She half-turned away from him as he said, the words seeming to be forced from his lips,
“We must talk about this again. I will search amongst all the books I have with me. And it should not take long to receive a reply from Vienna. In the meantime we have another matter to discuss.”
“Mr. Tatkenski?”
“Exactly!” the Prince agreed. “Let’s go back to the fireside and I want you to tell me what happened when you met him on the English Steamer on the way to Kiel.”
Alida returned to the hearthrug and sat down on the white bearskin rug as she had done before.
Quietly she explained what had happened and what Mr. Tatkenski had said to her in the Saloon on The Maid of Hull. How Count Ivan had seen him kissing her hand and how from that moment he had disappeared.
“I destroyed his note,” she said
