“I would certainly not venture to do that,” said Wenk hastily, recognizing her meaning. He saw that she suspected him of desiring to establish an intrigue, and that he would begin it in the ordinary way of a champagne supper. “Now,” said he to himself, “if I am to win her over, I must act in such a way as not to deceive her and yet not fulfil her expectations, and since she thinks she has guessed me aright, I must not allow her a feeling of superiority over me. I do not want her to think me a blockhead. The coronet on the handkerchief seems genuine enough, and she does not come here for money, for she never plays. Therefore someone present, or an adventure of some sort, must account for her being here, and if I am to win her to my side I must prove myself stronger than the unknown attraction here,” he argued. “What have you to offer me?” she asked in a frivolous tone; but Wenk seemed to find something real behind the thoughtless manner, and he answered intuitively, fearing defeat as soon as the words had left his lips: “I can offer you a great adventure, a really great adventure!” “With you?” she rejoined, equally without pausing for reflection. “As a lover or as an agent of the State?” “With me--as a detective!” “_Can_ you?” she asked disdainfully. “Shall I give you proofs? Last night I was decoyed into a car and left in the freezing cold lying on a bench in the Schleissheim Park, stupefied by gas. To-day, but twenty-four hours later, I am aware that the man who did this, or ordered it to be done, is the same whom you saw playing recently as the old Professor, and that this same learned old fellow is also the sandy-bearded man to whom you saw Basch lose his money here.” “Is that true?” she asked in a serious tone. “Absolutely.” “The man ... with the reddish beard ... who ... sat ... there?” “The man who sat opposite Basch like a beast of prey!” “And what am I ... what have I to do with it?” “To help me find this man, from whom others must be rescued.” “I can’t help admiring him!” “I do not minimize his powers, but there are powers which are evil in their influence.” “And yet more really human and greater than those that are called good!” she cried; and her bosom, slender and youthful as a girl’s, swelled as she confronted Wenk.