initial commit of ebook 15094HEADmain

1 files changed, 9235 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/old/15094.txt b/old/15094.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..35c5456
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/15094.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,9235 @@
+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Cab of the Sleeping Horse, by John Reed
+Scott, Illustrated by William van Dresser
+
+
+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 Cab of the Sleeping Horse
+
+Author: John Reed Scott
+
+Release Date: February 18, 2005  [eBook #15094]
+[Date last updated: March 5, 2005]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAB OF THE SLEEPING HORSE***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Josephine Paolucci, Joshua
+Hutchinson, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+THE CAB OF THE SLEEPING HORSE
+
+by
+
+JOHN REED SCOTT
+
+Author of _The Woman in Question_, _The Man In Evening Clothes_, etc.
+
+Frontispiece by William van Dresser
+
+A. L. Burt Company
+Publishers New York
+Published by arrangement with G.P. Putnam's Sons
+
+1916
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: SHE THREW UP HER HAND, AND A NASTY LITTLE AUTOMATIC
+WAS COVERING THE SECRETARY'S HEART. Drawn by William Van Dresser.
+(Chapter 24)]
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+      I.--THE PHOTOGRAPH
+
+     II.--THE VOICE ON THE WIRE
+
+    III.--VISITORS
+
+     IV.--CRENSHAW
+
+      V.--ANOTHER WOMAN
+
+     VI.--THE GREY-STONE HOUSE
+
+    VII.--SURPRISES
+
+   VIII.--THE STORY
+
+     IX.--DECOYED
+
+      X.--SKIRMISHING
+
+     XI.--HALF A LIE
+
+    XII.--CARPENTER
+
+   XIII.--THE MARQUIS
+
+    XIV.--THE SLIP OF PAPER
+
+     XV.--IDENTIFIED
+
+    XVI.--ANOTHER LETTER
+
+   XVII.--IN THE TAXI
+
+  XVIII.--DOUBT
+
+    XIX.--MARSTON
+
+     XX.--PLAYING THE GAME
+
+    XXI.--THE KEY-WORD
+
+   XXII.--THE RATAPLAN
+
+  XXIII.--CAUGHT
+
+   XXIV.--THE CANDLE FLAME
+
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+THE PHOTOGRAPH
+
+
+"A beautiful woman is never especially clever," Rochester remarked.
+
+Harleston blew a smoke ring at the big drop-light on the table and
+watched it swirl under the cardinal shade.
+
+"The cleverest woman I know is also the most beautiful," he replied.
+"Yes, I can name her offhand. She has all the finesse of her sex,
+together with the reasoning mind; she is surpassingly good to look at,
+and knows how to use her looks to obtain her end; as the occasion
+demands, she can be as cold as steel or warm as a summer's night; she--"
+
+"How are her morals?" Rochester interrupted.
+
+"Morals or the want of them do not, I take it, enter into the question,"
+Harleston responded. "Cleverness is quite apart from morals."
+
+"You have not named the wonderful one," Clarke reminded him.
+
+"And I won't now. Rochester's impertinent question forbids introducing
+her to this company. Moreover," as he drew out his watch, "it is
+half-after-twelve of a fine spring night, and, unless we wish to be
+turned out of the Club, we would better be going homeward or elsewhere.
+Who's for a walk up the avenue?"
+
+"I am--as far as Dupont Circle," said Clarke.
+
+"All hands?" Harleston inquired.
+
+"It's too late for exercise," Rochester declined; "and our way lies
+athwart your path."
+
+"I don't think you make good company, anyway, with your questions and
+your athwarts," Harleston retorted amiably, as Clarke and he moved off.
+
+"Who is your clever woman?" asked Clarke.
+
+"Curious?" Harleston smiled.
+
+"Naturally--it's not in you to give praise undeserved."
+
+"I'm not sure it is praise, Clarke; it depends on one's point of view.
+However, the lady in question bears several names which she uses as
+expediency or her notion suits her. Her maiden name was Madeline
+Cuthbert. She married a Colonel Spencer of Ours; he divorced her, after
+she had eloped with a rich young lieutenant of his regiment. She didn't
+marry the lieutenant; she simply plucked him clean and he shot himself.
+I've never understood why he didn't first shoot her."
+
+"Doubtless it shows her cleverness?" Clarke remarked.
+
+"Doubtless it does," replied Harleston, neatly spitting a leaf on the
+pavement with his stick. "Afterward she had various adventures with
+various wealthy men, and always won. Her particularly spectacular
+adventure was posing, at the instigation of the Duke of Lotzen, as the
+wife of the Archduke Armand of Valeria; and she stirred up a mess of
+turmoil until the matter was cleared up."
+
+"I remember something of it!" Clarke exclaimed.
+
+"By that time she had so fascinated her employer, the Duke of Lotzen,
+that he actually married her--morganatically, of course."
+
+"Again showing her astonishing cleverness."
+
+"Just so--and, cleverer still, she held him until his death five years
+later. Which death, despite the authorized report, was not natural: the
+King of Valeria killed him in a sword duel in Ferida Palace on the
+principal street of Dornlitz. The lady then betook herself to Paris and
+took up her present life of extreme respectability--and political
+usefulness to our friends of Wilhelm-strasse. In fact, I understand that
+she has more than made good professionally, as well as fascinated at
+least half a dozen Cabinet Ministers besides.
+
+"Wilhelm-strasse?" Clarke queried.
+
+Harleston nodded. "She is in the German Secret Service."
+
+"They trust her?" Clarke marvelled.
+
+"That is the most remarkable thing about her," said Harleston, "so far
+as I know, she has never been false to the hand that paid her."
+
+"Which, in her position, is the cleverest thing of all!" Clarke
+remarked.
+
+They passed the English Legation, a bulging, three-storied, red brick,
+dormer-roofed atrocity, standing a few feet in from the sidewalk; ugly
+as original sin, externally as repellent as the sidewalk and the narrow
+little drive under the _porte-cochere_ are dirty.
+
+"It's a pity," said Clarke, "that the British Legation cannot afford a
+man-servant to clean its front."
+
+"No one is presumed to arrive or leave except in carriages or motor
+cars," Harleston explained. "_They_ can push through the dirt to the
+entrance."
+
+"Why, would you believe it," Clarke added, "the deep snow of last
+February lay on the walks untouched until well into the following day.
+The blooming Englishmen just then began to appreciate that it had snowed
+the previous night. Are they so slow on the secret-service end?"
+
+"They have quite enough speed on that end," Harleston responded. "They
+are on the job always and ever--also the Germans."
+
+"You've bumped into them?"
+
+"Frequently."
+
+"Ever encounter the clever lady, with the assortment of husbands?"
+
+"Once or twice. Moreover, having known her as a little girl, and her
+family before her, I've been interested to watch her travelling--her
+remarkable career. And it has been a career, Clarke; believe me, it's
+been a career. For pure cleverness, and the appreciation of
+opportunities with the ability to grasp them, the devil himself can't
+show anything more picturesque. My hat's off to her!"
+
+"I should like to meet her," Clarke said.
+
+"Come to Paris, sometime when I'm there, and I'll be delighted to
+present you to her."
+
+"Doesn't she ever come to America?"
+
+"I think not. She says the Continent, and Paris in particular, is good
+enough for her."
+
+Harleston left Clarke at Dupont Circle and turned down Massachusetts
+Avenue.
+
+The broad thoroughfare was deserted, yet at the intersection of
+Eighteenth Street he came upon a most singular sight.
+
+A cab was by the curb, its horse lying prostrate on the asphalt, its box
+vacant of driver.
+
+Harleston stopped. What had he here! Then he looked about for a
+policeman. Of course, none was in sight. Policemen never are in sight on
+Massachusetts Avenue.
