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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:35:37 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:35:37 -0700 |
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diff --git a/10943-h/10943-h.htm b/10943-h/10943-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f2e182a --- /dev/null +++ b/10943-h/10943-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,8631 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" + content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of + Elusive isabel, + by Jacques Futrelle. +</title> +<style type="text/css"> + <!-- + * { font-family: Times;} + P { margin-top: .75em; + font-size: 12pt; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; } + HR { width: 33%; } + PRE { font-family: Courier, monospaced; } + BODY {margin-left: 4%; + margin-right: 4%;} + .figure + {margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + text-align: center; } + .figure img + {border: none;} + // --> +</style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10943 ***</div> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h1>ELUSIVE ISABEL</h1> +<h2>BY JACQUES FUTRELLE </h2> +<h3> +WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY ALONZO KIMBALL +</h3> +<p> </p> + +<h3> + 1908 +</h3> + +<p> </p> + +<h3> +TO +</h3> +<h3> +THE WONDERFUL WOMAN +</h3> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="TOC"><!-- TOC --></a> +<p> +<b> + CONTENTS +</b></p> + +<p> </p> +<p> +<a href="#CH1">CHAPTER I</a> — MISS ISABEL THORNE +</p> +<p> +<a href="#CH2">CHAPTER II</a> — MR. CAMPBELL AND THE CABLE +</p> +<p> +<a href="#CH3">CHAPTER III</a> — THE LANGUAGE OF THE FAN +</p> +<p> +<a href="#CH4">CHAPTER IV</a> — THE FLEEING WOMAN +</p> +<p> +<a href="#CH5">CHAPTER V</a> — A VISIT TO THE COUNT +</p> +<p> +<a href="#CH6">CHAPTER VI</a> — REVELATIONS +</p> +<p> +<a href="#CH7">CHAPTER VII</a> — THE SIGNAL +</p> +<p> +<a href="#CH8">CHAPTER VIII</a> — MISS THORNE AND NOT MISS THORNE +</p> +<p> +<a href="#CH9">CHAPTER IX</a> — FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS +</p> +<p> +<a href="#CH10">CHAPTER X</a> — A SAFE OPENING +</p> +<p> +<a href="#CH11">CHAPTER XI</a> — THE LACE HANDKERCHIEF +</p> +<p> +<a href="#CH12">CHAPTER XII</a> — THE VANISHING DIPLOMATIST +</p> +<p> +<a href="#CH13">CHAPTER XIII</a> — A CONFERENCE IN THE DARK +</p> +<p> +<a href="#CH14">CHAPTER XIV</a> — A RESCUE AND AN ESCAPE +</p> +<p> +<a href="#CH15">CHAPTER XV</a> — MASTER OF THE SITUATION +</p> +<p> +<a href="#CH16">CHAPTER XVI</a> — LETTERS FROM JAIL +</p> +<p> +<a href="#CH17">CHAPTER XVII</a> — A CALL ON THE WARDEN +</p> +<p> +<a href="#CH18">CHAPTER XVIII</a> — NOTICE TO LEAVE +</p> +<p> +<a href="#CH19">CHAPTER XIX</a> — BY WIRELESS +</p> +<p> +<a href="#CH20">CHAPTER XX</a> — THE LIGHT IN THE DOME +</p> +<p> +<a href="#CH21">CHAPTER XXI</a> — A SLIP OF PAPER +</p> +<p> +<a href="#CH22">CHAPTER XXII</a> — THE COMPACT +</p> +<p> +<a href="#CH23">CHAPTER XXIII</a> — THE PERCUSSION CAP +</p> +<p> +<a href="#CH24">CHAPTER XXIV</a> — THE PERSONAL EQUATION +</p> +<p> +<a href="#CH25">CHAPTER XXV</a> — WE TWO +</p> +<p> +<a href="#CH26">CHAPTER XXVI</a> — IN WHICH THEY BOTH WIN +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> +<b>ILLUSTRATIONS</b> +</p> +<p>1. <a href="#image-1"> +The Handwriting Was Unmistakably That of a Woman. +</a></p> +<p>2. <a href="#image-2"> +He Found Himself inspecting the Weapon from the Barrel End. +</a></p> +<p>3. <a href="#image-3"> +A Long Tense Silence when Eye Challenges Eye. +</a></p> +<p>4. <a href="#image-4"> +'You Think He Will Weaken; I Know He Will Not.' +</a></p> +<p>5. <a href="#image-5"> +In a Stride Mr. Grimm Was Beside Her. +</a></p> +<p> </p> +<hr> + + +<p> </p> + +<h2> + ELUSIVE ISABEL +</h2> + +<a name="CH1"><!-- CHAPTER 1 --></a> +<h3> + I +</h3> +<h3> +MISS ISABEL THORNE +</h3> +<p> +All the world rubs elbows in Washington. +Outwardly it is merely a city of evasion, +of conventionalities, sated with the commonplace +pleasures of life, listless, blasé even, +and always exquisitely, albeit frigidly, courteous; +but beneath the still, suave surface strange +currents play at cross purposes, intrigue is endless, +and the merciless war of diplomacy goes +on unceasingly. Occasionally, only occasionally, +a bubble comes to the surface, and when it bursts +the echo goes crashing around the earth. Sometimes +a dynasty is shaken, a nation trembles, a +ministry topples over; but the ripple moves and +all is placid again. No man may know all that +happens there, for then he would be diplomatic +master of the world. +</p> +<p> +"There is plenty of red blood in Washington," +remarked a jesting legislative gray-beard, +once upon a time, "but it's always frozen before +they put it in circulation. Diplomatic negotiations +are conducted in the drawing-room, but +long before that the fight is fought down cellar. +The diplomatists meet at table and there isn't +any broken crockery, but you can always tell +what the player thinks of the dealer by the way +he draws three cards. Everybody is after results; +and lots of monarchs of Europe sit up +nights polishing their crowns waiting for word +from Washington." +</p> +<p> +So, this is Washington! And here at dinner +are the diplomatic representatives of all the nations. +That is the British ambassador, that +stolid-faced, distinguished-looking, elderly man; +and this is the French ambassador, dapper, volatile, +plus-correct; here Russia's highest representative +wags a huge, blond beard; and yonder +is the phlegmatic German ambassador. Scattered +around the table, brilliant splotches of +color, are the uniformed envoys of the Orient—the +smaller the country the more brilliant the +splotch. It is a state dinner, to be followed by +a state ball, and they are all present. +</p> +<p> +The Italian ambassador, Count di Rosini, was +trying to interpret a French <i>bon mot</i> into English +for the benefit of the dainty, doll-like wife +of the Chinese minister—who was educated at +Radcliffe—when a servant leaned over him and +laid a sealed envelope beside his plate. The +count glanced around at the servant, excused +himself to Mrs. Quong Li Wi, and opened the +envelope. Inside was a single sheet of embassy +note paper, and a terse line signed by his secretary: +</p> +<blockquote><p>"A lady is waiting for you here. She says +she must see you immediately, on a matter of the +greatest importance."</p></blockquote> +<p> +The count read the note twice, with wrinkled +brow, then scribbled on it in pencil: +</p> +<blockquote><p>"Impossible to-night. Tell her to call at the +embassy to-morrow morning at half-past ten +o'clock."</p></blockquote> +<p> +He folded the note, handed it to the servant, +and resumed his conversation with Mrs. Wi. +</p> +<p> +Half an hour later the same servant placed a +second sealed envelope beside his plate. Recognizing +the superscription, the ambassador impatiently +shoved it aside, intending to disregard +it. But irritated curiosity finally triumphed, +and he opened it. A white card on which was +written this command was his reward: +</p> +<blockquote><p>"It is necessary that you come to the embassy +at once."</p></blockquote> +<p> +There was no signature. The handwriting +was unmistakably that of a woman, and just as +unmistakably strange to him. He frowned a +little as he stared at it wonderingly, then idly +turned the card over. There was no name on +the reverse side—only a crest. Evidently the +count recognized this, for his impassive face reflected +surprise for an instant, and this was followed +by a keen, bewildered interest. Finally +he arose, made his apologies, and left the room. +His automobile was at the door. +</p> + +<a name="image-1"><!-- Image 1 --></a> +<p class="figure"> +<a href="images/img1.jpg"> +<img width="60%" src="images/img1.jpg" +alt="The Handwriting Was Unmistakably That of a Woman." +/></a><br /> +<b>"The Handwriting Was Unmistakably That of a Woman."</b> +</p> + +<p> +"To the embassy," he directed the chauffeur. +</p> +<p> +And within five minutes he was there. His +secretary met him in the hall. +</p> +<p> +"The lady is waiting in your office," he explained +apologetically. "I gave her your message, +but she said she must see you and would +write you a line herself. I sent it." +</p> +<p> +"Quite correct," commented the ambassador. +"What name did she give?" +</p> +<p> +"None," was the reply. "She said none was +necessary." +</p> +<p> +The ambassador laid aside hat and coat and +entered his office with a slightly puzzled expression +on his face. Standing before a window, +gazing idly out into the light-spangled night, +was a young woman, rather tall and severely +gowned in some rich, glistening stuff which fell +away sheerly from her splendid bare shoulders. +She turned and he found himself looking into a +pair of clear, blue-gray eyes, frank enough and +yet in their very frankness possessing an alluring, +indefinable subtlety. He would not have +called her pretty, yet her smile, slight as it was, +was singularly charming, and there radiated +from her a something—personality, perhaps—which +held his glance. He bowed low, and closed +the door. +</p> +<p> +"I am at your service, Madam," he said in a +tone of deep respect. "Please pardon my delay +in coming to you." +</p> +<p> +"It is unfortunate that I didn't write the first +note," she apologized graciously. "It would at +least have saved a little time. You have the +card?" +</p> +<p> +He produced it silently, crest down, and +handed it to her. She struck a match, lighted +the card, and it crumbled up in her gloved hand. +The last tiny scrap found refuge in a silver +tray, where she watched it burn to ashes, then +she turned to the ambassador with a brilliant +smile. He was still standing. +</p> +<p> +"The dinner isn't over yet?" she inquired. +</p> +<p> +"No, Madam, not for another hour, perhaps." +</p> +<p> +"Then there's no harm done," she went on +lightly. "The dinner isn't of any consequence, +but I should like very much to attend the ball +afterward. Can you arrange it for me?" +</p> +<p> +"I don't know just how I would proceed, +Madam," the ambassador objected diffidently. +"It would be rather unusual, difficult, I may +say, and—" +</p> +<p> +"But surely you can arrange it some way?" +she interrupted demurely. "The highest diplomatic +representative of a great nation should +not find it difficult to arrange so simple a matter +as—as this?" She was smiling. +</p> +<p> +"Pardon me for suggesting it, Madam," the +ambassador persisted courteously, "but anything +out of the usual attracts attention in +Washington. I dare say, from the manner of +your appearance to-night, that you would not +care to attract attention to yourself." +</p> +<p> +She regarded him with an enigmatic smile. +</p> +<p> +"I'm afraid you don't know women, Count," +she said slowly, at last. "There's nothing dearer +to a woman's heart than to attract attention to +herself." She laughed—a throaty, silvery note +that was charming. "And if you hesitate now, +then to-morrow—why, to-morrow I am going to +ask that you open to me all this Washington +world—this brilliant world of diplomatic society. +You see what I ask now is simple." +</p> +<p> +The ambassador was respectfully silent and +deeply thoughtful for a time. There was, perhaps, +something of resentment struggling within +him, and certainly there was an uneasy feeling +of rebellion at this attempt to thrust him +forward against all precedent. +</p> +<p> +"Your requests are of so extraordinary a nature +that—" he began in courteous protestation. +</p> +<p> +There was no trace of impatience in the woman's +manner; she was still smiling. +</p> +<p> +"It is necessary that I attend the ball to-night," +she explained, "you may imagine how +necessary when I say I sailed from Liverpool +six days ago, reaching New York at half-past +three o'clock this afternoon; and at half-past +four I was on my way here. I have been here +less than one hour. I came from Liverpool +especially that I might be present; and I even +dressed on the train so there would be no delay. +Now do you see the necessity of it?" +</p> +<p> +Diplomatic procedure is along well-oiled +grooves, and the diplomatist who steps out of +the rut for an instant happens upon strange +and unexpected obstacles. Knowing this, the +ambassador still hesitated. The woman apparently +understood. +</p> +<p> +"I had hoped that this would not be necessary," +she remarked, and she produced a small, +sealed envelope. "Please read it." +</p> +<p> +The ambassador received the envelope with +uplifted brows, opened it and read what was +written on a folded sheet of paper. Some subtle +working of his brain brought a sudden change +in the expression of his face. There was wonder +in it, and amazement, and more than these. +Again he bowed low. +</p> +<p> +"I am at your service, Madam," he repeated. +"I shall take pleasure in making any arrangements +that are necessary. Again, I beg your +pardon." +</p> +<p> +"And it will not be so very difficult, after all, +will it?" she inquired, and she smiled tauntingly. +</p> +<p> +"It will not be at all difficult, Madam," the +ambassador assured her gravely. "I shall take +steps at once to have an invitation issued to you +for to-night; and to-morrow I shall be pleased +to proceed as you may suggest." +</p> +<p> +She nodded. He folded the note, replaced it +in the envelope and returned it to her with another +deep bow. She drew her skirts about her +and sat down; he stood. +</p> +<p> +"It will be necessary for your name to appear +on the invitation," the ambassador went on to +explain. "If you will give me your name I'll +have my secretary—" +</p> +<p> +"Oh, yes, my name," she interrupted gaily. +"Why, Count, you embarrass me. You know, +really, I have no name. Isn't it awkward?" +</p> +<p> +"I understand perfectly, Madam," responded +the count. "I should have said <i>a</i> name." +</p> +<p> +She meditated a moment. +</p> +<p> +"Well, say—Miss Thorne—Miss Isabel +Thorne," she suggested at last. "That will +do very nicely, don't you think?" +</p> +<p> +"Very nicely, Miss Thorne," and the ambassador +bowed again. "Please excuse me a moment, +and I'll give my secretary instructions +how to proceed. There will be a delay of a few +minutes." +</p> +<p> +He opened the door and went out. For a +minute or more Miss Thorne sat perfectly still, +gazing at the blank wooden panels, then she +rose and went to the window again. In the +distance, hazy in the soft night, the dome of the +capitol rose mistily; over to the right was the +congressional library, and out there where the +lights sparkled lay Pennsylvania Avenue, a +thread of commerce. Miss Thorne saw it all, +and suddenly stretched out her arms with an all-enveloping +gesture. She stood so for a minute, +then they fell beside her, and she was motionless. +</p> +<p> +Count di Rosini entered. +</p> +<p> +"Everything is arranged, Miss Thorne," he +announced. "Will you go with me in my automobile, +or do you prefer to go alone?" +</p> +<p> +"I'll go alone, please," she answered after a +moment. "I shall be there about eleven." +</p> +<p> +The ambassador bowed himself out. +</p> +<p> +And so Miss Isabel Thorne came to Washington! +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="CH2"><!-- CHAPTER 2 --></a> +<h3> + II +</h3> + +<h3> +MR. CAMPBELL AND THE CABLE +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +Just as it is one man's business to manufacture +watches, and another man's business +to peddle shoe-strings, so it was Mr. +Campbell's business to know things. He was +a human card index, a governmental ready reference +posted to the minute and backed by all the +tremendous resources of a nation. From the little +office in the Secret Service Bureau, where he +sat day after day, radiating threads connected +with the huge outer world, and enabled him to +keep a firm hand on the diplomatic and departmental +pulse of Washington. Perhaps he came +nearer knowing everything that happened there +than any other man living; and no man realized +more perfectly than he just how little of all of +it he did know. +</p> +<p> +In person Mr. Campbell was not unlike a retired +grocer who had shaken the butter and +eggs from his soul and settled back to enjoy a +life of placid idleness. He was a little beyond +middle age, pleasant of face, white of hair, and +blessed with guileless blue eyes. His genius +had no sparkle to it; it consisted solely of detail +and system and indefatigability, coupled with a +memory that was well nigh infallible. His brain +was as serene and orderly as a cash register; one +almost expected to hear it click. +</p> +<p> +He sat at his desk intently studying a cable +despatch which lay before him. It was in the +Secret Service code. Leaning over his shoulder +was Mr. Grimm—<i>the</i> Mr. Grimm of the bureau. +Mr. Grimm was an utterly different type from +his chief. He was younger, perhaps thirty-one +or two, physically well proportioned, a little +above the average height, with regular features +and listless, purposeless eyes—a replica of a +hundred other young men who dawdle idly in +the windows of their clubs and watch the world +hurry by. His manner was languid; his dress +showed fastidious care. +</p> +<p> +Sentence by sentence the bewildering intricacies +of the code gave way before the placid understanding +of Chief Campbell, and word by +word, from the chaos of it, a translation took +intelligible form upon a sheet of paper under +his right hand. Mr. Grimm, looking on, exhibited +only a most perfunctory interest in the +extraordinary message he was reading; the listless +eyes narrowed a little, that was all. It was +a special despatch from Lisbon dated that morning, +and signed simply "Gault." Completely +translated it ran thus: +</p> +<blockquote><p>"Secret offensive and defensive alliance of the +Latin against the English-speaking nations of +the world is planned. Italy, France, Spain and +two South American republics will soon sign +compact in Washington. Proposition just made +to Portugal, and may be accepted. Special envoys +now working in Mexico and Central and +South America. Germany invited to join, but +refuses as yet, giving, however, tacit support; +attitude of Russia and Japan unknown to me. +Prince Benedetto d'Abruzzi, believed to be in +Washington at present, has absolute power to +sign for Italy, France and Spain. Profound secrecy +enjoined and preserved. I learned of it by +underground. Shall I inform our minister? Cable +instructions."</p></blockquote> +<p> +"So much!" commented Mr. Campbell. +</p> +<p> +He clasped his hands behind his head, lay +back in his chair and sat for a long time, staring +with steadfast, thoughtful eyes into the impassive +face of his subordinate. Mr. Grimm +perched himself on the edge of the desk and with +his legs dangling read the despatch a second +time, and a third. +</p> +<p> +"If," he observed slowly, "if any other man +than Gault had sent that I should have said he +was crazy." +</p> +<p> +"The peace of the world is in peril, Mr. +Grimm," said Campbell impressively, at last. +"It had to come, of course, the United States +and England against a large part of Europe +and all of Central and South America. It had +to come, and yet—!" +</p> +<p> +He broke off abruptly, and picked up the receiver +of his desk telephone. +</p> +<p> +"The White House, please," he requested +curtly, and then, after a moment: "Hello! +Please ask the president if he will receive Mr. +Campbell immediately. Yes, Mr. Campbell of +the Secret Service." There was a pause. Mr. +Grimm removed his immaculate person from the +desk, and took a chair. "Hello! In half an +hour? So much!" +</p> +<p> +The pages of the Almanac de Gotha fluttered +through his fingers, and finally he leaned forward +and studied a paragraph of it closely. +When he raised his eyes again there was that in +them which Mr. Grimm had never seen before—a +settled, darkening shadow. +</p> +<p> +"The world-war has long been a chimera, Mr. +Grimm," he remarked at last, "but now—now! +Think of it! Of course, the Central and South +American countries, taken separately, are inconsequential, +and that is true, too, of the Latin +countries of Europe, except France, but taken +in combination, under one directing mind, the +allied navies would be—would be formidable, at +least. Backed by the moral support of Germany, +and perhaps Japan—! Don't you see? +Don't you see?" +</p> +<p> +He lapsed into silence. Mr. Grimm opened his +lips to ask a question: Mr. Campbell anticipated +it unerringly: +</p> +<p> +"The purpose of such an alliance? It is not +too much to construe it into the first step toward +a world-war—a war of reprisal and conquest +beside which the other great wars of the world +would seem trivial. For the fact has at last +come home to the nations of the world that ultimately +the English-speaking peoples will dominate +it—dominate it, because they are the practical +peoples. They have given to the world all +its great practical inventions—the railroad, the +steamship, electricity, the telegraph and cable—all +of them; they are the great civilizing forces, +rounding the world up to new moral understanding, +for what England has done in Africa and +India we have done in a smaller way in the Philippines +and Cuba and Porto Rico; they are the +great commercial peoples, slowly but surely winning +the market-places of the earth; wherever +the English or the American flag is planted +there the English tongue is being spoken, and +there the peoples are being taught the sanity +of right living and square dealing. +</p> +<p> +"It requires no great effort of the imagination, +Mr. Grimm, to foresee that day when the +traditional power of Paris, and Berlin, and St. +Petersburg, and Madrid will be honey-combed +by the steady encroachment of our methods. +This alliance would indicate that already that +day has been foreseen; that there is now a resentment +which is about to find expression in +one great, desperate struggle for world supremacy. +A few hundred years ago Italy—or +Rome—was stripped of her power; only recently the +United States dispelled the illusion that Spain +was anything but a shell; and France—! One +can't help but wonder if the power she boasts is +not principally on paper. But if their forces +are combined? Do you see? It would be an +enormous power to reckon with, with a hundred +bases of supplies right at our doors." +</p> +<p> +He rose suddenly and walked over to the +window, where he stood for a moment, staring +out with unseeing eyes. +</p> +<p> +"Given a yard of canvas, Mr. Grimm," he +went on finally, "a Spanish boy will waste it, a +French boy will paint a picture on it, an English +boy will built a sail-boat, and an American +boy will erect a tent. That fully illustrates the +difference in the races." +</p> +<p> +He abandoned the didactic tone, and returned +to the material matter in hand. Mr. Grimm +passed him the despatch and he sat down again. +</p> +<p> +"'Will soon sign compact in Washington,'" +he read musingly. "Now I don't know that the +signing of that compact can be prevented, but +the signing of it on United States soil can be +prevented. You will see to that, Mr. Grimm." +</p> +<p> +"Very well," the young man agreed carelessly. +The magnitude of such a task made, apparently, +not the slightest impression on him. +He languidly drew on his gloves. +</p> +<p> +"And meanwhile I shall take steps to ascertain +the attitude of Russian and Japanese representatives +in this city." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm nodded. +</p> +<p> +"And now, for Prince Benedetto d'Abruzzi," +Mr. Campbell went on slowly. "Officially he is +not in Washington, nor the United States, for +that matter. Naturally, on such a mission, he +would not come as a publicly accredited agent, +therefore, I imagine, he is to be sought under +another name." +</p> +<p> +"Of course," Mr. Grimm acquiesced. +</p> +<p> +"And he would avoid the big hotels." +</p> +<p> +"Certainly." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Campbell permitted his guileless blue eyes +to linger inquiringly upon those of the young +man for half a minute. He caught himself wondering, +sometimes, at the perfection of the deliberate +indifference with which Mr. Grimm masked +his emotions. In his admiration of this quality +he quite overlooked the remarkable mask of benevolence +behind which he himself hid. +</p> +<p> +"And the name, D'Abruzzi," he remarked, +after a time. "What does it mean to you, Mr. +Grimm?" +</p> +<p> +"It means that I am to deal with a prince of +the royal blood of Italy," was the unhesitating +response. Mr. Grimm picked up the Almanac +de Gotha and glanced at the open page. "Of +course, the first thing to do is to find him; the +rest will be simple enough." He perused the +page carelessly. "I will begin work at once." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="CH3"><!-- CHAPTER 3 --></a> +<h3> + III +</h3> + +<h3> +THE LANGUAGE OF THE FAN +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm was chatting idly with +Señorita Rodriguez, daughter of the +minister from Venezuela, the while he +permitted his listless eyes to wander aimlessly +about the spacious ball-room of the German embassy, +ablaze with festooned lights, and brilliant +with a multi-colored chaos of uniforms. Gleaming +pearl-white, translucent in the mass, were +the bare shoulders of women; and from far off +came the plaintive whine of an orchestra, a pulsing +sense rather than a living sound, of music, +pointed here and there by the staccato cry of a +flute. A zephyr, perfumed with the clean, fresh +odor of lilacs, stirred the draperies of the archway +which led into the conservatory and rustled +the bending branches of palms and ferns. +</p> +<p> +For a scant instant Mr. Grimm's eyes rested +on a young woman who sat a dozen feet away, +talking, in playful animation, with an undersecretary +of the British embassy—a young +woman severely gowned in some glistening stuff +which fell away sheerly from her splendid bare +shoulders. She glanced up, as if in acknowledgment +of his look, and her eyes met his. +Frank, blue-gray eyes they were, stirred to their +depths now by amusement. She smiled at Señorita +Rodriguez, in token of recognition. +</p> +<p> +"Aren't they wonderful?" asked Señorita +Rodriguez with the quick, bubbling enthusiasm +of her race. +</p> +<p> +"What?" asked Mr. Grimm. +</p> +<p> +"Her eyes," was the reply. "Every person +has one dominant feature—with Miss Thorne it +is her eyes." +</p> +<p> +"Miss Thorne?" Mr. Grimm repeated. +</p> +<p> +"Haven't you met her?" the señorita went on. +"Miss Isabel Thorne? She only arrived a few +days ago—the night of the state ball. She's +my guest at the legation. When an opportunity +comes I shall present you to her." +</p> +<p> +She ran on, about other things, with only an +occasional remark from Mr. Grimm, who was +thoughtfully nursing his knee. Somewhere +through the chatter and effervescent gaiety, +mingling with the sound of the pulsing music, +he had a singular impression of a rhythmical +beat, an indistinct tattoo, noticeable, perhaps, +only because of its monotony. After a moment +he shot a quick glance at Miss Thorne and understood; +it was the tapping of an exquisitely +wrought ivory fan against one of her tapering, +gloved fingers. She was talking and smiling. +</p> +<p> +"Dot-dash-dot! Dot-dash-dot! Dot-dash-dot!" +said the fan. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm twisted around in his seat and regaled +his listless eyes with a long stare into the +señorita's pretty face. Behind the careless ease +of repose he was mechanically isolating the faint +clatter of the fan. +</p> +<p> +"Dot-dash-dot! Dot-dash-dot! Dot-dash-dot!" +</p> +<p> +"Did any one ever accuse you of staring, Mr. +Grimm?" demanded the señorita banteringly. +</p> +<p> +For an instant Mr. Grimm continued to stare, +and then his listless eyes swept the ball-room, +pausing involuntarily at the scarlet splendor of +the minister from Turkey. +</p> +<p> +"I beg your pardon," he apologized contritely. +There was a pause. "The minister +from Turkey looks like a barn on fire, doesn't +he?" +</p> +<p> +Señorita Rodriguez laughed, and Mr. Grimm +glanced idly toward Miss Thorne. She was still +talking, her face alive with interest; and the fan +was still tapping rhythmically, steadily, now on +the arm of her chair. +</p> +<p> +"Dot-dash-dot! Dot-dash-dot! Dot-dash-dot! +Dot-dash-dot!" +</p> +<p> +"Pretty women who don't want to be stared +at should go with their faces swathed," Mr. +Grimm suggested indolently. "Haroun el Raschid +there would agree with me on that point, I +have no doubt. What a shock he would get if +he should happen up at Atlantic City for a +week-end in August!" +</p> +<p> +"Dot-dash-dot! Dot-dash-dot! Dot-dash-dot!" +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm read it with perfect understanding; +it was "F—F—F" in the Morse code, the +call of one operator to another. Was it accident? +Mr. Grimm wondered, and wondering he +went on talking lazily: +</p> +<p> +"Curious, isn't it, the smaller the nation the +more color it crowds into the uniforms of its +diplomatists? The British ambassador, you will +observe, is clothed sanely and modestly, as befits +the representative of a great nation; but coming +on down by way of Spain and Italy, they +get more gorgeous. However, I dare say as +stout a heart beats beneath a sky-blue sash as +behind the unembellished black of evening +dress." +</p> +<p> +"F—F—F," the fan was calling insistently. +</p> +<p> +And then the answer came. It took the unexpectedly +prosaic form of a violent sneeze, a +vociferous outburst on a bench directly behind +Mr. Grimm. Señorita Rodriguez jumped, then +laughed nervously. +</p> +<p> +"It startled me," she explained. +</p> +<p> +"I think there must be a draft from the +conservatory," said a man's voice apologetically. +"Do you ladies feel it? No? Well, if +you'll excuse me—?" +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm glanced back languidly. The +speaker was Charles Winthrop Rankin, a brilliant +young American lawyer who was attached +to the German embassy in an advisory capacity. +Among other things he was a Heidelberg man, +having spent some dozen years of his life in +Germany, where he established influential connections. +Mr. Grimm knew him only by sight. +</p> +<p> +And now the rhythmical tapping of Miss +Thorne's fan underwent a change. There was +a flutter of gaiety in her voice the while the +ivory fan tapped steadily. +</p> +<p> +"Dot-dot-dot! Dash! Dash-dash-dash! Dot-dot-dash! +Dash!" +</p> +<p> +"S—t—5—u—t," Mr. Grimm read in Morse. +He laughed pleasantly at some remark of his +companion. +</p> +<p> +"Dash-dash! Dot-dash! Dash-dot!" said the +fan. +</p> +<p> +"M—a—n," Mr. Grimm spelled it out, the +while his listless eyes roved aimlessly over the +throng. "S—t—5—u—t m—a—n!" Was it +meant for "stout man?" Mr. Grimm wondered. +</p> +<p> +"Dot-dash-dot! Dot! Dash-dot-dot!" +</p> +<p> +"F—e—d," that was. +</p> +<p> +"Dot-dot-dash-dot! Dot-dash! Dash-dot-dash-dot! +Dot!" +</p> +<p> +"Q—a—j—e!" Mr. Grimm was puzzled a +little now, but there was not a wrinkle, nor the +tiniest indication of perplexity in his face. Instead +he began talking of Raphael's cherubs, the +remark being called into life by the high complexion +of a young man who was passing. Miss +Thorne glanced at him once keenly, her splendid +eyes fairly aglow, and the fan rattled on in the +code. +</p> +<p> +"Dash-dot! Dot! Dot-dash! Dot-dash-dot!" +</p> +<p> +"N—e—a—f." Mr. Grimm was still spelling +it out. +</p> +<p> +Then came a perfect jumble. Mr. Grimm +followed it with difficulty, a difficulty utterly +belied by the quizzical lines about his mouth. +As he caught it, it was like this: " J—5—n—s—e—f—v—a—t—5—f," +followed by an arbitrary +signal which is not in the Morse code: +"Dash-dot-dash-dash!" +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm carefully stored that jumble +away in some recess of his brain, along with the +unknown signal. +</p> +<p> +"D—5—5—f," he read, and then, on to the +end: "B—f—i—n—g 5—v—e—f w—h—e—n +g g—5—e—s." +</p> +<p> +That was all, apparently. The soft clatter +of the fan against the arm of the chair ran on +meaninglessly after that. +</p> +<p> +"May I bring you an ice?" Mr. Grimm asked +at last. +</p> +<p> +"If you will, please," responded the señorita, +"and when you come back I'll reward you by +presenting you to Miss Thorne. You'll find her +charming; and Mr. Cadwallader has monopolized +her long enough." