My suspicions as to her confirmed, it was
an even chance that I might be able to place her. I procured two
snapshots of her and a specimen of her handwriting. These I forwarded
to the chief of the sections in Vienna and Berlin, with a request to
wire any possible information about her. Within forty-eight hours I
had a reply. Mlle. Valon was well known to the Austrian police as a
one-time keeper of a fashionable gambling resort in Galicia. She had
left the country hurriedly after a stabbing affray. She was known in
Crakau as Paula, and she was wanted by the police.
I engineered my next meeting with Mlle. Valon to be alone. After
presenting her with a box of perfumes, I said abruptly:
"This is a change from Crakau, Paula."
It is always wise to smash right out, and not to put the other on
guard through leading questions, and the trick had the desired effect.
She recoiled. To your high American standards of chivalry, it may
seem brutal to take advantage of a woman in this way, but it had to be
done. Moreover, these women are absolutely conscienceless themselves.
"Grand Dieu! Who are you?"
"That does not concern you ma fille, I know that and a good deal more.
Austria would be very glad to know where you are. Shall I tell them?"
She had recovered to an extent.
"What is your price for not telling?"
I replied:
"Let Russia slip this once, gain me the information I seek and nothing
further shall be said.
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