+
+As a general rule, Harleston was not inquisitive as to things that did
+not concern him--especially at one o'clock in the morning; but the
+waiting cab, the deserted box, the recumbent horse in the shafts excited
+his curiosity.
+
+The cab, probably, was from the stand in Dupont Circle; and the cabby
+likely was asleep inside the cab, with a bit too much rum aboard.
+Nevertheless, the matter was worth a step into Eighteenth Street and a
+few seconds' time. It might yield only a drunken driver's mutterings at
+being disturbed; it might yield much of profit. And the longer Harleston
+looked the more he was impelled to investigate. Finally curiosity
+prevailed.
+
+The door of the cab was closed and he looked inside.
+
+The cab was empty.
+
+As he opened the door, the sleeping horse came suddenly to life; with a
+snort it struggled to its feet, then looked around apologetically at
+Harleston, as though begging to be excused for having been caught in a
+most reprehensible act for a cab horse.
+
+"That's all right, old boy," Harleston smiled. "You doubtless are in
+need of all the sleep you can get. Now, if you'll be good enough to
+stand still, we'll have a look at the interior of your appendix."
+
+The light from the street lamps penetrated but faintly inside the cab,
+so Harleston, being averse to lighting a match save for an instant at
+the end of the search, was forced to grope in semi-darkness.
+
+On the cushion of the seat was a light lap spread, part of the equipment
+of the cab. The pockets on the doors yielded nothing. He turned up the
+cushion and felt under it: nothing. On the floor, however, was a woman's
+handkerchief, filmy and small, and without the least odour clinging to
+it.
+
+"Strange!" Harleston muttered. "They are always covered with perfume."
+
+Moreover, while a very expensive handkerchief, it was without
+initial--which also was most unusual.
+
+He put the bit of lace into his coat and went on with the search:
+
+Three American Beauty roses, somewhat crushed and broken, were in the
+far corner. From certain abrasions in the stems, he concluded that they
+had been torn, or loosed, from a woman's corsage.
+
+He felt again--then he struck a match, leaning well inside the cab so
+as to hide the light as much as possible.
+
+The momentary flare disclosed a square envelope standing on edge and
+close in against the seat. Extinguishing the match, he caught it up.
+
+It was of white linen of superior quality, without superscription, and
+sealed; the contents were very light--a single sheet of paper, likely.
+
+The handkerchief, the crushed roses, the unaddressed, sealed
+envelope--the horse, the empty and deserted cab, standing before a
+vacant lot, at one o'clock in the morning! Surely any one of them was
+enough to stir the imagination; together they were a tantalizing
+mystery, calling for solution and beckoning one on.
+
+Harleston took another look around, saw no one, and calmly pocketed the
+envelope. Then, after noting the number of the cab, No. 333, he gathered
+up the lines, whipped the ends about the box, and chirped to the horse
+to proceed.
+
+The horse promptly obeyed; turned west on Massachusetts Avenue, and
+backed up to his accustomed stand in Dupont Circle as neatly as though
+his driver were directing him.
+
+Harleston watched the proceeding from the corner of Eighteenth Street:
+after which he resumed his way to his apartment in the Collingwood.
+
+A sleepy elevator boy tried to put him off at the fourth floor, and he
+had some trouble in convincing the lad that the sixth was his floor. In
+fact, Harleston's mind being occupied with the recent affair, he would
+have let himself be put off at the fourth floor, if he had not happened
+to notice the large gilt numbers on the glass panel of the door opposite
+the elevator. The bright light shining through this panel caught his
+eye, and he wondered indifferently that it should be burning at such an
+hour.
+
+Subsequently he understood the light in No. 401; but then it was too
+late. Had he been delayed ten seconds, or had he gotten off at the
+fourth floor, he would have--. However, I anticipate; or rather I
+speculate on what would have happened under hypothetical
+conditions--which is fatuous in the extreme; hypothetical conditions
+never are existent facts.
+
+Harleston, having gained his apartment, leisurely removed from his
+pockets the handkerchief, the roses, and the envelope, and placed them
+on the library table. With the same leisureliness, he removed his light
+top-coat and his hat and hung them in the closet. Returning to the
+library, he chose a cigarette, tapped it on the back of his hand, struck
+a match, and carefully passed the flame across the tip. After several
+puffs, taken with conscious deliberation, he sat down and took up the
+handkerchief.
+
+This was Harleston's way: to delay deliberately the gratification of his
+curiosity, so as to keep it always under control. An important
+letter--where haste was not an essential--was unopened for a while; his
+morning newspaper he would let lie untouched beside his plate for
+sufficiently long to check his natural inclination to glance hastily
+over the headlines of the first page. In everything he tried by
+self-imposed curbs to teach himself poise and patience and a quiet mind.
+He had been at it for years. By now he had himself well in hand; though,
+being exceedingly impetuous by nature, he occasionally broke over.
+
+His course in this instance was typical--the more so, indeed, since he
+had broken over and lost his poise only that afternoon. He wanted to
+know what was inside that blank envelope. He was persuaded it contained
+that which would either solve the mystery of the cab, or would in itself
+lead on to a greater mystery. In either event, a most interesting
+document lay within his reach--and he took up the handkerchief.
+Discipline! The curb must be maintained.
+
+And the handkerchief yielded nothing--not even when inspected under the
+drop-light and with the aid of a microscope. Not a mark to indicate who
+carried it nor whence it came.--Yet stay; in the closed room he detected
+what had been lost in the open: a faint, a very faint, odour as of
+azurea sachet. It was only a suggestion; vague and uncertain, and
+entirely absent at times. And Harleston shook his head. The very fact
+that there was nothing about it by which it might be identified
+indicated the deliberate purpose to avoid identification. He put it
+aside, and, taking up the roses, laid them under the light.
+
+They were the usual American Beauties; only larger and more gorgeous
+than the general run--which might be taken as an indication of the
+wealth of the giver, or of the male desire to please the female; or of
+both. Of course, there was the possibility that the roses were of the
+woman's own buying; but women rarely waste their own money on American
+Beauties--and Harleston knew it. A minute examination convinced him that
+they had been crushed while being worn and then trampled on. The stems,
+some of the green leaves, and the edges of one of the blooms were
+scarred as by a heel; the rest of the blooms were crushed but not
+scarred. Which indicated violence--first gentle, then somewhat drastic.
+
+He put the flowers aside and picked up the envelope, looked it over
+carefully, then, with a peculiarly thin and very sharp knife, he cut the
+sealing of the flap so neatly that it could be resealed and no one
+suspect it had been opened. As he turned back the flap, a small
+unmounted photograph fell out and lay face upward on the table.
+
+Harleston gave a low whistle of surprise.
+
+It was Madeline Spencer.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+THE VOICE ON THE WIRE
+
+
+"Good morning, madame!" said Harleston, bowing to the photograph. "This
+is quite a surprise. You're taken very recently, and you're worth
+looking at for divers aesthetic reasons--none of which, however, is the
+reason for your being in the envelope."
+
+He drew out the sheet of paper and opened it. On it were typewritten,
+without address nor signature, these letters:
+
+  DPNFNZQFEFBPOYVOAEELEHHEJYD
+  BIWFTCCFVDXNQYCECLUGSUGDZYJ
+  ENRYUIGYBSNRTDUHJWHGYZIPEPA
+  WPPOIMCHEIPRFBJXFVWWFTZNJPY
+  UFJDILDCEMBRVZDAYVAWALUMOFN
+  FCVDPGLPWFUUWVIEPTKVIPUMSFZ
+  NPSJJRFYASGZSDACSIGYUOFCEXA
+  AOIDJJFCJPSONPKUUYVCVCTIHDP
+  XMNOYKENHUSKHYMSFRRPCYWSLLW
+  SMVPPUNEIFIDJLZRWEHPQGODFUZ
+  TCEMQIQWNFYJTAALUMHJXILEEHY
+  ISOVOAZUCUDINBRLUZICUOTTUSV
+  LPNFFVQFANPVCYJHILTPFISGHCW
+  HYICPPNFDOUOCLDUWEIVIPJNQBV
+  ZLMIJRVKDSFRLWEGBKQYWSFFBEI
+  YORHMYSHTECPUTMPJXFNRNEEUME
+  ILJBWV.
