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diff --git a/old/1447.txt b/old/1447.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c6e0b24 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/1447.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11026 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Illustrious Prince, by E. Phillips Oppenheim + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Illustrious Prince + +Author: E. Phillips Oppenheim + +Posting Date: August 22, 2008 [EBook #1447] +Release Date: September, 1998 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ILLUSTRIOUS PRINCE *** + + + + +Produced by Theresa Armao + + + + + +THE ILLUSTRIOUS PRINCE + +By E. Phillips Oppenheim + + + + +CONTENTS + + I Mr. Hamilton Fynes, Urgent + II The End of the Journey + III An Incident and an Accident + IV Miss Penelope Morse + V An Affair of State + VI Mr. Coulson Interviewed + VII A Fatal Despatch + VIII An Interrupted Theatre Party + IX Inspector Jacks Scores + X Mr. Coulson Outmatched + XI A Commission + XII Penelope Intervenes + XIII East and West + XIV An Engagement + XV Penelope Explains + XVI Concerning Prince Maiyo + XVII A Gay Night in Paris + XVIII Mr. Coulson is Indiscreet + XIX A Momentous Question + XX The Answer + XXI A Clue + XXII A Breath From the East + XXIII On the Trail + XXIV Prince Maiyo Bids High + XXV Hobson's Choice + XXVI Some Farewells + XXVII A Prisoner + XXVIII Patriotism + XXIX A Race + XXX Inspector Jacks Importunate + XXXI Good-Bye! + XXXII Prince Maiyo Speaks + XXXIII Unafraid + XXXIV Banzai + + + + +CHAPTER I. MR. HAMILTON FYNES, URGENT + +There was a little murmur of regret amongst the five hundred and +eighty-seven saloon passengers on board the steamship Lusitania, +mingled, perhaps, with a few expressions of a more violent character. +After several hours of doubt, the final verdict had at last been +pronounced. They had missed the tide, and no attempt was to be made to +land passengers that night. Already the engines had ceased to throb, +the period of unnatural quietness had commenced. Slowly, and without +noticeable motion, the great liner swung round a little in the river. + +A small tug, which had been hovering about for some time, came screaming +alongside. There was a hiss from its wave-splashed deck, and a rocket +with a blue light flashed up into the sky. A man who had formed one of +the long line of passengers, leaning over the rail, watching the tug +since it had come into sight, now turned away and walked briskly to the +steps leading to the bridge. As it happened, the captain himself was +in the act of descending. The passenger accosted him, and held out what +seemed to be a letter. + +"Captain Goodfellow," he said, "I should be glad if you would glance at +the contents of that note." + +The captain, who had just finished a long discussion with the pilot and +was not in the best of humor, looked a little surprised. + +"What, now?" he asked. + +"If you please," was the quiet answer. "The matter is urgent." + +"Who are you?" the captain asked. + +"My name is Hamilton Fynes," the other answered. "I am a saloon +passenger on board your ship, although my name does not appear in the +list. That note has been in my pocket since we left New York, to deliver +to you in the event of a certain contingency happening." + +"The contingency being?" the captain asked, tearing open the envelope +and moving a little nearer the electric light which shone out from the +smoking room. + +"That the Lusitania did not land her passengers this evening." + +The captain read the note, examined the signature carefully, and +whistled softly to himself. + +"You know what is inside this?" he asked, looking into his companion's +face with some curiosity. + +"Certainly," was the brief reply. + +"Your name is Mr. Hamilton Fynes, the Mr. Hamilton Fynes mentioned in +this letter?" + +"That is so," the passenger admitted. + +The captain nodded. + +"Well," he said, "you had better get down on the lower deck, port side. +By the bye, have you any friends with you?" + +"I am quite alone," he answered. + +"So much the better," the captain declared. "Don't tell any one that you +are going ashore if you can help it." + +"I certainly will not, sir," the other answered. "Thank you very much." + +"Of course, you know that you can't take your luggage with you?" the +captain remarked. + +"That is of no consequence at all, sir," Mr. Hamilton Fynes answered. "I +will leave instructions for my trunk to be sent on after me. I have all +that I require, for the moment, in this suitcase." + +The captain blew his whistle. Mr. Hamilton Fynes made his way quietly to +the lower deck, which was almost deserted. In a very few minutes he was +joined by half a dozen sailors, dragging a rope ladder. The little tug +came screaming around, and before any of the passengers on the deck +above had any idea of what was happening, Mr. Hamilton Fynes was on +board the Anna Maria, and on his way down the river, seated in a small, +uncomfortable cabin, lit by a single oil lamp. + +No one spoke more than a casual word to him from the moment he stepped +to the deck until the short journey was at an end. He was shown at once +into the cabin, the door of which he closed without a moment's delay. A +very brief examination of the interior convinced him that he was indeed +alone. Thereupon he seated himself with his back to the wall and his +face to the door, and finding an English newspaper on the table, read +it until they reached the docks. Arrived there, he exchanged a civil +good-night with the captain, and handed a sovereign to the seaman who +held his bag while he disembarked. + +For several minutes after he had stepped on to the wooden platform, Mr. +Hamilton Fynes showed no particular impatience to continue his journey. +He stood in the shadow of one of the sheds, looking about him with quick +furtive glances, as though anxious to assure himself that there was no +one around who was taking a noticeable interest in his movements. Having +satisfied himself at length upon this point, he made his way to the +London and North Western Railway Station, and knocked at the door of the +station-master's office. The station-master was busy, and although +Mr. Hamilton Fynes had the appearance of a perfectly respectable +transatlantic man of business, there was nothing about his personality +remarkably striking,--nothing, at any rate, to inspire an unusual amount +of respect. + +"You wished to see me, sir?" the official asked, merely glancing up from +the desk at which he was sitting with a pile of papers before him. + +Mr. Hamilton Fynes leaned over the wooden counter which separated him +from the interior of the office. Before he spoke, he glanced around as +though to make sure that he had not forgotten to close the door. + +"I require a special train to London as quickly as possible," he +announced. "I should be glad if you could let me have one within half an +hour, at any rate." + +The station-master rose to his feet. + +"Quite impossible, sir," he declared a little brusquely. "Absolutely out +of the question!" + +"May I ask why it is out of the question?" Mr. Hamilton Fynes inquired. + +"In the first place," the station-master answered, "a special train to +London would cost you a hundred and eighty pounds, and in the second +place, even if you were willing to pay that sum, it would be at +least two hours before I could start you off. We could not possibly +disorganize the whole of our fast traffic. The ordinary mail train +leaves here at midnight with sleeping-cars." + +Mr. Hamilton Fynes held out a letter which he had produced from his +breast pocket, and which was, in appearance, very similar to the +one which he had presented, a short time ago, to the captain of the +Lusitania. + +"Perhaps you will kindly read this," he said. "I am perfectly willing to +pay the hundred and eighty pounds." + +The station-master tore open the envelope and read the few lines +contained therein. His manner underwent at once a complete change, very +much as the manner of the captain of the Lusitania had done. He took the +letter over to his green-shaded writing lamp, and examined the signature +carefully. When he returned, he looked at Mr. Hamilton Fynes curiously. +There was, however, something more than curiosity in his glance. There +was also respect. + +"I will give this matter my personal attention at once, Mr. Fynes," he +said, lifting the flap of the counter and coming out. "Do you care to +come inside and wait in my private office?" + +"Thank you," Mr. Hamilton Fynes answered; "I will walk up and down the +platform." + +"There is a refreshment room just on the left," the station-master +remarked, ringing violently at a telephone. "I dare say we shall get you +off in less than half an hour. We will do our best, at any rate. It's an +awkward time just now to command an absolutely clear line, but if we can +once get you past Crewe you'll be all right. Shall we fetch you from the +refreshment room when we are ready?" + +"If you please," the intending passenger answered. + +Mr. Hamilton Fynes discovered that place of entertainment without +difficulty, ordered for himself a cup of coffee and a sandwich, and drew +a chair close up to the small open fire, taking care, however, to sit +almost facing the only entrance to the room. He laid his hat upon the +counter, close to which he had taken up his position, and smoothed +back with his left hand his somewhat thick black hair. He was a man, +apparently of middle age, of middle height, clean-shaven, with good but +undistinguished features, dark eyes, very clear and very bright, which +showed, indeed, but little need of the pince-nez which hung by a thin +black cord from his neck. His hat, low in the crown and of soft gray +felt, would alone have betrayed his nationality. His clothes, however, +were also American in cut. His boots were narrow and of unmistakable +shape. He ate his sandwich with suspicion, and after his first sip of +coffee ordered a whiskey and soda. Afterwards he sat leaning back in +his chair, glancing every now and then at the clock, but otherwise +manifesting no signs of impatience. In less than half an hour an +inspector, cap in hand, entered the room and announced that everything +was ready. Mr. Hamilton Fynes put on his hat, picked up his suitcase, +and followed him on to the platform. A long saloon carriage, with a +guard's brake behind and an engine in front, was waiting there. + +"We've done our best, sir," the station-master remarked with a note of +self-congratulation in his tone. "It's exactly twenty-two minutes since +you came into the office, and there she is. Finest engine we've got on +the line, and the best driver. You've a clear road ahead too. Wish you a +pleasant journey, sir." + +"You are very good, sir," Mr. Hamilton Fynes declared. "I am sure that +my friends on the other side will appreciate your attention. By what +time do you suppose that we shall reach London?" + +The station-master glanced at the clock. + +"It is now eight o'clock, sir," he announced. "If my orders down the +line are properly attended to, you should be there by twenty minutes to +twelve." + +Mr. Hamilton Fynes nodded gravely and took his seat in the car. He had +previously walked its entire length and back again. + +"The train consists only of this carriage?" he asked. "There is no other +passenger, for instance, travelling in the guard's brake?" + +"Certainly not, sir," the station-master declared. "Such a thing would +be entirely against the regulations. There are five of you, all told, on +board,--driver, stoker, guard, saloon attendant, and yourself." + +Mr. Hamilton Fynes nodded, and appeared satisfied. + +"No more luggage, sir?" the guard asked. + +"I was obliged to leave what I had, excepting this suitcase, upon the +steamer," Mr. Hamilton Fynes explained. "I could not very well expect +them to get my trunk up from the hold. It will follow me to the hotel +tomorrow." + +"You will find that the attendant has light refreshments on board, sir, +if you should be wanting anything," the station-master announced. "We'll +start you off now, then. Good-night, sir!" + +Mr. Fynes nodded genially. + +"Good-night, Station-master!" he said. "Many thanks to you." + + + +CHAPTER II. THE END OF THE JOURNEY + +Southward, with low funnel belching forth fire and smoke into the +blackness of the night, the huge engine, with its solitary saloon +carriage and guard's brake, thundered its way through the night towards +the great metropolis. Across the desolate plain, stripped bare of all +vegetation, and made hideous forever by the growth of a mighty industry, +where the furnace fires reddened the sky, and only the unbroken line of +ceaseless lights showed where town dwindled into village and suburbs +led back again into town. An ugly, thickly populated neighborhood, whose +area of twinkling lights seemed to reach almost to the murky skies; +hideous, indeed by day, not altogether devoid now of a certain weird +attractiveness by reason of low-hung stars. On, through many tunnels +into the black country itself, where the furnace fires burned oftener, +but the signs of habitation were fewer. Down the great iron way the +huge locomotive rushed onward, leaping and bounding across the maze +of metals, tearing past the dazzling signal lights, through crowded +stations where its passing was like the roar of some earth-shaking +monster. The station-master at Crewe unhooked his telephone receiver and +rang up Liverpool. + +"What about this special?" he demanded. + +"Passenger brought off from the Lusitania in a private tug. Orders are +to let her through all the way to London." + +"I know all about that," the station-master grumbled. "I have three +locals on my hands already,--been held up for half an hour. Old Glynn, +the director's, in one of them too. Might be General Manager to hear him +swear." + +"Is she signalled yet?" Liverpool asked. + +"Just gone through at sixty miles an hour," was the reply. "She made our +old wooden sheds shake, I can tell you. Who's driving her?" + +"Jim Poynton," Liverpool answered. "The guvnor took him off the mail +specially." + +"What's the fellow's name on board, anyhow?" Crewe asked. "Is it a +millionaire from the other side, trying to make records, or a member of +our bloated aristocracy?" + +"The name's Fynes, or something like it," was the reply. "He didn't look +much like a millionaire. Came into the office carrying a small handbag +and asked for a special to London. Guvnor told him it would take two +hours and cost a hundred and eighty pounds. Told him he'd better wait +for the mail. He produced a note from some one or other, and you +should have seen the old man bustle round. We started him off in twenty +minutes." + +The station-master at Crewe was interested. He knew very well that it +is not the easiest thing in the world to bring influence to bear upon a +great railway company. + +"Seems as though he was some one out of the common, anyway," he +remarked. "The guvnor didn't let on who the note was from, I suppose?" + +"Not he," Liverpool answered. "The first thing he did when he came back +into the office was to tear it into small pieces and throw them on the +fire. Young Jenkins did ask him a question, and he shut him up pretty +quick." + +"Well, I suppose we shall read all about it in the papers tomorrow," +Crewe remarked. "There isn't much that these reporters don't get hold +of. He must be some one out of the common--some one with a pull, I +mean,--or the captain of the Lusitania would never have let him off +before the other passengers. When are the rest of them coming through?" + +"Three specials leave here at nine o'clock tomorrow morning," was the +reply. "Good night." + +The station-master at Crewe hung up his receiver and went about his +duties. Twenty miles southward by now, the special was still tearing its +way into the darkness. Its solitary passenger had suddenly developed a +fit of restlessness. He left his seat and walked once or twice up and +down the saloon. Then he opened the rear door, crossed the little open +space between, and looked into the guard's brake. The guard was sitting +upon a stool, reading a newspaper. He was quite alone, and so absorbed +that he did not notice the intruder. Mr. Hamilton Fynes quietly +retreated, closing the door behind him. He made his way once more +through the saloon, passed the attendant, who was fast asleep in his +pantry, and was met by a locked door. He let down the window and +looked out. He was within a few feet of the engine, which was obviously +attached direct to the saloon. Mr. Hamilton Fynes resumed his seat, +having disturbed nobody. He produced some papers from his breast pocket, +and spread them out on the table before him. One, a sealed envelope, he +immediately returned, slipping it down into a carefully prepared place +between the lining and the material of his coat. Of the others he +commenced to make a close and minute investigation. It was a curious +fact, however, that notwithstanding his recent searching examination, he +looked once more nervously around the saloon before he settled down to +his task. For some reason or other, there was not the slightest doubt +that for the present, at any rate, Mr. Hamilton Fynes was exceedingly +anxious to keep his own company. As he drew nearer to his journey's end, +indeed, his manner seemed to lose something of that composure of which, +during the earlier part of the evening, he had certainly been possessed. +Scarcely a minute passed that he did not lean sideways from his seat and +look up and down the saloon. He sat like a man who is perpetually on +the qui vive. A furtive light shone in his eyes, he was manifestly +uncomfortable. Yet how could a man be safer from espionage than he! + +Rugby telephoned to Liverpool, and received very much the same answer as +Crewe. Euston followed suit. + +"Who's this you're sending up tonight?" the station-master asked. +"Special's at Willington now, come through without a stop. Is some one +trying to make a record round the world?" + +Liverpool was a little tired of answering questions, and more than a +little tired of this mysterious client. The station-master at Euston, +however, was a person to be treated with respect. + +"His name is Mr. Hamilton Fynes, sir," was the reply. "That is all we +know about him. They have been ringing us up all down the line, ever +since the special left." + +"Hamilton Fynes," Euston repeated. "Don't know the name. Where did he +come from?" + +"Off the Lusitania, sir." + +"But we had a message three hours ago that the Lusitania was not landing +her passengers until tomorrow morning," Euston protested. + +"They let our man off in a tug, sir," was the reply. + +"It went down the river to fetch him. The guvnor didn't want to give him +a special at this time of night, but he just handed him a note, and we +made things hum up here. He was on his way in half an hour. We have had +to upset the whole of the night traffic to let him through without a +stop." + +Such a client was, at any rate, worth meeting. The station-master +brushed his coat, put on his silk hat, and stepped out on to the +platform. + + + +CHAPTER III. AN INCIDENT AND AN ACCIDENT + +Smoothly the huge engine came gliding into the station--a dumb, silent +creature now, drawing slowly to a standstill as though exhausted after +its great effort. Through the windows of the saloon the station-master +could see the train attendant bending over this mysterious passenger, +who did not seem, as yet, to have made any preparations for leaving his +place. Mr. Hamilton Fynes was seated at a table covered with papers, +but he was leaning back as though he had been or was still asleep. The +station-master stepped forward, and as he did so the attendant came +hurrying out to the platform, and, pushing back the porters, called to +him by name. + +"Mr. Rice," he said, "If you please, sir, will you come this way?" + +The station-master acceded at once to the man's request and entered +the saloon. The attendant clutched at his arm nervously. He was a pale, +anaemic-looking little person at any time, but his face just now was +positively ghastly. + +"What on earth is the matter with you?" the station-master asked +brusquely. + +"There's something wrong with my passenger, sir," the man declared in +a shaking voice. "I can't make him answer me. He won't look up, and I +don't--I don't think he's asleep. An hour ago I took him some whiskey. +He told me not to disturb him again--he had some papers to go through." + +The station-master leaned over the table. The eyes of the man who sat +there were perfectly wide-open, but there was something unnatural in +their fixed stare,--something unnatural, too, in the drawn grayness of +his face. + +"This is Euston, sir," the station-master began,--"the terminus--" + +Then he broke off in the middle of his sentence. A cold shiver was +creeping through his veins. He, too, began to stare; he felt the color +leaving his own cheeks. With an effort he turned to the attendant. + +"Pull down the blinds," he ordered, in a voice which he should never +have recognized as his own. "Quick! Now turn out those porters, and tell +the inspector to stop anyone from coming into the car." + +The attendant, who was shaking like a leaf, obeyed. The station-master +turned away and drew a long breath. He himself was conscious of a +sense of nausea, a giddiness which was almost overmastering. This was +a terrible thing to face without a second's warning. He had not the +slightest doubt but that the man who was seated at the table was dead! + +At such an hour there were only a few people upon the platform, and +two stalwart station policemen easily kept back the loiterers whose +curiosity had been excited by the arrival of the special. A third took +up his position with his back to the entrance of the saloon, and allowed +no one to enter it till the return of the station-master, who had gone +for a doctor. The little crowd was completely mystified. No one had +the slightest idea of what had happened. The attendant was besieged by +questions, but he was sitting on the step of the car, in the shadow of +a policeman, with his head buried in his hands, and he did not once look +up. Some of the more adventurous tried to peer through the windows at +the lower end of the saloon. Others rushed off to interview the guard. +In a very few minutes, however, the station-master reappeared upon the +scene, accompanied by the doctor. The little crowd stood on one side and +the two men stepped into the car. + +The doctor proceeded at once with his examination. Mr. Hamilton Fynes, +this mysterious person who had succeeded, indeed, in making a record +journey, was leaning back in the corner of his seat, his arms folded, +his head drooping a little, but his eyes still fixed in that unseeing +stare. His body yielded itself unnaturally to the touch. For the main +truth the doctor needed scarcely a glance at him. + +"Is he dead?" the station-master asked. + +"Stone-dead!" was the brief answer. + +"Good God!" the station-master muttered. "Good God!" + +The doctor had thrown his handkerchief over the dead man's face. He was +standing now looking at him thoughtfully. + +"Did he die in his sleep, I wonder?" the station-master asked. "It must +have been horribly sudden! Was it heart disease?" + +The doctor did not reply for a moment. He seemed to be thinking out some +problem. + +"The body had better be removed to the station mortuary," he said at +last. "Then, if I were you, I should have the saloon shunted on to a +siding and left absolutely untouched. You had better place two of your +station police in charge while you telephone to Scotland Yard." + +"To Scotland Yard?" the station-master exclaimed. + +The doctor nodded. He looked around as though to be sure that none of +that anxious crowd outside could overhear. + +"There's no question of heart disease here," he explained. "The man has +been murdered!" + +The station-master was horrified,--horrified and blankly incredulous. + +"Murdered!" he repeated. "Why, it's impossible! There was no one else +on the train except the attendant--not a single other person. All my +advices said one passenger only." + +The doctor touched the man's coat with his finger, and the +station-master saw what he had not seen before,--saw what made him turn +away, a little sick. He was a strong man, but he was not used to this +sort of thing, and he had barely recovered yet from the first shock of +finding himself face to face with a dead man. Outside, the crowd upon +the platform was growing larger. White faces were being pressed against +the windows at the lower end of the saloon. + +"There is no question about the man having been murdered," the doctor +said, and even his voice shook a little. "His own hand could never have +driven that knife home. I can tell you, even, how it was done. The man +who stabbed him was in the compartment behind there, leaned over, and +drove this thing down, just missing the shoulder. There was no struggle +or fight of any sort. It was a diabolical deed!" + +"Diabolical indeed!" the station-master echoed hoarsely. + +"You had better give orders for us to be shunted down on to a siding +just as we are," the doctor continued, "and send one of your men to +telephone to Scotland Yard. Perhaps it would be as well, too, not to +touch those papers until some one comes. See that the attendant does +not go home, or the guard. They will probably be wanted to answer +questions." + +The station-master stepped out to the platform, summoned an inspector, +and gave a few brief orders. Slowly the saloon was backed out of the +station again on to a neglected siding, a sort of backwater for spare +carriages and empty trucks,--an ignominious resting place, indeed, after +its splendid journey through the night. The doors at both ends were +closed and two policemen placed on duty to guard them. The doctor and +the station-master seated themselves out of sight of their gruesome +companion, and the station-master told all that he knew about the +despatch of the special and the man who had ordered it. The attendant, +who still moved about like a man in a dream, brought them some brandy +and soda and served them with shaking hand. They all three talked +together in whispers, the attendant telling them the few incidents of +the journey down, which, except for the dead man's nervous desire for +solitude, seemed to possess very little significance. Then at last there +was a sharp tap at the window. A tall, quietly dressed man, with reddish +skin and clear gray eyes, was helped up into the car. He saluted the +doctor mechanically. His eyes were already travelling around the saloon. + +"Inspector Jacks from Scotland Yard, sir," he announced. "I have another +man outside. If you don't mind, we'll have him in." + +"By all means," the station-master answered. "I am afraid that you will +find this rather a serious affair. We have left everything untouched so +far as we could." + +The second detective was assisted to clamber up into the car. It seemed, +however, as though the whole force of Scotland Yard could scarcely do +much towards elucidating an affair which, with every question which +was asked and answered, grew more mysterious. The papers upon the +table before the dead man were simply circulars and prospectuses of +no possible importance. His suitcase contained merely a few toilet +necessaries and some clean linen. There was not a scrap of paper or even +an envelope of any sort in his pockets. In a small leather case they +found a thousand dollars in American notes, five ten-pound Bank of +England notes, and a single visiting card on which was engraved the name +of Mr. Hamilton Fynes. In his trousers pocket was a handful of gold. +He had no other personal belongings of any sort. The space between the +lining of his coat and the material itself was duly noticed, but it was +empty. His watch was a cheap one, his linen unmarked, and his clothes +bore only the name of a great New York retail establishment. He had +certainly entered the train alone, and both the guard and attendant were +ready to declare positively that no person could have been concealed in +it. The engine-driver, on his part, was equally ready to swear that +not once from the moment when they had steamed out of Liverpool Station +until they had arrived within twenty miles of London, had they travelled +at less than forty miles an hour. At Willington he had found a signal +against him which had brought him nearly to a standstill, and under +the regulations he had passed through the station at ten miles an hour. +These were the only occasions, however, on which he had slackened speed +at all. The train attendant, who was a nervous man, began to shiver +again and imagine unmentionable things. The guard, who had never left +his own brake, went home and dreamed that his effigy had been added to +the collection of Madame Tussaud. The reporters were the only people who +were really happy, with the exception, perhaps of Inspector Jacks, who +had a weakness for a difficult case. + +Fifteen miles north of London, a man lay by the roadside in the shadow +of a plantation of pine trees, through which he had staggered only a few +minutes ago. His clothes were covered with dust, he had lost his cap, +and his trousers were cut about the knee as though from a fall. He +was of somewhat less than medium height, dark, slender, with delicate +features, and hair almost coal black. His face, as he moved slowly from +side to side upon the grass, was livid with pain. Every now and then he +raised himself and listened. The long belt of main road, which passed +within a few feet of him, seemed almost deserted. Once a cart came +lumbering by, and the man who lay there, watching, drew closely back +into the shadows. A youth on a bicycle passed, singing to himself. A boy +and girl strolled by, arm in arm, happy, apparently, in their profound +silence. Only a couple of fields away shone the red and green lights of +the railway track. Every few minutes the goods-trains went rumbling over +the metals. The man on the ground heard them with a shiver. Resolutely +he kept his face turned in the opposite direction. The night mail went +thundering northward, and he clutched even at the nettles which grew +amongst the grass where he was crouching, as though filled with a sudden +terror. Then there was silence once more--silence which became deeper +as the hour approached midnight. Passers-by were fewer; the birds and +animals came out from their hiding places. A rabbit scurried across the +road; a rat darted down the tiny stream. Now and then birds moved in the +undergrowth, and the man, who was struggling all the time with a deadly +faintness, felt the silence grow more and more oppressive. He began even +to wonder where he was. He closed his eyes. Was that really the tinkling +of a guitar, the perfume of almond and cherry blossom, floating to him +down the warm wind? He began to lose himself in dreams until he realized +that actual unconsciousness was close upon him. Then he set his +teeth tight and clenched his hands. Away in the distance a faint, +long-expected sound came travelling to his ears. At last, then, his long +wait was over. Two fiery eyes were stealing along the lonely road. +The throb of an engine was plainly audible. He staggered up, swaying a +little on his feet, and holding out his hands. The motor car came to +a standstill before him, and the man who was driving it sprang to the +ground. Words passed between them rapidly,--questions and answers,--the +questions of an affectionate servant, and the answers of a man fighting +a grim battle for consciousness. But these two spoke in a language of +their own, a language which no one who passed along that road was likely +to understand. + +With a groan of relief the man who had been picked up sank back amongst +the cushioned seats, carefully almost tenderly, aided by the chauffeur. +Eagerly he thrust his hand into one of the leather pockets and drew +out a flask of brandy. The rush of cold air, as the car swung round +and started off, was like new life to him. He closed his eyes. When he +opened them again, they had come to a standstill underneath a red lamp. + +"The doctor's!" he muttered to himself, and, staggering out, rang the +bell. + +Dr. Spencer Whiles had had a somewhat dreary day, and was thoroughly +enjoying a late rubber of bridge with three of his most agreeable +neighbors. A summons into the consulting room, however, was so +unexpected a thing that he did not hesitate for a moment to obey it, +without even waiting to complete a deal. When he entered the apartment, +he saw a slim but determined-looking young man, whose clothes were +covered with dust, and who, although he sat with folded arms and grim +face, was very nearly in a state of collapse. + +"You seem to have met with an accident," the doctor remarked. "How did +it happen?" + +"I have been run over by a motor car," his patient said, speaking slowly +and with something singularly agreeable in his voice notwithstanding its +slight accent of pain. "Can you patch me up till I get to London?" + +The doctor looked him over. + +"What were you doing in the road?" he asked. + +"I was riding a bicycle," the other answered. "I dare say it was my own +fault; I was certainly on the wrong side of the road. You can see what +has happened to me. I am bruised and cut; my side is painful, and also +my knee. A car is waiting outside now to take me to my home, but I +thought that I had better stop and see you." + +The doctor was a humane man, with a miserable practice, and he forgot +all about his bridge party. For half an hour he worked over his patient. +At the end of that time he gave him a brandy and soda and placed a box +of cigarettes before him. + +"You'll do all right now," he said. "That's a nasty cut on your leg, but +you've no broken bones." + +"I feel absolutely well again, thank you very much," the young man said. +"I will smoke a cigarette, if I may. The brandy, I thank you, no!" + +"Just as you like," the doctor answered. "I won't say that you are not +better without it. Help yourself to the cigarettes. Are you going back +to London in the motor car, then?" + +"Yes!" the patient answered. "It is waiting outside for me now, and I +must not keep the man any longer. Will you let me know, if you please, +how much I owe you?" + +The doctor hesitated. Fees were a rare thing with him, and the evidences +of his patient's means were somewhat doubtful. The young man put his +hand into his pocket. + +"I am afraid," he said, "that I am not a very presentable-looking +object, but I am glad to assure you that I am not a poor man. I am able +to pay your charges and to still feel that the obligation is very much +on my side." + +The doctor summoned up his courage. + +"We will say a guinea, then," he remarked with studied indifference. + +"You must allow me to make it a little more than that," the patient +answered. "Your treatment was worth it. I feel perfectly recovered +already. Good night, sir!" + +The doctor's eyes sparkled as he glanced at the gold which his visitor +had laid upon the table. + +"You are very good, I'm sure," he murmured. "I hope you will have a +comfortable journey. With a nerve like yours, you'll be all right in a +day or so." + +He let his patient out and watched him depart with some curiosity, +watched until the great motor-car had swung round the corner of the +street and started on its journey to London. + +"No bicycle there," he remarked to himself, as he closed the door. "I +wonder what they did with it." + + + +CHAPTER IV. MISS PENELOPE MORSE + +It was already a little past the customary luncheon hour at the Carlton, +and the restaurant was well filled. The orchestra had played their first +selection, and the stream of incoming guests had begun to slacken. A +young lady who had been sitting in the palm court for at least half an +hour rose to her feet, and, glancing casually at her watch, made her way +into the hotel. She entered the office and addressed the chief reception +clerk. + +"Can you tell me," she asked, "if Mr. Hamilton Fynes is staying here? He +should have arrived by the Lusitania last night or early this morning." + +It is not the business of a hotel reception clerk to appear surprised +at anything. Nevertheless the man looked at her, for a moment, with a +curious expression in his eyes. + +"Mr. Hamilton Fynes!" he repeated. "Did you say that you were expecting +him by the Lusitania, madam?" + +"Yes!" the young lady answered. "He asked me to lunch with him here +today. Can you tell me whether he has arrived yet? If he is in his room, +I should be glad if you would send up to him." + +There were several people in the office who were in a position to +overhear their conversation. With a word of apology, the man came round +from his place behind the mahogany counter. He stood by the side of the +young lady, and he seemed to be suffering from some embarrassment. + +"Will you pardon my asking, madam, if you have seen the newspapers this +morning?" he inquired. + +Without a doubt, her first thought was that the question savored of +impertinence. She looked at him with slightly upraised eyebrows. She was +slim, of medium complexion, with dark brown hair parted in the middle +and waving a little about her temples. She was irreproachably dressed, +from the tips of her patent shoes to the black feathers in her Paris +hat. + +"The newspapers!" she repeated. "Why, no, I don't think that I have seen +them this morning. What have they to do with Mr. Hamilton Fynes?" + +The clerk pointed to the open door of a small private office. + +"If you will step this way for one moment, madam," he begged. + +She tapped the floor with her foot and looked at him curiously. +Certainly the people around seemed to be taking some interest in their +conversation. + +"Why should I?" she asked. "Cannot you answer my question here?" + +"If madam will be so good," he persisted. + +She shrugged her shoulders and followed him. Something in the man's +earnest tone and almost pleading look convinced her, at least, of +his good intentions. Besides, the interest which her question had +undoubtedly aroused amongst the bystanders was, to say the least of it, +embarrassing. He pulled the door to after them. + +"Madam," he said, "there was a Mr. Hamilton Fynes who came over by the +Lusitania, and who had certainly engaged rooms in this hotel, but +he unfortunately, it seems, met with an accident on his way from +Liverpool." + +Her manner changed at once. She began to understand what it all meant. +Her lips parted, her eyes were wide open. + +"An accident?" she faltered. + +He gently rolled a chair up to her. She sank obediently into it. + +"Madam," he said, "it was a very bad accident indeed. I trust that Mr. +Hamilton Fynes was not a very intimate friend or a relative of yours. It +would perhaps be better for you to read the account for yourself." + +He placed a newspaper in her hands. She read the first few lines and +suddenly turned upon him. She was white to the lips now, and there +was real terror in her tone. Yet if he had been in a position to have +analyzed the emotion she displayed, he might have remarked that there +was none of the surprise, the blank, unbelieving amazement which +might have been expected from one hearing for the first time of such a +calamity. + +"Murdered!" she exclaimed. "Is this true?" + +"It appears to be perfectly true, madam, I regret to say," the clerk +answered. "Even the earlier editions were able to supply the man's name, +and I am afraid that there is no doubt about his identity. The captain +of the Lusitania confirmed it, and many of the passengers who saw him +leave the ship last night have been interviewed." + +"Murdered!" she repeated to herself with trembling lips. "It seems such +a horrible death! Have they any idea who did it?" she asked. "Has any +one been arrested?" + +"At present, no, madam," the clerk answered. "The affair, as you will +see if you read further, is an exceedingly mysterious one." + +She rocked a little in her chair, but she showed no signs of fainting. +She picked up the paper and found the place once more. There were two +columns filled with particulars of the tragedy. + +"Where can I be alone and read this?" she asked. + +"Here, if you please, madam," the clerk answered. "I must go back to my +desk. There are many arrivals just now. Will you allow me to send you +something--a little brandy, perhaps?" + +"Nothing, thank you," she answered. "I wish only to be alone while I +read this." + +He left her with a little sympathetic murmur, and closed the door behind +him. The girl raised her veil now and spread the newspaper out on +the table before her. There was an account of the tragedy; there were +interviews with some of the passengers, a message from the captain. In +all, it seemed that wonderfully little was known of Mr. Hamilton Fynes. +He had spoken to scarcely a soul on board, and had remained for the +greater part of the time in his stateroom. The captain had not even +been aware of his existence till the moment when Mr. Hamilton Fynes +had sought him out and handed him an order, signed by the head of his +company, instructing him to obey in any respect the wishes of this +hitherto unknown passenger. The tug which had been hired to meet him had +gone down the river, so it was not possible, for the moment, to say by +whom it had been chartered. The station-master at Liverpool knew nothing +except that the letter presented to him by the dead man was a personal +one from a great railway magnate, whose wishes it was impossible to +disregard. There had not been a soul, apparently, upon the steamer +who had known anything worth mentioning of Mr. Hamilton Fynes or his +business. No one in London had made inquiries for him or claimed his few +effects. Half a dozen cables to America remained unanswered. + +That papers had been stolen from him--papers or money--was evident from +the place of concealment in his coat, where the lining had been torn +away, but there was not the slightest evidence as to the nature of these +documents or the history of the murdered man. All that could be done was +to await the news from the other side, which was momentarily expected. + +The girl went through it all, line by line, almost word by word. +Whatever there might have been of relationship or friendship between her +and the dead man, the news of his terrible end left her shaken, indeed, +but dry-eyed. She was apparently more terrified than grieved, and now +that the first shock had passed away, her mind seemed occupied with +thoughts which may indeed have had some connection with this tragedy, +but were scarcely wholly concerned with it. She sat for a long while +with her hands still resting upon the table but her eyes fixed out of +the window. Then at last she rose and made her way outside. Her friend +the reception clerk was engaged in conversation with one or two men, a +conversation of which she was obviously the subject. As she opened the +door, one of them broke off in the midst of what he was saying and would +have accosted her. The clerk, however, interposed, and drew her a step +or two back into the room. + +"Madam," he said, "one of these gentlemen is from Scotland Yard, and +the others are reporters. They are all eager to know anything about Mr. +Hamilton Fynes. I expect they will want to ask you some questions." + +The girl opened her lips and closed them again. + +"I regret to say that I have nothing whatever to tell them," she +declared. "Will you kindly let them know that?" + +The clerk shook his head. + +"I am afraid you will find them quite persistent, madam," he said. + +"I cannot tell them things which I do not know myself," she answered, +frowning. + +"Naturally," the clerk admitted; "yet these gentlemen from Scotland Yard +have special privileges, of course, and there remains the fact that you +were engaged to lunch with Mr. Fynes here." + +"If it will help me to get rid of them," she said, "I will speak to the +representative of Scotland Yard. I will have nothing whatever to say to +the reporters." + +The clerk turned round and beckoned to the foremost figure in the little +group. Inspector Jacks, tall, lantern-jawed, dressed with the quiet +precision of a well-to-do-man of affairs, and with no possible +suggestion of his calling in his manner or attire, was by her side +almost at once. + +"Madam," he said, "I understand that Mr. Hamilton Fynes was a friend of +yours?" + +"An acquaintance," she corrected him. + +"And your name?" he asked. + +"I am Miss Morse," she replied,--"Miss Penelope Morse." + +"You were to have lunched here with Mr. Hamilton Fynes," the detective +continued. "When, may I ask, did the invitation reach you?" + +"Yesterday," she told him, "by marconigram from Queenstown." + +"You can tell us a few things about the deceased, without doubt," Mr. +Jacks said,--"his profession, for instance, or his social standing? +Perhaps you know the reason for his coming to Europe?" + +The girl shook her head. + +"Mr. Fynes and I were not intimately acquainted," she answered. "We +met in Paris some years ago, and when he was last in London, during the +autumn, I lunched with him twice." + +"You had no letter from him, then, previous to the marconigram?" the +inspector asked. + +"I have scarcely ever received a letter from him in my life," she +answered. "He was as bad a correspondent as I am myself." + +"You know nothing, then, of the object of his present visit to England?" + +"Nothing whatever," she answered. + +"When he was over here before," the inspector asked, "do you know what +his business was then?" + +"Not in the least," she replied. + +"You can tell us his address in the States?" Inspector Jacks suggested. + +She shook her head. + +"I cannot," she answered. "As I told you just now, I have never had a +letter from him in my life. We exchanged a few notes, perhaps, when we +were in Paris, about trivial matters, but nothing more than that." + +"He must at some time, in Paris, for instance, or when you lunched with +him last year, have said something about his profession, or how he spent +his time?" + +"He never alluded to it in any way," the girl answered. "I have not the +slightest idea how he passed his time." + +The inspector was a little nonplussed. He did not for a moment believe +that the girl was telling the truth. + +"Perhaps," he said tentatively, "you do not care to have your name come +before the public in connection with a case so notorious as this?" + +"Naturally," the girl answered. "That, however, would not prevent my +telling you anything that I knew. You seem to find it hard to believe, +but I can assure you that I know nothing. Mr. Fynes was almost a +stranger to me." + +The detective was thoughtful. + +"So you really cannot help us at all, madam?" he said at length. + +"I am afraid not," she answered. + +"Perhaps," he suggested, "after you have thought the matter over, +something may occur to you. Can I trouble you for your address?" + +"I am staying at Devenham House for the moment," she answered. + +He wrote it down in his notebook. + +"I shall perhaps do myself the honor of waiting upon you a little later +on," he said. "You may be able, after reflection, to recall some small +details, at any rate, which will be interesting to us. At present we are +absurdly ignorant as to the man's affairs." + +She turned away from him to the clerk, and pointed to another door. + +"Can I go out without seeing those others?" she asked. "I really have +nothing to say to them, and this has been quite a shock to me." + +"By all means, madam," the clerk answered. "If you will allow me, I will +escort you to the entrance." + +Two of the more enterprising of the journalists caught them up upon the +pavement. Miss Penelope Morse, however, had little to say to them. + +"You must not ask me any more questions about Mr. Hamilton Fynes," she +declared. "My acquaintance with him was of the slightest. It is true +that I came here to lunch today without knowing what had happened. It +has been a shock to me, and I do not wish to talk about it, and I will +not talk about it, for the present." + +She was deaf to their further questions. The hotel clerk handed her into +a taximeter cab, and gave the address to the driver. Then he went back +to his office, where Inspector Jacks was still sitting. + +"This Mr. Hamilton Fynes," he remarked, "seems to have been what you +might call a secretive sort of person. Nobody appears to know anything +about him. I remember when he was staying here before that he had +no callers, and seemed to spend most of his time sitting in the palm +court." + +The inspector nodded. + +"He was certainly a man who knew how to keep his own counsel," he +admitted. "Most Americans are ready enough to talk about themselves and +their affairs, even to comparative strangers." + +The hotel clerk nodded. + +"Makes it difficult for you," he remarked. + +"It makes the case very interesting," the inspector declared, +"especially when we find him engaged to lunch with a young lady of such +remarkable discretion as Miss Penelope Morse." + +"You know her?" the clerk asked a little eagerly. + +The inspector was engaged, apparently, in studying the pattern of the +carpet. + +"Not exactly," he answered. "No, I have no absolute knowledge of Miss +Penelope Morse. By the bye, that was rather an interesting address that +she gave." + +"Devenham House," the hotel clerk remarked. "Do you know who lives +there?" + +The inspector nodded. + +"The Duke of Devenham," he answered. "A very interesting young lady, I +should think, that. I wonder what she and Mr. Hamilton Fynes would have +talked about if they had lunched here today." + +The hotel clerk looked dubious. He did not grasp the significance of the +question. + + + +CHAPTER V. AN AFFAIR OF STATE + +Miss Penelope Morse was perfectly well aware that the taxicab in which +she left the Carlton Hotel was closely followed by two others. Through +the tube which she found by her side, she altered her first instructions +to the driver, and told him to proceed as fast as possible to Harrod's +Stores. Then, raising the flap at the rear of the cab, she watched the +progress of the chase. Along Pall Mall the taxi in which she was seated +gained considerably, but in the Park and along the Bird Cage Walk both +the other taxies, risking the police regulations, drew almost alongside. +Once past Hyde Park Corner, however, her cab again drew ahead, and when +she was deposited in front of Harrod's Stores, her pursuers were out of +sight. She paid the driver quickly, a little over double his fare. + +"If any one asks you questions," she said, "say that you had +instructions to wait here for me. Go on to the rank for a quarter of an +hour. Then you can drive away." + +"You won't be coming back, then, miss?" the man asked. + +"I shall not," she answered, "but I want those men who are following +me to think that I am. They may as well lose a little time for their +rudeness." + +The chauffeur touched his hat and obeyed his instructions. Miss Penelope +Morse plunged into the mazes of the Stores with the air of one to +whom the place is familiar. She did not pause, however, at any of the +counters. In something less than two minutes she had left it again by a +back entrance, stepped into another taxicab which was just setting down +a passenger, and was well on her way back towards Pall Mall. Her ruse +appeared to have been perfectly successful. At any rate, she saw nothing +more of the occupants of the two taxicabs. + +She stopped in front of one of the big clubs and, scribbling a line on +her card, gave it to the door keeper. + +"Will you find out if this gentleman is in?" she said. "If he is, will +you kindly ask him to step out and speak to me?" + +She returned to the cab and waited. In less than five minutes a tall, +broad-shouldered young man, clean-shaven, and moving like an athlete, +came briskly down the steps. He carried a soft hat in his hand, and +directly he spoke his transatlantic origin was apparent. + +"Penelope!" he exclaimed. "Why, what on earth--" + +"My dear Dicky," she interrupted, laughing at his expression, "you need +not look so displeased with me. Of course, I know that I ought not to +have come and sent a message into your club. I will admit at once that +it was very forward of me. Perhaps when I have told you why I did so, +you won't look so shocked." + +"I'm glad to see you, anyway," he declared. "There's no bad news, I +hope?" + +"Nothing that concerns us particularly," she answered. "I simply want to +have a little talk with you. Come in here with me, please, at once. We +can ride for a short distance anywhere." + +"But I am just in the middle of a rubber of bridge," he objected. + +"It can't be helped," she declared. "To tell you the truth, the matter I +want to talk to you about is of more importance than any game of cards. +Don't be foolish, Dicky. You have your hat in your hand. Step in here by +my side at once." + +He looked a little bewildered, but he obeyed her, as most people did +when she was in earnest. She gave the driver an address somewhere in the +city. As soon as they were off, she turned towards him. + +"Dicky," she said, "do you read the newspapers?" + +"Well, I can't say that I do regularly," he answered. "I read the New +York Herald, but these London journals are a bit difficult, aren't they? +One has to dig the news out,--sort of treasure-hunt all the time." + +"You have read this murder case, at any rate," she asked, "about the man +who was killed in a special train between Liverpool and London?" + +"Of course," he answered, with a sudden awakening of interest. "What +about it?" + +"A good deal," she answered slowly. "In the first place, the man who was +murdered--Mr. Hamilton Fynes--comes from the village where I was brought +up in Massachusetts, and I know more about him, I dare say, than any +one else in this country. What I know isn't very much, perhaps, but it's +interesting. I was to have lunched with him at the Carlton today; in +fact, I went there expecting to do so, for I am like you--I scarcely +ever look inside these English newspapers. Well, I went to the Carlton +and waited and he did not come. At last I went into the office and asked +whether he had arrived. Directly I mentioned his name, it was as though +I had thrown a bomb shell into the place. The clerk called me on one +side, took me into a private office, and showed me a newspaper. As +soon as I had read the account, I was interviewed by an inspector from +Scotland Yard. Ever since then I have been followed about by reporters." + +The young man whistled softly. + +"Say, Penelope!" he exclaimed. "Who was this fellow, anyhow, and what +were you doing lunching with him?" + +"That doesn't matter," she answered. "You don't tell me all your +secrets, Mr. Dicky Vanderpole, and it isn't necessary for me to tell you +all mine, even if we are both foreigners in a strange country. The poor +fellow isn't going to lunch with any one else in this world. I suppose +you are thinking what an indiscreet person I am, as usual?" + +The young man considered the matter for a moment. + +"No," he said; "I didn't understand that he was the sort of person +you would have been likely to have taken lunch with. But that isn't my +affair. Have you seen the second edition?" + +The girl shook her head. + +"Haven't I told you that I never read the papers? I only saw what they +showed me in at the Carlton." + +"The Press Association have cabled to America, but no one seems to be +able to make out exactly who the fellow is. His letter to the captain of +the steamer was from the chairman of the company, and his introduction +to the manager of the London and North Western Railway Company was from +the greatest railway man in the world. Mr. Hamilton Fynes must have +been a person who had a pretty considerable pull over there. Curiously +enough, though, only the name of the man was mentioned in them; nothing +about his business, or what he was doing over on this side. He was +simply alluded to as 'Mr. Hamilton Fynes--the gentleman bearing this +communication.' I expect, after all, that you know more about him than +any one." + +She shook her head. + +"What I know," she said, "or at least most of it, I am going to +tell you. A few years ago he was a clerk in a Government office in +Washington. He was steady in those days, and was supposed to have a +head. He used to write me occasionally. One day he turned up in London +quite unexpectedly. He said that he had come on business, and whatever +his business was, it took him to St. Petersburg and Berlin, and then +back to Berlin again. I saw quite a good deal of him that trip." + +"The dickens you did!" he muttered. + +Miss Penelope Morse laughed softly. + +"Come, Dicky," she said, "don't pretend to be jealous. You're an +outrageous flirt, I know, but you and I are never likely to get +sentimental about one another." + +"Why not?" he grumbled. "We've always been pretty good pals, haven't +we?" + +"Naturally," she answered, "or I shouldn't be here. Do you want to hear +anything more about Mr. Hamilton Fynes?" + +"Of course I do," he declared. + +"Well, be quiet, then, and don't interrupt," she said. "I knew London +well and he didn't. That is why, as I told you before, we saw quite +a great deal of one another. He was always very reticent about his +affairs, and especially about the business which had taken him on the +Continent. Just before he left, however, he gave me--well, a hint." + +"What was it?" the young man asked eagerly. + +She hesitated. + +"He didn't put it into so many words," she said, "and I am not sure, +even now, that I ought to tell you, Dicky. Still, you are a fellow +countryman and a budding diplomatist. I suppose if I can give you a lift +I ought to." + +The taxi was on the Embankment now, and they sped along for some time in +silence. Mr. Richard Vanderpole was more than a little puzzled. + +"Of course, Penelope," he said, "I don't expect you to tell me anything +which you feel that you oughtn't to. There is one thing, however, which +I must ask you." + +She nodded. + +"Well?" + +"I should like to know what the mischief my being in the diplomatic +service has to do with it?" + +"If I explained that," she answered, "I should be telling you everything +I haven't quite made up my mind to do that yet." + +"Tell me this?" he asked. "Would that hint which he dropped when he was +here last help you to solve the mystery of his murder?" + +"It might," she admitted. + +"Then I think," he said, "apart from any other reason, you ought to tell +somebody. The police at present don't seem to have the ghost of a clue." + +"They are not likely to find one," she answered, "unless I help them." + +"Say, Penelope," he exclaimed, "you are not in earnest?" + +"I am," she assured him. "It is exactly as I say. I believe I am one of +the few people who could put the police upon the right track." + +"Is there any reason why you shouldn't?" he asked. + +"That's just what I can't make up my mind about," she told him. +"However, I have brought you out with me expecting to hear something, +and I am going to tell you this. That last time he came to England--the +time he went to St. Petersburg and twice to Berlin--he came on +government business." + +The young man looked, for a moment, incredulous. + +"Are you sure of that, Pen?" he asked. "It doesn't sound like our +people, you know, does it?" + +"I am quite sure," she declared confidently. "You are a very youthful +diplomat, Dicky, but even you have probably heard of governments who +employ private messengers to carry despatches which for various reasons +they don't care to put through their embassies." + +"Why, that's so, of course, over on this side," he agreed. "These +European nations are up to all manner of tricks. But I tell you frankly, +Pen, I never heard of anything of the sort being done from Washington." + +"Perhaps not," she answered composedly. "You see, things have developed +with us during the last twenty-five years. The old America had only +one foreign policy, and that was to hold inviolate the Monroe doctrine. +European or Asiatic complications scarcely even interested her. Those +times have passed, Dicky. Cuba and the Philippines were the start of +other things. We are being drawn into the maelstrom. In another ten +years we shall be there, whether we want to be or not." + +The young man was deeply interested. + +"Well," he admitted, "there's a good deal in what you say, Penelope. You +talk about it all as though you were a diplomat yourself." + +"Perhaps I am," she answered calmly. "A stray young woman like myself +must have something to occupy her thoughts, you know." + +He laughed. + +"That's not bad," he asserted, "for a girl whom the New York Herald +declared, a few weeks ago, to be one of the most brilliant young women +in English society." + +She shrugged her shoulders scornfully. + +"That's just the sort of thing the New York Herald would say," she +remarked. "You see, I have to get a reputation for being smart and +saying bright things, or nobody would ask me anywhere. Penniless +American young women are not too popular over here." + +"Marry me, then," he suggested amiably. "I shall have plenty of money +some day." + +"I'll see about it when you're grown up," she answered. "Just at +present, I think we'd better return to the subject of Hamilton Fynes." + +Mr. Richard Vanderpole sighed, but seemed not disinclined to follow her +suggestion. + +"Harvey is a silent man, as you know," he said thoughtfully, "and he +keeps everything of importance to himself. At the same time these little +matters get about in the shop, of course, and I have never heard of any +despatches being brought across from Washington except in the usual