human
Did that fellow try to stab the Prince?
gpt
Yes.
human
With a knife?
gpt
No, a sword cane.
human
The papers didn't say so.
gpt
No, I didn't intend they should. Wouldn't have been pleasant reading for his folks in St. Petersburg. Besides, we haven't rounded up his gang yet.
human
The Prince didn't seem to lose his nerve?
gpt
No, he isn't built that way.
human
You know him, then?
gpt
Yes--been with him every day since he arrived.
human
Who is the black-bearded man with him?
gpt
He is his intimate friend, Count Lovusski. Been all over the world together.
human
Is Lovusski his ONLY name?
gpt
On the dead quiet, is it?
human
Yes, Alcorn, you can trust me.
gpt
No--he's got half a dozen of 'em. In Paris in '70 he was Baron Germunde with estates in Hungary. Lived like a fighting-cock; knew everybody at the Palace and everybody knew him--stayed there all through the Franco-Prussian War. In London in '75 he was plain Mr. Loring, trying to raise money for a mine somewhere in Portugal--knew nobody but stockbrokers and bank presidents. In New York five years ago he was Mr. Norvic Bing, and worked on some kind of a dictionary; lived in a boarding-house on Union Square.
human
I knew I was right! I cried, laying my hand on his arm.
gpt
I lived with him there a whole winter.
human
Yes, he told me so. That's why I am telling you the rest of it.
gpt
And how came he to be such a friend of the Prince's?
human
He isn't his friend--isn't anybody's friend. He's a special agent of the Russian Secret Service.