He waited for an answer, and got it in the form of a startled question.

‘To Germany?  How?’

‘It is easy,’ he said, smiling.  ’The car which is waiting outside is the first stage of a system of travel which we have perfected.’  Then he told her about the Underground Railway—­not as he had told it to me, to scare, but as a proof of power and forethought.

His manner was perfect.  He was respectful, devoted, thoughtful of all things.  He was the suppliant, not the master.  He offered her power and pride, a dazzling career, for he had deserved well of his country, the devotion of the faithful lover.  He would take her to his mother’s house, where she would be welcomed like a princess.  I have no doubt he was sincere, for he had many moods, and the libertine whom he had revealed to me at the Pink Chalet had given place to the honourable gentleman.  He could play all parts well because he could believe in himself in them all.

Then he spoke of danger, not so as to slight her courage, but to emphasize his own thoughtfulness.  The world in which she had lived was crumbling, and he alone could offer a refuge.  She felt the steel gauntlet through the texture of the velvet glove.

All the while she had been furiously thinking, with her chin in her hand in the old way . . .  She might refuse to go.  He could compel her, no doubt, for there was no help to be got from the old servants.  But it might be difficult to carry an unwilling woman over the first stages of the Underground Railway.  There might be chances . . .  Supposing he accepted her refusal and left her.  Then indeed he would be gone for ever and our game would have closed with a fiasco.  The great antagonist of England would go home rejoicing, taking his sheaves with him.

At this time she had no personal fear of him.  So curious a thing is the human heart that her main preoccupation was with our mission, not with her own fate.  To fail utterly seemed too bitter.  Supposing she went with him.  They had still to get out of Italy and cross Switzerland.  If she were with him she would be an emissary of the Allies in the enemy’s camp.  She asked herself what could she do, and told herself ‘Nothing.’  She felt like a small bird in a very large trap, and her chief sensation was that of her own powerlessness.  But she had learned Blenkiron’s gospel and knew that Heaven sends amazing chances to the bold.  And, even as she made her decision, she was aware of a dark shadow lurking at the back of her mind, the shadow of the fear which she knew was awaiting her.  For she was going into the unknown with a man whom she hated, a man who claimed to be her lover.

It was the bravest thing I have ever heard of, and I have lived my life among brave men.

‘I will come with you,’ she said.  ’But you mustn’t speak to me, please.  I am tired and troubled and I want peace to think.’

As she rose weakness came over her and she swayed till his arm caught her.  ‘I wish I could let you rest for a little,’ he said tenderly, ‘but time presses.  The car runs smoothly and you can sleep there.’