"No," I said in a voice of sympathy. "The professions of neither of us are--well, exactly honourable, are they? Nevertheless, let us be friends. I want your assistance, and in return I will assist you. Let us be frank and open with each other. I will explain the truth and rely upon your secrecy. Listen. In Berlin certain negotiations are at this moment in active progress with St. Petersburg and New York, with the object of forming an offensive alliance against England. This would mean that in the coming war, which is inevitable, my country must meet not only her fiercest enemy, Germany, but also the United States and Russia. I have reason to believe that matters have secretly progressed until they are very near a settlement. What I desire to know is the actual inducement held out by the Kaiser's Foreign Office. Do you follow?" "Perfectly," she said, at once attentive. "I quite recognise the danger to your country." "The danger is to France also," I pointed out. "For the past six months an active exchange of despatches has been in progress, but so carefully has the truth been concealed that only by sheer accident--a word let drop in a drawing-room in London--I scented what was in the wind. Then I at once saw that you, Suzette, was the only person who could assist us." "How?" "You are an expert in the art of prying into despatch-boxes," I laughed. "Well?" "In Berlin, at the Kaiserhof Hotel, there is staying a certain Charles Pierron. If any one is aware of the truth that man is. I want you to go to Berlin, make his acquaintance, and learn what he knows. If what I suspect be true, he possesses copies of the despatches emanating from the German Foreign Office. And of these I must obtain a glimpse at all hazards." "Who is this Pierron?" "He was at the 'Angleterre,' in Copenhagen, when you were there, but I do not think you saw him. The reason of my presence there was because I chanced to be interested in his movements." "What is he--an undesirable?" "As undesirable as I am myself, mademoiselle," I laughed. "He is a French secret agent--an Anglophobe to his finger-tips." She laughed. "I see, m'sieur," she exclaimed; "you desire me to adopt the profession of the spy with the kid glove, eh?" I nodded in the affirmative. "Pierron knows me. Indeed, he already has good cause to remember me in England, where he acted as a spy of Germany," I remarked. "He is always impressionable where the fair sex is concerned, and you will, I feel confident, quickly be successful if you lived for a few days at the 'Kaiserhof' as Vera Yermoloff." She was silent, apparently reflecting deeply. "I am prepared, of course, to offer you a monetary consideration," I added in a low voice. "No monetary consideration is needed, m'sieur," was her quick response. "In return for the fraud I practised upon you, it is only just that I should render you this service. Yet without Banfield's knowledge it would be utterly impossible." "Why?"