+
+"Cipher!" commented Harleston, looking at it with half-closed eyes....
+"The Blocked-Out Square, I imagine. No earthly use in trying to dig it
+out without the key-word; and the key-word--" he gave a shrug. "I'll let
+Carpenter try his hand on it; it's too much for me."
+
+He knew from experience the futility of attempting the solution of a
+cipher by any but an expert; and even with an expert it was rarely
+successful.
+
+As a general rule, the key to a secret cipher is discovered only by
+accident or by betrayal. There are hundreds of secret ciphers--any
+person can devise one--in everyday use by the various departments of the
+various governments; but, in the main, they are amplifications or
+variations of some half-dozen that have become generally accepted as
+susceptible of the quickest and simplest translation with the key, and
+the most puzzling without the key. Of these, the Blocked-Out Square,
+first used by Blaise de Vigenerie in 1589, is probably still the most
+generally employed, and, because of its very simplicity, the most
+impossible of solution. Change the key-word and one has a new cipher.
+Any word will do; nor does it matter how often a letter is repeated;
+neither is one held to one word: it may be two or three or any
+reasonable number. Simply apply it to the alphabetic Blocked-Out Square
+and the message is evident; no books whatever are required. A slip of
+paper and a pencil are all that are necessary; any one can write the
+square; there is not any secret as to it. The secret is the key-word.
+
+Harleston took a sheet of paper and wrote the square:
+
+  ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
+  BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZA
+  CDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZAB
+  DEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABC
+  EFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCD
+  FGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDE
+  GHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEF
+  HIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFG
+  IJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGH
+  JKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHI
+  KLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJ
+  LMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJK
+  MNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJKL
+  NOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJKLM
+  OPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJKLMN
+  PQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJKLMNO
+  QRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP
+  RSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQ
+  STUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQR
+  TUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRS
+  UVWXYZABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST
+  VWXYZABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTU
+  WXYZABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUV
+  XYZABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVW
+  YZABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWX
+  ZABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXY
+
+Assume that the message to be transmitted is: "To-morrow sure," and that
+the key-word is: "In the inn." Write the key-word and under it the
+message:
+
+  INTHEINNINTH
+  TOMORROWSURE
+
+Then trace _downward_ the I column of the top line of the square, and
+_horizontally_ the T column at the side of the square until the two
+lines coincide in the letter B: the first letter of the cipher message.
+The N and the O yield B; the T and the M yield F; the H and the O yield
+V, and so on, until the completed message is:
+
+  BBFVVZBJAHKL
+
+The translator of the cipher message simply reverses this proceeding. He
+knows the key-word, and he writes it above the cipher message:
+
+  INTHEINNINTH
+  BBFVVZBJAHKL
+
+He traces the I column until B is reached; the _first_ letter in that
+line, T, is the first letter of the message--and so on.
+
+Simple! Yes, childishly simple with the key-word; and the key-word can
+be carried in one's mind. Without the key-word, translation is
+impossible.
+
+Harleston put down the paper and leaned back.
+
+Altogether it was a most interesting collection, these four articles on
+the table. It was a pity that the cab and the sleeping horse were not
+among the exhibits. Number one: a lady's lace handkerchief. Number two:
+three American Beauty roses, somewhat the worse for wear and violent
+usage. Number three: a cipher message. Number four: photograph of
+Madame--or Mademoiselle--de Cuthbert, de Spencer, de Lotzen. There was a
+pretty plot behind these exhibits; a pretty plot, or he missed his
+guess. It might concern the United States--and it might not. It would be
+his duty to find out. Meanwhile, the picture stirred memories that he
+had thought long dead. Also it suggested possibilities. It was some
+years since they had matched their wits against each other, and the last
+time she rather won out--because all the cards were hers, as well as the
+_mise en scene_. And she had left--
+
+His thought trailed off into silence; and the silence lasted so long,
+and he sat so still, that the ash fell unnoticed from his cigarette; and
+presently the cigarette burned itself into the tip, and to his fingers.
+
+He tossed it into the tray and laughed quietly.
+
+Rare days--those days of the vanished protocol and its finding! He could
+almost wish that they might be again; with a different _mise en scene_,
+and a different ending--and a different client for his. He was becoming
+almost sentimental--and he was too old a bird for sentiment, and quite
+too old at this game; which had not any sentiment about it that was not
+pretence and sham. Yet it was a good game--a mighty entertaining game;
+where one measured wits with the best, and took long chances, and played
+for high stakes; men's lives and a nation's honour.
+
+He picked up the photograph and regarded it thoughtfully.
+
+"And what are to be the stakes now, I wonder," he mused. "It's another
+deal of the same old cards, but who are players? If America is one,
+then, my lady, we shall see who will win this time--if you're in it; and
+I take it you are, else why this picture. Yet to induce you to break
+your rule and cross the Atlantic, the moving consideration must be of
+the utmost weight, or else it's purely a personal matter. H-u-m! Under
+all the circumstances, I should say the latter is the more likely. In
+which event, I may not be concerned further than to return these--" with
+a wave of his hand toward the exhibits.
+
+For a while longer he sat in silence, eyes half closed, lips a bit
+compressed; a certain sternness, that was always in his countenance,
+showing plainest when in reflective thought. At last, he smiled. Then he
+lit another cigarette, took up the letter and the photograph, and put
+them in the small safe standing behind an ornate screen in the
+corner--not, however, without another look at the calmly beautiful face.
+
+The roses he left lie on the table; the steel safe would not preserve
+them in _statu quo_; moreover, he knew, or thought he knew, all that
+they could convey. He swung the door shut; then swung it open, and
+looked again at the picture--and for sometime--before he put it up and
+gave the knob a twirl.
+
+"I'm sure bewitched!" he remarked, going on to his bedroom. "It's not
+difficult for me to understand the Duke of Lotzen. He was simply a
+man--and men, at the best, are queer beggars. No woman ever understands
+us--and no more do we understand women. So we're both quits on that
+score, if we're not quite on some others." Then he raised his hands
+helplessly, "Oh, Lord, the petticoats, the petticoats!"
+
+Just then the telephone rang--noisily as befits two o'clock in the
+morning.
+
+"Who the devil wants me at such an hour?" he muttered.
+
+The clang was repeated almost instantly and continued until he unhooked
+the receiver.
+
+"Well!" he said sharply.
+
+"Is that Mr. Harleston?" asked a woman's voice. A particularly soft and
+sweet and smiling voice, it was.
+
+"I am Mr. Harleston," he replied courteously--the voice had done it.
+
+"Oh, how do you do, Mr. Harleston!" the voice rippled. "I suppose you
+are rather astonished at being called up at such an unseemly hour--"
+
+"Not at all--I'm quite used to it, mademoiselle," Harleston assured her.
+
+"Now you're sarcastic," the voice replied again; "and, somehow, I don't
+like sarcasm when I'm the cause of it."
+
+"You're the cause of it but not the object of it," he assured her. "I'm
+quite sure I've never met you, and just as sure that I hope to meet you
+today."
+
+"Your hope, Mr. Harleston, is also mine. But why, may I ask, do you call
+me mademoiselle? I'm not French."
+
+"It's the pleasantest way to address you until I know your name."
+
+"You might call me madame!"
+
+"Perish the thought! I refuse to imagine you married."
+
+"I might be a widow."
+
+"No."
+
+"Or even a divorcee."
+
+"And you might be a grandmother," he added.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And doing the Maxixe at the Willard, this minute."
