Читать книгу When I Was Czar онлайн

8 страница из 105

“He is certainly a daring fellow.”

“A daring scoundrel, unquestionably,” assented the Prince, accenting the “scoundrel.”

“But knowing this, why not have arrested him?”

“I thought I had made that clear. I tried it, but he met me too cleverly. Indeed, I believe he actually angled for the arrest.”

“Angled for it. How do you mean?”

“That he might get face to face with me and let me realize how far he could go, and would if pressed. It was then he told me of these papers, and that he had placed them in reliable hands to be given, if he were detained, to those who must of course never see them. Never, at any cost.”

I smiled at the frank avowal.

“They are very awkward, then?”

“They might mean even war with the Powers chiefly concerned. They are extremely confidential documents. You understand, of course, M. Denver, that in diplomacy, any more than in poker, we cannot always lay the cards on the table.”

“It was a fine bluff.”

“Too dangerous for me to see him,” returned the Prince with a smile, falling readily into the language of the pool room. “And the worst of it was he knew it and claimed the jack pot.”