; and they've sent three officers with me--not
policemen, you'll notice, because this is an army matter, and before we
make an end of it we'll be in the army zone.
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