+
+"Yes!" she laughed.
+
+"But you aren't; and no more are you a widow or a divorcee."
+
+"All of which is charming of you, Mr. Harleston but it's not exactly the
+business I have in hand."
+
+"Business at two o'clock in the morning!" he exclaimed.
+
+He had tried to place the voice, and had failed; he was becoming
+convinced that he had not heard it before.
+
+"What else would justify me in disturbing you?" she asked.
+
+"Yourself, mademoiselle. Let us continue the pleasant conversation and
+forget business until business hours."
+
+"When are your business hours, Mr. Harleston--and where's your office?"
+
+"I have no office--and my business hours depend on the business in
+hand."
+
+"And the business in hand depends primarily on whether you are
+interested in the subject matter of the business, _n'est-ce pas_?"
+
+"I am profoundly interested, mademoiselle, in any matter that concerns
+you--as well as in yourself. Who would not be interested in one so
+impulsive--and anything so important--as to call him on the telephone at
+two in the morning."
+
+"And who on his part is so gracious--and wasn't asleep," she answered.
+
+Harleston slowly winked at the transmitter and smiled.
+
+He thought so. What puzzled him, however, was her idea in prolonging the
+talk. Maybe there was not any idea in it, just a feminine notion; yet
+something in the very alluring softness of her voice told him otherwise.
+
+"You guessed it," he replied. "I was not asleep. Also I might guess
+something in regard to your business."
+
+"What?"
+
+"No, no, mademoiselle! It's impertinent to guess about what does not
+concern me--yet."
+
+"Delete the word 'yet,' Mr. Harleston, and substitute the idea that it
+was--pardon me--rather gratuitous in you to meddle in the first place."
+
+"I don't understand," said Harleston.
+
+"Oh, yes you do!" she trilled. "However, I'll be specific--it's time to
+be specific, you would say; though I might respond that you've known all
+along what my business is with you."
+
+"The name of an individual is a prerequisite to the transaction of
+business," he interposed.
+
+"You do not know me, Mr. Harleston."
+
+"Hence, your name?"
+
+"When we meet, you'll know me by my voice."
+
+"True, mademoiselle, for it's one in a million; but as yet we are not
+met, and you desire to talk business."
+
+"And I'm going to talk business!" she laughed. "And I shall not give
+you my name--or, if you must, know me as Madame X. Are you satisfied?"
+
+"If you are willing to be known as Madame X," he laughed back, "I
+haven't a word to say. Pray begin."
+
+"Being assured now that you have never before heard my voice, and that
+you have it fixed sufficiently in your memory--all of which, Mr.
+Harleston, wasn't in the least necessary, for we shall meet today--we
+will proceed. Ready?"
+
+"Ready, mademoiselle--I mean Madame X."
+
+"What do you intend to do, sir, in regard to the incident of the
+deserted cab with the sleeping horse?" she asked.
+
+"I have not determined. It depends on developments."
+
+"You see, Mr. Harleston, you were not in the least surprised at my
+question."
+
+"For a moment, a mere man may have had a clever woman's intuition," he
+replied.
+
+"And, I suppose, the woman will be expected to aid developments."
+
+"Isn't that her present intention?"
+
+"Not at all! Her present intention is to avoid developments so far as
+you are concerned, and to have matters take their intended course. It's
+to that end that I have ventured to call you."
+
+"What do you wish me to do, Madame X?"
+
+"As if you did not know!" she mocked.
+
+"I'm very dense at times," he assured her.
+
+"Dense!" she laughed. "Shades of Talleyrand, hear the man! However, as
+you desire to be told, I'll tell you. I wish you to forget that you saw
+anything unusual on your way home this morning, and to return the
+articles you took from the cab."
+
+"To the cab?" Harleston inquired.
+
+"No, to me."
+
+"What were the articles?"
+
+"A sealed envelope containing a message in cipher."
+
+"Haven't you forgotten something?"
+
+"Oh, you may keep the roses, Mr. Harleston, for your reward!" she
+laughed.
+
+She had not missed the handkerchief, or else she thought it of no
+consequence.
+
+"Assuming, for the moment, that I have the articles in question, how are
+they to be gotten to you?"
+
+"By the messenger, I shall send."
+
+"Will you send yourself?"
+
+"What is that to you, sir?" she trilled.
+
+"Simply that I shall not even consider surrendering the articles,
+assuming that I have them, to any one but you."
+
+"You will surrender them to _me_?" she whispered.
+
+"I won't surrender them to any one else."
+
+"In other words, I have a chance to get them. No one else has a chance?"
+
+"Precisely."
+
+"Very well, I accept. Make the appointment, Mr. Harleston."
+
+"Will five o'clock this afternoon be convenient?"
+
+"Perfectly--if it can't be sooner," she replied, after a momentary
+pause. "And the place?"
+
+"Where you will," he answered. He wanted her to fix it so that he could
+judge of her good faith.
+
+And she understood.
+
+"I'm not arranging to have you throttled!" she laughed. "Let us say the
+corridor of the Chateau--that is safe enough, isn't it?"
+
+"Don't you know, Madame X, that Peacock Alley is one of the most
+dangerous places in town?"
+
+"Not for you, Mr. Harleston," she replied. "However--"
+
+"Oh, I'll chance it; though it's a perilous setting with one of your
+adorable voice--and the other things that simply must go with it."
+
+"And lest the other things should not go with it," she added, "I'll wear
+three American Beauties on a black gown so that you may know me."
+
+"Good! Peacock Alley at five," he replied and snapped up the receiver.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+VISITORS
+
+
+"The affair promises to be quite interesting," he confided to the
+paper-knife, with which he was spearing tiny holes in the blotter of the
+pad. "Peacock Alley at five--but there are a few matters that come
+first."
+
+He went straight to the safe, unlocked it, took out the photograph, the
+cipher message, and the handkerchief, carried these to the table and
+placed them in a large envelope, which he sealed and addressed to
+himself. Then with it, and the three American Beauties, he passed
+quickly into the corridor and to an adjoining apartment. There he rang
+the bell vigorously and long.
+
+He was still ringing when a dishevelled figure, in blue pajamas and a
+scowl, opened the door.
+
+"What the devil do you--" the disturbed one growled.
+
+"S-h-h!" said Harleston, his finger on his lips. "Keep these for me
+until tomorrow, Stuart."
+
+And crowding the roses and the envelope in the astonished man's hands,
+he hurried away.
+
+The pajamaed one glared at the flowers and the envelope; then he turned
+and flung them into a corner of the living-room.
+
+"Hell!" he said in disgust. "Harleston's either crazy or in love: it's
+the same thing anyway."
+
+He slammed the door and went back to bed.
+
+Harleston, chuckling, returned to his quarters; retrieved from the floor
+a leaf and a petal and tossed them out of the window. Then, being
+assured by a careful inspection of the room that there were no further
+traces of the roses remaining, he went to bed.
+
+Two minutes after his head touched the pillow, he was asleep.
+
+Presently he awoke--listening!
+
+Some one was on the fire-escape. The passage leading to it was just at
+the end of his suite; more than that, one could climb over the railing,
+and, by a little care, reach the sill of his bedroom window. This sill
+was wide and offered an easy footing. If the window were up, one could
+easily step inside; or, even if it were not, the catch could be slipped
+in a moment.
+
+Harleston's window, however, was up--invitingly up; also the window on
+the passage; it was a warm night and any air was grateful.
+
+He lay quite still and waited developments. They came from another
+quarter: the corridor on which his apartment opened. Someone was there.
+
+Then the knob of his door turned; he could not distinguish it in the
+uncertain light, yet he knew it was turning by a peculiarly faint
+screech--almost so faint as to be indistinguishable. One would not
+notice it except at the dead of night.