way. +Presuming that you are right," he added after a moment's pause, "and +that this fellow Hamilton Fynes really had something for us, that would +account for his being able to get off the boat and securing his special +train so easily. No one can imagine where he got the pull." + +"It accounts, also," Penelope remarked, "for his murder!" + +Her companion started. + +"You haven't any idea--" he began. + +"Nothing so definite as an idea," she interrupted. "I am not going so +far as to say that. I simply know that when a man is practically the +secret agent of his government, and is probably carrying despatches +of an important nature, that an accident such as he has met with, in a +country which is greatly interested in the contents of those despatches, +is a somewhat serious thing." + +The young man nodded. + +"Say," he admitted "you're dead right. The Pacific cruise, and our +relations with Japan, seem to have rubbed our friends over here +altogether the wrong way. We have irritations enough already to smooth +over, without anything of this sort on the carpet." + +"I am going to tell you now," she continued, leaning a little towards +him, "the real reason why I fetched you out of the club this afternoon +and have brought you for this little expedition. The last time I lunched +with Mr. Hamilton Fynes was just after his return from Berlin. He +intrusted me then with a very important mission. He gave me a letter to +deliver to Mr. Blaine Harvey." + +"But I don't understand!" he protested. "Why should he give you the +letter when he was in London himself?" + +"I asked him that question myself, naturally," she answered. "He told me +that it was an understood thing that when he was over here on business +he was not even to cross the threshold of the Embassy, or hold any +direct communication with any person connected with it. Everything had +to be done through a third party, and generally in duplicate. There +was another man, for instance, who had a copy of the same letter, but I +never came across him or even knew his name." + +"Gee whiz!" the young man exclaimed. "You're telling me things, and no +mistake! Why this fellow Fynes made a secret service messenger of you!" + +Penelope nodded. + +"It was all very simple," she said. "The first Mrs. Harvey, who was +alive then, was my greatest friend, and I was in and out of the place +all the time. Now, perhaps, you can understand the significance of +that marconigram from Hamilton Fynes asking me to lunch with him at the +Carlton today." + +Mr. Richard Vanderpole was sitting bolt upright, gazing steadily ahead. + +"I wonder," he said slowly, "what has become of the letter which he was +going to give you!" + +"One thing is certain," she declared. "It is in the hands of those whose +interests would have been affected by its delivery." + +"How much of this am I to tell the chief?" the young man asked. + +"Every word," Penelope answered. "You see, I am trying to give you +a start in your career. What bothers me is an entirely different +question." + +"What is it?" he asked. + +She laid her hand upon his arm. + +"How much of it I shall tell to a certain gentleman who calls himself +Inspector Jacks!" + + + +CHAPTER VI. MR. COULSON INTERVIEWED + +The Lusitania boat specials ran into Euston Station soon after three +o'clock in the afternoon. A small company of reporters, and several +other men whose profession was not disclosed from their appearance, were +on the spot to interview certain of the passengers. A young fellow from +the office of the Evening Comet was, perhaps, the most successful, as, +from the lengthy description which had been telegraphed to him from +Liverpool, he was fortunate enough to accost the only person who had +been seen speaking to the murdered man upon the voyage. + +"This is Mr. Coulson, I believe?" the young man said with conviction, +addressing a somewhat stout, gray-headed American, with white moustache, +a Homburg hat, and clothes of distinctly transatlantic cut. + +That gentlemen regarded his interlocutor with some surprise but without +unfriendliness. + +"That happens to be my name, sir," he replied. "You have the advantage +of me, though. You are not from my old friends Spencer & Miles, are +you?" + +"Spencer & Miles," the young man repeated thoughtfully. + +"Woollen firm in London Wall," Mr. Coulson added. "I know they wanted to +see me directly I arrived, and they did say something about sending to +the station." + +The young man shook his head, and assumed at the same time his most +engaging manner. + +"Why, no, sir!" he admitted. "I have no connection with that firm at +all. The fact is I am on the staff of an evening paper. A friend of +mine in Liverpool--a mutual friend, I believe I may say," he +explained--"wired me your description. I understand that you were +acquainted with Mr. Hamilton Fynes?" + +Mr. Coulson set down his suitcase for a moment, to light a cigar. + +"Well, if I did know the poor fellow just to nod to," he said, "I don't +see that's any reason why I should talk about him to you newspaper +fellows. You'd better get hold of his relations, if you can find them." + +"But, my dear Mr. Coulson," the young man said, "we haven't any idea +where they are to be found, and in the meantime you can't imagine what +reports are in circulation." + +"Guess I can figure them out pretty well," Mr. Coulson remarked with a +smile. "We've got an evening press of our own in New York." + +The reporter nodded. + +"Well," he said, "They'd be able to stretch themselves out a bit on +a case like this. You see," he continued confidentially, "we are up +against something almost unique. Here is an astounding and absolutely +inexplicable murder, committed in a most dastardly fashion by a person +who appears to have vanished from the face of the earth. Not a single +thing is known about the victim except his name. We do not know whether +he came to England on business or pleasure. He may, in short, have been +any one from a millionaire to a newspaper man. Judging from his special +train," the reporter concluded with a smile, "and the money which was +found upon him, I imagine that he was certainly not the latter." + +Mr. Coulson went on his way toward the exit from the station, puffing +contentedly at his big cigar. + +"Well," he said to his companion, who showed not the slightest +disposition to leave his side, "it don't seem to me that there's much +worth repeating about poor Fynes,--much that I knew, at any rate. Still, +if you like to get in a cab with me and ride as far as the Savoy, I'll +tell you what I can." + +"You are a brick, sir," the young man declared. "Haven't you any +luggage, though?" + +"I checked what I had through from Liverpool to the hotel," Mr. Coulson +answered. "I can't stand being fussed around by all these porters, and +having to go and take pot luck amongst a pile of other people's baggage. +We'll just take one of these two-wheeled sardine tins that you people +call hansoms, and get round to the hotel as quick as we can. There are a +few pals of mine generally lunch in the cafe there, and they mayn't all +have cleared out if we look alive." + +They started a moment or two later. Mr. Coulson leaned forward and, +folding his arms upon the apron of the cab, looked about him with +interest. + +"Say," he remarked, removing his cigar to the corner of his mouth in +order to facilitate conversation, "this old city of yours don't change +any." + +"Not up in this part, perhaps," the reporter agreed. "We've some fine +new buildings down toward the Strand." + +Mr. Coulson nodded. + +"Well," he said, "I guess you don't want to be making conversation. You +want to know about Hamilton Fynes. I was just acquainted with him, and +that's a fact, but I reckon you'll have to find some one who knows a +good deal more than I do before you'll get the stuff you want for your +paper." + +"The slightest particulars are of interest to us just now," the reporter +reminded him. + +Mr. Coulson nodded. + +"Hamilton Fynes," he said, "so far as I knew him, was a quiet, +inoffensive sort of creature, who has been drawing a regular salary from +the State for the last fifteen years and saving half of it. He has been +coming over to Europe now and then, and though he was a good, steady +chap enough, he liked his fling when he was over here, and between you +and me, he was the greatest crank I ever struck. I met him in London a +matter of three years ago, and he wanted to go to Paris. There were +two cars running at the regular time, meeting the boat at Dover. Do you +think he would have anything to do with them? Not he! He hired a special +train and went down like a prince." + +"What did he do that for?" the reporter asked. + +"Why, because he was a crank, sir," Mr. Coulson answered confidentially. +"There was no other reason at all. Take this last voyage on the +Lusitania, now. He spoke to me the first day out because he couldn't +help it, but for pretty well the rest of the journey he either kept +down in his stateroom or, when he came up on deck, he avoided me and +everybody else. When he did talk, his talk was foolish. He was a good +chap at his work, I believe, but he was a crank. Seemed to me sometimes +as though that humdrum life of his had about turned his brain. The +last day out he was fidgeting all the time; kept looking at his watch, +studying the chart, and asking the sailors questions. Said he wanted to +get up in time to take a girl to lunch on Thursday. It was just for that +reason that he scuttled off the boat without a word to any of us, and +rushed up to London." + +"But he had letters, Mr. Coulson," the reporter reminded him, "from +some one in Washington, to the captain of the steamer and to the +station-master of the London and North Western Railway. It seems rather +odd that he should have provided himself with these, doesn't it?" + +"They were easy enough to get," Mr. Coulson answered. "He wasn't a +worrying sort of chap, Fynes wasn't. He did his work, year in and year +out, and asked no favors. The consequence was that when he asked a queer +one he got it all right. It's easier to get a pull over there than it is +here, you know." + +"This is all very interesting," the reporter said, "and I am sure I'm +very much obliged to you, Mr. Coulson. Now can you tell me of anything +in the man's life or way of living likely to provoke enmity on the part +of any one? This murder was such a cold-blooded affair." + +"There I'm stuck," Mr. Coulson admitted. "There's only one thing I can +tell you, and that is that I believe he had a lot more money on him than +the amount mentioned in your newspapers this morning. My own opinion is +that he was murdered for what he'd got. A smart thief would say that a +fellow who takes a special tug off the steamer and a special train +to town was a man worth robbing. How the thing was done I don't +know--that's for your police to find out--but I reckon that whoever +killed him did it for his cash." + +The reporter sighed. He was, after all, a little disappointed. Mr. +Coulson was obviously a man of common sense. His words were clearly +pronounced, and his reasoning sound. They had reached the courtyard of +the hotel now, and the reporter began to express his gratitude. + +"My first drink on English soil," Mr. Coulson said, as he handed his +suitcase to the hall-porter, "is always--" + +"It's on me," the young man declared quickly. "I owe you a good deal +more than drinks, Mr. Coulson." + +"Well, come along, anyway," the latter remarked. "I guess my room is all +right, porter?"--turning to the man who stood by his side, bag in hand. +"I am Mr. James B. Coulson of New York, and I wrote on ahead. I'll come +round to the office and register presently." + +They made their way to the American bar. The newspaper man and his +new friend drank together and, skillfully prompted by the former, the +conversation drifted back to the subject of Hamilton Fynes. There was +nothing else to be learned, however, in the way of facts. Mr. Coulson +admitted that he had been a little nettled by his friend's odd manner +during the voyage, and the strange way he had of keeping to himself. + +"But, after all," he wound up, "Fynes was a crank, when all's said and +done. We are all cranks, more or less,--all got our weak spot, I mean. +It was secretiveness with our unfortunate friend. He liked to play at +being a big personage in a mysterious sort of way, and the poor chap's +paid for it," he added with a sigh. + +The reporter left his new-made friend a short time afterwards, and took +a hansom to his office. His newspaper at once issued a special edition, +giving an interview between their representative and Mr. James B. +Coulson, a personal friend of the murdered man. It was, after all, +something of a scoop, for not one of the other passengers had been found +who was in a position to say anything at all about him. The immediate +effect of the interview, however, was to procure for Mr. Coulson a +somewhat bewildering succession of callers. The first to arrive was a +gentleman who introduced himself as Mr. Jacks, and whose card, sent +back at first, was retendered in a sealed envelope with Scotland Yard +scrawled across the back of it. Mr. Coulson, who was in the act of +changing his clothes, interviewed Mr. Jacks in his chamber. + +"Mr. Coulson," the Inspector said, "I am visiting you on behalf of +Scotland Yard. We understand that you had some acquaintance with Mr. +Hamilton Fynes, and we hope that you will answer a few questions for +us." + +Mr. Coulson sat down upon a trunk with his hairbrushes in his hand. + +"Well," he declared, "you detectives do get to know things, don't you?" + +"Nothing so remarkable in that, Mr. Coulson," Inspector Jacks remarked +pleasantly. "A newspaper man had been before me, I see." + +Mr. Coulson nodded. + +"That's so," he admitted. "Seems to me I may have been a bit indiscreet +in talking so much to that young reporter. I have just read his account +of my interview, and he's got it pat, word by word. Now, Mr. Jacks, if +you'll just invest a halfpenny in that newspaper, you don't need to ask +me any questions. That young man had a kind of pleasant way with him, +and I told him all I knew." + +"Just so, Mr. Coulson," the Inspector answered. "At the same time +nothing that you told him throws any light at all upon the circumstances +which led to the poor fellow's death." + +"That," Mr. Coulson declared, "is not my fault. What I don't know I +can't tell you." + +"You were acquainted with Mr. Fynes some years ago?" the Inspector +asked. "Can you tell me what business he was in then?" + +"Same as now, for anything I know," Mr. Coulson answered. "He was a +clerk in one of the Government offices at Washington." + +"Government offices," Inspector Jacks repeated. "Have you any idea what +department?" + +Mr. Coulson was not sure. + +"It may have been the Excise Office," he remarked thoughtfully. "I did +hear, but I never took any particular notice." + +"Did you ever form any idea as to the nature of his work?" Inspector +Jacks asked. + +"Bless you, no!" Mr. Coulson replied, brushing his hair vigorously. "It +never entered into my head to ask him, and I never heard him mention it. +I only know that he was a quiet-living, decent sort of a chap, but, as I +put it to our young friend the newspaper man, he was a crank." + +The Inspector was disappointed. He began to feel that he was wasting his +time. + +"Did you know anything of the object of his journey to Europe?" he +asked. + +"Nary a thing," Mr. Coulson declared. "He only came on deck once or +twice, and he had scarcely a civil word even for me. Why, I tell +you, sir," Mr. Coulson continued, "if he saw me coming along on the +promenade, he'd turn round and go the other way, for fear I'd ask him to +come and have a drink. A c-r-a-n-k, sir! You write it down at that, and +you won't be far out." + +"He certainly seems to have been a queer lot," the Inspector declared. +"By the bye," he continued, "you said something, I believe, about his +having had more money with him than was found upon his person." + +"That's so," Mr. Coulson admitted. "I know he deposited a pocketbook +with the purser, and I happened to be standing by when he received it +back. I noticed that he had three or four thousand-dollar bills, and +there didn't seem to be anything of the sort upon him when he was +found." + +The Inspector made a note of this. + +"You believe yourself, then, Mr. Coulson," he said, closing his +pocketbook, "that the murder was committed for the purpose of robbery?" + +"Seems to me it's common sense," Mr. Coulson replied. "A man who goes +and takes a special train to London from the docks of a city like +Liverpool--a city filled with the scum of the world, mind you--kind of +gives himself away as a man worth robbing, doesn't he?" + +The Inspector nodded. + +"That's sensible talk, Mr. Coulson," he acknowledged. "You never heard, +I suppose, of his having had a quarrel with any one?" + +"Never in my life," Mr. Coulson declared. "He wasn't the sort to make +enemies, any more than he was the sort to make friends." + +The Inspector took up his hat. His manner now was no longer +inquisitorial. With the closing of his notebook a new geniality had +taken the place of his official stiffness. + +"You are making a long stay here, Mr. Coulson?" he asked. + +"A week or so, maybe," that gentleman answered. "I am in the machinery +patent line--machinery for the manufacture of woollen goods mostly--and +I have a few appointments in London. Afterwards I am going on to Paris. +You can hear of me at any time either here or at the Grand Hotel, Paris, +but there's nothing further to be got out of me as regards Mr. Hamilton +Fynes." + +The Inspector was of the same opinion and took his departure. Mr. +Coulson waited for some little time, still sitting on his trunk and +clasping his hairbrushes. Then he moved over to the table on which stood +the telephone instrument and asked for a number. The reply came in a +minute or two in the form of a question. + +"It's Mr. James B. Coulson from New York, landed this afternoon from the +Lusitania," Mr. Coulson said. "I am at the Savoy Hotel, speaking from my +room--number 443." + +There was a brief silence--then a reply. + +"You had better be in the bar smoking-room at seven o'clock. If nothing +happens, don't leave the hotel this evening." + +Mr. Coulson replaced the receiver and rang off. A page-boy knocked at +the door. + +"Young lady downstairs wishes to see you, sir," he announced. + +Mr. Coulson took up the card from the tray. + +"Miss Penelope Morse," he said softly to himself. "Seems to me I'm +rather popular this evening. Say I'll be down right away, my boy." + +"Very good, sir," the page answered. "There's a gentleman with her, sir. +His card's underneath the lady's." + +Mr. Coulson examined the tray once more. A gentleman's visiting card +informed him that his other caller was Sir Charles Somerfield, Bart. + +"Bart," Mr. Coulson remarked thoughtfully. "I'm not quite catching on to +that, but I suppose he goes in with the young lady." + +"They're both together, sir," the boy announced. + +Mr. Coulson completed his toilet and hurried downstairs + + + +CHAPTER VII. A FATAL DESPATCH + +Mr. Coulson found his two visitors in the lounge of the hotel. He had +removed all traces of his journey, and was attired in a Tuxedo dinner +coat, a soft-fronted shirt, and a neatly arranged black tie. He wore +broad-toed patent boots and double lines of braid down the outsides of +his trousers. The page boy, who was on the lookout for him, conducted +him to the corner where Miss Penelope Morse and her companion were +sitting talking together. The latter rose at his approach, and Mr. +Coulson summed him up quickly,--a well-bred, pleasant-mannered, +exceedingly athletic young Englishman, who was probably not such a fool +as he looked,--that is, from Mr. Coulson's standpoint, who was not used +to the single eyeglass and somewhat drawling enunciation. + +"Mr. Coulson, isn't it?" the young man asked, accepting the other's +outstretched hand. "We are awfully sorry to disturb you, so soon after +your arrival, too, but the fact is that this young lady, Miss Penelope +Morse,"--Mr. Coulson bowed,--"was exceedingly anxious to make your +acquaintance. You Americans are such birds of passage that she was +afraid you might have moved on if she didn't look you up at once." + +Penelope herself intervened. + +"I'm afraid you're going to think me a terrible nuisance, Mr. Coulson!" +she exclaimed. Mr. Coulson, although he did not call himself a lady's +man, was nevertheless human enough to appreciate the fact that the young +lady's face was piquant and her smile delightful. She was dressed +with quiet but elegant simplicity. The perfume of the violets at her +waistband seemed to remind him of his return to civilization. + +"Well, I'll take my risks of that, Miss Morse," he declared. "If you'll +only let me know what I can do for you--" + +"It's about poor Mr. Hamilton Fynes," she explained. "I took up the +evening paper only half an hour ago, and read your interview with the +reporter. I simply couldn't help stopping to ask whether you could give +me any further particulars about that horrible affair. I didn't dare to +come here all alone, so I asked Sir Charles to come along with me." + +Mr. Coulson, being invited to do so, seated himself on the lounge by +the young lady's side. He leaned a little forward with a hand on either +knee. + +"I don't exactly know what I can tell you," he remarked. "I take it, +then, that you were well acquainted with Mr. Fynes?" + +"I used to know him quite well," Penelope answered, "and naturally I am +very much upset. When I read in the paper an account of your interview +with the reporter, I could see at once that you were not telling him +everything. Why should you, indeed? A man does not want every detail of +his life set out in the newspapers just because he has become connected +with a terrible tragedy." + +"You're a very sensible young lady, Miss Morse, if you will allow me to +say so," Mr. Coulson declared. "You were expecting to see something of +Mr. Fynes over here, then?" + +"I had an appointment to lunch with him today," she answered. "He sent +me a marconigram before he arrived at Queenstown." + +"Is that so?" Mr. Coulson exclaimed. "Well, well!" + +"I actually went to the restaurant," Penelope continued, "without +knowing anything of this. I can't understand it at all, even now. Mr. +Fynes always seemed to me such a harmless sort of person, so unlikely +to have enemies, or anything of that sort. Don't you think so, Mr. +Coulson?" + +"Well," that gentleman answered, "to tell you the honest truth, Miss +Morse, I'm afraid I am going to disappoint you a little. I wasn't over +well acquainted with Mr. Fynes, although a good many people seemed +to fancy that we were kind of bosom friends. That newspaper man, for +instance, met me at the station and stuck to me like a leech; drove down +here with me, and was willing to stand all the liquor I could drink. +Then there was a gentleman from Scotland Yard, who was in such a hurry +that he came to see me in my bedroom. _He_ had a sort of an idea that I +had been brought up from infancy with Hamilton Fynes and could answer +a sheaf of questions a yard long. As soon as I got rid of him, up comes +that page boy and brings your card." + +"It does seem too bad, Mr. Coulson," Penelope declared, raising her +wonderful eyes to his and smiling sympathetically. "You have really +brought it upon yourself, though, to some extent, haven't you, by +answering so many questions for this Comet man?" + +"Those newspaper fellows," Mr. Coulson remarked, "are wonders. Before +that youngster had finished with me, I began to feel that poor old Fynes +and I had been like brothers all our lives. As a matter of fact, Miss +Morse, I expect you knew him at least as well as I did." + +She nodded her head thoughtfully. + +"Hamilton Fynes came from the village in Massachusetts where I was +brought up. I've known him all my life." + +Mr. Coulson seemed a little startled. + +"I didn't understand," he said thoughtfully, "that Fynes had any very +intimate friends over this side." + +Penelope shook her head. + +"I don't mean to imply that we have been intimate lately," she said. +"I came to Europe nine years ago, and since then, of course, I have not +seen him often. Perhaps it was the fact that he should have thought +of me, and that I was actually expecting to have lunch with him today, +which made me feel this thing so acutely." + +"Why, that's quite natural," Mr. Coulson declared, leaning back a little +and crossing his legs. "Somehow we seem to read about these things in +the papers and they don't amount to such a lot, but when you know the +man and were expecting to see him, as you were, why, then it comes right +home to you. There's something about a murder," Mr. Coulson concluded, +"which kind of takes hold of you if you've ever even shaken hands with +either of the parties concerned in it." + +"Did you see much of the poor fellow during the voyage?" Sir Charles +asked. + +"No, nor any one else," Mr. Coulson replied. "I don't think he was +seasick, but he was miserably unsociable, and he seldom left his cabin. +I doubt whether there were half a dozen people on board who would have +recognized him afterwards as a fellow-passenger." + +"He seems to have been a secretive sort of person," Sir Charles +remarked. + +"He was that," Mr. Coulson admitted. "Never seemed to care to talk about +himself or his own business. Not that he had much to talk about," he +added reflectively. "Dull sort of life, his. So many hours of work, so +many hours of play; so many dollars a month, and after it's all over, so +many dollars pension. Wouldn't suit all of us, Sir Charles, eh?" + +"I fancy not," Somerfield admitted. "Perhaps he kicked over the traces +a bit when he was over this side. You Americans generally seem to find +your way about--in Paris, especially." + +Mr. Coulson shook his head doubtfully. + +"There wasn't much kicking over the traces with poor old Fynes," he +said. "He hadn't got it in him." + +Somerfield scratched his chin thoughtfully and looked at Penelope. + +"Scarcely seems possible, does it," he remarked, "that a man leading +such a quiet sort of life should make enemies." + +"I don't believe he had any," Mr. Coulson asserted. + +"He didn't seem nervous on the way over, did he?" Penelope asked,--"as +though he were afraid of something happening?" + +Mr. Coulson shook his head. + +"No more than usual," he answered. "I guess your police over here aren't +quite so smart as ours, or they'd have been on the track of this thing +before now. But you can take it from me that when the truth comes out +you'll find that our poor friend has paid the penalty of going about the +world like a crank." + +"A what?" Somerfield asked doubtfully. + +"A crank," Mr. Coulson repeated vigorously. "It wasn't much I knew +of Hamilton Fynes, but I knew that much. He was one of those nervous, +stand-off sort of persons who hated to have people talk to him and +yet was always doing things to make them talk about him. I was over in +Europe with him not so long ago, and he went on in the same way. Took +a special train to Dover when there wasn't any earthly reason for it; +travelled with a valet and a courier, when he had no clothes for the +valet to look after, and spoke every European language better than +his courier. This time the poor fellow's paid for his bit of vanity. +Naturally, any one would think he was a millionaire, travelling like +that. I guess they boarded the train somehow, or lay hidden in it when +it started, and relieved him of a good bit of his savings." + +"But his money was found upon him," Somerfield objected. + +"Some of it," Mr. Coulson answered,--"some of it. That's just about +the only thing that I do know of my own. I happened to see him take his +pocketbook back from the purser, and I guess he'd got a sight more money +there than was found upon him. I told the smooth-spoken gentleman from +Scotland Yard so--Mr. Inspector Jacks he called himself--when he came to +see me an hour or so ago." + +Penelope sighed gently. She found it hard to make up her mind concerning +this quondam acquaintance of her deceased friend. + +"Did you see much of Mr. Fynes on the other side, Mr. Coulson?" she +asked him. + +"Not I," Mr. Coulson answered. "He wasn't particularly anxious to make +acquaintances over here, but he was even worse at home. The way he went +on, you'd think he'd never had any friends and never wanted any. I met +him once in the streets of Washington last year, and had a cocktail +with him at the Atlantic House. I had to almost drag him in there. I was +pretty well a stranger in Washington, but he didn't do a thing for me. +Never asked me to look him up, or introduced me to his club. He just +drank his cocktail, mumbled something about being in a hurry, and made +off. + +"I tell you, sir," Mr. Coulson continued, turning to Somerfield, "that +man hadn't a thing to say for himself. I guess his work had something to +do with it. You must get kind of out of touch with things, shut up in an +office from nine o'clock in the morning till five in the afternoon. Just +saving up, he was, for his trip to Europe. Then we happened on the same +steamer, but, bless you, he scarcely even shook hands when he saw me. +He wouldn't play bridge, didn't care about chess, hadn't even a chair on +the deck, and never came in to meals." + +Penelope nodded her head thoughtfully. + +"You are destroying all my illusions, Mr. Coulson," she said. "Do you +know that I was building up quite a romance about poor Mr. Fynes' life? +It seemed to me that he must have enemies; that there must have been +something in his life, or his manner of living, which accounted for such +a terrible crime." + +"Why, sure not!" Mr. Coulson declared heartily. "It was a cleverly +worked job, but there was no mystery about it. Some chap went for him +because he got riding about like a millionaire. A more unromantic figure +than Hamilton Fynes never breathed. Call him a crank and you've finished +with him." + +Penelope sighed once more and looked at the tips of her patent shoes. + +"It has been so kind of you," she murmured, "to talk to us. And yet, do +you know, I am a little disappointed. I was hoping that you might have +been able to tell us something more about the poor fellow." + +"He was no talker," Mr. Coulson declared. "It was little enough he had +to say to me, and less to any one else." + +"It seems strange," she remarked innocently, "that he should have +been so shy. He didn't strike me that way when I knew him at home in +Massachusetts, you know. He travelled about so much in later years, too, +didn't he?" + +Penelope's eyes were suddenly upraised. For the first time Mr. Coulson's +ready answers failed him. Not a muscle of his face moved under the +girl's scrutiny, but he hesitated for a short time before he answered +her. + +"Not that I know of," he said at length. "No, I shouldn't have called +him much of a traveller." + +Penelope rose to her feet and held out her hand. + +"It has been very nice indeed of you to see us, Mr. Coulson," she said, +"especially after all these other people have been bothering you. Of +course, I am sorry that you haven't anything more to tell us than we +knew already. Still, I felt that I couldn't rest until we had been." + +"It's a sad affair, anyhow," Mr. Coulson declared, walking with them to +the door. "Don't you get worrying your head, young lady, though, with +any notion of his having had enemies, or anything of that sort. The poor +fellow was no hero of romance. I don't fancy even your halfpenny papers +could drag any out of his life. It was just a commonplace robbery, with +a bad ending for poor Fynes. Good evening, miss! Good night, sir! Glad +to have met you, Sir Charles." + +Mr. Coulson's two visitors left and got into a small electric brougham +which was waiting for them. Mr. Coulson himself watched them drive off +and glanced at the clock. It was already a quarter past six. He went +into the cafe and ordered a light dinner, which he consumed with much +obvious enjoyment. Then he lit a cigar and went into the smoking room. +Selecting a pile of newspapers, he drew up an easy chair to the fire and +made himself comfortable. + +"Seems to me I may have a longish wait," he said to himself. + +As a matter of fact, he was disappointed. At precisely seven o'clock, +Mr. Richard Vanderpole strolled into the room and, after a casual glance +around, approached his chair and touched him on the shoulder. In his +evening clothes the newcomer was no longer obtrusively American. He was +dressed in severely English fashion, from the cut of his white waistcoat +to the admirable poise of his white tie. He smiled as he patted Coulson +upon the shoulder. + +"This is Mr. Coulson, I'm sure," he declared,--"Mr. James B. Coulson +from New York?" + +"You're dead right," Mr. Coulson admitted, laying down his newspaper and +favoring his visitor with a quick upward glance. + +"This is great!" the young man continued. "Just off the boat, eh? Well, +I am glad to see you,--very glad indeed to make your acquaintance, I +should say." + +Mr. Coulson replied in similar terms. A waiter who was passing through +the room hesitated, for it was a greeting which generally ended in a +summons for him. + +"What shall it be?" the newcomer asked. + +"I've just taken dinner," Mr. Coulson said. "Coffee and cognac'll do me +all right." + +"And a Martini cocktail for me," the young man ordered. "I am dining +down in the restaurant with some friends later on. Come over to this +corner, Mr. Coulson. Why, you're looking first-rate. Great boat, the +Lusitania, isn't she? What sort of a trip did you have?" + +So they talked till the drinks had been brought and paid for, till +another little party had quitted the room and they sat in their +lonely corner, secure from observation or from any possibility of +eavesdropping. Then Mr. Richard Vanderpole leaned forward in his chair +and dropped his voice. + +"Coulson," he said, "the chief is anxious. We don't understand this +affair. Do you know anything?" + +"Not a d----d thing!" Coulson answered. + +"Were you shadowed on the boat?" the young man asked. + +"Not to my knowledge," Coulson answered. "Fynes was in his stateroom six +hours before we started. I can't make head nor tail of it." + +"He had the papers, of course?" + +"Sewn in the lining of his coat," Coulson muttered. "You read about that +in tonight's papers. The lining was torn and the space empty. He had +them all right when he left the steamer." + +The young man looked around; the room was still empty. + +"I'm fresh in this," he said. "I got some information this afternoon, +and the chief sent me over to see you on account of it. We had better +not discuss possibilities, I suppose? The thing's too big. The chief's +almost off his head. Is there any chance, do you think, Coulson, that +this was an ordinary robbery? I am not sure that the special train +wasn't a mistake." + +"None whatever," Coulson declared. + +"How do you know?" his companion asked quickly. + +"Well, I've lied to those reporters and chaps," Coulson admitted,--"lied +with a purpose, of course, as you people can understand. The money found +upon Fynes was every penny he had when he left Liverpool." + +The young man set his teeth. + +"It's something to know this, at any rate," he declared. "You did right, +Coulson, to put up that bluff. Now about the duplicates?" + +"They are in my suitcase," Coulson answered, "and according to the way +things are going, I shan't be over sorry to get rid of them. Will you +take them with you?" + +"Why, sure!" Vanderpole answered. "That's what I'm here for." + +"You had better wait right here, then," Coulson said, "I'll fetch them." + +He made his way up to his room, undid his dressing bag, which was +fastened only with an ordinary lock, and from between two shirts drew +out a small folded packet, no bigger than an ordinary letter. It was a +curious circumstance that he used only one hand for the search and with +the other gripped the butt of a small revolver. There was no one around, +however, nor was he disturbed in any way. In a few minutes he returned +to the bar smoking room, where the young man was still waiting, and +handed him the letter. + +"Tell me," the latter asked, "have you been shadowed at all?" + +"Not that I know of," Coulson answered. + +"Men with quick instincts," Vanderpole continued, "can always tell when +they are being watched. Have you felt anything of the sort?" + +Coulson hesitated for one moment. + +"No," he said. "I had a caller whose manner I did not quite understand. +She seemed to have something at the back of her head about me." + +"She! Was it a woman?" the young man asked quickly. + +Coulson nodded. + +"A young lady," he said,--"Miss Penelope Morse, she called herself." + +Mr. Richard Vanderpole stood quite still for a moment. + +"Ah!" he said softly. "She might have been interested." + +"Does the chief want me at all?" Coulson asked. + +"No!" Vanderpole answered. "Go about your business as usual. Leave here +for Paris, say, in ten days. There will probably be a letter for you at +the Grand Hotel by that time." + +They walked together toward the main exit. The young man's face had lost +some of its grimness. Once more his features wore that look of pleasant +and genial good-fellowship which seems characteristic of his race after +business hours. + +"Say, Mr. Coulson," he declared, as they passed across the hall, "you +and I must have a night together. This isn't New York, by any manner of +means, or Paris, but there's some fun to be had here, in a quiet way. +I'll phone you tomorrow or the day after." + +"Sure!" Mr. Coulson declared. "I'd like it above all things." + +"I must find a taxicab," the young man remarked. "I've a busy hour +before me. I've got to go down and see the chief, who is dining +somewhere in Kensington, and get back again to dine here at half past +seven in the restaurant." + +"I guess you'll have to look sharp, then." Mr. Coulson remarked. "Do you +see the time?" + +Vanderpole glanced at the clock and whistled softly to himself. + +"Tell you what!" he exclaimed, "I'll write a note to one of the friends +I've got to meet, and leave it here. Boy," he added, turning to a page +boy, "get me a taxi as quick as you can." + +The boy ran out into the Strand, and Vanderpole, sitting down at the +table, wrote a few lines, which he sealed and addressed and handed to +one of the reception clerks. Then he shook hands with Coulson and threw +himself into a corner of the cab which was waiting. + +"Drive down the Brompton Road," he said to the man. "I'll direct you +later." + +It was a quarter past seven when he left the hotel. At half past a +policeman held up his hand and stopped the taxi, to the driver's +great astonishment, as he was driving slowly across Melbourne Square, +Kensington. + +"What's the matter?" the man asked. "You can't say I was exceeding my +speed limit." + +The policeman scarcely noticed him. His head was already through the cab +window. + +"Where did you take your fare up?" he asked quickly. + +"Savoy Hotel," the man answered. "What's wrong with him?" + +The policeman opened the door of the cab and stepped in. + +"Never you mind about that," he said. "Drive to the South Kensington +police station as quick as you can." + + + +CHAPTER VIII. AN INTERRUPTED THEATRE PARTY + +Seated upon a roomy lounge in the foyer of the Savoy were three +women who attracted more than an average amount of attention from the +passers-by. In the middle was the Duchess of Devenham, erect, stately, +and with a figure which was still irreproachable notwithstanding her +white hair. On one side sat her daughter, Lady Grace Redford, tall, +fair, and comely; on the other, Miss Penelope Morse. The two girls were +amusing themselves, watching the people; their chaperon had her eye upon +the clock. + +"To dine at half-past seven," the Duchess remarked, as she looked around +the _entresol_ of the great restaurant through her lorgnettes, "is +certainly a little trying for one's temper and for one's digestion, but +so long as those men accepted, I certainly think they ought to have been +here. They know that the play begins at a quarter to nine." + +"It isn't like Dicky Vanderpole in the least," Penelope said. "Since he +began to tread the devious paths of diplomacy, he has brought exactness +in the small things of life down to a fine art." + +"He isn't half so much fun as he used to be," Lady Grace declared. + +"Fun!" Penelope exclaimed. "Sometimes I think that I never knew a more +trying person." + +"I have never known the Prince unpunctual," the Duchess murmured. "I +consider him absolutely the best-mannered young man I know." + +Lady Grace smiled, and glanced at Penelope. + +"I don't think you'll get Penelope to agree with you, mother," she said. + +"Why not, my dear?" the Duchess asked. "I heard that you were quite rude +to him the other evening. We others all find him so charming." + +Penelope's lip curled slightly. + +"He has so many admirers," she remarked, "that I dare say he will not +notice my absence from the ranks. Perhaps I am a little prejudiced. +At home, you know, we have rather strong opinions about this fusion of +races." + +The Duchess raised her eyebrows. + +"But a Prince of Japan, my dear Penelope!" she said. "A cousin of the +Emperor, and a member of an aristocracy which was old before we were +thought of! Surely you cannot class Prince Maiyo amongst those to whom +any of your country people could take exception." + +Penelope shrugged her shoulders slightly. + +"Perhaps," she said, "my feeling is the result of hearing you all praise +him so much and so often. Besides, apart from that, you must remember +that I am a patriotic daughter of the Stars and Stripes, and there isn't +much friendship lost between Washington and Tokio just now." + +The Duchess turned away to greet a man who had paused before their couch +on his way into the restaurant. + +"My dear General," she said, "it seems to me that one meets every one +here! Why was not restaurant dining the vogue when I was a girl!" + +General Sherrif smiled. He was tall and thin, with grizzled hair and +worn features. Notwithstanding his civilian's clothes, there was no +possibility of mistaking him anywhere, or under any circumstances, for +anything but a soldier. + +"It is a delightful custom," he admitted. "It keeps one always on the +_qui vive_; one never knows whom one may see. Incidentally, I find it +interferes very much with my digestion." + +"Digestion!" the Duchess murmured. "But then, you soldiers lead such +irregular lives." + +"Not always from choice," the General reminded her. "The Russo-Japanese +war finished me off. They kept us far enough away from the fighting, +when they could, but, by Jove, they did make us move!" + +"We are waiting now for Prince Maiyo," the Duchess remarked. "You know +him?" + +"Know him!" the General answered. "Duchess, if ever I have to write +my memoirs, and particularly my reminiscences of this war, I fancy you +would find the name of your friend appear there pretty frequently. There +wasn't a more brilliant feat of arms in the whole campaign than his +flanking movement at Mukden. I met most of the Japanese leaders, and I +have always said that I consider him the most wonderful of them all." + +The Duchess turned to Penelope. + +"Do you hear that?" she asked. + +Penelope smiled. + +"The Fates are against me," she declared. "If I may not like, I shall at +least be driven to admire." + +"To talk of bravery when one speaks of that war," the General remarked, +"seems invidious, for it is my belief that throughout the whole of the +Japanese army such a thing as fear did not exist. They simply did not +know what the word meant. But I shall never forget that the only piece +of hand-to-hand fighting I saw during the whole time was a cavalry +charge led by Prince Maiyo against an immensely superior force of +Russians. Duchess," the General declared, "those Japanese on their queer +little horses went through the enemy like wind through a cornfield. That +young man must have borne a charmed life. I saw him riding and cheering +his men on when he must have had at least half a dozen wounds in his +body. You will pardon me, Duchess? I see that my party are waiting." + +The General hurried away. The Duchess shut up her lorgnettes with a +snap, and held out her hand to a newcomer who had come from behind the +palms. + +"My dear Prince," she exclaimed, "this is charming of you! Some one told +me that you were not well,--our wretched climate, of course--and I was +so afraid, every moment, that we should receive your excuses." + +The newcomer, who was bowing over her hand, was of medium height or a +trifle less, dark, and dressed with the quiet exactness of an English +gentleman. Only a slight narrowness of the eyes and a greater +alertness of movement seemed to distinguish him in any way, as regards +nationality, from the men by whom he was surrounded. His voice, when +he spoke, contained no trace of accent. It was soft and singularly +pleasant. It had, too, one somewhat rare quality--a delightful ring of +truth. Perhaps that was one of the reasons why Prince Maiyo was just +then, amongst certain circles, one of the most popular persons in +Society. + +"My dear Duchess," he said, "my indisposition was nothing. And as for +your climate, I am beginning to delight in it,--one never knows what +to expect, or when one may catch a glimpse of the sun. It is only the +grayness which is always the same." + +"And even that," the Duchess remarked, smiling, "has been yellow for the +last few days. Prince, you know my daughter Grace, and I am sure that +you have met Miss Penelope Morse? We are waiting for two other men, Sir +Charles Somerfield and Mr. Vanderpole." + +The Prince bowed, and began to talk to his hostess' daughter,--a tall, +fair girl, as yet only in her second season. + +"Here comes Sir Charles, at any rate!" the Duchess exclaimed. "Really, I +think we shall have to go in. We can leave a message for Dicky; they all +know him at this place. I am afraid he is one of those shocking young +men who entertain the theatrical profession here to supper." + +A footman at that moment brought a note to the Duchess, which she tore +open. + +"This is from Dicky!" she exclaimed, glancing it through +quickly,--"Savoy notepaper, too, so I suppose he has been here. He says +that he may be a few minutes late and that we are not to wait. He will +pick us up either here or at the theatre. Prince, shall we let these +young people follow us? I haven't heard your excuses yet. Do you know +that you were a quarter of an hour late?" + +He bent towards her with troubled face. + +"Dear Duchess," he said, "believe me, I am conscious of my fault. An +unexpected matter, which required my personal attention, presented +itself at the last moment. I think I can assure you that nothing of +its sort was ever accomplished so quickly. It would only weary you if I +tried to explain." + +"Please don't," the Duchess begged, "so long as you are here at last. +And after all, you see, you are not the worst sinner. Mr. Vanderpole has +not yet arrived." + +The Prince walked on, for a few steps, in silence. + +"Mr. Vanderpole is a great friend of yours, Duchess?" he asked. + +The Duchess shook her head. + +"I do not know him very well," she said. "I asked him for Penelope." + +The Prince looked puzzled. + +"But I thought," he said, "that Miss Morse and Sir Charles--" + +The Duchess interrupted him with a smile. + +"Sir Charles is very much in earnest," she whispered, "but very very +slow. Dicky is just the sort of man to spur him on. He admires Penelope, +and does not mind showing it. She is such a dear girl that I should love +to have her comfortably settled over here." + +"She is very intelligent," the Prince said. "She is a young lady, +indeed, for whom I have a great admiration. I am only sorry," he +concluded, "that I do not seem able to interest her." + +"You must not believe that," the Duchess said. "Penelope is a little +brusque sometimes, but it is only her manner." + +They made their way through the foyer to the round table which had been +reserved for them in the centre of the restaurant. + +"I suppose I ought to apologize for giving you dinner at such an hour," +the Duchess remarked, "but it is our theatrical managers who are to +blame. Why they cannot understand that the best play in the world is +not worth more than two hours of our undivided attention, and begin +everything at nine or a quarter-past, I cannot imagine." + +The Prince smiled. + +"Dear Duchess," he said, "I think that you are a nation of sybarites. +Everything in the world must run for you so smoothly or you are not +content. For my part, I like to dine at this hour." + +"But then, you take no luncheon, Prince," Lady Grace reminded him. + +"I never lunch out," the Prince answered, "but I have always what is +sufficient for me." + +"Tell me," the Duchess asked, "is it true that you are thinking of +settling down amongst us? Your picture is in the new illustrated paper +this week, you know, with a little sketch of your career. We are given +to understand that you may possibly make your home in this country." + +The Prince smiled, and in his smile there seemed to be a certain +mysticism. One could not tell, indeed, whether it came from some +pleasant thought flitting through his brain, or whether it was that the +idea itself was so strange to him. + +"I have no plans, Duchess," he said. "Your country is very delightful, +and the hospitality of the friends I have made over here is too +wonderful a thing to be described; but one never knows." + +Lady Grace bent towards Sir Charles, who was sitting by her side. + +"I can never understand the Prince," she murmured. "Always he seems as +though he took life so earnestly. He has a look upon his face which I +never see in the faces of any of you other young men." + +"He is a bit on the serious side," Sir Charles admitted. + +"It isn't only that," she continued. "He reminds me of that man whom we +all used to go and hear preach at the Oratory. He was the same in +the pulpit and when one saw him in the street. His eyes seemed to see +through one; he seemed to be living in a world of his own." + +"He was a religious Johnny, of course," Sir Charles remarked. "They do +walk about with their heads in the air." + +Lady Grace smiled. + +"Perhaps it is religion with the Prince," she said,--"religion of a +sort." + +"I tell you what I do think," Sir Charles murmured. "I think his +pretence at having a good time over here is all a bluff. He doesn't +really cotton to us, you know. Don't see how he could. He's never +touched a polo stick in his life, knows nothing about cricket, is +indifferent to games, and doesn't even understand the meaning of the +word 'Sportsman.' There's no place in this country for a man like that." + +Lady Grace nodded. + +"I think," she said, "that his visit to Europe and his stay amongst +us is, after all, in the nature of a pilgrimage. I suppose he wants to +carry back some of our civilization to his own people." + +Penelope, who overheard, laughed softly and leaned across the table. + +"I fancy," she murmured, "that the person you are speaking of would not +look at it in quite the same light." + +"Has any one seen the evening paper?" the Duchess asked. "It is there +any more news about that extraordinary murder?" + +"Nothing fresh in the early editions," Sir Charles answered. + +"I think," the Duchess declared, "that it is perfectly scandalous. Our +police system must be in a disgraceful state. Tell me, Prince,--could +anything like that happen in your country?" + +"Without doubt," the Prince answered, "life moves very much in the East +as with you here. Only with us," he added a little thoughtfully, "there +is a difference, a difference of which one is reminded at a time like +this, when one reads your newspapers and hears the conversation of one's +friends." + +"Tell us what you mean?" Penelope asked quickly. + +He looked at her as one might have looked at a child,--kindly, even +tolerantly. He was scarcely so tall as she was, and Penelope's attitude +towards him was marked all the time with a certain frigidity. Yet he +spoke to her with the quiet, courteous confidence of the philosopher who +unbends to talk to a child. + +"In this country," he said, "you place so high a value upon the gift of +life. Nothing moves you so greatly as the killing of one man by another, +or the death of a person whom you know." + +"There is no tragedy in the world so great!" Penelope declared. + +The Prince shrugged his shoulders very slightly. + +"My dear Miss Morse," he said, "it is so that you think about life and +death here. Yet you call yourselves a Christian country--you have a very +beautiful faith. With us, perhaps, there is a little more philosophy and +something a little less definite in the trend of our religion. Yet we do +not dress Death in black clothes or fly from his outstretched hand. We +fear him no more that we do the night. It is a thing that comes--a thing +that must be." + +He spoke so softly, and yet with so much conviction, that it seemed hard +to answer him. Penelope, however, was conscious of an almost feverish +desire either to contradict him or to prolong the conversation by some +means or other. + +"Your point of view," she said, "is well enough, Prince, for those who +fall in battle, fighting for their country or for a great cause. Don't +you think, though, that the horror of death is a more real thing in +a case like this, where a man is killed in cold blood for the sake of +robbery, or perhaps revenge?" + +"One cannot tell," the Prince answered thoughtfully. "The battlefields +of life are there for every one to cross. This mysterious gentleman who +seems to have met with his death so unexpectedly--he, too, may have been +the victim of a cause, knowing his dangers, facing them as a man should +face them." + +The Duchess sighed. + +"I am quite sure, Prince," she said, "that you are a romanticist. But, +apart from the sentimental side of it, do things like this happen in +your country?" + +"Why not?" the Prince answered. "It is as I have been saying: for a +worthy cause, or a cause which he believed to be worthy, there is no +man of my country worthy of the name who would not accept death with +the same resignation that he lays his head upon the pillow and waits for +sleep." + +Sir Charles raised his glass and bowed across the table. + +"To our great allies!" he said, smiling. + +The Prince drank his glass of water thoughtfully. He drank wine only +on very rare occasions, and then under compulsion. He turned to the +Duchess. + +"A few days ago," he said, "I heard myself described as being much +too serious a person. Tonight I am afraid that I am living up to my +reputation. Our conversation seems to have drifted into somewhat gloomy +channels. We must ask Miss Morse, I think, to help us to forget. They +say," he continued, "that it is the young ladies of your country who +hold open the gates of Paradise for their menkind." + +He was looking into her eyes. His tone was half bantering, half serious. +From across the table Penelope knew that Somerfield was watching her +closely. Somehow or other, she was irritated and nervous, and she +answered vaguely. Sir Charles intervened with a story about some of +their acquaintances, and the conversation drifted into more ordinary +channels. + +"Some day, I suppose," the Duchess remarked, as the service of dinner +drew toward a close, "you will have restaurants like this in Tokio?" + +The Prince assented. + +"Yes," he said without enthusiasm, "they will come. Our heritage from +the West is a sure thing. Not in my days, perhaps, or in the days of +those that follow me, but they will come." + +"I think that it is absolutely wicked of Dicky," the Duchess declared, +as they rose from the table. "I shall never rely upon him again." + +"After all, perhaps, it isn't his fault," Penelope said, breathing a +little sigh of relief as she rose to her feet. "Mr. Harvey is not always +considerate, and I know that several of the staff are away on leave." + +"That's right, my dear," the Duchess said, smiling, "stick up for your +countrymen. I suppose he'll find us sometime during the evening. We can +all go to the theatre together; the omnibus is outside." + +The little party passed through the foyer and into the hall of the +hotel, where they waited while the Duchess' carriage was called. Mr. +Coulson was there in an easy chair, smoking a cigar, and watching +the people coming and going. He studied the passers-by with ah air of +impersonal but pleased interest. Penelope and Lady Grace were certainly +admirable foils. The latter was fair, with beautiful complexion--a +trifle sunburnt, blue eyes, good-humored mouth, and features excellent +in their way, but a little lacking in expression. Her figure was good; +her movements slow but not ungraceful; her dress of white ivory satin a +little extravagant for the occasion. She looked exactly what she was,--a +well-bred, well-disposed, healthy young Englishwoman, of aristocratic +parentage. Penelope, on the other hand, more simply dressed, save +for the string of pearls which hung from her neck, had the look of a +creature from another world. She had plenty of animation; a certain +nervous energy seemed to keep her all the time restless. She talked +ceaselessly, sometimes to the Prince, more often to Sir Charles. Her +gray-green eyes were bright, her cheeks delicately flushed. She spoke +and looked and moved as one on fire with the joy of life. The Prince, +noticing that Lady Grace had been left to herself for the last +few moments, moved a little towards her and commenced a courteous +conversation. Sir Charles took the opportunity to bend over his +companion. + +"Penelope," he said, "you are queer tonight. Tell me what it is? You +don't really dislike the Prince, do you?" + +"Why, of course not," she answered, looking back into the restaurant and +listening, as though interested in the music. "He is odd, though, isn't +he? He is so serious and, in a way, so convincing. He is like a being +transplanted into an absolutely alien soil. One would like to laugh at +him, and one can't." + +"He is rather an anomaly," Sir Charles said, humming lightly to himself. +"I suppose, compared with us matter-of-fact people, he must seem to your +sex quite a romantic figure." + +"He makes no particular appeal to me at all," Penelope declared. + +Somerfield was suddenly thoughtful. + +"Sometimes, Penelope," he said, "I don't quite understand you, +especially when we speak about the Prince. I have come to the conclusion +that you either like him very much, or you dislike him very much, or you +have some thoughts about him which you tell to no one." + +She lifted her skirts. The carriage had been called. + +"I like your last suggestion," she declared. "You may believe that that +is true." + +On their way out, the Prince was accosted by some friends and remained +talking for several moments. When he entered the omnibus, there seemed +to Penelope, who found herself constantly watching him closely, a +certain added gravity in his demeanor. The drive to the theatre was a +short one, and conversation consisted only of a few disjointed remarks. +In the lobby the Prince laid his hand upon Somerfield's arm. + +"Sir Charles," he said, "if I were you, I would keep that evening paper +in your pocket. Don't let the ladies see it." + +Somerfield looked at him in surprise. + +"What do you mean?" he asked. + +"To me personally it is of no consequence," the Prince answered, "but +your womenfolk feel these things so keenly, and Mr. Vanderpole is of the +same nationality, is he not, as Miss Morse? If you take my advice, you +will be sure that they do not see the paper until after they get home +this evening." + +"Has anything happened to Dicky?" Somerfield asked quickly. + +The Prince's face was impassive; he seemed not to have heard. Penelope +had turned to wait for them. + +"The Duchess thinks that we had better all go into the box," she said. +"We have two stalls as well, but as Dicky is not here there is really +room for five. Will you get some programmes, Sir Charles?" + +Somerfield stopped for a minute, under pretence of seeking some change, +and tore open his paper. The Prince led Penelope down the carpeted way. + +"I heard what you and Sir Charles were saying," she declared quietly. +"Please tell me what it is that has happened to Dicky?" + +The Prince's face was grave. + +"I am sorry," he replied. "I did not know that our voices would travel +so far." + +"It was not yours," she said. "It was Sir Charles'. Tell me quickly what +it is that has happened?" + +"Mr. Vanderpole," the Prince answered, "has met with an accident,--a +somewhat serious one, I fear. Perhaps," he added, "it would be as well, +after all, to break this to the Duchess. I was forgetting the prejudices +of your country. She will doubtless wish that our party should be broken +up." + +Penelope was suddenly very white. He whispered in her ear. + +"Be brave," he said. "It is your part." + +She stood still for a moment, and then moved on. His words had had a +curious effect upon her. The buzzing in her ears had ceased; there was +something to be done--she must do it! She passed into the box, the door +of which the attendant was holding open. + +"Duchess," she said, "I am so sorry, but I am afraid that something has +happened to Dicky. If you do not mind, I am going to ask Sir Charles to +take me home." + +"But my dear child!" the Duchess exclaimed. + +"Miss Morse is quite right," the Prince said quietly. "I think it would +be better for her to leave at once. If you will allow me, I will explain +to you later." + +She left the box without another word, and took Somerfield's arm. + +"We two are to go," she murmured. "The Prince will explain to the +Duchess." + +The Prince closed the box door behind them. He placed a chair for the +Duchess so that she was not in view of the house. + +"A very sad thing has happened," he said quietly. "Mr. Vanderpole met +with an accident in a taxicab this evening. From the latest reports, it +seems that he is dead!" + + + +CHAPTER IX. INSPECTOR JACKS SCORES + +There followed a few days of pleasurable interest to all Englishmen +who travelled in the tube and read their halfpenny papers. A great +and enlightened Press had already solved the problem of creating the +sensational without the aid of facts. This sudden deluge, therefore, of +undoubtedly tragical happenings became almost an embarrassment to +them. Black headlines, notes of exclamation, the use of superlative +adjectives, scarcely met the case. The murder of Mr. Hamilton Fynes was +strange enough. Here was an unknown man, holding a small position in his +own country,--a man apparently without friends or social position. He +travelled over from America, merely a unit amongst the host of other +passengers; yet his first action, on arriving at Liverpool, was to make +use of privileges which belonged to an altogether different class of +person, and culminated in his arrival at Euston in a special train with +a dagger driven through his heart! Here was material enough for a least +a fortnight of sensations and countersensations, of rumored arrests and +strange theories. Yet within the space of twenty-four hours the affair +of Mr. Hamilton Fynes had become a small thing, had shrunk almost into +insignificance by the side of the other still more dramatic, still more +wonderful happening. Somewhere between the Savoy Hotel and Melbourne +Square, Kensington, a young American gentleman of great strength, of +undoubted position, the nephew of a Minister, and himself secretary to +the Ambassador of his country in London, had met with his death in a +still more mysterious, still more amazing fashion. He had left the hotel +in an ordinary taxicab, which had stopped on the way to pick up no +other passenger. He had left the Savoy alone, and he was discovered +in Melbourne Square alone. Yet, somewhere between these two points, +notwithstanding the fact that the aggressor must have entered the cab +either with or without his consent, Mr. Richard Vanderpole, without +a struggle, without any cry sufficiently loud to reach the driver or +attract the attention of any passer-by, had been strangled to death by +a person who had disappeared as though from the face of the earth. The +facts seemed almost unbelievable, and yet they were facts. The driver +of the taxi knew only that three times during the course of his drive he +had been caught in a block and had had to wait for a few seconds--once +at the entrance to Trafalgar Square, again at the junction of Haymarket +and Pall Mall, and, for a third time, opposite the Hyde Park Hotel. At +neither of these halting places had he heard any one enter or leave the +taxi. He had heard no summons from his fare, even though a tube, which +was in perfect working order, was fixed close to the back of his head. +He had known nothing, in fact, until a policeman had stopped him, having +caught a glimpse of the ghastly face inside. There was no evidence which +served to throw a single gleam of light upon the affair. Mr. Vanderpole +had called at the Savoy Hotel upon a travelling American, who had +written to the Embassy asking for some advice as to introducing American +patents into Great Britain and France. He left there to meet his chief, +who was dining down in Kensington, with the intention of returning +at once to join the Duchess of Devenham's theatre party. He was in no +manner of trouble. It was not suggested that any one had any cause for +enmity against him. Yet this attack upon him must have been carefully +planned and carried out by a person of great strength and wonderful +nerve. The newspaper-reading public in London love their thrills, and +they had one here which needed no artificial embellishments from the +pens of those trained in an atmosphere of imagination. The simple truth +was, in itself, horrifying. There was scarcely a man or woman who drove +in a taxicab about the west end of London during the next few days +without a little thrill of emotion. + +The murder of Mr. Richard Vanderpole took place on a Thursday night. +On Monday morning a gentleman of middle age, fashionably but quietly +dressed, wearing a flower in his buttonhole, patent boots, and a +silk hat which he had carefully deposited upon the floor, was sitting +closeted with Miss Penelope Morse. It was obvious that that young lady +did not altogether appreciate the honor done to her by a visit from so +distinguished a person as Inspector Jacks! + +"I am sorry," he said, "that you should find my visit in the least +offensive, Miss Morse. I have approached you, so far as possible, as an +ordinary visitor, and no one connected with your household can have any +idea as to my identity or the nature of my business. I have done this +out of consideration to your feelings. At the same time I have my duty +to perform and it must be done." + +"What I cannot understand," Penelope said coldly, "is why you should +bother me about your duty. When I saw you at the Carlton Hotel, I told +you exactly how much I knew of Mr. Hamilton Fynes." + +"My dear young lady," Inspector Jacks said, "I will not ask for your +sympathy, for I am afraid I should ask in vain; but we are just now, +we people at Scotland Yard, up against one of the most extraordinary +problems which have ever been put before us. We have had two murders +occurring in two days, which have this much, at least, in common--that +they have been the work of so accomplished a criminal that at the +present moment, although I should not like to tell every one as much, we +have not in either case the ghost of a clue." + +"That sounds very stupid of you," Penelope remarked, "but I still ask--" + +"Don't ask for a minute or two," the Inspector interrupted. "I think +I remarked just now that these two crimes had one thing in common, and +that was the fact that they had both been perpetrated by a criminal of +unusual accomplishments. They also have one other point of similitude." + +"What is that?" Penelope asked. + +"The victim in both cases was an American," the Inspector said. + +Penelope sat very still. She felt the steely eyes of the man who had +chosen his seat so carefully, fixed upon her face. + +"You do not connect the two affairs in any way?" she asked. + +"That is what we are asking ourselves," Mr. Jacks continued. "In the +absence of any definite clue, coincidences such as this are always +interesting. In this case, as it happens, we can take them even a little +further. We find that you, for instance, Miss Penelope Morse, a young +American lady, celebrated for her wit and accomplishments, and well +known in London society, were to have lunched with Mr. Hamilton Fynes +on the day when he made his tragical arrival in London; we find too, +curiously enough, that you were one of the party with whom Mr. Richard +Vanderpole was to have dined and gone to the theatre on the night of his +decease." + +Penelope shivered, and half closed her eyes. + +"Don't you think," she said, "that the shock of this coincidence, as +you call it, has been quite sufficient, without having you come here to +remind me of it?" + +"Madam," Mr. Jacks said, "I have not come here to gratify any personal +curiosity. I have come here in the cause of justice. You should find +me a welcome visitor, for both these men who have lost their lives were +friends of yours." + +"I should be very sorry indeed," Penelope answered, "to stand in the +way of justice. No one can hope more fervently than I do that the +perpetrator of these deeds will be found and punished. But what I cannot +understand is your coming here and reopening the subject with me. I tell +you again that I have no possible information for you." + +"Perhaps not," the Inspector declared, "but, on the other hand, there +are certain questions which you can answer me,--answer them, I mean, not +grudgingly and as though in duty bound,--answer them intelligently, and +with some apprehension of the things which lie behind." + +"And what is the thing that lies behind them?" she asked. + +"A theory, madam," the Inspector answered,--"no more. But in this case, +unfortunately, we have not passed the stage of theories. My theory, at +the present moment, is that the murderer of these two men was the same +person." + +"You have evidence to that effect," she said, suddenly surprised to find +that her voice had sunk to a whisper. + +"Very little," Mr. Jacks admitted; "but, you see, in the case of +theories one must build them brick by brick. Then if, after all, as +we reach the end, the foundation was false, well, we must watch them +collapse and start again." + +"Supposing we leave these generalities," Penelope remarked, "and get on +with those questions which you wish to ask me. My aunt, as you may have +heard, is an invalid, and although she seldom leaves her room, this is +one of the afternoons when she sometimes sits here for a short time. I +should not care to have her find you." + +The Inspector leaned back in his chair. It was a very pleasant drawing +room, looking out upon the Park. A little French clock, a masterpiece of +workmanship, was ticking gayly upon the mantelpiece. Two toy Pomeranians +were half hidden in the great rug. The walls were of light blue, soft, +yet full of color, and the carpet, of some plain material, was of the +same shade. The perfume of flowers--the faint sweetness of mimosa and +the sicklier fragrance of hyacinths--seemed almost overwhelming, for the +fire was warm and the windows closed. By the side of Penelope's chair +were a new novel and a couple of illustrated papers, and Mr. Jacks +noticed that although a paper cutter was lying by their side the leaves +of all were uncut. + +"These questions," he said, "may seem to you irrelevant, yet please +answer them if you can. Mr. Hamilton Fynes, for instance,--was he, to +your knowledge, acquainted with Mr. Richard Vanderpole?" + +"I have never heard them speak of one another," Penelope answered. "I +should think it very unlikely." + +"You have no knowledge of any common pursuit or interest in life +which the two men may have shared?" the Inspector asked. "A hobby, for +instance,--a collection of postage stamps, china, any common aim of any +sort?" + +She shook her head. + +"I knew little of Mr. Fynes' tastes. Dicky--I mean Mr. Vanderpole--had +none at all except an enthusiasm for his profession and a love of polo." + +"His profession," the Inspector repeated. "Mr. Vanderpole was attached +to the American Embassy, was he not?" + +"I believe so," Penelope answered. + +"Mr. Hamilton Fynes," the Inspector continued, "might almost have been +said to have followed the same occupation." + +"Surely not!" Penelope objected. "I always understood that Mr. Fynes was +employed in a Government office at Washington,--something to do with the +Customs, I thought, or forest duties." + +Mr. Jacks nodded thoughtfully. + +"I am not aware, as yet," he said, "of the precise nature of Mr. Fynes' +occupation. I only knew that it was, in some shape or form, Government +work." + +"You know as much about it," she answered, "as I do." + +"We have sent," the Inspector continued smoothly, "a special man out +to Washington to make all inquiries that are possible on the spot, and +incidentally, to go through the effects of the deceased, with a view +to tracing any complications in which he may have been involved in this +country." + +Penelope opened her lips, but closed them again. + +"I am not, however," the Inspector continued, "very sanguine of success. +In the case of Mr. Vanderpole, for instance, there could have been +nothing of the sort. He was too young, altogether too much of a boy, +to have had enemies so bitterly disposed towards him. There is another +explanation somewhere, I feel convinced, at the root of the matter." + +"You do not believe, then," asked Penelope, "that robbery was really the +motive?" + +"Not ordinary robbery," Mr. Jacks answered. "A man who was capable of +these two crimes is capable of easier and greater things. I mean," +he explained, "that he could have attempted enterprises of a far more +remunerative character, with a prospect of complete success." + +"Will you forgive me," she said, "if I ask you to go on with your +questions, providing you have any more to ask me? Notwithstanding the +excellence of your disguise," she remarked with a faint curl of the +lips, "I might find it somewhat difficult to explain your presence if my +aunt or any visitors should come in." + +"I am sorry, Miss Morse," the Inspector said quietly, "to find you so +unsympathetic. Had I found you differently disposed, I was going to ask +you to put yourself in my place. I was going to ask you to look at these +two tragedies from my point of view and from your own at the same time, +and I was going to ask you whether any possible motive suggested itself +to you, any possible person or cause, which might be benefited by the +removal of these two men." + +"If you think, Mr. Jacks," Penelope said, "that I am keeping anything +from you, you are very much mistaken. Such sympathy as I have would +certainly be with those who are attempting to bring to justice the +perpetrator of such unmentionable crimes. What I object to is the +unpleasantness of being associated with your inquiries when I am +absolutely unable to give you the least help, or to supply you with any +information which is not equally attainable to you." + +"As, for instance?" the Inspector asked. + +"You are a detective," Penelope said coldly. "You do not need me to +point out certain things to you. Mr. Hamilton Fynes was robbed and +murdered--an American citizen on his way to London. Mr. Richard +Vanderpole is also murdered, after a call upon Mr. James B. Coulson, +the only acquaintance whom Mr. Fynes is known to have possessed in this +country. Did Mr. Fynes share secrets with Mr. Coulson? If so, did Mr. +Coulson pass them on to Mr. Vanderpole, and for that reason did Mr. +Vanderpole meet with the same death, at the same hands, as had befallen +Mr. Fynes?" + +Inspector Jacks moved his head thoughtfully. + +"It is admirably put," he assented, "and to continue?" + +"It is not my place to make suggestions to you," Penelope said. "If you +are able to connect Mr. Fynes with the American Government, you arrive +at the possibility of these murders having been committed for some +political end. I presume you read your newspapers?" + +Inspector Jacks smiled, picked up his hat and bowed, while Penelope, +with a sigh of relief, moved over to the bell. + +"My dear young lady," he said, "you do not understand how important even +the point of view of another person is to a man who is struggling to +build up a theory. Whether you have helped me as much as you could," +he added, looking her in the face, "you only can tell, but you have +certainly helped me a little." + +The footman had entered. The Inspector turned to follow him. Penelope +remained as she had been standing, the hand which had touched the bell +fallen to her side, her eyes fixed upon him with a new light stirring +their quiet depths. + +"One moment, Morton," she said. "Wait outside. Mr. Jacks," she added, as +the door closed, "what do you mean? What can I have told you? How can I +have helped you?" + +The Inspector stood very still for a brief space of time, very still and +very silent. His face, too, was quite expressionless. Yet his tone, when +he spoke, seemed to have taken to itself a note of sternness. + +"If you had chosen," he said slowly, "to have become my ally in this +matter, to have ranged yourself altogether on the side of the law, my +answer would have been ready enough. What you have told me, however, you +have told me against your will and not in actual words. You have told +me in such a way, too," he added, "that it is impossible for me to doubt +your intention to mislead me. I am forced to conclude that we stand +on opposite sides of the way. I shall not trouble you any more, Miss +Morse." + +He turned to the door. Penelope remained motionless for several moments, +listening to his retreating footsteps. + + + +CHAPTER X. MR. COULSON OUTMATCHED + +Mr. James B. Coulson settled down to live what was, to all appearance, +a very inoffensive and ordinary life. He rose a little earlier than was +customary for an Englishman of business of his own standing, but he made +up for this by a somewhat prolonged visit to the barber, a breakfast +which bespoke an unimpaired digestion, and a cigar of more than ordinary +length over his newspaper. At about eleven o'clock he went down to the +city, and returned sometimes to luncheon, sometimes at varying hours, +never later, however, than four or five o'clock. From that time until +seven, he was generally to be found in the American bar, meeting old +friends or making new ones. + +On the sixth day of his stay at the Savoy Hotel the waiter who looked +after the bar smoking room accosted him as he entered at his usual time, +a little after half past four. + +"There's a gentleman here, Mr. Coulson, been asking after you," he +announced. "I told him that you generally came in about this time. +You'll find him sitting over there." + +Mr. Coulson glanced in the direction indicated. It was Mr. Jacks who +awaited him in the cushioned easy chair. For a single moment, perhaps, +his lips tightened and the light of battle flashed in his face. Then +he crossed the room apparently himself again,--an undistinguished, +perfectly natural figure. + +"It's Mr. Jacks, isn't it?" he asked, holding out his hand. "I thought I +recognized you." + +The Inspector rose to his feet. + +"I am sorry to trouble you again, Mr. Coulson," he said, "but if you +could spare me just a minute or two, I should be very much obliged." + +Mr. Coulson laughed pleasantly. + +"You can have all you want of me from now till midnight," he declared. +"My business doesn't take very long, and I can only see the people I +want to see in the middle of the day. After that, I don't mind telling +you that I find time hangs a bit on my hands. Try one of these," he +added, producing a cigar case. + +The Inspector thanked him and helped himself. Mr. Coulson summoned the +waiter. + +"Highball for me," he directed. "What's yours, Mr. Jacks?" + +"Thank you very much," the Inspector said. "I will take a little Scotch +whiskey and soda." + +The two men sat down. The corner was a retired one, and there was no one +within earshot. + +"Say, are you still on this Hamilton Fynes business?" Mr. Coulson asked. + +"Partly," the Inspector replied. + +"You know, I'm not making reflections," Mr. Coulson said, sticking +his cigar in a corner of his mouth and leaning back in a comfortable +attitude, "but it does seem to me that you are none too rapid on this +side in clearing up these matters. Why, a little affair of that sort +wouldn't take the police twenty minutes in New York. We have a big +city, full of alien quarters, full of hiding places, and chock full of +criminals, but our police catch em, all the same. There's no one going +to commit murder in the streets of New York without finding himself in +the Tombs before he's a week older. No offence, Mr. Jacks." + +"I am not taking any, Mr. Coulson," the Inspector answered. "I must +admit that there's a great deal of truth in what you say. It is rather +a reflection upon us that we have not as yet even made an arrest, but I +think you will also admit that the circumstances of those murders were +exceedingly curious." + +Mr. Coulson knocked the ash from his cigar. + +"Well, as to that," he said, "and if we are to judge only by what we +read in the papers, they are curious, without a doubt. But I am not +supposing for one moment that you fellows at Scotland Yard don't know +more than you've let on to the newspapers. You keep your discoveries out +of the Press over here, and a good job, too, but you wouldn't persuade +me that you haven't some very distinct theory as to how that crime was +worked, and the sort of person who did it. Eh, Mr. Jacks?" + +"We are perhaps not quite so ignorant as we seem," the Inspector +answered, "and of course you are right when you say that we have a few +more facts to go by than have appeared in the newspapers. Still, the +affair is an extremely puzzling one,--as puzzling, in its way," Mr. +Jacks continued, "as the murder on the very next evening of this young +American gentleman." + +Mr. Coulson nodded sympathetically. The drinks were brought, and he +raised his glass to his guest. + +"Here's luck!" he said--"luck to you with your game of human chess, and +luck to me with my woollen machinery patents! You were speaking of that +second murder," he remarked, setting down his glass. "I haven't noticed +the papers much this morning. Has any arrest been made yet?" + +"Not yet," the Inspector admitted. "To tell you the truth, we find it +almost as puzzling an affair as the one in which Mr. Hamilton Fynes was +concerned." + +Mr. Coulson nodded. He seemed content, at this stage in their +conversation, to assume the role of listener. + +"You read the particulars of the murder of Mr. Vanderpole, I suppose?" +the Inspector asked. + +"Every word," Mr. Coulson answered. "Most interesting thing I've seen in +an English newspaper since I landed. Didn't sound like London somehow. +Gray old law-abiding place, my partner always calls it." + +"I am going to be quite frank with you, Mr. Coulson," the Inspector +continued. "I am going to tell you exactly why I have come to see you +again tonight." + +"Why, that's good," Mr. Coulson declared. "I like to know everything a +man's got in his mind." + +"I have come to you," the Inspector said, "because, by a somewhat +curious coincidence, I find that, besides your slight acquaintance with +and knowledge of Mr. Hamilton Fynes, you were also acquainted with this +Mr. Richard Vanderpole,--that you were," he continued, knocking the +ash off his cigar and speaking a little more slowly, "the last person, +except the driver of the taxicab, to have seen him alive." + +Mr. Coulson turned slowly around and faced his companion. + +"Now, how the devil do you know that?" he asked. + +The Inspector smiled tolerantly. + +"Well," he said, "that is very simple. The taxicab started from here. +Mr. Vanderpole had been visiting some one in the hotel. There was not +the slightest difficulty in ascertaining that the person for whom he +asked, and with whom he spent some twenty minutes in this very room, was +Mr. James B. Coulson of New York." + +"Seated on this very couch, sir!" Mr. Coulson declared, striking the arm +of it with the flat of his hand,--"seated within a few feet of where you +yourself are at this present moment." + +The Inspector nodded. + +"Naturally," he continued, "when I became aware of so singular an +occurrence, I felt that I must lose no time in coming and having a few +more words with you." + +Mr. Coulson became meditative. + +"Upon my word, when you come to think of it," he said, "it is a +coincidence, sure! Two men murdered within twenty-four hours, and I seem +to have been the last person who knew them, to speak to either. Tell +you what, Mr. Jacks, if this goes on I shall get a bit scared. I think I +shall let the London business alone and go on over to Paris." + +The Inspector smiled. + +"I fancy your nerves," he remarked, "are quite strong enough to bear the +strain. However, I am sure you will not mind telling me exactly why Mr. +Richard Vanderpole, Secretary to the American Embassy here, should have +come to see you on Thursday night." + +"Why, that's easy," Mr. Coulson replied. "You may have heard of my +firm, The Coulson & Bruce Company of Jersey City. I'm at the head of a +syndicate that's controlling some very valuable patents which we want to +exploit on this side and in Paris. Now my people don't exactly know how +we stand under this new patent bill of Mr. Lloyd George's. Accordingly +they wrote across to Mr. Blaine-Harvey, putting the matter to him, and +asking him to give me his opinion the moment I arrived on this side. You +see, it was no use our entering into contracts if we had to build the +plant and make the stuff over here. We didn't stand any earthly show of +making it pay that way. Well, Mr. Harvey cabled out that I was just to +let him know the moment I landed, and before I opened up any business. +Sure enough, I called him up on the telephone, an hour or so after I got +here, and this young man came round. I can tell you he was all right, +too,--a fine, upstanding young fellow, and as bright as they make em. +He brought a written opinion with him as to how the law would affect our +proceedings. I've got it in my room if you'd care to see it?" + +Mr. Jacks listened to his companion's words with unchanged face. + +"If it isn't troubling you," he said, "it would be of some interest to +me." + +Mr. Coulson rose to his feet. + +"You sit right here," he declared. "I'll be back in less than five +minutes." + +Mr. Coulson was as good as his word. In less than the time mentioned he +was seated again by his companion's side with a square sheet of foolscap +spread out upon the round table. The Inspector ran it through hurriedly. +The paper was stamped American Embassy,' and it was the digest of +several opinions as to the effect of the new patent law upon the import +of articles manufactured under processes controlled by the Coulson & +Bruce syndicate. At the end there were a few lines in the Ambassador's +own handwriting, summing up the situation. Mr. Coulson produced another +packet of letters and documents. + +"If you've an hour or so to spare, Mr. Jacks," he said, "I'd like to go +right into this with you, if it would interest you any. It's my business +over here, so naturally I am glad enough of an opportunity to talk it +over." + +Mr. Jacks passed back the paper promptly. + +"I am extremely obliged to you," he said. "I am sure I should find it +most interesting. Another time I should be very glad indeed to look +through those specifications, but just now I have this affair of my +own rather on my mind. About this Mr. Richard Vanderpole, Mr. Coulson, +then," he added. "Do I understand that this young man came to you as a +complete stranger?" + +"Absolutely," Mr. Coulson answered. "I never saw him before in my life. +As decent a young chap as ever I met with, all the same," he went on, +"and comes of a good American stock, too. They tell me there's going to +be an inquest and that I shall be summoned, but I know nothing more than +what I've told you. If I did, you'd be welcome to it." + +Mr. Jacks leaned back in his chair. Certainly the situation increased in +perplexity! The man by his side was talking now of the adaptation of +one of his patents to some existing machinery, and Jacks watched him +covertly. He considered himself, to some extent, a physiognomist. He +told himself it was not possible that this man was playing a part. Mr. +James B. Coulson sat there, the absolute incarnation of the genial man +of affairs, interested in his business, interested in the great subject +of dollar-getting, content with himself and his position,--a person +apparently of little imagination, for the shock of this matter +concerning which they had been talking had already passed away. He was +doing his best to explain with a pencil on the back of an illustrated +paper some new system of wool-bleaching. + +"Mr. Coulson," the Inspector said suddenly, "do you know a young lady +named Miss Penelope Morse?" + +It was here, perhaps, that Mr. Coulson sank a little from the heights of +complete success. He repeated the name, and obviously took time to think +before he answered. + +"Miss Penelope Morse," the Inspector continued. "She is a young American +lady, who lives with an invalid aunt in Park Lane, and who is taken +everywhere by the Duchess of Devenham, another aunt, I believe." + +"I suppose I may say that I am acquainted with her," Mr. Coulson +admitted. "She came here the other evening with a young man--Sir Charles +Somerfield." + +"Ah!" the Inspector murmured. + +"She'd read that interview of mine with the Comet man," Mr. Coulson +said, "and she fancied that perhaps I could tell her something about +Hamilton Fynes." + +"First time you'd met her, I suppose?" the Inspector remarked. + +"Sure!" Mr. Coulson answered. "As a matter of fact, I know very few of +my compatriots over here. I am an American citizen myself, and I haven't +too much sympathy with any one, man or woman, who doesn't find America +good enough for them to live in." + +The Inspector nodded. + +"Quite so," he agreed. "So you hadn't anything to tell this young lady?" + +"Not a thing that she hadn't read in the Comet," Mr. Coulson replied. +"What brought her into your mind, anyway?" + +"Nothing particular," the Inspector answered carelessly. "Well, Mr. +Coulson, I won't take up any more of your time. I am convinced that you +have told me all that you know, and I am afraid that I shall have to +look elsewhere to find the loose end of this little tangle." + +"Stay and have another drink," Mr. Coulson begged. "I've nothing to do. +There are one or two boys coming in later who'll like to meet you." + +The Inspector shook his head. + +"I must be off," he said. "I want to get into my office before six +o'clock. I dare say I shall be running across you again before you go +back." + +He shook hands and turned away. Then Mr. Coulson made what was, perhaps, +his second slight mistake. + +"Say, Mr. Jacks," he exclaimed, "what made you mention that young lady's +name, anyway? I'm curious to know." + +The Inspector looked thoughtfully at the end of the fresh cigar which he +had just lit. + +"Well," he said, "I don't know that there was anything definite in my +mind, only it seems a little strange that you and Miss Penelope Morse +should both have been acquainted with the murdered man and that you +should have come across one another." + +"Sort of bond between us, eh?" Mr. Coulson replied. "She seemed a very +charming young lady. Cut above Fynes, I should think." + +The detective smiled. + +"All your American young ladies who come over here are charming," he +said. "Goodbye, Mr. Coulson, and many thanks!" + +The Inspector passed out, and the man whom he had come to visit, after a +moment's hesitation, resumed his seat. + +"These aren't American methods," he muttered to himself. "I don't +understand them. That man Jacks is either a simpleton or he is too +cunning for me." + +He crossed to a writing table and scribbled an unnecessary note, +addressing it to a firm in the city. Then he rang for a messenger boy +and handed it to him for delivery. A few minutes afterwards he strolled +out into the hall. The boy was in the act of handing the note to one of +the head porters, who carefully copied the address. Mr. Coulson returned +to the smoking room, whistling softly to himself. + + + +CHAPTER XI. A COMMISSION + +Mr. Robert Blaine-Harvey, American Ambassador and Plenipotentiary +Extraordinary to England, was a man of great culture, surprising +personal gifts, and with a diplomatic instinct which amounted almost to +genius. And yet there were times when he was puzzled. For at least half +an hour he had been sitting in his great library, looking across the +Park, and trying to make up his mind on a very important matter. It +seemed to him that he was face to face with what amounted almost to a +crisis in his career. His two years at the Court of St. James had been +pleasant and uneventful enough. The small questions which had presented +themselves for adjustment between the two countries were, after all, of +no particular importance and were easily arranged. The days seemed to +have gone by for that over-strained sensitiveness which was continually +giving rise to senseless bickerings, when every trilling breeze seemed +to fan the smouldering fires of jealousy. The two great English-speaking +nations appeared finally to have realized the absolute folly of +continual disputes between countries whose destiny and ideals were so +completely in accord and whose interests were, in the main, identical. A +period of absolute friendliness had ensued. And now there had come this +little cloud. It was small enough at present, but Mr. Harvey was not the +one to overlook its sinister possibilities. Two citizens of his country +had been barbarously murdered within the space of a few hours, one in +the heart of the most thickly populated capital in the world, and there +was a certain significance attached to this fact which the Ambassador +himself and those others at Washington perfectly well realized. He +glanced once more at the most recent letter on the top of this pile +of correspondence and away again out into the Park. It was a difficult +matter, this. His friends at Washington did not cultivate the art of +obscurity in the words which they used, and it had been suggested to +him in black and white that the murder of these two men, under the +particular circumstances existing, was a matter concerning which he +should speak very plainly indeed to certain August personages. Mr. +Harvey, who was a born diplomatist, understood the difficulties of such +a proceeding a good deal more than those who had propounded it. + +There was a knock at the door, and a footman entered, ushering in a +visitor. + +"The young lady whom you were expecting, sir," he announced discreetly. + +Mr. Harvey rose at once to his feet. + +"My dear Penelope," he said, shaking hands with her, "this is charming +of you." + +Penelope smiled. + +"It seems quite like old times to feel myself at home here once more," +she declared. + +Mr. Harvey did not pursue the subject. He was perfectly well aware +that Penelope, who had been his first wife's greatest friend, had never +altogether forgiven him for his somewhat brief period of mourning. He +drew an easy chair up to the side of his desk and placed a footstool for +her. + +"I should not have sent for you," he said, "but I am really and honestly +in a dilemma. Do you know that, apart from endless cables, Washington +has favored me with one hundred and forty pages of foolscap all about +the events of the week before last?" + +Penelope shivered a little. + +"Poor Dicky!" she murmured, looking away into the fire. "And to think +that it was I who sent him to his death!" + +Mr. Harvey shook his head. + +"No," he said, "I do not think that you need reproach yourself with +that. As a matter of fact, I think that I should have sent Dicky in +any case. He is not so well known as the others, or rather he wasn't +associated so closely with the Embassy, and he was constantly at the +Savoy on his own account. If I had believed that there was any danger in +the enterprise," he continued, "I should still have sent him. He was as +strong as a young Hercules. The hand which twisted that noose around his +neck must have been the hand of a magician with fingers of steel." + +Penelope shivered again. Her face showed signs of distress. + +"I do not think," she said, "that I am a nervous person, but I cannot +bear to think of it even now." + +"Naturally," Mr. Harvey answered. "We were all fond of Dicky, and such a +thing has never happened, so far as I am aware, in any European country. +My own private secretary murdered in broad daylight and with apparent +impunity!" + +"Murdered--and robbed!" she whispered, looking up at him with a white +face. + +The frown on the Ambassador's forehead darkened. + +"Not only that," he declared, "but the secrets of which he was robbed +have gone to the one country interested in the knowledge of them." + +"You are sure of that?" she asked hoarsely. + +"I am sure of it," Mr. Harvey answered. + +Penelope drew a little breath between her teeth. Her thoughts flashed +back to a recent dinner party. The Prince was once more at her side. +Almost she could hear his voice--low, clear, and yet with that note of +inexpressible, convincing finality. She heard him speak of his country +reverently, almost prayerfully; of the sacrifices which true patriotism +must always demand. What had been in his mind, she wondered, at the back +of his inscrutable eyes, gazing, even at that moment, past the banks +of flowers, across the crowded room with all its splendor of light and +color, through the walls,--whither! She brushed the thought away. It was +absurd, incredible! She was allowing herself to be led away by her old +distrust of this man. + +"I remarked just now," Mr. Harvey continued, "that such a thing had +never happened, so far as I was aware, in any European country. My own +words seem to suggest something to me. These methods are not European. +They savor more of the East." + +"I think you had better go on," she said quietly. "There is something in +your mind. I can see that. You have told me so much that you had better +tell me the rest." + +"The contents of those despatches," Mr. Harvey continued, "intrusted +in duplicate, as you have doubtless surmised, to Fynes and to Coulson, +contained an assurance that the sending of our fleet to the Pacific +was in fact, as well as in appearance, an errand of peace. It was a +demonstration, pure and simple. Behind it there may have lain, indeed, +a masterful purpose, the determination of a great country to affirm +her strenuous existence in a manner most likely to impress the nations +unused to seeing her in such a role. It became necessary, in view of +certain suspicions, for me to be able to prove to the Government here +the absolutely pacific nature of our great enterprise. Those despatches +contained such proof. And now listen, Penelope. Before the murder +of poor Dicky Vanderpole, we know for a fact that a great nation who +chooses to consider herself our enemy in Eastern waters was straining +every nerve to prepare for war. Today those preparations have slackened. +A great loan has been withdrawn in Paris, an invitation cabled to our +fleet to visit Yokohama. These things have a plain reading." + +"Plain, indeed," Penelope assented, and she spoke in a low tone because +there was fear in her heart. "Why have you told me about them? They +throw a new light upon everything,--an awful light!" + +"I have known you," the Ambassador said quietly, "since you were a baby. +Every member of your family has been a friend of mine. You come of a +silent race. I know very well that you are a person of discretion. There +are certain small ways in which a government can occasionally be served +by the help of some one outside its diplomatic service altogether, some +one who could not possibly be connected with it. You know this very +well, Penelope, because you have already been of service to us on more +than one occasion." + +"It was a long time ago," she murmured. + +"Not so very long," he reminded her. "But for the first of these +tragedies, Fynes' despatches would have reached me through you. I am +going to ask your help even once more." + +In the somewhat cold spring sunlight which came streaming through the +large window, Penelope seemed a little pallid, as though, indeed, the +fatigue of the season, even in this its earlier stages, were leaving +its mark upon her. There were violet rims under her eyes. A certain +alertness seemed to have deserted her usually piquant face. She sat +listening with the air of one half afraid, who has no hope of hearing +pleasant things. + +"It has been remarked," Mr. Harvey continued, "or rather I may say that +I myself have noticed, that you are on exceedingly friendly terms with +a very distinguished nobleman who is at present visiting this country--I +mean, of course, Prince Maiyo." + +Her eyebrows were slowly elevated. Was that really the impression people +had! Her lips just moved. + +"Well?" she asked. + +"I have met Prince Maiyo myself," Mr. Harvey continued, "and I have +found him a charming representative of his race. I am not going to say a +word against him. If he were an American, we should be proud of him. If +he belonged to any other country, we should accept him at once for what +he appears to be. Unfortunately, however, he belongs to a country +which we have some reason to mistrust. He belongs to a country in whose +national character we have not absolute confidence. For that reason, my +dear Penelope, we mistrust Prince Maiyo." + +"I do not know him so well as you seem to imagine," Penelope said +slowly. "We are not even friends, in the ordinary acceptation of the +word. I am, to some extent, prejudiced against him. Yet I do not believe +that he is capable of a dishonorable action." + +"Nor do I," the Ambassador declared smoothly. "Yet in every country, +almost in every man, the exact standard of dishonor varies. A man will +lie for a woman's sake, and even in the law courts, certainly at +his clubs and amongst his friends, it will be accounted to his +righteousness. A patriot will lie and intrigue for his country's sake. +Now I believe that to Prince Maiyo Japan stands far above the whole +world of womankind. I believe that for her sake he would go to very +great lengths indeed." + +"Go on, please," Penelope murmured. + +"The Prince is over here on some sort of an errand which it isn't our +business to understand," Mr. Harvey said. "I have heard it rumored +that it is a special mission entirely concerned with the renewal of the +treaty between England and Japan. However that may be, I have sat here, +and I have thought, and I have come to this conclusion, ridiculous +though it may seem to you at first. I believe that somewhere behind the +hand which killed and robbed Hamilton Fynes and poor Dicky stood the +benevolent shadow of our friend Prince Maiyo." + +"You have no proof?" she asked breathlessly. + +"No proof at all," the Ambassador admitted. "I am scarcely in a position +to search for any. The conclusion I have come to has been simply arrived +at through putting a few facts together and considering them in the +light of certain events. In the first place, we cannot doubt that the +secret of those despatches reached at once the very people whom we +should have preferred to remain in ignorance of them. Haven't I told +you of the sudden cessation of the war alarm in Japan, when once she +was assured, by means which she could not mistrust, that it was not the +intention of the American nation to make war upon her? The subtlety of +those murders, and the knowledge by which they were inspired, must have +come from some one in an altogether unique position. You may be sure +that no one connected with the Japanese Embassy here would be permitted +for one single second to take part in any such illegal act. They know +better than that, these wily Orientals. They will play the game from +Grosvenor Place right enough. But Prince Maiyo is here, and stands apart +from any accredited institution, although he has the confidence of +his Ambassador and can command the entire devotion of his own secret +service. I have not come to this conclusion hastily. I have thought it +out, step by step, and in my own mind I am now absolutely convinced that +both these murders were inspired by Prince Maiyo." + +"Even if this were so," Penelope said, "what can I do? Why have you sent +for me? The Prince and I are not on especially friendly terms. It is +only just lately that we have been decently civil to one another." + +The Ambassador looked at her with some surprise. + +"My dear Penelope," he said, "I have seen you together the last three or +four evenings. The Prince looks at no one else while you are there. He +talks to you, I know, more freely than to any other woman." + +"It is by chance," Penelope protested. "I have tried to avoid him." + +"Then I cannot congratulate you upon your success," Mr. Harvey said +grimly. + +"Things have changed a little between us, perhaps," Penelope said. "What +is it that you really want?" + +"I want to know this," the Ambassador said slowly. "I want to know how +Japan became assured that America had no intention of going to war with +her. In other words, I want to know whether those papers which were +stolen from Fynes and poor Dicky found their way to the Japanese Embassy +or into the hands of Prince Maiyo himself." + +"Anything else?" she asked with a faint note of sarcasm in her tone. + +"Yes," Mr. Harvey replied, "there is something else. I should like to +know what attitude Prince Maiyo takes towards the proposed renewal of +the treaty between his country and Great Britain." + +She shook her head. + +"Even if we were friends," she said, "the very closest of friends, he +would never tell me. He is far too clever." + +"Do not be too sure," Mr. Harvey said. "Sometimes a man, especially an +Oriental, who does not understand the significance of your sex in these +matters, can be drawn on to speak more freely to a woman than he would +ever dream of doing to his best friend. He would not tell you in as many +words, of course. On the other hand, he might show you what was in his +mind." + +"He is going back very shortly," Penelope remarked. + +Mr. Harvey nodded. + +"That is why I sent for you to come immediately. You will see him +tonight at Devenham House." + +"With all the rest of the world," she answered, "but a man is not likely +to talk confidentially under such conditions." + +Mr. Harvey rose to his feet. + +"It is only a chance, of course," he admitted, "but remember that you +know more than any other person in this country except myself. It would +be impossible for the Prince to give you credit for such knowledge. A +casual remark, a word, perhaps, may be sufficient." + +Penelope held out her hand. The servant for whom the Ambassador had rung +was already in the room. + +"I will try," she promised. "Ask Mrs. Harvey to excuse my going up to +see her this afternoon. I have another call to make, and I want to rest +before the function tonight." + +The Ambassador bowed, and escorted her to the door. + +"I have confidence in you, Penelope," he said. "You will try your best?" + +"Oh, yes!" she answered with a queer little laugh, "I shall do that. But +I don't think that even you quite understand Prince Maiyo!" + + + +CHAPTER XII. PENELOPE INTERVENES + +The perfume of countless roses, the music of the finest band in Europe, +floated through the famous white ballroom of Devenham House. Electric +lights sparkled from the ceiling, through the pillared way the ceaseless +splashing of water from the fountains in the winter garden seemed like +a soft undernote to the murmur of voices, the musical peals of laughter, +the swirl of skirts, and the rhythm of flying feet. + +Penelope stood upon the edge of the ballroom, her hand resting still +upon her partner's arm. She wore a dress of dull rose-color, a soft, +clinging silk, which floated about her as she danced, a creation of +Paquin's, daring but delightful. Her eyes were very full and soft. She +was looking her best, and knew it. Nevertheless, she was just at the +moment, a little _distrait_. She was watching the brilliant scene with a +certain air of abstraction, as though her interest in it was, after all, +an impersonal thing. + +"Jolly well every one looks tonight," her partner, who was Sir Charles, +remarked. "All the women seem to be wearing smart frocks, and some of +those foreign uniforms are gorgeous." + +"Even the Prince," Penelope said thoughtfully, "must find some +reflection of the philosophy of his own country in such a scene as this. +For the last fortnight we have been surfeited with horrors. We have +had to go through all sorts of nameless things," she added, shivering +slightly, "and tonight we dance at Devenham House. We dance, and drink +champagne, and marvel at the flowers, as though we had not a care in the +world, as though life moved always to music." + +Sir Charles frowned a little. + +"The Prince again!" he said, half protesting. "He seems to be a great +deal in your thoughts lately, Penelope." + +"Why not?" she answered. "It is something to meet a person whom one is +able to dislike. Nowadays the whole world is so amiable." + +"I wonder how much you really do dislike him," he said. + +She looked at him with a mysterious smile. + +"Sometimes," she murmured softly, "I wonder that myself." + +"Leaving the Prince out of the question," he continued, "what you say is +true enough. Only a few days ago, you had to attend that awful inquest, +and the last time I saw dear old Dicky Vanderpole, he was looking +forward to this very dance." + +"It seems callous of us to have come," Penelope declared. "And yet, if +we hadn't, what difference would it have made? Every one else would have +been here. Our absence would never have been noticed, and we should have +sat at home and had the blues. But all the same, life is cruel." + +"Can't say I find much to grumble at myself," Sir Charles said +cheerfully. "I'm frightfully sorry about poor old Dicky, of course, and +every other decent fellow who doesn't get his show. But, after all, it's +no good being morbid. Sackcloth and ashes benefit no one. Shall we have +another turn?" + +"Not yet," Penelope replied. "Wait till the crowd thins a little. Tell +me what you have been doing today?" + +"Pretty strenuous time," Sir Charles remarked. "Up at nine, played +golf at Ranelagh all morning, lunched down there, back to my rooms and +changed, called on my tailor, went round to the club, had one game of +billiards and four rubbers of bridge." + +"Is that all?" Penelope asked. + +The faint sarcasm which lurked beneath her question passed unnoticed. +Sir Charles smiled good-humoredly. + +"Not quite," he answered. "I dined at the Carlton with Bellairs and some +men from Woolwich and we had a box at the Empire to see the new ballet. +Jolly good it was, too. Will you come one night, if I get up a party?" + +"Oh, perhaps!" she answered. "Come and dance." + +They passed into the great ballroom, the finest in London, brilliant +with its magnificent decorations of real flowers, its crowd of uniformed +men and beautiful women, its soft yet ever-present throbbing of +wonderful music. At the further end of the room, on a slightly raised +dais, still receiving her guests, stood the Duchess of Devenham. +Penelope gave a little start as they saw who was bowing over her hand. + +"The Prince!" she exclaimed. + +Sir Charles whispered something a little under his breath. + +"I wonder," she remarked with apparent irrelevance, "whether he dances." + +"Shall I go and find out for you?" Sir Charles asked. + +She had suddenly grown absent. She had the air of scarcely hearing what +he said. + +"Let us stop," she said. "I am out of breath." + +He led her toward the winter garden. They sat by a fountain, listening +to the cool play of the water. + +"Penelope," Somerfield said a little awkwardly, "I don't want to +presume, you know, nor to have you think that I am foolishly jealous, +but you have changed towards me the last few weeks, haven't you?" + +"The last few weeks," she answered, "have been enough to change me +toward any one. All the same, I wasn't conscious of anything particular +so far as you are concerned." + +"I always thought," he continued after a moment's hesitation, "that +there was so much prejudice in your country against--against all Asiatic +races." + +She looked at him steadfastly for a minute. + +"So there is," she answered. "What of it?" + +"Nothing, except that it is a prejudice which you do not seem to share," +he remarked. + +"In a way I do share it," she declared, "but there are exceptions, +sometimes very wonderful exceptions." + +"Prince Maiyo, for instance," he said bitterly. "Yet a fortnight ago I +could have sworn that you hated him." + +"I think that I do hate him," Penelope affirmed. "I try to. I want to. +I honestly believe that he deserves my hatred. I have more reason for +feeling this way than you know of, Sir Charles." + +"If he has dared--" Somerfield began. + +"He has dared nothing that he ought not to," Penelope interrupted. "His +manners are altogether too perfect. It is the chill faultlessness of the +man which is so depressing. Can't you understand," she added, speaking +in a tone of greater intensity, "that that is why I hate him? Hush!" + +She gripped his sleeve warningly. There was suddenly the murmur of +voices and the trailing of skirts. A little party seemed to have invaded +the winter garden--a little party of the principal guests. The Duchess +herself came first, and her fingers were resting upon the arm of Prince +Maiyo. She stopped to speak to Penelope, and turned afterwards to +Somerfield. Prince Maiyo held out his hand for Penelope's programme. + +"You will spare me some dances?" he pleaded. "I come late, but it is not +my fault." + +She yielded the programme to him without a word. + +"Those with an X,'" she said, "are free. One has to protect oneself." + +He smiled as he wrote his own name, unrebuked, in four places. + +"Our first dance, then, is number 10," he said. "It is the next but one. +I shall find you here, perhaps?" + +"Here or amongst the chaperons," she answered, as they passed on. + +"You admire Miss Morse?" the Duchess asked him. + +"Greatly," the Prince answered. "She is natural, she has grace, and she +has what I do not find so much in this country--would you say charm?" + +"It is an excellent word," the Duchess answered. "I am inclined to agree +with you. Her aunt, with whom she lives, is a confirmed invalid, so she +is a good deal with me. Her mother was my half-sister." + +The Prince bowed. + +"She will marry, I suppose?" he said. + +"Naturally," the Duchess answered. "Sir Charles, poor fellow, is a +hopeless victim. I should not be surprised if she married him, some day +or other." + +The Prince looked behind for a moment; then he stopped to admire a +magnificent orchid. + +"It will be great good fortune for Sir Charles Somerfield," he said. + +Somerfield scarcely waited until the little party were out of sight. + +"Penelope," he exclaimed, "you've given that man four dances!" + +"I am afraid," she answered, "that I should have given him eight if he +had asked for them." + +He rose to his feet. + +"Will you allow me to take you back to your aunt?" he asked. + +"No!" she answered. "My aunt is quite happy without me, and I should +prefer to remain here." + +He sat down, fuming. + +"Penelope, what do you mean by it?" he demanded. + +"And what do you mean by asking me what I mean by it?" she replied. "You +haven't any especial right that I know of." + +"I wish to Heaven I had!" he answered with a noticeable break in his +voice. + +There was a short silence. She turned away; she felt that she was +suddenly surrounded by a cloud of passion. + +"Penelope," he pleaded,-- + +She stopped him. + +"You must not say another word," she declared. "I mean it,--you must +not." + +"I have waited for some time," he reminded her. + +"All the more reason why you should wait until the right time," she +insisted. "Be patient for a little longer, do. Just now I feel that I +need a friend more than I have ever needed one before. Don't let me lose +the one I value most. In a few weeks' time you shall say whatever you +like, and, at any rate, I will listen to you. Will you be content with +that?" + +"Yes!" he answered. + +She laid her fingers upon his arm. + +"I am dancing this with Captain Wilmot," she said. "Will you come and +bring me back here afterwards, unless you are engaged?" + +The Prince found her alone in the winter garden, for Somerfield, when he +had seen him coming, had stolen away. He came towards her quickly, +with the smooth yet impetuous step which singled him out at once as +un-English. He had the whole room to cross to come to her, and she +watched him all the way. The corners of his lips were already curved in +a slight smile. His eyes were bright, as one who looks upon something +which he greatly desires. Slender though his figure was, his frame was +splendidly knit, and he carried himself as one of the aristocrats of +the world. As he approached, she scanned his face curiously. She became +critical, anxiously but ineffectively. There was not a feature in his +face with which a physiognomist could have found fault. + +"Dear young lady," he said, bowing low, "I come to you very humbly, for +I am afraid that I am a deceiver. I shall rob you of your pleasure, +I fear. I have put my name down for four dances, and, alas! I do not +dance." + +She made room for him by her side. + +"And I," she said, "am weary of dancing. One does nothing else, night +after night. We will talk." + +"Talk or be silent," he answered softly. "Myself I believe that you +are in need of silence. To be silent together is a proof of great +friendship, is it not?" + +She nodded. + +"It seems to me that I have been through so much the last fortnight." +she said. + +"You have suffered where you should not have suffered," he assented +gravely. "I do not like your laws at all. At what they called the +inquest your presence was surely not necessary! You were a woman and had +no place there. You had," he added calmly, "so little to tell." + +"Nothing," she murmured. + +"Life to me just now," he continued, "is so much a matter of comparison. +It is for that, indeed, that I am here. You see, I have lived nearly all +my life in my own country and only a very short time in Europe. Then my +mother was an English lady, and my father a Japanese nobleman. Always +I seem to be pulled two different ways, to be struggling to see things +from two different points of view. But there is one subject in which I +think I am wholly with my own country." + +"And that?" she asked. + +"I do not think," he said, "that the rougher and more strenuous paths of +life were meant to be trodden by your sex. Please do not misunderstand +me," he went on earnestly. "I am not thinking of the paths of literature +and of art, for there the perceptions of your sex are so marvellously +acute that you indeed may often lead where we must follow. I am speaking +of the more material things of life." + +She was suddenly conscious of a shiver which seemed to spread from her +heart throughout her limbs. She sat quite still, gripping her little +lace handkerchief in her fingers. + +"I mean," he continued, "the paths which a man must tread who seeks +to serve his country or his household,--the every-day life in which +sometimes intrigue or force is necessary. Do you agree with me, Miss +Morse?" + +"I suppose so," she faltered. + +"That is why," he added, "it was painful to me to see you stand there +before those men, answering their questions,--men whose walk in life was +different, of an order removed from yours, who should not even have +been permitted to approach you upon bended knees. Do not think that I +am suggesting any fault to you--do not think that I am forcing your +confidence in any way. But these are the thoughts which came to me only +a little time ago." + +She was silent. They listened together to the splashing of the water. +What was the special gift, she wondered, which gave this man such +insight? She felt her heart beating; she was conscious that he was +looking at her. He knew already that it was through her medium that +those despatches which never reached London were to have been handed on +to their destination! He must know that she was to some extent in the +confidence of her country's Ambassador! Perhaps he knew, too, those +other thoughts which were in her mind,--knew that it had been her +deliberate intent to deceive him, to pluck those secrets which he +carried with him, even from his heart! What a fool she had been to +dream, for a moment, of measuring her wits against his! + +He began to speak again, and his voice seemed pitched in lighter key. + +"After all," he said, "you must think it strange of me to be so +egotistical--to speak all the time so much of my likes and dislikes. To +you I have been a little more outspoken than to others." + +"You have found me an interesting subject for investigation perhaps?" +she asked, looking up suddenly. + +"You possess gifts," he admitted calmly, "which one does not find +amongst the womenfolk of my country, nor can I say that I have found +them to any extent amongst the ladies of the English Court." + +"Gifts of which you do not approve when possessed by my sex," she +suggested. + +"You are a law to yourself, Miss Morse," he said. "What one would not +admire in others seems natural enough in you. You have brains and +you have insight. For that reason I have been with you a little +outspoken,--for that reason and another which I think you know of. You +see, my time over here grows nearer to an end with every day. Soon I +must carry away with me, over the seas, all the delightful memories, +the friendships, the affections, which have made this country such a +pleasant place for me." + +"You are going soon?" she asked quickly. + +"Very soon," he answered. "My work is nearly finished, if indeed I may +dignify it by the name of work. Then I must go back." + +She shrank a little away from him, as though the word were distasteful +to her. + +"Do you mean that you will go back for always?" she asked. + +"There are many chances in life," he answered. "I am the servant of the +Emperor and my country." + +"There is no hope, then," she continued, "of your settling down here +altogether?" + +For once the marble immobility of his features seemed disturbed. He +looked at her in honest amazement. + +"Here!" he exclaimed. "But I am a son of Japan!" + +"There are many of your race who do live here," she reminded him. + +He smiled with the air of one who is forced to humor a person of limited +vision. + +"With them it is, alas! a matter of necessity," he said. "It is very +hard indeed to make you understand over here how we feel about such +things,--there seems to be a different spirit