"And now, your Grace, before another word is said, let me shake you by the hand right here, and thank you for all the patient courage you have shown and all the danger you have incurred to baffle as waspish a gang as ever hailed from my side of the ditch," said the Senator, suiting the action to the word, greatly to the embarrassment of the Duke, and provoking a scornful laugh from the fantastic figure in male attire.
"Why, he was one of us," she sneered. "It was only when he found he had something to lose that he backed out."
The Senator looked her up and down with a fine contempt.
"So much for a great reputation," he said. "My good Lestrade, the warders who told me you were the cleverest woman in Sing-Sing must have made a grievous error, for a really clever criminal would never have been cornered by a brave man pretending to join the confederacy. The Duke has not tripped once all through the affair, except that he has been a little too reckless in exposing his valuable life to peril. The result of his heroic conduct is that you are outwitted all along the line, and that the three millions are secure in that safe."
This misdescription of the case, so adroitly near the mark and yet differing from the truth in the all-important word "_pretending_," made the Duke catch his breath. Somehow the matter which he had believed himself to be working single-handed seemed to have been taken out of his shaky grasp, and, shamed by the unmerited praise, he waited for the rejoinder of the adventuress. It came crisp and sharp.
"Then what you have to do is to call in the police and hand us over to justice," she said defiantly. "The authorities will be puzzled to find a reason for all you worthy amateurs bottling up your knowledge of a crime that would have shaken two continents. I think I shall be able to instruct my counsel so that by the time he has done with him his Grace won't be much of a hero."
"Ah!" he retorted, pleasantly; "you might have tried that if you had had the chance. But then, you see, you won't have it. I'm only a visitor here--like yourself, his Grace's guest--but I believe the intention is that you and your friend, who really need not scowl so, are not to face a judge this time. General Sadgrove has charge of what we may call the liberation department, and he will enlighten you."