+
+The door hung a moment; then cautiously it swung back a little way, and
+two men entered. The moon, though now low, was sufficient to light the
+place faintly and to enable them to see and be seen.
+
+For a brief interval they stood motionless. They came to life when
+Harleston, reaching up, pushed the electric button.
+
+"What can I do for you, gentlemen?" he asked, blinking into their
+levelled revolvers.
+
+They were medium-sized men and wore evening clothes; one was about
+forty-five and rather inclined to stoutness, the other was under forty
+and rather slender. They were not masked, and their faces, which were
+strange to Harleston, were the faces of men of breeding, accustomed to
+affairs.
+
+"You startled us, Mr. Harleston," the elder replied; "and you blinded us
+momentarily by the rush of light."
+
+"It was thoughtless of me," Harleston returned. He waved his hand toward
+the chairs. "Won't you be seated, messieurs--and pardon my not arising;
+I'm hardly in receiving costume. May I ask whom I am entertaining."
+
+"Certainly, sir," the elder smiled. "This is Mr. Sparrow; I am Mr.
+Marston. We would not have you put yourself to the inconvenience, not to
+mention the hazard from drafts. You're much more comfortable in bed--and
+we can transact our business with you quite as well so; moreover if you
+will give us your word to lie quiet and not call or shoot, we shall not
+offer you the slightest violence."
+
+"I'll do anything," Harleston smiled, "to be relieved of looking down
+those unattractive muzzles. Ah! thank you!--The chairs, gentlemen!" with
+a fine gesture of welcome.
+
+"We haven't time to sit down, thank you," said Sparrow. "Time presses
+and we must away as quickly as possible. We shall, we sincerely hope,
+inconvenience you but a moment, Mr. Harleston."
+
+"Pray take all the time you need," Harleston responded. "I've nothing to
+do until nine o'clock--except to sleep; and sleep is a mere incidental
+to me. I would much rather chat with visitors, especially those who pay
+me such a delightfully early morning call."
+
+"Do you know what we came for?" Marston asked.
+
+"I haven't the slightest idea. In fact, I don't seem to recall ever
+having met either of you. However--you'll find cigars and cigarettes on
+the table in the other room. I'll be greatly obliged, if one of you will
+pass me a cigarette and a match."
+
+Both men laughed; Sparrow produced his case and offered it to Harleston,
+together with a match.
+
+"Thank you, very much," said Harleston, as he struck the match and
+carefully passed the flame across the tip. "Now, sirs, I'm at your
+service. To what, or to whom, do I owe the honour of this visit?"
+
+"We have ventured to intrude on you, Mr. Harleston," said Marston, "in
+regard to a little matter that happened on Eighteenth Street near
+Massachusetts Avenue shortly before one o'clock this morning."
+
+Harleston looked his surprise.
+
+"Yes!" he inflected. "How very interesting."
+
+"I'm delighted that you find it so," was the answer. "It encourages me
+to go deeper into that matter."
+
+"By all means!" said Harleston, pushing the pillow aside and sitting up.
+"Pray, proceed. I'm all attention."
+
+"Then we'll go straight to the point. You found certain articles in the
+cab, Mr. Harleston--we have come for those articles."
+
+"I am quite at a loss to understand," Harleston replied. "Cab--articles!
+Have they to do with your little matter of Eighteenth and Massachusetts
+Avenue several hours ago?"
+
+"They are the crux of the matter," Marston said shortly. "And you will
+confer a great favour upon persons high in authority of a friendly power
+if you will return the articles in question."
+
+"My dear sir," Harleston exclaimed, "I haven't the articles, whatever
+they may be; and pardon me, even if I had, I should not deliver them to
+you; I've never, to the best of my recollection, seen either of you
+gentlemen before this pleasant occasion."
+
+"My dear Mr. Harleston," remarked Sparrow, "all your actions at the cab
+of the sleeping horse were observed and noted, so why protest?"
+
+"I'm not protesting; I'm simply stating two pertinent facts!" Harleston
+laughed.
+
+"We will grant the fact that you've never seen us," said Marston, "but
+that you have not got the articles in question, we," with apologizing
+gesture, "beg leave to doubt."
+
+"You're at full liberty to search my apartment," Harleston answered.
+"I'm not sensitive early in the morning, whatever I may be at night."
+
+"The letter is easy to conceal," was the reply, "and the safe yonder is
+an _impasse_ without your assistance."
+
+"The safe is not locked," Harleston remarked. "I think I neglected to
+turn the knob. If you will--"
+
+"Don't disturb yourself, I pray," was the quick reply, the revolver
+glinting in his hand; "we will gladly relieve you of the trouble."
+
+"I was only about to say that if you try the door it will open for you,"
+Harleston chuckled. "Go through it, sir," he remarked to the younger,
+"and don't, I beg of you, disturb the papers more than necessary. The
+key to the locked drawer is in the lower compartment on the right.
+Proceed, my elderly friend, to search the apartment; I'll not balk you.
+The thing's rather amusing--and entirely absurd. If it were not--if it
+didn't strike my funny-bone--I should probably put up some sort of a
+fight; as it is, you see I'm entirely acquiescent. Your tiny automatics
+didn't in the least intimidate me. I could have landed you both as you
+entered. I've got a gun of a much larger calibre right to my hand. See!"
+and he lifted the pillow and exposed a 38. "Want to borrow it?"
+
+"Why didn't you land us?" Marston asked, as he took the 38.
+
+"It wouldn't have been kind!" Harleston smiled. "When visitors come at
+such an hour, they deserve to be received with every attention and
+courtesy--particularly when they come on a mistaken impression and a
+fruitless quest."
+
+The man looked at Harleston doubtfully. Just how much of this was bluff,
+he could not decide. Harleston's whole conduct was rather unusual--the
+open door, the open safe, the unemployed revolver, were not in
+accordance with the game they were playing. He should have made a fight,
+some sort of a fight, and not--
+
+"The letter's not in the safe," Sparrow reported.
+
+"I didn't think it was," said the other, "but we had to make search."
+
+"You're very welcome to look elsewhere and anywhere," Harleston
+interjected. "I'll trust you not to pry into matters other than the
+letter. By the way, whose was the letter?"
+
+"His Majesty of Abyssinia!" was the answer.
+
+"Taken by wireless, I presume."
+
+"Exactly!"
+
+"Then, why so much bother, my friend?" Harleston asked. "If you do not
+find it, you can get others by the same quick route."
+
+"The King of Abyssinia never duplicates a letter."
+
+"When," supplemented Harleston, "it has been carelessly lost in a cab."
+
+"Just so. Therefore--"
+
+"I repeat that I have not got the articles," said Harleston, a bit
+wearily, "nor are they in my apartment. You have been misinformed. I
+find I am getting drowsy--this thing is not as absorbing as I had
+thought it would be. With your permission I'll drop off to sleep; you're
+welcome to continue the search. Make yourselves perfectly at home,
+sirs." He lay back and drew up the sheet. "Just pull the door shut when
+you depart, please," he said, and closed his eyes.
+
+"You're a queer chap," remarked Sparrow, pausing in his search and
+surveying Harleston with a puzzled smile. "One would suppose you're used
+to receiving interruptions at such hours for such purposes."
+
+"I try never to be surprised at anything however _outre_," Harleston
+explained. "Good-night."
+
+The two men looked at the recumbent figure and then at each other and
+laughed.
+
+"He acts the part," said the elder. "Have you found anything?"
+
+"Nothing! It's not in the safe nor the writing-table--nor anywhere else
+that is reasonable. I've been through everything and there's nothing
+doing."
+
+"You're not going?" Harleston remarked.
+
+"You're asleep, Mr. Harleston!" Marston reminded. "The letter is here:
+we've simply got to find it."
+
+"A letter is easy to conceal," the younger replied. "There's nothing but
+to overturn everything in the place--and so on; and that will require a
+day."
