Twice Foley had laid a hand on Finnerty's arm in restraint.
"No; like your fadder you haf not fear or sense. But vait. You do not fear for your own life--I know dot--but vill you trade dot paper for der life of der man you love--Major Finnerty?" The listeners heard a gasp. "I mean dot. He und der udder fool, Svinton, is below in a cell--caught dere as spies--und to-morrow dey vill be shot as spies. Dey took care dot nobody see dem go in, und I vill take care dot nobody see dem come out."
A ghastly silence followed, only broken by the sound of the girl's breathing.
Boelke waited to let this filter through her brain to her heart.
Then she said in a voice that carried no convincing force: "You are lying to frighten me."
"I vill prove it to yourself. You haf on der riding habit, und now I know you haf been riding to deliver dot paper to der major; but you did not meet him because he is a prisoner below."
Again there was the hush of a debate in the girl's mind; then she said: "If you will bring Major Finnerty and Captain Swinton from below, through that door, and let them go as free men, and will swear to not pursue them, I will give--get the paper, and----"
"_Ach, Gott!_ You haf der paper! You put your hand to your breast!"
The girl cried out, startled, frightened, as Boelke's gorilla form flung his chair back. He saw the rush of Finnerty and threw back the drawer of his desk; it was empty--Foley had taken the Mauser.
"If you open your mouth, you're a dead man!" Finnerty declared; then adding, for relief: "You hound!"
The girl, who had backed to the wall, dropped to a chair, burying her face in an arm on the desk, swept by a flood of confusion and relief.
Foley transferred the packages of rupee notes to his pockets, saying: "I've delivered the paper in Darpore, and am taking my fee," while Boelke sat blinking into a pistol that stared at him four feet away.
Finnerty said: "We're going to gag and bind you, so make no outcry."
When this little matter was attended to, the doctor was dumped into a big closet and the door locked.
"I'll have a look at the outside, major," Foley said. "Fancy I heard some one prowling."
When the curtain slipped back to place, blotting out Foley, Finnerty gave an inward gasp; he was left alone with the girl whom he had heard offer to barter her more than life--her reputation--for his life. A dew of perspiration stood out on his forehead; he trembled; the shyness that had been a curse to him from his boyhood made him a veritable coward. He was alone with the girl in an atmosphere of love--the most dreaded word in the whole English lexicon.