risks. He did not know
that, however judiciously frail her conduct might be, she was a very
dragon of virtue in defence of her honour. "I gave my heart," said she
to me quite seriously, "to the Signor Guilberti, one far, far
different from _le mari imaginaire_ of le Grand Couronne. Until, if
ever, I give my heart again no man shall possess me. I play, I kiss, I
philander--as you call it--but what are these trifles? _Des
bagatelles, rien de tout_!" He did not realise her serene indifference
to the small change of love and her respect for its true gold. But I
do not think that Rust, when Madame consented to be his companion at
Brighton, seriously misjudged her motives. He did not know, of course,
or in the last degree suspect that she designed his capture as a
professional victim.

Again and again she had told him that she was an agent of the English
police, and again and again, as she intended, he had disbelieved her.
She was so incomparably his intellectual superior that she could make
him believe or disbelieve precisely as she chose. She made him think
that she had come to Brighton for companionship, and as a proof of her
kindly forgiveness of a grave indiscretion. He believed; for never was
Rust, even Rust, so idiotic as to suppose that she had succumbed
before his charms and had come to throw herself into his arms.

But for the machinations of Madame the visit would, I am sure, have
passed without incident. Rust would not have lost his turnip of a
head. He would, out of loyalty to his orders from Froissart, have
tried to grab the despatch-case and ravish its secrets. But he would
not have done what he did, at the risk of compromising the bloom of
her so precious reputation, if she had not deliberately worked him up
to do it. Therefore, while I acquit Rust of evil intention, my
reproofs, my grave reproofs--at which she laughs and snaps her
fingers--are reserved for that unscrupulous Madame.

At breakfast Madame Gilbert and Captain Rust found that a private
table, a table of the best in a bay window facing the sea, had been
reserved for them by orders of the patron. The news of their pitiful
rencontre in the lounge had sped to his ears; he had wept copiously
before his sympathetic staff, and declared that the bereaved widow and
the so gallant captain should lack for nothing in his hotel. "If it
were not that I feared to offend their delicacy I would refrain from
presenting to them _l'addition._ Make, I pray you, _ma