+
+"So that you replace things, I've not the slightest objection,"
+Harleston interjected. "Bang away, sirs, bang away! Anything to relieve
+me from suspicion."
+
+"It prevents him from sleeping!" Sparrow laughed.
+
+"Also yourselves," Harleston supplemented. "However, you for it,
+remembering that cock-crow comes earlier now than in December, and the
+people too are up betimes. You risk interruption, I fear, from my
+solicitous friends."
+
+And even as he spoke the corridor door opened and a man stepped in.
+
+From where he lay, Harleston could see him; the others could not.
+
+"'Pon my soul, I'm popular this morning!" Harleston remarked, sitting
+up.
+
+Instantly the new-comer covered him with his revolver.
+
+"What did you say?" Sparrow inquired from the sitting-room, just as the
+stranger appeared around the corner.
+
+Like a flash, the latter's revolver shifted to him.
+
+"Easy there!" said he.
+
+Sparrow sprang up--then he laughed.
+
+"Easy yourself!" said he. "Marston, let this gentleman see your hand."
+
+Marston came slowly forward until he stood a little behind but
+sufficiently in view to enable the stranger to see that he himself was
+covered by an automatic.
+
+"For heaven's sake, Crenshaw," said Sparrow, "don't let us get to
+shooting here! If you wing me, Marston will wing you, and we'll only
+stir up a mess for ourselves."
+
+"Then hand over the letter," said Crenshaw
+
+"Do you fancy we would be hunting it if we had it?"
+
+"I don't fancy--produce the goods!"
+
+"We haven't the goods," Marston shrugged. "We can't find it."
+
+Sparrow shook his head curtly.
+
+"It's the truth," Harleston interjected. "They haven't found the goods
+for the very good reason that the goods are not here. Plunge in and aid
+in the search; I wish you would; it will relieve me of your triple
+intrusion in one third less time. I'm becoming very tired of it all; it
+has lost its novelty. I prefer to sleep."
+
+"I want the letter!" Crenshaw exclaimed.
+
+"I assumed as much from the vigour of your quest," Harleston shrugged.
+"The difficulty is that I haven't the letter. Neither is it in my
+apartment. But you'll facilitate the search if you'll depress your
+respective cannon from the angle of each other's anatomy and get to
+work. As I remarked before, I'm anxious to compose myself for sleep. You
+can hold your little dispute later on the sidewalk, or in jail, or
+wherever is most convenient."
+
+"Mr. Harleston," said Marston, "do you give us your word that the letter
+is not in your apartment?"
+
+"You already have it," Harleston replied wearily.
+
+"Then, sir, we'll take your word and withdraw."
+
+"Thank you," said Harleston.
+
+"He has it somewhere!" Crenshaw declared, fingering his revolver.
+
+"My dear fellow," Marston returned, "we are willing to accept Mr.
+Harleston's averment."
+
+"He knows where it is--he took it--let him tell where it is hidden."
+
+"What good will that subserve? We can't get it tonight, and tomorrow
+will be too late."
+
+"And all because of you two meddlers."
+
+"Three meddlers, Crenshaw!" Marston laughed. "You must not forget your
+sweet self. We've bungled the affair, I admit. We can't improve it now
+by murdering each other--"
+
+"We can make it very uncomfortable for the fourth meddler," Crenshaw
+threatened, eyeing the figure on the bed.
+
+"Haven't you made me uncomfortable enough by this untimely intrusion?"
+Harleston muttered sleepily.
+
+"What is your idea in not offering any opposition?" Crenshaw demanded.
+"Is it a plant?"
+
+"It was courtesy at first, and the novelty of the experience; but it's
+ceased to be novel, and courtesy is a bit supererogatory. By the way,
+which of you came up the fire-escape?"
+
+The three shook their heads.
+
+"I'm not a burglar," Crenshaw snapped.
+
+"The burden is on you to prove it, my friend!" Harleston smiled.
+"However, it's no matter. Just drop cards before you leave so that I can
+return your call. Once more, good-night!"
+
+"I'm off," said Marston. "Come along, Crenshaw, you can't do anything
+more here, and we'll all forget and forgive and start fresh in the
+morning."
+
+"Start?" cried Crenshaw? "what for--home? I tell you the letter is
+here--he took it, didn't he? He was at the cab."
+
+"Will you also give your word that you didn't take a letter from the
+cab?" Crenshaw demanded, turning upon Harleston.
+
+"I'll give you nothing since you've asked me in that manner," Harleston
+replied sharply; "unless you want this." His hand came from under the
+sheet, and Crenshaw was looking into a levelled 38. Harleston had a pair
+of them.
+
+"Beat it, my man!" Harleston snapped. "None of you are of much success
+as burglars; you're not familiar with the trade. You're novices, rank
+novices. Also myself. I'll give you until I count five, Crenshaw, to
+make your adieux. One ... two ... No need for you two to hurry away--the
+time limit applies only to Mr. Crenshaw."
+
+"It's quite time we were going, Mr. Harleston," Marston answered.
+"Good-night, sir--and pleasant dreams. Come on, Crenshaw."
+
+"Three ... four ..."
+
+Crenshaw made a gesture of final threat.
+
+"Meddler!" he exclaimed. Then he followed the other two.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+CRENSHAW
+
+
+Harleston lay for a few minutes, brows drawn in thought; then he arose,
+crossed to the telephone, and took down the receiver.
+
+"Good-morning, Miss Williams," he said. "Has it been a long night?"
+
+"Pretty long, Mr. Harleston," the girl answered. "There hasn't been a
+thing doing for two hours."
+
+"Haven't three gentlemen just left the building?"
+
+"No one has passed in or out since you came in, Mr. Harleston."
+
+"Then I must be mistaken."
+
+"You certainly are. It's so lonely down here, Mr. Harleston, you can
+pick up chunks of it and carry off."
+
+"Been asleep?"
+
+"I don't think!" she laughed. "I'm not minded to lose my job. Suppose
+some peevish woman wanted a doctor and she couldn't raise me; do you
+think I'd last longer than the morning and the manager's arrival? Nay!
+Nay!"
+
+"It's an unsympathetic world, isn't it, Miss Williams?"
+
+"Only when you're down--otherwise it's not half bad. Say, maybe here's
+one of your men now; he's walking down. Shall I stop him?"
+
+"No, no, let him go. When he's gone, tell me if he's slender, or stout,
+or has a moustache and imperial."
+
+"Sure, I will."
+
+Through the telephone Harleston could hear someone descend the stairs,
+cross the lobby, and the revolving doors swing around.
+
+The next moment, the operator's voice came with a bit of laugh.
+
+"Are you there, Mr. Harleston?"
+
+"I'm here."
+
+"Well, your man was a woman--and she was accidentally deliberately
+careful that I shouldn't see her face."
+
+"H-u-m!" said Harleston. "Young or old?"
+
+"She's got ripples enough on her gown to be sixty, and figure enough to
+be twenty."
+
+"Slender?"
+
+"Yes; a perfect peach!"
+
+"How's her walk?"
+
+"As if the ground was all hers."
+
+"I see!" Harleston replied. "What would you, as a woman, make her
+age--being indifferent and strictly truthful?"
+
+"Not over twenty-eight--probably less!" she laughed. "And I've a notion
+she's some to look at, Mr. Harleston."
+
+"You mean she's a beauty?"
+
+"Sure."
+
+"Call me if she comes back; also if any of the men go out. They are
+strangers to the Collingwood so you will know them."
+
+"Very good, Mr. Harleston."
+
+He hung up the receiver and went back to bed.
+
+If no one had come in and no one had left the Collingwood since his
+return, the men must have been in the building--unless they had come by
+another way than the main entrance; which was the only entrance open
+after midnight. If the former was the case, then someone on the outside
+must have communicated to them as to him.
+
+With a muttered curse on his stupidity, he returned to the telephone.