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm bowed and left her. He had +barely disappeared when Mr. Rankin lounged +along in front of Miss Thorne. He glanced +at her, paused and greeted her effusively. +</p> +<p> +"Why, Miss Thorne!" he exclaimed. "I'm +delighted to see you here. I understood you +would not be present, and—" +</p> +<p> +Their hands met in a friendly clasp as she +rose and moved away, with a nod of excuse to +Mr. Cadwallader. A thin slip of paper, thrice +folded, passed from Mr. Rankin to her. She +tugged at her glove, and thrust the little paper, +still folded, inside the palm. +</p> +<p> +"Is it yes, or no?" Miss Thorne asked in a +low tone. +</p> +<p> +"Frankly, I can't say," was the reply. +</p> +<p> +"He read the message," she explained hastily, +"and now he has gone to decipher it." +</p> +<p> +She gathered up her trailing skirts over one +arm, and together they glided away through the +crowd to the strains of a Strauss waltz. +</p> +<p> +"I'm going to faint in a moment," she said +quite calmly to Mr. Rankin. "Please have me +sent to the ladies' dressing-room." +</p> +<p> +"I understand," he replied quietly. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="CH4"><!-- CHAPTER 4 --></a> +<h3> + IV +</h3> + +<h3> +THE FLEEING WOMAN +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm went straight to a quiet +nook of the smoking-room and there, +after a moment, Mr. Campbell joined +him. The bland benevolence of the chief's face +was disturbed by the slightest questioning uplift +of his brows as he dropped into a seat opposite +Mr. Grimm, and lighted a cigar. Mr. +Grimm raised his hand, and a servant who stood +near, approached them. +</p> +<p> +"An ice—here," Mr. Grimm directed tersely. +</p> +<p> +The servant bowed and disappeared, and Mr. +Grimm hastily scribbled something on a sheet +of paper and handed it to his chief. +</p> +<p> +"There is a reading, in the Morse code, of a +message that seems to be unintelligible," Mr. +Grimm explained. "I have reason to believe it +is in the Continental code. You know the Continental—I +don't." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Campbell read this: +</p> +<p> +"St5ut man fed qaje neaf j5nsefvat5f," and +then came the unknown, dash-dot-dash-dash. +"That," he explained, "is Y in the Continental +code." It went on: "d55f bfing 5vef when g +g5es." +</p> +<p> +The chief read it off glibly: +</p> +<p> +"Stout man, red face, near conservatory door. +Bring over when G goes." +</p> +<p> +"Very well!" commented Mr. Grimm ambiguously. +</p> +<p> +With no word of explanation, he rose and +went out, pausing at the door to take the ice +which the servant was bringing in. The seat +where he had left Señorita Rodriguez was vacant; +so was the chair where Miss Thorne had +been. He glanced about inquiringly, and a +servant who stood stolidly near the conservatory +door approached him. +</p> +<p> +"Pardon, sir, but the lady who was sitting +here," and he indicated the chair where Miss +Thorne had been sitting, "fainted while dancing, +and the lady who was with you went along when +she was removed to the ladies' dressing-room, +sir." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm's teeth closed with a little snap. +</p> +<p> +"Did you happen to notice any time this evening +a stout gentleman, with red face, near the +conservatory door?" he asked. +</p> +<p> +The servant pondered a moment, then shook +his head. +</p> +<p> +"No, sir." +</p> +<p> +"Thank you." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm was just turning away, when +there came the sharp, vibrant cra-a-sh! of a revolver, +somewhere off to his left. The president! +That was his first thought. One glance +across the room to where the chief executive +stood, in conversation with two other gentlemen, +reassured him. The choleric blue eyes of +the president had opened a little at the sound, +then he calmly resumed the conversation. Mr. +Grimm impulsively started toward the little +group, but already a cordon was being drawn +there—a cordon of quiet-faced, keen-eyed men, +unobstrusively forcing their way through the +crowd. There was Johnson, and Hastings, and +Blair, and half a dozen others. +</p> +<p> +The room had been struck dumb. The +dancers stopped, with tense, inquiring looks, +and the plaintive whine of the orchestra, far +away, faltered, then ceased. There was one +brief instant of utter silence in which white-faced +women clung to the arms of their escorts, +and the brilliant galaxy of colors halted. Then, +after a moment, there came clearly through the +stillness, the excited, guttural command of the +German ambassador. +</p> +<p> +"Keep on blaying, you tam fools! Keep on +blaying!" +</p> +<p> +The orchestra started again tremulously. +Mr. Grimm nodded a silent approval of the +ambassador's command, then turned away toward +his left, in the direction of the shot. After +the first dismay, there was a general movement +of the crowd in that direction, a movement which +was checked by Mr. Campbell's appearance upon +a chair, with a smile on his bland face. +</p> +<p> +"No harm done," he called. "One of the officers +present dropped his revolver, and it was +accidently discharged. No harm done." +</p> +<p> +There was a moment's excited chatter, deep-drawn +breaths of relief, the orchestra swung +again into the interrupted rhythm, and the +dancers moved on. Mr. Grimm went straight to +his chief, who had stepped down from the chair. +Two other Secret Service men stood behind him, +blocking the doorway that opened into a narrow +hall. +</p> +<p> +"This way," directed the chief tersely. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm walked along beside him. They +skirted the end of the ball-room until they came +to another door opening into the hall. Chief +Campbell pushed it open, and entered. One of +his men stood just inside. +</p> +<p> +"What was it, Gray?" asked the chief. +</p> +<p> +"Señor Alvarez, of the Mexican legation, was +shot," was the reply. +</p> +<p> +"Dead?" +</p> +<p> +"Only wounded. He's in that room," and he +indicated a door a little way down the hall. +"Fairchild, two servants, and a physician are +with him." +</p> +<p> +"Who shot him?" +</p> +<p> +"Don't know. We found him lying in the +hall here." +</p> +<p> +Still followed by Mr. Grimm, the chief entered +the room, and together they bent over the +wounded man. The bullet had entered the torso +just below the ribs on the left side. +</p> +<p> +"It's a clean wound," the physician was explaining. +"The bullet passed through. There's +no immediate danger." +</p> +<p> +Señor Alvarez opened his eyes, and stared +about him in bewilderment; then alarm overspread +his face, and he made spasmodic efforts +to reach the inside breast pocket of his coat. +Mr. Grimm obligingly thrust his hand into the +pocket and drew out its contents, the while +Señor Alvarez struggled frantically. +</p> +<p> +"Just a moment," Mr. Grimm advised quietly. +"I'm only going to let you see if it is here. +Is it?" +</p> +<p> +He held the papers, one by one, in front of +the wounded man, and each time a shake of the +head was his answer. At the last Señor Alvarez +closed his eyes again. +</p> +<p> +"What sort of paper was it?" inquired Mr. +Grimm. +</p> +<p> +"None of your business," came the curt answer. +</p> +<p> +"Who shot you?" +</p> +<p> +"None of your business." +</p> +<p> +"A man?" +</p> +<p> +Señor Alvarez was silent. +</p> +<p> +"A woman?" +</p> +<p> +Still silence. +</p> +<p> +With some new idea Mr. Grimm turned away +suddenly and started out into the hall. He met +a maid-servant at the door, coming in. Her +face was blanched, and she stuttered through +sheer excitement. +</p> +<p> +"A lady, sir—a lady—" she began babblingly. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm calmly closed the door, shutting +in the wounded man, Chief Campbell and the +others. Then he caught the maid sharply by +the arm and shook some coherence into her disordered +brain. +</p> +<p> +"A lady—she ran away, sir," the girl went +on, in blank surprise. +</p> +<p> +"What lady?" demanded Mr. Grimm coldly. +"Where did she run from? Why did she run?" +The maid stared at him with mouth agape. "Begin +at the beginning." +</p> +<p> +"I was in that room, farther down the hall, +sir," the maid explained. "The door was open. +I heard the shot, and it frightened me so—I +don't know—I was afraid to look out right +away, sir. Then, an instant later, a lady come +running along the hall, sir—that way," and +she indicated the rear of the house. "Then I +came to the door and looked out to see who it +was, and what was the matter, sir. I was standing +there when a man—a man came along after +the lady, and banged the door in my face, sir. +The door had a spring lock, and I was so—so +frightened and excited I couldn't open it right +away, sir, and—and when I did I came here to +see what was the matter." She drew a deep +breath and stopped. +</p> +<p> +"That all?" demanded Mr. Grimm. +</p> +<p> +"Yes, sir, except—except the lady had a pistol +in her hand, sir—" +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm regarded her in silence for a +moment. +</p> +<p> +"Who was the lady?" he asked at last. +</p> +<p> +"I forget her name, sir. She was the lady +who—who fainted in the ball-room, sir, just a +few minutes ago." +</p> +<p> +Whatever emotion may have been aroused +within Mr. Grimm it certainly found no expression +in his face. When he spoke again his +voice was quite calm. +</p> +<p> +"Miss Thorne, perhaps?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes, sir, that's the name—Miss Thorne. I +was in the ladies' dressing-room when she was +brought in, sir, and I remember some one called +her name." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm took the girl, still a-quiver with +excitement, and led her along the hall to where +Gray stood. +</p> +<p> +"Take this girl in charge, Gray," he directed. +"Lock her up, if necessary. Don't permit her +to say one word to anybody—<i>anybody</i> you understand, +except the chief." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm left them there. He passed along +the hall, glancing in each room as he went, +until he came to a short flight of stairs leading +toward the kitchen. He went on down +silently. The lights were burning, but the place +was still, deserted. All the servants who belonged +there were evidently, for the moment, +transferred to other posts. He passed on +through the kitchen and out the back door into +the street. +</p> +<p> +A little distance away, leaning against a +lamp-post, a man was standing. He might +have been waiting for a car. Mr. Grimm approached +him. +</p> +<p> +"Beg pardon," he said, "did you see a woman +come out of the back door, there?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes, just a moment or so ago," replied the +stranger. "She got into an automobile at the +corner. I imagine this is hers," and he extended +a handkerchief, a dainty, perfumed trifle +of lace. "I picked it up immediately after she +passed." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm took the handkerchief and examined +it under the light. For a time he was +thoughtful, with lowered eyes, which, finally +raised, met those of the stranger with a scrutinizing +stare. +</p> +<p> +"Why," asked Mr. Grimm slowly and distinctly, +"why did you slam the door in the girl's +face?" +</p> +<p> +"Why did I—what?" came the answering +question. +</p> +<p> +"Why did you slam the door in the girl's +face?" Mr. Grimm repeated slowly. +</p> +<p> +The stranger stared in utter amazement—an +amazement so frank, so unacted, so genuine, +that Mr. Grimm was satisfied. +</p> +<p> +"Did you see a man come out the door?" Mr. +Grimm pursued. +</p> +<p> +"No. Say, young fellow, I guess you've had +a little too much to drink, haven't you?" +</p> +<p> +But by that time Mr. Grimm was turning the +corner. +</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH5"><!-- CHAPTER 5 --></a> +<h3> + V +</h3> +<h3> +A VISIT TO THE COUNT +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +The bland serenity of Mr. Campbell's +face was disturbed by thin, spidery lines +of perplexity, and the guileless blue eyes +were vacant as he stared at the top of his desk. +Mr. Grimm was talking. +</p> +<p> +"From the moment Miss Thorne turned the +corner I lost all trace of her," he said. "Either +she had an automobile in waiting, or else she was +lucky enough to find one immediately she came +out. She did not return to the embassy ball last +night—that much is certain." He paused reflectively. +"She is a guest of Señorita Inez +Rodriguez at the Venezuelan legation," he added. +</p> +<p> +"Yes, I know," his chief nodded. +</p> +<p> +"I didn't attempt to see her there last night +for two reasons," Mr. Grimm continued. "First, +she can have no possible knowledge of the fact +that she is suspected, unless perhaps the man +who slammed the door—" He paused. "Anyway, +she will not attempt to leave Washington; +I am confident of that. Again, it didn't seem +wise to me to employ the ordinary crude police +methods in the case—that is, go to the Venezuelan +legation and kick up a row." +</p> +<p> +For a long time Campbell was silent; the perplexed +lines still furrowed his benevolent forehead. +</p> +<p> +"The president is very anxious that we get +to facts in this reported Latin alliance as soon +as possible," he said at last, irrelevantly. "He +mentioned the matter last night, and he has been +keeping in constant communication with Gault, +in Lisbon, who, however, has not been able to +add materially to the original despatch. Under +all the circumstances don't you think it would +be best for me to relieve you of the investigation +of this shooting affair so that you can concentrate +on this greater and more important +thing?" +</p> +<p> +"Will Señor Alvarez die?" asked Mr. Grimm +in turn. +</p> +<p> +"His condition is serious, although the wound +is not necessarily fatal," was the reply. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm arose, stretched his long legs and +stood for a little while gazing out the window. +Finally he turned to his chief: +</p> +<p> +"What do we know, here in the bureau, about +Miss Thorne?" +</p> +<p> +"Thus far the reports on her are of the usual +perfunctory nature," Mr. Campbell explained. +He drew a card from a pigeonhole of his desk +and glanced at it. "She arrived in Washington +two weeks and two days ago from New York, +off the <i>Lusitania</i>, from Liverpool. She brought +some sort of an introduction to Count di Rosini, +the Italian ambassador, and he obtained for her +a special invitation to the state ball, which was +held that night. Until four days ago she was +a guest at the Italian embassy, but now, as you +know, is a guest at the Venezuelan legation. +Since her arrival here she has been prominently +pushed forward into society; she has gone +everywhere, and been received everywhere in the +diplomatic set. We have no knowledge of her +beyond this." +</p> +<p> +There was a question in Mr. Grimm's listless +eyes as they met those of his chief. The same +line of thought was running in both their minds, +born, perhaps, of the association of ideas—Italy +as one of three great nations known to be +in the Latin compact; Prince Benedetto d'Abruzzi, +of Italy, the secret envoy of three countries; +the sudden appearance of Miss Thorne +at the Italian embassy. And in the mind of the +younger man there was more than this—a definite +knowledge of a message cunningly transmitted +to Mr. Rankin, of the German embassy, +by Miss Thorne there in the ball-room. +</p> +<p> +"Can you imagine—" he asked slowly, "can +you imagine a person who would be of more +value to the Latin governments in Washington +right at this stage of the negotiations than a +brilliant woman agent?" +</p> +<p> +"I most certainly can not," was the chief's unhesitating +response. +</p> +<p> +"In that case I <i>don't</i> think it would be wise to +transfer the investigation of the shooting affair +to another man," said Mr. Grimm emphatically, +reverting to his chief's question. "I think, on +the contrary, we should find out more about Miss +Thorne." +</p> +<p> +"Precisely," Campbell agreed. +</p> +<p> +"Ask all the great capitals about her—Madrid, +Paris and Rome, particularly; then, perhaps, +London and Berlin and St. Petersburg." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Campbell thoughtfully scribbled the +names of the cities on a slip of paper. +</p> +<p> +"Do you intend to arrest Miss Thorne for the +shooting?" he queried. +</p> +<p> +"I don't know," replied Mr. Grimm frankly. +"I don't know," he repeated musingly. "If I +<i>do</i> arrest her immediately I may cut off a clue +which will lead to the other affair. I don't +know," he concluded. +</p> +<p> +"Use your own judgment, and bear in mind +that a man—<i>a man</i> slammed the door in the +maid's face." +</p> +<p> +"I shall not forget him," Mr. Grimm answered. +"Now I'm going over to talk to Count +di Rosini for a while." +</p> +<p> +The young man went out, thoughtfully tugging +at his gloves. The Italian ambassador received +him with an inquiring uplift of his dark +brows. +</p> +<p> +"I came to make some inquiries in regard to +Miss Thorne—Miss Isabel Thorne," Mr. Grimm +informed him frankly. +</p> +<p> +The count was surprised, but it didn't appear +in his face. +</p> +<p> +"As I understand it," the young man pursued, +"you are sponsor for her in Washington?" +</p> +<p> +The count, evasively diplomatic, born and +bred in a school of caution, considered the question +from every standpoint. +</p> +<p> +"It may be that I am so regarded," he admitted +at last. +</p> +<p> +"May I inquire if the sponsorship is official, +personal, social, or all three?" Mr. Grimm continued. +</p> +<p> +There was silence for a long time. +</p> +<p> +"I don't see the trend of your questioning," +said the ambassador finally. "Miss Thorne is +worthy of my protection in every way." +</p> +<p> +"Let's suppose a case," suggested Mr. Grimm +blandly. "Suppose Miss Thorne had—had, let +us say, shot a man, and he was about to die, +would you feel justified in withdrawing that—that +protection, as you call it?" +</p> +<p> +"Such a thing is preposterous!" exclaimed +the ambassador. "The utter absurdity of such +a charge would impel me to offer her every assistance." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm nodded. +</p> +<p> +"And if it were proved to your satisfaction +that she <i>did</i> shoot him?" he went on evenly. +</p> +<p> +The count's lips were drawn together in a +straight line. +</p> +<p> +"Whom, may I ask," he inquired frigidly, +"are we supposing that Miss Thorne shot?" +</p> +<p> +"No one, particularly," Mr. Grimm assured +him easily. "Just suppose that she <i>had</i> shot +anybody—me, say, or Señor Alvarez?" +</p> +<p> +"I can't answer a question so ridiculous as +that." +</p> +<p> +"And suppose we go a little further," Mr. +Grimm insisted pleasantly, "and assume that +you <i>knew</i> she <i>had</i> shot some one, say Señor Alvarez, +and you <i>could</i> protect her from the consequences, +<i>would</i> you?" +</p> +<p> +"I decline to suppose anything so utterly absurd," +was the rejoinder. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm sat with his elbows on his knees, +idly twisting a seal ring on his little finger. +The searching eyes of the ambassador found his +face blankly inscrutable. +</p> +<p> +"Diplomatic representatives in Washington +have certain obligations to this government," +the young man reminded him. "We—that is, +the government of the United States—undertake +to guarantee the personal safety of every +accredited representative; in return for that protection +we must insist upon the name and identity +of a dangerous person who may be known +to any foreign representative. Understand, +please, I'm not asserting that Miss Thorne is +a dangerous person. You are sponsor for her +here. Is she, in every way, worthy of your protection?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes," said the ambassador flatly. +</p> +<p> +"I can take it, then, that the introduction she +brought to you is from a person whose position +is high enough to insure Miss Thorne's position?" +</p> +<p> +"That is correct." +</p> +<p> +"Very well!" +</p> +<p> +And Mr. Grimm went away. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="CH6"><!-- CHAPTER 6 --></a> +<h3> + VI +</h3> + +<h3> +REVELATIONS +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +Some vague, indefinable shadow darkened +Miss Thorne's clear, blue-gray eyes, in +sharp contrast to the glow of radiant +health in her cheeks, as she stepped from an automobile +in front of the Venezuelan legation, +and ran lightly up the steps. A liveried servant +opened the door. +</p> +<p> +"A gentleman is waiting for you, Madam," +he announced. "His card is here on the—" +</p> +<p> +"I was expecting him," she interrupted. +</p> +<p> +"Which room, please?" +</p> +<p> +"The blue room, Madam." +</p> +<p> +Miss Thorne passed along the hallway which +led to a suite of small drawing-rooms opening +on a garden in the rear, pushed aside the portières, +and entered. +</p> +<p> +"I'm sorry I've kept you—" she began, and +then, in a tone of surprise: "I beg your pardon." +</p> +<p> +A gentleman rose and bowed gravely. +</p> +<p> +"I am Mr. Grimm of the Secret Service," he +informed her with frank courtesy. "I am afraid +you were expecting some one else; I handed my +card to the footman." +</p> +<p> +For an instant the blue-gray eyes opened +wide in astonishment, and then some quick, +subtle change swept over Miss Thorne's face. +She smiled graciously and motioned him to a +seat. +</p> +<p> +"This is quite a different meeting from the +one Señorita Rodriguez had planned, isn't it?" +she asked. +</p> +<p> +There was a taunting curve on her scarlet +lips; the shadow passed from her eyes; her slim, +white hands lay idle in her lap. Mr. Grimm regarded +her reflectively. There was a determination +of steel back of this charming exterior; +there was an indomitable will, a keen brain, and +all of a woman's intuition to reckon with. She +was silent, with a questioning upward slant of +her arched brows. +</p> +<p> +"I am not mistaken in assuming that you are +a secret agent of the Italian government, am I?" +he queried finally. +</p> +<p> +"No," she responded readily. +</p> +<p> +"In that event I may speak with perfect +frankness?" he went on. "It would be as useless +as it would be absurd to approach the matter in +any other manner?" It was a question. +</p> +<p> +Miss Thorne was still smiling, but again the +vague, indefinable shadow, momentarily lifted, +darkened her eyes. +</p> +<p> +"You may be frank, of course," she said +pleasantly. "Please go on." +</p> +<p> +"Señor Alvarez was shot at the German Embassy +Ball last night," Mr. Grimm told her. +</p> +<p> +Miss Thorne nodded, as if in wonder. +</p> +<p> +"Did you, or did you not, shoot him?" +</p> +<p> +It was quite casual. She received the question +without change of countenance, but involuntarily +she caught her breath. It might have been +a sigh of relief. +</p> +<p> +"Why do you come to me with such a query?" +she asked in turn. +</p> +<p> +"I beg your pardon," interposed Mr. Grimm +steadily. "Did you, or did you not, shoot him?" +</p> +<p> +"No, of course I didn't shoot him," was the +reply. If there was any emotion in the tone it +was merely impatience. "Why do you come to +me?" she repeated. +</p> +<p> +"Why do I come to you?" Mr. Grimm echoed +the question, while his listless eyes rested on +her face. "I will be absolutely frank, as I feel +sure you would be under the same circumstances." +He paused a moment; she nodded. +"Well, immediately after the shooting you ran +along the hallway with a revolver in your hand; +you ran down the steps into the kitchen, and out +through the back door, where you entered an automobile. +That is not conjecture; it is susceptible +of proof by eye witnesses." +</p> +<p> +Miss Thorne rose suddenly with a queer, helpless +little gesture of her arms, and walked to the +window. She stood there for a long time with +her hands clasped behind her back. +</p> +<p> +"That brings us to another question," Mr. +Grimm continued mercilessly. "If you did not +shoot Señor Alvarez, do you know who did?" +</p> +<p> +There was another long pause. +</p> +<p> +"I want to believe you, Miss Thorne," he supplemented. +</p> +<p> +She turned quickly with something of defiance +in her attitude. +</p> +<p> +"Yes, I know," she said slowly. "It were useless +to deny it." +</p> +<p> +"Who was it?" +</p> +<p> +"I won't tell you." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm leaned forward in his chair, and +spoke earnestly. +</p> +<p> +"Understand, please, that by that answer you +assume equal guilt with the person who actually +did the shooting," he explained. "If you adhere +to it you compel me to regard you as an accomplice." +His questioning took a different line. +</p> +<p> +"Will you explain how the revolver came into +your possession?" +</p> +<p> +"Oh, I—I picked it up in the hallway there," +she replied vaguely. +</p> +<p> +"I want to believe you, Miss Thorne," Mr. +Grimm said again. +</p> +<p> +"You may. I picked it up in the hallway," +she repeated. "I saw it lying there and picked +it up." +</p> +<p> +"Why that, instead of giving an alarm?" +</p> +<p> +"No alarm was necessary. The shot itself +was an alarm." +</p> +<p> +"Then why," Mr. Grimm persisted coldly, +"did you run along the hallway and escape by +way of the kitchen? If you did not do the +shooting, why the necessity of escape, carrying +the revolver?" +</p> +<p> +There was that in the blue-gray eyes which +brought Mr. Grimm to his feet. His hands +gripped each other cruelly; his tone was calm as +always. +</p> +<p> +"Why did you take the revolver?" he asked. +</p> +<p> +Miss Thorne's head drooped forward a little, +and she was silent. +</p> +<p> +"There are only two possibilities, of course," +he went on. "First, that you, in spite of your +denial, did the shooting." +</p> +<p> +"I did not!" The words fairly burst from +her tightly closed lips. +</p> +<p> +"Or that you knew the revolver, and took it +to save the person, man or woman, who fired the +shot. I will assume, for the moment, that this +is correct. Where is the revolver?" +</p> +<p> +From the adjoining room there came a slight +noise, a faint breath of sound; or it might have +been only an echo of silence. Their eyes were +fixed each upon the others unwaveringly, with +not a flicker to indicate that either had heard. +After a moment Miss Thorne returned to her +chair and sat down. +</p> +<p> +"It's rather a singular situation, isn't it, Mr. +Grimm?" she inquired irrelevantly. "You, Mr. +Grimm of the Secret Service of the United +States; I, Isabel Thorne, a secret agent of Italy +together here, one accusing the other of a crime, +and perhaps with good reason." +</p> +<p> +"Where is the revolver?" Mr. Grimm insisted. +</p> +<p> +"If you were any one else <i>but</i> you! I could +not afford to be frank with you and—" +</p> +<p> +"If you had been any one else but <i>you</i> I +should have placed you under arrest when I entered +the room." +</p> +<p> +She smiled, and inclined her head. +</p> +<p> +"I understand," she said pleasantly. "For +the reason that you are Mr. Grimm of the Secret +Service I shall tell you the truth. I <i>did</i> take +the revolver because I knew who had fired the +shot. Believe me when I tell you that that person +did not act with my knowledge or consent. +You do believe that? You do?" She was pleading, +eager to convince him. +</p> +<p> +After a while Mr. Grimm nodded. +</p> +<p> +"The revolver is beyond your reach and shall +remain so," she resumed. "According to your +laws I suppose I am an accomplice. That is my +misfortune. It will in no way alter my determination +to keep silent. If I am arrested I can't +help it." She studied his face with hopeful eyes. +"Am I to be arrested?" +</p> +<p> +"Where is the paper that was taken from +Señor Alvarez immediately after he was shot?" +Mr. Grimm queried. +</p> +<p> +"I don't know," she replied frankly. +</p> +<p> +"As I understand it, then, the motive for the +shooting was to obtain possession of that paper? +For your government?" +</p> +<p> +"The individual who shot Señor Alvarez <i>did</i> +obtain the paper, yes. And now, please, am I +to be arrested?" +</p> +<p> +"And just what was the purpose, may I inquire, +of the message you telegraphed with your +fan in the ball-room?" +</p> +<p> +"You read that?" exclaimed Miss Thorne in +mock astonishment. "You read that?" +</p> +<p> +"And the man who read that message? Perhaps +he shot the señor?" +</p> +<p> +"Perhaps," she taunted. +</p> +<p> +For a long time Mr. Grimm stood staring at +her, staring, staring. She, too, rose, and faced +him quietly. +</p> +<p> +"Am I to be arrested?" she asked again. +</p> +<p> +"Why do you make me do it?" he demanded. +</p> +<p> +"That is my affair." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm laid a hand upon her arm, a hand +that had never known nervousness. A moment +longer he stared, and then: +</p> +<p> +"Madam, you are my prisoner for the attempted +murder of Señor Alvarez!" +</p> +<p> +The rings on the portières behind him clicked +sharply, and the draperies parted. Mr. Grimm +stood motionless, with his hand on Miss Thorne's +arm. +</p> +<p> +"You were inquiring a moment ago for a revolver," +came in a man's voice. "Here it is!" +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm found himself inspecting the +weapon from the barrel end. After a moment +his glance shifted to the blazing eyes of the man +who held it—a young man, rather slight, with +clean-cut, aristocratic features, and of the pronounced +Italian type. +</p> + +<a name="image-2"><!-- Image 2 --></a> +<p class="figure"> +<a href="images/img2.jpg"> +<img width="60%" src="images/img2.jpg" +alt="He Found Himself inspecting the Weapon from the Barrel End."/></a><br /> +<b>"He Found Himself inspecting the Weapon from the Barrel End."</b> +</p> + +<p> +"My God!" The words came from Miss +Thorne's lips almost in a scream. "Don't—!" +</p> +<p> +"I did make some inquiries about a revolver, +yes," Mr. Grimm interrupted quietly. "Is this +the one?" +</p> +<p> +He raised his hand quite casually, and his +fingers closed like steel around the weapon. Behind +his back Miss Thorne made some quick emphatic +gesture, and the new-comer released the +revolver. +</p> +<p> +"I shall ask you, please, to free Miss Thorne," +he requested courteously. "I shot Señor Alvarez. +I, too, am a secret agent of the Italian government, +willing and able to defend myself. Miss +Thorne has told you the truth; she had nothing +whatever to do with it. She took the weapon +and escaped because it was mine. Here is the +paper that was taken from Señor Alvarez," and +he offered a sealed envelope. "I have read it; +it is not what I expected. You may return it to +Señor Alvarez with my compliments." +</p> +<p> +After a moment Mr. Grimm's hand fell away +from Miss Thorne's arm, and he regarded the +new-comer with an interest in which admiration, +even, played a part. +</p> +<p> +"Your name?" he asked finally. +</p> +<p> +"Pietro Petrozinni," was the ready reply. +"As I say, I accept all responsibility." +</p> +<p> +A few minutes later Mr. Grimm and his prisoner +passed out of the legation side by side, and +strolled down the street together, in amicable +conversation. Half an hour later Señor Alvarez +identified Pietro Petrozinni as the man who shot +him; and the maid servant expressed a belief +that he was the man who slammed the door in her +face. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="CH7"><!