amongst you Western races, +a different spirit or a lack of spirit--I do not know which I should +say. But in Japan the love of our country is a passion which seems to +throb with every beat of our hearts. If we leave her, it is for her +good. When we go back, it is our reward." + +"Then you are here now for her good?" she asked. + +"Assuredly," he answered. + +"Tell me in what way?" she begged. "You have been studying English +customs, their methods of education, their political life, perhaps?" + +He turned his head slowly and looked into her eyes. She bore the ordeal +well, but she never forgot it. It seemed to her afterwards that he must +have read every thought which had flashed through her brain. She felt +like a little child in the presence of some mysterious being, thoughts +of whom had haunted her dreams, now visible in bodily shape for the +first time. + +"My dear young lady," he said, "please do not ask me too much, for I +love to speak the truth, and there are many things which I may not tell. +Only you must understand that the country I love--my own country--must +enter soon upon a new phase of her history. We who look into the future +can see the great clouds gathering. Some of us must needs be pioneers, +must go forward a little to learn our safest, and best course. May I +tell you that much?" + +"Of course," she answered softly. + +"And now," he added, leaving his seat as though with reluctance, "the +Duchess reminded me, above all things, that directly I found you I was +to take you to supper. One of your royal princes has been good enough to +signify his desire that we should sit at the same table." + +She rose at once. + +"Does the Duchess know that you are taking me?" she asked. + +"I arranged it with her," he answered. "My time draws soon to an end and +I am to be spoilt a little." + +They crossed the ballroom together and mounted the great stairs. +Something--she never knew quite what it was--prompted her to detain him +as they paused on the threshold of the supper room. + +"You do not often read the papers, Prince," she said. "Perhaps you +have not seen that, after all, the police have discovered a clue to the +Hamilton Fynes murder." + +The Prince looked down upon her for a moment without reply. + +"Yes?" he murmured softly. + +She understood that she was to go on--that he was anxious for her to go +on. + +"Some little doctor in a village near Willington, where the line passes, +has come forward with a story about attending to a wounded man on the +night of the murder," she said. + +He was very silent. It seemed to her that there was something strange +about the immovability of his features. She looked at him wonderingly. +Then it suddenly flashed upon her that this was his way of showing +emotion. Her lips parted. The color seemed drawn from her cheeks. The +majordomo of the Duchess stood before them with a bow. + +"Her Grace desires me to show your Highness to your seats," he +announced. + +Prince Maiyo turned to his companion. + +"Will you allow me to precede you through the crush?" he said. "We are +to go this way." + + + +CHAPTER XIII. EAST AND WEST + +After the supper there were obligations which the Prince, whose sense of +etiquette was always strong, could not avoid. He took Penelope back to +her aunt, reminding her that the next dance but one belonged to him. +Miss Morse, who was an invalid and was making one of her very rare +appearances in Society, watched him curiously as he disappeared. + +"I wonder what they'd think of your new admirer in New York, Penelope," +she remarked. + +"I imagine," Penelope answered, "that they would envy me very much." + +Miss Morse, who was a New Englander of the old-fashioned type, opened +her lips, but something in her niece's face restrained her. + +"Well, at any rate," she said, "I hope we don't go to war with them. +The Admiral wrote me, a few weeks ago, that he saw no hope for anything +else." + +"It would be a terrible complication," the Duchess sighed, "especially +considering our own alliance with Japan. I don't think we need consider +it seriously, however. Over in America you people have too much common +sense." + +"The Government have, very likely," Miss Morse admitted, "but it isn't +always the Government who decide things or who even rule the country. +We have an omnipotent Press, you know. All that's wanted is a weak +President, and Heaven knows where we should be!" + +"Of course," the Duchess remarked, "Prince Maiyo is half an Englishman. +His mother was a Stretton-Wynne. One of the first intermarriages, I +should think. Lord Stretton-Wynne was Ambassador to Japan." + +"I think," said Penelope, "that if you could look into Prince Maiyo's +heart you would not find him half an Englishman. I think that he is more +than seven-eighths a Japanese." + +"I have heard it whispered," the Duchess remarked, leaning forward, +"that he is over here on an exceedingly serious mission. One thing is +quite certain. No one from his country, or from any other country, for +that matter, has ever been so entirely popular amongst us. He has the +most delightful manners of any man I ever knew of any race." + +Sir Charles came up, with gloomy face, to claim a dance. After it was +over, he led Penelope back to her aunt almost in silence. + +"You are dancing again with the Prince?" he asked. + +"Certainly," she answered. "Here he comes." + +The Prince smiled pleasantly at the young man, who towered like a giant +above him, and noticed at once his lack of cordiality. + +"I am selfish!" he exclaimed, pausing with Penelope's hand upon his coat +sleeve. "I am taking you too much away from your friends, and spoiling +your pleasure, perhaps, because I do not dance. Is it not so? It is your +kindness to a stranger, and they do not all appreciate it." + +"We will go into the winter garden and talk it over," she answered, +smiling. + +They found their old seats unoccupied. Once more they sat and listened +to the fall of the water. + +"Prince," said Penelope, "there is one thing I have learned about you +this evening, and that is that you do not love questions. And yet there +is one other which I should like to ask you." + +"If you please," the Prince murmured. + +"You spoke, a little time ago," she continued, "of some great crisis +with which your country might soon come face to face. Might I ask you +this: were you thinking of war with the United States?" + +He looked at her in silence for several moments. + +"Dear Miss Penelope," he said,--"may I call you that? Forgive me if I am +too forward, but I hear so many of our friends--" + +"You may call me that," she interrupted softly. + +"Let me remind you, then, of what we were saying a little time ago," +he went on. "You will not take offence? You will understand, I am sure. +Those things that lie nearest to my heart concerning my country are the +things of which I cannot speak." + +"Not even to me?" she pleaded. "I am so insignificant. Surely I do not +count?" + +"Miss Penelope," he said, "you yourself are a daughter of that country +of which we have been speaking." + +She was silent. + +"You think, then," she asked, "that I put my country before everything +else in the world?" + +"I believe," he answered, "that you would. Your country is too young to +be wholly degenerate. It is true that you are a nation of fused races--a +strange medley of people, but still you are a nation. I believe that in +time of stress you would place your country before everything else." + +"And therefore?" she murmured. + +"And therefore," he continued with a delightful smile, "I shall not +discuss my hopes or fears with you. Or if we do discuss them," he went +on, "let us weave them into a fairy tale. Let us say that you are indeed +the Daughter of All America and that I am the Son of All Japan. You know +what happens in fairyland when two great nations rise up to fight?" + +"Tell me," she begged. + +"Why, the Daughter of All America and the Son of All Japan stand hand +in hand before their people, and as they plight their troth, all bitter +feelings pass away, the shouts of anger cease, and there is no more talk +of war." + +She sighed, and leaned a little towards him. Her eyes were soft and +dusky, her red lips a little parted. + +"But I," she whispered, "am not the Daughter of All America." + +"Nor am I," he answered with a sigh, "the Son of all Japan." + +There was a breathless silence. The water splashed into the basin, the +music came throbbing in through the flower-hung doorways. It seemed to +Penelope that she could almost hear her heart beat. The blood in her +veins was dancing to the one perfect waltz. The moments passed. She +drew a little breath and ventured to look at him. His face was still and +white, as though, indeed, it had been carved out of marble, but the fire +in his eyes was a living thing. + +"We have actually been talking nonsense," she said, "and I thought that +you, Prince, were far too serious." + +"We were talking fairy tales," he answered, "and they are not nonsense. +Do not you ever read the history of your country as it was many hundreds +of years ago, before this ugly thing they call civilization weakened the +sinews of our race and besmirched the very face of duty? Do you not like +to read of the times when life was simpler and more natural, and there +was space for every man to live and grow and stretch out his hands +to the skies,--every man and every woman? They call them, in your +literature, the days of romance. They existed, too, in my country. It +is not nonsense to imagine for a little time that the ages between have +rolled away and that those days are with us?" + +"No," she answered, "it is not nonsense. But if they were?" + +He raised her fingers to his lips and kissed them. The touch of his +hand, the absolute delicacy of the salute itself, made it unlike any +other caress she had ever known or imagined. + +"The world might have been happier for both of us," he whispered. + +Somerfield, sullen and discontented, came and looked at them, moved +away, and then hesitatingly returned. + +"Willmott is waiting for you," he said. "The last was my dance, and this +is his." + +She rose at once and turned to the Prince. + +"I think that we should go back," she said. "Will you take me to my +aunt?" + +"If it must be so," he answered. "Tell me, Miss Penelope," he added, +"may I ask your aunt or the Duchess to bring you one day to my house to +see my treasures? I cannot say how long I shall remain in this country. +I would like you so much to come before I break up my little home." + +"Of course we will," she answered. "My aunt goes nowhere, but the +Duchess will bring me, I am sure. Ask her when I am there, and we can +agree about the day." + +He leaned a little towards her. + +"Tomorrow?" he whispered. + +She nodded. There were three engagements for the next day of which she +took no heed. + +"Tomorrow," she said. "Come and let us arrange it with the Duchess." + +Prince Maiyo left Devenham House to find the stars paling in the +sky, and the light of an April dawn breaking through the black clouds +eastwards. He dismissed his electric brougham with a little wave of +the hand, and turned to walk to his house in St. James's Square. As he +walked, he bared his head. After the long hours of artificially heated +rooms, there was something particularly soothing about the fresh +sweetness of the early spring morning. There was something, it seemed +to him, which reminded him, however faintly, of the mornings in his own +land,--the perfume of the flowers from the window-boxes, perhaps, the +absence of that hideous roar of traffic, or the faint aromatic scent +from the lime trees in the Park, heavy from recent rain. It was the +quietest hour of the twenty-four,--the hour almost of dawn. The night +wayfarers had passed away, the great army of toilers as yet slumbered. +One sad-eyed woman stumbled against him as he walked slowly up +Piccadilly. He lifted his hat with an involuntary gesture, and her laugh +changed into a sob. He turned round, and emptied his pockets of silver +into her hand, hurrying away quickly that his eyes might not dwell upon +her face. + +"A coward always," he murmured to himself, a little wearily, for he knew +where his weakness lay,--an invincible repugnance to the ugly things +of life. As he passed on, however, his spirits rose again. He caught a +breath of lilac scent from a closed florist's shop. He looked up to the +skies, over the housetops, faintly blue, growing clearer every moment. +Almost he fancied that he looked again into the eyes of this strange +girl, recalled her unexpected yet delightful frankness, which to him, +with his love of abstract truth, was, after all, so fascinating. Oh, +there was much to be said for this Western world!--much to be said for +those whose part it was to live in it! Yet, never so much as during +that brief night walk through the silent streets, did he realize how +absolutely unfitted he was to be even a temporary sojourner in this vast +city. What would they say of him if they knew,--of him, a breaker of +their laws, a guest, and yet a sinner against all their conventions; a +guest, and yet one whose hand it was which would strike them, some +day or other, the great blow! What would she think of him? He wondered +whether she would realize the truth, whether she would understand. +Almost as he asked himself the question, he smiled. To him it seemed a +strange proof of the danger in which a weaker man would stand of +passing under the yoke of this hateful Western civilization. To dream of +her--yes! To see her face shining upon him from every beautiful place, +to feel the delight of her presence with every delicious sensation,--the +warmth of the sunlight, the perfume of the blossoms he loved! There was +joy in this, the joy of the artist and the lover. But to find her in his +life, a real person, a daughter of this new world, whose every instinct +would be at war with his--that way lay slavery! He brushed the very +thought from him. + +As he reached the door of his house in St. James' Square, it opened +slowly before him. He had brought his own servants from his own country, +and in their master's absence sleep was not for them. His butler spoke +to him in his own language. The Prince nodded and passed on. On his +study table--a curious note of modernism where everything seemed to +belong to a bygone world--was a cablegram. He tore it open. It consisted +of one word only. He let the thin paper fall fluttering from his +fingers. So the time was fixed! + +Then Soto came gliding noiselessly into the room, fully dressed, with +tireless eyes but wan face,--Soto, the prototype of his master, the most +perfect secretary and servant evolved through all the years. + +"Master," he said, "there has been trouble here. An Englishman came with +this card." + +The Prince took it, and read the name of Inspector Jacks. + +"Well?" he murmured. + +"The man asked questions," Soto continued. "We spoke English so badly +that he was puzzled. He went away, but he will come again." + +The Prince smiled, and laid his hand almost caressingly upon the other's +shoulder. + +"It is of no consequence, Soto," he said,--"no consequence whatever." + + + +CHAPTER XIV. AN ENGAGEMENT + +"Your rooms, Prince, are wonderful," Penelope said to him. "I knew +that you were a man of taste, but I did not know that you were also a +millionaire." + +He laughed softly. + +"In my country," he answered, "there are no millionaires. The money +which we have, however, we spend, perhaps a little differently. But, +indeed, none of my treasures here have cost me anything. They have come +to me through more generations than I should care to reckon up. The +bronze idol, for instance, upon my writing case is four hundred years +old, to my certain knowledge, and my tapestries were woven when in this +country your walls went bare." + +"What I admire more than anything," the Duchess declared, "is your +beautiful violet tone." + +"I am glad," he answered, "that you like my coloring. Some people have +thought it sombre. To me dark colors indoors are restful." + +"Everything about the whole place is restful," Penelope said,--"your +servants with their quaint dresses and slippered feet, your thick +carpets, the smell of those strange burning leaves, and, forgive me if I +say so, your closed windows. I suppose in time I should have a headache. +For a little while it is delicious." + +The Prince sighed. + +"Fresh air is good," he said, "but the air that comes from your streets +does not seem to me to be fresh, nor do I like the roar of your great +city always in my ears. Here I cut myself off, and I feel that I can +think. Duchess, you must try those preserved fruits. They come to me +from my own land. I think that the secret of preserving them is not +known here. You see, they are packed with rose leaves and lemon plant. +There is a golden fig, Miss Penelope,--the fruit of great knowledge, the +magical fruit, too, they say. Eat that and close your eyes and you can +look back and tell us all the wonders of the past. That is to say," he +added with a faint smile, "if the magic works." + +"But the magic never does work," she protested with a little sigh, "and +I am not in the least interested in the past. Tell me something about +the future?" + +"Surely that is easier," he answered. "Over the past we have lost our +control,--what has been must remain to the end of time. The future is +ours to do what we will with." + +"That sounds so reasonable," the Duchess declared, "and it is so +absolutely false. No one can do what they will with the future. It is +the future which does what it will with us." + +The Prince smiled tolerantly. + +"It depends a good deal, does it not," he said, "upon ourselves? Miss +Penelope is the daughter of a country which is still young, which has +all its future before it, and which, has proclaimed to the world its +fixed intention of controlling its own destinies. She, at any rate, +should have imbibed the national spirit. You are looking at my +curtains," he added, turning to Penelope. "Let me show you the figures +upon them, and I will tell you the allegory." + +He led her to the window, and explained to her for some moments the +story of the faded images which represented one chapter out of the +mythology of his country. And then she stopped him. + +"Always," she said, "you and I seem to be talking of things that are +dead and past, or of a future which is out of our reach. Isn't it +possible to speak now and then of the present?" + +"Of the actual present?" he asked softly. "Of this very moment?" + +"Of this very moment, if you will," she answered. "Your fairy tale the +other night was wonderful, but it was a long way off." + +The Prince was summoned away somewhat abruptly to bid farewell to a +little stream of departing guests. Today, more than ever, he seemed to +belong, indeed to the world of real and actual things, for a cousin +of his mother's, a Lady Stretton-Wynne, was helping him receive +his guests--his own aunt, as Penelope told herself more than once, +struggling all the time with a vague incredulity. When he was able to +rejoin her, she was examining a curious little coffer which stood upon +an ivory table. + +"Show me the mystery of this lock," she begged. "I have been trying to +open it ever since you went away. One could imagine that the secrets of +a nation might be hidden here." + +He smiled, and taking the box from her hands, touched a little spring. +Almost at once the lid flew open. + +"I am afraid," he said, "that it is empty." + +She peered in. + +"No," she exclaimed, "there is something there! See!" She thrust in her +hand and drew out a small, curiously shaped dagger of fine blue steel +and a roll of silken cord. She held them up to him. + +"What are these?" she asked. "Are they symbols--the cord and the knife +of destiny?" + +He took them gently from her hand and replaced them in the box. She +heard the lock go with a little click, and looked into his face, +surprised at his silence. + +"Is there anything the matter?" she asked. "Ought I not to have taken +them up?" + +Almost as the words left her lips, she understood. His face was +inscrutable, but his very silence was ominous. She remembered a drawing +in one of the halfpenny papers, the drawing of a dagger found in a +horrible place. She remembered the description of that thin silken cord, +and she began to tremble. + +"I did not know that anything was in the box," he said calmly. "I am +sorry if its contents have alarmed you." + +She scarcely heard his words. The room seemed wheeling round with her, +the floor unsteady beneath her feet. The atmosphere of the place +had suddenly become horrible,--the faint odor of burning leaves, the +pictures, almost like caricatures, which mocked her from the walls, the +grinning idols, the strangely shaped weapons in their cases of black +oak. She faltered as she crossed the room, but recovered herself. + +"Aunt," she said, "if you are ready, I think that we ought to go." + +The Duchess was more than ready. She rose promptly. The Prince walked +with them to the door and handed them over to his majordomo. + +"It has been so nice of you," he said to the Duchess, "to honor my +bachelor abode. I shall often think of your visit." + +"My dear Prince," the Duchess declared, "it has been most interesting. +Really, I found it hard to believe, in that charming room of yours, that +we had not actually been transported to your wonderful country." + +"You are very gracious," the Prince answered, bowing low. + +Penelope's hands were within her muff. She was talking some +nonsense--she scarcely knew what, but her eyes rested everywhere save +on the face of her host. Somehow or other she reached the door, ran down +the steps and threw herself into a corner of the brougham. Then, for +the first time, she allowed herself to look behind. The door was already +closed, but between the curtains which his hands had drawn apart, Prince +Maiyo was standing in the room which they had just quitted, and there +was something in the calm impassivity of his white, stern face which +seemed to madden her. She clenched her hands and looked away. + +"Really, I was not so much bored as I had feared," the Duchess remarked +composedly. "That Stretton-Wynne woman generally gets on my nerves, but +her nephew seemed to have a restraining effect upon her. She didn't tell +me more than once about her husband's bad luck in not getting Canada, +and she never even mentioned her girls. But I do think, Penelope," she +continued, "that I shall have to talk to you a little seriously. There's +the best-looking and richest young bachelor in London dying to marry +you, and you won't have a word to say to him. On the other hand, after +starting by disliking him heartily, you are making yourself almost +conspicuous with this fascinating young Oriental. I admit that he +is delightful, my dear Penelope, but I think you should ask yourself +whether it is quite worth while. Prince Maiyo may take home with him +many Western treasures, but I do not think that he will take home a +wife." + +"If you say another word to me, aunt," Penelope exclaimed, "I shall +shriek!" + +The Duchess, being a woman of tact, laughed the subject away and +pretended not to notice Penelope's real distress. But when they +had reached Devenham House, she went to the telephone and called up +Somerfield. + +"Charlie," she said,-- + +"Right o'!" he interrupted. "Who is it?" + +"Be careful what you are saying," she continued, "because it isn't any +one who wants you to take them out to supper." + +"I only wish you did," he answered. "It's the Duchess, isn't it?" + +"The worst of having a distinctive voice," she sighed. "Listen. I want +to speak to you." + +"I am listening hard," Somerfield answered. "Hold the instrument a +little further away from you,--that's better." + + +"We have been to the Prince's for tea this afternoon--Penelope and I," +she said. + +"I know," he assented. "I was asked, but I didn't see the fun of it. It +puts my back up to see Penelope monopolized by that fellow," he added +gloomily. + +"Well, listen to what I have to say," the Duchess went on. "Something +happened there--I don't know what--to upset Penelope very much. She +never spoke a word coming home, and she has gone straight up to her room +and locked herself in. Somehow or other the Prince managed to offend +her. I am sure of that, Charlie!" + +"I'm beastly sorry," Somerfield answered. "I meant to say that I was +jolly glad to hear it." + +The Duchess coughed. + +"I didn't quite hear what you said before," she said severely. "Perhaps +it is just as well. I rang up to say that you had better come round +and dine with us tonight. You will probably find Penelope in a more +reasonable frame of mind." + +"Awfully good of you," Somerfield declared heartily. "I'll come with +pleasure." + +Dinner at Devenham House that evening was certainly a domestic meal. +Even the Duke was away, attending a political gathering. Penelope was +pale, but otherwise entirely her accustomed self. She talked even +more than usual, and though she spoke of a headache, she declined all +remedies. To Somerfield's surprise, she made not the slightest objection +when he followed her into the library after dinner. + +"Penelope," he said, "something has gone wrong. Won't you tell me what +it is? You look worried." + +She returned his anxious gaze, dry-eyed but speechless. + +"Has that fellow, Prince Maiyo, done or said anything--" + +She interrupted him. + +"No!" she cried. "No! don't mention his name, please! I don't want to +hear his name again just now." + +"For my part," Somerfield said bitterly, "I never want to hear it again +as long as I live!" + +There was a short silence. Suddenly she turned towards him. + +"Charlie," she said, "you have asked me to marry you six times." + +"Seven," he corrected. "I ask you again now--that makes eight." + +"Very well," she answered, "I accept--on one condition." + +"On any," he exclaimed, his voice trembling with joy. "Penelope, it +sounds too good to be true. You can't be in earnest." + +"I am," she declared. "I will marry you if you will see that our +engagement is announced everywhere tomorrow, and that you do not ask +me for anything at all, mind, not even--not anything--for three months' +time, at least. Promise that until then you will not let me hear the +sound of the word marriage?" + +"I promise," he said firmly. "Penelope, you mean it? You mean this +seriously?" + +She gave him her hands and a very sad little smile. + +"I mean it, Charlie," she answered. "I will keep my word." + + + +CHAPTER XV. PENELOPE EXPLAINS + +Once more Penelope found herself in the library of the great house in +Park Lane, where Mr. Blaine-Harvey presided over the interests of his +country. This time she came as an uninvited, even an unexpected guest. +The Ambassador, indeed, had been fetched away by her urgent message +from the reception rooms, where his wife was entertaining a stream of +callers. Penelope refused to sit down. + +"I have not much to say to you, Mr. Harvey," she said. "There is just +something which I have discovered and which you ought to know. I want to +tell it you as quickly as possible and get away." + +"A propos of our last conversation?" he asked eagerly. + +She bowed her head. + +"It concerns Prince Maiyo," she admitted. + +"You are sure that you will not sit down?" he persisted. "You know how +interesting this is to me." + +She smiled faintly. + +"To me," she said, "it is terrible. My only desire is to tell you and +have finished with it. You remember, when I was here last, you told +me that it was your firm belief that somewhere behind the hand which +murdered Hamilton Fynes and poor Dicky stood the shadow of Prince +Maiyo." + +"I remember it perfectly," he answered. + +"You were right," Penelope said. + +The Ambassador drew a little breath. It was staggering, this, even if +expected. + +"I have talked with the Prince several times since our conversation," +Penelope continued. "So far as any information which he gave me or +seemed likely to give me, I might as well have talked in a foreign +language. But in his house, the day before yesterday, in his own +library, hidden in a casket which opened only with a secret lock, I +found two things." + +"What were they?" the Ambassador asked quickly. + +"A roll of silken cord," Penelope said, "such as was used to strangle +poor Dicky, and a strangely shaped dagger exactly like the picture of +the one with which Hamilton Fynes was stabbed." + +"Did he know that you found them?" Mr. Blaine-Harvey asked. + +"He was with me," Penelope answered. "He even, at my request, opened the +casket. He must have forgotten that they were there." + +"Perhaps," the Ambassador said thoughtfully, "he never knew." + +"One cannot tell," Penelope answered. + +"Did he say anything when you discovered them?" the Ambassador asked. + +"Nothing," Penelope declared. "It was not necessary. I saw his face. He +knows that I understand. It may have been some one else connected with +the house, of course, but the main fact is beyond all doubt. Those +murders were instigated, if they were not committed, by the Prince." + +The Ambassador walked to the window and back again. + +"Penelope," he said, "you have only confirmed what I felt must be so, +but even then the certainty of it is rather a shock." + +She gave him her hand. + +"I have told you the truth," she said. "Make what use of it you will. +There is one other thing, perhaps, which I ought to tell you. The Prince +is going back to his own country very shortly." + +Mr. Harvey nodded. + +"I have just been given to understand as much," he said. "At present he +is to be met with every day. I believe that he is even now in my drawing +rooms." + +"Where I ought to be," Penelope said, turning toward the door, "only I +felt that I must see you first." + +"I will not come with you," Mr. Harvey said. "There is no need for our +little conference to become the subject of comment. By the bye," he +added, "let me take this opportunity of wishing you every happiness. I +haven't seen Somerfield yet, but he is a lucky fellow. As an American, +however, I cannot help grudging another of our most popular daughters to +even the best of Englishmen." + +Penelope's smile was a little forced. + +"Thank you very much," she said. "It is all rather in the air, at +present, you know. We are not going to be married for some time." + +"When it comes off," the Ambassador said, "I am going to talk to the +Duchess and Miss Morse. I think that I ought to give you away." + +Penelope made her way into Mrs. Blaine-Harvey's reception rooms, crowded +with a stream of guests, who were sitting about, drinking tea and +listening to the music, passing in and out all the time. Curiously +enough, almost the first person whom she saw was the Prince. He detached +himself from a little group and came at once towards her. He took her +hand in his and for a moment said nothing. Notwithstanding the hours of +strenuous consideration, the hours which she had devoted to anticipating +and preparing for this meeting, she felt her courage suddenly leaving +her, a sinking at the knees, a wild desire to escape, at any cost. The +color which had been so long denied her streamed into her cheeks. There +was something baffling, yet curiously disturbing, in the manner of his +greeting. + +"Is it true?" he asked. + +She did not pretend to misunderstand him. It was amazing that he should +ignore that other tragical incident, that he should think of nothing but +this! Yet, in a way, she accepted it as a natural thing. + +"It is true that I am engaged to Sir Charles Somerfield," she answered. + +"I must wish you every happiness," he said slowly. "Indeed, that wish +comes from my heart, and I think that you know it. As for Sir Charles +Somerfield, I cannot imagine that he has anything left in the world to +wish for." + +"You are a born courtier, Prince," she murmured. "Please remember that +in my democratic country one has never had a chance of getting used to +such speeches." + +"Your country," he remarked, "prides itself upon being the country +where truth prevails. If so, you should have become accustomed by now +to hearing pleasant things about yourself. So you are going to marry Sir +Charles Somerfield!" + +"Why do you say that over to yourself so doubtfully?" she asked. "You +know who he is, do you not? He is rich, of old family, popular with +everybody, a great sportsman, a mighty hunter. These are the things +which go to the making of a man, are they not?" + +"Beyond a doubt," the Prince answered gravely. "They go to the making of +a man. It is as you say." + +"You like him personally, don't you?" she asked. + +"Sir Charles Somerfield and I are almost strangers," the Prince replied. +"I have not seen much of him, and he has so many tastes which I cannot +share that it is hard for us to come very near together. But if you have +chosen him, it is sufficient. I am quite sure that he is all that a man +should be." + +"Tell me in what respect your tastes are so far apart?" she asked. "You +say that as though there were something in the manner of his life of +which you disapproved." + +"We are sons of different countries, Miss Penelope," the Prince said. +"We look out upon life differently, and the things which seem good +to him may well seem idle to me. Before I go," he added a little +hesitatingly, "we may speak of this again. But not now." + +"I shall remind you of that promise, Prince," she declared. + +"I will not fail to keep it," he replied. "You have, at least," he added +after a moment's pause, "one great claim upon happiness. You are the son +and the daughter of kindred races." + +She looked at him as though not quite understanding. + +"I was thinking," he continued simply, "of my own father and mother. My +father was a Japanese nobleman, with the home call of all the centuries +strong in his blood. He was an enlightened man, but he saw nothing in +the manner of living or the ideals of other countries to compare with +those of the country of his own birth. I sometimes think that my mother +and father might have been happier had one of them been a little more +disposed to yield to the other I think, perhaps, that their union would +have been a more successful one. They were married, and they lived +together, but they lived apart." + +"It was not well for you, this," she remarked. + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"Do not mistake me," he begged. "So far as I am concerned, I am content. +I am Japanese. The English blood that is in my veins is but as a drop +of water compared to the call of my own country. And yet there are some +things which have come to me from my mother--things which come most to +the surface when I am in this, her own country--which make life at times +a little sad. Forgive me if I have been led on to speak too much +of myself. Today one should think of nothing but of you and of your +happiness." + +He turned to accept the greeting of an older woman who had lingered +for a moment, in passing, evidently anxious to speak to him. Penelope +watched his kindly air, listened to the courteous words which flowed +from his lips, the interest in his manner, which his whole bearing +denoted, notwithstanding the fact that the woman was elderly and +plain, and had outlived the friends of her day and received but scanty +consideration from the present generation. It was typical of him, too, +she realized. It was never to the great women of the world that he +unbent most thoroughly. Gray hairs seemed to inspire his respect, to +command his attentions in a way that youth and beauty utterly failed to +do. These things seemed suddenly clear to Penelope as she stood there +watching him. A hundred little acts of graceful kindness, which she had +noticed and admired, returned to her memory. It was this man whom she +had lifted her hand to betray! It was this man who was to be accounted +guilty, even of crime! There came a sudden revulsion of feeling. The +whole mechanical outlook upon life, as she had known it, seemed, even in +those few seconds, to become a false and meretricious thing. Whatever +he had done or countenanced was right. She had betrayed his hospitality. +She had committed an infamous breach of trust. An overwhelming desire +came over her to tell him everything. She took a quick step forward and +found herself face to face with Somerfield. The Prince was buttonholed +by some friends and led away. The moment had passed. + +"Come and talk to the Duchess," Somerfield said. "She has something +delightful to propose." + + + +CHAPTER XVI. CONCERNING PRINCE MAIYO + +The Duchess looked up from her writing table and nodded to her husband, +who had just entered. + +"Good morning, Ambrose!" she said. "Do you want to talk to me?" + +"If you can spare me five minutes," the Duke suggested. "I don't think +that I need keep you longer." + +The Duchess handed her notebook to her secretary, who hastened from the +room. The Duke seated himself in her vacant chair. + +"About our little party down in Hampshire next week," he began. + +"I am waiting to hear from you before I send out any invitations," the +Duchess answered. + +"Quite so," the Duke assented. "To tell you the truth, I don't want +anything in the nature of a house party. What I should really like would +be to get Maiyo there almost to ourselves." + +His wife looked at him in some surprise. + +"You seem particularly anxious to make things pleasant for this young +man," she remarked. "If he were the son of the Emperor himself, no one +could do more for him than you people have been doing these last few +weeks." + +The Duke of Devenham, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, whose wife +entertained for his party, and whose immense income, derived mostly from +her American relations, was always at its disposal, was a person almost +as important in the councils of his country as the Prime Minister +himself. It sometimes occurred to him that the person who most signally +failed to realize this fact was the lady who did him the honor to +preside over his household. + +"My dear Margaret," he said, "you can take my word for it that we know +what we are about. It is very important indeed that we should keep on +friendly terms with this young man,--I don't mean as a personal matter. +It's a matter of politics--perhaps of something greater, even, than +that." + +The Duchess liked to understand everything, and her husband's reticence +annoyed her. + +"But we have the Japanese Ambassador always with us," she remarked. "A +most delightful person I call the Baron Hesho, and I am sure he loves us +all." + +"That is not exactly the point, my dear," the Duke explained. "Prince +Maiyo is over here on a special mission. We ourselves have only been +able to surmise its object with the aid of our secret service in Tokio. +You can rest assured of one thing, however. It is of vast importance to +the interests of this country that we secure his goodwill." + +The Duchess smiled good humoredly. + +"Well, my dear Ambrose," she said, "I don't know what more we can do +than feed him properly and give him pleasant people to talk to. He +doesn't go in for sports, does he? All I can promise is that we will do +our best to be agreeable to him." + +"I am sure of it, my dear," the Duke said. "You haven't committed +yourself to asking any one, by the bye?" + +"Not a soul," his wife answered, "except Sir Charles. I had to ask him, +of course, for Penelope." + +"Naturally," the Duke assented. "I am glad Penelope will be there. I +only wish that she were English instead of American, and that Maiyo +would take a serious fancy to her." + +"Perhaps," the Duchess said dryly, "you would like him to take a fancy +to Grace?" + +"I shouldn't mind in the least," her husband declared. "I never met a +young man whom I respected and admired more." + +"Nor I, for that matter," the Duchess agreed. "And yet, somehow or +other--" + +"Somehow or other?" the Duke repeated courteously. + +"Well, I never altogether trust these paragons," his wife said. "In all +the ordinary affairs of life the Prince seems to reach an almost perfect +standard. I sometimes wonder whether he would be as trustworthy in the +big things. Nothing else you want to talk about, Ambrose?" + +"Nothing at all," the Duke said, rising to his feet. "I only wanted to +make it plain that we don't require a house party next week." + +"I shan't ask a soul," the Duchess answered. "Do you mind ringing the +bell as you pass? I'll have Miss Smith back again and send these letters +off." + +"Good!" the Duke declared. "I'm going down to the House, but I don't +suppose there'll be anything doing. By the bye, we shall have to be a +little feudal next week. Japan is a country of many ceremonies, and, +after all, Maiyo is one of the Royal Family. I have written Perkins, to +stir him up a little." + +The Duke drove down to the House, but called first in Downing Street. He +found the Prime Minister anxious to see him. + +"You've arranged about Maiyo coming down to you next week?" he asked. + +"That's all right," the Duke answered. "He is coming, for certain. One +good thing about that young man--he never breaks an engagement." + +The Prime Minister consulted a calendar which lay open before him. + +"Do you mind," he asked, "if I come, too, and Bransome?" + +"Why, of course not," the Duke replied. "We shall be delighted. We have +seventy bedrooms, and only half a dozen or so of us. But tell me--is +this young man as important as all that?" + +"We shall have to have a serious talk," the Prime Minister said, "in a +few days' time. I don't think that even you grasp the exact position of +affairs as they stand today. Just now I am bothered to death about other +things. Heseltine has just been in from the Home Office. He is simply +inundated with correspondence from America about those two murders." + +The Duke nodded. + +"It's an odd thing," he remarked, "that they should both have been +Americans." + +"Heseltine thinks there's something behind this correspondence," the +Prime Minister said slowly. "Washington was very secretive about the man +Fynes' identity. I found that out from Scotland Yard. Do you know, I'm +half inclined to think, although I can't get a word out of Harvey, that +this man Fynes--" + +The Prime Minister hesitated. + +"Well?" the Duke asked a little impatiently. + +"I don't want to go too far," his chief said. "I am making some fresh +inquiries, and I am hoping to get at the bottom of the matter very +shortly. One thing is very certain, though, and that is that no two +murders have ever been committed in this city with more cold-blooded +deliberation, and with more of what I should call diabolical cleverness. +Take the affair of poor young Vanderpole, for instance. The person who +entered his taxi and killed him must have done so while the vehicle was +standing in the middle of the road at one of the three blocks. Not +only that, but he must have been a friend, or some one posing as a +friend--some one, at any rate, of his own order. Vanderpole was over six +feet high, and as muscular as a young bull. He could have thrown any one +out into the street who had attempted to assault him openly." + +"It is the most remarkable case I ever heard of in my life," the Duke +admitted, helping himself to a cigarette from a box which he had just +discovered. + +"There is another point," the Prime Minister continued. "There are +features in common about both these murders. Not only were they both the +work of a most accomplished criminal, but he must have been possessed of +an iron nerve and amazing strength. The dagger by which Hamilton Fynes +was stabbed was driven through the middle of his heart. The cord with +which Vanderpole was strangled must have been turned by a wrist +of steel. No time for a word afterwards, mind, or before. It was a +wonderful feat. I am not surprised that the Americans can't understand +it." + +"They don't suggest, I suppose," the Duke asked, "that we are not trying +to clear the matter up?" + +"They don't suggest it," his chief answered, "but I can't quite make +out what's at the back of their heads. However, I won't bother you about +that now. If I were to propound Heseltine's theory to you, you would +think that he had been reading the works of some of our enterprising +young novelists. Things will have cleared up, I dare say, by next week. +I am coming round to the House for a moment if you're not in a hurry." + +The Duke assented, and waited while the secretary locked up the papers +which the Prime Minister had been examining, and prepared others to be +carried into the House. The two men left the place together, and the +Duke pointed toward his brougham. + +"Do you mind walking?" the Prime Minister said. "There is another matter +I'd like to talk to you about, and there's nowhere better than the +streets for a little conversation. Besides, I need the air." + +"With pleasure," the Duke answered, who loathed walking. + +He directed his coachman to precede them, and they started off, arm in +arm. + +"Devenham," the Prime Minister said, "we were speaking, a few minutes +ago, of Prince Maiyo. I want you to understand this, that upon that +young man depends entirely the success or failure of my administration." + +"You are serious?" the Duke exclaimed. + +"Absolutely," the Prime Minister answered. "I know quite well what he +is here for. He is here to make up his mind whether it will pay Japan to +renew her treaty with us, or whether it would be more to her advantage +to enter into an alliance with any other European power. He has been to +most of the capitals in Europe. He has been here with us. By this time +he has made up his mind. He knows quite well what his report will be. +Yet you can't get a word out of him. He is a delightful young fellow, +I know, but he is as clever as any trained diplomatist I have ever come +across. I've had him to dine with me alone, and I've done all that I +could to make him talk. When he went away, I knew just exactly as much +as I did before he came." + +"He seems pleased enough with us," the Duke remarked. + +"I am not so sure," the Prime Minister answered. "He has travelled about +a good deal in England. I heard of him in Manchester and Sheffield, +Newcastle and Leicester, absolutely unattended. I wonder what he was +doing there." + +"From my experience of him," the Duke said, "I don't think we shall know +until he chooses to tell us." + +"I am afraid you are right," the Prime Minister declared. "At the same +time you might just drop a hint to your wife, and to that remarkably +clever young niece of hers, Miss Penelope Morse. Of course, I don't +expect that he would unbosom himself to any one, but, to tell you +the truth, as we are situated now, the faintest hint as regards his +inclinations, or lack of inclinations, towards certain things would +be of immense service. If he criticised any of our institutions, for +instance, his remarks would be most interesting. Then he has been +spending several months in various capitals. He would not be likely to +tell any one his whole impressions of those few months, but a phrase, +a word, even a gesture, to a clever woman might mean a great deal. It +might also mean a great deal to us." + +"I'll mention it," the Duke promised, "but I am afraid my womenfolk are +scarcely up to this sort of thing. The best plan would be to tackle him +ourselves down at Devenham." + +"I thought of that," the Prime Minister assented. "That is why I am +coming down myself and bringing Bransome. If he will have nothing to say +to us within a week or so of his departure, we shall know what to think. +Remember my words, Devenham,--when our chronicler dips his pen into the +ink and writes of our government, our foreign policy, at least, will +be judged by our position in the far East. Exactly what that will be +depends upon Prince Maiyo. With a renewal of our treaty we could go to +the country tomorrow. Without it, especially if the refusal should come +from them, there will be some very ugly writing across the page." + +The Duke threw away his cigarette. + +"Well," he said, "we can only do our best. The young man seems friendly +enough." + +The Prime Minister nodded. + +"It is precisely his friendliness which I fear," he said. + + + +CHAPTER XVII. A GAY NIGHT IN PARIS + +Mr. James B. Coulson was almost as much at home at the Grand Hotel, +Paris, as he had been at the Savoy in London. His headquarters were at +the American Bar, where he approved of the cocktails, patronized the +highballs, and continually met fellow-countrymen with whom he gossiped +and visited various places of amusement. His business during the daytime +he kept to himself, but he certainly was possessed of a bagful of +documents and drawings relating to sundry patents connected with the +manufacture of woollen goods, the praises of which he was always ready +to sing in a most enthusiastic fashion. + +Mr. Coulson was not a man whose acquaintance it was difficult to make. +From five to seven every afternoon, scorning the attractions of the +band outside and the generally festive air which pervaded the great +tea rooms, he sat at the corner of the bar upon an article of furniture +which resembled more than anything else an office stool, dividing his +attention between desultory conversation with any other gentleman who +might be indulging in a drink, and watching the billiards in which some +of his compatriots were usually competing. It was not, so far as one +might judge, a strenuous life which Mr. Coulson was leading. He had been +known once or twice to yawn, and he had somewhat the appearance of a man +engaged in an earnest but at times not altogether successful attempt to +kill time. Perhaps for that reason he made acquaintances with a little +more than his customary freedom. There was a young Englishman, for +instance, whose name, it appeared, was Gaynsforth, with whom, after a +drink or two at the bar, he speedily became on almost intimate terms. + +Mr. Gaynsforth was a young man, apparently of good breeding and some +means. He was well dressed, of cheerful disposition, knew something +about the woollen trade, and appeared to take a distinct liking to his +new friend. The two men, after having talked business together for some +time, arranged to dine together and have what they called a gay evening. +They retired to their various apartments to change, Mr. Gaynsforth +perfectly well satisfied with his progress, Mr. James B. Coulson with a +broad grin upon his face. + +After a very excellent dinner, for which Mr. Gaynsforth insisted upon +paying, they went to the Folies Bergeres, where the Englishman developed +a thirst which, considering the coolness of the evening, was nothing +short of amazing. Mr. Coulson, however, kept pace with him steadily, and +toward midnight their acquaintance had steadily progressed until they +were certainly on friendly if not affectionate terms. A round of the +supper places, proposed by the Englishman, was assented to by Mr. +Coulson with enthusiasm. About three o'clock in the morning Mr. Coulson +had the appearance of a man for whom the troubles of this world are +over, and who was realizing the ecstatic bliss of a temporary Nirvana. +Mr. Gaynsforth, on the other hand, although half an hour ago he had been +boisterous and unsteady, seemed suddenly to have become once more the +quiet, discreet-looking young Englishman who had first bowed to Mr. +Coulson in the bar of the Grand Hotel and accepted with some diffidence +his offer of a drink. To prevent his friend being jostled by the +somewhat mixed crowd in which they then were, Mr. Gaynsforth drew nearer +and nearer to him. He even let his hand stray over his person, as though +to be sure that he was not carrying too much in his pockets. + +"Say, old man," he whispered in his ear,--they were sitting side by side +now in the Bal Tabarin,--"if you are going on like this, Heaven knows +where you'll land at the end of it all! I'll look after you as well as +I can,--where you go, I'll go--but we can't be together every second +of the time. Don't you think you'd be safer if you handed over your +pocketbook to me?" + +"Right you are!" Mr. Coulson declared, falling a little over on one +side. "Take it out of my pocket. Be careful of it now. There's five +hundred francs there, and the plans of a loom which I wouldn't sell for +a good many thousands." + +Mr. Gaynsforth possessed himself quickly of the pocketbook, and +satisfied himself that his friend's description of its contents was +fairly correct. + +"You've nothing else upon you worth taking care of?" he whispered. "You +can trust me, you know. You haven't any papers, or anything of that +sort?" + +Then Mr. James B. Coulson, who was getting tired of his part, suddenly +sat up, and a soberer man had never occupied that particular chair in +the Bal Tabarin. + +"And if I have, my young friend," he said calmly, "what the devil +business is it of yours?" + +Mr. Gaynsforth was taken aback and showed it. He recovered himself as +quickly as possible, and realized that he had been living in a fool's +paradise so far as the condition of his companion was concerned. He +realized, also, that the first move in the game between them had been +made and that he had lost. + +"You are too good an actor for me, Mr. Coulson," he said. "Suppose we +get to business." + +"That's all right," Mr. Coulson answered. "Let's go somewhere where we +can get some supper. We'll go to the Abbaye Theleme, and you shall have +the pleasure of entertaining me." + +Mr. Gaynsforth handed back the pocketbook and led the way out of the +place without a word. It was only a few steps up the hill, and they +found themselves then in a supper place of a very different class. +Here Mr. Coulson, after a brief visit to the lavatory, during which he +obliterated all traces of his recent condition, seated himself at one of +the small flower-decked tables and offered the menu to his new friend. + +"It's up to you to pay," he said, "so you shall choose the supper. +Personally, I'm for a few oysters, a hot bird, and a cold bottle." + +Mr. Gaynsforth, who was still somewhat subdued, commanded the best +supper procurable on these lines. Mr. Coulson, having waved his hand to +a few acquaintances and chaffed the Spanish dancing girls in their own +language,--not a little to his companion's astonishment,--at last turned +to business. + +"Come," he said, "you and I ought to understand one another. You are +over here from London either to pump me or to rob me. You are either a +detective or a political spy or a secret service agent of some sort, or +you are on a lay of your own. Now, put it in a business form, what can I +do for you? Make your offer, and let's see where we are." + +Mr. Gaynsforth began to recover himself. It did not follow, because he +had made one mistake, that he was to lose the game. + +"I am neither a detective, Mr. Coulson," he said, "nor a secret service +agent,--in fact, I am nothing of that sort at all. I have a friend, +however, who for certain reasons does not care to approach you himself, +but who is nevertheless very much interested in a particular event, or +rather incident, in which you are concerned." + +"Good!" Mr. Coulson declared. "Get right on." + +"That friend," Mr. Gaynsforth continued calmly, "is prepared to pay a +thousand pounds for full information and proof as to the nature of those +papers which were stolen from Mr. Hamilton Fynes on the night of March +22nd." + +"A thousand pounds," Mr. Coulson repeated. "Gee whiz!" + +"He is also," the Englishman continued, "prepared to pay another +thousand for a satisfactory explanation of the murder of Mr. Richard +Vanderpole on the following day." + +"Say, your friend's got the stuff!" Mr. Coulson remarked admiringly. + +"My friend is not a poor man," Mr. Gaynsforth admitted. "You see, +there's a sort of feeling abroad that these two things are connected. +I am not working on behalf of the police. I am not working on behalf of +any one who desires the least publicity. But I am working for some one +who wants to know and is prepared to pay." + +"That's a very interesting job you're on, and no mistake," Mr. Coulson +declared. "I wonder you waste time coming over here on the spree when +you've got a piece of business like that to look after." + +"I came over here," Mr. Gaynsforth replied, "entirely on the matter I +have mentioned to you." + +"What, over here to Paris?" Mr. Coulson exclaimed. + +"Not only to Paris," the other replied dryly, "but to discover one Mr. +James B. Coulson, whose health I now have the pleasure of drinking." + +Mr. Coulson drained the glass which the waiter had just filled. + +"Well, this licks me!" he exclaimed. "How any one in their senses could +believe that there was any connection between me and Hamilton Fynes or +that other young swell, I can't imagine." + +"You knew Hamilton Fynes," Mr. Gaynsforth remarked. "That fact came out +at the inquest. You appeared to have known him better than most men. Mr. +Vanderpole had just left you when he was murdered,--that also came out +at the inquest." + +"Kind of queer, wasn't it," Mr. Coulson remarked meditatively, "how I +seemed to get hung up with both of them? You may also remember that at +the inquest Mr. Vanderpole's business with me was testified to by the +chief of his department." + +"Certainly," Mr. Gaynsforth answered. "However, that's neither here nor +there. Everything was properly arranged, so far as you were concerned, +of course. That doesn't alter my friend's convictions. This is a +business matter with me, and if the two thousand pounds don't sound +attractive enough, well, the amount must be revised, that's all. But +I want you to understand this, Mr. Coulson, I represent a man or a +syndicate, or call it what you will." + +"Call it a Government," Mr. Coulson muttered under his breath. + +"Call it what you will," Mr. Gaynsforth continued, with an air of +not having heard the interruption, "we have the money and we want the +information. You can give it to us if you like. We don't ask for too +much. We don't even ask for the name of the man who committed these +crimes. But we do want to know the nature of those papers, exactly +what position Mr. Hamilton Fynes occupied in the Stamp and Excise Duty +department at Washington, and, finally, what the mischief you are doing +over here in Paris." + +"Have you ordered the supper?" Mr. Coulson inquired anxiously. + +"I have ordered everything you suggested," Mr. Gaynsforth +answered,--"some oysters, a chicken en casserole, lettuce salad, some +cheese, and a magnum of Pommery." + +"It is understood that you are my host?" Mr. Coulson insisted. + +"Absolutely," his companion declared. "I consider it an honor." + +"Then," Mr. Coulson said, pointing out his empty glass to the +_sommelier_, "we may as well understand one another. To you I am Mr. +James B. Coulson, travelling in patents for woollen machinery. If you +put a quarter of a million of francs upon that table, I am still Mr. +James B. Coulson, travelling in woollen machinery. And if you add a +million to that, and pile up the notes so high that they touch the +ceiling, I remain Mr. James B. Coulson, travelling in patents for +woollen machinery. Now, if you'll get that firmly into your head and +stick to it and believe it, there's no reason why you and I shouldn't +have a pleasant evening." + +Mr. Gaynsforth, although he was an Englishman and young, showed himself +to be possessed of a sense of humor. He leaned back in his seat and +roared with laughter. + +"Mr. Coulson," he said, "I congratulate you and your employers. To the +lower regions with business! Help yourself to the oysters and pass the +wine." + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. MR. COULSON IS INDISCREET + +On the following morning Mr. Coulson received what he termed his mail +from America. Locked in his room on the fifth floor of the hotel, he +carefully perused the contents of several letters. A little later he +rang and ordered his bill. At four o'clock he left the Gare du Nord for +London. + +Like many other great men, Mr. Coulson was not without his weakness. He +was brave, shrewd, and far-seeing. He enjoyed excellent health, and he +scarcely knew the meaning of the word nerves. Nevertheless he suffered +from seasickness. The first thing he did, therefore, when aboard the +boat at Boulogne, was to bespeak a private cabin. The steward to whom he +made his application shook his head with regret. The last two had just +been engaged. Mr. Coulson tried a tip, and then a larger tip, with equal +lack of success. He was about to abandon the effort and retire gloomily +to the saloon, when a man who had been standing by, wrapped in a heavy +fur overcoat, intervened. + +"I am afraid, sir," he said, "that it is I who have just secured +the last cabin. If you care to share it with me, however, I shall be +delighted. As a matter of fact, I use it very little myself. The night +has turned out so fine that I shall probably promenade all the time." + +"If you will allow me to divide the expense," Mr. Coulson replied, "I +shall be exceedingly obliged to you, and will accept your offer. I am, +unfortunately, a bad sailor." + +"That is as you will, sir," the gentleman answered. "The amount is only +trifling." + +The night was a bright one, but there was a heavy sea running, and even +in the harbor the boat was rocking. Mr. Coulson groaned as he made his +way across the threshold of the cabin. + +"I am going to have a horrible time," he said frankly. "I am afraid +you'll repent your offer before you've done with me." + +His new friend smiled. + +"I have never been seasick in my life," he said, "and I only engage +a cabin for fear of wet weather. A fine night like this I shall not +trouble you, so pray be as ill as you like." + +"It's nothing to laugh at," Mr. Coulson