+
+"Miss Williams," said he, "there has been a queer occurrence in the
+building since two A.M., and I should like to know confidentially
+whether any one has communicated with an apartment since one thirty."
+
+The girl knew that Harleston was on intimate terms with the State
+Department, and with the police, and she answered at once.
+
+"Save only yours, not a single in or out call has been registered since
+twelve fifty-two when apartment No. 401 was connected for a short
+while."
+
+"Who has No. 401?"
+
+"A Mr. and Mrs. Chartrand. It's one of the transient apartments; and
+they have occupied it only a few days."
+
+"You didn't by any chance overhear--"
+
+"The conversation?" she laughed. "Sure, I heard it; anything to put in
+the time during the night. It was very brief, however; something about
+him being here, and to meet him at ten in the morning."
+
+"Who were talking?"
+
+"Mrs. Chartrand and a man--at least I took it to be Mrs. Chartrand; it
+was a woman's voice."
+
+"Did they mention where they were to meet, or the name of the man?"
+
+"No. The very vagueness of the talk made its impression on me at that
+time of night. In the daytime, I would not have even listened."
+
+"I understand," said Harleston. "Call me up, will you, if there are any
+developments as to the men I've described--or the conversation.
+Meanwhile, Miss Williams, not a word."
+
+"Not a word, Mr. Harleston--and thank you."
+
+"What for?"
+
+"For treating me as a human being. Most persons treat me like an
+automaton or a bit of dirt. You're different; most of the men are not so
+bad; it's the women, Mr. Harleston, the women! Good-night, sir. I'll
+call you if anything turns up."
+
+"All of which shows," reflected Harleston, as he returned to bed, "that
+the telephone people are right in asking you to smile when you say
+'hello.'"
+
+It was a very interesting condition of affairs that confronted him.
+
+The episode of the cab of the sleeping horse was leading on to--what?
+
+Three men in the Collingwood knew of the occurrence, yet no one had come
+in or gone out, and no one had telephoned. Moreover, they also knew of
+Harleston's part in the matter. The girl had not lied, he was sure;
+therefore they must have gained entrance from the outside; and,
+possibly, were now hiding in the Chartrand apartment--if the telephone
+message to No. 401 had to do with the occupant of the deserted cab and
+the lost letter. Yet how to connect things? And why bother to connect
+them?
+
+He did not care for the vanished lady of the cab--he had the letter and
+the photograph; and because of them he was to have a talk with an
+interesting young woman at five o'clock that afternoon. The cipher
+letter, which was the much desired quantity, was safely across the hall,
+waiting to be turned over to Carpenter, the expert of the State
+Department, for translation. Meanwhile, what concerned Harleston was the
+photograph of Madeline Spencer and her connection with the case--and to
+know if the United States was concerned in the affair.
+
+At this point he turned over and calmly went to sleep. Tomorrow was
+another day.
+
+He was aroused by a vigorous pounding on the corridor door. It was
+seven-thirty o'clock. He yawned and responded to the summons--which grew
+more insistent with every pound.
+
+It was Stuart--the envelope and the flowers in his hand.
+
+"Scarcely heard your gentle tap," Harleston remarked. "Why don't you
+knock like a man?"
+
+"Here's your damn bouquet, also your envelope," said Stuart, "You
+probably don't recall that you left them with me about two this morning.
+I _do_."
+
+"I'm mighty much obliged, old man," Harleston responded. "You did me a
+great service by taking them--I'll tell you about it later."
+
+"Hump!" grunted Stuart. "I hope you'll come around to tell me at a more
+seasonable hour. So long!"
+
+Harleston closed the door, and was half-way across the living-room when
+there came another knock.
+
+Tossing the envelope and the faded roses on a nearby table, he stepped
+back and swung open the door.
+
+Instantly, a revolver was shoved into his face, and Crenshaw sprang into
+the hall and closed the door.
+
+"I thought as much!" he exclaimed. "I'll take that envelope, my friend,
+and be quick about it."
+
+"What envelope?" Harleston inquired pleasantly, never seeming to notice
+the menacing automatic.
+
+"Come, no trifling!" Crenshaw snapped. "The envelope that the man from
+the apartment across the corridor just handed you."
+
+Harleston laughed. "You are obsessed with the notion that I have
+something of yours, Mr. Crenshaw."
+
+"_The letter!_" exclaimed Crenshaw.
+
+"That envelope is addressed to me, sir; it's not the one you seem to
+want."
+
+"I suppose the flowers are also addressed to you," Crenshaw derided,
+advancing. "Get back, sir,--I'll get the envelope myself."
+
+"My dear man," Harleston expostulated, retreating slowly toward the door
+of the living-room, "I'll let you see the envelope; I've not the
+slightest objection. Put up your gun, man; I'm not dangerous."
+
+"You're not so long as I've got the drop on you!" Crenshaw laughed
+sneeringly. "Get back, man, get back; to the far side of the table--the
+far side, do you hear--while I examine the envelope yonder beside the
+roses. The roses are very familiar, Mr. Harleston. I've seen them
+before."
+
+Harleston, retreating hastily, backed into a chair and fell over it.
+
+"All right, stay there, then!" said Crenshaw, and reached for the
+letter.
+
+As he did so, Harleston's slippered foot shot out and drove hard into
+the other's stomach. With a grunt Crenshaw doubled up from pain. The
+next instant, Harleston caught his wrist and the struggle was on.
+
+It was not for long, however. Crenshaw was outweighed and outstrengthed;
+and Harleston quickly bore him to the floor, where a sharp blow on the
+fingers sent the automatic flying.
+
+"If it were not for spoiling the devil's handiwork, my fine friend, I'd
+smash your face," Harleston remarked.
+
+"Smash it!" the other panted. "I'll promise--to smash yours--at the
+first opportunity."
+
+"Which latter smashing won't be until some years later," Harleston
+retorted, as he turned Crenshaw over. Bearing on him with all his
+weight, he loosed his own pajama-cord and tied the man's hands behind
+him. Next he kicked off his pajama trousers, and with them bound
+Crenshaw's ankles. Then he dragged him to a chair and plunked him into
+it, securing him there by a strap.
+
+"It's scarcely necessary to gag you," he remarked pleasantly. "In your
+case, an outcry would be embarrassing only to yourself."
+
+"What do you intend to do with me?" Crenshaw demanded.
+
+"Ultimately, you mean. I have not decided. It may depend on what I
+find."
+
+"Find?"
+
+Harleston nodded. "In your pockets."
+
+"You dog!" Crenshaw burst out, straining at his bonds. "You miserable
+whelp! What do you think to find?"
+
+"I'm not thinking," Harleston smiled; "it isn't necessary to speculate
+when one has all the stock, you know." Then his face hardened.
+
+"One who comes into another's residence in the dead of night, revolver
+in hand and violence in his intention, can expect no mercy and should
+receive none. You're an ordinary burglar, Crenshaw and as such the law
+will view you if I turn you over to the police. You think I found a
+letter in an abandoned cab at 18th and Massachusetts Avenue early this
+morning, and instead of coming like a respectable man and asking if I
+have it and proving your property--do you hear, proving _your_
+property--you play the burglar and highwayman. Evidently the letter
+isn't yours, and you haven't any right or claim to it. I have been
+injected into this matter; and having been injected I intend to
+ascertain what can be found from your papers. Who you are; what your
+object; who are concerned beside yourself; and anything else I can
+discover. You see, you have the advantage of me; you know who I am, and,
+I presume, my business; I know nothing of you, nor of your business, nor
+what this all means; though I might guess some things. It's to obviate
+guessing, as far as possible, that I am about to examine such evidence
+as you may have with you."
+
+Crenshaw was so choked with his anger that for a moment he merely
+sputtered--then he relapsed into furious silence, his dark eyes glowing
+with such hate that Harleston paused and asked a bit curiously:
+
+"Why do you take it so hard? It's all in the game--and you've lost.
