"Hun Sun delivered it to Monsieur Roche, and the instant after purloined
it and rendered his mission futile. Hun Sun was in the pay of Russia."
"Ss's the dog!" Ling Wen hissed; "I always suspected it. The dog!"
"But you, Ling Wen, will make amends for the deed of this traitor?"
"Gladly," he cried; "the neutrality is broken." He bent over, took the
seal in his fingers, and I extended my hand to receive it.
"You are as clever as you are beautiful," he said, "and deserve to
succeed, but unfortunately you cannot."
He dropped the seal into the open pocket of his loose silk robe.
"What do you mean?" I cried, starting in passionate amazement from my
seat.
"You have much to learn, madame, before you become a skilled diplomat;
you are too trustful, too confiding, and, as others of your lovely sex,
you talk too much. I, too, am in the pay of Russia."
I drew my breath through my closed teeth, and clinched my hands, for I
could have killed him as he stood and blandly smiled. I had been tricked
and fooled. I had failed, and worse than failed, for I had dealt an
irreparable blow at my own country.
"You play a rash game, Ling Wen," I cried, with cold rage.
"But a successful one, madame."
"France's representations to Peking will secure your disgrace for the
part you have played in this affair."
"Tush! France can make no representations with his Excellency Hun Sun's
mission unanswered."
"We can at least show how we have been cajoled."
"And if it were believed, the desire of China for alliance with a power
which had proved so stupid would vanish; but it would not be believed;
they would say you were scheming for delay. You had better take defeat
with a pleasant grace."