-- CHAPTER 7 --></a> +<h3> + VII +</h3> + +<h3> +THE SIGNAL +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +"And the original question remains unanswered," +remarked Mr. Campbell. +</p> +<p> +"The original question?" repeated +Mr. Grimm. +</p> +<p> +"<i>Where</i> is Prince Benedetto d'Abruzzi, the +secret envoy?" his chief reminded him. +</p> +<p> +"I wonder!" mused the young man. +</p> +<p> +"If the Latin compact is signed in the United +States—?" +</p> +<p> +"The Latin compact will <i>not</i> be signed in the +United States," Mr. Grimm interrupted. And +then, after a moment: "Have we received any +further reports on Miss Thorne? I mean reports +from our foreign agents?" +</p> +<p> +The chief shook his head. +</p> +<p> +"Inevitably, by some act or word, she will lead +us to the prince," declared Mr. Grimm, "and the +moment he is known to us everything becomes +plain sailing. We know she <i>is</i> a secret agent—I expected +a denial, but she was quite frank +about it. And I had no intention whatever of +placing her under arrest. I knew some one was +in the adjoining room because of a slight noise +in there, and I knew she knew it. She raised her +voice a little, obviously for the benefit of whoever +was there. From that point everything I +said and did was to compel that person, whoever +it was, to show himself." +</p> +<p> +His chief nodded, understandingly. Mr. +Grimm was silent for a little, then went on: +</p> +<p> +"The last possibility in my mind at that moment," +he confessed, "was that the person in +there was the man who shot Señor Alvarez. +Frankly I had half an idea that—that it might +be the prince in person." Suddenly his mood +changed: "And now our lady of mystery may +come and go as she likes because I know, even if +a dozen of our men have ransacked Washington +in vain for the prince, she will inevitably lead +us to him. And that reminds me: I should like +to borrow Blair, and Hastings, and Johnson. +Please plant them so they may keep constant +watch on Miss Thorne. Let them report to you, +and, wherever I am, I will reach you over the +'phone." +</p> +<p> +"By the way, what was in that sealed packet +that was taken from Señor Alvarez?" Campbell +inquired curiously. +</p> +<p> +"It had something to do with some railroad +franchises," responded Mr. Grimm as he rose. +"I sealed it again and returned it to the señor. +Evidently it was not what Signor Petrozinni expected +to find—in fact, he admitted it wasn't +what he was looking for." +</p> +<p> +For a little while the two men gazed thoughtfully, +each into the eyes of the other, then Mr. +Grimm entered his private office where he sat for +an hour with his immaculate boots on his desk, +thinking. A world-war—he had been thrust +forward by his government to prevent it—subtle +blue-gray eyes—his Highness, Prince Benedetto +d'Abruzzi—a haunting smile and scarlet lips. +</p> +<p> +At about the moment he rose to go out, Miss +Thorne, closely veiled, left the Venezuelan legation +and walked rapidly down the street to a +corner, where, without a word, she entered a +waiting automobile. The wheels spun and the car +leaped forward. For a mile or more it wound +aimlessly in and out, occasionally bisecting its +own path; finally Miss Thorne leaned forward +and touched the chauffeur on the arm. +</p> +<p> +"Now!" she said. +</p> +<p> +The car straightened out into a street of +stately residences and scuttled along until the +placid bosom of the Potomac came into view; +beside that for a few minutes, then over the +bridge to the Virginia side, in the dilapidated +little city of Alexandria. The car did not slacken +its speed, but wound in and out through +dingy streets, past tumble-down negro huts, for +half an hour before it came to a standstill in +front of an old brick mansion. +</p> +<p> +"This is number ninety-seven," the chauffeur +announced. +</p> +<p> +Miss Thorne entered the house with a key +and was gone for ten minutes, perhaps. She +was readjusting her veil when she came out and +stepped into the car silently. Again it moved +forward, on to the end of the dingy street, and +finally into the open country. Three, four, five +miles, perhaps, out the old Baltimore Road, and +again the car stopped, this time in front of an +ancient colonial farm-house. +</p> +<p> +Outwardly the place seemed to be deserted. +The blinds, battered and stripped of paint by +wind and rain, were all closed, and one corner +of the small veranda had crumbled away from +age and neglect. A narrow path, strewn with +pine needles, led tortuously up to the door. In +the rear of the house, rising from an old barn, a +thin pole with a cup-like attachment at the apex, +thrust its point into the open above the dense, +odorous pines. It appeared to be a wireless +mast. Miss Thorne passed around the house, +and entered the barn. +</p> +<p> +A man came forward and kissed her—a thin, +little man of indeterminate age—drying his +hands on a piece of cotton waste. His face was +pale with the pallor of one who knows little outdoor +life, his eyes deep-set and a-glitter with +some feverish inward fire, and the thin lips were +pressed together in a sharp line. Behind him +was a long bench on which were scattered tools +of various sorts, fantastically shaped chemical +apparatus, two or three electric batteries of odd +sizes, and ranged along one end of it, in a row, +were a score or more metal spheroids, a shade +larger than a one-pound shell. From somewhere +in the rear came the clatter of a small gasoline +engine, and still farther away was an electric +dynamo. +</p> +<p> +"Is the test arranged, Rosa?" the little man +queried eagerly in Italian. +</p> +<p> +"The date is not fixed yet," she replied in the +same language. "It will be, I hope, within the +next two weeks. And then—" +</p> +<p> +"Fame and fortune for both of us," he interrupted +with quick enthusiasm. "Ah, Rosa, I +have worked and waited so long for this, and +now it will come, and with it the dominion of the +world again by our country. How will I know +when the date is fixed? It would not be well to +write me here." +</p> +<p> +My lady of mystery stroked the slender, +nervous hand caressingly, and a great affection +shone in the blue-gray eyes. +</p> +<p> +"At eight o'clock on the night of the test," +she explained, still speaking Italian, "a single +light will appear at the apex of the capitol dome +in Washington. That is the signal agreed +upon; it can be seen by all in the city, and is +visible here from the window of your bedroom." +</p> +<p> +"Yes, yes," he exclaimed. The feverish glitter +in his eyes deepened. +</p> +<p> +"If there is a fog, of course you will not attempt +the test," she went on. +</p> +<p> +"No, not in a fog," he put in quickly. "It +must be clear." +</p> +<p> +"And if it is clear you can see the light in the +dome without difficulty." +</p> +<p> +"And all your plans are working out well?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes. And yours?" +</p> +<p> +"I don't think there is any question but that +both England and the United States will buy. +Do you know what it means? Do you know what +it means?" He was silent a moment, his hands +working nervously. Then, with an effort: "And +his Highness?" +</p> +<p> +"His Highness is safe." The subtle eyes +grew misty, thoughtful for a moment, then +cleared again. "He is safe," she repeated. +</p> +<p> +"Mexico and Venezuela were—?" he began. +</p> +<p> +"We don't know, yet, what they will do. The +Venezuelan answer is locked in the safe at the +legation; I will know what it is within forty-eight +hours." She was silent a little. "Our difficulty +now, our greatest difficulty, is the hostility +of the French ambassador to the compact. +His government has not yet notified him of the +presence of Prince d'Abruzzi; he does not believe +in the feasibility of the plan, and we have +to—to proceed to extremes to prevent him working +against us." +</p> +<p> +"But they <i>must</i> see the incalculable advantages +to follow upon such a compact, with the +vast power that will be given to them over the +whole earth by this." He indicated the long, +littered work-table. "They <i>must</i> see it." +</p> +<p> +"They will see it, Luigi," said Miss Thorne +gently. "And now, how are you? Are you +well? Are you comfortable? It's such a dreary +old place here." +</p> +<p> +"I suppose so," he replied, and he met the solicitous +blue-gray eyes for an instant. "Yes, I +am quite comfortable," he added. "I have no +time to be otherwise with all the work I must do. +It will mean so much!" +</p> +<p> +They were both silent for a time. Finally +Miss Thorne walked over to the long table and +curiously lifted one of the spheroids. It was a +sinister looking thing, nickeled, glittering. At +one end of it was a delicate, vibratory apparatus, +not unlike the transmitter of a telephone, +and the other end was threaded, as if the +spheroid was made as an attachment to some +other device. +</p> +<p> +"With that we control the world!" exclaimed +the man triumphantly. "And it's mine, Rosa, +mine!" +</p> +<p> +"It's wonderful!" she mused softly. "Wonderful! +And now I must go. I may not see you +again until after the test, because I shall be +watched and followed wherever I go. If I get an +opportunity I shall reach you by telephone, but +not even that unless it is necessary. There is +always danger, always danger!" she repeated +thoughtfully. She was thinking of Mr. Grimm. +</p> +<p> +"I understand," said the man simply. +</p> +<p> +"And look out for the signal—the light in +the apex of the capitol dome," she went on. "I +understand the night must be perfectly clear; +and <i>you</i> understand that the test is to be made +promptly at three o'clock by your chronometer?" +</p> +<p> +"At three o'clock," he repeated. +</p> +<p> +For a moment they stood with their arms +around each other, then tenderly his visitor +kissed him, and went out. He remained looking +after her vacantly until the chug-chug of her +automobile, as it moved off down the road, was +lost in the distance, then turned again to the +long work-table. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="CH8"><!-- CHAPTER 8 --></a> +<h3> + VIII +</h3> + +<h3> +MISS THORNE AND NOT MISS THORNE +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +From a pleasant, wide-open bay-window +of her apartments on the second floor, +Miss Thorne looked out upon the avenue +with inscrutable eyes. Behind the closely +drawn shutters of another bay-window, farther +down the avenue, on the corner, she knew a man +named Hastings was hiding; she knew that for +an hour or more he had been watching her as +she wrote. In the other direction, in a house +near the corner, another man named Blair was +similarly ensconced, and he, too, had been watching +as she wrote. There should be a third man, +Johnson. Miss Thorne curiously studied the +face of each passer-by, seeking therein something +to remember. +</p> +<p> +She sat at the little mahogany desk and a +note with the ink yet wet upon it lay face up before +her. It was addressed to Signor Pietro +Petrozinni in the district prison, and read: +</p> +<blockquote><p>"My Dear Friend: +</p> +<p> +"I have been waiting to write you with the +hope that I could report Señor Alvarez out of +danger, but his condition, I regret to say, remains +unchanged. Shall I send an attorney to +you? Would you like a book of any kind? Or +some delicacy sent in from a restaurant? Can +I be of any service to you in any way? If I can +please drop me a line. +</p> +<p> +"Sincerely, +</p> +<p> +"Isabel Thorne."</p></blockquote> +<p> +At last she rose and standing in the window +read the note over, folded it, placed it in an envelope +and sealed it. A maid came in answer to her +ring, and there at the window, under the watchful +eyes of Blair and Hastings—and, perhaps, +Johnson—she handed the note to the maid with +instructions to mail it immediately. Two minutes +later she saw the maid go out along the +avenue to a post-box on the corner. +</p> +<p> +Then she drew back into the shadow of the +room, slipped on a dark-colored wrap, and, +standing away from the window, safe beyond the +reach of prying eyes, waited patiently for the +postman. He appeared about five o'clock and +simultaneously another man turned the corner +near the post-box and spoke to him. Then, together, +they disappeared from view around the +corner. +</p> +<p> +"So that's Johnson, is it?" mused Miss +Thorne, and she smiled a little. "Mr. Grimm +certainly pays me the compliment of having me +carefully watched." +</p> +<p> +A few minutes later she dropped into the seat +at the desk again. The dark wrap had been +thrown aside and Hastings and Blair from their +hiding-places could see her distinctly. After +a while they saw her rise quickly, as an automobile +turned into the avenue, and lean toward the +window eagerly looking out. The car came to +a standstill in front of the legation, and Mr. +Cadwallader, an under-secretary of the British +embassy, who was alone in the car, raised his +cap. She nodded and smiled, then disappeared +in the shadows of the room again. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Cadwallader went to the door, spoke to +the servant there, then returned and busied himself +about the car. Hastings and Blair watched +intently both the door and the window for a +long time; finally a closely veiled and muffled +figure appeared at the bay-window, and waved +a gloved hand at Mr. Cadwallader, who again +lifted his cap. A minute later the veiled woman +came out of the front door, shook hands with +Mr. Cadwallader, and got in the car. He also +climbed in, and the car moved slowly away. +</p> +<p> +Simultaneously the front door of the house +on the corner, where Hastings had been hiding, +and the front door of the house near the corner, +where Blair had been hiding, opened and two +heads peered out. As the car approached Hastings' +hiding-place he withdrew into the hallway; +but Blair came out and hurried past the legation +in the direction of the rapidly disappearing +motor. Hastings joined him; they spoke together, +then turned the corner. +</p> +<p> +It was about ten o'clock that night when +Hastings reported to Mr. Campbell at his home. +</p> +<p> +"We followed the car in a rented automobile +from the time it turned the corner, out through +Alexandria, and along the old Baltimore Road +into the city of Baltimore," he explained. "It +was dark by the time we reached Alexandria, +but we stuck to the car ahead, running without +lights until we came in sight of Druid Hill Park, +and then we had to show lights or be held up. +We covered those forty miles going in less than +two hours. +</p> +<p> +"After the car passed Druid Hill it slowed up +a little, and ran off the turnpike into North Avenue, +then into North Charles Street, and slowly +along that as if they were looking for a number. +At last it stopped and Miss Thorne got +out and entered a house. She was gone for +more than half an hour, leaving Mr. Cadwallader +with the car. While she was gone I made +some inquiries and learned that the house was +occupied by a Mr. Thomas Q. Griswold. I don't +know anything else about him; Blair may have +learned something. +</p> +<p> +"Now comes the curious part of it," and +Hastings looked a little sheepish. "When Miss +Thorne came out of the house she was not Miss +Thorne at all—<i>she was Señorita Inez Rodriguez</i>, +daughter of the Venezuelan minister. She +wore the same clothing Miss Thorne had worn +going, but her veil was lifted. Veiled and all +muffled up one would have taken oath it was the +same woman. She and Cadwallader are back in +Washington now, or are coming. That's all, +except Blair is still in Baltimore, awaiting orders. +I caught the train from the Charles Street +station and came back. Johnson, you know—" +</p> +<p> +"Yes, I've seen Johnson," interrupted Campbell. +"Are you absolutely positive that the +woman you saw get into the automobile with +Mr. Cadwallader was Miss Thorne?" +</p> +<p> +"Absolutely," replied Hastings without hesitation. +"I saw her in her own room with her +wraps on, then saw her come down and get into +the car." +</p> +<p> +"That's all," said the chief. "Good night." +For an hour or more he sat in a great, comfortable +chair in the smoking-room of his own +home, the guileless blue eyes vacant, staring, +and spidery lines in the benevolent forehead. +</p> +<hr> +<p> +On the morning of the second day following, +Señor Rodriguez, the minister from Venezuela, +reported to the Secret Service Bureau the disappearance +of fifty thousand dollars in gold from +a safe in his private office at the legation. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="CH9"><!-- CHAPTER 9 --></a> +<h3> + IX +</h3> + +<h3> +FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +Mr. Campbell was talking. +</p> +<p> +"For several months past," he said, +"the International Investment Company, +through its representative, Mr. Cressy, +has been secretly negotiating with Señor Rodriguez +for certain asphalt properties in Venezuela. +Three days ago these negotiations were successfully +concluded, and yesterday afternoon Mr. +Cressy, in secret, paid to Señor Rodriguez, fifty +thousand dollars in American gold, the first of +four payments of similar sums. This gold was +to have been shipped to Philadelphia by express +to-day to catch a steamer for Venezuela." +Mr. Grimm nodded. +</p> +<p> +"The fact that this gold was in Señor Rodriguez's +possession could not have been known to +more than half a dozen persons, as the negotiations +throughout have been in strict secrecy," +and Mr. Campbell smiled benignly. "So much! +Now, Señor Rodriguez has just telephoned asking +that I send a man to the legation at once. +The gold was kept there over night; or perhaps +I should say that the señor intended to +keep it there over night." Mr. Campbell stared +at Mr. Grimm for a moment, then: "Miss +Thorne, you know, is a guest at the legation, +that is why I am referring the matter to you." +</p> +<p> +"I understand," said Mr. Grimm. +</p> +<p> +And ten minutes later Mr. Grimm presented +himself to Señor Rodriguez. The minister from +Venezuela, bubbling with excitement, was pacing +forth and back across his office, ruffling his gray-black +hair with nervous, twining fingers. Mr. +Grimm sat down. +</p> +<p> +"Señor," he inquired placidly, "fifty thousand +dollars in gold would weigh nearly two +hundred pounds, wouldn't it?" +</p> +<p> +Señor Rodriguez stared at him blankly. +</p> +<p> +"<i>Si, Señor</i>," he agreed absently. And then, +in English: "Yes, I should imagine so." +</p> +<p> +"Well, was all of it stolen, or only a part of +it?" Mr. Grimm went on. +</p> +<p> +The minister gazed into the listless eyes for +a time, then, apparently bewildered, walked forth +and back across the room again. Finally he sat +down. +</p> +<p> +"All of it," he admitted. "I can't understand +it. No one, not a soul in this house, except myself, +knew it was here." +</p> +<p> +"In addition to this weight of, say two hundred +pounds, fifty thousand dollars would make +considerable bulk," mused Mr. Grimm. "Very +well! Therefore it would appear that the person, +or persons, who got it must have gone away +from here heavily laden?" +</p> +<p> +Señor Rodriguez nodded. +</p> +<p> +"And now, Señor," Mr. Grimm continued, "if +you will kindly state the circumstances immediately +preceding and following the theft?" +</p> +<p> +A slight frown which had been growing upon +the smooth brow of the diplomatist was instantly +dissipated. +</p> +<p> +"The money—fifty thousand dollars in gold +coin—was paid to me yesterday afternoon about +four o'clock," he began slowly, in explanation. +</p> +<p> +"By Mr. Cressy of the International Investment +Company," supplemented Mr. Grimm. +"Yes. Go on." +</p> +<p> +The diplomatist favored the young man with +one sharp, inquiring glance, and continued: +</p> +<p> +"The gentleman who paid the money remained +here from four until nine o'clock while +I, personally, counted it. As I counted it I +placed it in canvas bags and when he had gone +I took these bags from this room into that," he +indicated a closed door to his right, "and personally +stowed them away in the safe. I closed +and locked the door of the safe myself; I <i>know</i> +that it <i>was</i> locked. And that's all, except this +morning the money was gone—every dollar +of it." +</p> +<p> +"Safe blown?" inquired Mr. Grimm. +</p> +<p> +"No, Señor!" exclaimed the diplomatist with +sudden violence. "No, the safe was not blown! +It was <i>closed and locked</i>, exactly as I had left +it!" +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm was idly twisting the seal ring on +his little finger. +</p> +<p> +"Just as I left it!" Señor Rodriguez repeated +excitedly. "Last night after I locked the safe +door I tried it to make certain that it <i>was</i> locked. +I happened to notice then that the pointer on +the dial had stopped precisely at number forty-five. +This morning, when I unlocked the safe—and, +of course, I didn't know then that the +money had been taken—the pointer was still at +number forty-five." +</p> +<p> +He paused with one hand in the air; Mr. +Grimm continued to twist the seal ring. +</p> +<p> +"It was all like—like some trick on the stage," +the minister went on, "like the magician's disappearing +lady, or—or—! It was as though I +had not put the money into the safe at all!" +</p> +<p> +"Did you?" inquired Mr. Grimm amiably. +</p> +<p> +"Did I?" blazed Señor Rodriguez. "Why, +Señor—! I did!" he concluded meekly. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm believed him. +</p> +<p> +"Who else knows the combination of the +safe?" he queried. +</p> +<p> +"No one, Señor—not a living soul." +</p> +<p> +"Your secretary, for instance?" +</p> +<p> +"Not even my secretary." +</p> +<p> +"Some servant—some member of your family?" +</p> +<p> +"I tell you, Señor, not one person in all the +world knew that combination except myself," +Señor Rodriguez insisted. +</p> +<p> +"Your secretary—a servant—some member +of your family might have seen you unlock the +safe some time, and thus learned the combination?" +</p> +<p> +Señor Rodriguez did not quite know whether +to be annoyed at Mr. Grimm's persistence, or to +admire the tenacity with which he held to this +one point. +</p> +<p> +"You must understand, Señor Grimm, that +many state documents are kept in the safe," he +said finally, "therefore it is not advisable that +any one should know the combination. I have +made it an absolute rule, as did my predecessors +here, never to unlock the safe in the presence of +another person." +</p> +<p> +"State documents!" Mr. Grimm's lips silently +repeated the words. Then aloud: "Perhaps +there's a record of the combination somewhere? +If you had died suddenly, for instance, how +would the safe have been opened?" +</p> +<p> +"There would have been only one way, Señor—blow +it open. There is no record." +</p> +<p> +"Well, if we accept all that as true," observed +Mr. Grimm musingly, "it would seem that you +either didn't put the money into the safe at all, +or—please sit down, there's nothing personal in +this—or else the money was taken out of the +safe without it being unlocked. This last would +have been a miracle, and this is not the day of +miracles, therefore—!" +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm's well modulated voice trailed off +into silence. Señor Rodriguez came to his feet +with a blaze of anger in his eyes; Mr. Grimm +was watching him curiously. +</p> +<p> +"I understand then, Señor," said the minister +deliberately, "that you believe that I—!" +</p> +<p> +"I believe that you have told the truth," interrupted +Mr. Grimm placidly, "that is the truth +so far as you know it. But you have stated one +thing in error. Somebody besides yourself <i>does</i> +know the combination. Whether they knew it +or not at this time yesterday I can't say, but +somebody knows it now." +</p> +<p> +Señor Rodriguez drew a deep breath of relief. +The implied accusation had been withdrawn as +pleasantly and frankly as it had been put forward. +</p> +<p> +"I ran across a chap in New York once, for +instance," Mr. Grimm took the trouble to explain, +"who could unlock any safe—that is, any +safe of the kind used at that time—twelve or +fourteen years ago. So you see. I doubt if he +would be so successful with the new models, with +all their improvements, but then—! You know +he would have made an ideal burglar, that chap. +Now, Señor, who lives here in the legation with +you?" +</p> +<p> +"My secretary, Señor Diaz, my daughter +Inez, and just at the moment, a Miss Thorne—Miss +Isabel Thorne," the señor informed him. +"Also four servants—two men and two women." +</p> +<p> +"I've had the pleasure of meeting your +daughter and Miss Thorne," Mr. Grimm informed +him. "Now, suppose we take a look at +the safe?" +</p> +<p> +"Certainly." +</p> +<p> +Señor Rodriguez started toward the closed +door just as there came a timid knock from the +hall. He glanced at Mr. Grimm, who nodded, +then he called: +</p> +<p> +"Come in!" +</p> +<p> +The door opened, and Miss Thorne entered. +She was clad in some filmy, gossamer-like morning +gown with her radiant hair caught up on +her white neck. At sight of Mr. Grimm the +blue-gray eyes opened as if in surprise, and she +paused irresolutely. +</p> +<p> +"I beg your pardon, Señor," she said, addressing +the diplomatist. "I did not know you +were engaged. And Mr. Grimm!" She extended +a slim, white hand, and the young man +bowed low over it. "We are old friends," she +explained, smilingly, to the minister. Then: +"I think I must have dropped my handkerchief +when I was in here yesterday with Inez. Perhaps +you found it?" +</p> +<p> +"<i>Si, Señorita</i>," replied Señor Rodriguez gallantly. +"It is on my desk in here. Just a moment." +</p> +<p> +He opened the door and passed into the adjoining +room. Mr. Grimm's eyes met those of +Miss Isabel Thorne, and there was no listlessness +in them now, only interest. She smiled at him +tauntingly and lowered her lids. Señor Rodriguez +appeared from the other room with the +handkerchief. +</p> +<p> +"<i>Mil gracias, Señor</i>," she thanked him. +</p> +<p> +"<i>No hay de que, Señorita</i>," he returned, as he +opened the door for her. +</p> +<p> +"<i>Monsieur Grimm, au revoir</i>!" She dropped +a little curtsey, and still smiling, went out. +</p> +<p> +"She is charming, Señor," the diplomatist assured +him enthusiastically, albeit irrelevantly. +"Such vivacity, such personality, such—such—she +is charming." +</p> +<p> +"The safe, please," Mr. Grimm reminded him. +</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH10"><!-- CHAPTER 10 --></a> +<h3> + X +</h3> +<h3> +A SAFE OPENING +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +Together they entered the adjoining +room, which was small compared to the +one they had just left. Señor Rodriguez +used it as a private office. His desk was +on their right between two windows overlooking +the same pleasant little garden which was visible +from the suite of tiny drawing-rooms farther +along. The safe, a formidable looking receptacle +of black enameled steel, stood at their left, +closed and locked. The remaining wall space of +the room was given over to oak cabinets, evidently +a storage place for the less important +legation papers. +</p> +<p> +"Has any one besides yourself been in this +room to-day?" Mr. Grimm inquired. +</p> +<p> +"Not a soul, Señor," was the reply. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm went over and examined the windows. +They were both locked inside; and there +were no marks of any sort on the sills. +</p> +<p> +"They are just as I left them last night," explained +Señor Rodriguez. "I have not touched +them to-day." +</p> +<p> +"And there's only one door," mused Mr. +Grimm, meaning that by which they had entered. +"So it would appear that whoever was here last +night entered through that room. Very well." +</p> +<p> +He walked around the room once, opening and +shutting the doors of the cabinets as he passed, +and finally paused in front of the safe. A brief +examination of the nickeled dial and handle and +of the enameled edges of the heavy door satisfied +him that no force had been employed—the +safe had merely been unlocked. Whereupon he +sat himself down, cross-legged on the floor, in +front of it. +</p> +<p> +"What are the first and second figures of the +combination?" he asked. +</p> +<p> +"Thirty-six, then back to ten." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm set the dial at thirty-six, and +then, with his ear pressed closely against the +polished door, turned the dial slowly back. Señor +Rodriguez stood looking on helplessly, but none +the less intently. The pointer read ten, then +nine, eight, seven, five. Mr. Grimm gazed at it +thoughtfully, after which he did it all over +again, placidly and without haste. +</p> +<p> +"Now, we'll look inside, please," he requested, +rising. +</p> +<p> +Señor Rodriguez unlocked the safe the while +Mr. Grimm respectfully turned his eyes away, +then pulled the door wide open. The books had +been piled one on top of another and thrust into +various pigeonholes at the top. Mr. Grimm +understood that this disorder was the result of +making room at the bottom for the bulk of gold, +and asked no questions. Instead, he sat down +upon the floor again. +</p> +<p> +"The lock on this private compartment at the +top is broken," he remarked after a moment. +</p> +<p> +"<i>Si, Señor</i>," the diplomatist agreed. "Evidently +the robbers were not content with only +fifty thousand dollars in gold—they imagined +that something else of value was hidden there." +</p> +<p> +"Was there?" asked Mr. Grimm naively. He +didn't look around. +</p> +<p> +"Nothing of monetary value," the señor explained. +"There were some important state papers +in there—they are there yet—but no +money." +</p> +<p> +"None of the papers was stolen?" +</p> +<p> +"No, Señor. There were only nine packets—they are there yet." +</p> +<p> +"Contents all right?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes. I personally looked them over." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm drew out the packets of papers, +one by one. They were all unsealed save the +last. When he reached for that, Señor Rodriguez +made a quick, involuntary motion toward +it with his hand. +</p> +<p> +"This one's sealed," commented Mr. Grimm. +"It doesn't happen that you opened it and sealed +it again?" +</p> +<p> +Señor Rodriguez stood staring at him blankly +for a moment, then some sudden apprehension +was aroused, for a startled look came into his +eyes, and again he reached for the packet. +</p> +<p> +"<i>Dios mio</i>!" he exclaimed, "let me see, Señor." +</p> +<p> +"Going to open it?" asked Mr. Grimm. +</p> +<p> +"Yes, Señor. I had not thought of it before." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm rose and walked over to the window +where the light was better. He scrutinized +the sealed packet closely. There were three +red splotches of wax upon it, each impressed +with the legation seal; the envelope was without +marks otherwise. He turned and twisted it aimlessly, +and peered curiously at the various seals, +after which he handed it to the frankly impatient +diplomatist. +</p> +<p> +Señor Rodriguez opened it, with nervous, +twitching fingers. Mr. Grimm had turned toward +the safe again, but he heard the crackle of +parchment as some document was drawn out of +the envelope, and then came a deep sigh of relief. +Having satisfied his sudden fears for the +safety of the paper, whatever it was, the señor +placed it in another envelope and sealed it again +with elaborate care. Mr. Grimm dropped into +the swivel chair at the desk. +</p> +<p> +"Señor," he inquired pleasantly, "your +daughter and Miss Thorne were in this room +yesterday afternoon?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes," replied the diplomatist as if surprised +at the question. +</p> +<p> +"What time, please?" +</p> +<p> +"About three o'clock. They were going out +driving. Why?" +</p> +<p> +"And just where, please, did you find that +handkerchief?" continued Mr. Grimm. +</p> +<p> +"Handkerchief?" repeated the diplomatist. +"You mean Miss Thorne's handkerchief?" He +paused and regarded Mr. Grimm keenly. +"Señor, what am I to understand from that +question?" +</p> +<p> +"It was plain enough," replied Mr. Grimm. +"Where did you find that handkerchief?" There +was silence for an instant. "In this room?