remarked gloomily. + +"Let me give you a little advice," his friend said, "and I can assure +you that I know something of these matters, for I have been on the sea +a great deal. Let me mix you a stiff brandy and soda. Drink it down and +eat only a dry biscuit. I have some brandy of my own here." + +"Nothing does me any good," Mr. Coulson groaned. + +"This," the stranger remarked, producing a flask from his case and +dividing the liquor into equal parts, "may send you to sleep. If so, +you'll be across before you wake up. Here's luck!" + +Mr. Coulson drained his glass. His companion was in the act of raising +his to his lips when the ship gave a roll, his elbow caught the back of +a chair, and the tumbler slipped from his fingers. + +"It's of no consequence," he declared, ringing for the steward. "I'll go +into the smoking room and get a drink. I was only going to have some to +keep you company. As a matter of fact, I prefer whiskey." + +Mr. Coulson sat down upon the berth. He seemed indisposed for speech. + +"I'll leave you now, then," his friend said, buttoning his coat around +him. "You lie flat down on your back, and I think you'll find yourself +all right." + +"That brandy," Mr. Coulson muttered, "was infernally--- strong." + +His companion smiled and went out. In a quarter of an hour he returned +and locked the door. They were out in the Channel now, and the boat was +pitching heavily. Mr. James B. Coulson, however, knew nothing of it. He +was sleeping like one who wakes only for the Judgment Day. Over his coat +and waistcoat the other man's fingers travelled with curious dexterity. +The oilskin case in which Mr. Coulson was in the habit of keeping his +private correspondence was reached in a very few minutes. The stranger +turned out the letters and read them, one by one, until he came to the +one he sought. He held it for a short time in his hand, looked at the +address with a faint smile, and slipped his fingers lightly along the +gummed edge of the envelope. + +"No seal," he said softly to himself. "My friend Mr. Coulson plays the +game of travelling agent to perfection." + +He glided out of the cabin with the letter in his hand. In about ten +minutes he returned. Mr. Coulson was still sleeping. He replaced the +letter, pressing down the envelope carefully. + +"My friend," he whispered, looking down upon Mr. Coulson's uneasy +figure, "on the whole, I have been perhaps a little premature. I think +you had better deliver this document to its proper destination. If only +there was to have been a written answer, we might have met again! It +would have been most interesting." + +He slipped the oilskin case back into the exact position in which he had +found it, and watched his companion for several minutes in silence. Then +he went to his dressing bag and from a phial mixed a little draught. +Lifting the sleeping man's head, he forced it down his throat. + +"I think," he said, "I think, Mr. Coulson, that you had better wake up." + +He unlocked the door and resumed his promenade of the deck. In the bows +he stood for some time, leaning with folded arms against a pillar, his +eyes fixed upon the line of lights ahead. The great waves now leaped +into the moonlight, the wind sang in the rigging and came booming across +the waters, the salt spray stung his cheeks. High above his head, the +slender mast, with its Marconi attachment, swang and dived, reached out +for the stars, and fell away with a shudder. The man who watched, stood +and dreamed until the voyage was almost over. Then he turned on his heel +and went back to see how his cabin companion was faring. + +Mr. Coulson was sitting on the edge of his bunk. He had awakened with a +terrible headache and a sense of some hideous indiscretion. It was not +until he had examined every paper in his pocket and all his money +that he had begun to feel more comfortable. And in the meantime he had +forgotten altogether to be seasick. + +"Well, how has the remedy worked?" the stranger inquired. + +Mr. Coulson looked him in the face. Then he drew a short breath +of relief. He had been indiscreet, but he had alarmed himself +unnecessarily. There was nothing about the appearance of the quiet, dark +little man, with the amiable eyes and slightly foreign manner, in the +least suspicious. + +"It's given me a brute of a headache," he declared, "but I certainly +haven't been seasick up till now, and I must say I've never crossed +before without being ill." + +The stranger laughed soothingly. + +"That brandy and soda would keep you right." He said. "When we get to +Folkestone, you'll be wanting a supper basket. Make yourself at home. +I don't need the cabin. It's a glorious night outside. I shouldn't have +come in at all except to see how you were getting on." + +"How long before we are in?" Mr. Coulson asked. + +"About a quarter of an hour," was the answer. "I'll come for you, if you +like. Have a few minute's nap if you feel sleepy." + +Mr. Coulson got up. + +"Not I!" he said. "I am going to douse my head in some cold water. That +must have been the strongest brandy and soda that was ever brewed, to +send me off like that." + +His friend laughed as he helped him out on to the deck. + +"I shouldn't grumble at it, if I were you," he said carelessly. "It +saved you from a bad crossing." + +Mr. Coulson washed his face and hands in the smoking room lavatory, +and was so far recovered, even, as to be able to drink a cup of coffee +before they reached the harbor. At Folkestone he looked everywhere for +his friend, but in vain. At Charing Cross he searched once more. The +little dark gentleman, with the distinguished air and the easy, correct +speech, who had mixed his brandy and soda, had disappeared. + +"And I owe the little beggar for half that cabin," Mr. Coulson thought +with a sensation of annoyance. "I wonder where he's hidden himself!" + + + +CHAPTER XIX. A MOMENTOUS QUESTION + +The Duke paused, in his way across the crowded reception rooms, to +speak to his host, Sir Edward Bransome, Secretary of State for Foreign +Affairs. + +"I have just written you a line, Bransome," he said, as they shook +hands. "The chief tells me that he is going to honor us down at Devenham +for a few days, and that we may expect you also." + +"You are very kind, Duke," Bransome answered. "I suppose Haviland +explained the matter to you." + +The Duke nodded. + +"You are going to help me entertain my other distinguished visitor," he +remarked. "I fancy we shall be quite an interesting party." + +Bransome glanced around. + +"I hope most earnestly," he said, "that we shall induce our young friend +to be a little more candid with us than he has been. One can't get a +word out of Hesho, but I'm bound to say that I don't altogether like +the look of things. The Press are beginning to smell a rat. Two leading +articles this morning, I see, upon our Eastern relations." + +The Duke nodded. + +"I read them," he said. "We are informed that the prestige and success +of our ministry will entirely depend upon whether or not we are able to +arrange for the renewal of our treaty with Japan. I remember the same +papers shrieking themselves hoarse with indignation when we first joined +hands with our little friends across the sea!" + +His secretary approached Bransome and touched him on the shoulder. + +"There is a person in the anteroom, sir," he said, "whom I think that +you ought to see." + +The Duke nodded and passed on. The Secretary drew his chief on one side. + +"This man has just arrived from Paris, sir," he continued, "and is the +bearer of a letter which he is instructed to deliver into your hands +only." + +Bransome nodded. + +"Is he known to us at all?" he asked. "From whom does the letter come?" + +The young man hesitated. + +"The letter itself, sir, has nothing to do with France, I imagine," +he said. "The person I refer to is an American, and although I have no +positive information, I believe that he is sometimes intrusted with the +carrying of despatches from Washington to his Embassy. Once or twice +lately I have had it reported to me that communications from the other +side to Mr. Harvey have been sent by hand. It seems as though they had +some objection to committing important documents to the post." + +Bransome walked through the crowded rooms by the side of his secretary, +stopping for a moment to exchange greetings here and there with his +friends. His wife was giving her third reception of the session to the +diplomatic world. + +"Washington has certainly shown signs of mistrust lately," he remarked, +"but if communications from them are ever tampered with, it is +more likely to be on their side than ours. They have a particularly +unscrupulous Press to deal with, besides political intriguers. If this +person you speak of is really the bearer of a letter from there," he +added, "I think we can both guess what it is about." + +The secretary nodded. + +"Shall I ring up Mr. Haviland, sir?" he asked. + +"Not yet," Bransome answered. "It is just possible that this person +requires an immediate reply, in which case it may be convenient for me +not to be able to get at the Prime Minister. Bring him along into my +private room, Sidney." + +Sir Edward Bransome made his way to his study, opened the door with +a Yale key, turned on the electric lights, and crossed slowly to the +hearthrug. He stood there, for several moments, with his elbow upon +the mantelpiece, looking down into the fire. A darker shadow had +stolen across his face as soon as he was alone. In his court dress and +brilliant array of orders, he was certainly a very distinguished-looking +figure. Yet the last few years had branded lines into his face which it +was doubtful if he would ever lose. To be Secretary of State for Foreign +Affairs to the greatest power which the world had as yet known must +certainly seem, on paper, to be as brilliant a post as a man's ambition +could covet. Many years ago it had seemed so to Bransome himself. It was +a post which he had deliberately coveted, worked for, and strived for. +And now, when in sight of the end, with two years of office only to run, +he was appalled at the ever-growing responsibilities thrust upon his +shoulders. There was never, perhaps, a time when, on paper, things +had seemed smoother, when the distant mutterings of disaster were less +audible. It was only those who were behind the curtain who realized how +deceptive appearances were. + +In a few minutes his secretary reappeared, ushering in Mr. James B. +Coulson. Mr. Coulson was still a little pale from the effects of his +crossing, and he wore a long, thick ulster to conceal the deficiencies +of his attire. Nevertheless his usual breeziness of manner had not +altogether deserted him. Sir Edward looked him up and down, and +finding him look exactly as Mr. James B. Coulson of the Coulson & Bruce +Syndicate should look, was inclined to wonder whether his secretary had +made a mistake. + +"I was told that you wished to see me," he said. "I am Sir Edward +Bransome." + +Mr. James B. Coulson nodded appreciatively. + +"Very good of you, Sir Edward," he said, "to put yourself out at this +time of night to have a word or two with me. I am sorry to have troubled +you, anyway, but the matter was sort of urgent." + +Sir Edward bent his head. + +"I understand, Mr. Coulson," he said, "that you come from the United +States." + +"That is so, sir," Mr. Coulson replied. "I am at the head of a +syndicate, the Coulson & Bruce Syndicate, which in course of time hope +to revolutionize the machinery used for spinning wool all over the +world. Likewise we have patents for other machinery connected with +the manufacture of all varieties of woollen goods. I am over here on a +business trip, which I have just concluded." + +"Satisfactorily, I trust?" Sir Edward remarked. + +"Well, I'm not grumbling, sir," Mr. Coulson assented. "Here and there I +may have missed a thing, and the old fashioned way of doing business on +this side bothers me a bit, but on the whole I'm not grumbling." + +Bransome bowed. Perhaps, after all, the man was not a fool! + +"I have a good many friends round about Washington," Mr. Coulson +continued, "and sometimes, when they know I am coming across, one or +the other of them finds it convenient to hand me a letter. It isn't the +postage stamp that worries them," he added with a little laugh, "but +they sort of feel that anything committed to me is fairly safe to reach +its right destination." + +"Without disputing that fact for one moment, Mr. Coulson," Sir Edward +remarked, "I might also suggest that the ordinary mail service between +our countries has reached a marvellous degree of perfection." + +"The Post Office," Mr. Coulson continued meditatively, "is a great +institution, both on your side and ours, but a letter posted in +Washington has to go through a good many hands before it is delivered in +London." + +Sir Edward smiled. + +"It is a fact, sir," he said, "which the various Governments of Europe +have realized for many years, in connection with the exchange of +communications one with the other. Your own great country, as it grows +and expands, becomes, of necessity, more in touch with our methods. Did +I understand that you have a letter for me, Mr. Coulson?" + +Mr. Coulson produced it. + +"Friend of mine you may have heard of," he said, "asked me to leave this +with you. I am catching the Princess Cecilia from Southampton tomorrow. +I thought, perhaps, if I waited an hour or so, I might take the answer +back with me." + +"It is getting late, Mr. Coulson," Sir Edward reminded him, glancing at +the clock. + +Mr. Coulson smiled. + +"I think, Sir Edward," he said, "that in your line of business time +counts for little." + +Sir Edward motioned his visitor to a chair and touched the bell. + +"I shall require the A3X cipher, Sidney," he said to his secretary. + +Mr. Coulson looked up. + +"Why," he said, "I don't think you'll need that. The letter you've got +in your hand is just a personal one, and what my friend has to say to +you is written out there in black and white." + +Sir Edward withdrew the enclosure from its envelope and raised his +eyebrows. + +"Isn't this a trifle indiscreet?" he asked. + +"Why, I should say not," Mr. Coulson answered. "My friend--Mr. Jones +we'll call him--knew me and, I presume, knew what he was about. Besides, +that is a plain letter from the head of a business firm to--shall we say +a client? There's nothing in it to conceal." + +"At the same time," Sir Edward remarked, "it might have been as well to +have fastened the flap of the envelope." + +Mr. Coulson held out his hand. + +"Let me look," he said. + +Sir Edward gave it into his hands. Mr. Coulson held it under the +electric light. There was no indication in his face of any surprise or +disturbance. + +"Bit short of gum in our stationery office," he remarked. + +Sir Edward was looking at him steadily. + +"My impressions were," he said, "when I opened this letter, that I was +not the first person who had done so. The envelope flew apart in my +fingers." + +Mr. Coulson shook his head. + +"The document has never been out of my possession, sir," he said. "It +has not even left my person. My friend Mr. Jones does not believe in +too much secrecy in matters of this sort. I have had a good deal +of experience now and am inclined to agree with him. A letter in a +double-ended envelope, stuck all over with sealing wax, is pretty +certain to be opened in case of any accident to the bearer. This one, +as you may not have noticed, is written in the same handwriting +and addressed in the same manner as the remainder of my letters of +introduction to various London and Paris houses of business." + +Sir Edward said no more. He read the few lines written on a single sheet +of notepaper, starting a little at the signature. Then he read them +again and placed the document beneath a paper weight in front of him. +When he leaned across the table, his folded arms formed a semicircle +around it. + +"This letter, Mr. Coulson," he said, "is not an official communication." + +"It is not," Mr. Coulson admitted. "I fancy it occurred to my friend +Jones that anything official would be hardly in place and might be +easier to evade. The matter has already cropped up in negotiations +between Mr. Harvey and your Cabinet, but so far we are without any +definite pronouncement,--at least, that is how my friend Mr. Jones looks +at it." + +Sir Edward smiled. + +"The only answer your friend asks for is a verbal one," he remarked. + +"A verbal one," Mr. Coulson assented, "delivered to me in the presence +of one other person, whose name you will find mentioned in that letter." + +Sir Edward bowed his head. When he spoke again, his manner had somehow +changed. It had become at once more official,--a trifle more stilted. + +"This is a great subject, Mr. Coulson," he said. "It is a subject which +has occupied the attention of His Majesty's Ministers for many months. +I shall take the opinion of the other person whose name is mentioned in +this letter, as to whether we can grant Mr. Jones' request. If we should +do so, it will not, I am sure, be necessary to say to you that any +communication we may make on the subject tonight will be from men to a +man of honor, and must be accepted as such. It will be our honest and +sincere conviction, but it must also be understood that it does not bind +the Government of this country to any course of action." + +Mr. Coulson smiled and nodded his head. + +"That is what I call diplomacy, Sir Edward," he remarked. "I always tell +our people that they are too bullheaded. They don't use enough words. +What about that other friend of yours?" + +Sir Edward glanced at his watch. + +"It is possible," he said, "that by this time Mr.----- Mr. Smith, shall +we call him, to match your Mr. Jones?--is attending my wife's reception, +from which your message called me. If he has not yet arrived, my +secretary shall telephone for him." + +Mr. Coulson indicated his approval. + +"Seems to me," he remarked, "that I have struck a fortunate evening for +my visit." + +Sir Edward touched the bell and his secretary appeared. + +"Sidney," he said, "I want you to find the gentleman whose name I am +writing upon this piece of paper. If he is not in the reception rooms +and has not arrived, telephone for him. Say that I shall be glad if he +would come this way at once. He will understand that it is a matter of +some importance." + +The secretary bowed and withdrew, after a glance at the piece of paper +which he held in his hand. Sir Edward turned toward his visitor. + +"Mr. Coulson," he said, "will you allow me the privilege of offering you +some refreshment?" + +"I thank you, sir," Mr. Coulson answered. "I am in want of nothing but a +smoke." + +Sir Edward turned to the bell, but his visitor promptly stopped him. + +"If you will allow me, sir," he said, "I will smoke one of my own. +Home-made article, five dollars a hundred, but I can't stand these +strong Havanas. Try one." + +Sir Edward waved them away. + +"If you will excuse me," he said, "I will smoke a cigarette. Since you +are here, Mr. Coulson, I may say that I am very glad to meet you. I am +very glad, also, of this opportunity for a few minutes' conversation +upon another matter." + +Mr. Coulson showed some signs of surprise. + +"How's that?" he asked. + +"There is another subject," Sir Edward said, "which I should like to +discuss with you while we are waiting for Mr. Smith." + + + +CHAPTER XX. THE ANSWER + +Mr. Coulson moved his cigar into a corner of his mouth, as though to +obtain a clear view of his questioner's face. His expression was one of +bland interest. + +"Well, I guess you've got me puzzled, Sir Edward," he said. "You aren't +thinking of doing anything in woollen machinery, are you?" + +Sir Edward smiled. + +"I think not, Mr. Coulson," he answered. "At any rate, my question had +nothing to do with your other very interesting avocation. What I wanted +to ask you was whether you could tell me anything about a compatriot of +yours--a Mr. Hamilton Fynes?" + +"Hamilton Fynes!" Mr. Coulson repeated thoughtfully. "Why, that's the +man who got murdered on the cars, going from Liverpool to London." + +"That is so," Sir Edward admitted. + +Mr. Coulson shook his head. + +"I told that reporter fellow all I knew about him," he said. "He was an +unsociable sort of chap, you know, Sir Edward, and he wasn't in any line +of business." + +"H'm! I thought he might have been," the Minister answered, glancing +keenly for a moment at his visitor. "To tell you the truth, Mr. Coulson, +we have been a great deal bothered about that unfortunate incident, +and by the subsequent murder of the young man who was attached to your +Embassy here. Scotland Yard has strained every nerve to bring the guilty +people to justice, but so far unsuccessfully. It seems to me that +your friends on the other side scarcely seem to give us credit for our +exertions. They do not help us in the least. They assure us that they +had no knowledge of Mr. Fynes other than has appeared in the papers. +They recognize him only as an American citizen going about his +legitimate business. A little more confidence on their part would, I +think, render our task easier." + +Mr. Coulson scratched his chin for a moment thoughtfully. + +"Well," he said, "I can understand their feeling a bit sore about it. +I'm not exactly given to brag when I'm away from my own country--one +hears too much of that all the time--but between you and me, I shouldn't +say that it was possible for two crimes like that to be committed in New +York City and for the murderer to get off scot free in either case." + +"The matter," Sir Edward declared, "has given us a great deal of +anxiety, and I can assure you that the Home Secretary himself has taken +a strong personal interest in it, but at the same time, as I have just +pointed out to you, our investigations are rendered the more difficult +from the fact that we cannot learn anything definite concerning this +Mr. Hamilton Fynes or his visit to this country. Now, if we knew, for +instance," Sir Edward continued, "that he was carrying documents, or +even a letter, similar to the one you have just handed to me, we might +at once discover a motive to the crime, and work backwards until we +reached the perpetrator." + +Mr. Coulson knocked the ash from his cigar. + +"I see what you are driving at," he said. "I am sorry I can be of no +assistance to you, Sir Edward." + +"Neither in the case of Mr. Hamilton Fynes or in the case of Mr. Richard +Vanderpole?" Sir Edward asked. + +Mr. Coulson shook his head. + +"Quite out of my line," he declared. + +"Notwithstanding the fact," Sir Edward reminded him quietly, "that you +were probably the last person to see Vanderpole alive? He came to the +Savoy to call upon you before he got into the taxicab where he was +murdered. That is so, isn't it?" + +"Sure!" Mr. Coulson answered. "A nice young fellow he was, too. Well set +up, and real American manners,--Hail, fellow, well met!' with you right +away." + +"I suppose, Mr. Coulson," the Minister suggested smoothly, "it wouldn't +answer your purpose to put aside that bluff about patents for the +development of the woollen trade for a few moments, and tell me exactly +what passed between you and Mr. Vanderpole at the Savoy Hotel, and the +object of his calling upon you? Whether, for instance, he took away with +him documents or papers intended for the Embassy and which you yourself +had brought from America?" + +"You do think of things!" Mr. Coulson remarked admiringly. "You're on +the wrong track this time, though, sure. Still, supposing I were able +to tell you that Mr. Vanderpole was carrying papers of importance to my +country, and that Mr. Hamilton Fynes was also in possession of the same +class of document, how would it help you? In what fresh direction should +you look then for the murderers of these two men?" + +"Mr. Coulson," Sir Edward said, "we should consider the nature of those +documents, and we should see to whose advantage it was that they were +suppressed." + +Mr. Coulson's face seemed suddenly old and lined. He spoke with a new +vigor, and his eyes were very keen and bright under his bushy eyebrows. + +"And supposing it was your country's?" he asked. "Supposing they +contained instructions to our Ambassador which you might consider +inimical to your interests? Do you mean that you would look at home for +the murderer? You mean that you have men so devoted to their native land +that they were willing to run the risk of death by the hangman to aid +her? You mean that your Secret Service is perfected to that extent, and +that the scales of justice are held blindfolded? Or do you mean that +Scotland Yard would have its orders, and that these men would go free?" + +"I was not thinking of my own country," Sir Edward admitted. "I must +confess that my thoughts had turned elsewhere." + +"Let me tell you this, sir," Mr. Coulson continued. "I should imagine +that the trouble with Washington, if there is any, is simply that +they will not believe that your police have a free hand. They will not +believe that you are honestly and genuinely anxious for the discovery +of the perpetrator of these crimes. I speak without authority, you +understand? I am no more in a position to discuss this affair than any +other tourist from my country who might happen to come along." + +Sir Edward shrugged his shoulders. + +"Can you suggest any method," he asked a little dryly, "by means of +which we might remove this unfortunate impression?" + +Mr. Coulson flicked the ash once more from the end of his cigar and +looked at it thoughtfully. + +"This isn't my show," he said, "and, you understand, I am giving the +views of Mr. James B. Coulson, and nobody but Mr. James B. Coulson, but +if I were in your position, and knew that a friendly country was +feeling a little bit sore at having two of her citizens disposed of so +unceremoniously, I'd do my best to prove, by the only possible means, +that I was taking the matter seriously." + +"The only possible means being?" Sir Edward asked. + +"I guess I'd offer a reward," Mr. Coulson admitted. + +Sir Edward did not hesitate for a moment. + +"Your idea is an excellent one, Mr. Coulson," he said. "It has already +been mooted, but we will give it a little emphasis. Tomorrow we will +offer a reward of one thousand pounds for any information leading to the +apprehension of either murderer." + +"That sounds bully," Mr. Coulson declared. + +"You think that it will have a good effect upon your friends in +Washington?" + +"Me?" Mr. Coulson asked. "I know nothing about it. I've given you my +personal opinion only. Seems to me, though, it's the best way of showing +that you're in earnest." + +"Before we quit this subject finally, Mr. Coulson," Sir Edward said, "I +am going to ask you a question which you have been asked before." + +"Referring to Hamilton Fynes?" Mr. Coulson asked. + +"Yes!" + +"Get your young man to lay his hand on that copy of the Comet," Mr. +Coulson begged earnestly. "I told that pushing young journalist all I +knew and a bit more. I assure you, my information isn't worth anything." + +"Was it meant to be worth anything?" Sir Edward asked. + +Mr. Coulson remained imperturbable. + +"If you don't mind, Sir Edward," he said, "I guess we'll drop the +subject of Mr. Hamilton Fynes. We can't get any forwarder. Let it go at +that." + +There was a knock at the door. Sir Edward's secretary ushered in a tall, +plainly dressed gentleman, who had the slightly aggrieved air of a man +who has been kept out of his bed beyond the usual time. + +"My dear Bransome," he said, shaking hands, "isn't this a little +unreasonable of you? Business at this hour of the night! I was in the +midst of a most amusing conversation with a delightful acquaintance +of your wife's, a young lady who turned up her nose at Hegel and had +developed a philosophy of her own. I was just beginning to grasp its +first principles. Nothing else, I am quite sure, would have kept me +awake." + +Sir Edward leaned across the table towards Mr. Coulson. Mr. Coulson had +risen to his feet. + +"This gentleman," he said, "is Mr. Smith." + +The newcomer opened his lips to protest, but Sir Edward held out his +hand. + +"One moment," he begged. "Our friend here--Mr. J. B. Coulson from +New York--has brought a letter from America. He is sailing +tomorrow,--leaving London somewhere about eight o'clock in the morning, +I imagine. He wishes to take back a verbal reply. The letter, you will +understand, comes from a Mr. Jones, and the reply is delivered in the +presence of--Mr. Smith. Our friend here is not personally concerned +in these affairs. As a matter of fact, I believe he has been on the +Continent exploiting some patents of his own invention." + +The newcomer accepted the burden of his altered nomenclature and took up +the letter. He glanced at the signature, and his manner became at once +more interested. He accepted the chair which Sir Edward had placed by +his side, and, drawing the electric light a little nearer, read the +document through, word by word. Then he folded it up, and glanced first +at his colleague and afterwards at Mr. Coulson. + +"I understand," he said, "that this is a private inquiry from a private +gentleman, who is entitled, however, to as much courtesy as it is +possible for us to show him." + +"That is exactly the position, sir," Mr. Coulson replied. "Negotiations +of a more formal character are naturally conducted between your Foreign +Office and the Foreign Office of my country. These few lines come from +man to man. I think that it occurred to my friend that it might save a +great deal of trouble, a great deal of specious diplomacy, and a great +many hundred pages of labored despatches, if, at the bottom of it all, +he knew your true feelings concerning this question. It is, after all, +a simple matter," Mr. Coulson continued, "and yet it is a matter with +so many ramifications that after much discussion it might become a +veritable chaos." + +Mr. Smith inclined his head gently. + +"I appreciate the situation," he said. "My friend here--Sir Edward +Bransome--and I have already discussed the matter at great length. We +have also had the benefit of the advice and help of a greater Foreign +Minister than either of us could ever hope to become. I see no objection +to giving you the verbal reply you ask for. Do you, Bransome?" + +"None whatever, sir." + +"I leave it to you to put it in your own words," Mr. Smith continued. +"The affair is within your province, and the policy of His Majesty's +Ministers is absolutely fixed." + +Sir Edward turned toward their visitor. + +"Mr. Coulson," he said, "we are asked by your friend, in a few plain +words, what the attitude of Great Britain would be in the event of a war +between Japan and America. My answer--our answer--to you is this,--no +war between Japan and America is likely to take place unless your +Cabinet should go to unreasonable and uncalled-for extremes. We have +ascertained, beyond any measure of doubt, the sincere feeling of our +ally in this matter. Japan does not desire war, is not preparing for it, +is unwilling even to entertain the possibility of it. At the same time +she feels that her sons should receive the same consideration from every +nation in the world as the sons of other people. Personally it is our +profound conviction that the good sense, the fairness, and the generous +instincts of your great country will recognize this and act accordingly. +War between your country and Japan is an impossible thing. The thought +of it exists only in the frothy vaporings of cheap newspapers, and the +sensational utterances of the catch politician who must find an audience +and a hearing by any methods. The sober possibility of such a conflict +does not exist." + +Mr. Coulson listened attentively to every word. When Sir Edward had +finished, he withdrew his cigar from his mouth and knocked the ash on to +a corner of the writing table. + +"That's all very interesting indeed, Sir Edward," he declared. "I am +very pleased to have heard what you have said, and I shall repeat it to +my friend on the other side, who, I am sure, will be exceedingly +obliged to you for such a frank exposition of your views. And now," he +continued, "I don't want to keep you gentlemen up too late, so perhaps +you will be coming to the answer of my question." + +"The answer!" Sir Edward exclaimed. "Surely I made myself clear?" + +"All that you have said," Mr. Coulson admitted, "has been remarkably +clear, but the question I asked you was this,--what is to be the +position of your country in the event of war between Japan and America?" + +"And I have told you," Sir Edward declared, "that war between Japan and +America is not a subject within the scope of practical politics." + +"We may consider ourselves--my friend Mr. Jones would certainly consider +himself," Mr. Coulson affirmed,--"as good a judge as you, Sir Edward, so +far as regards that matter. I am not asking you whether it is probable +or improbable. You may know the feelings of your ally. You do not know +ours. We may look into the future, and we may see that, sooner or later, +war between our country and Japan is a necessity. We may decide that +it is better for us to fight now than later. These things are in the +clouds. They only enter into the present discussion to this extent, but +it is not for you to sit here and say whether war between the United +States and Japan is possible or impossible. What Mr. Jones asks you +is--what would be your position if it should take place? The little +diatribe with which you have just favored me is exactly the reply we +should have expected to receive formally from Downing Street. It isn't +that sort of reply I want to take back to Mr. Jones." + +Mr. Smith and his colleague exchanged glances, and the latter drew his +chief on one side. + +"You will excuse me for a moment, I know, Mr. Coulson," he said. + +"Why, by all means," Mr. Coulson declared. "My time is my own, and it +is entirely at your service. If you say the word, I'll go outside and +wait." + +"It is not necessary," Sir Edward answered. + +The room was a large one, and the two men walked slowly up and down, Mr. +Smith leaning all the time upon his colleague's shoulder. They spoke in +an undertone, and what they said was inaudible to Mr. Coulson. During +his period of waiting he drew another cigar from his pocket, and lit +it from the stump of the old one. Then he made himself a little +more comfortable in his chair, and looked around at the walls of the +handsomely furnished but rather sombre apartment with an air of pleased +curiosity. It was scarcely, perhaps, what he should have expected from +a man in a similar position in his own country, but it was, at any rate, +impressive. Presently they came back to him. This time it was Mr. Smith +who spoke. + +"Mr. Coulson," he said, "we need not beat about the bush. You ask us a +plain question and you want a plain answer. Then I must tell you this. +The matter is not one concerning which I can give you any definite +information. I appreciate the position of your friend Mr. Jones, and I +should like to have met him in the same spirit as he has shown in his +inquiry, but I may tell you that, being utterly convinced that Japan +does not seek war with you, and that therefore no war is likely, my +Government is not prepared to answer a question which they consider +based upon an impossibility. If this war should come, the position of +our country would depend entirely upon the rights of the dispute. As a +corollary to that, I would mention two things. You read your newspapers, +Mr. Coulson?" + +"Sure!" that gentleman answered. + +"You are aware, then," Mr. Smith continued, "of the present position +of your fleet. You know how many months must pass before it can reach +Eastern waters. It is not within the traditions of this country to evade +fulfillment of its obligations, however severe and unnatural they may +seem, but in three months' time, Mr. Coulson, our treaty with Japan will +have expired." + +"You are seeking to renew it!" Mr. Coulson declared quickly. + +Mr. Smith raised his eyebrows. + +"The renewal of that treaty," he said, "is on the knees of the gods. One +cannot tell. I go so far only as to tell you that in three months the +present treaty will have expired." + +Mr. Coulson rose slowly to his feet and took up his hat. + +"Gentlemen both," he said, "that's what I call plain speaking. I suppose +it's up to us to read between the lines. I can assure you that my friend +Mr. Jones will appreciate it. It isn't my place to say a word outside +the letter which I have handed to you. I am a plain business man, +and these things don't come in my way. That is why I feel I can +criticize,--I am unprejudiced. You are Britishers, and you've got one +eternal fault. You seem to think the whole world must see a matter as +you see it. If Japan has convinced you that she doesn't seek a war with +us, it doesn't follow that she's convinced us. As to the rights of +our dispute, don't rely so much upon hearing one side only. Don't be +dogmatic about it, and say this thing is and that thing isn't. You may +bet your last dollar that America isn't going to war about trifles. We +are the same flesh and blood, you know. We have the same traditions to +uphold. What we do is what we should expect you to do if you were in our +place. That's all, gentlemen. Now I wish you both good night! Mr. Smith, +I am proud to shake hands with you. Sir Edward, I say the same to you." + +Bransome touched the bell and summoned his secretary. + +"Sidney, will you see this gentleman out?" he said. "You are quite sure +there is nothing further we can do for you, Mr. Coulson?" + +"Nothing at all, I thank you, sir," that gentleman answered. "I +have only got to thank you once more for the pleasure of this brief +interview. Good night!" + +"Good night, and bon voyage!" Sir Edward answered. + +The door was closed. The two men looked at one another for a moment. Mr. +Smith shrugged his shoulders and helped himself to a cigarette. + +"I wonder," he remarked thoughtfully, "how our friends in Japan +convinced themselves so thoroughly that Mr. Jones was only playing +ships!" + +Sir Edward shook his head. + +"It makes one wonder," he said. + + + +CHAPTER XXI. A CLUE + +By midday on the following morning London was placarded with notices, +the heading of which was sensational enough to attract observation from +every passer-by, young or old, rich or poor. One thousand pounds' reward +for the apprehension of the murderer of either Hamilton Fynes or Richard +Vanderpole! Inspector Jacks, who was amongst the first to hear the news, +after a brief interview with his chief put on his hat and walked round +to the Home Office. He sought out one of the underlings with whom he +had some acquaintance, and whom he found ready enough, even eager, to +discuss the matter. + +"There wasn't a word about any reward," Inspector Jacks was told, "until +this morning. We had a telephone message from the chief's bedroom and +phoned you up at once. It's a pretty stiff amount, isn't it?" + +"It is," the Inspector admitted. "Our chief seems to be taking quite a +personal interest in the matter all at once." + +"I'll lay two to one that some one was on to him at Sir Edward +Bransome's reception last night," the other remarked. "I know very well +that there was no idea of offering a reward yesterday afternoon. We +might have come out with a hundred pounds or so, a little later on, +perhaps, but there was nothing of this sort in the air. I've no desire +to seem censorious, you know, Jacks," the young man went on, leaning +back in his chair and lighting a cigarette, "but it does seem a +dashed queer thing that you can't put your finger upon either of these +fellows." + +Inspector Jacks nodded gloomily. + +"No doubt it seems so to you," he admitted. "You forget that we have +to have a reasonable amount of proof before we can tap a man on the +shoulder and ask him to come with us. It isn't so abroad or in America. +There they can hand a man up with less than half the evidence we have +to be prepared with, and, of course, they get the reputation of being +smarter on the job. We may learn enough to satisfy ourselves easily, but +to get up a case which we can put before a magistrate and be sure of not +losing our man, takes time." + +"So you've got your eye on some one?" The young man asked curiously. + +"I did not say so," the Inspector answered warily. "By the bye, do you +think there would be any chance of five minutes' interview with your +chief?" + +The young man shook his head slowly. + +"What a cheek you've got, Jacks!" he declared. "You're not serious, are +you?" + +"Perfectly," Inspector Jacks answered. "And to tell you the truth, +my young friend, I am half inclined to think that when he is given to +understand, as he will be by you, if he doesn't know it already, that I +am in charge of the investigations concerning these two murders, he will +see me." + +The young man was disposed to consider the point. + +"Well," he remarked, "the chief does seem plaguy interested, all of a +sudden. I'll pass your name in. If you take a seat, it's just possible +that he may spare you a minute or two in about an hour's time. He won't +be able to before then, I'm sure. There's a deputation almost due, and +two other appointments before luncheon time." + +The Inspector accepted a newspaper and an easy chair. His young friend +disappeared and returned almost immediately, looking a little surprised. + +"I've managed it for you," he explained. "The chief is going to spare +you five minutes at once. Come along and I'll show you in." + +Inspector Jacks took up his hat and followed his acquaintance to the +private room of the Home Secretary. That personage nodded to him upon +his entrance and continued to dictate a letter. When he had finished, he +sent his clerk out of the room and, motioning Mr. Jacks to take a seat +by his side, leaned back in his own chair with the air of one prepared +to relax for a moment. He was a man of somewhat insignificant presence, +but he had keen gray eyes, half the time concealed under thick eyebrows, +and flashing out upon you now and then at least expected moments. + +"From Scotland Yard, I understand, Mr. Jacks?" he remarked. + +"At your service, sir," the Inspector answered. "I am in charge of the +investigations concerning these two recent murders." + +"Quite so," the Home Secretary remarked. "I am very glad to meet +you, Mr. Jacks. So far, I suppose, you are willing to admit that +you gentlemen down at Scotland Yard have not exactly distinguished +yourselves." + +"We are willing to admit that," Inspector Jacks said. + +"I do not know whether the reward will help you very much," the Home +Secretary continued. "So far as you people personally are concerned, I +imagine that it will make no difference. The only point seems to be +that it may bring you outside help which at the present time is being +withheld." + +"The offering of the reward, sir," Inspector Jacks said, "can do no +harm, and it may possibly assist us very materially." + +"I am glad to have your opinion, Mr. Jacks," the Home Secretary said. + +There was a moment's pause. The Minister trifled with some papers lying +on the desk before him. Then he turned to his visitor and continued,-- + +"You will forgive my reminding you, Mr. Jacks, that I am a busy man and +that this is a busy morning. You had some reason, I presume, for wishing +to see me?" + +"I had, sir," the Inspector answered. "I took the liberty of waiting +upon you, sir, to ask whether the idea of a reward for so large a sum +came spontaneously from your department?" + +The Home Secretary raised his eyebrows. + +"Really, Mr. Jacks," he began,-- + +"I hope, sir," the Inspector protested, "that you will not think I am +asking this question through any irrelevant curiosity. I am beginning to +form a theory of my own as to these two murders, but it needs building +up. The offering of a reward like this, if it emanates from the source +which I suspect that it does, gives a solid foundation to my theories. +I am here, sir, in the interests of justice only, and I should be +exceedingly obliged to you if you would tell me whether the suggestion +of this large reward did not come from the Foreign Office?" + +The Minister considered for several moments, and then slowly inclined +his head. + +"Mr. Jacks," he said, "your question appears to me to be a pertinent +one. I see not the slightest reason to conceal from you the fact that +your surmise is perfectly accurate." + +A flash of satisfaction illuminated for a moment the detective's +inexpressive features. He rose and took up his hat. + +"I am very much obliged to you, sir," he said. "The information which +you have given me is extremely valuable." + +"I am glad to hear you say so," the Home Secretary declared. "You +understand, of course, that it is within the province of my department +to assist at all times and in any possible way the course of justice. Is +there anything more I can do for you?" + +Inspector Jacks hesitated. + +"If you would not think it a liberty, sir," he said, "I should be +very glad indeed if you would give me a note which would insure me an +interview with Sir Edward Bransome." + +"I will give it you with pleasure," the Secretary answered, "although I +imagine that he would be quite willing to see you on your own request." + +He wrote a few lines and passed them over. Inspector Jacks saluted, and +turned towards the door. + +"You'll let me know if anything turns up?" the Home Secretary said. + +"You shall be informed at once, sir," the Inspector assured him, a as he +left the room. + +Sir Edward Bransome was just leaving his house when Inspector Jacks +entered the gate. The latter, who knew him by sight, saluted and +hesitated for a moment. + +"Did you wish to speak to me?" Sir Edward asked, drawing back from the +step of his electric brougham. + +The Inspector held out his letter. Sir Edward tore it open and glanced +through the few lines which it contained. Then he looked keenly for a +moment at the man who stood respectfully by his side. + +"So you are Inspector Jacks from Scotland Yard," he remarked. + +"At your service, sir," the detective answered. + +"You can get in with me, if you like," Sir Edward continued, motioning +toward the interior of his brougham. "I am due in Downing Street now, +but I dare say you could say what you wish to on the way there." + +"Certainly, sir," Inspector Jacks answered. "It will be very good of you +indeed if you can spare me those few minutes." + +The brougham glided away. + +"Now, Mr. Jacks," Sir Edward said, "what can I do for you? If you want +to arrest me, I shall claim privilege." + +The Inspector smiled. + +"I am in charge, sir," he said, "of the investigations concerning the +murder of Mr. Hamilton Fynes and Mr. Richard Vanderpole. The news of the +reward came to us at Scotland Yard this morning. Its unusual amount led +me to make some injuries at the Home Office. I found that what I partly +expected was true. I found, sir, that your department has shown some +interest in the apprehension of these two men." + +Sir Edward inclined his head slowly. + +"Well?" he said. + +"Sir Edward Bransome," the Inspector continued, "I have a theory of my +own as to these murders, and though it may take me some time to work it +out, I feel myself day by day growing nearer the truth. These were not +ordinary crimes. Any one can see that. They were not even crimes for +the purpose of robbery--not, that is to say, for robbery in the ordinary +sense of the word. That is apparent even to those who write for the +Press. It has been apparent to us from the first. It is beginning +to dawn upon me now what the nature of the motive must be which was +responsible for them. I have in my possession a slight, a very slight +clue. The beginning of it is there, and the end. It is the way between +which is tangled." + +Sir Edward lit a cigarette and leaned back amongst the cushions. With +a little gesture he indicated his desire that Inspector Jacks should +proceed. + +"My object in seeking for a personal interview with you, sir," Inspector +Jacks continued, "is to ask you a somewhat peculiar question. If I find +that my investigations lead me in the direction which at present seems +probable, it is no ordinary person whom I shall have to arrest when the +time comes. The reward which has been offered is a large one, and it is +not for me to question the bona fide nature of it. I would not presume, +sir, even to ask you whether it was offered by reason of any outside +pressure, but there is one question which I must ask. Do you really +wish, sir, that the murderer or murderers of these two men shall be +brought to justice?" + +Sir Edward looked at his companion in steadfast amazement. + +"My dear Inspector," he said, "what is this that you have in your +mind? I hold no brief for any man capable of such crimes as these. +Representations have been made to us by the American Government that the +murder of two of her citizens within the course of twenty-four hours, +and the absence of any arrest, is somewhat of a reflection upon our +police service. It is for your assistance, and in compliment to our +friends across the Atlantic, that the reward was offered." + +Inspector Jacks seemed a little at a loss. + +"It is your wish, then, sir," he said slowly, "that the guilty person or +persons be arrested without warning, whoever they may be?" + +"By all means," Sir Edward affirmed. "I cannot conceive, Inspector, what +you have in your mind which could have led you for a moment to suspect +the contrary." + +The brougham had come to a standstill in front of a house in Downing +Street. Inspector Jacks descended slowly. It was hard for him to decide +on the spot how far to take into his confidence a person whose attitude +was so unsympathetic. + +"I am exceedingly obliged to you for your answer to my question, sir," +he said, saluting. "I hope that in a few days we shall have some news +for you." + +Sir Edward watched him disappear as he mounted the steps of the Prime +Minister's house. + +"I wonder," he said to himself thoughtfully, "what that fellow can have +in his mind!" + +Inspector Jacks did not at once return to Scotland Yard. On his way +there he turned into St. James' Square, and stood for several moments +looking at the corner house on the far side. Finally, after a hesitation +which seldom characterized his movements, he crossed the road and rang +the bell. The door was opened almost at once by a Japanese butler. + +"Is your master at home?" the Inspector asked. + +"His Highness does not see strangers," the man replied coldly. + +"Will you take him my card?" the Inspector asked. + +The man bowed, and showed him into an apartment on the ground floor. +Then with the card in his hand, he turned reluctantly away. + +"His Highness shall be informed that you are here," he said. "I fear, +however, that you waste your time. I go to see." + +Inspector Jacks subsided into a bamboo chair and looked out of the +window with a frown upon his forehead. It was certain that he was not +proceeding with altogether his usual caution. As a matter of tactics, +this visit of his might very well be fatal! + + + +CHAPTER XXII. A BREATH FROM THE EAST + +Inspector Jacks was a man who had succeeded in his profession chiefly on +account of an average amount of natural astuteness, and also because he +was one of those favored persons whose nervous system was a whole and +perfect thing. Yet, curiously enough, as he sat in this large, gloomy +apartment into which he had been shown, a room filled with art treasures +whose appearance and significance were entirely strange to him, he felt +a certain uneasiness which he was absolutely unable to understand. He +was somewhat instinctive in his likes and dislikes, and from the first +he most heartily disliked the room itself,--its vague perfumes, its +subdued violet coloring, the faces of the grinning idols, which +seemed to meet his gaze in every direction, the pictures of those +fierce-looking warriors who brandished two-edged swords at him from the +walls. They belonged to the period when Japanese art was perhaps in +its crudest state, and yet in this uncertain atmosphere they seemed to +possess an extraordinary vitality, as though indeed they were prepared +at a moment's notice to leap from their frames and annihilate this +mysterious product of modern days, who in black clothes and silk hat, +unarmed and without physical strength, yet wielded the powers of life +and death as surely as they in their time had done. + +The detective rose from his seat and walked around the room. He made a +show of examining the arms against the walls, the brocaded hangings with +their wonderful design of faded gold, the ivory statuettes, the black +god who sat on his haunches and into whose face seemed carved some dumb +but eternal power. Movement was in some respects a solace, but the sound +of a hansom bell tinkling outside was a much greater relief. He crossed +to the windows and looked out over the somewhat silent square. A +hurdy-gurdy was playing in the corner opposite the club, just +visible from where he stood. The members were passing in and out. The +commissionaire stood stolidly in his place, raising every now and +then his cab whistle to his lips. A flickering sunlight fell upon the +wind-shaken lilac trees in the square enclosure. Inspector Jacks found +himself wishing that the perfume of those lilacs might reach even to +where he stood, and help him to forget for a moment that subtler and to +him curiously unpleasant odor which all the time became more and more +apparent. So overpowering did he feel it that he tried even to open the +window, but found it an impossible task. The atmosphere seemed to him to +be becoming absolutely stifling. + +He turned around and walked uneasily toward the door. He decided +then that this was some sort of gruesome nightmare with which he was +afflicted. He was quite certain that in a few minutes he would wake +in his little iron bedstead with the sweat upon his forehead and a +reproachful consciousness of having eaten an indiscreet supper. It could +not possibly be a happening in real life! It could not be true that his +knees were sinking beneath the weight of his body, that the clanging of +iron hammers was really smiting the drums of his ears, that the purple +of the room was growing red, and that his veins were strained to +bursting! He threw out his arms in a momentary instinct of fiercely +struggling consciousness. The idols on the walls jeered at him. Those +strangely clad warriors seemed to him now to be looking down upon his +discomfiture with a satanic smile, mocking the pygmy who had dared to +raise his hand against one so jealously guarded. Clang once more went +the blacksmith's hammers, and then chaos!... + +The end of the nightmare was not altogether according to Inspector +Jacks' expectations. He found himself in a small back room, stretched +upon a sofa before the open French-windows, through which came a +pleasant vision of waving green trees and a pleasanter stream of fresh +air. His first instinct was to sniff, and a sense of relief crept +through him when he realized that this room, at any rate, was free from +abnormal odors. He sat up on the couch. A pale-faced Japanese servant +stood by his side with a glass in his hand. A few feet away, the man +whom he had come to visit was looking down upon him with an expression +of grave concern in his kindly face. + +"You are better, I trust, sir?" Prince Maiyo said. + +"I am better," Inspector Jacks muttered. "I don't know--I can't imagine +what happened to me." + +"You were not feeling quite well, perhaps, this morning," the Prince +said soothingly. "A little run down, no doubt. Your profession--I gather +from your card that you come from Scotland Yard--is an arduous one. +I came into the room and found you lying upon your back, gasping for +breath." + +Inspector Jacks was making a swift recovery. He noticed that the glass +which the man-servant was holding was empty. He had a dim recollection +of something having been forced through his lips. Already he was +beginning to feel himself again. + +"I was absolutely and entirely well," he declared stoutly, "both when I +left home this morning and when I entered that room to wait for you. I +don't know what it was that came over me," he continued doubtfully, "but +the atmosphere seemed suddenly to become unbearable." + +Prince Maiyo nodded understandingly. + +"People often complain," he admitted. "So many of my hangings in the +room have been wrapped in spices to preserve them, and my people burn +dead blossoms there occasionally. Some of us, too," he concluded, "are +very susceptible to strange odors. I should imagine, perhaps, that you +are one of them." + +Inspector Jacks shook his head. + +"I call myself a strong man," he said, "and I couldn't have believed +that anything of the sort would have happened to me." + +"I shouldn't worry about it," the Prince said gently. "Go and see your +doctor, if you like, but I have known many people, perfectly healthy, +affected in the same way. I understood that you wished to have a word +with me. Do you feel well enough to enter upon your business now, or +would you prefer to make another appointment?" + +"I am feeling quite well again, thank you," the Inspector said slowly. +"If you could spare me a few minutes, I should be glad to explain the +matter which brought me here." + +The Prince merely glanced at his servant, who bowed and glided +noiselessly from the room. Then he drew an easy chair to the side of the +couch where Mr. Jacks was still sitting. + +"I am very much interested to meet you, Mr. Inspector Jacks," he +remarked, with a glance at the card which he was still holding in his +fingers. "I have studied very many of your English institutions during +my stay over here with much interest, but it has not been my good +fortune to have come into touch at all with your police system. Sir +Goreham Briggs--your chief, I believe--has invited me several times to +Scotland Yard, and I have always meant to avail myself of his kindness. +You come to me, perhaps, from him?" + +The Inspector shook his head. + +"My business, Prince," he said, "is a little more personal." + +Prince Maiyo raised his eyebrows. + +"Indeed?" he said. "Well, whatever it is, let us hear it. I trust that I +have not unconsciously transgressed against your laws?" + +Inspector Jacks hesitated. After all, his was not so easy a task. + +"Prince," he said, "my errand is not in any way a pleasant one, and I +should be very sorry indeed to find myself in the position of bringing +any annoyance upon a stranger and a gentleman who is so highly esteemed. +At the same time there are certain duties in connection with my +every-day life which I cannot ignore. In England, as I dare say you +know, sir, the law is a great leveller. I have heard that it is not +quite so in your country, but over here we all stand equal in its +sight." + +"That is excellent," the Prince said. "Please believe, Mr. Inspector +Jacks, that I do not wish to stand for a single moment between you and +your duty, whatever it may be. Let me hear just what you have to say, +as though I were an ordinary dweller here. While I am in England, at any +rate," he added with a smile, "I am subject to your laws, and I do my +best to obey them." + +"It has fallen to my lot," Inspector Jacks said, "to take charge of the +investigations following upon the murder of a man named Hamilton Fynes, +who was killed on his way from Liverpool to London about a fortnight +ago." + +The Prince inclined his head. + +"I believe," he said amiably, "that I remember hearing the matter spoken +of. It was the foundation of a debate, I recollect, at a recent dinner +party, as to the extraordinarily exaggerated value people in your +country seem to claim for human life, as compared to us Orientals. But +pray proceed, Mr. Inspector Jacks," the Prince continued courteously. +"The investigation, I am sure, is in most able hands." + +"You are very kind, sir," said the Inspector. "I do my best, but I might +admit to you that I have never found a case so difficult to grasp. +Our methods perhaps are slow, but they are, in a sense, sure. We are +building up our case, and we hope before long to secure the criminal, +but it is not an easy task." + +The Prince bowed. This time he made no remark. + +"The evidence which I have collected from various sources," Inspector +Jacks continued, "leads me to believe that the person who committed this +murder was a foreigner." + +"What you call an alien," the Prince suggested. "There is much +discussion, I gather, concerning their presence in this country +nowadays." + +"The evidence which I possess," the detective proceeded, "points to the +murderer belonging to the same nationality as Your Highness." + +The Prince raised his eyebrows. + +"A Japanese?" he asked. + +The Inspector assented. + +"I am sorry," the Prince said, with a touch of added gravity in his +manner, "that one of my race should have committed a misdemeanor in +this country, but if that is so, your way, of course, is clear. You must +arrest him and deal with him as an ordinary English criminal. He is here +to live your life, and he must obey your laws." + +"In time, sir," Inspector Jacks said slowly, "we hope to do so, but over +here we may not arrest upon suspicion. We have to collect evidence, and +build and build until we can satisfy any reasonable individual that the +accused person is guilty." + +The Prince sighed sympathetically. + +"It is not for me," he said, "to criticize your methods." + +"I come now," Inspector Jacks said slowly, "to the object of my call +upon Your Highness. Following upon what I have just told