ce, caused him to rest less comfortably in his chair.
"In the first place, you know too much."

"The knowledge was not of my own seeking. You will agree with me in
that." He took a swallow of the cognac. "However, since I am in the
affair--"

"Well?"

"I'll see it to its end."

"Perhaps. We shall not cross purposes. When men plot as I do, they stop
at nothing, not even at that infinitesimal minutiae called the spark of
life. It becomes a matter of self-preservation. I am in too deep water;
I must keep on. I can not now turn back; the first shore is too far
away."

"Even villainy has its inconveniences," Maurice observed.

"What do you call villainy?"

"An act in which a man accepts pay from one to ruin him for another.
That is villainy, without a single saving grace, for you are a native
neither of the kingdom nor the duchy."

"That is plain language. You do not take into consideration the
villain's motives. There may be certain ends necessary as his life's
blood, which may be gained only by villainy, which, after all, is a hard
name for political conspiracy."

"Oh, I do not suppose you are worse than the majority. But it appeals
to me as rather a small, unmanly game when your victims are a man who is
dying and a girl who knows nothing of the world nor its treachery."

An almost imperceptible smile passed over Beauvais's countenance. "So
her Highness has captured your sympathies?" with a shade of banter.

"I admit that; she would capture the sympathies of any man who has a
good pair of eyes in his head. But you do not seem to be in favor just
at present," banter for banter.

The Colonel studied the end of his cigar. "What is to be your stand in
this affair?"

"Neutral as possible, for the simple reason that I have passed my word
to Madame; compulsorily, it is true; I shall abide by it. That is not
to say that my sympathies are not wholly with the Osians. Madame is a
brilliant woman, resourceful, initiative; she has as many sides as a cut
diamond; moreover, her cause is just. But I do not like the way she has
gone about the recovery of her throne. She has broken, or will break, a
fine honest heart; she tried to break another, but, not being above
the pantry maid, the subject of her attention failed to appreciate the
consideration."

Beauvais laughed at this. "You are very good company. Let me advise you
to remain neutral. I wish you no harm. But if you change your mind and
stand in my path--"

"Well,