The Cab of the Sleeping Horse Part 37

She said it with affected carelessness and a ravis.h.i.+ng smile; but Harleston was aware that underneath there was bitterness of spirit, and cold hate of the other woman. She had touched the pinch of the matter.

Both knew it, and both knew the answer. Yet she was hoping against hope; and he was loath to hurt her needlessly, because Mrs. Clephane would be sure to catch the recoil, and because he himself was very fond of her--despite all and Mrs. Clephane. He had seen his mistake in time, if it was a mistake, but that did not blind him to Madeline Spencer's fascinating manner and beautiful person, and to the fact that she cared for him. However, neither might he let pa.s.s the charge she had just made against Mrs. Clephane. Yet he tried to be kind to the woman beside him, while defending the woman who was absent, and, as is often the case under such circ.u.mstances he played for time--the hotel was but a block away--and made a mess of it, so far as the woman beside him was concerned.

"Who are a trifle tinctured--and with what?" he asked.

She smiled languidly.

"That is scarcely worthy of you, Guy," she remarked. "You are aiming at--windmills; at least, I think you are not suddenly gone stupid.

However, you do not need to answer. Mrs. Clephane, you think, is not tinctured, and you know that I have been--several shades deep. In other words, she surpa.s.ses me in your estimation in the petty matter of morals. So be it; you're no fool, and a pretty woman cannot blind you to the facts for long. Then we shall see which you prefer. The woman who is honest about the tincture, or the woman who is not. Now let us drop the matter, and attend strictly to business until such time as the present business is ended,--and Mrs. Clephane appears as she is."

"So be it!" Harleston replied heartily, "We understand each other, Madeline."

"Yes, we understand each other," she said laconically, as the car drew in to the curb.

"So well, indeed," he continued, as he gave her his hand to the sidewalk, "that I have to arrange for you to meet the Secretary of State at four o'clock tomorrow afternoon."

"Where?" said she, looking at him narrowly.

"In his office. You would like to meet him, Madeline?"

"I don't know what your play is," she laughed, "but I'll meet him--and take my chances. From all I can learn, the gentleman isn't much but b.u.mptiousness and wind. To either you or me, Guy, he should be easy."

"The play," Harleston explained, "is that the Secretary has heard of you and wishes to see the remarkable woman who--almost upset a throne."

"His wish shall be gratified," she shrugged. "Will you come for me, or am I to go to him--a rendezvous _a deux_?"

"I'll escort you to him--afterward it will depend on you."

"Very good!" she replied--"but all the same I wonder what's the game."

"The Secretary's wish and curiosity is the only game," he replied.

"Far be it from me to balk either--when something may result of advantage to your--"

"--beautiful and fascinating self," he interjected.

She raised her eyebrows and laughed scornfully, as the lift bore her upwards.

XVI

ANOTHER LETTER

Harleston sauntered through Peac.o.c.k Alley; not finding Mrs. Clephane, he had himself announced and went up to her apartment.

Outwardly he was impa.s.sive; inwardly there was the liveliest sensation of eagerness and antic.i.p.ation. He could not recall a time when he had so much joy in living, and in the expectation of the woman. And when he felt Mrs. Clephane's small hand in his, and heard her bid him welcome, and looked into her eyes, he was well content to be alive--and with her.

"I've quite a lot to tell you," she smiled. "I'm so glad you could dine with me--it will give us much more time."

"Time is not of the essence of this contract," he replied.

"What contract?" she asked, with a fetching little frown of perplexity.

"The contract of the present--and the future."

"Oh, you mean our friends.h.i.+p--and that you won't doubt me ever again?"

"Precisely--and then some," he confided.

"What is the 'some', Mr. Harleston?" frowning again in perplexity.

"Whatever may happen," he said slowly.

"You mean it?" she asked.

"I mean it--and more--when I may."

"The 'more' and the 'may' are in the future," she remarked. "Meanwhile, what have you to report?"

"Very considerable," said he. "Mrs. Spencer was in the Collingwood, this afternoon--in the Chartrands' apartment. And the telephone girl recognized her as the woman who left the building on the night of the--cab."

"That explains a lot to you!" Mrs. Clephane exclaimed.

"The explanation isn't necessary, except to complete the chain of events," he replied. "We know the later and essential facts as to the letter. There is just one earlier circ.u.mstance that isn't clear to me; and while, as I say, it's immaterial yet I'm curious. How did the Spencer gang know that I had taken the letter from the cab?"

"Oh!" Mrs. Clephane cried. "I fancy I can explain. You know I saw you at the cab. Well, when they released me, I concluded I'd give them something to think about, and I remarked that Mr. Harleston, of the United States Diplomatic Service, had stopped at the cab, looked inside, and then started the horse out Ma.s.sachusetts Avenue. I thought I had told you."

"You didn't tell me, but it's very plain now. Madeline Spencer inferred the rest and instructed them how to act. And they came very close to turning the trick."

"You mean to getting the letter?" she cried.

He nodded. "I had gone to bed, when something told me to take precautions; I carried the letter across the corridor and gave it to a friend to keep for me until morning. A short time after, the three men called."

"Good Heavens!" she breathed. "What if they had gotten the letter."

"Unless they knew the key-word, they wouldn't have been any better off than are we--I mean than is the United States."

"I'm France, am I?" she smiled.

"For only this once--and not for long, I trust," he replied.

"Amen!" she exclaimed, "Also for ever more. I'll be so relieved to be out of it and back to my normal ways that I gladly promise never to try it again. I'm committed to seeing this affair through and to aiding the French Emba.s.sy in whatever way I can, both because I must keep faith with Madame Durrand, and because my inexperience and credulity lost it the letter. That done, and I'm for--you, Mr. Harleston!" she laughed.

"And I'm for you always--no matter whom you're for, nor what you may do or have done," he replied.

For just an instant she gave him her eyes; then the colour flamed up and she turned hastily away.