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes," replied Señor Rodriguez at last. +</p> +<p> +"Near the safe?" Mr. Grimm persisted. +</p> +<p> +"Yes," came the slow reply, again. "Just +here," and he indicated a spot a little to the left +of the safe. +</p> +<p> +"And <i>when</i> did you find it? Yesterday afternoon? +Last night? This morning?" +</p> +<p> +"This morning," and without any apparent +reason the diplomatist's face turned deathly +white. +</p> +<p> +"But, Señor—Señor, you are mistaken! There +can be nothing—! A woman! Two hundred +pounds of gold! Señor!" +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm was still pleasant about it; his +curiosity was absolutely impersonal; his eyes, +grown listless again, were turned straight into +the other's face. +</p> +<p> +"If that handkerchief had been there last +night, Señor," he resumed quietly, "wouldn't +you have noticed it when you placed the gold in +the safe?" +</p> +<p> +Señor Rodriguez stared at him a long time. +</p> +<p> +"I don't know," he said, at last. He dropped +back into a chair with his face in his hands. +"Señor," he burst out suddenly, impetuously, +after a moment, "if the gold is not recovered I +am ruined. You understand that better than I +can tell you. It's the kind of thing that could +not be explained to my government." He rose +suddenly and faced the impassive young man, +with merciless determination in his face. "You +must find the gold, Señor," he said. +</p> +<p> +"No matter who may be—who may suffer?" +inquired Mr. Grimm. +</p> +<p> +"Find the gold, Señor!" +</p> +<p> +"Very well," commented Mr. Grimm, without +moving. "Do me the favor, please, to regain +possession of the handkerchief you just returned +to Miss Thorne, and to send to me here your secretary, +Señor Diaz, and your servants, one by +one. I shall question them alone. No, don't be +alarmed. Unless they know of the robbery they +shall get no inkling of it from me. First, be +good enough to replace the packet in the safe, +and lock it." +</p> +<p> +Señor Rodriguez replaced the packet without +question, afterward locking the door, then went +out. A moment later Señor Diaz appeared. +He remained with Mr. Grimm for just eight +minutes. Señor Rodriguez entered again as his +secretary passed on, and laid a lace handkerchief +on the desk. Mr. Grimm stared at it curiously +for a long time. +</p> +<p> +"It's the same handkerchief?" +</p> +<p> +"<i>Si, Señor</i>." +</p> +<p> +"There's no doubt whatever about it?" +</p> +<p> +"No, Señor, I got it by—!" +</p> +<p> +"It's of no consequence," interrupted Mr. +Grimm. "Now the servants, please—the men +first." +</p> +<p> +The first of the men servants was in the room +two minutes; the second—the butler—was there +five minutes; one of the women was not questioned +at all; the other remained ten minutes. +Mr. Grimm followed her into the hall; Señor +Rodriguez stood there helpless, impatient. +</p> +<p> +"Well?" he demanded eagerly. +</p> +<p> +"I'm going out a little while," replied Mr. +Grimm placidly. "No one has even an intimation +of the affair—please keep the matter absolutely +to yourself until I return." +</p> +<p> +That was all. The door opened and closed, +and he was gone. +</p> +<p> +At the end of an hour he returned, passed on +through to the diplomatist's private office, sat +down in front of the locked safe again, and set +the dial at thirty-six. Señor Rodriguez looked +on, astonished, as Mr. Grimm pressed the soft +rubber sounder of a stethoscope against the +safe door and began turning the dial back toward +ten, slowly, slowly. Thirty-five minutes +later the lock clicked. Mr. Grimm rose, turned +the handle, and pulled the safe door open. +</p> +<p> +"That's how it was done," he explained to +the amazed diplomatist. "And now, please, have +a servant hand my card to Miss Thorne." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="CH11"><!-- CHAPTER 11 --></a> +<h3> + XI +</h3> + +<h3> +THE LACE HANDKERCHIEF +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +Still wearing the graceful, filmy morning +gown, with an added touch, of scarlet +in her hair—a single red rose—Miss +Thorne came into the drawing-room where Mr. +Grimm sat waiting. There was curiosity in her +manner, thinly veiled, but the haunting smile +still lingered about her lips. Mr. Grimm bowed +low, and placed a chair for her, after which he +stood for a time staring down at one slim, white +hand at rest on the arm of the seat. At last, he, +too, sat down. +</p> +<p> +"I believe," he said slowly, without preliminaries, +"this is your handkerchief?" +</p> +<p> +He offered the lacy trifle, odd in design, +unique in workmanship, obviously of foreign +texture, and she accepted it. +</p> +<p> +"Yes," she agreed readily, "I must have +dropped it again." +</p> +<p> +"That is the one handed to you by Señor +Rodriguez," Mr. Grimm told her. "I think you +said you lost it in his office yesterday afternoon?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes?" She nodded inquiringly. +</p> +<p> +"It may interest you to know that Señor +Rodriguez's butler positively identifies it as one +he restored to you twice at dinner last evening, +between seven and nine o'clock," Mr. Grimm +went on dispassionately. +</p> +<p> +"Indeed!" exclaimed Miss Thorne. +</p> +<p> +"The señor identifies it as one he found this +morning in his office," Mr. Grimm explained +obligingly. "During the night fifty thousand +dollars in gold were stolen from his safe." +</p> +<p> +There was not the slightest change of expression +in her face; the blue-gray eyes were still +inquiring in their gaze, the white hands still at +rest, the scarlet lips still curled slightly, an +echo of a smile. +</p> +<p> +"No force was used in opening the safe," Mr. +Grimm resumed. "It was unlocked. It's an old +model and I have demonstrated how it could +have been opened either with the assistance of +a stethoscope, which catches the sound of the +tumbler in the lock, or by a person of acute +hearing." +</p> +<p> +Miss Thorne sat motionless, waiting. +</p> +<p> +"All this means—what?" she inquired, at +length. +</p> +<p> +"I'll trouble you, please, to return the +money," requested Mr. Grimm courteously. +"No reason appears why you should have taken +it. But I'm not seeking reasons, nor am I seeking +disagreeable publicity—only the money." +</p> +<p> +"It seems to me you attach undue importance +to the handkerchief," she objected. +</p> +<p> +"That's a matter of opinion," Mr. Grimm remarked. +"It would be useless, even tedious, to +attempt to disprove a burglar theory, but +against it is the difficulty of entrance, the weight +of the gold, the ingenious method of opening +the safe, and the assumption that not more than +six persons knew the money was in the safe; +while a person in the house <i>might</i> have learned +it in any of a dozen ways. And, in addition, is +the fact that the handkerchief is odd, therefore +noticeable. A lace expert assures me there's +probably not another like it in the world." +</p> +<p> +He stopped. Miss Thorne's eyes sparkled +and a smile seemed to be tugging at the corners +of her mouth. She spread out the handkerchief +on her knees. +</p> +<p> +"You could identify this again, of course?" +she queried. +</p> +<p> +"Yes." +</p> +<p> +She thoughtfully crumpled up the bit of lace +in both hands, then opened them. There were +two handkerchiefs now—they were identical. +</p> +<p> +"Which is it, please?" she asked. +</p> +<p> +If Mr. Grimm was disappointed there was not +a trace of it on his face. She laughed outright, +gleefully, mockingly, then, demurely: +</p> +<p> +"Pardon me! You see, it's absurd. The +handkerchief the butler restored to me at dinner, +after I lost one in the señor's office, might +have been either of these, or one of ten other +duplicates in my room, all given to me by her +Maj—I mean," she corrected quickly, "by a +friend in Europe." She was silent for a moment. +"Is that all?" +</p> +<p> +"No," replied Mr. Grimm gravely, decisively. +"I'm not satisfied. I shall insist upon +the return of the money, and if it is not forthcoming +I dare say Count di Rosini, the Italian +ambassador, would be pleased to give his personal +check rather than have the matter become +public." She started to interrupt; he went on. +"In any event you will be requested to leave the +country." +</p> +<p> +Then, and not until then, a decided change +came over Miss Thorne's face. A deeper color +leaped to her cheeks, the smile faded from her +lips, and there was a flash of uneasiness in her +eyes. +</p> +<p> +"But if I am innocent?" she protested. +</p> +<p> +"You must prove it," continued Mr. Grimm +mercilessly. "Personally, I am convinced, and +Count di Rosini has practically assured me +that—" +</p> +<p> +"It's unjust!" she interrupted passionately. +"It's—it's—you have proved nothing. It's unheard +of! It's beyond—!" +</p> +<p> +Suddenly she became silent. A minute, two +minutes, three minutes passed; Mr. Grimm waited +patiently. +</p> +<p> +"Will you give me time and opportunity to +prove my innocence?" she demanded finally. +"And if I <i>do</i> convince you—?" +</p> +<p> +"I should be delighted to believe that I have +made a mistake," Mr. Grimm assured her. +"How much time? One day? Two days?" +</p> +<p> +"I will let you know within an hour at your +office," she told him. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm rose. +</p> +<p> +"And meanwhile, in case of accident, I shall +look to Count di Rosini for adjustment," he +added pointedly. "Good morning." +</p> +<p> +One hour and ten minutes later he received +this note, unsigned: +</p> +<p> +"Closed carriage will stop for you at southeast +corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and Fourteenth +Street to-night at one." +</p> +<p> +He was there; the carriage was on time; and +my lady of mystery was inside. He stepped +in and they swung out into Pennsylvania Avenue, +noiselessly over the asphalt. +</p> +<p> +"Should the gold be placed in your hands +now, within the hour," she queried solicitously, +"would it be necessary for you to know who was +the—the thief?" +</p> +<p> +"It would," Mr. Grimm responded without +hesitation. +</p> +<p> +"Even if it destroyed a reputation?" she +pleaded. +</p> +<p> +"The Secret Service rarely destroys a reputation, +Miss Thorne, although it holds itself in +readiness to do so. I dare say in this case there +would be no arrest or prosecution, because of—of +reasons which appear to be good." +</p> +<p> +"There wouldn't?" and there was a note of +eagerness in her voice. "The identity of the +guilty person would never appear?" +</p> +<p> +"It would become a matter of record in our +office, but beyond that I think not—at least in +this one instance." +</p> +<p> +Miss Thorne sat silent for a block or more. +</p> +<p> +"You'll admit, Mr. Grimm, that you have +forced me into a most remarkable position. You +seemed convinced of my guilt, and, if you'll +pardon me, without reason; then you made it +compulsory upon me to establish my innocence. +The only way for me to do that was to find the +guilty one. I have done it, and I'm sorry, because +it's a little tragedy." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm waited. +</p> +<p> +"It's a girl high in diplomatic society. Her +father's position is an honorable rather than a +lucrative one; he has no fortune. This girl +moves in a certain set devoted to bridge, and +stakes are high. She played and won, and +played and won, and on and on, until her winnings +were about eight thousand dollars. Then +luck turned. She began to lose. Her money +went, but she continued to play desperately. +Finally some old family jewels were pawned +without her father's knowledge, and ultimately +they were lost. One day she awoke to the fact +that she owed some nine or ten thousand dollars +in bridge debts. They were pressing and there +was no way to meet them. This meant exposure +and utter ruin, and women do strange things, +Mr. Grimm, to postpone such an ending to social +aspirations. I know this much is true, for +she related it all to me herself. +</p> +<p> +"At last, in some way—a misplaced letter, +perhaps, or a word overheard—-she learned that +fifty thousand dollars would be in the legation +safe overnight, and evidently she learned the +precise night." She paused a moment. "Here +is the address of a man in Baltimore, Thomas Q. +Griswold," and she passed a card to Mr. Grimm, +who sat motionless, listening. "About four +years ago the combination on the legation safe +was changed. This man was sent here to make +the change, therefore some one besides Señor +Rodriguez <i>does</i> know the combination. I have +communicated with this man to-day, for I saw +the possibility of just such a thing as this instead +of your stethoscope. By a trick and a +forged letter this girl obtained the combination +from this man." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm drew a long breath. +</p> +<p> +"She intended to take, perhaps, only what she +desperately needed—but at sight of it all—do +you see what must have been the temptation +then? We get out here." +</p> +<p> +There were many unanswered questions in +Mr. Grimm's mind. He repressed them for the +time, stepped out and assisted Miss Thorne +to alight. The carriage had turned out of +Pennsylvania Avenue, and at the moment he +didn't quite place himself. A narrow passageway +opened before them—evidently the rear entrance +to a house possibly in the next street. +Miss Thorne led the way unhesitatingly, cautiously +unlocked the door, and together they entered +a hall. Then there was a short flight of +stairs, and they stepped into a room, one of a +suite. She closed the door and turned on the +lights. +</p> +<p> +"The bags of gold are in the next room," she +said with the utmost composure. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm dragged them out of a dark +closet, opened one—there were ten—and allowed +the coins to dribble through his fingers. Finally +he turned and stared at Miss Thorne, who, pallid +and weary, stood looking on. +</p> +<p> +"Where are we?" he asked. "What house is +this?" +</p> +<p> +"The Venezuelan legation," she answered. +"We are standing less than forty feet from the +safe that was robbed. You see how easy—!" +</p> +<p> +"And whose room?" inquired Mr. Grimm +slowly. +</p> +<p> +"Must I answer?" she asked appealingly. +</p> +<p> +"You must!" +</p> +<p> +"Señorita Rodriguez—my hostess! Don't +you see what you've made me do? She and Mr. +Cadwallader made the trip to Baltimore in his +automobile, and—and—!" She stopped. "He +knows nothing of it," she added. +</p> +<p> +"Yes, I know," said Mr. Grimm. +</p> +<p> +He stood looking at her in silence for a moment, +staring deeply into the pleading eyes; +and a certain tense expression about his lips +passed. For an instant her hand trembled on +his arm, and he caught the fragrance of her +hair. +</p> +<p> +"Where is she now?" he asked. +</p> +<p> +"Playing bridge," replied Miss Thorne, with +a sad little smile. "It is always so—at least +twice a week, and she rarely returns before two +or half-past." She extended both hands impetuously, +entreatingly. "Please be generous, +Mr. Grimm. You have the gold; don't destroy +her." +</p> +<p> +Señor Rodriguez, the minister from Venezuela, +found the gold in his safe on the following +morning, with a brief note from Mr. Grimm, in +which there was no explanation of how or where +it had been found.... And two hours later +Monsieur Boisségur, ambassador from France +to the United States, disappeared from the embassy, +vanished! +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="CH12"><!-- CHAPTER 12 --></a> +<h3> + XII +</h3> + +<h3> +THE VANISHING DIPLOMATIST +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +It was three days after the ambassador's +disappearance that Monsieur Rigolot, secretary +of the French embassy and temporary +<i>chargé-d'affaires</i>, reported the matter to +Chief Campbell in the Secret Service Bureau, +adding thereto a detailed statement of several +singular incidents following close upon it. He +told it in order, concisely and to the point, while +Grimm and his chief listened. +</p> +<p> +"Monsieur Boisségur, the ambassador, you +understand, is a man whose habits are remarkably +regular," he began. "He has made it a +rule to be at his desk every morning at ten +o'clock, and between that time and one o'clock +he dictates his correspondence, and clears up +whatever routine work there is before him. I +have known him for many years, and have been +secretary of the embassy under him in Germany +and Japan and this country. I have never +known him to vary this general order of work +unless because of illness, or necessary absence. +</p> +<p> +"Well, Monsieur, last Tuesday—this is Friday—the +ambassador was at his desk as usual. +He dictated a dozen or more letters, and had begun +another—a private letter to his sister in +Paris. He was well along in this letter when, +without any apparent reason, he rose from his +desk and left the room, closing the door behind +him. His stenographer's impression was that +some detail of business had occurred to him, and +he had gone into the general office farther down +the hall to attend to it. I may say, Monsieur, +that this impression seemed strengthened by the +fact that he left a fresh cigarette burning in +his ash tray, and his pen was behind his ear. +It was all as if he had merely stepped out, intending +to return immediately—the sort of +thing, Monsieur, that any man might have done. +</p> +<p> +"It so happened that when he went out he +left a sentence of his letter incomplete. I tell +you this to show that the impulse to go must +have been a sudden one, yet there was nothing +in his manner, so his stenographer says, to indicate +excitement, or any other than his usual +frame of mind. It was about five minutes of +twelve o'clock—high noon—when he went out. +When he didn't return immediately the stenographer +began transcribing the letters. At one +o'clock Monsieur Boisségur still had not returned +and his stenographer went to luncheon." +</p> +<p> +As he talked some inbred excitement seemed to +be growing upon him, due, perhaps, to his recital +of the facts, and he paused at last to regain +control of himself. Incidentally he wondered +if Mr. Grimm was taking the slightest +interest in what he was saying. Certainly there +was nothing in his impassive face to indicate it. +</p> +<p> +"Understand, Monsieur," the secretary continued, +after a moment, "that I knew nothing +whatever of all this until late that afternoon—that +is, Tuesday afternoon about five o'clock. +I was engaged all day upon some important +work in my own office, and had had no occasion +to see Monsieur Boisségur since a word or so +when he came in at ten o'clock. My attention +was called to the affair finally by his stenographer, +Monsieur Netterville, who came to me +for instructions. He had finished the letters and +the ambassador had not returned to sign them. +At this point I began an investigation, Monsieur, +and the further I went the more uneasy I +grew. +</p> +<p> +"Now, Monsieur, there are only two entrances +to the embassy—the front door, where a servant +is in constant attendance from nine in the morning +until ten at night, and the rear door, which +can only be reached through the kitchen. +Neither of the two men who had been stationed +at the front door had seen the ambassador since +breakfast, therefore he could not have gone out +that way. <i>Comprenez</i>? It seemed ridiculous, +Monsieur, but then I went to the kitchen. The +<i>chef</i> had been there all day, and he had not seen +the ambassador at all. I inquired further. No +one in the embassy, not a clerk, nor a servant, +nor a member of the ambassador's family had +seen him since he left his office." +</p> +<p> +Again he paused and ran one hand across his +troubled brow. +</p> +<p> +"Monsieur," he went on, and there was a tense +note in his voice, "the ambassador of France +had disappeared, gone, vanished! We searched +the house from the cellar to the servants' quarters, +even the roof, but there was no trace of +him. The hat he usually wore was in the hall, +and all his other hats were accounted for. You +may remember, Monsieur, that Tuesday was +cold, but all his top-coats were found in their +proper places. So it seems, Monsieur," and repression +ended in a burst of excitement, "if he +left the embassy he did not go out by either +door, and he went without hat or coat!" +</p> +<p> +He stopped helplessly and his gaze alternated +inquiringly between the benevolent face of the +chief and the expressionless countenance of Mr. +Grimm. +</p> +<p> +"<i>If</i> he left the embassy?" Mr. Grimm repeated. +"If your search of the house proved +conclusively that he wasn't there, he <i>did</i> leave +it, didn't he?" +</p> +<p> +Monsieur Rigolot stared at him blankly for +a moment, then nodded. +</p> +<p> +"And there are windows, you know," Mr. +Grimm went on, then: "As I understand it, +Monsieur, no one except you and the stenographer +saw the ambassador after ten o'clock in +the morning?" +</p> +<p> +"<i>Oui, Monsieur. C'est—</i>" Monsieur Rigolot +began excitedly. "I beg pardon. I believe that +is correct." +</p> +<p> +"You saw him about ten, you say; therefore no +one except the stenographer saw him after ten +o'clock?" +</p> +<p> +"That is also true, as far as I know." +</p> +<p> +"Any callers? Letters? Telegrams? Telephone +messages?" +</p> +<p> +"I made inquiries in that direction, Monsieur," +was the reply. "I have the words of the +servants at the door and of the stenographer +that there were no callers, and the statement of +the stenographer that there were no telephone +calls or telegrams. There were only four letters +for him personally. He left them all on his +desk—here they are." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm looked them over leisurely. They +were commonplace enough, containing nothing +that might be construed into a reason for the +disappearance. +</p> +<p> +"The letters Monsieur Boisségur had dictated +were laid on his desk by the stenographer," +Monsieur Rigolot rushed on volubly, excitedly. +"In the anxiety and uneasiness following the +disappearance they were allowed to remain there +overnight. On Wednesday morning, Monsieur"—and +he hesitated impressively—"<i>those +letters bore his signature in his own handwriting</i>!" +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm turned his listless eyes full upon +Monsieur Rigolot's perturbed face for one scant +instant. +</p> +<p> +"No doubt of it being his signature?" he +queried. +</p> +<p> +"<i>Non, Monsieur, non!</i>" the secretary exclaimed +emphatically. "<i>Vous avez</i>—that is, I +have known his signature for years. There is +no doubt. The letters were not of a private +nature. If you would care to look at copies of +them?" +</p> +<p> +He offered the duplicates tentatively. Mr. +Grimm read them over slowly, the while Monsieur +Rigolot sat nervously staring at him. +They, too, seemed meaningless as bearing on the +matter in hand. Finally, Mr. Grimm nodded, +and Monsieur Rigolot resumed: +</p> +<p> +"And Wednesday night, Monsieur, another +strange thing happened. Monsieur Boisségur +smokes many cigarettes, of a kind made especially +for him in France, and shipped to him +here. He keeps them in a case on his dressing-table. +On Thursday morning his valet reported +to me that <i>this case of cigarettes had disappeared</i>!" +</p> +<p> +"Of course," observed Mr. Grimm, "Monsieur +Boisségur has a latch-key to the embassy?" +</p> +<p> +"Of course." +</p> +<p> +"Anything unusual happen last night—that +is, Thursday night?" +</p> +<p> +"Nothing, Monsieur—that is, nothing we can +find." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm was silent for a time and fell to +twisting the seal ring on his finger. Mr. Campbell +turned around and moved a paper weight +one inch to the left, where it belonged, while +Monsieur Rigolot, disappointed at their amazing +apathy, squirmed uneasily in his chair. +</p> +<p> +"It would appear, then," Mr. Grimm remarked +musingly, "that after his mysterious +disappearance the ambassador has either twice +returned to his house at night, or else sent some +one there, first to bring the letters to him for +signature, and later to get his cigarettes?" +</p> +<p> +"<i>Certainement, Monsieur</i>—I mean, that seems +to be true. But where is he? Why should he +not come back? What does it mean? Madame +Boisségur is frantic, prostrated! She wanted +me to go to the police, but I did not think it +wise that it should become public, so I came +here." +</p> +<p> +"Very well," commented Mr. Grimm. "Let +it rest as it is. Meanwhile you may reassure +madame. Point out to her that if Monsieur +Boisségur signed the letters Tuesday night he +was, at least, alive; and if he came or sent for +the cigarettes Wednesday night, he was still +alive. I shall call at the embassy this afternoon. +No, it isn't advisable to go with you now. +Give me your latch-key, please." +</p> +<p> +Monsieur Rigolot produced the key and +passed it over without a word. +</p> +<p> +"And one other thing," Mr. Grimm continued, +"please collect all the revolvers that may be in +the house and take charge of them yourself. If +any one, by chance, heard a burglar prowling +around there to-night he might shoot, and in +that event either kill Monsieur Boisségur or—or +me!" +</p> +<p> +When the secretary had gone Mr. Campbell +idly drummed on his desk as he studied the face +of his subordinate. +</p> +<p> +"So much!" he commented finally. +</p> +<p> +"It's Miss Thorne again," said the young +man as if answering a question. +</p> +<p> +"Perhaps these reports I have received to-day +from the Latin capitals may aid you in dispelling +that mystery," Campbell suggested, and +Mr. Grimm turned to them eagerly. "Meanwhile +our royal visitor, Prince Benedetto d'Abruzzi, +remains unknown?" +</p> +<p> +The young man's teeth closed with a snap. +</p> +<p> +"It's only a question of time, Chief," he said +abruptly. "I'll find him—I'll find him!" +</p> +<p> +And he sat down to read the reports. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="CH13"><!-- CHAPTER 13 --></a> +<h3> + XIII +</h3> + +<h3> +A CONFERENCE IN THE DARK +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +The white rays of a distant arc light +filtered through the half-drawn velvet +hangings and laid a faintly illumined +path across the ambassador's desk; the heavy +leather chairs were mere impalpable splotches +in the shadows; the cut-glass knobs of a mahogany +cabinet caught the glint of light and +reflected it dimly. Outside was the vague, indefinable +night drone of a city asleep, unbroken +by any sound that was distinguishable, until +finally there came the distant boom of a clock. +It struck twice. +</p> +<p> +Seated on a couch in one corner of the ambassador's +office was Mr. Grimm. He was leaning +against the high arm of leather, with his feet +on the seat, thoughtfully nursing his knees. If +his attitude indicated anything except sheer +comfort, it was that he was listening. He had +been there for two hours, wide-awake, and absolutely +motionless. Five, ten, fifteen minutes +more passed, and then Mr. Grimm heard the +grind and whir of an automobile a block or so +away, coming toward the embassy. Now it was +in front. +</p> +<p> +"Honk! Hon-on-onk!" it called plaintively. +"Hon-on-onk! Honk!" +</p> +<p> +The signal! At last! The automobile went +rushing on, full tilt, while Mr. Grimm removed +his feet from the seat and dropped them noiselessly +to the floor. Thus, with his hands on his +knees, and listening, listening with every faculty +strained, he sat motionless, peering toward the +open door that led into the hall. The car was +gone now, the sound of it was swallowed up in +the distance, still he sat there. It was obviously +some noise in the house for which he was waiting. +</p> +<p> +Minute after minute passed, and still nothing. +There was not even the whisper of a wind-stirred +drapery. He was about to rise when, +suddenly, with no other noise than that of the +sharp click of the switch, the electric lights in +the room blazed up brilliantly. The glare dazzled +Mr. Grimm with its blinding flood, but he +didn't move. Then softly, almost in a whisper: +</p> +<p> +"Good evening, Mr. Grimm." +</p> +<p> +It was a woman's voice, pleasant, unsurprised, +perfectly modulated. Mr. Grimm certainly did +not expect it now, but he knew it instantly—there +was not another quite like it in the wide, +wide world—and though he was still blinking +a little, he came to his feet courteously. +</p> +<p> +"Good morning, Miss Thorne," he corrected +gravely. +</p> +<p> +Now his vision was clearing, and he saw her, +a graceful figure, silhouetted against the rich +green of the wall draperies. Her lips were +curled the least bit, as if she might have been +smiling, and her wonderful eyes reflected a glint +of—of—was it amusement? The folds of her +evening dress fell away from her, and one bare, +white arm was extended, as her hand still rested +on the switch. +</p> +<p> +"And you didn't hear me?" still in the half +whisper. "I didn't think you would. Now I'm +going to put out the lights for an instant, while +you pull the shades down, and then—then we +must have a—a conference." +</p> +<p> +The switch snapped. The lights died as suddenly +as they had been born, and Mr. Grimm, +moving noiselessly, visited each of the four windows +in turn. Then the lights blazed brilliantly +again. +</p> +<p> +"Just for a moment," Miss Thorne explained +to him quietly, and she handed him a sheet of +paper. "I want you to read this—read it carefully—then +I shall turn out the lights again. +They are dangerous. After that we may discuss +the matter at our leisure." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm read the paper while Miss +Thorne's eyes questioned his impassive face. At +length he looked up indolently, listlessly, and +the switch snapped. She crossed the room and +sat down; Mr. Grimm sat beside her. +</p> +<p> +"I think," Miss Thorne suggested tentatively, +"that that accounts perfectly for Monsieur +Boisségur's disappearance." +</p> +<p> +"It gives one explanation, at least," Mr. +Grimm assented musingly. "Kidnapped—held +prisoner—fifty thousand dollars demanded for +his safety and release." A pause. "And to +whom, may I ask, was this demand addressed?" +</p> +<p> +"To Madame Boisségur," replied Miss +Thorne. "I have the envelope in which it came. +It was mailed at the general post-office at half-past +one o'clock this afternoon, so the canceling +stamp shows, and the envelope was addressed, as +the letter was written, on a typewriter." +</p> +<p> +"And how," inquired Mr. Grimm, after a long +pause, "how did it come into your possession?" +He waited a little. "Why didn't Monsieur Rigolot +report this development to me this afternoon +when I was here?" +</p> +<p> +"Monsieur Rigolot did not inform you of it +because he didn't know of it himself," she replied, +answering the last question first. "It +came into my possession directly from the hands +of Madame Boisségur—she gave it to me." +</p> +<p> +"Why?" +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm was peering through the inscrutable +darkness, straight into her face—a white +daub in the gloom, shapeless, indistinct. +</p> +<p> +"I have known Madame Boisségur for half a +dozen years," Miss Thorne continued, in explanation. +"We have been friends that long. +I met her first in Tokio, later in Berlin, and +within a few weeks, here in Washington. You +see I have traveled in the time I have been an +agent for my government. Well, Madame Boisségur +received this letter about half-past four +o'clock this afternoon; and about half-past five +she sent for me and placed it in my hands, together +with all the singular details following +upon the ambassador's disappearance. So, it +would seem that you and I are allies for this +once, and the problem is already solved. There +merely remains the task of finding and releasing +the ambassador." