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The Holder of the Purse leaned back. With a satisfied air, Sutphen turned to him. "That the club to which your nephew, Count Paul, belonged?" he asked. "Yes," he said genially. "I am Paul Zulka's uncle," he explained to Carter. "Did he ever mention a Calvert Carter as among his associates there?" queried a lenient Trusia. The Holder of the Purse spread out two fat palms deprecatingly.
If such were the case his fate was undoubtedly sealed, for he had invoked this very test this meeting was to vouch for his sincerity. His mind went rapidly back over the whole period of his acquaintance with the Krovitch nobleman, to recall if there had been any indication of such a poltroon trait in Paul Zulka's character. He was, in justice, forced to deny the existence of any such.
Satisfied that she had not, he swept a triumphant look at Carter, who was dumbfounded at the turn affairs had taken. The American stretched out his hand to the Krovitzer. "Paul Zulka's friends are to be trusted," said Sobieska. "You have already made a personally vindictive enemy," he continued; "have you any idea who it is?"
"Anything doing?" he inquired with a cheerful air. Sobieska nodded. "Zulka's in command of Schallberg. Sutphen with a small force occupies Markos due east of the capital. Lesky's Rifles have seized Bagos on a line with both at the western frontier. This completes our alignment on the south.
A fortune in bills presumably for bribes, a road map of our country, and the name of 'Zulka' written across the capital, Schallberg." At the reference to Zulka's name used in connection with the alleged plot, Trusia gave a slight start and a reproachful look clouded her eyes. Frankly, fearlessly, he met her glance as well as the steel-like glint from Sobieska.
"I do," he answered jerkily, for he was striving to keep a strong man's grip on his soul. Slowly, however, the agony, defying him, triumphed. "My God," he wailed in surrender, "it is true though I never realized it till now." That was all he said, but with blind hands he groped for fellowship and welcomed Zulka's responsive grip of steel.
The face of the latter, since Zulka's advent, had been a study, though this allusion to him had been received with his accustomed smirk. Sobieska, for the time being no further interested in the proceedings, was openly watching the mask-like face.
Carter related the affair from the time of their first meeting with Josef, at that very inn, to the time when Zulka's timely appearance put an end to their trial. "The rest you know," he concluded. Zulka opened his cigarette case, selected one and after knocking the end of it two or three times against the metal lid without putting it in his mouth, looked up at his friend.
But to Carter, with an aching heart hidden behind a smiling countenance, the gaiety seemed forced, the colors glaring; while to his questing eyes all faces appeared blank surfaces, save one. She was talking to a wisp of a golden-haired girl, whom he afterward learned was Zulka's cousin, the daughter of the plump Holder of the Purse.
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