"Nothing new, that. Watch, eh? Why not pray a little, too?"
"Ha, ha, ha! That's a good one," burst out the secretary, fixing Mr.
Jones with mirthless eyes.
The latter dropped the subject indolently.
"Oh, you may be certain of at least two days," he said.
Ricardo recovered himself. His eyes gleamed voluptuously.
"We'll pull this off yet--clean--whole--right through, if you will only
trust me, sir."
"I am trusting you right enough," said Mr. Jones. "It's your interest,
too."
And, indeed, Ricardo was truthful enough in his statement. He did
absolutely believe in success now. But he couldn't tell his governor
that he had intelligences in the enemy's camp. It wouldn't do to tell
him of the girl. Devil only knew what he would do if he learned there
was a woman about. And how could he begin to tell of it? He couldn't
confess his sudden escapade.
"We'll pull it off, sir," he said, with perfectly acted cheerfulness.
He experienced gusts of awful joy expanding in his heart and hot like a
fanned flame.
"We must," pronounced Mr. Jones. "This thing, Martin, is not like our
other tries. I have a peculiar feeling about this. It's a different
thing. It's a sort of test."
Ricardo was impressed by the governor's manner; for the first time a
hint of passion could be detected in him. But also a word he used, the
word "test," had struck him as particularly significant somehow.
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