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm sat perfectly still. +</p> +<p> +"And why," he asked slowly, "are you here +now?" +</p> +<p> +"For the same reason that you are here," she +replied readily, "to see for myself if the—the +person who twice came here at night—once for +the ambassador's letters and once for his cigarettes—would, +by any chance, make another +trip. I knew you were here, of course." +</p> +<p> +"You knew I was here," repeated Mr. Grimm +musingly. "And, may I—?" +</p> +<p> +"Just as you knew that I, or some one, at +least, had entered this house a few minutes ago," +she interrupted. "The automobile horn outside +was a signal, wasn't it? Hastings was in the +car? Or was it Blair or Johnson?" +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm did not say. +</p> +<p> +"Didn't you anticipate any personal danger +when you entered?" he queried instead. +"Weren't you afraid I might shoot?" +</p> +<p> +"No." +</p> +<p> +There was a long silence. Mr. Grimm still +sat with his elbows on his knees, staring, staring +at the vague white splotch which was Miss +Thorne's face and bare neck. One of her white +arms hung at her side like a pallid serpent, and +her hand was at rest on the seat of the couch. +</p> +<p> +"It seems, Miss Thorne," he said at length, +casually, quite casually, "that our paths of duty +are inextricably tangled. Twice previously we +have met under circumstances that were more +than strange, and now—this! Whatever injustice +I may have done you in the past by my suspicions +has, I hope, been forgiven; and in each +instance we were able to work side by side toward +a conclusion. I am wondering now if this +singular affair will take a similar course." +</p> +<p> +He paused. Miss Thorne started to speak, +but he silenced her with a slight gesture of his +hand. +</p> +<p> +"It is only fair to you to say that we—that +is, the Secret Service—have learned many things +about you," he resumed in the same casual tone. +"We have, through our foreign agents, traced +you step by step from Rome to Washington. +We know that you are, in a way, a representative +of a sovereign of Europe; we know that +you were on a secret mission to the Spanish +court, perhaps for this sovereign, and remained +in Madrid for a month; we know that from there +you went to Paris, also on a secret mission—perhaps +the same—and remained there for three +weeks; we know that you met diplomatic agents +of those governments later in London. We +know all this; we know the manner of your coming +to this country; of your coming to Washington. +But we don't know <i>why</i> you are here." +</p> +<p> +Again she started to speak, and again he +stopped her. +</p> +<p> +"We don't know your name, but that is of no +consequence. We <i>do</i> know that in Spain you +were Señora Cassavant, in Paris Mademoiselle +d'Aubinon, in London Miss Jane Kellog, and here +Miss Isabel Thorne. We realize that exigencies +arise in your calling, and mine, which make +changes of name desirable, necessary even, and +there is no criticism of that. Now as the representative +of your government—rather <i>a</i> government—you +have a right to be here, although unaccredited; +you have a right to remain here as +long as your acts are consistent with our laws; +you have a right to your secrets as long as they +do not, directly or indirectly, threaten the welfare +of this country. Now, why are you here?" +</p> +<p> +He received no answer; he expected none. +After a moment he went on: +</p> +<p> +"Admitting that you are a secret agent of +Italy, admitting everything that you claim to +be, you haven't convinced me that you are not +the person who came here for the letters and +cigarettes. You have said nothing to prove to +my satisfaction that you are not the individual +I was waiting for to-night." +</p> +<p> +"You don't mean that you suspect—?" she +began in a tone of amazement. +</p> +<p> +"I don't mean that I suspect anything," he +interposed. "I mean merely that you haven't +convinced me. There's nothing inconsistent in +the fact that you are what you say you are, and +that in spite of that, you came to-night for—" +</p> +<p> +He was interrupted by a laugh, a throaty, +silvery note that he remembered well. His idle +hands closed spasmodically, only to be instantly +relaxed. +</p> +<p> +"Suppose, Mr. Grimm, I should tell you that +immediately after Madame Boisségur placed the +matter in my hands this afternoon I went +straight to your office to show this letter to you +and to ask your assistance?" she inquired. +"Suppose that I left my card for you with a +clerk there on being informed that you were out—remember +I knew you were on the case from +Madame Boisségur—would that indicate anything +except that I wanted to put the matter +squarely before you, and work with you?" +</p> +<p> +"We will suppose that much," Mr. Grimm +agreed. +</p> +<p> +"That is a statement of fact," Miss Thorne +added. "My card, which you will find at your +office, will show that. And when I left your +office I went to the hotel where you live, with the +same purpose. You were not there, and I left +a card for you. And <i>that</i> is a statement of fact. +It was not difficult, owing to the extraordinary +circumstances, to imagine that you would be +here to-night—just as you are—and I came +here. My purpose, still, was to inform you of +what I knew, and work with you. Does that +convince you?" +</p> +<p> +"And how did you enter the embassy?" Mr. +Grimm persisted. +</p> +<p> +"Not with a latch-key, as you did," she replied. +"Madame Boisségur, at my suggestion, +left the French window in the hall there unfastened, +and I came in that way—the way, I +may add, that <i>Monsieur l'Ambassadeur</i> went out +when he disappeared." +</p> +<p> +"Very well!" commented Mr. Grimm, and +finally: "I think, perhaps, I owe you an apology, +Miss Thorne—another one. The circumstances +now, as they were at our previous meetings, +are so unusual that—is it necessary to go +on?" There was a certain growing deference +in his tone. "I wonder if you account for Monsieur +Boisségur's disappearance as I do?" he +inquired. +</p> +<p> +"I dare say," and Miss Thorne leaned toward +him with sudden eagerness in her manner and +voice. "Your theory is—?" she questioned. +</p> +<p> +"If we believe the servants we know that Monsieur +Boisségur did not go out either by the +front door or rear," Mr. Grimm explained. +"That being true the French window by which +you entered seems to have been the way." +</p> +<p> +"Yes, yes," Miss Thorne interpolated. "And +the circumstances attending the disappearance? +How do you account for the fact that he went, +evidently of his own will?" +</p> +<p> +"Precisely as you must account for it if you +have studied the situation here as I have," responded +Mr. Grimm. "For instance, sitting at +his desk there"—and he turned to indicate it—"he +could readily see out the windows overlooking +the street. There is only a narrow strip of +lawn between the house and the sidewalk. Now, +if some one on the sidewalk, or—or—" +</p> +<p> +"In a carriage?" promptly suggested Miss +Thorne. +</p> +<p> +"Or in a carriage," Mr. Grimm supplemented, +"had attracted his attention—some one he knew—it +is not at all unlikely that he rose, for no +apparent reason, as he did do, passed along the +hall—" +</p> +<p> +"And through the French window, across the +lawn to the carriage, and not a person in the +house would have seen him go out? Precisely! +There seems no doubt that was the way," she +mused. "And, of course, he must have entered +the carriage of his own free will?" +</p> +<p> +"In other words, on some pretext or other, he +was lured in, then made prisoner, and—!" +</p> +<p> +He paused suddenly and his hand met Miss +Thorne's warningly. The silence of the night +was broken by the violent clatter of footsteps, +apparently approaching the embassy. The +noise was unmistakable—some one was running. +</p> +<p> +"The window!" Miss Thorne whispered. +</p> +<p> +She rose quickly and started to cross the +room, to look out; Mr. Grimm sat motionless, +listening. An instant later and there came a +tremendous crash of glass—the French window +in the hallway by the sound—then rapid footsteps, +still running, along the hall. Mr. Grimm +moved toward the door unruffled, perfectly self-possessed; +there was only a narrowing of his +eyes at the abruptness and clatter of it all. And +then the electric lights in the hall flashed up. +</p> +<p> +Before Mr. Grimm stood a man, framed by +the doorway, staring unseeingly into the darkened +room. His face was haggard and white +as death; his mouth agape as if from exertion, +and the lips bloodless; his eyes were widely distended +as if from fright—clothing disarranged, +collar unfastened and dangling. +</p> +<p> +"The ambassador!" Miss Thorne whispered +thrillingly. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="CH14"><!-- CHAPTER 14 --></a> +<h3> + XIV +</h3> + +<h3> +A RESCUE AND AN ESCAPE +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +Miss Thorne's voice startled Mr. Grimm a little, +but he had no doubts. It was Monsieur Boisségur. Mr. +Grimm was going toward the enframed figure +when, without any apparent reason, the ambassador +turned and ran along the hall; and at +that instant the lights went out again. For one +moment Grimm stood still, dazed and blinded by +the sudden blackness, and again he started toward +the door. Miss Thorne was beside him. +</p> +<p> +"The lights!" he whispered tensely. "Find +the switch!" +</p> +<p> +He heard the rustle of her skirts as she moved +away, and stepped out into the hall, feeling with +both his hands along the wall. A few feet +away, in the direction the ambassador had gone, +there seemed to be a violent struggle in progress—there +was the scuffling of feet, and quick-drawn +breaths as muscle strained against muscle. +The lights! If he could only find the switch! +Then, as his hands moved along the wall, they +came in contact with another hand—a hand +pressed firmly against the plastering, barring +his progress. A light blow in the face caused +him to step back quickly. +</p> +<p> +The scuffling sound suddenly resolved itself +into moving footsteps, and the front door +opened and closed with a bang. Mr. Grimm's +listless eyes snapped, and his white teeth came +together sharply as he started toward the front +door. But fate seemed to be against him still. +He stumbled over a chair, and his own impetus +forward sent him sprawling; his head struck the +wall with a resounding whack; and then, over +the house, came utter silence. From outside he +heard the clatter of a cab. Finally that died +away in the distance. +</p> +<p> +"Miss Thorne?" he inquired quietly. +</p> +<p> +"I'm here," she answered in a despairing +voice. "But I can't find the switch." +</p> +<p> +"Are you hurt?" +</p> +<p> +"No." +</p> +<p> +And then she found the switch; the lights +flared up. Mr. Grimm was sitting thoughtfully +on the floor. +</p> +<p> +"That simplifies the matter considerably," he +observed complacently, as he rose. "The men +who signaled to me when you entered the embassy +will never let that cab get out of their +sight." +</p> +<p> +Miss Thorne stood leaning forward a little, +eagerly gazing at him with those wonderful +blue-gray eyes, and an expression of—of—perhaps +it was admiration on her face. +</p> +<p> +"Are you sure?" she demanded, at last. +</p> +<p> +"I know it," was his response. +</p> +<p> +And just then Monsieur Rigolot, secretary of +the embassy, thrust an inquisitive head timidly +around the corner of the stairs. The crash of +glass had aroused him. +</p> +<p> +"What happened?" he asked breathlessly. +</p> +<p> +"We don't know just yet," replied Mr. +Grimm. "If the noise aroused any one else +please assure them that there's nothing the matter. +And you might inform Madame Boisségur +that the ambassador will return home to-morrow. +Good night!" +</p> +<p> +At his hotel, when he reached there, Mr. +Grimm found Miss Thorne's card—and he drew +a long breath; at his office he found another of +her cards, and he drew another long breath. He +did like corroborative details, did Mr. Grimm, +and, of course, this—! On the following day +Miss Thorne accompanied him to Alexandria, +and they were driven in a closed carriage out +toward the western edge of the city. Finally +the carriage stopped at a signal from Mr. +Grimm, and he assisted Miss Thorne out, after +which he turned and spoke to some one remaining +inside—a man. +</p> +<p> +"The house is two blocks west, along that +street there," he explained, and he indicated an +intersecting thoroughfare just ahead. "It is +number ninety-seven. Five minutes after we +enter you will drive up in front of the door and +wait. If we don't return in fifteen minutes—come +in after us!" +</p> +<p> +"Do you anticipate danger?" Miss Thorne +queried quickly. +</p> +<p> +"If I had anticipated danger," replied Mr. +Grimm, "I should not have permitted you to +come with me." +</p> +<p> +They entered the house—number ninety-seven—with +a key which Mr. Grimm produced, and +a minute or so later walked into a room where +three men were sitting. One of them was of a +coarse, repulsive type, large and heavy; another +rather dapper, of superficial polish, evidently a +foreigner, and the third—the third was Ambassador +Boisségur! +</p> +<p> +"Good morning, gentlemen!" Mr. Grimm +greeted them, then ceremoniously: "Monsieur +Boisségur, your carriage is at the door." +</p> +<p> +The three men came to their feet instantly, +and one of them—he of the heavy face—drew +a revolver. Mr. Grimm faced him placidly. +</p> +<p> +"Do you know what would happen to you if +you killed me?" he inquired pleasantly. "You +wouldn't live three minutes. Do you imagine I +came in here blindly? There are a dozen men +guarding the entrances to the house—a pistol +shot would bring them in. Put down the gun!" +</p> +<p> +Eyes challenged eyes for one long tense instant, +and the man carefully laid the weapon on +the table. Mr. Grimm strolled over and picked +it up, after which he glanced inquiringly at the +other man—the ambassador's second guard. +</p> +<p> +"And you are the gentleman, I dare say, who +made the necessary trips to the ambassador's +house, probably using his latch-key?" he remarked +interrogatively. "First for the letters +to be signed, and again for the cigarettes?" +</p> +<p> +There was no answer and Mr. Grimm turned +questioningly to Monsieur Boisségur, silent, +white of face, motionless. +</p> +<p> +"Yes, Monsieur," the ambassador burst out +suddenly. His eyes were fixed unwaveringly on +Miss Thorne. +</p> +<p> +"And your escape, Monsieur?" continued Mr. +Grimm. +</p> +<p> +"I did escape, Monsieur, last night," the ambassador +explained, "but they knew it immediately—they +pursued me into my own house, +these two and another—and dragged me back +here! <i>Mon Dieu, Monsieur, c'est—!</i>" +</p> +<p> +"That's all that's necessary," remarked Mr. +Grimm. "You are free to go now." +</p> +<p> +"But there are others," Monsieur Boisségur +interposed desperately, "two more somewhere below, +and they will not allow—they will attack—!" +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm's listless eyes narrowed slightly +and he turned to Miss Thorne. She was a little +white, but he saw enough in her face to satisfy +him. +</p> +<p> +"I shall escort Monsieur Boisségur to his carriage, +Miss Thorne," he said calmly. "These +men will remain here until I return. Take the +revolver. If either of them so much as wags his +head—<i>shoot</i>! You are not—not afraid?" +</p> +<p> +"No." She smiled faintly. "I am not +afraid." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm and the ambassador went down +the stairs, and out the front door. Mr. Grimm +was just turning to reenter the house when +from above came a muffled, venomous cra-as-ash!—a +shot! He took the steps going up, two at +a time. Miss Thorne was leaning against the +wall as if dazed; the revolver lay at her feet. A +door in a far corner of the room stood open; and +the clatter of footsteps echoed through the +house. +</p> +<p> +"One of them leaped at me and I fired," she +gasped in explanation. "He struck me, but I'm—I'm +not hurt." +</p> +<p> +She stooped quickly, picked up the revolver +and made as if to follow the dying footsteps. +Mr. Grimm stopped her. +</p> +<p> +"It doesn't matter," he said quietly. "Let +them go." And after a while, earnestly: "If I +had dreamed of such a—such a thing as this I +should never have consented to allow you—" +</p> +<p> +"I understand," she interrupted, and for one +instant her outstretched hand rested on his arm. +"The ambassador?" +</p> +<p> +"Perfectly safe," responded Mr. Grimm. +"Two of my men are with him." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="CH15"><!-- CHAPTER 15 --></a> +<h3> + XV +</h3> + +<h3> +MASTER OF THE SITUATION +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +As the women rose and started out, leaving +the gentlemen over their coffee and +cigars, Miss Thorne paused at the door +and the blue-gray eyes flashed some subtle message +to the French ambassador who, after an +instant, nodded comprehendingly, then resumed +his conversation. As he left the room a few +minutes later he noticed that Mr. Grimm had +joined a group of automaniacs of which Mr. +Cadwallader was the enthusiastic center. He +spoke to his hostess, the wife of the minister +from Portugal, for a moment, then went to Miss +Thorne and dropped into a seat beside her. She +greeted him with a smile and was still smiling +as she talked. +</p> +<p> +"I believe, Monsieur," she said in French, +"you sent a code message to the cable office this +afternoon?" +</p> +<p> +His eyes questioned hers quickly. +</p> +<p> +"And please bear in mind that we probably +are being watched as we talk," she went on +pleasantly. "Mr. Grimm is the man to be afraid +of. Smile—don't look so serious!" She laughed +outright. +</p> +<p> +"Yes, I sent a code message," he replied. +</p> +<p> +"It was your resignation?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes." +</p> +<p> +"Well, it wasn't sent, of course," she informed +him, and her eyes were sparkling as if something +amusing had been said. "One of my agents +stopped it. I may add that it will not be sent." +</p> +<p> +The ambassador's eyes grew steely, then +blank again. +</p> +<p> +"Mademoiselle, what am I to understand from +that?" he demanded. +</p> +<p> +"You are to understand that I am absolute +master of the situation in Washington at this +moment," she replied positively. The smile on +her lips and the tone of her voice were strangely +at variance. "From the beginning I let you understand +that ultimately you would receive your +instructions from Paris; now I know they will +reach you by cable to-morrow. Within a week +the compact will be signed. Whether you approve +of it or not it will be signed for your +country by a special envoy whose authority is +greater than yours—his Highness, the Prince +Benedetto d'Abruzzi." +</p> +<p> +"Has he reached Washington?" +</p> +<p> +"He is in Washington. He has been here for +some time, incognito." She was silent a moment. +"You have been a source of danger to our +plans," she added. "If it had not been for an +accident you would still have been comfortably +kept out in Alexandria where Mr. Grimm and I +found you. Please remember, Monsieur, that +we will accomplish what we set out to do. Nothing +can stop us—nothing." +</p> +<p> +At just about the same moment the name of +Prince d'Abruzzi had been used in the dining-room, +but in a different connection. Mr. Cadwallader +was reciting some incident of an automobile +trip in Italy when he had been connected +with the British embassy there. +</p> +<p> +"The prince was driving," he said, "and one +of the best I ever saw. Corking chap, the +prince; democratic, you know, and all that sort +of thing. He was one scion of royalty who +didn't mind soiling his hands by diving in under +a car and fixing it himself. At that time he +was inclined to be wild—that was eight or nine +years ago—but they say now he has settled +down to work, and is one of the real diplomatic +powers of Italy. I haven't seen him for a half +dozen years." +</p> +<p> +"How old a man is he?" asked Mr. Grimm +carelessly. +</p> +<p> +"Thirty-five, thirty-eight, perhaps; I don't +know," replied Mr. Cadwallader. "It's odd, you +know, the number of princes and blue-bloods +and all that sort of thing one can find knocking +about in Italy and Germany and Spain. One +never hears of half of them. I never had heard +of the Prince d'Abruzzi until I went to Italy, +and I've heard jolly well little of him since, except +indirectly." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Cadwallader lapsed into silence as he sat +staring at a large group photograph which +was framed on a wall of the dining-room. +</p> +<p> +"Isn't that the royal family of Italy?" he +asked. He rose and went over to it. "By Jove, +it is, and here is the prince in the group. The +picture was taken, I should say, about the time I +knew him." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm strolled over idly and stood for a +long time staring at the photograph. +</p> +<p> +"He can drive a motor, you know," said Mr. +Cadwallader admiringly. "And Italy is the +place to drive them. They forgot to make any +speed laws over there, and if a chap gets in your +way and you knock him silly they arrest him +for obstructing traffic, you know. Over here if +a chap really starts to go any place in a hurry +some bally idiot holds him up." +</p> +<p> +"Have you ever been held up?" queried Mr. +Grimm. +</p> +<p> +"No, but I expect to be every day," was the +reply. "I've got a new motor, you know, and +I've never been able to see how fast it is. The +other evening I ran up to Baltimore with it in +an hour and thirty-seven minutes from Alexandria +to Druid Hill Park, and that's better than +forty miles. I never did let the motor out, you +know, because we ran in the dark most of the +way." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm was still gazing at the photograph. +</p> +<p> +"Did you go alone?" he asked. +</p> +<p> +"There's no fun motoring alone, you know. +Señorita Rodriguez was with me. Charming +girl, what?" +</p> +<p> +A little while later Mr. Grimm sauntered out +into the drawing-room and made his way toward +Miss Thorne and the French ambassador. Monsieur +Boisségur rose, and offered his hand cordially. +</p> +<p> +"I hope, Monsieur," said Mr. Grimm, "that +you are no worse off for your—your unpleasant +experience?" +</p> +<p> +"Not at all, thanks to you," was the reply. +"I have just thanked Miss Thorne for her part +in the affair, and—" +</p> +<p> +"I'm glad to have been of service," interrupted +Mr. Grimm lightly. +</p> +<p> +The ambassador bowed ceremoniously and +moved away. Mr. Grimm dropped into the seat +he had just left. +</p> +<p> +"You've left the legation, haven't you?" he +asked. +</p> +<p> +"You drove me out," she laughed. +</p> +<p> +"Drove you out?" he repeated. "Drove you +out?" +</p> +<p> +"Why, it was not only uncomfortable, but it +was rather conspicuous because of the constant +espionage of your Mr. Blair and your Mr. +Johnson and your Mr. Hastings," she explained, +still laughing. "So I have moved to +the Hotel Hilliard." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm was twisting the seal ring on his +little finger. +</p> +<p> +"I'm sorry if I've made it uncomfortable for +you," he apologized. "You see it's necessary +to—" +</p> +<p> +"No explanation," Miss Thorne interrupted. +"I understand." +</p> +<p> +"I'm glad you do," he replied seriously. +"How long do you intend to remain in the city?" +</p> +<p> +"Really I don't know—two, three, four weeks, +perhaps. Why?" +</p> +<p> +"I was just wondering." +</p> +<p> +Señorita Rodriguez came toward them. +</p> +<p> +"We're going to play bridge," she said, "and +we need you, Isabel, to make the four. Come. +I hate to take her away, Mr. Grimm." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm and Miss Thorne rose together. +For an instant her slim white hand rested on +Mr. Grimm's sleeve and she stared into his eyes +understandingly with a little of melancholy in +her own. They left Mr. Grimm there. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="CH16"><!-- CHAPTER 16 --></a> +<h3> + XVI +</h3> + +<h3> +LETTERS FROM JAIL +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +For two weeks Signor Pietro Petrozinni, +known to the Secret Service as an unaccredited +agent of the Italian government, +and the self-confessed assailant of Señor +Alvarez of the Mexican legation, had been taking +his ease in a cell. He had been formally arraigned +and committed without bail to await +the result of the bullet wound which had been +inflicted upon the diplomatist from Mexico at +the German Embassy Ball, and, since then, undisturbed +and apparently careless of the outcome, +he had spent his time in reading and +smoking. He had answered questions with only +a curt yes or no when he deigned to answer them +at all; and there had been no callers or inquiries +for him. He had abruptly declined a suggestion +of counsel. +</p> +<p> +Twice each day, morning and night, he had +asked a question of the jailer who brought his +simple meals. +</p> +<p> +"How is Señor Alvarez?" +</p> +<p> +"He is still in a critical condition." The answer +was always the same. +</p> +<p> +Whereupon the secret agent would return to +his reading with not a shadow of uneasiness or +concern on his face. +</p> +<p> +Occasionally there came a courteous little note +from Miss Thorne, which he read without +emotion, afterward casting them aside or tearing +them up. He never answered them. And +then one day there came another note which, for +no apparent reason, seemed to stir him from his +lethargy. Outwardly it was like all the others, +but when Signor Petrozinni scanned the sheet +his eyes lighted strangely, and he stood staring +down at it as though to hide a sudden change of +expression in his face. His gaze was concentrated +on two small splotches of ink where, it +seemed, the pen had scratched as Miss Thorne +signed her name. +</p> +<p> +The guard stood at the barred door for a moment, +then started to turn away. The prisoner +stopped him with a quick gesture. +</p> +<p> +"Oh, Guard, may I have a glass of milk, +please?" he asked. "No ice. I prefer it tepid." +</p> +<p> +He thrust a small coin between the bars; the +guard accepted it and passed on. Then, still +standing at the door, the prisoner read the note +again: +</p> +<blockquote><p>"MY DEAR FRIEND: +</p> +<p> +"I understand, from an indirect source, that +there has been a marked improvement in Señor +Alvarez's condition, and I am hastening to send +you the good news. There is every hope that +within a short while, if he continues to improve, +we can arrange a bail bond, and you will be free +until the time of trial anyway. +</p> +<p> +"Might it not be well for you to consult an +attorney at once? Drop me a line to let me +know you received this. +</p> +<p> +"Sincerely, +</p> +<p> +"ISABEL THORNE."</p></blockquote> +<p> +Finally the prisoner tossed the note on a tiny +table in a corner of his cell, and resumed his +reading. After a time the guard returned with +the milk. +</p> +<p> +"Would it be against the rules for me to write +an answer to this?" queried Signor Petrozinni, +and he indicated the note. +</p> +<p> +"Certainly not," was the reply. +</p> +<p> +"If I might trouble you, then, for pen and ink +and paper?" suggested the signor and he smiled +a little. "Believe me, I would prefer to get them +for myself." +</p> +<p> +"I guess that's right," the guard grinned +good-naturedly. +</p> +<p> +Again he went away and the prisoner sat +thoughtfully sipping the milk. He took half +of it, then lighted a cigarette, puffed it once or +twice and permitted the light to die. After a +little there came again the clatter of the guard's +feet on the cement pavement, and the writing +materials were thrust through the bars. +</p> +<p> +"Thank you," said the prisoner. +</p> +<p> +The guard went on, with a nod, and a moment +later the signor heard the clangor of a steel door +down the corridor as it was closed and locked. +He leaned forward in his chair with half-closed +eyes, listening for a long time, then rose and +noiselessly approached the cell door. Again +he listened intently, after which he resumed his +seat. He tossed away the cigarette he had and +lighted a fresh one, afterward holding the note +over the flame of the match. Here and there, +where the paper charred in the heat, a letter or +word stood out from the bare whiteness of the +paper, and finally, a message complete appeared +between the innocuous ink-written lines. The +prisoner read it greedily: +</p> +<blockquote><p>"Am privately informed there is little chance +of Alvarez's recovery. Shall I arrange escape +for you, or have ambassador intercede? Would +advise former, as the other might take months, +and meeting to sign treaty alliance would be +dangerously delayed."</p></blockquote> +<p> +Signor Petrozinni permitted the sputtering +flame to ignite the paper, and thoughtfully +watched the blaze destroy it. The last tiny +scrap dropped on the floor, burned out, and he +crushed the ashes under his heel. Then he began +to write: +</p> +<blockquote><p>"My Dear Miss Thorne: +</p> +<p> +"Many thanks for your courteous little note. +I am delighted to know of the improvement in +Señor Alvarez's condition. I had hoped that my +impulsive act in shooting him would not end in +a tragedy. Please keep me informed of any +further change in his condition. As yet I do +not see the necessity of consulting an attorney, +but later I may be compelled to do so. +</p> +<p> +"Respectfully, +</p> +<p> +"Pietro Petrozinni."</p></blockquote> +<p> +This done the secret agent carefully cleaned +the ink from the pen, wiping it dry with his +handkerchief, then thrust it into the half empty +glass of milk. The fluid clung to the steel nib +thinly; he went on writing with it, between the +lines of ink: +</p> +<blockquote><p>"I am in no danger. I hold credentials to +United States, which, when presented, will make +me responsible only to the Italian government +as special envoy, according to international law. +Arrange escape for one week from to-night; +use any money necessary. Make careful arrangements +for the test and signing of compact for +two nights after."</p></blockquote> +<p> +Again the prisoner cleaned the steel nib, after +which he put it back in the bottle of ink, leaving +it there. He waved the sheet of paper back and +forth to dry it, and at last scrutinized it minutely, +standing under the light from the high-up +window of his cell. Letter by letter the milk +evaporated, leaving the sheet perfectly clean +and white except for the ink-written message. +This sheet he folded, placed in an envelope, and +addressed. +</p> +<p> +Later the guard passed along the corridor, +and Signor Petrozinni thrust the letter out to +him. +</p> +<p> +"Be good enough to post that, please," he requested. +"It isn't sealed. I don't know if your +prison rules require you to read the letters that +go out. If so, read it, or have it read, then +seal it." +</p> +<p> +For answer the guard dampened the flap of +the envelope, sealed it, thrust it into his pocket +and passed on. The secret agent sat down again, +and sipped his milk meditatively. +</p> +<p> +One hour later Mr. Grimm, accompanied by +Johnson, came out of a photographer's dark +room in Pennsylvania Avenue with a developed +negative which he set on a rack to dry. At the +end of another hour he was sitting at his desk +studying, under a magnifying glass, a finished +print of the negative. Word by word he was +writing on a slip of paper what his magnifying +glass gave him and so, curiously enough, it came +to pass that Miss Thorne and Chief Campbell +of the Secret Service were reading the hidden, +milk-written message at almost the identical moment. +</p> +<p> +"Johnson got Petrozinni's letter from the +postman," Mr. Grimm was explaining. "I +opened it, photographed it, sealed it again and +remailed it. There was not more than half an +hour's delay; and Miss Thorne can not possibly +know of it." He paused a moment. "It's an +odd thing that writing such as that is absolutely +invisible to the naked eye, and yet when photographed +becomes decipherable in the negative." +</p> +<p> +"What do you make of it?" Mr. Campbell +asked. The guileless blue eyes were alive with +eagerness. +</p> +<p> +"Well, he's right, of course, about not being +in danger," said Mr. Grimm. "If he came with +credentials as special envoy this government +must respect them, even if Señor Alvarez dies, +and leave it to his own government to punish +him. If we were officially aware that he has +such credentials I doubt if we would have the +right to keep him confined; we would merely +have to hand him over to the Italian embassy +and demand his punishment. And, of course, all +that makes him more dangerous than ever." +</p> +<p> +"Yes, I know that," said the chief a little impatiently. +"But who is this man?" +</p> +<p> +"Who is this man?" Mr. Grimm repeated as +if surprised at the question. "I was looking for +Prince Benedetto d'Abruzzi, of Italy. I have +found him." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Campbell's clock-like brain ticked over the +situation in detail. +</p> +<p> +"It's like this," Mr. Grimm elucidated. "He +has credentials which he knows will free him if +he is forced to present them, but I imagine they +were given to him more for protection in an +emergency like this than for introducing him to +our government. As the matter stands he can't +afford to discover himself by using those credentials, +and yet, if the Latin compact is signed, +he must be free. Remember, too, that he is accredited +from three countries—Italy, France +and Spain." He was silent for a moment. "Naturally +his escape from prison would preserve his +incognito, and at the same time permit him to +sign the compact." +</p> +<p> +There was silence for a long time. +</p> +<p> +"I believe the situation is without precedent," +said Mr. Campbell slowly. "The special envoy +of three great powers held for attempted—!" +</p> +<p> +"Officially we are not aware of his purpose, or +his identity," Mr. Grimm reminded him. "If he +escaped it would clarify the situation tremendously." +</p> +<p> +"If he escaped!" repeated Mr. Campbell musingly. +</p> +<p> +"But, of course, the compact would not be +signed, at least in this country," Mr. Grimm +went on tentatively. