“Ah! Now you are speaking frankly. Do you forget that we have several secrets in common?” “No; nor do I forget there is no obligation for you to remember them.” “That means?” Sophia raised her eyelids, and flashed a look on Agostini which astonished him. “It means that if for my own safety your disappearance were necessary, your life would be very cheap.” “You threaten me with death?” “Fool! You are well aware that if you breathed a single word calculated to throw light on our enterprises, there are at least five persons who would kill you at once.” “But the affairs of the association are not your affairs, and you know that I am acquainted with the ones as well as with the others.” “Listen, Cesare; people like ourselves ought to be agreed in everything we do, if we wish to run no risk of ruin. The slightest discord places us at the mercy of our enemies. We must serve one another with the greatest self-sacrifice. Every selfish demand detracts from the force necessary to common success.” “Ah! Do you pretend to impose an apathetic indifference on people who live with an intensity a hundred times greater than the rest of mankind? You forget that I love you, and I will submit to no rivalry, Sophia.” “And how will you compel me to obey your wishes, may I ask?” “In the simplest manner imaginable. I will inform Marcel Baradier of your life before you gave up your whole existence to international investigations and diplomatic intrigues, and we shall see if his love for you will survive, for instance, an account of the incident of Segovia.” Sophia turned so pale that Cesare was afraid of the impression he had produced. Grinding her teeth, and stamping about the room like a wild beast at bay, she seized upon the revolver she had taken up on the arrival of Hans, and, levelling it at the head of the Italian, said— “Ah, you villain; never again shall you betray a single human being!” With extraordinary agility, Agostini leapt on to her, dashed her arm upwards, so that the shot could not reach him, and pitilessly twisting her beautiful white wrist, he took possession of the revolver, which he calmly placed in his pocket. Then looking resolutely at Sophia, he said— “Now let the dagger have a turn!” She fell into a chair. “You dog! To dare to raise your hand against me! You shall be punished for it.” “Good! But we cannot lose our time with such nonsense. Can it be admitted that the man the Countess Grodsko has chosen as her companion will submit to being fooled like the veriest ninny? You may hate me if you like, Sophia, but you shall not despise me! This is the first time we have tested our strength against one another, and as you see, I have not been found to be the weaker. Do not recommence the struggle; if you do, I shall treat you without the slightest gallantry?” Shaking her head, and looking at her bruised hand, she said, submissively— “You have hurt me, Cesare!”