you, certain +other information has come into my possession to this effect--that not +only was this murderer a Japanese, but we have evidence which seems to +suggest that he was attached in some way to your household." + +"To my household!" the Prince repeated. + +"To this household, Your Highness," the detective repeated. + +The Prince shook his head slowly. + +"Mr. Jacks," he said, "you are, I am sure, a very clever man. Let me ask +you one question. Has it ever fallen to your lot to make a mistake?" + +"Very often indeed," the Inspector admitted frankly. + +"Then I am afraid," the Prince said, "that you are once more in that +position. I have attached to my household fourteen Japanese servants, a +secretary, a majordomo, and a butler. It may interest you, perhaps, to +know that during my residence in this country not one of my retinue, +with the exception of my secretary, who has been in Paris for some +weeks, has left this house." + +The Inspector stared at the Prince incredulously. + +"Never left the house?" he repeated. "Do you mean, sir, that they do not +go out for holidays, for exercise, to the theatre?" + +The Prince shook his head. + +"Such things are not the custom with us," he said. "They are my +servants. The duty of their life is service. London is a world unknown +to them--London and all these Western cities. They have no desire to be +made mock of in your streets. Their life is given to my interests. They +do not need distractions." + +Inspector Jacks was dumfounded. Such a state of affairs seemed to him +impossible. + +"Do you mean that they do not take exercise," he asked, "that they never +breathe the fresh air?" + +The Prince smiled. + +"Such fresh air as your city can afford them," he said, "is to be found +in the garden there, into which I never penetrate and which is for their +use. I see that you look amazed, Mr. Inspector Jacks. This thing which +I have told you seems strange, no doubt, but you must not confuse the +servants of my country with the servants of yours. I make no comment +upon the latter. You know quite well what they are; so do I. With us, +service is a religion,--service to country and service to master. These +men who perform the duties of my household would give their lives for +me as cheerfully as they would for their country, should the occasion +arise." + +"But their health?" the Inspector protested. "It is not, surely, well +for them to be herded together like this?" + +The Prince smiled. + +"I am not what is called a sportsman in this country, Mr. Inspector +Jacks," he said, "but you shall go to the house of any nobleman you +choose, and if you will bring me an equal number of your valets or +footmen or chefs, who can compete with mine in running or jumping or +wrestling, then I will give you a prize what you will--a hundred pounds, +or more. You see, my servants have learned the secret of diet. They +drink nothing save water. Sickness is unknown to them." + +The Inspector was silent for some time. Then he rose to his feet. + +"Prince," he said, "what should you declare, then, if I told you that a +man of obvious Japanese extraction was seen to enter your house on +the morning after the murder, and that he was a person to whom certain +circumstances pointed as being concerned in that deed?" + +"Mr. Inspector Jacks," the Prince said calmly, "I was the only person of +my race who entered my house that morning." + +The Inspector moved toward the door. + +"Your Highness," he said gravely, "I am exceedingly obliged to you for +your courteous attention, and for your kindness after my unfortunate +indisposition." + +The Prince smiled graciously. + +"Mr. Inspector Jacks," he said, "your visit has been of great interest +to me. If I can be of any further assistance, pray do not hesitate to +call upon me." + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. ON THE TRAIL + +Inspector Jacks studied the brass plate for a moment, and then rang +the patients' bell. The former, he noticed was very much in want of +cleaning, and for a doctor's residence there was a certain lack of +smartness about the house and its appointments which betokened a limited +practice. The railing in front was broken, and no pretence had been made +at keeping the garden in order. Inspector Jacks had time to notice these +things, for it was not until after his second summons that the door was +opened by Dr. Whiles himself. + +"Good morning!" the latter said tentatively. Then, with a slight air of +disappointment, he recognized his visitor. + +"Good morning, doctor!" Inspector Jacks replied. "You haven't forgotten +me, I hope? I came down to see you a short time ago, respecting the +man who was knocked down by a motor car and treated by you on a certain +evening." + +The doctor nodded. + +"Will you come in?" he asked. + +He led the way into a somewhat dingy waiting room. A copy of _The +Field_, a month old, a dog-eared magazine, and a bound volume of _Good +Words_ were spread upon the table. The room itself, except for a few +chairs, was practically bare. + +"I do not wish to take up too much of your time, Dr. Whiles," the +Inspector began,-- + +The doctor laughed shortly. + +"You needn't bother about that," he said. "I'm tired of making a bluff. +My time isn't any too well occupied." + +The Inspector glanced at his watch,--it was a few minutes past twelve. + +"If you are really not busy," he said, "I was about to suggest to you +that you should come back to town with me and lunch. I do not expect, +of course, to take up your day for nothing," he continued. "You will +understand, as a professional man, that when your services are required +by the authorities, they expect and are willing to pay for them." + +"But what use can I be to you?" the doctor asked. "You know all about +the man whom I fixed up on the night of the murder. There's nothing more +to tell you about that. I'd as soon go up to town and lunch with you as +not, but if you think that I've anything more to tell you, you'll only +be disappointed." + +The Inspector nodded. + +"I'm quite content to run the risk of that," he said. "Of course," he +continued, "it does not follow in the least that this person was in any +way connected with the murder. In fact, so far as I can tell at present, +the chances are very much against it. But at the same time it would +interest my chief if you were able to identify him." + +The doctor nodded. + +"I begin to understand," he said. + +"If you will consider a day spent up in town equivalent to the treatment +of twenty-five patients at your ordinary scale," Inspector Jacks said, +"I shall be glad if you would accompany me there by the next train. +We will lunch together first, and look for our friend later in the +afternoon." + +The doctor did not attempt to conceal the fact that he found this +suggestion entirely satisfactory. In less than half an hour, the two men +were on their way to town. + +Curiously enough, Penelope and Prince Maiyo met that morning for the +first time in several days. They were both guests of the Duchess of +Devenham at a large luncheon party at the Savoy Restaurant. Penelope +felt a little shiver when she saw him coming down the stairs. Somehow or +other, she had dreaded this meeting, yet when it came, she knew that it +was a relief. There was no change in his manner, no trace of anxiety +in his smooth, unruffled face. He seemed, if possible, to have grown +younger, to walk more buoyantly. His eyes met hers frankly, his smile +was wholly unembarrassed. It was not possible for a man to bear himself +thus who stood beneath the great shadow! + +So far from avoiding her, he came over to her side directly he had +greeted his hostess. + +"This morning," he said, "I heard some good news. You are to be a fellow +guest at Devenham." + +"I am afraid," she admitted, "that of my two aunts I impose most +frequently upon the one where my claims are the slightest. The Duchess +is so good-natured." + +"She is charming," the Prince declared. "I am looking forward to my +visit immensely. I think I am a little weary of London. A visit to the +country seems to me most delightful. They tell me, too, that your spring +gardens are wonderful. What London suffers from, I think, at this time +of the year, is a lack of flowers. We want something to remind us that +the spring is coming, besides these occasional gleams of blue sky and +very occasional bursts of sunshine." + +"You are a sentimentalist, Prince," she declared, smiling. + +"No, I think not," he answered seriously. "I love all beautiful things. +I think that there are many men as well as women who are like that. +Shall I be very rude and say that in the matter of climate and flowers +one grows, perhaps, to expect a little more in my own country." + +An uncontrollable impulse moved her. She leaned a little towards him. + +"Climate and flowers only?" she murmured. "What about the third +essential?" + +"Miss Penelope," he said under his breath, "I have to admit that one +must travel further afield for Heaven's greatest gift. Even then one can +only worship. The stars are denied to us." + +The Duchess came sailing over to them. + +"Every one is here," she said. "I hope that you are all hungry. After +lunch, Prince, I want you to speak to General Sherrif. He has been dying +to meet you, to talk over your campaign together in Manchuria. There's +another man who is anxious to meet you, too,--Professor Spenlove. He +has been to Japan for a month, and thinks about writing a book on your +customs. I believe he looks to you to correct his impressions." + +"So long as he does not ask me to correct his proofs!" the Prince +murmured. + +"That is positively the most unkind thing I have ever heard you say," +the Duchess declared. "Come along, you good people. Jules has promised +me a new omelet, on condition that we sit down at precisely half-past +one. If we are five minutes late, he declines to send it up." + +They took their places at the round table which had been reserved for +the Duchess of Devenham,--not very far, Penelope remembered, from the +table at which they had sat for dinner a little more than a fortnight +ago. The recollection of that evening brought her a sudden realization +of the tragedy which seemed to have taken her life into its grip. Again +the Prince sat by her side. She watched him with eyes in which there was +a gleam sometimes almost of horror. Easy and natural as usual, with his +pleasant smile and simple speech, he was making himself agreeable to +one of the older ladies of the party, to whom, by chance, no one had +addressed more than a word or so. It was always the same--always like +this, she realized, with a sudden keen apprehension of this part of the +man's nature. If there was a kindness to be done, a thoughtful action, +it was not only he who did it but it was he who first thought of it. The +papers during the last few days had been making public an incident which +he had done his best to keep secret. He had signalized his arrival in +London, some months ago, by going overboard from a police boat into the +Thames to rescue a half-drunken lighterman, and when the Humane Society +had voted him their medal, he had accepted it only on condition that the +presentation was private and kept out of the papers. It was not one but +fifty kindly deeds which stood to his credit. Always with the manners of +a Prince--gracious, courteous, and genial--never a word had passed his +lips of evil towards any human being. The barriers today between the +smoking room and the drawing room are shadowy things, and she knew very +well that he was held in a somewhat curious respect by men, as a person +to whom it was impossible to tell a story in which there was any shadow +of indelicacy. The ways of the so-called man of world seemed in his +presence as though they must be the ways of some creature of a different +and a lower stage of existence. A young man whom he had once corrected +had christened him, half jestingly, Sir Galahad, and certainly his +life in London, a life which had to bear all the while the test of the +limelight, had appeared to merit some such title. These thoughts chased +one another through her mind as she looked at him and marvelled. Surely +those other things must be part of a bad nightmare! It was not possible +that such a man could be associated with wrong-doing--such manner of +wrong-doing! + +Even while these thoughts passed through her brain, he turned to talk to +her, and she felt at once that little glow of pleasure which the sound +of his voice nearly always evoked. + +"I am looking forward so much," he said, "to my stay at Devenham. You +know, it will not be very much longer that I shall have the opportunity +of accepting such invitations." + +"You mean that the time is really coming when we shall lose you?" she +asked suddenly. + +"When my work is finished, I return home," he answered. "I fancy that it +will not be very long now." + +"When you do leave England," she asked after a moment's pause, "do you +go straight to Japan?" + +He bowed. + +"With the Continent I have finished," he said. "The cruiser which His +Majesty has sent to fetch me waits even now at Southampton." + +"You speak of your work," she remarked, "as though you had been +collecting material for a book." + +He smiled. + +"I have been busy collecting information in many ways," he +said,--"trying to live your life and feel as you feel, trying to +understand those things in your country, and in other countries too, +which seem at first so strange to us who come from the other side of the +East." + +"And the end of it all?" she asked. + +His eyes gleamed for a moment with a light which she did not understand. +His smile was tolerant, even genial, but his face remained like the face +of a sphinx. + +"It is for the good of Japan I came," he said, "for her good that I have +stayed here so long. At the same time it has been very pleasant. I have +met with great kindness." + +She leaned a little forward so as to look into his face. The impassivity +of his features was like a wall before her. + +"After all," she said, "I suppose it is a period of probation. You are +like a schoolboy already who is looking forward to his holidays. You +will be very happy when you return." + +"I shall be very happy indeed," he admitted simply. "Why not? I am a +true son of Japan, and, for every true son of his country, absence from +her is as hard a thing to be borne as absence from one's own family." + +Somerfield, who was sitting on her other side, insisted at last upon +diverting her attention. + +"Penelope," he declared, lowering his voice a little, "it isn't fair. +You never have a word to say to me when the Prince is here." + +She smiled. + +"You must remember that he is going away very soon, Charlie," she +reminded him. + +"Good job, too!" Somerfield muttered, sotto voce. + +"And then," Penelope continued, with the air of not having heard her +companion's last remark, "he possesses also a very great attraction. He +is absolutely unlike any other human being I ever met or heard of." + +Somerfield glanced across at his rival with lowering brows. + +"I've nothing to say against the fellow," he remarked, "except that it +seems queer nowadays to run up against a man of his birth who is not a +sportsman,--in the sense of being fond of sport, I mean," he corrected +himself quickly. + +"Sometimes I wonder," Penelope said thoughtfully, "whether such speeches +as the one which you have just made do not indicate something totally +wrong in our modern life. You, for instance, have no profession, +Charlie, and you devote your life to a systematic course of what is +nothing more or less than pleasure-seeking. You hunt or you shoot, you +play polo or golf, you come to town or you live in the country, entirely +according to the seasons. If any one asked you why you had not chosen a +profession, you would as good as tell them that it was because you were +a rich man and had no need to work for your living. That is practically +what it comes to. You Englishmen work only if you need money. If you do +not need money, you play. The Prince is wealthy, but his profession was +ordained for him from the moment when he left the cradle. The end and +aim of his life is to serve his country, and I believe that he would +consider it sacrilege if he allowed any slighter things to divert at any +time his mind from its main purpose. He would feel like a priest who has +broken his ordination vows." + +"That's all very well," Somerfield said coolly, "but there's nothing in +life nowadays to make us quite so strenuous as that." + +"Isn't there?" Penelope answered. "You are an Englishman, and you should +know. Are you convinced, then, that your country today is at the +height of her prosperity, safe and sound, bound to go on triumphant, +prosperous, without the constant care of her men?" + +Somerfield looked up at her in growing amazement. + +"What on earth's got hold of you, Penelope?" he asked. "Have you been +reading the sensational papers, or stuffing yourself up with jingoism, +or what?" + +She laughed. + +"None of those things, I can assure you," she said. "A man like the +Prince makes one think, because, you see, every standard of life we have +is a standard of comparison. When one sees the sort of man he is, one +wonders. When one sees how far apart he is from you Englishmen in his +ideals and the way he spends his life, one wonders again." + +Somerfield shrugged his shoulders. + +"We do well enough," he said. "Japan is the youngest of the nations. She +has a long way to go to catch us up." + +"We do well enough!" she repeated under her breath. "There was a great +city once which adopted that as her motto,--people dig up mementoes of +her sometimes from under the sands." + +Somerfield looked at her in an aggrieved fashion. + +"Well," he said, "I thought that this was to be an amusing luncheon +party." + +"You should have talked more to Lady Grace," she answered. "I am sure +that she is quite ready to believe that you are perfection, and the +English army the one invincible institution in the world. You mustn't +take me too seriously today, Charlie. I have a headache, and I think +that it has made me dull."... + +They trooped out into the foyer in irregular fashion to take their +coffee. The Prince and Penelope were side by side. + +"What I like about your restaurant life," the Prince said, "is the +strange mixture of classes which it everywhere reveals." + +"Those two, for instance," Penelope said, and then stopped short. + +The Prince followed her slight gesture. Inspector Jacks and Dr. +Spencer Whiles were certainly just a little out of accord with their +surroundings. The detective's clothes were too new and his companion's +too old. The doctor's clothes indeed were as shabby as his waiting room, +and he sat where the sunlight was merciless. + +"How singular," the Prince remarked with a smile, "that you should have +pointed those two men out! One of them I know, and, if you will excuse +me for a moment, I should like to speak to him." + +Penelope was not capable of any immediate answer. The Prince, with a +kindly and yet gracious smile, walked over to Inspector Jacks, who rose +at once to his feet. + +"I hope you have quite recovered, Mr. Inspector," the Prince said, +holding out his hand in friendly fashion. "I have felt very guilty over +your indisposition. I am sure that I keep my rooms too close for English +people." + +"Thank you, Prince," the Inspector answered, "I am perfectly well again. +In fact, I have not felt anything of my little attack since." + +The Prince smiled. + +"I am glad," he said. "Next time you are good enough to pay me a visit, +I will see that you do not suffer in the same way." + +He nodded kindly and rejoined his friends. The Inspector resumed his +seat and busied himself with relighting his cigar. He purposely did not +even glance at his companion. + +"Who was that?" the doctor asked curiously. "Did you call him Prince?" + +Inspector Jacks sighed. This was a disappointment to him! + +"His name is Prince Maiyo," he said slowly. "He is a Japanese." + +The doctor looked across the restaurant with puzzled face. + +"It's queer," he said, "how all these Japanese seem to one to look so +much alike, and yet--" + +He broke off in the middle of his sentence. + +"You are thinking of your friend of the other night?" the Inspector +remarked. + +"I was," the doctor admitted. "For a moment it seemed to me like the +same man with a different manner." + +Inspector Jacks was silent. He puffed steadily at his cigar. + +"You don't suppose," he asked quietly, "that it could have been the same +man?" + +The doctor was still looking across the room. + +"I could not tell," he said. "I should like to see him again. I wasn't +prepared, and there was something so altered in his tone and the way he +carried himself. And yet--" + +The pause was expressive. Inspector Jacks' eyes brightened. He hated to +feel that his day had been altogether wasted. + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. PRINCE MAIYO BIDS HIGH + +Inspector Jacks was in luck at last. Eleven times he had called at St. +Thomas's Hospital and received the same reply. Today he was asked to +wait. The patient was better--would be able to see him. Soon a nurse in +neat uniform came quietly down the corridor and took charge of him. + +"Ten minutes, no more," she insisted good-humoredly. + +The Inspector nodded. + +"One question, if you please, nurse," he asked. "Is the man going to +live?" + +"Not a doubt about it," she declared. "Why?" + +"A matter of depositions," the Inspector exclaimed. "I'd rather let it +go, though, if he's sure to recover." + +"It's a simple case," she answered, "and his constitution is excellent. +There isn't the least need for your to think about depositions. Here he +is. Don't talk too long." + +The Inspector sat down by the bedside. The patient, a young man, +welcomed him a little shyly. + +"You have come to ask me about what I saw in Pall Mall and opposite +the Hyde Park Hotel?" he said, speaking slowly and in a voice scarcely +raised above a whisper. "I told them all before the operation, but they +couldn't send for you then. There wasn't time." + +The Inspector nodded. + +"Tell me your own way," he said. "Don't hurry. We can get the +particulars later on. Glad you're going to be mended." + +"It was touch and go," the young man declared with a note of awe in his +tone. "If the omnibus wheel had turned a foot more, I should have lost +both my legs. It was all through watching that chap hop out of the +taxicab, too." + +The Inspector inclined his head gravely. + +"You saw him get in, didn't you?" he asked. + +"That's so," the patient admitted. "I was on my way--Charing Cross to +the Kensington Palace Hotel, on a bicycle. There was a block--corner of +Pall Mall and Haymarket. I caught hold--taxi in front--to steady me." + +The nurse bent over him with a glass in her hand. She raised him a +little with the other arm. + +"Not too much of this, you know, young man," she said with a pleasant +smile. "Here's something to make you strong." + +"Right you are!" + +He drained the contents of the glass and smacked his lips. + +"Jolly good stuff," he declared. "Where was I, Mr. Inspector?" + +"Holding the back of a taxicab, corner of Regent Street and Haymarket," +Inspector Jacks reminded him. + +The patient nodded. + +"There was an electric brougham," he continued, "drawn up alongside the +taxi. While we were there, waiting, I saw a chap get out, speak to some +one through the window of the taxi, open the door, and step in. When we +moved on, he stayed in the taxi. Dark, slim chap he was," the patient +continued, "a regular howling swell,--silk hat, white muffler, white kid +gloves,--all the rest of it." + +"And afterwards?" the Inspector asked. + +"I kept behind the taxi," the youth continued. "We got blocked again at +Hyde Park Corner. I saw him step out of the taxi and disappear amongst +the vehicles. A moment or two later, I passed the taxi and looked +in--saw something had happened--the fellow was lying side-ways. It gave +me a bit of a start. I skidded, and over I went. Sort of had an idea +that every one in the world had started shouting to me, and felt that I +was half underneath an omnibus. Woke up to find myself here." + +"Should you know the man again?" the Inspector asked. "I mean the man +whom you saw enter and leave the taxi?" + +"I think so--pretty sure!" + +The nurse came up, shaking her head. Inspector Jacks rose from his seat. + +"Right, nurse," he said. "I'm off. Take care of our young friend. He +is going to be very useful to us as soon as he can use his feet and get +about. I'll come and sit with you for half an hour next visiting day, if +I may?" he added, turning to the patient. + +"Glad to see you," the youth answered. "My people live down in the +country, and I haven't many pals." + +Inspector Jacks left the hospital thoughtfully. The smell of +anaesthetics somehow reminded him of the library in the house at the +corner of St. James' Square. It was not altogether by chance, perhaps, +that he found himself walking in that direction. He was in Pall Mall, in +fact, before he realized where he was, and at the corner of St. James' +Square and Pall Mall he came face to face with Prince Maiyo, walking +slowly westwards. + +The meeting between the two men was a characteristic one. The Inspector +suffered no signs of surprise or even interest to creep into his +expressionless face. The Prince, on the other hand, did not attempt to +conceal his pleasure at this unexpected encounter. His lips parted in a +delightful smile. He ignored the Inspector's somewhat stiff salute, and +insisted upon shaking him cordially by the hand. + +"Mr. Inspector Jacks," he said, "you are the one person whom I desired +to see. You are not busy, I hope? You can talk with me for five +minutes?" + +The Inspector hesitated for a moment. He was versed in every form +of duplicity, and yet he felt that in the presence of this young +aristocrat, who was smiling upon him so delightfully, he was little more +than a babe in wisdom, an amateur pure and simple. He was conscious, +too, of a sentiment which rarely intruded itself into his affairs. He +was conscious of a strong liking for this debonair, pleasant-faced young +man, who treated him not only as an equal, but as an equal in whose +society he found an especial pleasure. + +"I have the time to spare, sir, certainly," he admitted. + +The Prince smiled gayly. + +"Inspector Jacks," he said, "you are a wonderful man. Even now you are +asking yourself, 'What does he want to say to me--Prince Maiyo? Is he +going to ask me questions, or will he tell me things which I should like +to hear?' You know, Mr. Inspector Jacks, between ourselves, you are just +a little interested in me, is it not so?" + +The detective was dumb. He stood there patiently waiting. He had the air +of a man who declines to commit himself. + +"Just a little interested in me, I think," the Prince murmured, smiling +at his companion. "Ah, well, many of the things I do over here, perhaps, +must seem very strange. And that reminds me. Only a short time ago you +were asking questions about the man who travelled from Liverpool to +London and reached his destination with a dagger through his heart. Tell +me, Mr. Inspector Jacks, have you discovered the murderer yet?" + +"Not yet," the detective answered. + +"I have heard you speak of this affair," the Prince continued, "and +before now I expected to read in the papers that you had put your hand +upon the guilty one. If you have not done so, I am very sure that there +is some explanation." + +"It is better sometimes to wait," the detective said quietly. + +The Prince bowed as one who understands. + +"I think so," he assented, "I think I follow you. On the very next day +there was another tragedy which seemed to me even more terrible. I mean +the murder of that young fellow Vanderpole, of the American Embassy. Mr. +Inspector Jacks, has it ever occurred to you, I wonder, that it might be +as well to let the solution of one await the solution of the other?" + +Inspector Jacks shrugged his shoulders. + +"Occasionally," he admitted reluctantly, "when one is following up a +clue, one discovers things." + +"You are wonderful!" the Prince declared. "You are, indeed! I know what +is in your mind. You have said to yourself, 'Between these two murders +there is some connection. They were both done by the hand of a master +criminal. The victims in both cases were Americans.' You said to +yourself, 'First of all, I will discover the motive; then, perhaps, +a clue which seems to belong to the one will lead me to the other, or +both?' You are not sure which way to turn. There is nothing there upon +which you can lay your hand. You say to yourself, 'I will make a bluff.' +That is the word, is it not? You come to me. You tell me gravely that +you have reason to suspect some one in my household. That is because you +believe that the crimes were perpetrated by some one of my country. You +do not ask for information. You think, perhaps, that I would not give +it. You confront me with a statement. It was very clever of you, Mr. +Inspector Jacks." + +"I had reason for what I did, sir," the detective said. + +"No doubt," the Prince agreed. "And now, tell me, when are you going to +electrify us all? When is the great arrest to take place?" + +The detective coughed discreetly. + +"I am not yet in a position, sir," he said, "to make any definite +announcement." + +"Cautious, Mr. Jacks, cautious!" the Prince remarked smilingly. "It is a +great quality,--a quality which I, too, have learned how to appreciate. +And now for our five minutes' talk. If I say to you, 'Return home with +me,' I think you will remember that unpleasant room of mine, and you +will recollect an important engagement at Scotland Yard. In the clubs +one is always overheard. Walk with me a little way, Mr. Jacks, in St. +James' Park. We can speak there without fear of interruption. Come!" + +He thrust his arm through the detective's and led him across the street. +Mr. Inspector Jacks was only human, and he yielded without protest. They +passed St. James' Palace and on to the broad promenade, where there were +few passers-by and no listeners. + +"You see, my dear Inspector," the Prince said, "I am really a sojourner +in your marvellous city not altogether for pleasure. My stay over here +is more in the light of a mission. I have certain arrangements which +I wish to effect for the good of my country. Amongst them is one +concerning which I should like to speak to you." + +"To me, sir?" Inspector Jacks repeated. + +The Prince twirled his cane and nodded his head. + +"It is a very important matter, Mr. Jacks," he said. "It is nothing less +than a desire on the part of the city government of Tokio to perfect +thoroughly their police system on the model of yours over here. We are a +progressive nation, you know, Mr. Jacks, but we are also a young nation, +and though I think that we advance all the time, we are still in many +respects a long way behind you. We have no Scotland Yard in Tokio. To be +frank with you, the necessity for such an institution has become a real +thing with us only during the last few years. Do you read history, Mr. +Jacks?" + +The Inspector was doubtful. + +"I can't say, sir," he admitted, "that I have done much reading since I +left school, and that was many years ago." + +"Well," the Prince said, "it is one of the axioms of history, Mr. Jacks, +that as a country becomes civilized and consequently more prosperous, +there is a corresponding growth in her criminal classes, a corresponding +need for a different state of laws by which to judge them, a different +machinery for checking their growth. We have arrived at that position in +Japan, and in my latest despatches from home comes to me a request that +I send them out a man who shall reorganize our entire police system. I +am a judge of character, Mr. Jacks, and if I can get the man I want, +I do not need to ask my friends at Downing Street to help me. I should +like you to accept that post." + +The Inspector was scarcely prepared for this. He allowed himself to show +some surprise. + +"I am very much obliged to you, Prince, for the offer," he said. "I am +afraid, however, that I should not be competent." + +"That," the Prince reminded him, "is a risk which we are willing to +take." + +"I do not think, either," the detective continued, "that at my time +of life I should care to go so far from home to settle down in an +altogether strange country." + +"It must be as you will, of course," the Prince declared. "Only +remember, Mr. Jacks, that a great nation like mine which wants a +particular man for a particular purpose is not afraid to pay for him. +Your work out there would certainly take you no more than three years. +For that three years' work you would receive the sum of thirty thousand +pounds." + +The detective gasped. + +"It is a great sum," he said. + +The Prince shrugged his shoulders. + +"You could hardly call it that," he said. "Still, it would enable you to +live in comfort for the rest of your life." + +"And when should I be required to start, sir?" the Inspector asked. + +"That, perhaps," the Prince replied, "would seem the hardest part of +all. You would be required to start tomorrow afternoon from Southampton +at four o'clock." + +The Inspector started. Then a new light dawned suddenly in his face. + +"Tomorrow afternoon," he murmured. + +The Prince assented. + +"So far as regards your position at Scotland Yard," he said, "I have +influential friends in your Government who will put that right for +you. You need not be afraid of any unpleasantness in that direction. +Remember, Mr. Inspector, thirty thousand pounds, and a free hand while +you are in my country. You are a man, I should judge, of fifty-two or +fifty-three years of age. You can spend your fifty-sixth birthday in +England, then, and be a man of means for the remainder of your days." + +"And this sum of money," the detective said, "is for my services in +building up the police force of Tokio?" + +"Broadly speaking, yes!" the Prince answered. + +"And incidentally," the detective continued, glancing cautiously at his +companion, "it is the price of my leaving unsuspected the murderer of +two innocent men!" + +The Prince walked on in silence. Every line in his face seemed slowly +to have hardened. His brows had contracted. He was looking steadfastly +forward at the great front of Buckingham Palace. + +"I am disappointed in you, Mr. Jacks," he said a little stiffly. "I do +not understand your allusion. The money I have mentioned is to be paid +to you for certain well-defined services. The other matter you speak of +does not interest me. It is no concern of mine whether this man of whom +you are in search is brought to justice or not. All that I wish to hear +from you is whether or not you accept my offer." + +The Inspector shook his head. + +"Prince," he said, "there can be no question about that. I thank you +very much for it, but I must decline." + +"Your mind is quite made up?" the Prince asked regretfully. + +"Quite," the Inspector said firmly. + +"Japan," the Prince said thoughtfully, "is a pleasant country." + +"London suits me moderately well," Inspector Jacks declared. + +"Under certain conditions," the Prince continued, "I should have +imagined that the climate here might prove most unhealthy for you. You +must remember that I was a witness of your slight indisposition the +other day." + +"In my profession, sir," the detective said, "we must take our risks." + +The Prince came to a standstill. They were at the parting of the ways. + +"I am very sorry," he said simply. "It was a great post, and it was one +which you would have filled well. It is not for me, however, to press +the matter." + +"It would make no difference, sir," the detective answered. + +The Prince was on the point of moving away. + +"I shall not seek in any case to persuade you," he said. "My offer +remains open if you should change your mind. Think, too, over what I +have said about our climate. At your time of life, Mr. Inspector Jacks, +and particularly at this season of the year, one should be careful. A +sea voyage now would, I am convinced, be the very thing for you. Good +day, Mr. Jacks!" + +The Prince turned towards Buckingham Palace, and the Inspector slowly +retraced his steps. + +"It is a bribe!" he muttered to himself slowly,--"a cleverly offered +bribe! Thirty thousand pounds to forget the little I have learned! +Thirty thousand pounds for silence!" + + + +CHAPTER XXV. HOBSON'S CHOICE + +There were some days when the absence of patients seemed to Dr. Spencer +Whiles a thing almost insupportable. Too late he began to realize that +he had set up in the wrong neighborhood. In years to come, he reflected +gloomily, when the great building estate which was to have been +developed more than a year ago was really opened up, there might be an +opportunity where he was, a very excellent opportunity, too, for a young +doctor of ability. Just now, however, the outlook was almost hopeless. +He found himself even looking eagerly forward every day for another +visit from Mr. Inspector Jacks. Another trip to town would mean a peep +into the world of luxury, whose doors were so closely barred against +him, and, what was more important still, it would mean a fee which would +keep the wolf from the door for another week. It had come to that with +Dr. Whiles. His little stock of savings was exhausted. Unless something +turned up within the course of the next few weeks, he knew very well +that there was nothing left for him to do but to slip away quietly +into the embrace of the more shady parts of the great city, to find +a situation somewhere, somehow, beyond the ken of the disappointed +creditors whom he would leave behind. + +Mr. Inspector Jacks, however, had apparently no further use, for the +present at any rate, for his medical friend. On the other hand, Dr. +Spencer Whiles was not left wholly to himself. On the fourth day after +his visit to London a motor car drew up outside his modest surgery door, +and with an excitement which he found it almost impossible to conceal, +he saw a plainly dressed young man, evidently a foreigner and, he +believed, a Japanese, descend and ring the patients' bell. The doctor +had dismissed his boy a week ago, from sheer inability to pay his modest +wages, and he did not hesitate for a moment about opening the door +himself. The man outside raised his hat and made him a sweeping bow. + +"It is Dr. Spencer Whiles?" he asked. + +The doctor admitted the fact and invited his visitor to enter. + +"It is here, perhaps," the latter continued, "that a gentleman who was +riding a bicycle and was run into by a motor car, was brought after the +accident and treated so skilfully?" + +"That is so," Dr. Whiles admitted. "There was nothing much the matter +with him. He had rather a narrow escape." + +"I am that gentleman's servant," the visitor continued with a bland +smile. "He has sent me down here to see you. The leg which was injured +is perfectly well, but there was a pain in the side of which he spoke +to you, which has not disappeared. This morning, in fact, it is +worse,--much worse. My master, therefore, has sent me to you. He begs +that if it is not inconvenient you will return with me at once and +examine him." + +The doctor drew a little breath. This might mean another week or so of +respite! + +"Where does your master live?" he asked the man. + +"In the West end of London, sir," was the reply. "The Square of St. +James it is called." + +Dr. Whiles glanced at his watch. + +"It will take me some time to go there with you," he said, "and I shall +have to arrange with a friend to treat any other patients. Do you think +your master will understand that I shall need an increased fee?" + +"My master desired me to say," the other answered, "that he would be +prepared to pay any fee you cared to mention. Money is not of account +with him. He has not had occasion to seek medical advice in London, +and as he is leaving very soon, he did not wish to send for a strange +physician. He remembered with gratitude your care of him, and he sends +for you." + +"That's all right," Dr. Whiles declared, "so long as it's understood. +You'll excuse me for a moment while I write a note, and I'll come +along." + +Dr. Whiles had no note to write, but he made a few changes in his toilet +which somewhat improved his appearance. In due course he reappeared and +was rapidly whirled up to London, the sole passenger in the magnificent +car. The man who had brought him the message from his quondam patient +was sitting in front, next the chauffeur, so Dr. Whiles had no +opportunity of asking him for any information concerning his master. Nor +did the car itself slacken speed until it drew up before the door of the +large corner house in St. James' Square. A footman in dark livery came +running out; a butler bowed upon the steps. Dr. Spencer Whiles was +immensely impressed. The servants were all Japanese, but their livery +and manners were faultless. He made his way into the hall and followed +the butler up the broad stairs. + +"My master," the latter explained, "will receive you very shortly. He is +but partly dressed at present." + +Dr. Spencer Whiles came of a family of successful tradespeople, and he +was not used to such quiet magnificence as was everywhere displayed. +Yet, with it all, there seemed to him to be an air of gloom about the +place, something almost mysterious in the silence of the thick carpets, +the subdued voices, and the absence of maidservants. The house itself +was apparently an old one. He noticed that the doors were very heavy and +thick, the corridors roomy, the absence of light almost remarkable. The +apartment into which he was shown, however, came as a pleasant surprise. +It was small, but delightfully furnished in the most modern fashion. Its +only drawback was that it looked out upon a blank wall. + +"My master will come to you in a few minutes," the butler announced. +"What refreshments may I have the honor of serving?" + +Dr. Whiles waved aside the invitation,--he would at any rate remain +professional. The man withdrew, and almost immediately afterwards Prince +Maiyo entered the room. The doctor rose to his feet with a little thrill +of excitement. The Prince held out his hand. + +"I am very pleased to see you again, doctor," he said. "You looked +after me so well last time that I was afraid I should have no excuse for +sending for you." + +"I am glad to find that you are not suffering," the doctor answered. "I +understood from your servant that you were feeling a good deal of pain +in the side." + +"It troubles me at times," the Prince admitted, drawing a chair up +towards his visitor,--"just sufficiently, perhaps, to give me the excuse +of seeking a little conversation with you. You must let me offer you +something after your ride." + +"You are very good," the doctor answered. "Perhaps I had better examine +you first." + +The Prince rang the bell and waved aside the suggestion. + +"That," he said, "can wait. In my country, you know, we do not consider +that a guest is properly treated unless he partakes of our hospitality +the moment he crosses the threshold. The whiskey and soda water," he +ordered of the butler who appeared at the door. "We will talk of my +ailments," the Prince continued, "in a moment or two. Tell me what +you thought of that marvellous restaurant where I saw you the other +morning?" + +The doctor drew a little breath. + +"It was you, then!" he exclaimed. + +"But naturally," the Prince murmured. "I took it for granted that you +would recognize me." + +The doctor found some difficulty in proceeding. He was trying to +imagine the cousin of an Emperor riding a bicycle along a country +road, staggering into his surgery at midnight, covered with dust, +inarticulate, pointing only to the wounds beneath his cheap clothes! + +"Nothing," the Prince continued easily, "has impressed me more in your +country than the splendor of your restaurants. You see, that side of +your life represents something we are altogether ignorant of in Japan." + +"It is a very wonderful place," the doctor admitted. "We had luncheon, +my friend and I, in the grillroom, but we came for a few minutes into +the foyer to watch the people from the restaurant." + +The Prince nodded genially. + +"By the bye," he remarked, "it is strange that my very good friend--Mr. +Inspector Jacks--should also be a friend of yours." + +"He is scarcely that," the doctor objected. "I have known him for a very +short time." + +The Prince raised his eyebrows. The whiskey and soda were brought, and +the doctor helped himself. How curiously deficient these Westerners +were, the Prince thought, in every instinct of duplicity! As clearly +as possible the doctor had revealed the fact that his acquaintance +with Inspector Jacks was of precisely that nature which might have been +expected. + +The Prince sighed. There was but one course open to him. + +"Now, Dr. Whiles," he said, "I will tell you something. You must listen +to me very carefully, please. I sent for you not so much on account of +any immediate pain but because my general health has been giving me a +little trouble lately. I have come to the conclusion that I require the +services of a medical attendant always at hand." + +The doctor looked at his prospective patient skeptically. + +"You have not the appearance," he remarked, "of being in ill health." + +"Perhaps not," the Prince answered. "Perhaps even, there is not for the +moment very much the matter with me. One has humors, you know, my dear +doctor. I have a somewhat large suite here with me in England, but I do +not number amongst them a physician. I wanted to ask you to accept that +position in my household for two months." + +"Do you mean come and live here?" the doctor asked. + +"That is exactly what I do mean," the Prince answered. "I am thankful to +observe that your apprehensions are so acute. I warn you that I am going +to make some very curious conditions. I do not know whether money is an +object to you. If not, I am powerless. If it is, I propose to make it +worth your while." + +The doctor did not hesitate. + +"Money," he said, "is the greatest object in life to me. I have none, +and I want some very badly." + +The Prince smiled. + +"I find your candor delightful," he declared. "Now tell me, Dr. Whiles, +how many patients have you in your neighborhood absolutely dependent +upon your services?" + +The doctor hesitated, opened his mouth and closed it again. + +"Not one!" he declared. + +Once more the Prince's lips parted. His smile this time was definite, +transfiguring. + +"I find you, Dr. Whiles," he announced, "a most charmingly reasonable +person. I make you my offer, then, with every confidence, although I +warn you that there will be some strange conditions attached to it. I +ask you to accept the post of private physician to this household for +the space of one--it may be two months, and I offer you also, as an +honorarium, the fee of one thousand guineas." + +The doctor sat quite still for a moment. He was in a condition when +speech was difficult. Then his eyes fell upon his tumbler of whiskey and +soda still half filled. He emptied it at a draught. + +"A thousand guineas!" he repeated hoarsely. + +"I trust that you will find the sum attractive," the Prince said +smoothly, "because, as I have warned you before, there are one or two +curious conditions coupled with the post." + +"I don't care what the conditions are," the doctor said slowly. "I +accept!" + +The Prince nodded. + +"You are the man I thought you were, doctor," he said. "The first +condition, then, is this. You see the sitting room we are now in--a +pleasant little apartment, I think,--books, you see, papers, a smoking +cabinet in which I can assure you that you will find the finest Havana +cigars and the best cigarettes to be procured in London. Through +here"--the Prince threw open an inner door--"is a small sleeping +apartment. It has, as you see, the same outlook. It is comfortable if +not luxurious." + +The doctor sighed. + +"I am not used to luxury," he said. + +"These two rooms will be yours," the Prince announced, "and the first +condition of our arrangement is that until two months are up, or our +engagement is finished, you do not leave them." + +The doctor stared at him blankly. + +"Are you in earnest, sir?" he asked. + +"In absolute earnest," the Prince assured him. "Not only that, but I +require you to keep your whereabouts, until after the period of time I +have mentioned, an entire secret from every one. I gather that you are +not married, and that there is no one living in your house to whom it +would seem necessary to disclose your movements. In any case, this +is another of my conditions. You are neither to write nor receive any +letters whilst here. You are to figure in the neighborhood from which +you came as a man who has disappeared,--as a man, in short, who has +found it impossible to pay his way and has preferred simply to slip out +of his place. At the end of two months you can reappear or not, as you +choose. That rests with yourself." + +The doctor smiled faintly. To make some sort of disappearance had been +his precise intention, but to disappear in this fashion and make his +return to the world with a thousand guineas in his pocket, had not +exactly come within the scope of his imagination. It was a situation +full of allurements. Nevertheless he was bewildered. + +"I am to live in these two rooms?" he demanded. "I am to let no one know +where I am, to write no letters, to receive none? My duties are to be +simply to treat you?" + +"When required," the Prince remarked dryly. + +"I suppose," the doctor asked, "my friend Mr. Jacks was speaking the +truth when he told me your name?" + +"My name is Prince Maiyo," the Prince said. + +Mechanically the doctor helped himself to another whiskey and soda. + +"You are to be my only patient," he said thoughtfully. "May I take the +liberty of feeling your pulse, Prince?" + +The Prince extended his hand. The doctor felt it and resumed his seat. + +"There is, of course, nothing whatever the matter with you," he +declared. "You are, I should say, in absolutely perfect health. You have +no need of a physician." + +"On the contrary," the Prince protested, smiling, "I need you, Dr. +Whiles, so much that I am paying you a thousand guineas--" + +"To remain in these two rooms," the doctor remarked quietly. + +"It is not your business to think that or to know that," the Prince +said. "Do you accept my offer?" + +"If I should refuse?" the doctor asked. + +The Prince hesitated. + +"Do not let us suppose that," he said. "It is not a pleasant suggestion. +I do not think that you mean to refuse." + +"Frankly, I do not," the doctor answered. "And yet treat it as a whim of +mine and answer my question. Supposing I should?" + +"The matter would arrange itself in precisely the same way," the Prince +answered. "You would not leave these rooms for two months." + +The doctor leaned back in his chair and laughed shortly. + +"This is rather hard luck on Inspector Jacks," he said. "He paid me ten +guineas the other day to lunch with him." + +"Mr. Inspector Jacks," the Prince remarked, "is scarcely in a position +to bid you an adequate sum for your services." + +"It appears to me," the doctor continued, "that I am kidnapped." + +"An admirable word," the Prince declared. "At what time do you usually +lunch?" + +The doctor smiled. + +"I am not used to motoring," he said, "or interviews of this exciting +character. I lunch, as a rule, when I can get anything to eat. The +present seems to me to be a most suitable hour." + +The Prince nodded, and rose to his feet. + +"I will send my servant," he said, "to take your orders. My cook is very +highly esteemed here, and I can assure you that you will not be starved. +Please also make out a list of the newspapers, magazines, and books with +which you would like to be supplied. I fear that, for obvious reasons, +my people would hardly be able to anticipate your wants." + +"And about that examination?" the doctor remarked. + +"I shall do myself the pleasure of seeing you every day," the Prince +answered. "There will be time enough for that." + +With an amiable word of farewell the Prince departed. The doctor threw +himself into an easy chair. His single exclamation was laconic but +forcible. + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. SOME FAREWELLS + +Never did Prince Maiyo show fewer signs of his Japanese origin than +when in the company of other men of his own race. Side by side with His +Excellency the Baron Hesho, the contrasts in feature and expression +were so marked as to make it hard, indeed, to believe that these two men +could belong to the same nation. The Baron Hesho had high cheekbones, a +yellow skin, close-cropped black hair, and wore gold-rimmed spectacles +through which he beamed upon the whole world. The Prince, as he lounged +in his wicker chair and watched the blue smoke of his cigarette curl +upwards, looked more like an Italian--perhaps a Spaniard. The shape of +his head was perfectly Western, perfectly and typically Romanesque. The +carriage of his body must have been inherited from his mother, of whom +it was said that no more graceful woman ever walked. Yet between +these two men, so different in all externals, there was the strongest +sympathy, although they met but seldom. + +"So we are to lose you soon, Prince," the Baron was saying. + +"Very soon indeed," Prince Maiyo answered. "Next week I go down to +Devenham. I understand that the Prime Minister and Sir Edward +Bransome will be there. If so, that, I think, will be practically my +leave-taking. There is no object in my staying any longer over here." + +The Baron blinked his eyes meditatively. + +"I have seen very little of you, Maiyo," he said, "since your last visit +to the Continent. I take it that your views are unchanged?" + +The Prince assented. + +"Unchanged indeed," he answered,--"unchangeable, I think almost that +I might now say. They have been wonderful months, these last months, +Baron," he continued. "I have seen some of those things which we in +Japan have heard about and wondered about all our lives. I have seen +the German army at manoeuvres. I have talked to their officers. Where +I could, I have talked to the men. I have been to some of their great +socialist meetings. I have heard them talk about their country and their +Emperor, and what would happen to their officers if war should come. I +have seen the French artillery. I have been the guest of the President. +I have tried to understand the peculiar attitude which that country has +always adopted toward us. I have been, unrecognized, in St. Petersburg. +I have tried to understand a little the resources of that marvellous +country. I came back here in time for the great review in the Solent. +I have seen the most magnificent ships and the most splendid naval +discipline the world has ever known. Then I have explored the interior +of this island as few of our race have explored it before, not for +the purpose of studying the manufactures, the trades, the immense +shipbuilding industries,--simply to study the people themselves." + +The Baron nodded gravely. + +"I ask no questions," he said. "It is the Emperor's desire, I know, that +you go straight to him. I take it that your mind is made up,--you have +arrived at definite conclusions?" + +"Absolutely." Prince Maiyo answered. "I shall make no great secret of +them. You already, my dear Baron, know, I think, whither they lead. I +shall be unpopular for a time, I suppose, and your own position may be +made a little difficult. After that, things will go on pretty much the +same. Of one thing, though, I am assured. I see it as clearly as the +shepherd who has lain the night upon the hillside sees the coming day. +It may be twelve months, it may be two years, it may even be three, but +before that time has passed the clouds will have gathered, the storm +will have burst. Then, I think, Hesho, our master will be glad that we +are free." + +The Baron agreed. + +"Only a few nights ago," he said, "Captain Koki and the other attaches +spent an evening with me. We have charts and pieces, and with locked +doors we played a war game of our own invention. It should all be over +in three weeks." + +Prince Maiyo laughed softly. + +"You are right," he said. "I have gone over the ground myself. It could +be done in even less time. You should ask a few of our friends to that +war game, Baron. How they would smile! You read the newspapers of the +country?" + +"Invariably," the Ambassador answered. + +"There is an undercurrent of feeling somewhere," the Prince +continued,--"one of the cheaper organs is shrieking all the time a +brazen warning. Patriotism, as you and I understand it, dear friend, is +long since dead, but if one strikes hard enough at the flint, some fire +may come. Hesho, how short our life is! How little we can understand! +We have only the written words of those who have gone before, to show us +the cities and the empires that have been, to teach us the reasons why +they decayed and crumbled away. We have only our own imagination to help +us to look forward into the future and see the empires that may rise, +the kingdoms that shall stand, the kingdoms that shall fall. Amongst +them all, Hesho, there is but this much of truth. It is our own dear +country and our one great rival across the Pacific who, in the years to +come, must fight for the supremacy of the world." + +"It will be no fight, that," the Ambassador answered slowly,--"no fight +unless a new prophet is born to them. The money-poison is sucking the +very blood from their body. The country is slowly but surely becoming +honey-combed with corruption. The voices of its children are like the +voices from the tower of Babel. If their strong man should arise, then +the fight will be the fiercest the world has ever known. Even then the +end is not doubtful. The victory will be ours. When the universe is left +for them and for us, it will be our sons who shall rule. Listen, Maiyo." + +"I listen," the Prince answered. + +The Baron Hesho had laid aside his spectacles. He leaned a little +towards his companion. His voice had fallen to a whisper, his hand fell +almost caressingly upon his friend's shoulder. + +"I would speak of something else," he continued. "Soon you go to the +Duke's house. You will meet there the people who are in authority over +this country. When you leave it, everything is finished. Tell me, is the +way homeward safe for you?" + +"Wonderful person!" Prince Maiyo said, smiling. + +"No, I am not wonderful," the Ambassador declared. "All the time I have +had my fears. Why not? A month ago I sought your aid. I knew from our +friends in New York that a man was on his way to England with letters +which made clear, beyond a doubt, the purpose of this world journey +of the American fleet. I sent for you. We both agreed that it was an +absolute necessity for us to know the contents of those letters." + +"We discovered them," the Prince answered. "It was well that we did." + +"You discovered them," the Ambassador interrupted. "I have taken no +credit for it. The credit is yours. But in this land there are so +many things which one may not do. The bowstring and the knife are +unrecognized. Civilization has set an unwholesome value upon human life. +It is the maudlin sentiment which creeps like corruption through the +body of a dying country." + +"I know it," the Prince declared, sighing. "I know it very well indeed." + +"Dear Maiyo," the Ambassador asked, "how well do you know it?" + +"My friend," the Prince answered, "it were better for you not to ask +that question." + +"Here under this roof," the Baron continued, "is sanctuary, but in the +streets and squares beyond, it seems to me--and I have thought this over +many times,--it seems to me that even the person of the great Prince, +cousin of the Emperor, holy son of Japan, would not be safe." + +Prince Maiyo shrugged his shoulders. There was gravity in his face, but +it was the gravity of a man who has learnt to look upon serious things +with a light heart. + +"I, also," he said, "have weighed this matter very carefully in my mind. +What I did was well done, and if the bill is thrust into my face, I must +pay. First of all, Baron, I promise you that I shall finish my work. +After that, what does it matter? You and I know better than this nation +of life-loving shopkeepers. A week, a year, a span of years,--of what +account are they to us who have sipped ever so lightly at the great cup? +If we died tomorrow for the glory of our country, should we not say to +one another, you and I, that it was well?" + +The Baron rose to his feet and bowed. Into his voice there had crept a +note almost of reverence. + +"Prince," he said, "almost you take me back to the one mother country. +Almost your words persuade me that the strangeness of these Western +lands is a passing thing. We wonder, and as we wonder they shall crumble +away. The sun rises in the East." + +The Prince also rose. Servants came silently forward, bearing his hat +and gloves. + +"Perhaps," the Prince smiled, as he made his adieux-- + +"Perhaps," the Ambassador echoed. "Who can tell?" + +The Prince sent away his carriage and walked homeward, greeting every +now and then an acquaintance. He walked cheerfully and with a smile upon +his face. There was nothing in his appearance which could possibly have +indicated to the closest observer that this was a man who had taken +death by the hand. At the corner of Regent Street and Pall Mall he +overtook Inspector Jacks. He leaned forward at once and touched the +detective on the shoulder. + +"Mr. Jacks," he said, "it is pleasant to see you once more. I was