"I-I beg your
pardon!"
"For what?" she asked, after a moment.
"For--for blinding you with the light," he floundered.
"Oh, I can forgive you for that," she said composedly.
There ensued another period of silence. She remained slightly aloof.
"You'd better lean against me," he said at last. "I am softer than the
beastly boards, you know, and quite as harmless."
"Thank you," she said, and promptly settled herself against his
shoulder. "It IS better," she sighed.
"Would you mind telling me something about yourself, Miss Cameron?
What is the true story of the crown jewels?"
She did not reply at once. When she spoke it was to ask a question of
him.
"Do you know who he really is,--I mean the man known to you as Mr.
Loeb?"
"Not positively. I am led to believe that he is indirectly in line to
succeed to the throne of your country."
"Tell me something about Sprouse. How did you meet him and what
induced him to take you into his confidence? It is not the usual way
with government agents."
He told her the story of his encounter and connection with the secret
agent, and part but not all of the man's revelations concerning
herself and the crown jewels.
"I knew that you were not a native American," he said.
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