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Campbell gazed straight into the listless +eyes of the young man for a minute or more, +and gradually full understanding came home to +him. Finally he nodded his head. +</p> +<p> +"Use your own judgment, Mr. Grimm," he +directed. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="CH17"><!-- CHAPTER 17 --></a> +<h3> + XVII +</h3> + +<h3> +A CALL ON THE WARDEN +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +The restful silence of night lay over the +great prison. Here and there in the +grim corridors a guard dozed in the +glare of an electric light; and in the office, too, +a desk light glimmered where the warden sat at +his desk, poring over a report. Once he glanced +up at the clock—it was five minutes of eleven—and +then he went on with his reading. +</p> +<p> +After a little the silence was broken by the +whir of the clock and the first sharp stroke of +the hour; and at just that moment the door from +the street opened and a man entered. He was +rather tall and slender, and a sinister black mask +hid his face from the quickly raised eyes of the +warden. For a bare fraction of a second the +two men stared at each other, then, instinctively, +the warden's right hand moved toward the open +drawer of his desk where a revolver lay, and his +left toward several electrically connected levers. +The intruder noted both gestures, and, unarmed +himself, stood silent. The warden was first to +speak. +</p> +<p> +"Well, what is it?" +</p> +<p> +"You have a prisoner here, Pietro Petrozinni," +was the reply, in a pleasant voice. "I have +come to demand his release." +</p> +<p> +The warden's right hand was raised above the +desk top, and the revolver in it clicked warningly. +</p> +<p> +"You have come to demand his release, eh?" +he queried. He still sat motionless, with his +eyes fixed on the black mask. "How did you +pass the outside guard?" +</p> +<p> +"He was bribed," was the ready response. +"Now, Warden," the masked intruder continued +pacifically, "it would be much more pleasant +all around and there would be less personal danger +in it for both of us if you would release Signor +Petrozinni without question. I may add +that no bribe was offered to you because your +integrity was beyond question." +</p> +<p> +"Thank you," said the warden grimly, "and +it shall remain so as long as I have this." He +tapped on the desk with the revolver. +</p> +<p> +"Oh, that isn't loaded," said the masked man +quietly. +</p> +<p> +One quick glance at the weapon showed the +warden that the cartridges had been drawn! His +teeth closed with a snap at the treachery of it, +and with his left hand he pulled back one of the +levers—that which should arouse the jailers, +turnkeys and guards. Instead of the insistent +clangor which he expected, there was silence. +</p> +<p> +"That wire has been cut," the stranger volunteered. +</p> +<p> +With clenched teeth the warden pulled the police +alarm. +</p> +<p> +"And that wire was cut, too," the stranger +explained. +</p> +<p> +The warden came to his feet with white face, +and nails biting into the palms of his hands. +He still held the revolver as he advanced upon +the masked man threateningly. +</p> +<p> +"Not too close, now," warned the intruder, +with a sudden hardening of his voice. "Believe +me, it would be best for you to release this man, +because it must be done, pleasantly or otherwise. +I have no desire to injure you, still less +do I intend that you shall injure me; and it +would be needless for either of us to make a personal +matter of it. I want your prisoner, Signor +Petrozinni—you will release him at once! That's +all!" +</p> +<p> +The warden paused, dazed, incredulous before +the audacity of it, while he studied two calm +eyes which peered at him through the slits of +the mask. +</p> +<p> +"And if I <i>don't</i> release him?" he demanded at +last, fiercely. +</p> +<p> +"Then I shall take him," was the reply. "It +has been made impossible for you to give an +alarm," the stranger went on. "The very men +on whom you most depended have been bought, +and even if they were within sound of your voice +now they wouldn't respond. One of your assistants +who has been here for years unloaded +the revolver in the desk there, and less than an +hour ago cut the prison alarm wire. I, personally, +cut the police alarm outside the building. +So you see!" +</p> +<p> +As yet there was no weapon in sight, save the +unloaded revolver in the warden's hand; at no +time had the stranger's voice been raised. His +tone was a perfectly normal one. +</p> +<p> +"Besides yourself there are only five other +men employed here who are now awake," the +masked man continued. "These are four inner +guards and the outer guard. They have all been +bought—the turnkeys at five thousand dollars +each, and the outer guard at seven thousand. +The receipt of all of this money is conditional +upon the release of Signor Petrozinni, therefore +it is to their interest to aid me as against you. +I am telling you all this, frankly and fully, to +make you see how futile any resistance would +be." +</p> +<p> +"But who—who is this Signor Petrozinni, +that such powerful influences should be brought +to bear in his behalf?" demanded the bewildered +warden. +</p> +<p> +"He is a man who can command a vast fortune—and +Señor Alvarez is at the point of +death. That, I think, makes it clear. Now, if +you'll sit down, please!" +</p> +<p> +"Sit down?" bellowed the warden. +</p> +<p> +Suddenly he was seized by a violent, maddening +rage. He took one step forward and raised +the empty revolver to strike. The masked man +moved slightly to one side and his clenched fist +caught the warden on the point of the chin. The +official went down without a sound and lay still, +inert. A moment later the door leading into the +corridor of the prison opened, and Signor Petrozinni, +accompanied by one of the guards, entered +the warden's office. The masked man glanced +around at them, and with a motion of his head +indicated the door leading to the street. They +passed through, closing the door behind them. +</p> +<p> +For a little time the intruder stood staring +down at the still body, then he went to the telephone +and called police headquarters. +</p> +<p> +"There has been a jail delivery at the prison," +he said in answer to the "hello" of the desk-sergeant +at the other end of the wire. "Better +send some of your men up to investigate." +</p> +<p> +"Who is that?" came the answering question. +</p> +<p> +The stranger replaced the receiver on the +hook, stripped off his black mask, dropped it on +the floor beside the motionless warden, and went +out. It was Mr. Grimm! +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="CH18"><!-- CHAPTER 18 --></a> +<h3> + XVIII +</h3> + +<h3> +NOTICE TO LEAVE +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +At fifteen minutes of midnight when Miss +Thorne, followed by Signor Petrozinni, +entered the sitting-room of her apartments +in the hotel and turned up the light they +found Mr. Grimm already there. He rose courteously. +At sight of him Miss Thorne's face +went deathly white, and the escaped prisoner +turned toward the door again. +</p> +<p> +"I would advise that you stay, your Highness," +said Mr. Grimm coldly. Signor Petrozinni +paused, amazed. "You will merely subject +yourself to the humiliation of arrest if you attempt +to leave. The house is guarded by a dozen +men." +</p> +<p> +"Your Highness?" Miss Thorne repeated +blankly. "You are assuming a great deal, aren't +you, Mr. Grimm?" +</p> +<p> +"I don't believe," and Mr. Grimm's listless +eyes were fixed on those of the escaped prisoner, +"I don't believe that Prince Benedetto d'Abruzzi +will deny his identity?" +</p> +<p> +There was one of those long tense silences +when eye challenges eye, when wit is pitted +against wit, and mind is hauled around to a new, +and sometimes unattractive, view of a situation. +Miss Thorne stood silent with rigid features, +colorless as marble; but slowly a sneer settled +about the lips of Signor Petrozinni that was, +and he sat down. +</p> + +<a name="image-3"><!-- Image 3 --></a> +<p class="figure"> +<a href="images/img3.jpg"> +<img width="60%" src="images/img3.jpg" +alt="A Long Tense Silence when Eye Challenges Eye."/></a><br /> +<b>"A Long Tense Silence when Eye Challenges Eye."</b> +</p> + +<p> +"You seem to know everything, Mr. Grimm," +he taunted. +</p> +<p> +"I <i>try</i> to know everything, your Highness," +was the reply. Mr. Grimm was still standing. +"I know, for instance, that one week ago the +plot which had your freedom for its purpose +was born; I know the contents of every letter +that passed between you and Miss Thorne here, +notwithstanding the invisible ink; I know that +four days ago several thousand dollars was +smuggled in to you concealed in a basket of +fruit; I know, with that money, you bribed your +way out, while Miss Thorne or one of her agents +bribed the guard in front; I know that the escape +was planned for to-night, and that the man +who was delegated to take charge of it is now +locked in my office under guard. It may interest +you to know that it was I who took his place +and made the escape possible. I know that +much!" +</p> +<p> +"You—<i>you</i>—!" the prince burst out suddenly. +"<i>You</i> aided me to escape?" +</p> +<p> +Miss Thorne was staring, staring at them +with her eyes widely distended, and her red lips +slightly parted. +</p> +<p> +"<i>Why</i> did you assist him?" she demanded. +</p> +<p> +"Details are tiresome, Miss Thorne," replied +Mr. Grimm with the utmost courtesy. "There +is one other thing I know—that the Latin compact +will not be signed in the United States." +</p> +<p> +The prince's eyes met Miss Thorne's inquiringly, +and she shook her head. The sneer was +still playing about his mouth. +</p> +<p> +"Anything else of special interest that you +know?" he queried. +</p> +<p> +"Yes, of interest to both you and Miss +Thorne. That is merely if the Latin compact +is signed anywhere, the English-speaking countries +of the world might construe it as a <i>casus +belli</i> and strike soon enough, and hard enough, +to put an end to it once for all." +</p> +<p> +Again there was silence for a little while. +Slowly the prince's eyes were darkening, and a +shadow flitted across Miss Thorne's face. The +prince rose impatiently. +</p> +<p> +"Well, what is the meaning of all this? Are +you going to take me back to prison?" +</p> +<p> +"No," said Mr. Grimm. He glanced at his +watch. "I will give each of you one-half hour +to pack your belongings. We must catch a +train at one o'clock." +</p> +<p> +"Leave the city?" gasped Miss Thorne. +</p> +<p> +"Impossible!" exclaimed the prince. +</p> +<p> +"One-half hour," said Mr. Grimm coldly. +</p> +<p> +"But—but it's out of the question," expostulated +Miss Thorne. +</p> +<p> +"One-half hour," repeated Mr. Grimm. He +didn't dare to meet those wonderful blue-gray +eyes now. "A special car with private compartments +will be attached to the regular train, and +the only inconvenience to you will be the fact +that the three of us will be compelled to sit up +all night. Half a dozen other Secret Service men +will be on the train with us." +</p> +<p> +And then the prince's entire manner underwent +a change. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Grimm," he said earnestly, "it is absolutely +necessary that I remain in Washington +for another week—remain here even if I am +locked up again—lock me up again if you like. +I can't sign compacts in prison." +</p> +<p> +"Twenty-five minutes," replied Mr. Grimm +quietly. +</p> +<p> +"But here," exclaimed the prince explosively, +"I have credentials which will insure my protection +in spite of your laws." +</p> +<p> +"I know that," said Mr. Grimm placidly. +"Credentials of that nature can not be presented +at midnight, and you will not be here to-morrow +to present them. The fact that you have those +credentials, your Highness, is one reason why +you must leave Washington now, to-night." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="CH19"><!-- CHAPTER 19 --></a> +<h3> + XIX +</h3> + +<h3> +BY WIRELESS +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +They paused in the office, the three of +them, and while Miss Thorne was giving +some instructions as to her baggage +the prince went over to the telegraph booth and +began to write a message on a blank. Mr. +Grimm appeared at his elbow. +</p> +<p> +"No," he said. +</p> +<p> +"Can't I send a telegram if I like?" demanded +the prince sharply. +</p> +<p> +"No, nor a note, nor a letter, nor may you +speak to any one," Mr. Grimm informed him +quietly. +</p> +<p> +"Why, it's an outrage!" flamed the prince. +</p> +<p> +"It depends altogether on the view-point, +your Highness," said Mr. Grimm courteously. +"If you will pardon me I might suggest that it +is needless to attract attention by your present +attitude. You may—I say you <i>may</i>—compel +me to humiliate you." The prince glared at him +angrily. "I mean handcuff you," Mr. Grimm +added gratuitously. +</p> +<p> +"Handcuff <i>me</i>?" +</p> +<p> +"I shouldn't hesitate, your Highness, if it +was necessary." +</p> +<p> +After a moment Miss Thorne signified her +readiness, and they started out. At the door +Mr. Grimm stopped and turned back to the desk, +as if struck by some sudden thought, leaving +them together. +</p> +<p> +"Oh, Miss Thorne left a message for some +one," Mr. Grimm was saying to the clerk. +"She's decided it is unnecessary." He turned +and glanced toward her, and the clerk's eyes followed +his. "Please give it to me." +</p> +<p> +It was passed over without comment. It was +a sealed envelope addressed to Mr. Charles Winthrop +Rankin. Mr. Grimm glanced at the superscription, +tore the envelope into bits and +dropped it into a basket. A minute later he was +assisting Miss Thorne and the prince into an +automobile that was waiting in front. As the +car moved away two other automobiles appeared +from corners near-by and trailed along behind to +the station. There a private compartment-car +was in readiness for them. +</p> +<p> +It was a long, dreary ride—a ride of utter +silence save for the roar and clatter of the moving +train. Mr. Grimm, vigilant, implacable, +sat at ease; Miss Thorne, resigned to the inevitable, +whatever it might be, studied the calm, quiet +face from beneath drooping lids; and the prince, +sullen, scowling, nervously wriggled in his seat. +Philadelphia was passed, and Trenton, and then +the dawn began to break through the night. It +was quite light when they rolled into Jersey +City. +</p> +<p> +"I'm sorry for all the inconvenience I have +caused," Mr. Grimm apologized to Miss Thorne +as he assisted her to alight. "You must be exhausted." +</p> +<p> +"If it were only that!" she replied, with a +slight smile. "And is it too early to ask where +we are going?" +</p> +<p> +The prince turned quickly at the question. +</p> +<p> +"We take the <i>Lusitania</i> for Liverpool at ten +o'clock," said Mr. Grimm obligingly. "Meanwhile +let's get some coffee and a bite to eat." +</p> +<p> +"Are you going to make the trip with us?" +asked the prince. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm shrugged his shoulders. +</p> +<p> +Weary and spiritless they went aboard the +boat, and a little while later they steamed out +into the stream and threaded their way down the +bay. Miss Thorne stood at the rail gazing +back upon the city they were leaving. Mr. +Grimm stood beside her; the prince, still sullen, +still scowling, sat a dozen feet away. +</p> +<p> +"This is a wonderful thing you have done, +Mr. Grimm," said Miss Thorne at last. +</p> +<p> +"Thank you," he said simply. "It was a destructive +thing that you intended to do. Did +you ever see a more marvelous thing than +that?" and he indicated the sky-line of New +York. "It's the most marvelous bit of mechanism +in the world; the dynamo of the western +hemisphere. You would have destroyed it, because +in the world-war that would have been the +first point of attack." +</p> +<p> +She raised her eyebrows, but was silent. +</p> +<p> +"Somehow," he went on after a moment, "I +could never associate a woman with destructiveness, +with wars and with violence." +</p> +<p> +"That is an unjust way of saying it," she interposed. +And then, musingly: "Isn't it odd +that you and I—standing here by the rail—have, +in a way, held the destinies of the whole +great earth in our hands? And now your remark +makes me feel that you alone have stood +for peace and the general good, and I for destruction +and evil." +</p> +<p> +"I didn't mean that," Mr. Grimm said quickly. +"You have done your duty as you saw it, +and—" +</p> +<p> +"Failed!" she interrupted. +</p> +<p> +"And I have done my duty as I saw it." +</p> +<p> +"And won!" she added. She smiled a little +sadly. "I think, perhaps you and I might have +been excellent friends if it had not been for all +this." +</p> +<p> +"I know we should have," said Mr. Grimm, +almost eagerly. "I wonder if you will ever forgive +me for—for—?" +</p> +<p> +"Forgive you?" she repeated. "There is +nothing to forgive. One must do one's duty. +But I wish it could have been otherwise." +</p> +<p> +The Statue of Liberty slid by, and Governor's +Island and Fort Hamilton; then, in the distance, +Sandy Hook light came into view. +</p> +<p> +"I'm going to leave you here," said Mr. +Grimm, and for the first time there was a tense, +strained note in his voice. +</p> +<p> +Miss Thorne's blue-gray eyes had grown mistily +thoughtful; the words startled her a little +and she turned to face him. +</p> +<p> +"It may be that you and I shall never meet +again," Mr. Grimm went on. +</p> +<p> +"We <i>will</i> meet again," she said gravely. +"When and where I don't know, but it will +come." +</p> +<p> +"And perhaps then we may be friends?" He +was pleading now. +</p> +<p> +"Why, we are friends now, aren't we?" she +asked, and again the smile curled her scarlet lips. +"Surely we are friends, aren't we?" +</p> +<p> +"We are," he declared positively. +</p> +<p> +As they started forward a revenue cutter which +had been hovering about Sandy Hook put toward +them, flying some signal at her masthead. +Slowly the great boat on which they stood crept +along, then the clang of a bell in the engine-room +brought her to a standstill, and the revenue +cutter came alongside. +</p> +<p> +"I leave you here," Mr. Grimm said again. +"It's good-by." +</p> +<p> +"Good-by," she said softly. "Good-by, till +we meet once more." +</p> +<p> +She extended both hands impulsively and he +stood for an instant staring into the limpid gray +eyes, then, turning, went below. From the revenue +cutter he waved a hand at her as the great +<i>Lusitania</i>, moving again, sped on her way. The +prince joined Miss Thorne at the rail. The +scowl was still on his face. +</p> +<p> +"And now what?" he demanded abruptly. +"This man has treated us as if we were a pair of +children." +</p> +<p> +"He's a wonderful man," she replied. +</p> +<p> +"That may be—but we have been fools to allow +him to do all this." +</p> +<p> +Miss Thorne turned flatly and faced him. +</p> +<p> +"We are not beaten yet," she said slowly. "If +all things go well we—we are not beaten yet." +</p> +<p> +The <i>Lusitania</i> was rounding Montauk Point +when the wireless brought her to half-speed with +a curt message: +</p> +<p> +"Isabel Thorne and Pietro Petrozinni aboard +<i>Lusitania</i> wanted on warrants charging conspiracy. +Tug-boat will take them off, intercepting +you beyond Montauk Point. +</p> +<p> +"CAMPBELL, Secret Service." +</p> +<p> +"What does <i>that</i> mean?" asked the prince, bewildered. +</p> +<p> +"It means that the compact will be signed in +Washington in spite of Mr. Grimm," and there +was the glitter of triumph in her eyes. "With +the aid of one of the maids in the depot at Jersey +City I managed to get a telegram of explanation +and instruction to De Foe in New York, +and this is the result. He signed Mr. Campbell's +name, I suppose, to give weight to the message." +</p> +<p> +An hour later a tug-boat came alongside, and +they went aboard. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="CH20"><!-- CHAPTER 20 --></a> +<h3> + XX +</h3> + +<h3> +THE LIGHT IN THE DOME +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +From where he sat, in a tiny alcove which +jutted out and encroached upon the line +of the sidewalk, Mr. Grimm looked down +on Pennsylvania Avenue, the central thread of +Washington, ever changing, always brilliant, +splashed at regular intervals with light from +high-flung electric arcs. The early theater +crowd was in the street, well dressed, well fed, +careless for the moment of all things save physical +comfort and amusement; automobiles, carriages, +cabs, cars flowed past endlessly; and yet +Mr. Grimm saw naught of it. In the distance, +at one end of the avenue the dome of the capitol +cleft the shadows of night, and a single light +sparkled at its apex; in the other direction, at +the left of the treasury building which abruptly +blocks the wide thoroughfare, were the shimmering +windows of the White House. +</p> +<p> +Motionless, moody, thoughtful, Mr. Grimm +sat staring, staring straight ahead, comprehending +none of these things which lay before him +as in a panorama. Instead, his memory was conjuring +up a pair of subtle, blue-gray eyes, now +pleading, now coquettish, now frankly defiant; +two slim, white, wonderful hands; the echo of a +pleasant, throaty laugh; a splendid, elusive, radiant-haired +phantom. Truly, a woman of mystery! +Who was this Isabel Thorne who, for +months past, had been the storm-center and directing +mind of a vast international intrigue +which threatened the world with war? Who, +this remarkable young woman who with ease and +assurance commanded ambassadors and played +nations as pawns? +</p> +<p> +Now that she was safely out of the country +Mr. Grimm had leisure to speculate. Upon him +had devolved the duty of blocking her plans, +and he had done so—merciless alike of his own +feeling and of hers. Hesitation or evasion had +never occurred to him. It was a thing to be done, +and he did it. He wondered if she had understood, +there at the last beside the rail? He wondered +if she knew the struggle it had cost him +deliberately to send her out of his life? Or had +even surmised that her expulsion from the country, +by his direct act, was wholly lacking in the +exaltation of triumph to him; that it struck +deeper than that, below the listless, official exterior, +into his personal happiness? And wondering, +he knew that she <i>did</i> understand. +</p> +<p> +A silent shod waiter came and placed the coffee +things at his elbow. He didn't heed. The +waiter poured a demi-tasse, and inquiringly +lifted a lump of sugar in the silver tongs. Still +Mr. Grimm didn't heed. At last the waiter deposited +the sugar on the edge of the fragile saucer, +and moved away as silently as he had come. +A newspaper which Mr. Grimm had placed on +the end of the table when he sat down, rattled a +little as a breeze from the open window caught it, +then the top sheet slid off and fell to the floor. +Mr. Grimm was still staring out the window. +</p> +<p> +Slowly the room behind him was thinning of +its crowd as the theater-bound diners went out +in twos and threes. The last of these disappeared +finally, and save for Mr. Grimm there +were not more than a dozen persons left in the +place. Thus for a few minutes, and then the +swinging doors leading from the street clicked, +and a gentleman entered. He glanced around, +as if seeking a seat near a window, then moved +along in Mr. Grimm's direction, between the +rows of tables. His gaze lingered on Mr. +Grimm for an instant, and when he came opposite +he stooped and picked up the fallen newspaper +sheet. +</p> +<p> +"Your paper?" he inquired courteously. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm was still gazing dreamily out of +the window. +</p> +<p> +"I beg pardon," insisted the new-comer pleasantly. +He folded the paper once and replaced +it on the table. One hand lingered for just the +fraction of a moment above Mr. Grimm's coffee-cup. +</p> +<p> +Aroused by the remark, Mr. Grimm glanced +around. +</p> +<p> +"Oh, thank you," he apologized hastily. "I +didn't hear you at first. Thank you." +</p> +<p> +The new-comer nodded, smiled and passed on, +taking a seat two or three tables down. +</p> +<p> +Apparently this trifling courtesy had broken +the spell of reverie, for Mr. Grimm squared +around to the table again, drew his coffee-cup +toward him, and dropped in the single lump of +sugar. He idly stirred it for a moment, as his +eyes turned again toward the open window, then +he lifted the tiny cup and emptied it. +</p> +<p> +Again he sat motionless for a long time, and +thrice the new-comer, only a few feet away, +glanced at him narrowly. And now, it seemed, +a peculiar drowsiness was overtaking Mr. +Grimm. Once he caught himself nodding and +raised his head with a jerk. Then he noticed +that the arc lights in the street were wobbling +curiously, and he fell to wondering why that +single flame sparkled at the apex of the capitol +dome. Things around him grew hazy, vague, +unreal, and then, as if realizing that something +was the matter with him, he came to his feet. +</p> +<p> +He took one step forward into the space between +the tables, reeled, attempted to steady +himself by holding on to a chair, then everything +grew black about him, and he pitched forward +on the floor. His face was dead white; +his fingers moved a little, nervously, weakly, +then they were still. +</p> +<p> +Several people rose at the sound of the falling +body, and the new-comer hurried forward. His +coat sleeve caught the empty demi-tasse, as he +stooped, and swept it to the floor, where it was +shattered. The head waiter and another came, +pell-mell, and those diners who had risen came +more slowly. +</p> +<p> +"What's the matter?" asked the head waiter +anxiously. +</p> +<p> +Already the new-comer was supporting Mr. +Grimm on his knee, and flicking water in his +face. +</p> +<p> +"Nothing serious, I fancy," he answered +shortly. "He's subject to these little attacks." +</p> +<p> +"What are they? Who is he?" +</p> +<p> +The stranger tore at Mr. Grimm's collar until +it came loose, then he fell to chafing the still +hands. +</p> +<p> +"He is a Mr. Grimm, a government employee—I +know him," he answered again. "I imagine +it's nothing more serious than indigestion." +</p> +<p> +A little knot had gathered about them, with +offers of assistance. +</p> +<p> +"Waiter, hadn't you better send for a physician?" +some one suggested. +</p> +<p> +"I'm a physician," the stranger put in impatiently. +"Have some one call a cab, and I'll see +that he's taken home. It happens that we live in +the same apartment house, just a few blocks from +here." +</p> +<p> +Obedient to the crisply-spoken directions, a +cab was called, and five minutes later Mr. +Grimm, still insensible, was lifted into it. The +stranger took a seat beside him, the cabby +touched his horse with a whip, and the vehicle +fell into the endless, moving line. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="CH21"><!-- CHAPTER 21 --></a> +<h3> + XXI +</h3> + +<h3> +A SLIP OF PAPER +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +When the light of returning consciousness +finally pierced the black +lethargy that enshrouded him, Mr. +Grimm's mind was a chaos of vagrant, absurd +fantasies; then slowly, slowly, realization struggled +back to its own, and he came to know +things. First was the knowledge that he was +lying flat on his back, on a couch, it seemed; +then, that he was in the dark—an utter, abject +darkness. And finally came an overwhelming +sense of silence. +</p> +<p> +For a while he lay motionless, with not even +the movement of an eye-lash to indicate consciousness, +wrapped in a delicious languor. +Gradually this passed and the feeble flutter of +his heart grew into a steady, rhythmic beat. +The keen brain was awakening; he was beginning +to remember. What had happened? He +knew only that in some manner a drug had been +administered to him, a bitter dose tasting of +opium; that speechlessly, he had fought against +it, that he had risen from the table in the restaurant, +and that he had fallen. All the rest +was blank. +</p> +<p> +With eyes still closed, and nerveless hands +inert at his sides he listened, the while he turned +the situation over in speculative mood. The +waiter had administered the drug, of course, +unless—unless it had been the courteous stranger +who had replaced the newspaper on the +table! That thought opened new fields of conjecture. +Mr. Grimm had no recollection of ever +having seen him before; and he had paid only +the enforced attention of politeness to him. And +why had the drug been administered? Vaguely, +incoherently, Mr. Grimm imagined that in some +way it had to do with the great international +plot of war in which Miss Thorne was so delicate +and vital an instrument. +</p> +<p> +Where was he? Conjecture stopped there. +Evidently he was where the courteous gentleman +in the restaurant wanted him to be. A +prisoner? Probably. In danger? Long, careful +attention to detail work in the Secret Service +had convinced Mr. Grimm that he was always in +danger. That was one reason—and the best—why +he had lain motionless, without so much as +lifting a finger, since that first glimmer of consciousness +had entered his brain. He was probably +under scrutiny, even in the darkness, and +for the present it was desirable to accommodate +any chance watcher by remaining apparently unconscious. +</p> +<p> +And so for a long time he lay, listening. Was +there another person in the room? Mr. Grimm's +ears were keenly alive for the inadvertent shuffling +of a foot; or the sound of breathing. +Nothing. Even the night roar of the city was +missing; the silence was oppressive. At last he +opened his eyes. A pall of gloom encompassed +him—a pall without one rift of light. His +fingers, moving slowly, explored the limits of +the couch whereon he lay. +</p> +<p> +Confident, at last, that wherever he was, he was +unwatched, Mr. Grimm was on the point of concluding +that further inaction was useless, when +his straining ears caught the faint grating of +metal against metal—perhaps the insertion of a +key in the lock. His hands grew still; his eyes +closed. And after a moment a door creaked +slightly on its hinges, and a breath of cool air +informed Mr. Grimm that that open door, wherever +it was, led to the outside, and freedom. +</p> +<p> +There was another faint creaking as the door +was shut. Mr. Grimm's nerveless hands closed +involuntarily, and his lips were set together +tightly. Was it to be a knife thrust in the +dark? If not—then what? He expected the +flare of a match; instead there was a soft tread, +and the rustle of skirts. A woman! Mr. +Grimm's caution was all but forgotten in his +surprise. As the steps drew nearer his clenched +fingers loosened; he waited. +</p> +<p> +Two hands stretched forward in the dark, +touched him simultaneously—one on the face, +one on the breast. A singular thrill shot +through him, but there was not the flicker of an +eye or the twitching of a finger. The woman—it +<i>was</i> a woman—seemed now to be bending over +him, then he heard her drop on her knees beside +him, and she pressed an inquiring ear to his left +side. It was the heart test. +</p> +<p> +"Thank God!" she breathed softly. +</p> +<p> +It was only by a masterful effort that Mr. +Grimm held himself limp and inert, for a +strange fragrance was enveloping him—a fragrance +he well knew. +</p> +<p> +The hands were fumbling at his breast again, +and there was the sharp crackle of paper. At +first he didn't understand, then he knew that the +woman had pinned a paper to the lapel of his +coat. Finally she straightened up, and took +two steps away from him, after which came a +pause. His keenly attuned ears caught her faint +breathing, then the rustle of her skirts as she +turned back. She was leaning over him again—her +lips touched his forehead, barely; again +there was a quick rustling of skirts, the door +creaked, and—silence, deep, oppressive, overwhelming +silence. +</p> +<p> +Isabel! Was he dreaming? And then he +ceased wondering and fell to remembering her +kiss—light as air—and the softly spoken +"Thank God!" She did care, then! She <i>had</i> +understood, that day! +</p> +<p> +The kiss of a woman beloved is a splendid +heart tonic. Mr. Grimm straightened up suddenly +on the couch, himself again. He touched +the slip of paper which she had pinned to his +coat to make sure it was not all a dream, after +which he recalled the fact that while he had +heard the door creak before she went out he had +not heard it creak afterward. Therefore, the +door was open. She had left it open. Purposely? +That was beside the question at the +moment. +</p> +<p> +And why—how—was she in Washington? +Pondering that question, Mr. Grimm's excellent +teeth clicked sharply together and he rose. He +knew the answer. The compact was to be signed—the +alliance which would array the civilized +world in arms. He had failed to block that, as +he thought. If Miss Thorne had returned, then +Prince Benedetto d'Abruzzi, who held absolute +power to sign the compact for Italy, France and +Spain, had also returned. +</p> +<p> +Stealthily, feeling his way as he went, Mr. +Grimm moved toward the door leading to freedom, +guided by the fresh draft of air. He +reached the door—it was standing open—and a +moment later stepped out into the star-lit night. +It was open country here, with a thread of white +road just ahead, and farther along a fringe of +shrubbery. Mr. Grimm reached the road. Far +down it, a pin point in the night, a light flickered +through interlacing branches. The tail +lamp of an automobile, of course! +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm left the road and skirted a sparse +hedge in the direction of the light. After a +moment he heard the engine of an automobile, +and saw a woman—barely discernible—step into +the car. As it started forward he staked everything +on one bold move, and won, his reward being +a narrow sitting space in the rear of the +car, hidden from its occupants by the tonneau. +One mile, two miles, three miles they charged +through the night, and still he clung on. At +last there came relief. +</p> +<p> +"That's the place, where the lights are—just +ahead." +</p> +<p> +There was no mistaking that voice raised +above the clamor of the engine. The car slackened +speed, and Mr. Grimm dropped off and +darted behind some convenient bushes. And the +first thing he did there was to light a match, +and read what was written on the slip of paper +pinned to his coat. It was, simply: +</p> +<blockquote><p>"My Dear Mr. Grimm: +</p> +<p> +"By the time you read this the compact will +have been signed, and your efforts to prevent it, +splendid as they were, futile. It is a tribute to +you that it was unanimously agreed that you +must be accounted for at the time of the signing, +hence the drugging in the restaurant; it +was only an act of kindness that I should come +here to see that all was well with you, and leave +the door open behind me. +</p> +<p> +"Believe me when I say that you are one man +in whom I have never been disappointed. Accept +this as my farewell, for now I assume again +the name and position rightfully mine. And +know, too, that I shall always cherish the belief +that you will remember me as +</p> +<p> +"Your friend, +</p> +<p> +"ISABEL THORNE. +</p> +<p> +"P. S. The prince and I left the steamer at +Montauk Point, on a tug-boat."