"Then there remains only one little point," said Ziegler, after a pause. "There will be some money to be paid, of course. And this can only be in return for the papers themselves."
"My friends, naturally; but----" He paused with a gesture of doubt. "It is only equally natural that they would wish to have the papers first, and as you are to get them---- What do you think, eh?"
"Only twenty thousand marks," he replied lightly, as if a thousand pounds were a mere bagatelle.
Fortunately I was now in a position to be able to spare such a sum without inconvenience, and would willingly have paid a much larger sum to gain the end I had in view. "Not much difficulty there. You could give me the money and they could repay you."
"My dear Herr Bastable!" he cried, lifting his hands in horror at the idea. "Do you think I am made of money? Your country is going to gain."
"Oh, you want me to find it in the first instance. Very well."
"Oh, what a treat it is to do business with an English gentleman like you!" His relief at my ready agreement was comic and I smiled. "And now that settles the whole matter, except that one last little point. You must let me take you to one or two of our friends and let them know that you are in sympathy with our cause."
"Stop a moment. I can’t turn Irreconcilable in that offhand manner."
"Let me explain. There are some of my friends who think that you are against us. Some hints have been dropped that you have been making inquiries, and not in our interest."
"That I am a spy, eh? You know better than that, Ziegler, don’t you?"
"I would trust you with my life," he exclaimed grandiloquently. "But it would smooth things if you were to do as I suggest. Secrecy is everything to us; and there are some among us who would go to any extreme if they thought there was treachery anywhere."
"This matter could not be arranged otherwise," he put in, seeing me hesitate.
"Very well. You can assure them I am in full sympathy in this particular matter anyhow, and I’ll meet any one of them when you please. But von Felsen must know nothing."
It was a risk of course; but I could not let anything come in the way of my plans; and I left the house well pleased.
If matters went as they promised, I should have von Felsen so fast in my power that I could even dictate my terms to his father. For such an end, and all it meant to me, I would have faced twenty times the risk.