afraid +that I should have to leave without bidding you farewell." + +The Inspector started. The Prince laughed to himself as he watched that +gesture. Indeed, a man who showed his feelings so easily would be very +much at a loss in Tokio! + +"You are going away, Prince?" the Inspector asked quickly. "When?" + +"The exact day is not fixed," the Prince replied, "but it is true that +I am going home. I have finished my work, and, you see, there is nothing +to keep me over here any longer. Tell me, have you had any fortune yet? +I read the papers every day, hoping to see that you have cleared up +those two terrible affairs." + +Inspector Jacks shook his head. + +"Not yet, Prince," he said. + +"Not yet," the Prince echoed. "Dear me, that is very unfortunate!" + +Inspector Jacks watched the people who were passing, for a moment, with +a fixed, unseeing gaze. + +"I am afraid," he said, "that we must seem to you very slow and very +stupid. Very likely we are. And yet, yet in time we generally reach our +goal. Sometimes we go a long way round. Sometimes we wait almost over +long, but sooner or later we strike." + +The Prince nodded sympathetically. + +"The best of fortune to you, Mr. Jacks!" he said. "I wish you could have +cleared these matters up before I left for home. It is pure selfishness, +of course, but I have always felt a great interest in your work." + +"If we do not clear them up before you leave the country, Prince," the +Inspector answered, "I fear that we shall never clear them up at all." + +The Prince passed on smiling. A conversation with Inspector Jacks +seemed always to inspire him. It was a fine afternoon and Pall Mall +was crowded. In a few moments he came face to face with Somerfield, who +greeted him a little gloomily. + +"Sir Charles," the Prince said, "I hope that I shall have the pleasure +of meeting you at Devenham?" + +"I am not sure," Somerfield answered. "I have been asked, but I promised +some time ago to go up to Scotland. I have a third share in a river +there, and the season for salmon is getting on." + +"I am sorry," the Prince declared. "I have no doubt, however, but that +Miss Morse will induce you to change your mind. I should regret your +absence the more," he continued, "because this, I fear, is the last +visit which I shall be paying in this country." + +Somerfield was genuinely interested. + +"You are really going home?" he asked eagerly. + +"Almost at once," the Prince answered. + +"Only for a time, I suppose?" Somerfield continued. + +The Prince shook his head. + +"On the contrary," he said, "I imagine that this will be a long goodbye. +I think I can promise you that if ever I reach Japan I shall remain +there. My work in this hemisphere will be accomplished." + +Somerfield looked at him with the puzzled air of a man who is face to +face with a problem which he cannot solve. + +"You'll forgive my putting it so plainly, Prince," he remarked, "but +do you mean to say that after having lived over here you could possibly +settle down again in Japan?" + +The Prince returned for a moment his companion's perplexed gaze. Then +his lips parted, his eyes shone. He laughed softly, gracefully, with +genuine mirth. + +"Sir Charles," he said, "I shall not forget that question. I think that +of all the Englishmen whom I have met you are the most English of all. +When I think of your great country, as I often shall do, of her sons and +her daughters, I will promise you that to me you shall always represent +the typical man of your race and fortune." + +The Prince left his companion loitering along Pall Mall, still a little +puzzled. He called a taxi and drove to Devenham House. The great drawing +rooms were almost empty. Lady Grace was just saying goodbye to some +parting guests. She welcomed the Prince with a little flush of pleasure. + +"I find you alone?" he remarked. + +"My mother is opening a bazaar somewhere," Lady Grace said. "She will be +home very soon. Do let me give you some tea." + +"It is my excuse for coming," the Prince admitted. + +She called back the footman who had shown him in. + +"China tea, very weak, in a china teapot with lemon and no sugar. Isn't +that it?" she asked, smiling. + +"Lady Grace," he declared, "you spoil me. Perhaps it is because I am +going away. Every one is kind to the people who go away." + +She looked at him anxiously. + +"Going away!" she exclaimed. "When? Do you mean back to Japan?" + +"Back to my own country," he answered. "Perhaps in two weeks, perhaps +three--who can tell?" + +"But you are coming to Devenham first?" she asked eagerly. + +"I am coming to Devenham first," he assented. "I called this afternoon +to let your father know the date on which I could come. I promised that +he should hear from me today. He was good enough to say either Thursday +or Friday. Thursday, I find, will suit me admirably." + +She drew a little sigh. + +"So you are going back," she said softly. "I wonder why so many people +seem to have taken it for granted that you would settle down here. Even +I had begun to hope so." + +He smiled. + +"Lady Grace," he said, "I am not what you call a cosmopolitan. To live +over here in any of these Western countries would seem to denote that +one may change one's dwelling place as easily as one changes one's +clothes. The further east you go, the more reluctant one is, I think, +to leave the shadow of one's own trees. The man who leaves my country +leaves it to go into exile. The man who returns, returns home." + +She was a little perplexed. + +"I should have imagined," she said, "that the people who leave your +country as emigrants to settle in American or even over here might have +felt like that. But you of the educated classes I should have thought +would have found more over here to attract you, more to induce you to +choose a new home." + +He shook his head. + +"Lady Grace," he said, "believe me that is not so. The traditions of our +race--the call of the blood, as you put it over here--is as powerful a +thing with our aristocratics as with our peasants. We find much here to +wonder at and admire, much that, however unwillingly, we are forced to +take back and adopt in our own country, but it is a strange atmosphere +for us, this. For my country-people there is but one real home, but one +motherland." + +"Yet you have seemed so contented over here," she remarked. "You have +entered so easily into all our ways." + +He set down his teacup and smiled at her for a moment gravely. + +"I came with a purpose," he said. "I came in order to observe and to +study certain features of your life, but, believe me, I have felt the +strain--I have felt it sometimes very badly. These countries, yours +especially, are like what one of your great poets called the Lotus-Lands +for us. Much of your life here is given to pursuits which we do not +understand, to sports and games, to various forms of what we should call +idleness. In my country we know little of that. In one way or another, +from the Emperor to the poor runner in the streets, we work." + +"Is there nothing which you will regret?" she asked. + +"I shall regret the friends I have made,--the very dear friends," he +repeated, "who have been so very much kinder to me than I have deserved. +Life is a sad pilgrimage sometimes, because one may not linger for a +moment at any one spot, nor may one ever look back. But I know quite +well that when I leave here there will be many whom I would gladly see +again." + +"There will be many, Prince," she said softly, "who will be sorry to see +you go." + +The Prince rose to his feet. Another little stream of callers had come +into the room. Presently he drank his tea and departed. When he +reached St. James' Square, his majordomo came hurrying up and whispered +something in his own language. + +The Prince smiled. + +"I go to see him," he said. "I will go at once." + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. A PRISONER + +Dr. Spencer Whiles was sitting in a very comfortable easy chair, smoking +a particularly good cigar, with a pile of newspapers by his side. His +appearance certainly showed no signs of hardship. His linen, and the +details of his toilet generally, supplied from some mysterious source +into which he had not inquired, were much improved. Notwithstanding +his increased comfort, however, he was looking perplexed, even a +little worried, and the cause of it was there in front of him, in the +advertisement sheets of the various newspapers which had been duly laid +upon his table. + +The Prince came in quietly and closed the door behind him. + +"Good afternoon, my friend!" he said. "I understood that you wished to +see me." + +The doctor had made up his mind to adopt a firm attitude. Nevertheless +the genial courtesy of the Prince's tone and manner had the same effect +upon him as it had upon most people. He half rose to his feet and became +at once apologetic. + +"I hope that I have not disturbed you, Prince," he said. "I thought that +I should like to have a word or two with you concerning something which +I have come across in these journals." + + +He tapped them with his forefinger, and the Prince nodded thoughtfully. + +"Your wonderful Press!" he exclaimed. "How much it is responsible for! +Well, Dr. Whiles, what have the newspapers to say to you?" + +The doctor handed across a carefully folded journal and pointed to a +certain paragraph. + +"Will you kindly read this?" he begged. + +The Prince accepted the sheet and read the paragraph aloud: + +"FIFTY POUNDS REWARD! Disappeared from his home in Long Whatton on +Wednesday morning last, Herbert Spencer Whiles, Surgeon. The above +reward will be paid to any one giving information which will lead to +the discovery of his present whereabouts. Was last seen in a motor +car, Limousine body, painted dark green, leaving Long Whatton in the +direction of London." + +The Prince laid down the paper, smiling. + +"Well?" he asked. "That seems clear enough. Some one is willing to give +fifty pounds to know where you are." + +The doctor tapped the advertisement with his forefinger impressively. + +"Fifty pounds!" he repeated. "There isn't a person in the world to whom +the knowledge of my movements is worth fifty pounds--except--" + +"Except?" the Prince murmured. + +"Except Mr. Inspector Jacks," Dr. Whiles said slowly. + +The Prince seemed scarcely to grasp the situation. + +"Well," he said, "fifty pounds is not a great deal of money. Some +unknown person--possibly, as you suggest, Mr. Jacks--is willing to give +fifty pounds to discover your whereabouts. I, on the other hand, am +giving a thousand guineas to keep you here as my guest. The odds do not +seem even, do they?" + +"Put in that way," Dr. Whiles admitted, "they certainly do not. But +there is another thing which has come into my mind." + +The Prince smiled and helped himself to one of the very excellent +cigarettes which had been provided for the delectation of his visitor. + +"Pray treat me with every confidence, Dr. Whiles," he said. "Tell me +exactly what is in your thoughts." + +"Well, then, I will," the doctor answered. "Sitting here with nothing +particular to do, one has plenty of leisure to think. For the first +time, I have seriously tried to puzzle out what Mr. Inspector Jacks +really wanted with me, why he came down to ask me about the person whom +I treated for injuries resulting from a bicycle accident one Wednesday +evening not long ago, why he took me up to London to see if I could +identify that person in a very different guise. I have tried to put the +pieces together and to ask myself what he meant by it all." + +"With so much time upon your hands, Dr. Whiles," the Prince remarked, +"you can scarcely fail to have arrived at some reasonable explanation." + +"I don't know whether it is reasonable or not," the doctor answered, +"but the obvious explanation is getting on my nerves. There are two +things which I cannot get away from. One is that I cannot for the life +of me imagine your riding a bicycle twelve or fifteen miles north of +London between eleven o'clock and midnight; and the other--" + +"Come, the other?" the Prince remarked encouragingly. + +"The other," the doctor continued, "is the fact that within half a mile +of my house runs the main London and North Western line." + +"The London and North Western Railway line," the Prince repeated, "and +what has that to do with it?" + +"This much," the doctor answered, "that on that very night, about half +an hour before your--shall we call it bicycle accident?--the special +train from Liverpool to London passed along that line. You will remember +the tragic occurrence which took place before she reached London, the +murder of the man Hamilton Fynes. If you read the report of the evidence +at the inquest, you will notice the engine driver's declaration that +the only time on the whole journey when he travelled at less than forty +miles an hour was when passing over the viaduct and before entering the +tunnel which is plainly visible from my house." + +"This is very interesting," the Prince remarked, "but it is not new. We +have known all this before. Perhaps, though, some fresh thing has come +into your mind connected with these happenings. If so, please do not +hesitate. Let me hear it." + +"It is a fresh thing to me," the doctor said,--"fresh, in a sense, +though all the time I have had an uneasy feeling at the back of my head. +I know now what it was which brought Inspector Jacks to see me. I know +now what it was he had at the back of his head concerning the man who +met with a bicycle accident at this psychological moment." + +"Inspector Jacks is a very shrewd fellow," the Prince said. "I should +not be in the least surprised if you were entirely right." + +The doctor moved restlessly in his chair. His eyes remained on his +companion's face, as though fascinated. + +"Can't you understand," he said, "that Inspector Jacks is on your track? +Rightly or wrongly, he believes that you had something to do with the +murder on the train that night." + +The Prince nodded amiably. He seemed in no way discomposed. + +"I feel convinced," he said, "that you are right. I agree with you. +I believe that Inspector Jacks has had that idea for some little time +now." + +The doctor gripped the sides of his chair and stared at this man who +discussed a matter so terrible with calm and perfect ease. + +"Yes, I have felt that more than once," the Prince continued. "My +presence upon the spot at that precise moment with injuries which had to +be explained somehow or other, was, without doubt, unfortunate." + +The two men sat for several moments without further speech. The doctor's +features seemed to reflect something of the horror which he undoubtedly +felt. The Prince appeared only a trifle bored. + +"So that is why," the former exclaimed hoarsely, "I have been appointed +your physician in chief!" + +"I had given you the credit, my dear doctor," the Prince said smoothly, +"of having arrived at that decision some time ago. To a man of your +perceptions there can scarcely have been any question about it at all. +Besides, even Princes, you know, do not give fees of a thousand guineas +for nothing." + +Dr. Whiles rose slowly to his feet. + +"You know the secret of that murder!" he declared. + +"Why ask me?" the Prince answered. "If I tell you that I do, you may +find conscientious scruples about remaining here. A man is not bound, +you know, to give himself away. Make the best of things, and do not try +to see too far." + +The doctor was looking a little shaken. + +"If you were mixed up in that affair," he said, "and if I remain here +when my evidence is needed, I become an accomplice." + +"Only if you remain here voluntarily," the Prince reminded him +cheerfully. "Remember that and be comforted. No effort that you could +make now would bring you into touch with Mr. Inspector Jacks until I am +quite prepared. So you see, my dear doctor, that you have nothing with +which to reproach yourself. I will not insult you," he continued, "by +suggesting that a reward of fifty pounds could possibly have influenced +your attitude. If you have suffered your mind to dwell upon it for a +single moment, try and remember the relative unimportance of such an +amount when compared with a thousand guineas." + +The doctor moved to the window and back again. + +"Supposing," he said, "I decline to remain here? Supposing I say that, +believing you now to have a guilty knowledge of this murder, I repudiate +our bargain? Supposing I say that I will have nothing more to do with +your thousand guineas,--that I will leave this house?" + +"Then we come to close quarters," the Prince answered, "and you force me +to tell you in plain words that, until I am ready for you to leave +it, you are as much a prisoner in this room as though the keys of the +strongest fortress in Europe were turned upon you. I have told you this +before. I thought that we perfectly understood one another." + +"I did not understand," the doctor protested. "I knew that there was +trouble, but I did not know that it was this!" + +"The fact of your knowing or not knowing makes no difference," the +Prince answered. "You are no longer a free agent. The only question for +you to decide is whether you remain here willingly or whether you will +force me to remind you of our bargain." + +The doctor was sitting down again now. All the time he watched the +Prince with a gleam in his eyes, partly of horror, partly of fear. He no +longer doubted but that he was in the presence of a criminal. + +"I am sorry," the Prince continued, "that you have allowed this little +matter to disturb you. I thought that we had arranged it all at our last +interview. If you did not surmise my reasons for keeping you here, then +I am afraid I gave you credit for more intelligence than you possess. +You will excuse me now, I am sure," he added, rising. "I have some +letters to send off before I change. By the bye, do you care to give me +your parole? It might, perhaps, lessen the inconvenience to which you +are unfortunately subject." + +The doctor shook his head. + +"No," he said, "I will not give my parole!" + +Late that night, he tried the handle of his door and found it open. The +corridor outside was in thick darkness. He felt his way along by the +wall. Suddenly, from behind, a pair of large soft hands gripped him by +the throat. Slowly he was drawn back--almost strangled. + +"Let me go!" he called out, struggling in vain to find a body upon which +he could gain a grip. + +The grasp only tightened. + +"Back to your rooms!" came a whisper through the darkness. + +The doctor returned. When he staggered into his sitting room, he +turned up the electric light. There were red marks upon his throat and +perspiration upon his forehead. He opened the door once more and looked +out upon the landing, striking a match and holding it over his head. +There was no one in sight, yet all the time he had the uncomfortable +feeling that he was being watched. For the first time in his life he +wondered whether a thousand guineas was, after all, such a magnificent +fee! + +Almost at the same time the Prince sat back in the shadows of the +Duchess of Devenham's box at the Opera and talked quietly to Lady Grace. + +"But tell me, Prince," she begged, "I know that you are glad to go home, +but won't you really miss this a little,--the music, the life, all these +things that make up existence here? Your own country is wonderful, I +know, but it has not progressed so far, has it?" + +He shook his head. + +"I think," he said, "that the portion of our education which we have +most grievously neglected is the development of our recreations. But +then you must remember that we are to a certain extent without that +craving for amusement which makes these things necessary for you others. +We are perhaps too serious in my country, Lady Grace. We lack altogether +that delightful air of irresponsibility with which you Londoners seem to +make your effortless way through life." + +She was a little perplexed. + +"I don't believe," she said, "that in your heart you approve of us at +all." + +"Do not say that, Lady Grace," he begged. "It is simply that I have +been brought up in so different a school. This sort of thing is very +wonderful, and I shall surely miss it. Yet nowadays the world is being +linked together in marvellous fashion. Tokio and London are closer today +than ever they have been in the world's history." + +"And our people?" she asked. "Do you really think that our people are so +far apart? Between you and me, for instance," she added, meaning to +ask the question naturally enough, but suddenly losing confidence and +looking away from him,--"between you and me there seems no radical +difference of race. You might almost be an Englishman--not one of these +men of fashion, of course, but a statesman or a man of letters, some one +who had taken hold of the serious side of life." + +"You pay me a very delightful compliment," he murmured. + +"Please repay me, then, by being candid," she answered. "Consider for +a moment that I am a typical English girl, and tell me whether I am so +very different from the Japanese women of your own class?" + +He hesitated for a moment. The question was not without its +embarrassments. + +"Men," he said, "are very much the same, all the world over. They are +like the coarse grass which grows everywhere. But the flowers, you know, +are different in every country." + +Lady Grace sighed. Perhaps she had been a trifle too daring! She was +willing enough, at any rate, to let the subject drift away. + +"Soon the curtain will go up," she said, "and we can talk no longer. +I should like to tell you, though, how glad I am--how glad we all +are--that you can come to us next week." + +"I can assure you that I am looking forward to it," he answered a little +gravely. "It is my farewell to all of you, you know, and it seems to me +that those who will be your father's guests are just those with whom I +have been on the most intimate terms since I came to England." + +She nodded. + +"Penelope is coming," she said quickly,--"you know that?--Penelope and +Sir Charles Somerfield." + +"Yes," he answered, "I heard so." + +The curtain went up. The faint murmur of the violins was suddenly caught +up and absorbed in the thunderous music of a march. Lady Grace moved +nearer to the front. Prince Maiyo remained where he was among the +shadows. The music was in his ears, but his eyes were half closed. + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. PATRIOTISM + +The Duke's chef had served an Emperor with honor--the billiard room at +Devenham Castle was the most comfortable room upon earth. The three +men who sat together upon a huge divan, the three men most powerful in +directing the councils of their country, felt a gentle wave of optimism +stealing through their quickened blood. Nevertheless this was a serious +matter which occupied their thoughts. + +"We are becoming," the Prime Minister said, "much too modern. We are +becoming over-civilized out of any similitude to a nation of men of +blood and brawn." + +"You are quoting some impossible person," Sir Edward Bransome declared. + +"One is always quoting unconsciously," the Prime Minister admitted +with a sigh. "What I mean is that five hundred years ago we should have +locked this young man up in a room hung with black crape, and with +a pleasant array of unfortunately extinct instruments we should have +succeeded, beyond a doubt, in extorting the truth from him." + +"And if the truth were not satisfactory?" the Duke asked, lighting a +cigar. + +"We should have endeavored to change his point of view," the Prime +Minister continued, "even if we had to change at the same time the +outline of his particularly graceful figure. The age of thumbscrews and +the rack was, after all, a very virile age. Just consider for a moment +our positions--three of the greatest and most brilliant statesmen of our +day--and we can do very little save wait for this young man to declare +himself. We are the puppets with whom he plays. It rests with him +whether our names are written upon the scroll of fame or whether our +administration is dismissed in half a dozen contemptuous words by the +coming historian. It rests with him whether our friend Bransome here +shall be proclaimed the greatest Foreign Minister that ever breathed, +and whether I myself have a statue erected to me in Westminster Yard, +which shall be crowned with a laurel wreath by patriotic young ladies on +the morning of my anniversary." + +The Duke stretched himself out with a sigh of content. His cigar was +burning well, and the flavor of old Armignac lingered still upon his +palate. + +"Come," he protested, "I think you exaggerate Maiyo's importance just +a little, Haviland. Hesho seems excellently disposed towards us, and, +after all, I should have thought his word would have had more weight in +Tokio than the word of a young man who is new to diplomacy, and whose +claims to distinction seem to rest rather upon his soldiering and the +fact that he is a cousin of the Emperor." + +The Prime Minister sighed. + +"Dear Duke," he said, "no one of us, not even myself, has ever done that +young man justice. To me he represents everything that is most strenuous +and intellectual in Japanese manhood. The spirit of that wonderful +country runs like the elixir of life itself through his veins. Since +the day he brought me his letter from the Emperor, I have watched him +carefully, and I believe I can honestly declare that not once in these +eighteen months has he looked away from his task, nor has he given to +one single person even an inkling of the thoughts which have passed +through his mind. He came back from the Continent, from Berlin, from +Paris, from Petersburg, with a mass of acquired information which would +have made some of our blue-books read like Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales. +He had made up his mind exactly what he thought of each country, +of their political systems, of their social life, of their military +importance. He had them all weighed up in the hollow of his hand. He was +willing to talk as long as I, for instance, was willing to listen. He +spoke of everybody whom he had met and every place which he had visited +without reserve, and yet I guarantee that there is no person in England +today, however much he may have talked with him, who knows in the least +what his true impressions are." + +"Haviland is right," Bransome agreed. "Many a time I have caught myself +wondering, when he talks so easily about his travels, what the real +thoughts are which lie at the back of his brain. We know, of course, +what the object of those travels was. He went as no tourist. He went +with a deep and solemn purpose always before him. He went to find out +whether there was any other European Power whose alliance would be a +more advantageous thing for Japan than a continuation of their alliance +with us. Such a thing has never been mentioned or hinted at between us, +but we know it all the same." + +"I wonder," the Duke remarked, "whether we shall really get the truth +out of him before he goes." + +The Prime Minister shook his head. + +"Look at him now teaching old Lady Saunderson how to hold her cue. He +singled her out because she was the least attractive person playing, +because no one took any particular notice of her, and every one seemed +disposed to let her go her own way! Those girls were all buzzing around +him as though he were something holy, but you see how gently he eluded +them! Watch what an interest she is taking in the game now. He has been +encouraging the poor old lady until her last few shots have been quite +good. That is Maiyo all the world over. I will wager that he is thinking +of nothing on earth at this moment but of making that poor old lady feel +at her ease and enjoy her game. A stranger, looking on, would imagine +him to be just a kind-hearted, simple-minded fellow. Yet there is not +one of us three who has wit enough to get a single word from him against +his will. You shall see. There is an excellent opportunity here. I +suppose both of you read his speech at the Herrick Club last night?" + +"I did," the Duke answered. + +"And I," Bransome echoed. "It seemed to me that he spoke a little more +freely than usual." + +"He went as near to censure as I have ever heard him when speaking of +any of the institutions of our country," the Prime Minister declared. "I +will ask him about it directly we get the chance. You shall see how he +will evade the point." + +"You will have to be quick if you mean to get hold of him," the Duke +remarked. "See, the game is over and there he goes with Penelope." + +The Prime Minister rose to his feet and intercepted them on their way to +the door. + +"Miss Morse," he said, "may we ransom the Prince? We want to talk to +him." + +"Do you insinuate," she laughed, "that he is a captive of mine?" + +"We are all captives of Miss Morse's," Bransome said with a bow, "and +all enemies of Somerfield's." + +Somerfield, hearing his name, came up to them. The Duchess, too, +strolled over to the fire. The Prime Minister and Bransome returned with +Maiyo towards the corner of the room where they had been sitting. + +"Prince," the Prime Minister said, "we have been talking about your +speech at the Herrick Club last night." + +The Prince smiled a little gravely. + +"Did I say too much?" he asked. "It all came as a surprise to me--the +toast and everything connected with it. I saw my name down to reply, +and it seemed discourteous of me not to speak. But, as yet, I do not +altogether understand these functions. I did not altogether understand, +for instance, how much I might say and how much I ought to leave +unsaid." + +"We have read what you said," Bransome remarked. "What we should like to +hear, if I may venture to say so, is what you left unsaid." + +The Prince for a moment was thoughtful. Perhaps he remembered that the +days had passed when it was necessary for him to keep so jealously his +own counsel. Perhaps his natural love of the truth triumphed. He felt a +sudden longing to tell these people who had been kind to him the things +which he had seen amongst them, the things which only a stranger coming +fresh to the country could perhaps fully comprehend. + +"What I said was of little importance," the Prince remarked, "but I +felt myself placed in a very difficult position. Before I knew what to +expect, I was listening to a glorification of the arms of my country at +the expense of Russia. I was being hailed as one of a nation who possess +military genius which had not been equalled since the days of Hannibal +and Caesar. Many things of that sort were said, many things much too +kind, many things which somehow it grieved me to listen to. And when +I stood up to reply, I felt that the few words which I must say would +sound, perhaps, ungracious, but they must be said. It was one of those +occasions which seemed to call for the naked truth." + +Penelope and the Duchess had joined the little group. + +"May we stay?" the former asked. "I read every word of your speech," +she added, turning to the Prince. "Do tell us why you spoke so severely, +what it was that you objected to so strongly in General Ennison's +remarks?" + +The Prince turned earnestly towards her. + +"My dear young lady," he said, "all that I objected to was this +over-glorification of the feats of arms accomplished by us. People +over here did not understand. On the one side were the great armies of +Russia,--men drawn, all of them, from the ranks of the peasant, men of +low nerve force, men who were not many degrees better than animals. They +came to fight against us because it was their business to fight, because +for fighting they drew their scanty pay, their food, and their drink, +and the clothes they wore. They fought because if they refused they +faced the revolver bullets of their officers,--men like themselves, +who also fought because it was their profession, because it was in +the traditions of their family, but who would, I think, have very much +preferred disporting themselves in the dancing halls of their cities, +drinking champagne with the ladies of their choice, or gambling with +cards. I do not say that these were not brave men, all of them. I myself +saw them face death by the hundreds, but the lust of battle was in their +veins then, the taste of blood upon their palates. We do not claim to be +called world conquerors because we overcame these men. If one could have +seen into the hearts of our own soldiers as they marched into battle, +and seen also into the hearts of those others who lay there sullenly +waiting, one would not have wondered then. There was, indeed, nothing +to wonder at. What we cannot make you understand over here is that every +Japanese soldier who crept across the bare plains or lay stretched in +the trenches, who loaded his rifle and shot and killed and waited for +death,--every man felt something beating in his heart which those others +did not feel. We have no great army, Mr. Haviland, but what we have is +a great nation who have things beating in their heart the knowledge of +which seems somehow to have grown cold amongst you Western people. The +boy is born with it; it is there in his very soul, as dear to him as the +little home where he lives, the blossoming trees under which he plays. +It leads him to the rifle and the drill ground as naturally as the boys +of your country turn to the cricket fields and the football ground. Over +here you call that spirit patriotism. It was something which beat in +the heart of every one of those hundreds of thousands of men, something +which kept their eyes clear and bright as they marched into battle, +which made them look Death itself in the face, and fight even while +the blackness crept over them. You see, your own people have so many +interests, so many excitements, so much to distract. With us it is not +so. In the heart of the Japanese comes the love of his parents, the love +of his wife and children, and, deepest, perhaps, of all the emotions he +knows, the strong magnificent background to his life, the love of the +country which bore him, which shelters them. It is for his home he +fights, for his simple joys amongst those who are dear to him, for the +great mysterious love of the Motherland. Forgive me if I have expressed +myself badly, have repeated myself often. It is a matter which I find it +so hard to talk about, so hard here to make you understand." + +"But you must not think, Prince, that we over here are wholly lacking in +that same instinct," the Duke said. "Remember our South African war, and +the men who came to arms and rallied round the flag when their services +were needed." + +"I do remember that," the Prince answered. "I wish that I could speak +of it in other terms. Yet it seems to me that I must speak as I find +things. You say that the men came to arms. They did, but how? Untrained, +unskilled in carrying weapons, they rushed across the seas to be +the sport of the farmers who cut them off or shot them down, to be a +hindrance in the way of the mercenaries who fought for you. Yes, you +say they rallied to the call! What brought them? Excitement, necessity, +necessities of their social standing, bravado, cheap heroism--any one +of these. But I tell you that patriotism as we understand it is a deeper +thing. In the land where it flourishes there is no great pre-eminence in +what you call sports or games. It does not come like a whirlwind on the +wings of disaster. It grows with the limbs and the heart of the boy, +grows with his muscles and his brawn. It is part of his conscience, +part of his religion. As he realizes that he has a country of his own +to protect, a dear, precious heritage come down to him through countless +ages, so he learns that it is his sacred duty to know how to do his +share in defending it. The spare time of our youth, Mr. Haviland, is +spent learning to shoot, to scout, to bear hardships, to acquire the +arts of war. I tell you that there was not one general who went with our +troops to Manchuria, but a hundred thousand. We have no great army. We +are a nation of men whose religion it is to fight when their country's +welfare is threatened." + +There was a short silence. The Prime Minister and Bransome exchanged +rapid glances. + +"These, then," Penelope said slowly, "were the things you left unsaid." + +The Prince raised his hand a little--a deprecatory gesture. + +"Perhaps even now," he said, "it was scarcely courteous of me to say +them, only I know that they come to you as no new thing. There are many +of your countrymen who are speaking to you now in the Press as I, a +stranger, have spoken. Sometimes it is harder to believe one of your own +family. That is why I have dared to say so much,--I, a foreigner, eager +and anxious only to observe and to learn. I think, perhaps, that it is +to such that the truth comes easiest." + +Of a purpose, the three men who were there said nothing. The Prince +offered Penelope his arm. + +"I will not be disappointed," he said. "You promised that you would show +me the palm garden. I have talked too much." + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. A RACE + +The Prince, on his way back from his usual before-breakfast stroll, +lingered for a short time amongst the beds of hyacinths and yellow +crocuses. Somehow or other, these spring flowers, stiffly set out and +with shrivelled edges--a little reminiscent of the last east wind--still +seemed to him, in their perfume at any rate, to being him memories of +his own country. Pink and blue and yellow, in all manner of sizes and +shapes, the beds spread away along the great front below the terrace +of the castle. This morning the wind was coming from the west. The sun, +indeed, seemed already to have gained some strength. The Prince sat for +a moment or two upon the gray stone balustrade, looking to where the +level country took a sudden ascent and ended in a thick belt of pine +trees. Beyond lay the sea. As he sat there with folded arms, he was +surely a fatalist. The question as to whether or not he should ever +reach it, should ever find himself really bound for home, was one which +seemed to trouble him slightly enough. He thought with a faint, wistful +interest of the various ports of call, of the days which might pass, +each one bringing him nearer the end. He suffered himself, even, to +think of that faint blur upon the horizon, the breath of the spicy +winds, the strange home perfumes of the bay, as he drew nearer and +nearer to the outstretched arms of his country. Well, if not he, +another! It was something to have done one's best. + +The rustle of a woman's garment disturbed him, and he turned his head. +Penelope stood there in her trim riding habit,--a garb in which he had +never seen her. She held her skirts in her hand and looked at him with a +curious little smile. + +"It is too early in the morning, Prince," she said, "for you to sit +there dreaming so long and so earnestly. Come in to breakfast. Every one +is down, for a wonder." + +"Breakfast, by all means," he answered, coming blithely up the broad +steps. "You are going to ride this morning?" + +"I suppose we all are, more or less," she answered. "It is our hunt +steeplechases, you know. Poor Grace is in there nearly sobbing her +eyes out. Captain Chalmers has thrown her over. Lady Barbarity--that's +Grace's favorite mare, and her entry for the cup--turned awkward with +him yesterday, and he won't have anything more to do with her." + +"From your tone," he remarked, pushing open the French windows, "I +gather that this is a tragedy. I, unfortunately, do not understand." + +"You should ask Grace herself," Penelope said. "There she is." + +Lady Grace looked round from her place at the head of the breakfast +table. + +"Come and sympathize with me, Prince," she cried. "For weeks I have been +fancying myself the proud possessor of the hunt cup. Now that horrid +man, Captain Chalmers, has thrown me over at the last moment. He refuses +to ride my mare because she was a little fractious yesterday." + +"It is a great misfortune," the Prince said in a tone of polite regret, +"but surely it is not irreparable? There must be others--why not your +own groom?" + +A smile went round the table. The Duke hastened to explain. + +"The race is for gentlemen riders only," he said. "The horses have to +be the property of members of the hunt. There would be no difficulty, of +course, in finding a substitute for Captain Chalmers, but the race +takes place this morning, and I am afraid, with all due respect to my +daughter, that her mare hasn't the best of reputations." + +"I won't have a word said against Lady Barbarity," Lady Grace declared. +"Captain Chalmers is a good horseman, of course but for a lightweight he +has the worst hands I ever knew." + +"But surely amongst your immediate friends there must be many others," +the Prince said. "Sir Charles, for instance?" + +"Charlie is riding his own horse," Lady Grace answered. "He hasn't the +ghost of a chance, but, of course, he won't give it up." + +"Not I!" Somerfield answered, gorgeous in pink coat and riding breeches. +"My old horse may not be fast, but he can go the course, and I'm none +too certain of the others. Some of those hurdles'll take a bit of +doing." + +"It is a shame," the Prince remarked, "that you should be disappointed, +Lady Grace. Would they let me ride for you?" + +Nothing the Prince could have said would have astonished the little +company more. Somerfield came to a standstill in the middle of the room, +with a cup of tea in one hand and a plate of ham in the other. + +"You!" Lady Grace exclaimed. + +"Do you really mean it, Prince?" Penelope cried. + +"Well, why not?" he asked, himself, in turn, somewhat surprised. "If I +am eligible, and Lady Grace chooses, it seems to me very simple." + +"But," the Duke intervened, "I did not know--we did not know that you +were a sportsman, Prince." + +"A sportsman?" the Prince repeated a little doubtfully. "Perhaps I +am not that according to your point of view, but when it comes to a +question of riding, why, that is easy enough." + +"Have you ever ridden in a steeplechase?" Somerfield asked him. + +"Never in my life," the Prince declared. "Frankly, I do not know what it +is." + +"There are jumps, for one thing," Somerfield continued,--"pretty stiff +affairs, too." + +"If Lady Grace's mare is a hunter," the Prince remarked, "she can +probably jump them." + +"The question is whether--" Somerfield began, and stopped short. + +The Prince looked up. + +"Yes?" he asked. + +Somerfield hesitated to complete his sentence, and the Duke once more +intervened. + +"What Somerfield was thinking, my dear Prince," he said, "was that a +steeplechase course, as they ride in this country, needs some knowing. +You have never been on my daughter's mare before." + +The Prince smiled. + +"So far as I am concerned," he said, "that is of no account. There was +a day at Mukden--I do not like to talk of it, but it comes back to +me--when I rode twelve different horses in twenty-four hours, but +perhaps," he added, turning to Lady Grace, "you would not care to trust +your horse with one who is a stranger to your--what is it you call +them?--steeplechases." + +"On the contrary, Prince," Lady Grace exclaimed, "you shall ride her, +and I am going to back you for all I am worth." + +Bransome, who was also in riding clothes, although he was not taking +part in the steeplechases himself, glanced at the clock. + +"You are running it rather fine," he said. "You'll scarcely have time to +hack round the course." + +"Some one must explain it to me," the Prince said. "I need only to be +told where to go. If there is no time for that, I must stay with the +other horses until the finish. There is a flat finish perhaps?" + +"About three hundred yards," the Duke answered. + +"Have you any riding clothes?" Penelope whispered to him. + +"Without a doubt," he answered. "I will go and change in a few minutes." + +"We start in half an hour," Somerfield remarked. "Even that allows us +none too much time." + +"Perhaps," the Duke suggested diffidently, "you would like to ride +over, Prince? It is a good eleven miles, and you would have a chance of +getting into your stride." + +The Prince shook his head. + +"No," he said, "I should like to motor with you others, if I may." + +"Just as you like, of course," the Duke agreed. "Grace's mare is over +there now. We shall be able to have a look at her before the race, at +any rate." + +The opinions, after the Prince had left the table, were a little divided +as to what was likely to happen. + +"For a man who has never even hunted and knows nothing whatever about +the country," Somerfield declared, "to attempt to ride in a steeplechase +of this sort is sheer folly. If you take my advice, Lady Grace, you will +get out of it. Lady Barbarity is far too good a mare to have her knees +broken." + +"I am perfectly content to take my risks," Lady Grace answered +confidently. "If the Prince had never ridden before in his life, I would +trust him." + +Somerfield turned away, frowning. + +"What do you think about it, Penelope?" he asked. + +"I am afraid," she answered, "that I agree with Grace." + +Two punctures and a leaking valve delayed them over an hour on the road. +When they reached their destination, the first race was already over. + +"It's shocking bad luck," the Duke declared, "but there's no earthly +chance of your seeing the course, Prince. Come on the top of the stand +with me, and bring your glasses. I think I can point out the way for +you." + +"That will do excellently," the Prince answered. "There is no need to go +and look at every jump. Show me where we start and as near as possible +the way we have to go, and tell me where we finish." + +The course was a natural one, and the stand itself on a hill. The +greater part of it was clearly visible from where they stood. The Duke +pointed out the water jump with some trepidation, but the Prince's +glasses rested on it only for a moment. He pointed to a clump of trees. + +"Which side there?" he asked. + +"To the left," the Duke answered. "Remember to keep inside the red +flags." + +The Prince nodded. + +"Where do we finish?" he asked. + +The Duke showed him. + +"That is all right," he said. "I need not look any more." + +In the paddock some of the horses were being led around. The Prince +noted them approvingly. + +"Very nice horses," he said,--"light, but very nice. That one I like +best," he added, pointing to a dark bay mare, who was already giving her +boy some trouble. + +"That's lucky," the Duke answered, "for she's your mount. I must go and +talk to the clerk about your entry. It is a little late, but I think +that it will be all right." + +The Prince glanced over Lady Grace's mare and turned aside to join +Penelope and Somerfield. + +"I like the look of my horse, Sir Charles," he said. "I think that I +shall beat you today." + +"We both start at five to one," Somerfield answered. "Shall we have a +bet?" + +"With pleasure," the Prince agreed. "Will you name the amount? I do not +know what is usual." + +"Anything you like," Somerfield answered, "from ten pounds to a +hundred." + +"One hundred,--we will say one hundred, then," the Prince declared. "My +mount against yours. So!" + +He threw off his overcoat, and they saw for the first time that he +was dressed in English riding clothes of dark material, but absolutely +correct cut. + +"I must go now and be introduced to the Clerk of the Course," he said. +"Ah, here is Lady Grace!" he added. "Come with me, Lady Grace. Your +father is seeing about my entry. I think that in five minutes the bell +will ring." + +Everything was in order, and a few minutes later the Prince came out. +The mare was stripped, and the whole party gathered round to watch him +mount. He swung himself into the saddle without hesitation. The mare +suddenly reared. Prince Maiyo only smiled, and with loose reins stooped +and patted her neck. He seemed to whisper something in her ear, and +she stood for a moment afterwards quite still. Lady Grace drew a quick +breath. + +"What did you say to her, Prince?" she asked. "She is behaving +beautifully except for that first start." + +"Your mare understands Japanese, Lady Grace," the Prince answered, +smiling. "She and I are going to be great friends. Show me the way, +please. Ah, I follow that other horse! I see. Lady Grace, au revoir. You +shall have your cup." + +"Gad, I believe she will!" the Duke exclaimed. "Look at the fellow ride. +His body is like whalebone." + +The parade in front of the stand was a short one. The Prince rode by +in the merest canter. The mare made one wild plunge which would have +unseated any ordinary person, but her rider never even moved in his +saddle. + +"I never saw a fellow sit so close in my life," the Duke declared. "Do +you know, Grace, I believe, I really believe he'll ride her!" + +Lady Grace laughed scornfully. + +"I have a year's allowance on already," she said, "so you had better +pray that he does. I think it is very absurd of you all," she added, +"because the Prince cares nothing for games, to conclude that he is any +the less likely to be able to do the things that a man should do. He +perhaps cannot ride about on a trained pony with a long stick and knock +a small ball between two posts, but I think that if he had to ride for +his own life or the life of others he would show you all something." + +"They're off!" the Duke exclaimed. + +They watched the first jump breathlessly. The Prince, riding a little +apart, simply ignored the hurdle, and the mare took it in her stride. +They turned the corner and faced an awkward post and rails. The leading +horse took off too late and fell. The Prince, who was close behind, +steered his mare on one side like lightning. She jumped like a cat,--the +Prince never moved in his seat. + +"He rides like an Italian," Bransome declared, shutting up his glasses. +"There's never a thing in this race to touch him. I am going to see if I +can get any money on." + +Another set of hurdles and then the field were out of sight. Soon they +were visible again in the valley. The Prince was riding second now. +Somerfield was leading, and there were only three other horses left. +They cleared a hedge and two ditches. At the second one Somerfield's +horse stumbled, and there was a suppressed cry. He righted himself +almost at once, however, and came on. Then they reached the water jump. +There was a sudden silence on the stand and the hillside. Somerfield +took off first, the Prince lying well away from him. Both cleared it, +but whereas Lady Grace's mare jumped wide and clear, and her rider never +even faltered in his saddle, Somerfield lost all his lead and only just +kept his seat. They were on the homeward way now, with only one more +jump, a double set of hurdles. Suddenly, in the flat, the Prince seemed +to stagger in his saddle. Lady Grace cried out. + +"He's over, by Jove!" the Duke exclaimed. "No, he's righted himself!" + +The Prince had lost ground, but he came on toward the last jump, gaining +with every stride. Somerfield was already riding his mount for all he +was worth, but the Prince as yet had not touched his whip. They drew +closer and closer to the jump. Once more the silence came. Then there +was a little cry,--both were over. They were turning the corner coming +into the straight. Somerfield was leaning forward now, using his whip +freely, but it was clear that his big chestnut was beaten. The Prince, +with merely a touch of the whip and riding absolutely upright, passed +him with ease, and rode in a winner by a dozen lengths. As he cantered +by the stand, they all saw the cause of his momentary stagger. One +stirrup had gone, and he was riding with his leg quite stiff. + +"You've won your money, Grace," the Duke declared, shutting up his +glass. "A finely ridden race, too. Did you see he'd lost his stirrup? He +must have taken the last jump without it. I'll go and fetch him up." + +The Duke hurried down. The Prince was already in the weighing room +smoking a cigarette. + +"It is all right," he said smiling. "They have passed me. I have won. I +hope that Lady Grace will be pleased." + +"She is delighted!" the Duke exclaimed, shaking him by the hand. "We all +are. What happened to your stirrup?" + +"You must ask your groom," the Prince answered. "The leather snapped +right in the flat, but it made no difference. We have to ride like that +half the time. It is quite pleasant exercise," he continued, "but I am +very dirty and very thirsty. I am sorry for Sir Charles, but his horse +was not nearly so good as your daughter's mare." + +They made their way toward the stand, but met the rest of the party in +the paddock. Lady Grace went up to the Prince with outstretched hands. + +"Prince," she declared, "you rode superbly. It was a wonderful race. I +have never felt so grateful to any one in my life." + +The Prince smiled in a puzzled way. + +"My dear young lady," he said, "it was a great pleasure and a very +pleasant ride. You have nothing to thank me for because your horse is a +little better than those others." + +"It was not my mare alone," she answered,--"it was your riding." + +The Prince laughed as one who does not understand. + +"You make me ashamed, Lady Grace," he declared. "Why, there is only one +way to ride. You did not think that because I was not English I should +fall off a horse?" + +"I am afraid," the Duke remarked smiling, "that several Englishmen have +fallen off!" + +"It is a matter of the horse," the Prince said. "Some are not trained +for jumping. What would you have, then? In my battalion we have nine +hundred horsemen. If I found one who did not ride so well as I do, he +would go back to the ranks. We would make an infantryman of him. Miss +Morse," he added, turning suddenly to where Penelope was standing a +little apart. "I am so sorry that Sir Charles' horse was not quite so +good as Lady Grace's. You will not blame me?" + +She looked at him curiously. She did not answer immediately. Somerfield +was coming towards them, his pink coat splashed with mud, his face +scratched, and a very distinct frown upon his forehead. She looked away +from him to the Prince. Their eyes met for a moment. + +"No!" she said. "I do not blame you!" + + + +CHAPTER XXX. INSPECTOR JACKS IMPORTUNATE + +They were talking of the Prince during those few minutes before they +separated to dress for dinner. The whole of the house-party, with the +exception of the Prince himself, were gathered around the great open +fireplace at the north end of the hall. The weather had changed during +the afternoon, and a cold wind had blown in their faces on the homeward +drive. Every one had found comfortable seats here, watching the huge +logs burn, and there seemed to be a general indisposition to move. A +couple of young men from the neighborhood had joined the house-party, +and the conversation, naturally enough, was chiefly concerned with the +day's sport. The young men, Somerfield especially, were inclined to +regard the Prince's achievement from a somewhat critical standpoint. + +"He rode the race well enough," Somerfield admitted, "but the mare is +a topper, and no mistake. He had nothing to do but to sit tight and let +her do the work." + +"Of course, he hadn't to finish either," one of the newcomers, a Captain +Everard Wilmot, remarked. "That's where you can tell if a fellow really +can ride or not. Anyhow, his style was rotten. To me he seemed to sit +his horse exactly like a groom." + +"You will, perhaps, not deny him," the Duke remarked mildly, "a certain +amount of courage in riding a strange horse of uncertain temper, over a +strange country, in an enterprise which was entirely new to him." + +"I call it one of the most sporting things I ever heard of in my life," +Lady Grace declared warmly. + +Somerfield shrugged his shoulders. + +"One must admit that he has pluck," he remarked critically. "At the same +time I cannot see that a single effort of this sort entitles a man to be +considered a sportsman. He doesn't shoot, nor does he ever ride except +when he is on military service. He neither plays games nor has he the +instinct for them. A man without the instinct for games is a fellow +I cannot understand. He'd never get along in this country, would he, +Wilmot?" + +"No, I'm shot if he would!" that young man replied. "There must be +something wrong about a man who hasn't any taste whatever for sport." + +Penelope suddenly intervened--intervened, too, in somewhat startling +fashion. + +"Charlie," she said, "you are talking like a baby! I am ashamed of you! +I am ashamed of you all! You are talking like narrow-minded, ignorant +little squireens." + +Somerfield went slowly white. He looked across at Penelope, but the +angry flash in his eyes was met by an even brighter light in her own. + +"I will tell you what I think!" she exclaimed. "I think that you are all +guilty of the most ridiculous presumption in criticising such a man as +the Prince. You would dare--you, Captain Wilmot, and you, Charlie, and +you, Mr. Hannaway," she added, turning to the third young man, "to stand +there and tell us all in a lordly way that the Prince is no sportsman, +as though that mysterious phrase disposed of him altogether as a +creature inferior to you and your kind! If only you could realize the +absolute absurdity of any of you attempting to depreciate a person so +immeasurably above you! Prince Maiyo is a man, not an overgrown boy to +go through life shooting birds, playing games which belong properly to +your schooldays, and hanging round the stage doors of half the theatres +in London. You are satisfied with your lives and the Prince is satisfied +with his. He belongs to a race whom you do not understand. Let him +alone. Don't presume to imagine yourselves his superior because he does +not conform to your pygmy standard of life." + +Penelope was standing now, her slim, elegant form throbbing with the +earnestness of her words, a spot of angry color burning in her cheeks. +During the moment's silence which followed, Lady Grace too rose to her +feet and came to her friend's side. + +"I agree with every word Penelope has said," she declared. + +The Duchess smiled. + +"Come," she said soothingly, "we mustn't take this little affair too +seriously. You are all right, all of you. Every one must live according +to his bringing up. The Prince, no doubt, is as faithful to his +training and instincts as the young men of our own country. It is more +interesting to compare than to criticise." + +Somerfield, who for a moment had been too angry to speak, had now +recovered himself. + +"I think," he said stiffly, "that we had better drop the subject. I had +no idea that Miss Morse felt so strongly about it or I should not have +presumed, even here and amongst ourselves, to criticise a person who +holds such a high place in her esteem. Everard, I'll play you a game of +billiards before we go upstairs. There's just time." + +Captain Wilmot hesitated. He was a peace-loving man, and, after all, +Penelope and his friend were engaged. + +"Perhaps Miss Morse--" he began. + +Penelope turned upon him. + +"I should like you all to understand," she declared, "that every word I +said came from my heart, and that I would say it again, and more, with +the same provocation." + +There was a finality about Penelope's words which left no room for +further discussion. The little group was broken up. She and Lady Grace +went to their rooms together. + +"Penelope, you're a dear!" the latter said, as they mounted the stairs. +"I am afraid you've made Charlie very angry, though." + +"I hope I have," Penelope answered. "I meant to make him angry. I think +that such self-sufficiency is absolutely stifling. It makes me sometimes +almost loathe young Englishmen of his class." + +"And you don't dislike the Prince so much nowadays?" Lady Grace remarked +with transparent indifference. + +"No!" Penelope answered. "That is finished. I misunderstood him at +first. It was entirely my own fault. I was prejudiced, and I hated to +feel that I was in the wrong. I do not see how any one could dislike him +unless they were enemies of his country. Then I fancy that they might +have cause." + +Lady Grace sighed. + +"To tell you the truth, Penelope," she said, "I almost wish that he were +not quite so devotedly attached to his country." + +Penelope was silent. They had reached Lady Grace's room now, and were +standing together on the hearthrug in front of the fire. + +"I am afraid he is like that," Penelope said gently. "He seems to have +none of the ordinary weaknesses of men. I, too, wish sometimes that he +were a little different. One would like to think of him, for his own +sake, as being happy some day. He reminds me somehow of the men who +build and build, toiling always through youth unto old age. There seems +no limit to their strength, nor any respite. They build a palace which +those who come after them must inhabit." + +Once more Lady Grace sighed. She was looking into the heart of the fire. +Penelope took her hands. + +"It is hard sometimes, dear," she said, "to realize that a thing is +impossible, that it is absolutely out of our reach. Yet it is better to +bring one's mind to it than to suffer all the days." + +Lady Grace looked up. At that moment she was more than pretty. Her eyes +were soft and bright, the color had flooded her cheeks. + +"But I don't see _why_ it should be impossible, Penelope," she +protested. "We are equals in every way. Alliances between our two +countries are greatly to be desired. I have heard my father say so, and +Mr. Haviland. The trouble is, Pen," she added with trembling lips, "that +he does not care for me." + +"You cannot tell," Penelope answered. "He has never shown any signs of +caring for any woman. Remember, though, that he would want you to live +in Japan." + +"I'd live in Thibet if he asked me to," Lady Grace declared, raising +her handkerchief to her eyes, "but he never will. He doesn't care. He +doesn't understand. I am very foolish, Penelope." + +Penelope kissed her gently. + +"Dear," she said, "you are not the only foolish woman in the world."