</p></blockquote> +<p> +Mr. Grimm kissed the note twice, then +burned it. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="CH22"><!-- CHAPTER 22 --></a> +<h3> + XXII +</h3> + +<h3> +THE COMPACT +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +A room, low-ceilinged, dim, gloomy, sinister +as an inquisition chamber; a single +large table in the center, holding a kerosene +lamp, writing materials and a metal spheroid +a shade larger than a one-pound shell; and +around it a semicircle of silent, masked and +cowled figures. There were twelve of them, +eleven men and a woman. In the shadows, +which grew denser at the far end of the room, +was a squat, globular object, a massive, smooth-sided, +black, threatening thing of iron. +</p> +<p> +One of the men glanced at his watch—it was +just two o'clock—then rose and took a position +beside the table, facing the semicircle. He +placed the timepiece on the table in front of +him. +</p> +<p> +"Gentlemen," he said, and there was the faintest +trace of a foreign accent, "I shall speak +English because I know that whatever your nationality +all of you are familiar with that tongue. +And now an apology for the theatric aspect of +all this—the masks, the time and place of meeting, +and the rest of it." He paused a moment. +"There is only one person living who knows the +name and position of all of you," and by a sweep +of his hand he indicated the motionless figure of +the woman. "It was by her decision that masks +are worn, for, while we all know the details of +the Latin compact, there is a bare chance that +some one will not sign, and it is not desirable +that the identity of that person be known to all +of us. The reason for the selection of this time +and place is obvious, for an inkling of the proposed +signing has reached the Secret Service. +I will add the United States was chosen as the +birthplace of this new epoch in history for several +reasons, one being the proximity to Central +and South America; and another the inadequate +police system which enables greater freedom of +action." +</p> +<p> +He stopped and drew from his pocket a folded +parchment. He tapped the tips of his fingers +with it from time to time as he talked. +</p> +<p> +"The Latin compact, gentlemen, is not the +dream, of a night, nor of a decade. As long as +fifty years ago it was suggested, and whatever +differences the Latin countries of the world have +had among themselves, they have always realized +that ultimately they must stand together +against—against the other nations of the world. +This idea germinated into action three years +ago, and since that time agents have covered +the world in its interest. This meeting is the +fruition of all that work, and this," he held the +parchment aloft, "is the instrument that will +unite us. Never has a diplomatic secret been +kept as this has been kept; never has a greater +reprisal been planned. It means, gentlemen, the +domination of the world—socially, spiritually, +commercially and artistically; it means that +England and the United States, whose sphere of +influence has extended around the globe, will be +beaten back, that the flag of the Latin countries +will wave again over lost possessions. It means +all of that, and more." +</p> +<p> +His voice had risen as he talked until it had +grown vibrant with enthusiasm; and his hands +pointed his remarks with quick, sharp gestures. +</p> +<p> +"All this," he went on, "was never possible +until three years ago, when the navies of the +world were given over into the hands of one +nation—my country. Five years ago a fellow-countryman +of mine happened to be present at +an electrical exhibition in New York City, and +there he witnessed an interesting experiment—practical +demonstration of the fact that a +submarine mine may be exploded by the use of +the Marconi wireless system. He was a practical +electrician himself, and the idea lingered +in his mind. For two years he experimented, +and finally this resulted." He picked up the +metal spheroid and held it out for their inspection. +"As it stands it is absolutely perfect and +gives a world's supremacy to the Latin countries +because it places all the navies of the world +at our mercy. It is a variation of the well-known +percussion cap or fuse by which mines +and torpedoes are exploded. +</p> +<p> +"The theory of it is simple, as are the theories +of all great inventions; the secret of its construction +is known only to its inventor—a man +of whom you never heard. It is merely that the +mechanism of the cap is so delicate that the +Marconi wireless waves—-and <i>only</i> those—will +fire the cap. In other words, this cap is tuned, +if I may use the word, to a certain number of +vibrations and half-vibrations; a wireless instrument +of high power, with a modifying addition +which the inventor has added, has only to be set +in motion to discharge it at any distance up to +twenty-five miles. High power wireless waves +recognize no obstacle, so the explosion of a submarine +mine is as easily brought about as would +be the explosion of a mine on dry land. You will +readily see its value as a protective agency for +our seaports." +</p> +<p> +He replaced the spheroid on the table. +</p> +<p> +"But its chief value is not in that," he resumed. +"Its chief value to the Latin compact, +gentlemen, is that the United States and England +are now concluding negotiations, unknown +to each other, by which <i>they</i> will protect <i>their</i> +seaports by means of mines primed with this +cap. The tuning of the caps which we will use +is known only to us; <i>the tuning of the caps +which they will use is also known to us</i>! The +addition to the wireless apparatus which they +will use is such that they <i>can not</i>, even by accident, +explode a mine guarding our seaports; +but, on the other hand, the addition to the wireless +apparatus which <i>we</i> will use permits of the +extreme high charge which will explode their +mines. To make it clearer, we could send a navy +against such a city as New York or Liverpool, +and explode every mine in front of us as we +went; and meanwhile our mines are impervious. +</p> +<p> +"Another word, and I have finished. Five +gentlemen, whom I imagine are present now, +have witnessed a test of this cap, by direct command +of their home governments. For the benefit +of the others of you a simple test has been +arranged for to-night. This cap on the table +is charged; its inventor is at his wireless instrument, +fifteen miles away. At three o'clock +he will turn on the current that will explode it." +Four of the eleven men looked at their watches. +"It is now seventeen minutes past two. I am +instructed, for the purposes of the test, to place +this cap anywhere you may select—in this house +or outside of it, in a box, sealed, or under water. +The purpose is merely to demonstrate its efficacy; +to prove to your complete satisfaction +that it can be exploded under practically any +conditions." +</p> +<p> +His entire manner underwent a change; he +drew a chair up to the table, and stood for an +instant with his hand resting on the back. +</p> +<p> +"The compact is written in three languages—English, +French and Italian. I shall ask you +to sign, after reading either or all, precisely as +the directions you have received from your home +government instruct. On behalf of the three +greatest Latin countries, as special envoy of +each, I will sign first." +</p> +<p> +He dropped into the chair, signed each of the +three parchment pages three times, then rose +and offered the pen to the cowled figure at one +end of the semicircle. The man came forward, +read the English transcript, studied the three +signatures already there with a certain air of +surprise, then signed. The second man signed, +the third man, and the fourth. +</p> +<p> +The fifth had just risen to go forward when +the door opened silently and Mr. Grimm entered. +Without a glance either to right or left, he went +straight toward the table, and extended a hand +to take the compact. +</p> +<p> +For an instant there had come amazement, a +dumb astonishment, at the intrusion. It passed, +and the hand of the man who had done the talking +darted out, seized the compact, and held it +behind him. +</p> +<p> +"If you will be good enough to give that to +me, your Highness," suggested Mr. Grimm +quietly. +</p> +<p> +For half a minute the masked man stared +straight into the listless eyes of the intruder, +and then: +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Grimm, you are in very grave danger." +</p> +<p> +"That is beside the question," was the reply. +"Be good enough to give me that document." +</p> +<p> +He backed away as he spoke, kicked the door +closed with one heel, then leaned against it, facing +them. +</p> +<p> +"Or better yet," he went on after a moment, +"burn it. There is a lamp in front of you." +He paused for an answer. "It would be absurd +of me to attempt to take it by force," he added. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="CH23"><!-- CHAPTER 23 --></a> +<h3> + XXIII +</h3> + +<h3> +THE PERCUSSION CAP +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +There was a long, tense silence. The +cowled figures had risen ominously; +Miss Thorne paled behind her mask, +and her fingers gripped her palms fiercely, still +she sat motionless. Prince d'Abruzzi broke the +silence. He seemed perfectly calm and self-possessed. +</p> +<p> +"How did you get in?" he demanded. +</p> +<p> +"Throttled your guard at the front door, +took him down cellar and locked him in the coal-bin," +replied Mr. Grimm tersely. "I am waiting +for you to burn it." +</p> +<p> +"And how did you escape from—from the +other place?" +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm shrugged his shoulders. +</p> +<p> +"The lamp is in front of you," he said. +</p> +<p> +"And find your way here?" the prince pursued. +</p> +<p> +Again Mr. Grimm shrugged his shoulders. +For an instant longer the prince gazed straight +into his inscrutable face, then turned accusing +eyes on the masked figures about him. +</p> +<p> +"Is there a traitor?" he demanded suddenly. +His gaze settled on Miss Thorne and lingered +there. +</p> +<p> +"I can relieve your mind on that point—there +is not," Mr. Grimm assured him. "Just a final +word, your Highness, if you will permit me. I +have heard everything that has been said here +for the last fifteen minutes. The details of your +percussion cap are interesting. I shall lay them +before my government and my government may +take it upon itself to lay them before the British +government. You yourself said a few minutes +ago that this compact was not possible before +this cap was invented and perfected. It isn't +possible the minute my government is warned +against its use. That will be my first duty." +</p> +<p> +"You are giving some very excellent reasons, +Mr. Grimm," was the deliberate reply, "why +you should not be permitted to leave this room +alive." +</p> +<p> +"Further," Mr. Grimm resumed in the same +tone, "I have been ordered to prevent the signing +of that compact, at least in this country. It +seems that I am barely in time. If it is signed—and +it will be useless now on your own statement +unless you murder me—every man who +signs it will have to reckon with the highest +power of this country. Will you destroy it? +I don't want to know what countries already +stand committed by the signatures there." +</p> +<p> +"I will not," was the steady response. And +then, after a little: "Mr. Grimm, the inventor +of this little cap, insignificant as it seems, will +receive millions for it. Your silence would be +worth—just how much?" +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm's face turned red, then white +again. +</p> +<p> +"Which would you prefer? An independence +by virtue of a great fortune, or—or the other +thing?" +</p> +<p> +Suddenly Miss Thorne tore the mask from +her face and came forward. Her cheeks were +scarlet, and anger flamed in the blue-gray eyes. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Grimm has no price—I happen to know +that," she declared hotly. "Neither money nor +a consideration for his own personal safety will +make him turn traitor." She stared coldly into +the prince's eyes. "And we are not assassins +here," she added. +</p> +<p> +"Miss Thorne has stated the matter fairly, I +believe, your Highness," and Mr. Grimm permitted +his eyes to linger a moment on the flushed +face of this woman who, in a way, was defending +him. "But there is only one thing to do, Miss +Thorne." He was talking to her now. "There +is no middle course. It is a problem that has +only one possible answer—the destruction of +that document, and the departure of you, and +you, your Highness, for Italy under my personal +care all the way. I imagined this matter +had ended that day on the steamer; it <i>will</i> end +here, now, to-night." +</p> +<p> +The prince glanced again at his watch, then +thoughtfully weighed the percussion cap in his +hand, after which, with a curious laugh, he +walked over to the squat iron globe in an opposite +corner of the room. He bent over it half a +minute, then straightened up. +</p> +<p> +"That cap, Mr. Grimm, has one disadvantage," +he remarked casually. "When it is attached +to a mine or torpedo it can not be +disconnected without firing it. It is attached." +He turned to the others. "It is needless to discuss +the matter further just now. If you will +follow me? We will leave Mr. Grimm here." +</p> +<p> +With a strange little cry, neither anger nor +anguish, yet oddly partaking of the quality of +each, Isabel went quickly to the prince. +</p> +<p> +"How dare you do such a thing?" she demanded +fiercely. "It is murder." +</p> +<p> +"This is not a time, Miss Thorne, for your +interference," replied the prince coldly. "It +has all passed beyond the point where the feelings +of any one person, even the feelings of the +woman who has engineered the compact, can be +considered. A single life can not be permitted +to stand in the way of the consummation of this +world project. Mr. Grimm alive means the compact +would be useless, if not impossible; Mr. +Grimm dead means the fruition of all our plans +and hopes. You have done your duty and you +have done it well; but now your authority ends, +and I, the special envoy of—" +</p> +<p> +"Just a moment, please," Mr. Grimm interrupted +courteously. "As I understand it, your +Highness, the mine there in the corner is +charged?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes. It just happened to be here for purposes +of experiment." +</p> +<p> +"The cap is attached?" +</p> +<p> +"Quite right." The prince laughed. +</p> +<p> +"And at three o'clock, by your watch, the +mine will be fired by a wireless operator fifteen +miles from here?" +</p> +<p> +"Something like that; yes, very much like +that," assented the prince. +</p> +<p> +"Thank you. I merely wanted to understand +it." Mr. Grimm pulled a chair up against the +door and sat down, crossing his legs. On his +knees rested the barrel of a revolver, glittering, +fascinating, in the semi-darkness. "Now, gentlemen," +and he glanced at his watch, "it's +twenty-one minutes of three o'clock. At three +that mine will explode. We will all be in the +room when it happens, unless his Highness sees +fit to destroy the compact." +</p> +<p> +Eyes sought eyes, and the prince removed his +mask with a sudden gesture. His face was +bloodless. +</p> +<p> +"If any man," and Mr. Grimm gave Miss +Thorne a quick glance, "I should say, <i>any person</i>, +attempts to leave this room I <i>know</i> he will +die; and there's a bare chance that the percussion +cap will fail to work. I can account for +six of you, if there is a rush." +</p> +<p> +"But, man, if that mine explodes we shall all +be killed—blown to pieces!" burst from one of +the cowled figures. +</p> +<p> +"If the percussion cap works," supplemented +Mr. Grimm. +</p> +<p> +Mingled emotions struggled in the flushed +face of Isabel as she studied Mr. Grimm's impassive +countenance. +</p> +<p> +"I have never disappointed you yet, Miss +Thorne," he remarked as if it were an explanation. +"I shall not now." +</p> +<p> +She turned to the prince. +</p> +<p> +"Your Highness, I think it needless to argue +further," she said. "We have no choice in the +matter; there is only one course—destroy the +compact." +</p> +<p> +"No!" was the curt answer. +</p> +<p> +"I believe I know Mr. Grimm better than you +do," she argued. "You think he will weaken; +I know he will not. I am not arguing for him, +nor for myself; I am arguing against the +frightful loss that will come here in this room +if the compact is not destroyed." +</p> + +<a name="image-4"><!-- Image 4 --></a> +<p class="figure"> +<a href="images/img4.jpg"> +<img width="60%" src="images/img4.jpg" +alt="'You Think He Will Weaken; I Know He Will Not.'"/></a><br /> +<b>"'You Think He Will Weaken; I Know He Will Not.'"</b> +</p> + +<p> +"It's absurd to let one man stand in the way," +declared the prince angrily. +</p> +<p> +"It might not be an impertinent question, +your Highness," commented Mr. Grimm, "for +me to ask how you are going to <i>prevent</i> one +man standing in the way?" +</p> +<p> +A quick change came over Miss Thorne's +face. The eyes hardened, the lips were set, and +lines Mr. Grimm had never seen appeared about +the mouth. Here, in a flash, the cloak of dissimulation +was cast aside, and the woman stood +forth, this keen, brilliant, determined woman +who did things. +</p> +<p> +"The compact will be destroyed," she said. +</p> +<p> +"No," declared the prince. +</p> +<p> +"It <i>must</i> be destroyed." +</p> +<p> +"<i>Must? Must?</i> Do you say <i>must to me?</i>" +</p> +<p> +"Yes, <i>must</i>," she repeated steadily. +</p> +<p> +"And by what authority, please, do—" +</p> +<p> +"By that authority!" She drew a tiny, filigreed +gold box from her bosom and cast it upon +the table; the prince stared at it. "In the name +of your sovereign—<i>must</i>!" she said again. +</p> +<p> +The prince turned away and began pacing, +back and forth across the room with the parchment +crumpled in his hand. For a minute or +more Isabel stood watching him. +</p> +<p> +"Thirteen minutes!" Mr. Grimm announced +coldly. +</p> +<p> +And now broke out an excited chatter, a babel +of French, English, Italian, Spanish; those +masked and cowled ones who had held silence +for so long all began talking at once. One +of them snatched at the crumpled compact +in the prince's hand, while all crowded around +him arguing. Mr. Grimm sat perfectly still +with the revolver barrel resting on his knees. +</p> +<p> +"Eleven minutes!" he announced again. +</p> +<p> +Suddenly the prince turned violently on Miss +Thorne with rage-distorted face. +</p> +<p> +"Do you know what it means to you if I do +as you say?" he demanded savagely. "It means +you will be branded as traitor, that your name, +your property—" +</p> +<p> +"If you will pardon me, your Highness," she +interrupted, "the power that I have used was +given to me to use; I have used it. It is a matter +to be settled between me and my government, +and as far as it affects my person is of +no consequence now. You will destroy the compact." +</p> +<p> +"Nine minutes!" said Mr. Grimm monotonously. +</p> +<p> +Again the babel broke out. +</p> +<p> +"Do we understand that you want to see the +compact?" one of the cowled men asked suddenly +of Mr. Grimm as he turned. +</p> +<p> +"No, I don't want to see it. I'd prefer not +to see it." +</p> +<p> +With hatred blazing in his eyes the prince +made his way toward the lamp, holding a parchment +toward the blaze. +</p> +<p> +"There's nothing else to be done," he exclaimed +savagely. +</p> +<p> +"Just a moment, please," Mr. Grimm interposed +quickly. "Miss Thorne, is that the compact?" +</p> +<p> +She glanced at it, nodded her head, and then +the flame caught the fringed edge of paper. It +crackled, flashed, flamed, and at last, a thing of +ashes, was scattered on the floor. Mr. Grimm +rose. +</p> +<p> +"That is all, gentlemen," he announced courteously. +"You are free to go. You, your +Highness, and Miss Thorne, will accompany +me." +</p> +<p> +He held open the door and there was almost a +scramble to get out. The prince and Miss +Thorne waited until the last. +</p> +<p> +"And, Miss Thorne, if you will give us a lift +in your car?" Mr. Grimm suggested. "It is +now four minutes of three." +</p> +<p> +The automobile came in answer to a signal +and the three in silence entered it. The car +trembled and had just begun to move when Mr. +Grimm remembered something, and leaped out. +</p> +<p> +"Wait for me!" he called. "There's a man +locked in the coal-bin!" +</p> +<p> +He disappeared into the house, and Miss +Thorne, with a gasp of horror sank back in her +seat with face like chalk. The prince glanced +uneasily at his watch, then spoke curtly to the +chauffeur. +</p> +<p> +"Run the car up out of danger; there'll be an +explosion there in a moment." +</p> +<p> +They had gone perhaps a hundred feet when +the building they had just left seemed to be +lifted bodily from the ground by a great spurt +of flame which tore through its center, then collapsed +like a thing of cards. The prince, unmoved, +glanced around at Miss Thorne; she lay +in a dead faint beside him. +</p> +<p> +"Go ahead," he commanded. "Baltimore." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="CH24"><!-- CHAPTER 24 --></a> +<h3> + XXIV +</h3> + +<h3> +THE PERSONAL EQUATION +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +Mr. Campbell ceased talking and +the deep earnestness that had settled +on his face passed, leaving instead +the blank, inscrutable mask of benevolence behind +which his clock-like genius was habitually +hidden. The choleric blue eyes of the president +of the United States shifted inquiringly to the +thoughtful countenance of the secretary of +state at his right, thence along the table around +which the official family was gathered. It was a +special meeting of the cabinet called at the suggestion +of Chief Campbell, and for more than an +hour he had done the talking. There had been +no interruption. +</p> +<p> +"So much!" he concluded, at last. "If there +is any point I have not made clear Mr. Grimm +is here to explain it in person." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm rose at the mention of his name +and stood with his hands clasped behind his +back. His eyes met those of the chief executive +listlessly. +</p> +<p> +"We understand, Mr. Grimm," the president +began, and he paused for an instant to regard +the tall, clean-cut young man with a certain +admiration, "we understand that there does not +actually exist such a thing as a Latin compact +against the English-speaking peoples?" +</p> +<p> +"On paper, no," was the reply. +</p> +<p> +"You personally prevented the signing of the +compact?" +</p> +<p> +"I personally caused the destruction of the +compact after several signatures had been attached," +Mr. Grimm amended. "Throughout I +have acted under the direction of Mr. Campbell, +of course." +</p> +<p> +"You were in very grave personal danger?" +the president went on. +</p> +<p> +"It was of no consequence," said Mr. Grimm +simply. +</p> +<p> +The president glanced at Mr. Campbell and +the chief shrugged his shoulders. +</p> +<p> +"You are certain, Mr. Grimm," and the president +spoke with great deliberation, "you are +certain that the representatives of the Latin +countries have not met since and signed the compact?" +</p> +<p> +"I am not certain—no," replied Mr. Grimm +promptly. "I am certain, however, that the +backbone of the alliance was broken—its only +excuse for existence destroyed—when they permitted +me to learn of the wireless percussion +cap which would have placed the navies of the +world at their mercy. Believe me, gentlemen, +if they had kept their secret it would have given +them dominion of the earth. They made one +mistake," he added in a most matter-of-fact +tone. "They should have killed me; it was their +only chance." +</p> +<p> +The president seemed a little startled at the +suggestion. +</p> +<p> +"That would have been murder," he remarked. +</p> +<p> +"True," Mr. Grimm acquiesced, "but it seems +an absurd thing that they should have permitted +the life of one man to stand between them and +the world power for which they had so long +planned and schemed. His Highness, Prince +Benedetto d'Abruzzi believed as I do, and so +expressed himself." He paused a moment; there +was a hint of surprise in his manner. "I expected +to be killed, of course. It seemed to me +the only thing that could happen." +</p> +<p> +"They must have known of the far-reaching +consequences which would follow upon your +escape, Mr. Grimm. Why <i>didn't</i> they kill you?" +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm made a little gesture with both +hands and was silent. +</p> +<p> +"May they not yet attempt it?" the president +insisted. +</p> +<p> +"It's too late now," Mr. Grimm explained. +"They had everything to gain by killing me +there as I stood in the room where I had interrupted +the signing of the compact, because that +would have been before I had placed the facts +in the hands of my government. I was the only +person outside of their circle who knew all of +them. Only the basest motive could inspire them +to attempt my life now." +</p> +<p> +There was a pause. The secretary of state +glanced from Mr. Grimm to Mr. Campbell with +a question in his deep-set eyes. +</p> +<p> +"Do I understand that you placed a Miss +Thorne and the prince under—that is, you detained +them?" he queried. "If so, where are +they now?" +</p> +<p> +"I don't know," was the reply. "Just before +the explosion the three of us entered an automobile +together, and then as we were starting +away I remembered something which made it +necessary for me to reenter the house. When +I came out again, just a few seconds before the +explosion, the prince and Miss Thorne had +gone." +</p> +<p> +The secretary's lips curled down in disapproval. +</p> +<p> +"Wasn't it rather unusual, to put it mildly, +to leave your prisoners to their own devices that +way?" he asked. +</p> +<p> +"Well, yes," Mr. Grimm admitted. "But the +circumstances were unusual. When I entered +the house I had locked a man in the cellar. I +had to go back to save his life, otherwise—" +</p> +<p> +"Oh, the guard at the door, you mean?" came +the interruption. "Who was it?" +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm glanced at his chief, who nodded. +</p> +<p> +"It was Mr. Charles Winthrop Rankin of +the German embassy," said the young man. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Rankin of the German embassy was on +guard at the door?" demanded the president +quickly. +</p> +<p> +"Yes. We got out safely." +</p> +<p> +"And that means that Germany was—!" +</p> +<p> +The president paused and startled glances +passed around the table. After a moment of +deep abstraction the secretary went on: +</p> +<p> +"So Miss Thorne and the prince escaped. Are +they still in this country?" +</p> +<p> +"That I don't know," replied Mr. Grimm. +He stood silent a moment, staring at the president. +Some subtle change crept into the listless +eyes, and his lips were set. "Perhaps I had better +explain here that the personal equation enters +largely into an affair of this kind," he said +at last, slowly. "It happens that it entered into +this. Unless I am ordered to pursue the matter +further I think it would be best for all concerned +to accept the fact of Miss Thorne's +escape, and—" He stopped. +</p> +<p> +There was a long, thoughtful silence. Every +man in the room was studying Mr. Grimm's impassive +face. +</p> +<p> +"Personal equation," mused the president. +"Just how, Mr. Grimm, does the personal equation +enter into the affair?" +</p> +<p> +The young man's lips closed tightly, and +then: +</p> +<p> +"There are some people, Mr. President, whom +we meet frankly as enemies, and we deal with +them accordingly; and there are others who oppose +us and yet are not enemies. It is merely +that our paths of duty cross. We may have +the greatest respect for them and they for us, +but purposes are unalterably different. In other +words there is a personal enmity and a political +enmity. You, for instance, might be a close +personal friend of the man whom you defeated +for president. There might"—he stopped suddenly. +</p> +<p> +"Go on," urged the president. +</p> +<p> +"I think every man meets once in his life an +individual with whom he would like to reckon +personally," the young man continued. "That +reckoning may not be a severe one; it may be +less severe than the law would provide; but it +would be a personal reckoning. There is one individual +in this affair with whom I should like to +reckon, hence the personal equation enters very +largely into the case." +</p> +<p> +For a little while the silence of the room was +unbroken, save for the steady tick-tock of a +great clock in one corner. Mr. Grimm's eyes +were fixed unwaveringly upon those of the chief +executive. At last the secretary of war crumpled +a sheet of paper impatiently and hitched +his chair up to the table. +</p> +<p> +"Coming down to the facts it's like this, isn't +it?" he demanded briskly. "The Latin countries, +by an invention of their own which the United +States and England were to be duped into purchasing, +would have had power to explode every +submarine mine before attacking a port? Very +well. This thing, of course, would have given +them the freedom of the seas as long as we were +unable to explode their submarines as they were +able to explode ours. And this is the condition +which made the Latin compact possible, +isn't it?" +</p> +<p> +He looked straight at Mr. Grimm, who nodded. +</p> +<p> +"Therefore," he went on, "if the Latin compact +is not a reality on paper; if the United +States and England do not purchase this—this +wireless percussion cap, we are right back where +we were before it all happened, aren't we? +Every possible danger from that direction has +passed, hasn't it? The world-war of which we +have been talking is rendered impossible, isn't +it?" +</p> +<p> +"That's a question," answered Mr. Grimm. +"If you will pardon me for suggesting it, I +would venture to say that as long as there is an +invention of that importance in the hands of +nations whom we now know have been conspiring +against us for fifty years, there is always danger. +It seems to me, if you will pardon me +again, that for the sake of peace we must either +get complete control of that invention or else +understand it so well that there can be no further +danger. And again, please let me call your +attention to the fact that the brain which +brought this thing into existence is still to be +reckoned with. There may, some day, come a +time when our submarines may be exploded at +will regardless of this percussion cap." +</p> +<p> +The secretary of war turned flatly upon Chief +Campbell. +</p> +<p> +"This woman who is mixed up in this affair?" +he demanded. "This Miss Thorne. Who +is she?" +</p> +<p> +"Who is she?" repeated the chief. "She's a +secret agent of Italy, one of the most brilliant, +perhaps, that has ever operated in this or any +other country. She is the pivot around which +the intrigue moved. We know her by a dozen +names; any one of them may be correct." +</p> +<p> +The brows of the secretary of war were +drawn down in thought as he turned to the president. