“I think, Madame Gordeloup, you know my brother’s sister-in-law, Lady Ongar?”
“What, Julie? Of course I know Julie. Julie and I are dear friends.”
“So I supposed. That is the reason why I have come to you.”
“Well;—well;—well?”
“Lady Ongar is a person whom I have known for a long time, and for whom I have a great—I may say a very deep regard.”
“Ah! yes. What a jointure she has! and what a park! Thousands and thousands of pounds—and so beautiful! If I was a man I should have a very deep regard too. Yes.”
“A most beautiful creature;—is she not?”
“Ah; if you had seen her in Florence, as I used to see her, in the long summer evenings! Her lovely hair was all loose to the wind, and she would sit hour after hour looking, oh, at the stars! Have you seen the stars in Italy?”
Captain Clavering couldn’t say that he had, but he had seen them uncommon bright in Norway, when he had been fishing there.
“Or the moon?” continued Sophie, not regarding his answer. “Ah; that is to live! And he, her husband, the rich lord, he was dying—in a little room just inside, you know. It was very melancholy, Captain Clavering. But when she was looking at the moon, with her hair all dishevelled,” and Sophie put her hands up to her own dirty nightcap, “she was just like a Magdalen; yes, just the same;—just the same.”
The exact strength of the picture, and the nature of the comparison drawn, were perhaps lost upon Archie; and indeed, Sophie herself probably trusted more to the tone of her words, than to any idea which they contained; but their tone was perfect, and she felt that if anything could make him talk, he would talk now.
“Dear me! you don’t say so. I have always admired her very much, Madame Gordeloup.”
“Well?”
The French ambassador was probably in the next street already, and if Archie was to tell his tale at all he must do it now.
“You will keep my secret if I tell it you?” he asked.
“Is it me you ask that? Did you ever hear of me that I tell a gentleman’s secret? I think not. If you have a secret, and will trust me, that will be good; if you will not trust me—that will be good also.”
“Of course I will trust you. That is why I have come here.”
“Then out with it. I am not a little girl. You need not be bashful. Two and two make four. I know that. But some people want them to make five. I know that too. So speak out what you have to say.”
“I am going to ask Lady Ongar to—to—to—marry me.”
“Ah, indeed; with all the thousands of pounds and the beautiful park! But the beautiful hair is more than all the thousands of pounds. Is it not so?”
“Well, as to that, they all go together, you know.”
“And that is so lucky! If they was to be separated, which would you take?”
The little woman grinned as she asked this question, and Archie, had he at all understood her character, might at once have put himself on a pleasant footing with her; but he was still confused and ill at ease, and only muttered something about the truth of his love for Julia.
“And you want to get her to marry you?”
“Yes; that’s just it.”
“And you want me to help you?”
“That’s just it again.”
“Well?”
“Upon my word, if you’ll stick to me, you know, and see me through it, and all that kind of thing, you’ll find in me a most grateful friend;—indeed, a most grateful friend.” And Archie, as from his position he was debarred from attempting the smoothing process, began to work with his right forefinger under the glove on his left hand.
“What have you got there?” said Madame Gordeloup, looking at him with all her eyes.
Captain Clavering instantly discontinued the work with his finger, and became terribly confused. Her voice on asking the question had become very sharp; and it seemed to him that if he brought out his money in that awkward, barefaced way which now seemed to be necessary, she would display all the wrath of which a Russian spy could be capable. Would it not be better that he should let the money rest for the present, and trust to his promise of gratitude? Ah, how he wished that he had slipped at any rate one note between the pages of a book.
“What have you got there?” she demanded again, very sharply.
“Oh, nothing.”
“It is not nothing. What have you got there? If you have got nothing, take off your glove. Come.”
Captain Clavering became very red in the face, and was altogether at a loss what to say or do. “Is it money you have got there?” she asked. “Let me see how much. Come.”
“It is just a few banknotes I put in here to be handy,” he said.
“Ah; that is very handy, certainly. I never saw that custom before. Let me look.” Then she took his hand, and with her own hooked finger clawed out the notes. “Ah! five, ten, fifteen, twenty pounds. Twenty pounds is not a great deal, but it is very nice to have even that always handy. I was wanting so much money as that myself; perhaps you will make it handy to me.”
“Upon my word I shall be most happy. Nothing on earth would give me more pleasure.”
“Fifty pounds would give me more pleasure; just twice as much pleasure.” Archie had begun to rejoice greatly at the safe disposition of the money, and to think how excellently well this spy did her business; but now there came upon him suddenly an idea that spies perhaps might