... + +Conversation amongst the younger members of the house-party at Devenham +Castle was a little disjointed that evening. Perhaps Penelope, who came +down in a wonderful black velveteen gown, with a bunch of scarlet roses +in her corsage, was the only one who seemed successfully to ignore the +passage of arms which had taken place so short a while ago. She talked +pleasantly to Somerfield, who tried to be dignified and succeeded only +in remaining sulky. Chance had placed her at some distance from the +Prince, to whom Lady Grace was talking with a subdued softness in her +manner which puzzled Captain Wilmot, her neighbor on the other side. + +"I saw you with all the evening papers as usual, Bransome," the Prime +Minister remarked during the service of dinner. "Was there any news?" + +"Nothing much," the Foreign Secretary replied. "Consuls are down another +point and the Daily Comet says that you are like a drowning man clinging +to the raft of your majority. Excellent cartoon of you, by the bye. You +shall see it after dinner." + +"Thank you," the Prime Minister said. "Was there anything about you in +the same paper by any chance?" + +"Nothing particularly abusive," Sir Edward answered blandly. "By the +bye, the police declare that they have a definite clue this time, +and are going to arrest the murderer of Hamilton Fynes and poor dicky +Vanderpole tonight or tomorrow." + +"Excellent!" the Duke declared. "It would have been a perfect disgrace +to our police system to have left two such crimes undetected. Our +respected friend at the Home Office will have a little peace now." + +"How about me?" Bransome grumbled. "Haven't I been worried to death, +too?" + +The Prince, who had just finished describing to Lady Grace a typical +landscape of his country, turned toward Bransome. + +"I think that I heard you say something about a discovery in connection +with those wonderful murder cases," he said. "Has any one actually been +arrested?" + +"My paper was an early edition," Bransome answered, "but it spoke of a +sensational denouement within the next few hours. I should imagine that +it is all over by now. At the same time it's absurd how the Press give +these things away. It seems that some fellow who was bicycling saw a man +get in and out of poor Dicky's taxi and is quite prepared to swear to +him." + +"Has he not been rather a long time in coming forward with his +evidence?" the Prince remarked. "I do not remember to have seen any +mention of such a person in the papers before." + +"He watched so well," Bransome answered, "and was so startled that he +was knocked down and run over. The detective in charge of the case found +him in a hospital." + +"These things always come out sooner or later," the Prime Minister +remarked. "As a matter of fact, I am inclined to think that our police +wait too long before they make an arrest. They play with their victim so +deliberately that sometimes he slips through their fingers. Very often, +too, they let a man go who would give himself away from sheer fright if +he felt the touch of a policeman upon his shoulder." + +"As a nation," Bransome remarked, helping himself to the entree, "we +handle life amongst ourselves with perpetual kid gloves. We are always +afraid of molesting the liberty of the subject. A trifle more brutality +sometimes would make for strength. We are like a dentist whose work +suffers because he is afraid of hurting his patient." + +Somerfield was watching his fiancee curiously. + +"Are you really very pale tonight, Penelope," he asked, "or is it those +red flowers which have drawn all the color from your cheeks?" + +"I believe that I am pale," Penelope answered. "I am always pale when I +wear black and when people have disagreed with me. As a matter of fact, +I am trying to make the Prince feel homesick. Tell me," she asked him +across the round table, "don't you think that I remind you a little +tonight of the women of your country?" + +The Prince returned her gaze as though, indeed, something were passing +between them of greater significance than that half-bantering question. + +"Indeed," he said, "I think that you do. You remind me of my country +itself--of the things that wait for me across the ocean." + +The Prince's servant had entered the dining room and whispered in the +ear of the butler who was superintending the service of dinner. The +latter came over at once to the Prince. + +"Your Highness," he said, "some one is on the telephone, speaking from +London. They ask if you could spare half a minute." + +The Prince rose with an interrogative glance at his hostess, and the +Duchess smilingly motioned him to go. Even after he had left the room, +when he was altogether unobserved, his composed demeanor showed no signs +of any change. He took up the receiver almost blithely. It was Soto, his +secretary, who spoke to him. + +"Highness," he said, "the man Jacks with a policeman is here in the hall +at the present moment. He asks permission to search this house." + +"For what purpose?" the Prince asked. + +"To discover some person whom he believes to be in hiding here," the +secretary answered. "He explains that in any ordinary case he would have +applied for what they call a search warrant. Owing to your Highness' +position, however, he has attended here, hoping for your gracious +consent without having made any formal application." + +"I must think!" the Prince answered. "Tell me, Soto. You are sure that +the English doctor has had no opportunity of communicating with any +one?" + +"He has had no opportunity," was the firm reply. "If your Highness says +the word, he shall pass." + +"Let him alone," the Prince answered. "Refuse this man Jacks permission +to search my house during my absence. Tell him that I shall be there at +three o'clock tomorrow afternoon and that at that hour he is welcome to +return." + +"It shall be done, Highness," was the answer. + +The Prince set down the receiver upon the instrument and stood for a +moment deep in thought. It was a strange country, this,--a strange end +which it seemed that he must prepare to face. He felt like the man who +had gone out to shoot lions and returning with great spoil had died of +the bite of a poisonous ant! + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. GOODBYE! + +The Prince on his return from the library intercepted Penelope on her +way across the hall. + +"Forgive me," he said, "but I could not help overhearing some sentences +of your conversation with Sir Charles Somerfield as we sat at dinner. +You are going to talk with him now, is it not so?" + +"As soon as he comes out from the dining room." + +He saw the hardening of her lips, the flash in her eyes at the mention +of Somerfield's name. + +"Yes!" she continued, "Sir Charles and I are going to have a little +understanding." + +"Are you sure," he asked softly, "that it will not be a +misunderstanding?" + +She looked into his face. + +"What does it matter to you?" she asked. "What do you care?" + +"Come into the conservatory for a few minutes," he begged. "You know +that I take no wine and I prefer not to return into the dining room. I +would like so much instead to talk to you before you see Sir Charles." + +She hesitated. He stood by her side patiently waiting. + +"Remember," he said, "that I am a somewhat privileged person just now. +My days here are numbered, you see." + +She turned toward the conservatories. + +"Very well," she said, "I must be like every one else, I suppose, and +spoil you. How dare you come and make us all so fond of you that we look +upon your departure almost as a tragedy!" + +He smiled. + +"Indeed," he declared, "there is a note of tragedy even in these +simplest accidents of life. I have been very happy amongst you all, Miss +Penelope. You have been so much kinder to me than I have deserved. You +have thrown a bridge across the gulf which separates us people of alien +tongues and alien manners. Life has been a pleasant thing for me here." + +"Why do you go so soon?" she whispered. + +"Miss Penelope," he answered, "to those others who ask me that question, +I shall say that my mission is over, that my report has been sent to my +Emperor, and that there is nothing left for me to do but to follow it +home. I could add, and it would be true, that there is very much work +for me still to accomplish in my own country. To you alone I am going to +say something else." + +She was no longer pale. Her eyes were filled with an exceedingly soft +light. She leaned towards him, and her face shone as the face of a woman +who prays that she may hear the one thing in life a woman craves to hear +from the lips she loves best. + +"Go on," she murmured. + +"I want to ask you, Miss Penelope," he continued, "whether you remember +the day when you paid a visit to my house?" + +"Very well," she answered. + +"I was showing you a casket," he went on. + +She gripped his arm. + +"Don't!" she begged. "Don't, I can't bear any more of that. You don't +know how horrible it seems to me! You don't know--what fears I have +had!" + +He looked away from her. + +"I have sometimes wondered," he said, "what your thoughts were at that +moment, what you have thought of me since." + +She shivered a little, but did not answer him. + +"Very soon," he reminded her, "I shall have passed out of your life." + +He heard the sudden, half-stifled exclamation. He felt rather than saw +the eyes which pleaded with him, and he hastened on. + +"You understand what is meant by the inevitable," he continued. +"Whatever has happened in the matters with which I have been concerned +has been inevitable. I have had no choice--sometimes no choice in such +events is possible. Do not think," he went on, "that I tell you this to +beg for your sympathy. I would not have a thing other than as it is. +But when we have said goodbye, I want you to believe the best of me, to +think as kindly as you can of the things which you may not be able to +comprehend. Remember that we are not so emotional a nation as that to +which you belong. Our affections are but seldom touched. We live without +feeling for many days, sometimes for longer, even, than many days. It +has not been so altogether with me. I have felt more than I dare, at +this moment, to speak of." + +"Yet you go," she murmured. + +"Yet I go," he assented. "Nothing in the world is more certain than that +I must say farewell to you and all of my good friends here. In a sense +I want this to be our farewell. Leaving out of the question just now the +more serious dangers which threaten me, the result of my mission here +alone will make me unpopular in this country. As the years pass, I fear +that nothing can draw your own land and mine into any sort of accord. +That is why I asked you to come here with me and listen while I said +these few words to you, why I ask you now that, whatever the future may +bring, you will sometimes spare me a kindly thought." + +"I think you know," she answered, "that you need not ask that." + +"You will marry Sir Charles Somerfield," he continued, "and you will be +happy. In this country men develop late. Somerfield, too, will develop, +I am sure. He will become worthy even, I trust, to be your husband, Miss +Penelope. Something was said of his going into Parliament. When he is +Foreign Minister and I am the Counsellor of the Emperor, we may perhaps +send messages to one another, if not across the seas, through the +clouds." + +A man's footstep approached them. Somerfield himself drew near and +hesitated. The Prince rose at once. + +"Sir Charles," he said, "I have been bidding farewell to Miss Penelope. +I have had news tonight over the telephone and I find that I must +curtail my visit." + +"The Duke will be disappointed," Somerfield said. "Are you off at once?" + +"Probably tomorrow," the Prince answered. "May I leave Miss Penelope +in your charge?" he added with a little bow. "The Duke, I believe, is +awaiting me." + +He passed out of the conservatory. Penelope sat quite still. + +"Well," Somerfield said, "if he is really going--" + +"Charlie," she interrupted, "if ever you expect me to marry you, I make +one condition, and that is that you never say a single word against +Prince Maiyo." + +"The man whom a month ago," he remarked curiously, "you hated!" + +She shook her head. + +"I was an idiot," she said. "I did not understand him and I was +prejudiced against his country." + +"Well, as he actually is going away," Sir Charles remarked with a sigh +of content, "I suppose it's no use being jealous." + +"You haven't any reason to be," Penelope answered just a little +wistfully. "Prince Maiyo has no room in his life for such frivolous +creatures as women." + +The Prince found the rest of the party dispersed in various directions. +Lady Grace was playing billiards with Captain Wilmot. She showed every +disposition to lay down her cue when he entered the room. + +"Do come and talk to us, Prince," she begged. "I am so tired of this +stupid game, and I am sure Captain Wilmot is bored to tears." + +The Prince shook his head. + +"Thank you," he said, "but I must find the Duke. I have just received a +telephone message and I fear that I may have to leave tomorrow." + +"Tomorrow!" she cried in dismay. + +The Prince sighed. + +"If not tomorrow, the next day," he answered. "I have had a summons--a +summons which I cannot disobey. Shall I find your father in the library, +Lady Grace?" + +"Yes!" she answered. "He is there with Mr. Haviland and Sir Edward. Are +you really going to waste your last evening in talking about treaties +and such trifles?" + +"I am afraid I must," he answered regretfully. + +"You are a hopelessly disappointing person," she declared a little +pitifully. + +"It is because you are all much too kind to me that you think so," he +answered. "You make me welcome amongst you even as one of yourselves. +You forget--you would almost teach me to forget that I am only a +wayfarer here." + +"That is your own choice," she said, coming a little nearer to him. + +"Ah, no," he answered. "There is no choice! I serve a great mistress, +and when she calls I come. There are no other voices in the world for +one of my race and faith. The library you said, Lady Grace? I must go +and find your father." + +He passed out, closing the door behind him. Captain Wilmot chalked his +cue carefully. + +"That's the queerest fellow I ever knew in my life," he said. "He seems +all the time as though his head were in the clouds." + +Lady Grace sighed. She too was chalking her cue. + +"I wonder," she said, "what it would be like to live in the clouds." + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. PRINCE MAIYO SPEAKS + +The library at Devenham Castle was a large and sombre apartment, with +high oriel windows and bookcases reaching to the ceiling. It had an +unused and somewhat austere air. Tonight especially an atmosphere of +gloom seemed to pervade it. The Prince, when he opened the door, found +the three men who were awaiting him seated at an oval table at the +further end of the room. + +"I do not intrude, I trust?" the Prince said. "I understood that you +wished me to come here." + +"Certainly," the Duke answered, "we were sitting here awaiting your +arrival. Will you take this easy chair? The cigarettes are at your +elbow." + +The Prince declined the easy chair and leaned for a moment against the +table. + +"Perhaps later," he said. "Just now I feel that you have something to +say to me. Is it not so? I talk better when I am standing." + +It was the Prime Minister who made the first plunge. He spoke without +circumlocution, and his tone was graver than usual. + +"Prince," he said, "this is perhaps the last time that we shall all +meet together in this way. You go from us direct to the seat of your +Government. So far there has been very little plain speaking between +us. It would perhaps be more in accord with etiquette if we let you go +without a word, and waited for a formal interchange of communications +between your Ambassador and ourselves. But we have a feeling, Sir Edward +and I, that we should like to talk to you directly. Before we go any +further, however, let me ask you this question. Have you any objection, +Prince, to discussing a certain matter here with us?" + +The Prince for several moments made no reply. He was still standing +facing the fireplace, leaning slightly against the table behind him. On +his right was the Duke, seated in a library chair. On his left the Prime +Minister and Sir Edward Bransome. The Prince seemed somehow to have +become the central figure of the little group. + +"Perhaps," he said, "if you had asked me that question a month ago, +Mr. Haviland, I might have replied to you differently. Circumstances, +however, since then have changed. My departure will take place so +soon, and the kindness I have met here from all of you has been so +overwhelming, that if you will let me I should like to speak of certain +things concerning which no written communication could ever pass between +our two countries." + +"I can assure you, my dear Prince, that we shall very much appreciate +your doing so," Mr. Haviland declared. + +"I think," the Prince continued, "that the greatest and the most subtle +of all policies is the policy of perfect truthfulness. Listen to me, +then. The thing which you have in your mind concerning me is true. Two +years I have spent in this country and in other countries of Europe. +These two years have not been spent in purposeless travel. On the +contrary, I have carried with me always a definite and very fixed +purpose." + +The Prime Minister and Bransome exchanged rapid glances. + +"That has been our belief from the first," Bransome remarked. + +"I came to Europe," the Prince continued gravely, "to make a report to +my cousin the Emperor of Japan as to whether I believed that a renewal +of our alliance with you would be advantageous to my country. I need not +shrink from discussing this matter with you now, for my report is made. +It is, even now, on its way to the Emperor." + +There was a moment's silence, a silence which in this corner of the +great room seemed marked with a certain poignancy. It was the Prime +Minister who broke it. + +"The report," he said, "is out of your hands. The official decision of +your Government will reach us before long. Is there any reason why you +should not anticipate that decision, why you should not tell us frankly +what your advice was?" + +"There is no reason," the Prince answered. "I will tell you. I owe that +to you at least. I have advised the Emperor not to renew the treaty." + +"Not to renew," the Prime Minister echoed. + +This time the silence was portentous. It was a blow, and there was not +one of the three men who attempted to hide his dismay. + +"I am afraid," the Prince continued earnestly, "that to you I must +seem something of an ingrate. I have been treated by every one in this +country as the son of a dear friend. The way has been made smooth for me +everywhere. Nothing has been hidden. From all quarters I have received +hospitality which I shall never forget. But you are three just men. I +know you will realize that my duty was to my country and to my country +alone. No one else has any claims upon me. What I have seen I have +written of. What I believe I have spoken." + +"Prince," Mr. Haviland said, "there is no one here who will gainsay your +honesty. You came to judge us as a nation and you have found us wanting. +At least we can ask you why?" + +The Prince sighed. + +"It is hard," he said. "It is very hard. When I tell you of the things +which I have seen, remember, if you please, that I have seen them with +other eyes than yours. The conditions which you have grown up amongst +and lived amongst all your days pass almost outside the possibility of +your impartial judgment. You have lived with them too long. They have +become a part of you. Then, too, your national weakness bids your eyes +see what you would have them see." + +"Go on," Mr. Haviland said, drumming idly with his fingers upon the +table. + +"I have had to ask myself," the Prince continued,--"it has been my +business to ask myself what is your position as a great military power, +and the answer I have found is that as a great military power it does +not exist. I have had to ask myself what would happen to your country +in the case of a European war, where your fleet was distributed to guard +your vast possessions in every quarter of the world, and the answer to +that is that you are, to all practical purposes, defenceless. In almost +any combination which could arrange itself, your country is at the mercy +of the invader." + +Bransome leaned forward in his chair. + +"I can disprove it," he declared firmly. "Come with me to Aldershot next +week, and I will show you that those who say that we have no army are +ignorant alarmists. The Secretary for War shall show you our new +scheme for defensive forces. You have gone to the wrong authorities for +information on these matters, Prince. You have been entirely and totally +misled." + +The Prince drew a little breath. + +"Sir Edward," he said, "I do not speak to you rashly. I have not looked +into these affairs as an amateur. You forget that I have spent a week at +Aldershot, that your Secretary for War gave me two days of his valuable +time. Every figure with which you could furnish me I am already +possessed of. I will be frank with you. What I saw at Aldershot counted +for nothing with me in my decision. Your standing army is good, beyond a +doubt,--a well-trained machine, an excellent plaything for a General +to move across the chessboard. It might even win battles, and yet your +standing army are mercenaries, and no great nation, from the days of +Babylon, has resisted invasion or held an empire by her mercenaries." + +"They are English soldiers," Mr. Haviland declared. "I do not recognize +your use of the word." + +"They are paid soldiers," the Prince said, "men who have adopted +soldiering as a profession. Come, I will not pause half-way. I will tell +you what is wrong with your country. You will not believe it. Some day +you will see the truth, and you will remember my words. It may be that +you will realize it a little sooner, or I would not have dared to speak +as I am speaking. This, then, is the curse which is eating the heart +out of your very existence. The love of his Motherland is no longer a +religion with your young man. Let me repeat that,--I will alter one word +only. The love of his Motherland is no longer _the_ religion or even +part of the religion of your young man. Soldiering is a profession for +those who embrace it. It is so that mercenaries are made. I have been +to every one of your great cities in the North. I have been there on a +Saturday afternoon, the national holiday. That is the day in Japan on +which our young men march and learn to shoot, form companies and attend +their drill. Feast days and holidays it is always the same. They do what +tradition has made a necessity for them. They do it without grumbling, +whole-heartedly, with an enthusiasm which has in it something almost +of passion. How do I find the youth of your country engaged? I have +discovered. It is for that purpose that I have toured through England. +They go to see a game played called football. They sit on seats and +smoke and shout. They watch a score of performers--one score, mind--and +the numbers who watch them are millions. From town to town I went, and +it was always the same. I see their white faces in a huge amphitheatre, +fifteen thousand here, twenty thousand there, thirty thousand at another +place. They watch and they shout while these men in the arena play with +great skill this wonderful game. When the match is over, they stream +into public houses. Their afternoon has been spent. They talk it over. +Again they smoke and drink. So it is in one town and another,--so it +is everywhere,--the strangest sight of all that I have seen in +Europe. These are your young men, the material out of which the coming +generation must be fashioned? How many of them can shoot? How many of +them can ride? How many of them have any sort of uniform in which they +could prepare to meet the enemy of their country? What do they know or +care for anything outside their little lives and what they call their +love of sport,--they who spend five days in your grim factories toiling +before machines,--their one afternoon, content to sit and watch the +prowess of others! I speak to these footballers themselves. They are +strong men and swift. They are paid to play this game. I do not find +that even one of them is competent to strike a blow for his country if +she needs him. It is because of your young men, then, Mr. Haviland, that +I cannot advise Japan to form a new alliance with you. It is because you +are not a serious people. It is because the units of your nation have +ceased to understand that behind the life of every great nation stands +the love of God, whatever god it may be, and the love of Motherland. +These things may not be your fault. They may, indeed, be the terrible +penalty of success. But no one who lives for ever so short a time +amongst you can fail to see the truth. You are commercialized out of all +the greatness of life. Forgive me, all of you, that I say it so plainly, +but you are a race who are on the downward grade, and Japan seeks for no +alliance save with those whose faces are lifted to the skies." + +The pause which followed was in itself significant. The Duke alone +remained impassive. Bransome's face was dark with anger. Even the Prime +Minister was annoyed. Bransome would have spoken, but the former held +out his hand to check him. + +"If that is really your opinion of us, Prince," he said, "it is useless +to enter into argument with you, especially as you have already acted +upon your convictions. I should like to ask you this question, though. +A few weeks ago an appeal was made to our young men to bring up to its +full strength certain forces which have been organized for the defence +of the country. Do you know how many recruits we obtained in less than a +month?" + +"Fourteen thousand four hundred and seventy-five," the Prince answered +promptly, "out of nearly seven millions who were eligible. This pitiful +result of itself might have been included amongst my arguments if I had +felt that arguments were necessary. Mr. Haviland, you may drive some +of these young men to arms by persuasion, by appealing to them through +their womankind or their employers, but you cannot create a national +spirit. And I tell you, and I have proved it, that the national spirit +is not there. I will go further," the Prince continued with increased +earnestness, "if you still are not weary of the subject. I will point +out to you how little encouragement the youth of this country receive +from those who are above them in social station. In every one of your +counties there is a hunt, cricket clubs, golf clubs in such numbers that +their statistics absolutely overwhelm me. Everywhere one meets young men +of leisure, well off, calmly proposing to settle down and spend the best +part of their lives in what they call country life. They will look after +their estates; they will hunt a little, shoot a little, go abroad for +two months in the winter, play golf a little, lawn tennis, perhaps, or +cricket. I tell you that there are hundreds and thousands of these +young men, with money to spare, who have no uniform which they could +wear,--no, I want to change that!" the Prince cried with an impressive +gesture,--"who have no uniform which they will be able to wear when the +evil time comes! How will they feel then, these young men of family, +whose life has been given to sports and to idle amusements, when their +womankind come shrieking to them for protection and they dare not even +handle a gun or strike a blow! They must stand by and see their lands +laid waste, their womankind insulted. They must see the land run +red with the blood of those who offer a futile resistance, but they +themselves must stand by inactive. They are not trained to fight as +soldiers,--they cannot fight as civilians." + +"The Prince forgets," Bransome remarked dryly, "that an invasion of this +country--a practical invasion--is very nearly an impossible thing." + +The Prince laughed softly. + +"My friend," he said, "if I thought that you believed that, although +you are a Cabinet Minister of England I should think that you were +the biggest fool who ever breathed. Today, in warfare, nothing +is impossible. I will guarantee, I who have had only ten years of +soldiering, that if Japan were where Holland is today, I would halve +my strength in ships and I would halve my strength in men, and I would +overrun your country with ease at any time I chose. You need not agree +with me, of course. It is not a subject which we need discuss. It is, +perhaps, out of my province to allude to it. The feeling which I have in +my heart is this. The laws of history are incontrovertible. So surely as +a great nation has weakened with prosperity, so that her limbs have lost +their suppleness and her finger joints have stiffened, so surely does +the plunderer come in good time. The nation which loses its citizen army +drives the first nail into its own coffin. I do not say who will invade +you, or when, although, to my thinking, any one could do it. I simply +say that in your present state invasion from some one or other is a sure +thing." + +"Without admitting the truth of a single word you have said, my dear +Prince," the Prime Minister remarked, "there is another aspect of the +whole subject which I think that you should consider. If you find us in +so parlous a state, it is surely scarcely dignified or gracious, on the +part of a great nation like yours, to leave us so abruptly to our fate. +Supposing it were true that we were suffering a little from a period +of too lengthened prosperity, from an attack of over-confidence. Still +think of the part we have played in the past. We kept the world at bay +while you fought with Russia." + +"That," the Prince replied, "was one of the conditions of a treaty which +has expired. If by that treaty our country profited more than yours, +that is still no reason why we should renew it under altered conditions. +Gratitude is an admirable sentiment, but it has nothing to do with the +making of treaties." + +"We are, nevertheless," Bransome declared, "justified in pointing out to +you some of the advantages which you have gained from your alliance with +us. You realize, I suppose, that save for our intervention the United +States would have declared war against you four months ago?" + +"Your good offices were duly acknowledged by my Government," the Prince +admitted. "Yet what you did was in itself of no consequence. It is as +sure as north is north and south is south that you and America would +never quarrel for the sake of Japan. That is another reason, if another +reason is needed, why a treaty between us would be valueless. You and +I--the whole world knows that before a cycle of years have passed Japan +and America must fight. When that time comes, it will not be you who +will help us." + +"An alliance duly concluded between this country--" + +The Prince held out both his hands. + +"Listen," he said. "A fortnight ago a certain person in America wrote +and asked you in plain terms what your position would be if war between +Japan and America were declared. What was your reply?" + +Bransome was on the point of exclaiming, but the Prime Minister +intervened. + +"You appear to be a perfect Secret Service to yourself, Prince," he said +smoothly. "Perhaps you can also tell us our reply?" + +"I can tell you this much," the Prince answered. "You did not send word +back to Washington that your alliance was a sacred charge upon your +honor and that its terms must be fulfilled to the uttermost letter. Your +reply, I fancy, was more in the nature of a compromise." + +"How do you know what our reply was?" Mr. Haviland asked. + +"To tell you the truth, I do not," the Prince answered, smiling. "I have +simply told you what I am assured that your answer must have been. Let +us leave this matter. We gain nothing by discussing it." + +"You have been very candid with us, Prince," Mr. Haviland remarked. "We +gather that you are opposed to a renewal of our alliance chiefly for +two reasons,--first, that you have formed an unfavorable opinion of +our resources and capacity as a nation; and secondly, because you +are seeking an ally who would be of service to you in one particular +eventuality, namely, a war with the United States. You have spent some +time upon the Continent. May we inquire whether your present attitude +is the result of advances made to you by any other Power? If I am asking +too much, leave my question unanswered." + +The Prince shook his head slowly. + +"Tonight," he said, "I am speaking to you as one who is willing to show +everything that is in his heart. I will tell you, then. I have been to +Germany, and I can assure you of my own knowledge that Germany possesses +the mightiest fighting machine ever known in the world's history. That +I do truthfully and honestly believe. Yet listen to me. I have talked to +the men and I have talked to the officers. I have seen them in barracks +and on the parade ground, and I tell you this. When the time arrives for +that machine to be set in motion, it is my profound conviction that the +result will be one of the greatest surprises of modern times. I say no +more, nor must you ask me any questions, but I tell you that we do not +need Germany as an ally. I have been to Russia, and although our hands +have crossed, there can be no real friendship between our countries till +time has wiped out the memory of our recent conflict. France hates us +because it does not understand us. The future of Japan is just as +clear as the disaster which hangs over Great Britain. There is only one +possible ally for us, only one possible combination. That is what I +have written home to my cousin the Emperor. That is what I pray that our +young professors will teach throughout Japan.. That is what it will be +my mission to teach my country people if the Fates will that I return +safely home. East and West are too far apart. We are well outside the +coming European struggle. Our strength will come to us from nearer +home." + +"China!" the Prime Minister exclaimed. + +"The China of our own making," the Prince declared, a note of tense +enthusiasm creeping into his tone,--"China recreated after its great +lapse of a thousand years. You and I in our lifetime shall not see +it, but there will come a day when the ancient conquests of Persia and +Greece and Rome will seem as nothing before the all-conquering armies of +China and Japan. Until those days we need no allies. We will have none. +We must accept the insults of America and the rough hand of Germany. We +must be strong enough to wait!" + +A footman entered the room and made his way to the Duke's chair. + +"Your Grace," he said, "a gentleman is ringing up from Downing Street +who says he is speaking from the Home Office." + +"Whom does he want?" the Duke asked. + +"Both Your Grace and Mr. Haviland," the man replied. "He wished me to +say that the matter was of the utmost importance." + +The Duke rose at once and glanced at the clock. + +"It is an extraordinary hour," he remarked, "for Heseltine to be wanting +us. Shall we go and see what it means, Haviland? You will excuse us, +Prince?" + +The Prince bowed. + +"I think that we have talked enough of serious affairs tonight," he +said. "I shall challenge Sir Edward to a game of billiards." + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. UNAFRAID + +The Prince, still fully attired, save that in place of his dress coat he +wore a loose smoking jacket, stood at the windows of his sitting room +at Devenham Castle, looking across the park. In the somewhat fitful +moonlight the trees had taken to themselves grotesque shapes. Away +in the distance the glimmer of the sea shone like a thin belt of +quicksilver. The stable clock had struck two. The whole place seemed +at rest. Only one light was gleaming from a long low building which had +been added to the coach houses of recent years for a motor garage. That +one light, the Prince knew, was on his account. There his chauffeur +waited, untiring and sleepless, with his car always ready for that last +rush to the coast, the advisability of which the Prince had considered +more than once during the last twenty-four hours. The excitement of the +evening, the excitement of his unwonted outburst, was still troubling +him. It was not often that he had so far overstepped the bounds which +his natural caution, his ever-present self-restraint, imposed upon him. +He paced restlessly to and fro from the sitting room to the bedroom and +back again. He had told the truth,--the bare, simple truth. He had seen +the letters of fire in the sky, and he had read them to these people +because of their kindness, because of a certain affection which he bore +them. To them it must have sounded like a man speaking in a strange +tongue. They had not understood. Perhaps, even, they would not believe +in the absolute sincerity of his motives. Again he paused at the window +and looked over the park to that narrow, glittering stretch of sea. +Why should he not for once forget the traditions of his race, the pride +which kept him there to face the end! There was still time. The cruiser +which the Emperor had sent was waiting for him in Southampton Harbor. +In twenty-four hours he would be in foreign waters. He thought of these +things earnestly, even wistfully, and yet he knew that he could not go. +Perhaps they would be glad of an opportunity of getting rid of him now +that he had spoken his mind. In any case, right was on their side. The +end, if it must come, was simple enough! + +He turned away from the window with a little shrug of the shoulders. +Even as he did so, there came a faint knocking at the door. His servant +had already retired. For a moment it seemed to him that it could mean +but one thing. While he hesitated, the handle was softly turned and +the door opened. To his amazement, it was Penelope who stood upon the +threshold. + +"Miss Morse!" he exclaimed breathlessly. + +She held out her hand as though to bid him remain silent. For several +seconds she seemed to be listening. Then very softly she closed the door +behind her. + +"Miss Penelope," he cried softly, "you must not come in here! Please!" + +She ignored his outstretched hand, advancing a little further into the +room. There was tragedy in her white face. She seemed to be shaking in +every limb, but not with nervousness. Directly he looked into her eyes, +he knew very well that the thing was close at hand! + +"Listen!" she whispered. "I had to come! You don't know what is going +on! For the last half hour the telephone has been ringing continuously. +It is about you! The Home Office has been ringing up to speak to the +Prime Minister. The Chief Inspector of Scotland Yard has been to see +them. One of their detectives has collected evidence which justifies +them in issuing a warrant for your arrest." + +"For my arrest," the Prince repeated. + +"Don't you understand?" she continued breathlessly. "Don't you see how +horrible it is? They mean to arrest you for the murder of Hamilton Fynes +and Dicky Vanderpole!" + +"If this must be so," the Prince answered, "why do they not come? I am +here." + +"But you must not stay here!" she exclaimed. "You must escape! It is too +terrible to think that you should--oh, I can't say it!--that you +should have to face these charges. If you are guilty, well, Heaven help +you!--If you are guilty, I want you to escape all the same!" + +He looked at her with the puzzled air of one who tries to reason with a +child. + +"Dear Miss Penelope," he said, "this is kind of you, but, after all, +remember that I am a man, and I must not run away." + +"But you cannot meet these charges!" she interrupted. "You cannot meet +them! You know it! Oh, don't think I can't appreciate your point of +view! If you killed those men, you killed them to obtain papers which +you believed were necessary for the welfare of your country. Oh, it is +not I who judge you! You did not do it, I know, for your own gain. You +did it because you are, heart and soul, a patriot. But here, alas! they +do not understand. Their whole standpoint is different. They will judge +you as they would a common criminal. You must fly,--you must, indeed!" + +"Dear Miss Penelope," he said, "I cannot do that! I cannot run away like +a thief in the dark. If this thing is to come, it must come." + +"But you don't understand!" she continued, wringing her hands. "You +think because you are a great prince and a prince of a friendly nation +that the law will treat you differently. It will not! They have talked +of it downstairs. You are not formally attached to any one in this +country. You are not even upon the staff of the Embassy. You are here on +a private mission as a private person, and there is no way in which the +Government can intervene, even if it would. You are subject to its laws +and you have broken them. For Heaven's sake, fly! You have your motor +car here. Let your man drive you to Southampton and get on board the +Japanese cruiser. You mustn't wait a single moment. I believe that +tomorrow morning will be too late!" + +He took her hands in his very tenderly and yet with something of +reverence in his gesture. He looked into her eyes and he spoke very +earnestly. Every word seemed to come from his heart. + +"Dear Miss Penelope," he said, "it is very, very kind of you to have +come here and warned me. Only you cannot quite understand what this +thing means to me. Remember what I told you once. Life and death to your +people in this country seem to be the greatest things which the mind of +man can hold. It is not so with us. We are brought up differently. In a +worthy cause a true Japanese is ready to take death by the hand at any +moment. So it is with me now. I have no regret. Even if I had, even if +life were a garden of roses for me, what is ordained must come. A little +sooner or a little later, it makes no matter." + +She sank on her knees before him. + +"Can't you understand why I am here?" she cried passionately. "It was I +who told of the silken cord and knife!" + +He was wholly unmoved. He even smiled, as though the thing were of no +moment. + +"It was right that you should do so," he declared. "You must not +reproach yourself with that." + +"But I do! I do!" she cried again. "I always shall! Don't you understand +that if you stay here they will treat you--" + +He interrupted, laying his hand gently upon her shoulder. + +"Dear young lady," he said, "you need never fear that I shall wait for +the touch of your men of law. Death is too easily won for that. If the +end which you have spoken of comes, there is another way--another house +of rest which I can reach." + +She rose slowly to her feet. The absolute serenity of his manner bespoke +an impregnability of purpose before which the words died away on her +lips. She realized that she might as well plead with the dead! + +"You do not mind," he whispered, "if I tell you that you must not stay +here any longer?" + +He led her toward the door. Upon the threshold he took her cold fingers +into his hand and kissed them reverently. + +"Do not be too despondent," he said. "I have a star somewhere which +burns for me. Tonight I have been looking for it. It is there still," he +added, pointing to the wide open window. "It is there, undimmed, clearer +and brighter than ever. I have no fear." + +She passed away without looking up again. The Prince listened to her +footsteps dying away in the corridor. Then he closed the door, and, +entering his bedroom, undressed himself and slept... + +When Prince Maiyo awoke on the following morning, the sunshine was +streaming into the room, and his grave-faced valet was standing over his +bed. + +"His Highness' bath is ready," he announced. + +The Prince dressed quickly and was first in the pleasant morning room, +with its open windows leading on to the terrace. He strolled outside and +wandered amongst the flower beds. Here he was found, soon afterwards, by +the Duke's valet. + +"Your Highness," the latter said, "His Grace has sent me to look for +you. He would be glad if you could spare him a moment or two in the +library." + +The Prince followed the man to the room where his host was waiting for +him. The Duke, with his hands behind his back, was pacing restlessly up +and down the apartment. + +"Good morning, Duke," the Prince said cheerfully. "Another of your +wonderful spring mornings. Upon the terrace the sun is almost hot. Soon +I shall begin to fancy that the perfume of your spring flowers is the +perfume of almond and cherry blossom." + +"Prince," the Duke said quietly, "I have sent for you as your host. I +speak to you now unofficially, as an Englishman to his guest. I +have been besieged through the night, and even this morning, with +incomprehensible messages which come to me from those who administer the +law in this country. Prince, I want you to remember that however effete +you may find us as a nation from your somewhat romantic point of +view, we have at least realized the highest ideals any nation has ever +conceived in the administration of the law. Nobleman and pauper here are +judged alike. If their crime is the same, their punishment is the same. +There is no man in this country who is strong enough to arrest the hand +of justice." + +The Prince bowed. + +"My dear Duke," he said, "it has given me very much pleasure, in the +course of my investigations, to realize the truth of what you have just +said. I agree with you entirely. You could teach us in Japan a great +lesson on the fearless administration of the law. Now in some other +countries--" + +"Never mind those other countries," the Duke interrupted gravely. "I +did not send for you to enter into an academic discussion. I want you +clearly to understand how I am placed, supposing a distinguished member +of my household--supposing even you, Prince Maiyo--were to come within +the arm of the law. Even the great claims of hospitality would leave me +powerless." + +"This," the Prince admitted, "I fully apprehend. It is surely reasonable +that the stranger in your country should be subject to your laws." + +"Very well, then," the Duke continued. "Listen to me, Prince. This +morning a London magistrate will grant what is called a search warrant +which will enable the police to search, from attic to cellar, your house +in St. James' Square. An Inspector from Scotland Yard will be there this +afternoon awaiting your return, and he believes that he has witnesses +who will be able to identify you as one who has broken the laws of this +country. I ask you no questions. There is the telephone on the table. +My eighty-horse-power Daimler is at the door and at your service. I +understand that your cruiser in Southampton Harbor is always under +steam. If there is anything more, in reason, that I can do, you have +only to speak." The Prince shook his head slowly. + +"Duke," he said, "please send away your car, unless it will take me to +London quicker than my own. What I have done I have done, and for what I +have done I will pay." + +The Duke laid his hands upon the young man's shoulders and looked down +into his face. The Duke was over six feet high, and broad in proportion. +Before him the Prince seemed almost like a boy. + +"Maiyo," he said, "we have grown fond of you,--my wife, my daughter, +all of us. We don't want harm to come to you, but there is the American +Ambassador watching all the time. Already he more than half suspects. +For our sakes, Prince,--come, I will say for the sake of those who are +grateful to you for your candor and truthfulness, for the lessons you +have tried to teach us,--make use of my car. You will reach Southampton +in half an hour." + +The Prince shook his head. His lips had parted in what was certainly a +smile. At the corners they quivered, a little tremulous. + +"My dear friend," he said, and his voice had softened almost to +affection, "you do not quite understand. You look upon the things which +may come from your point of view and not from mine. Remember that, to +your philosophy, life itself is the greatest thing born into the world. +To us it is the least. If you would do me a service, please see that I +am able to start for London in half an hour." + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. BANZAI! + +It was curious how the Prince's sudden departure seemed to affect almost +every member of the little house party. At first it had been arranged +that the Duke, Mr. Haviland, Sir Edward Bransome, and the Prince +should leave in the former's car, the Prince's following later with the +luggage. Then the Duchess, whose eyes had filled with tears more than +once after her whispered conversation with her husband, announced that +she, too, must go to town. Lady Grace insisted upon accompanying her, +and Penelope reminded them that she was already dressed for travelling +and that, in any case, she meant to be one of the party. Before ten +o'clock they were all on their way to London. + +The Prince sat side by side with Lady Grace, the other two occupants of +the car being the Duke himself and Mr. Haviland. No one seemed in the +least inclined for conversation. The Duke and Mr. Haviland exchanged +a few remarks, but Lady Grace, leaning back in her seat, her features +completely obscured by a thick veil, declined to talk to any one. The +Prince seemed to be the only one who made any pretence at enjoying the +beauty of the spring morning, who seemed even to be aware of the warm +west wind, the occasional perfume of the hedgeside violets, and the +bluebells which stretched like a carpet in and out of the belts of wood. +Lady Grace's eyes, from beneath her veil, scarcely once left his face. +Perhaps, she thought, these things were merely allegorical to him. +Perhaps his eyes, fixed so steadfastly upon the distant horizon, were +not, as it seemed, following the graceful outline of that grove of dark +green pine trees, but were indeed searching back into the corners of +his life, measuring up the good and evil of it, asking the eternal +question--was it worth while? + +In the other car, too, silence reigned. Somerfield was the only one who +struggled against the general air of depression. + +"After all," he remarked to Bransome, "I don't see what we're all so +blue about. If Scotland Yard are right, and the Prince is really the +guilty person they imagine him, I cannot see what sympathy he deserves. +Of course, they look upon this sort of thing more lightly in his own +country, but, after all, he was no fool. He knew his risks." + +Penelope spoke for the first time since they had left Devenham. + +"If you begin to talk like that, Charlie," she said, "I shall ask the +Duchess to stop the car and put you down here in the road." + +Somerfield laughed, not altogether pleasantly. + +"Seven miles from any railway station," he remarked. + +Penelope shrugged her shoulders. + +"I should not care in the least what happened to you, today or at any +other time," she declared. + +After that, Somerfield held his peace, and a somewhat strained silence +followed. Soon they reached the outskirts of London. Long before midday +they slackened speed, after crossing Battersea Bridge, and the two +cars drew alongside. They had arranged to separate here, but, curiously +enough, no one seemed to care to start the leave taking. + +"You see the time!" the Prince exclaimed. "It is barely eleven o'clock. +I want you all, if you will, to come with me for ten minutes only to my +house. Tomorrow it will be dismantled. Today I want you each to choose +a keepsake from amongst my treasures. There are so many ornaments over +here, engravings and bronzes which are called Japanese and which are +really only imitations. I want you to have something, if you will, to +remember me by, all of you, something which is really the handicraft of +my country people." + +The Duke looked for a moment doubtful. + +"It wants an hour to midday," the Prince said, softly. "There is time." + +They reached St. James' Square in a few minutes. There were no signs +of disturbance. The door flew open at their approach. The same +solemn-faced, quietly moving butler admitted them. The Prince led the +way into the room upon the ground floor which he called his library. + +"It is a fancy of mine," he said, smiling, "to say goodbye to you all +here. You see that there is nothing in this room which is not really the +product of Japan. Here I feel, indeed, as though I had crossed the seas +and were back under the shadow of my own mountains. Here I feel, indeed, +your host, especially as I am going to distribute my treasures." + +He took a picture from the wall and turned with it to the Duke. + +"Duke," he said, "this engraving is a rude thing, but the hand which +guided the steel has been withered for two hundred years, and no other +example remains of its cunning. Mr. Haviland," he added, stepping to his +writing table, "this lacquered shrine, with its pagoda roof, has been +attributed to Kobo-Daishi, and has stood upon the writing table of seven +emperors. Sir Edward, this sword, notwithstanding its strange shape and +gilded chasing, was wielded with marvellous effect, if history tells the +truth, a hundred and thirty years ago by my great-grandfather when +he fought his way to the throne. Sir Charles, you are to go into +Parliament. Some day you will become a diplomat. Some day, perhaps, you +will understand our language. Just now I am afraid," he concluded, "this +will seem to you but a bundle of purple velvet and vellum, but it is +really a manuscript of great curiosity which comes from the oldest +monastery in Asia, the Monastery of Koya-San." + +He turned to the Duchess. + +"Duchess," he said, "you see that my tapestries have already gone. They +left yesterday for Devenham Castle. I hope that you will find a place +there where you may hang them. They are a little older than your French +ones, and time, as you may remember, has been kind to them. It may +interest you to know that they were executed some thirteen hundred and +fifty years ago, and are of a design which, alas, we borrowed from the +Chinese." + +The Prince paused for a moment. All were trying to express their thanks, +but no one was wholly successful. He waved their words gently aside. + +"Lady Grace," he said, turning to the statuette of Buddha in a corner +of the room and taking from its neck a string of strange blue stones, "I +will not ask you to wear these, for they have adorned the necks of idols +for many centuries, but if you will keep them for my sake, they may +remind you sometimes of the color of our skies." + +Once more he went to his writing table. From it he lifted, almost +reverently, a small bronze figure,--the figure of a woman, strongly +built, almost squat, without grace, whose eyes and head and arms reached +upwards. + +"Miss Penelope," he said, "to you I make my one worthless offering. This +statuette has no grace, no shapeliness, according to the canons of your +wonderful Western art. Yet for five generations of my family it has been +the symbol of our lives. We are not idol worshippers in Japan, yet one +by one the men of my race have bent their knee before this figure and +have left their homes to fight for the thing which she represents. She +is not beautiful, she does not stand for the joys and the great gifts +of life, but she represents the country which to us stands side by side +with our God, our parents, and our Emperor. Nothing in life has been +dearer to me than this, Miss Penelope. To no other person would I part +with it." + +She took it with a sudden hysterical sob, which seemed to ring out like +a strange note upon the unnatural stillness of the room. And then +there came a thing which happened before its time. The door was opened. +Inspector Jacks came in. With him were Dr. Spencer Whiles and the man +who a few days ago had been discharged from St. Thomas' Hospital. Of the +very distinguished company who were gathered there, Inspector Jacks took +little notice. His eyes lit upon the form of the Prince, and he drew +a sigh of relief. The door was closed behind him, and he saw no way by +which he could be cheated of his victory. He took a step forward, and +the Prince advanced courteously, as though to meet him. The others, for +those few seconds, seemed as though they had lost the power of speech or +movement. Then before a word could be uttered by either the Inspector or +the Prince, the door was opened from the outside, and a man came running +in,--a man dressed in a shabby blue serge suit, dark and thin. He ran +past the Inspector and his companions, and he fell on his knees before +his master. + +"I confess!" he cried. "It was I who climbed on to the railway car! It +was I who stabbed the American man in the tunnel and robbed him of his +papers! The others are innocent. Marki, who brought the car for me, knew +nothing. Those who saw me return to this house knew nothing. No man was +my confidant. I alone am guilty! I thought they could not discover +the truth, but they have hunted me down. He is there--the doctor who +bandaged my knee. I told him that it was a bicycle accident. Listen! It +was I who killed the young American Vanderpole. I followed him from +the Savoy Hotel. I dressed myself in the likeness of my master, and I +entered his taxi as a pleasant jest. Then I strangled him and I robbed +him too! He saw me--that man!" Soto cried, pointing to the youth who +stood at the Inspector's left hand. "He was on his bicycle. He skidded +and fell through watching me. I told my master that I was in trouble, +and he has tried to shield me, but he did not know the truth. If he +had, he would have given me over as I give myself now. What I did I did +because I love Japan and because I hate America!" + +His speech ended in a fit of breathlessness. He lay there, gasping. The +doctor bent forward, looking at him first in perplexity and afterwards +in amazement. Then very slowly, and with the remnants of doubt still in +his tone, he answered Inspector Jacks' unspoken question. + +"He is the image of the man who came to me that night," he declared. "He +is wearing the same clothes, too." + +"What do you say?" the Inspector whispered hoarsely to the youth on his +other side. "Don't hurry. Look at him carefully." + +The young man hesitated. + +"He is the same height and figure as the man I saw enter the taxi," he +said. "I believe that it is he." + +Inspector Jacks stepped forward, but the Prince held out his hand. + +"Wait!" he ordered, and his voice was sterner than any there had ever +heard him use. There was a fire in his eyes from which the man at his +feet appeared to shrink. + +"Soto," the Prince said, and he spoke in his own language, so that no +person in that room understood him save the one whom he addressed,--"why +have you done this?" + +The man lay there, resting now upon his side, and supporting himself by +the palm of his right hand. His upturned face seemed to have in it all +the passionate pleading of a dumb animal. + +"Illustrious Prince," he answered, speaking also in his own tongue, "I +did it for Japan! Who are you to blame me, who have offered his own life +so freely? I have no weight in the world. For you the future is big. You +will go back to Japan, you will sit at the right hand of the Emperor. +You will tell him of the follies and the wisdom of these strange +countries. You will guide him in difficulties. Your hand will be +upon his as he writes across the sheets of time, for the glory of the +Motherland. Banzai, illustrious Prince! I, too, am of the immortals!" + +He suddenly collapsed. The doctor bent over him, but the Prince shook +his head slowly. + +"It is useless," he said. "The man has confessed his crime. He has told +me the whole truth. He has taken poison." + +Lady Grace began to cry softly. The air of the room seemed heavy with +pent-up emotions. The Prince moved slowly toward the door and threw it +open. He turned towards them all. + +"Will you leave me?" he asked. "I wish to be alone." + +His eyes were like the eyes of a blind man. + +One by one they left the room, Inspector Jacks amongst them. The only +person who spoke, even in the hall, was the Inspector. + +"It was the Prince who brought the doctor here," he muttered. "He must +have known! At least he must have known!" + +Mr. Haviland touched him on the arm. + +"Inspector Jacks!" he whispered. + +Inspector Jacks saluted. + +"The murderer is dead," he continued, speaking still under his breath. +"Silence is a wonderful gift, Mr. Jacks. Sometimes its reward is greater +even than the reward of action." + +They passed from the house, and once more its air of deep silence was +unbroken. The Prince stood in the middle of that strange room, whose +furnishings and atmosphere seemed, indeed, so marvellously reminiscent +of some far distant land. He looked down upon the now lifeless figure, +raised the still, white fingers in his for a moment, and laid them +reverently down. Then his head went upward, and his eyes seemed to be +seeking the heavens. + +"So do the great die," he murmured. "Already the Gods of our fathers are +calling you Soto the Faithful. Banzai!" + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Illustrious Prince, by E. 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