Page:Marsh--The seen and the unseen.djvu/199

Rh The woman hesitated. "What is the amount which monsieur is prepared to offer in exchange for the task which he requires?"

"What is the sum which mademoiselle has in her mind?"

"Ten thousand francs."

She drew herself upright, throwing back her head with a little defiant gesture, as if the sum she named had been a superb one. The two men started. They stared at each other. Willy Nash distinctly smiled.

"Ten thousand francs!" cried Mr. Kennard. "Is it possible that mademoiselle is willing to give her life in exchange for ten thousand francs?"

"It's not my life I give. My life is nothing—to me, or to anyone. I ask ten thousand francs in exchange for the deed which you would set me to do. In other words, I desire that my death may be worth something, though my life is of no account. What is it that monsieur requires?"

"Suppose I were to require you to kill M. le President?"

For the first time she showed signs of emotion. She started—so unmistakably, that she had to lean for support on the back of the chair which Willie Nash had offered her.

"Kill M. le President! That—that would not be very pleasant."

"Does mademoiselle suppose that a deed, the doing of which would inevitably result in death, would be surrounded, as a matter of course, with all the elements of pleasantness?" "Monsieur laughs at me. I desire that monsieur