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Grimm was speaking of the personal +equation," he remarked pointedly. "I think +perhaps his meaning is clear when we know +there is a woman in the case. We know that +Mr. Grimm has done his duty to the last inch in +this matter; we know that alone and unaided, +practically, he has done a thing that no living +man of his relative position has ever done before—prevented +a world-war. But there is further +danger—he himself has called our attention to +it—therefore, I would suggest that Mr. Grimm +be relieved of further duty in this particular +case. This is not a moment when the peace of +the world may be imperiled by personal feelings +of—of kindliness for an individual." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm received the blow without a tremor. +His hands were still idly clasped behind +his back; the eyes fastened upon the president's +face were still listless; the mouth absolutely +without expression. +</p> +<p> +"As Mr. Grimm has pointed out," the secretary +went on, "we have been negotiating for +this wireless percussion cap. I have somewhere +in my office the name and address of the individual +with whom these negotiations have been conducted. +Through that it is possible to reach +the inventor, and then—! I suggest that we +vote our thanks to Mr. Grimm and relieve him +of this particular case." +</p> +<p> +The choleric eyes of the president softened a +little, and grew grave as they studied the impassive +face of the young man. +</p> +<p> +"It's a strange situation, Mr. Grimm," he said +evenly. "What do you say to withdrawing?" +</p> +<p> +"I am at your orders, Mr. President," was the +reply. +</p> +<p> +"No one knows better what you have done +than the gentlemen here at this table," the president +went on slowly. "No one questions that +you have done more than any other man could +have done under the circumstances. We understand, +I think, that indirectly you are asking +immunity for an individual. I don't happen to +know the liability of that individual under our +law, but we can't make any mistake now, Mr. +Grimm, and so—and so—" He stopped and +was silent. +</p> +<p> +"I had hoped, Mr. President, that what I have +done so far—and I don't underestimate it—would +have, at least, earned for me the privilege +of remaining in this case until its conclusion," +said Mr. Grimm steadily. "If it is to be otherwise, +of course I am at—" +</p> +<p> +"History tells us, Mr. Grimm," interrupted +the president irrelevantly, "that the frou-frou +of a woman's skirt has changed the map of the +world. Do you believe," he went on suddenly, +"that a man can mete out justice fairly, severely +if necessary, to one for whom he has a personal +regard?" +</p> +<p> +"I do, sir." +</p> +<p> +"Perhaps even to one—to a woman whom he +might love?" +</p> +<p> +"I do, sir." +</p> +<p> +The president rose. +</p> +<p> +"Please wait in the anteroom for a few minutes," +he directed. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm bowed himself out. At the end +of half an hour he was again summoned into +the cabinet chamber. The president met him +with outstretched hand. There was more than +mere perfunctory thanks in this—there was the +understanding of man and man. +</p> +<p> +"You will proceed with the case to the end, +Mr. Grimm," he instructed abruptly. "If you +need assistance ask for it; if not, proceed alone. +You will rely upon your own judgment entirely. +If there are circumstances which make it inadvisable +to move against an individual by legal +process, even if that individual is amenable to +our laws, you are not constrained so to do if +your judgment is against it. There is one stipulation: +You will either secure the complete +rights of the wireless percussion cap to this government +or learn the secret of the invention so +that at no future time can we be endangered +by it." +</p> +<p> +"Thank you," said Mr. Grimm quietly. "I +understand." +</p> +<p> +"I may add that it is a matter of deep regret +to me," and the president brought one vigorous +hand down on the young man's shoulder, "that +our government has so few men of your type in +its service. Good day." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="CH25"><!-- CHAPTER 25 --></a> +<h3> + XXV +</h3> + +<h3> +WE TWO +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm turned from Pennsylvania +Avenue into a cross street, walked +along half a block or so, climbed a +short flight of stairs and entered an office. +</p> +<p> +"Is Mr. Howard in?" he queried of a boy in +attendance. +</p> +<p> +"Name, please." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm handed over a sealed envelope +which bore the official imprint of the Department +of War in the upper left hand corner; and +the boy disappeared into a room beyond. A moment +later he emerged and held open the door +for Mr. Grimm. A gentleman—Mr. Howard—rose +from his seat and stared at him as he +entered. +</p> +<p> +"This note, Mr. Grimm, is surprising," he +remarked. +</p> +<p> +"It is only a request from the secretary of +war that I be permitted to meet the inventor of +the wireless percussion cap," Mr. Grimm explained +carelessly. "The negotiations have +reached a point where the War Department +must have one or two questions answered directly +by the inventor. Simple enough, you see." +</p> +<p> +"But it has been understood, and I have personally +impressed it upon the secretary of war +that such a meeting is impossible," objected Mr. +Howard. "All negotiations have been conducted +through me, and I have, as attorney for the inventor, +the right to answer any question that +may properly be answered. This now is a request +for a personal interview with the inventor." +</p> +<p> +"The necessity for such an interview has +risen unexpectedly, because of a pressing need +of either closing the deal or allowing it to drop," +Mr. Grimm stated. "I may add that the success +of the deal depends entirely on this interview." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Howard was leaning forward in his chair +with wrinkled brow intently studying the calm +face of the young man. Innocent himself of all +the intrigue and international chicanery back of +the affair, representing only an individual in +these secret negotiations, he saw in the statement, +as Mr. Grimm intended that he should, the possible +climax of a great business contract. His +greed was aroused; it might mean hundreds of +thousands of dollars to him. +</p> +<p> +"Do you think the deal can be made?" he +asked at last. +</p> +<p> +"I have no doubt there will be some sort of a +deal," replied Mr. Grimm. "As I say, however, +it is absolutely dependent on an interview between +the inventor and myself at once—this +afternoon." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Howard thoughtfully drummed on his +desk for a little while. From the first, save in +so far as the patent rights were concerned, he +had seen no reasons for the obligations of utter +secrecy which had been enforced upon him. Perhaps, +if he laid it before the inventor in this new +light, with the deal practically closed, the interview +would be possible! +</p> +<p> +"I have no choice in the matter, Mr. Grimm," +he said at last. "I shall have to put it to my +client, of course. Can you give me, say, half an +hour to communicate with him?" +</p> +<p> +"Certainly," and Mr. Grimm rose obligingly. +"Shall I wait outside here or call again?" +</p> +<p> +"You may wait if you don't mind," said Mr. +Howard. "I'll be able to let you know in a few +minutes, I hope." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm bowed and passed out. At the +end of twenty-five minutes the door of Mr. Howard's +private office opened and he appeared. His +face was violently red, evidently from anger, +and perspiration stood on his forehead. +</p> +<p> +"I can't do anything with him," he declared +savagely. "He says simply that negotiations +must be conducted through me or not at all." +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm had risen; he bowed courteously. +</p> +<p> +"Very well," he said placidly. "You understand, +of course, as the note says, that this refusal +of his terminates the negotiations, so—" +</p> +<p> +"But just a moment—" interposed Mr. Howard +quickly. +</p> +<p> +"Good day," said Mr. Grimm. +</p> +<p> +The door opened and closed; he was gone. +Three minutes later he stepped into a telephone +booth at a near-by corner and took down the receiver. +</p> +<p> +"Hello, central!" he called, and then: "This +is Mr. Grimm of the Secret Service. What number +was Mr. Howard talking to?" +</p> +<p> +"Eleven double-nought six, Alexandria," was +the reply. +</p> +<p> +"Where is the connection? In whose name?" +</p> +<p> +"The connection is five miles out from Alexandria +in a farm-house on the old Baltimore +Road," came the crisp, business-like answer. +"The name is Murdock Williams." +</p> +<p> +"Thank you," said Mr. Grimm. "Good-by." +</p> +<p> +A moment later he was standing by the curb +waiting for a car, when Howard, still angry, and +with an expression of deep chagrin on his face, +came bustling up. +</p> +<p> +"If you can give me until to-morrow afternoon, +then—" he began. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm glanced around at him, and with +a slight motion of his head summoned two men +who had been chatting near-by. One of them +was Blair, and the other Hastings. +</p> +<p> +"Take this man in charge," he directed. +"Hold him in solitary confinement until you hear +from me. Don't talk to him, don't let any one +else talk to him, and don't let him talk. If any +person speaks to him before he is locked up, +take that person in charge also. He is guilty +of no crime, but a single word from him now will +endanger my life." +</p> +<p> +That was all. It was said and done so quickly +that Howard, dazed, confused and utterly unable +to account for anything, was led away without +a protest. Mr. Grimm, musing gently on +the stupidity of mankind in general and the ease +with which it is possible to lead even a clever individual +into a trap, if the bait appeals to greed, +took a car and went up town. +</p> +<p> +Some three hours later he walked briskly +along a narrow path strewn with pine needles, +which led tortuously up to an old colonial farmhouse. +Outwardly the place seemed to be deserted. +The blinds, battered and stripped of +paint by wind and rain, were all closed and one +corner of the small veranda had crumbled away +from age and neglect. In the rear of the house, +rising from an old barn, a thin pole with a cup-like +attachment at the apex, thrust its point into +the open above the dense, odorous pines. Mr. +Grimm noted these things as he came along. +</p> +<p> +He stepped up quietly on the veranda and +had just extended one hand to rap on the door +when it was opened from within, and Miss +Thorne stood before him. He was not surprised; +intuition had told him he would meet her +again, perhaps here in hiding. A sudden quick +tenderness lighted the listless eyes. For an instant +she stood staring, her face pallid against +the gloom of the hallway beyond, and she drew +a long breath of relief, as she pressed one hand +to her breast. The blue-gray eyes were veiled +by drooping lids, then she recovered herself and +they opened into his. In them he saw anxiety, +apprehension, fear even. +</p> +<p> +"Miss Thorne!" he greeted, and he bowed low +over the white hand which she impulsively thrust +toward him. +</p> +<p> +"I—I knew some one was coming," she stammered +in a half whisper. "I didn't know it was +you; I hadn't known definitely until this instant +that you were safe from the explosion. I am +glad—glad, you understand; glad that you +were not—" She stopped and fought back her +emotions, then went on: "But you must not come +in; you must go away at once. Your—your life +is in danger here." +</p> +<p> +"<i>How</i> did you know I was coming?" inquired +Mr. Grimm. +</p> +<p> +"From the moment Mr. Howard telephoned," +she replied, still hastily, still in the mysterious +half whisper. "I knew that it could only be +some one from your bureau, and I hoped that it +was you. I saw how you forced him to call us +up here, and that was all you needed. It was +simple, of course, to trace the telephone call." +Both of her hands closed over one of his desperately. +"Now, go, please. The Latin compact is +at an end; you merely invite death here. Now, +go!" +</p> +<p> +Her eyes were searching the listless face with +entreaty in them; the slender fingers were fiercely +gripping one of Mr. Grimm's nerveless hands. +For an instant some strange, softening light +flickered in the young man's eyes, then it passed. +</p> +<p> +"I have no choice, Miss Thorne," he said +gravely at last. "I am honor bound by my government +to do one of two things. If I fail in +the first of those—the greater—it can only be +because—" +</p> +<p> +He stopped; hope flamed up in her eyes and +she leaned forward eagerly studying the impassive +face. +</p> +<p> +"Because—?" she repeated. +</p> +<p> +"It can only be because I am killed," he added +quietly. Suddenly his whole manner changed. +"I should like to see the—the inventor?" +</p> +<p> +"But don't you see—don't you see you <i>will</i> +be killed if—?" she began tensely. +</p> +<p> +"May I see the inventor, please?" Mr. Grimm +interrupted. +</p> +<p> +For a little time she stood, white and rigid, +staring at him. Then her lids fluttered down +wearily, as if to veil some crushing agony within +her, and she stepped aside. Mr. Grimm entered +and the door closed noiselessly behind him. +After a moment her hand rested lightly on his +arm, and he was led into a room to his left. This +door, too, she closed, immediately turning to +face him. +</p> +<p> +"We may talk here a few minutes without interruption," +she said in a low tone. Her voice +was quite calm now. "If you will be—?" +</p> +<p> +"Please understand, Miss Thorne," he interposed +mercilessly, "that I must see the inventor, +whoever he is. What assurance have I that this +is not some ruse to permit him to escape?" +</p> +<p> +"You have my word of honor," she said quite +simply. +</p> +<p> +"Please go on." He sat down. +</p> +<p> +"You will see him too soon, I fear," she continued +slowly. "If you had not come to him he +would have gone to you." She swayed a little +and pressed one hand to her eyes. "I would to +God it were in my power to prevent that meeting!" +she exclaimed desperately. Then, with an +effort: "There are some things I want to explain +to you. It may be that you will be willing +to go then of your own free will. If I lay bare +to you every step I have taken since I have been +in Washington; if I make clear to you every +obscure point in this hideous intrigue; if I confess +to you that the Latin compact has been +given up for all time, won't that be enough? +Won't you go then?" +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm's teeth closed with a snap. +</p> +<p> +"I don't want that—from you," he declared. +</p> +<p> +"But if I should tell it all to you?" she +pleaded. +</p> +<p> +"I won't listen, Miss Thorne. You once paid +me the compliment of saying that I was one man +you knew in whom you had never been disappointed." +The listless eyes were blazing into +her own now. "<i>I</i> have never been disappointed +in you. I will not permit you to disappoint me +now. The secrets of your government are mine +if I can get them—but I won't allow you to tell +them to me." +</p> +<p> +"My government!" Miss Thorne repeated, +and her lips curled sadly. "I—I have no government. +I have been cast off by that government, +stripped of my rank, and branded as a +traitor!" +</p> +<p> +"Traitor!" Mr. Grimm's lips formed the +word silently. +</p> +<p> +"I failed, don't you see?" she rushed on. +"Ignominy is the reward of failure. Prince +d'Abruzzi went on to New York that night, cabled +a full account of the destruction of the +compact to my government, and sailed home on +the following day. I was the responsible one, +and now it all comes back on me." For a moment +she was silent. "It's so singular, Mr. +Grimm. The fight from the first was between +us—we two; and you won." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="CH26"><!-- CHAPTER 26 --></a> +<h3> + XXVI +</h3> + +<h3> +IN WHICH THEY BOTH WIN +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm dropped into a chair with +his teeth clenched, and his face like +chalk. For a minute or more he sat +there turning it all over in his mind. Truly the +triumph had been robbed of its splendor when +the blow fell here—here upon a woman he loved. +</p> +<p> +"There's no shame in the confession of one +who is fairly beaten," Isabel went on softly, +after a little. "There are many things that +you don't understand. I came to Washington +with an authority from my sovereign higher +even than that vested in the ambassador; I came +<i>as</i> I did and compelled Count di Rosini to obtain +an invitation to the state ball for me in order +that I might meet a representative of Russia +there that night and receive an answer as to +whether or not they would join the compact. I +received that answer; its substance is of no consequence +now. +</p> +<p> +"And you remember where I first met you? +It was while you were investigating the shooting +of Señor Alvarez in the German embassy. That +shooting, as you know, was done by Prince +d'Abruzzi, so almost from the beginning my +plans went wrong because of the assumption of +authority by the prince. The paper he took +from Señor Alvarez after the shooting was supposed +to bear vitally upon Mexico's attitude toward +our plan, but, as it developed, it was about +another matter entirely." +</p> +<p> +"Yes, I know," said Mr. Grimm. +</p> +<p> +"The event of that night which you did <i>not</i> +learn was that Germany agreed to join the compact +upon conditions. Mr. Rankin, who was attached +to the German embassy in an advisory +capacity, delivered the answer to me, and I pretended +to faint in order that I might reasonably +avoid you." +</p> +<p> +"I surmised that much," remarked Mr. +Grimm. +</p> +<p> +"The telegraphing I did with my fan was as +much to distract your attention as anything +else, and at the same time to identify myself to +Mr. Rankin, whom I had never met. You knew +him, of course; I didn't." +</p> +<p> +She was silent a while as her eyes steadily +met those of Mr. Grimm. Finally she went on: +</p> +<p> +"When next I met you it was in the Venezuelan +legation; you were investigating the theft of +the fifty thousand dollars in gold from the safe. +I thrust myself into that case, because I was +afraid of you; and mercilessly destroyed a woman's +name in your eyes to further my plans. I +made you believe that Señorita Rodriguez stole +that fifty thousand dollars, and I returned it to +you, presumably, while we stood in her room that +night. Only it was not her room—it was <i>mine!</i> +<i>I</i> stole the fifty thousand dollars! All the details, +even to her trip to see Mr. Griswold in +Baltimore in company with Mr. Cadwallader, +had been carefully worked out; and she <i>did</i> +bring me the combination of the safe from Mr. +Griswold on the strength of a forged letter. But +she didn't know it. There was no theft, of +course. I had no intention of keeping the +money. It was necessary to take it to distract +attention from the thing I <i>did</i> do—break a lock +inside the safe to get a sealed packet that contained +Venezuela's answer to our plan. I sealed +that packet again, and there was never a suspicion +that it had been opened." +</p> +<p> +"Only a suspicion," Mr. Grimm corrected. +</p> +<p> +"Then came the abduction of Monsieur Boisségur, +the French ambassador. I plunged into +that case as I did in the other because I was +afraid of you and had to know just how much +you knew. It was explained to you as an attempt +at extortion with details which I carefully +supplied. As a matter of fact, Monsieur +Boisségur opposed our plans, even endangered +them; and it was not advisable to have him recalled +or even permit him to resign at the moment. +So we abducted him, intending to hold +him until direct orders could reach him from +Paris. Understand, please, that all these things +were made possible by the aid and cooperation +of dozens, scores, of agents who were under my +orders; every person who appeared in that abduction +was working at my direction. The ambassador's +unexpected escape disarranged our +plans; but he was taken out of the embassy by +force the second time under your very eyes. The +darkness which made this possible was due to the +fact that while you were looking for the switch, +and I was apparently aiding, I was holding my +hand over it all the time to keep you from turning +on the light. You remember that?" +</p> +<p> +Mr. Grimm nodded. +</p> +<p> +"All the rest of it you know," she concluded +wearily. "You compelled me to leave the +Venezuelan legation by your espionage, but in +the crowded hotel to which I moved I had little +difficulty avoiding your Mr. Hastings, your Mr. +Blair and your Mr. Johnson, so I came and +went freely without your knowledge. The escape +of the prince from prison you arranged, so +you understand all of that, as well as the meeting +and attempted signing of the compact, and +the rapid recovery of Señor Alvarez. And, after +all, it was my fault that our plans failed, because +if I had not been—been uneasy as to your +condition and had not made the mistake of going +to the deserted little house where you were a prisoner, +the plans would have succeeded, the compact +been signed." +</p> +<p> +"I'm beginning to understand," said Mr. +Grimm gravely, and a wistful, tender look crept +into his eyes. "If it had not been for that act +of—consideration and kindness to me—" +</p> +<p> +"We would have succeeded in spite of you," +explained Isabel. "We were afraid of you, Mr. +Grimm. It was a compliment to you that we +considered it necessary to account for your +whereabouts at the time of the signing of the +compact." +</p> +<p> +"And if you had succeeded," remarked Mr. +Grimm, "the whole civilized world would have +come to war." +</p> +<p> +"I never permitted myself to think of it that +way," she replied frankly. "There is something +splendid to me in a battle of brains; there is exaltation, +stimulation, excitement in it. It has always +possessed the greatest fascination for me. +I have always won, you know, until now. I +failed! And my reward is 'Traitor!'" +</p> +<p> +"Just a word of assurance now," she went on +after a moment. "The Latin compact has been +definitely given up; the plan has been dismissed, +thanks to you; the peace of the world is unbroken. +And who am I? I know you have wondered; +I know your agents have scoured the +world to find out. I am the daughter of a former +Italian ambassador to the Court of St. +James. My mother was an English woman. I +was born and received my early education in +England, hence my perfect knowledge of that +tongue. In Rome I am, or have been, alas, the +Countess Rosa d'Orsetti; now I am an exile with +a price on my head. That is all, except for several +years I was a trusted agent of my government, +and a friend of my queen." +</p> +<p> +She rose and extended both hands graciously. +Mr. Grimm seized the slender white fingers and +stood with eyes fixed upon hers. Slowly a flush +crept into her pallid cheeks, and she bowed her +head. +</p> +<p> +"Wonderful woman!" he said softly. +</p> +<p> +"I shall ask a favor of you now," she went on +gently. "Let all this that you have learned take +the place of whatever you expected to learn, and +go. Believe me, there can only be one result if +you meet—if you meet the inventor of the wireless +cap upon which so much was staked, and so +much lost." She shuddered a little, then raised +the blue-gray eyes beseechingly to his face. +"Please go." +</p> +<p> +Go! The word straightened Mr. Grimm in +his tracks and he allowed her hands to fall limply. +Suddenly his face grew hard. In the ecstasy +of adoration he had momentarily forgotten his +purpose here. His eyes lost their ardor; his +nerveless hands dropped beside him. +</p> +<p> +"No," he said. +</p> +<p> +"You must—you must," she urged gently. +"I know what it means to you. You feel it your +duty to unravel the secret of the percussion cap? +You can't; no man can. No one knows the inventor +more intimately than I, and even I +couldn't get it from him. There are no plans +for it in existence, and even if there were he +would no more sell them than you would have +accepted a fortune at the hands of Prince +d'Abruzzi to remain silent. The compact has +failed; you did that. The agents have scattered—gone +to other duties. That is enough." +</p> +<p> +"No," said Mr. Grimm. There was a strange +fear tearing at his heart,—"No one knows the +inventor more intimately than I." "No," he said +again. "I won from my government a promise +to be made good upon a condition—I must fulfil +that condition." +</p> +<p> +"But there is nothing, promotion, honor, reward, +that would compensate you for the loss of +your life," she entreated. "There is still time." +She was pleading now, with her slim white hands +resting on his shoulders, and the blue-gray eyes +fixed upon his face. +</p> +<p> +"It's more than all that," he said. "That +condition is you—your safety." +</p> +<p> +"For me?" she repeated. "For me? Then, +won't you go for—for my sake?" +</p> +<p> +"No." +</p> +<p> +"Won't you go if you know you will be +killed," and suddenly her face turned scarlet, +"and that your life is dear to me?" +</p> +<p> +"No." +</p> +<p> +Isabel dropped upon her knees before him. +</p> +<p> +"This inventor—this man whom you insist +on seeing is half insane with disappointment and +anger," she rushed on desperately. "Remember +that a vast fortune, honor, fame were at his finger +tips when you—you placed them beyond his +reach by the destruction of the compact. He +has sworn to kill you." +</p> +<p> +"I can't go!" +</p> +<p> +"If you <i>know</i> that when you meet one of you +will die?" +</p> +<p> +"No." The answer came fiercely, through +clenched teeth. Mr. Grimm disengaged his +right hand and drew his revolver; the barrel +clicked under his fingers as it spun. +</p> +<p> +"If I tell you that of the two human beings in +this world whom I love this man is one?" +</p> +<p> +"No." +</p> +<p> +A shuffling step sounded in the hallway just +outside. Mr. Grimm stepped back from the +kneeling figure, and turned to face the door with +his revolver ready. +</p> +<p> +"Great God!" It was a scream of agony. +"He is my brother! Don't you see?" +</p> +<p> +She came to her feet and went staggering +across to the door. The key clicked in the lock. +</p> +<p> +"Your brother!" exclaimed Mr. Grimm. +</p> +<p> +"He wouldn't listen to me—<i>you</i> wouldn't +listen to me, and now—and <i>now</i>! God have +mercy!" +</p> +<p> +There was a sharp rattling, a clamor at the +door, and Isabel turned to Mr. Grimm mutely, +with arms outstretched. The revolver barrel +clicked under his hand, then, after a moment, he +replaced the weapon in his pocket. +</p> +<p> +"Please open the door," he requested quietly. +</p> +<p> +"He'll kill you!" she screamed. +</p> +<p> +Exhausted, helpless, she leaned against a +chair with her face in her hands. Mr. Grimm +went to her suddenly, tore the hands from her +face, and met the tear-stained eyes. +</p> +<p> +"I love you," he said. "I want you to know +that!" +</p> +<p> +"And I love you—that's why it matters so." +</p> +<p> +Leaving her there, Mr. Grimm strode straight +to the door and threw it open. He saw only the +outline of a thin little man of indeterminate age, +then came a blinding flash under his eyes, and +he leaped forward. There was a short, sharp +struggle, and both went down. The revolver! +He must get that! He reached for it with the +one idea of disarming this madman. The muzzle +was thrust toward him, he threw up his arm to +protect his head, and then came a second flash. +Instantly he felt the figure in his arms grow +limp; and after a moment he rose. The face of +the man on the floor was pearly gray; and a +thin, scarlet thread flowed from his temple. +</p> + +<a name="image-5"><!-- Image 5 --></a> +<p class="figure"> +<a href="images/img5.jpg"> +<img width="60%" src="images/img5.jpg" +alt="In a Stride Mr. Grimm Was Beside Her."/></a><br /> +<b>"In a Stride Mr. Grimm Was Beside Her."</b> +</p> + +<p> +He turned toward Isabel. She lay near the +chair, a little crumpled heap. In a stride he +was beside her, and had lifted her head to his +knee. The blue-gray eyes opened into his once, +then they closed. She had fainted. The first +bullet had pierced her arm; it was only a flesh +wound. He lifted her gently and placed her on +a couch, after which he disappeared into another +room. In a little while there came the +cheerful ting-a-ling of a telephone bell. +</p> +<p> +"Is this the county constable's office?" he inquired. +"Well, there's been a little shooting accident +at the Murdock Williams' place, five miles +out from Alexandria on the old Baltimore Road. +Please send some of your men over to take +charge. Two hours from now call up Mr. +Grimm at Secret Service headquarters in Washington +and he will explain. Good-by." +</p> +<p> +And a few minutes later Mr. Grimm walked +along the road toward an automobile a hundred +yards away, bearing Miss Thorne in his arms. +The chauffeur cranked the machine and climbed +to his seat. +</p> +<p> +"Washington!" directed Mr. Grimm. "Never +mind the speed laws." +</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<center> +<b>THE END</b> +</center> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10943 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/10943-h/images/img1.jpg b/10943-h/images/img1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7cfc521 --- /dev/null +++ b/10943-h/images/img1.jpg diff --git a/10943-h/images/img2.jpg b/10943-h/images/img2.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d021cdb --- /dev/null +++ b/10943-h/images/img2.jpg diff --git a/10943-h/images/img3.jpg b/10943-h/images/img3.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d14d395 --- /dev/null +++ b/10943-h/images/img3.jpg diff --git a/10943-h/images/img4.jpg b/10943-h/images/img4.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fffd27b --- /dev/null +++ b/10943-h/images/img4.jpg diff --git a/10943-h/images/img5.jpg b/10943-h/images/img5.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..320c067 --- /dev/null +++ b/10943-h/images/img5.jpg |
