"
"Not at all; and you may rest assured I will neglect nothing which will
enable you to arrive dry and in one piece at Mademoiselle Zinca
Klork's--in short, in a perfect state of preservation!"
"Again I thank you," said Kinko, pressing my hands. "Believe me, you
will not find me ungrateful."
"Ah! friend Kinko, I shall be paid, and more than paid!"
"And how?"
"By relating, as soon as I can do so without danger to you, the
particulars of your journey from Tiflis to Pekin. Think now--what a
heading for a column:
'A LOVER IN A BOX!
ZINCA AND KINKO!!
1,500 LEAGUES THROUGH CENTRAL ASIA IN A
LUGGAGE VAN!!!'"
The young Roumanian could not help smiling.
"You need not be in too much of a hurry!" he said.
"Never fear! Prudence and discretion, as they say at the matrimonial
agencies."
Then I went to the door of the van to see that we were in no danger of
surprise, and then the conversation was resumed. Naturally, Kinko asked
me how I had discovered his secret. I told him all that had passed on
the steamer during the voyage across the Caspian. His breathing had
betrayed him. The idea that at first I took him for a wild beast seemed
to amuse him.
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