+You're a poor sort of sport, Crenshaw. You'd be better at ping-pong or
+croquet. This matter of--letters, and cabs, is far beyond your calibre;
+it's not in your class."
+
+"We haven't reached the end of the matter, my adroit friend," gritted
+Crenshaw. "My turn will come, never fear."
+
+"A far day, monsieur, a far day!" said Harleston lightly. "Meanwhile,
+with your permission, we will have a look at the contents of your
+pockets. First, your pocketbook."
+
+He unbuttoned the other's coat, put in his hand, and drew out the book.
+
+"Attend, please," said he, "so you can see that I replace every
+article."
+
+Crenshaw's only answer was a contemptuous shrug.
+
+A goodly wad of yellow backs of large denominations, and some visiting
+cards, no two of which bore the same name, were the contents of the
+pocketbook.
+
+"You must have had some difficulty in keeping track of yourself,"
+Harleston remarked, as he made a note of the names.
+
+Then he returned the bills and the cards to the book, and put it back in
+Crenshaw's pocket.
+
+"It's unwise to carry so much money about you," he remarked; "it induces
+spending, as well as provokes attack."
+
+"What's that to you?" replied Crenshaw angrily.
+
+"Nothing whatever--it's merely a word of advice to one who seems to need
+it. Now for the other pockets."
+
+The coat yielded nothing additional; the waist-coat, only a few matches
+and an open-faced gold watch, which Harleston inspected rather carefully
+both inside and out; the trousers, a couple of handkerchiefs with the
+initial C in the corner, some silver, and a small bunch of keys--and in
+the fob pocket a crumpled note, with the odour of carnations clinging to
+it.
+
+Harleston glanced at Crenshaw as he opened the note--and caught a sly
+look in his eyes.
+
+"Something doing, Crenshaw?" he queried.
+
+Another shrug was Crenshaw's answer--and the sly look grew into a sly
+smile.
+
+The note, apparently in a woman's handwriting, was in French, and
+contained five words and an initial:
+
+  _A l'aube du jour.
+  M._
+
+Harleston looked at it long enough to fix in his mind the penmanship and
+to mark the little eccentricities of style. Then he folded it and put it
+in Crenshaw's outside pocket.
+
+"Thank you!" said he, with an amused smile.
+
+"You forgot to look in the soles of my shoes?" Crenshaw jeered.
+
+"Someone else will do that," Harleston replied.
+
+"Someone else?" Crenshaw inflected.
+
+"The police always search prisoners, I believe."
+
+"My God, you don't intend to turn me over to the police?" Crenshaw
+exclaimed.
+
+"Why not?" And when Crenshaw did not reply: "Wherein are you different
+from any other felon taken red-handed--except that you were taken twice
+in the same night, indeed?"
+
+"Think of the scandal that will ensue!" Crenshaw cried.
+
+"It won't affect me!" Harleston laughed.
+
+"Won't affect you?" the other retorted. "Maybe it won't--and maybe it
+will!"
+
+"We shall try it," Harleston remarked, and picked up the telephone.
+
+Crenshaw watched him with a snarling sneer on his lips.
+
+Harleston gave the private number of the police superintendent. He
+himself answered.
+
+"Major Ranleigh, this is Harleston. I'd like to have a man report to me
+at the Collingwood at once.--No; one will be enough, thank you. Have him
+come right up to my apartment. Good-bye!--Now if you'll excuse me for a
+brief time, Mr. Crenshaw, I'll get into some clothes--while you think
+over the question whether you will explain or go to prison."
+
+"You will not dare!" Crenshaw laughed mockingly. "Your State Department
+won't stand for it a moment when they hear of it--which they'll do at
+ten o'clock, if I'm missing."
+
+"Let me felicitate you on your forehandedness," Harleston called from
+the next room. "It's admirably planned, but not effective for your
+release."
+
+"Hell!" snorted Crenshaw, and relapsed into silence.
+
+Presently Harleston appeared, dressed for the morning.
+
+"Why not spread your cards on the table, Crenshaw?" he asked. "I did
+stumble on the deserted cab this morning, wholly by accident; I was on
+my way here. I did find in it a letter and these roses, and I brought
+them here. I don't know if you know what that letter contained--I do.
+It's in cipher--and will be turned over to the State Department for
+translation. What I want to know is: first--what is the message of the
+letter, if you know; second--who was the woman in the cab, and the facts
+of the episode; third--what governments, if any, are concerned."
+
+"You're amazingly moderate in your demands," Crenshaw sarcasmed; "so
+moderate, indeed, that I would acquiesce at once but for the fact that
+I'm wholly ignorant of the contents of the letter. The name of the
+woman, and the episode of the cab are none of your affair; nor do the
+names of parties, whether personal or government, concern you in the
+least."
+
+"Very well. We'll close up the cards and play the game. The first thing
+in the game, as I said a moment ago, Crenshaw, is not to squeal when you
+are in a hole and losing."
+
+A knock came at the door. Harleston crossed and swung it open.
+
+A young man--presumably a business man, quietly-dressed--stood at
+attention and saluted. If he saw the bound man in the chair, his eyes
+never showed it.
+
+"Ah, Whiteside," Harleston remarked. "I'm glad it is you who was sent.
+Come in.... You will remain here and guard this man; you will prevent
+any attempt at escape or rescue, even though you are obliged to use the
+utmost force. I'm for down-town now; and I will communicate with you at
+the earliest moment. Meanwhile, the man is in your charge."
+
+"Yes, Mr. Harleston!" Whiteside answered.
+
+"I want some breakfast!" snapped Crenshaw.
+
+"The officer will order from the cafe whatever you wish," Harleston
+replied; and picking up his stick he departed, the letter and the
+photograph in the sealed envelope in his inside pocket.
+
+As he went out, he smiled pleasantly at Crenshaw.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+ANOTHER WOMAN
+
+
+Harleston walked down Sixteenth Street--the Avenue of the Presidents, if
+you have time either to say it or write it. The Secretary of State
+resided on it, and, as chance had it, he was descending the front steps
+as Harleston came along.
+
+Now the Secretary was duly impressed with all the dignity of his
+official position, and he rarely failed to pull it on the ordinary
+individual--cockey would be about the proper term. In Harleston,
+however, he recognized an unusual personage; one to whom the Department
+was wont to turn when all others had failed in its diplomatic problems;
+who had some wealth and an absolutely secure social position; who
+accepted no pecuniary recompense for his service, doing it all for pure
+amusement, and because his government requested it.
+
+"It's too fine a day to ride to the Department," said the Secretary.
+"It's much too fine, really, to go anywhere except to the Rataplan and
+play golf."
+
+Harleston agreed.
+
+"I'll take you on at four o'clock," the Secretary suggested.
+
+"If that is not a command," said Harleston, "I should like first to
+consult you about a matter which arose last night, or rather early this
+morning. I was bound for your office now. I can, however, give you the
+main facts as we go along."
+
+"Proceed!" said the Secretary. "I'm all attention."
+
+"It may be of grave importance and it may be of very little--"
+
+"What do you think it is?"
+
+"I think it is of first importance, judging from known facts. If
+Carpenter can translate the cipher message, it will--"
+
+"The Department has full faith in your diagnosis, Harleston. You're the
+surgeon; you prescribe the treatment and I'll see that it is followed.
+Now drive on with the story."
+
+"It begins with a letter, a photograph, a handkerchief, three American
+Beauty roses--all in the cab of the sleeping horse--"
+
+"God bless my soul!" exclaimed the Secretary.
+
+"--at one o'clock on Massachusetts Avenue and Eighteenth Street."
+
+"Is the horse still asleep, Harleston?"
+
+"The horse awoke, and straightway went to his stand in Dupont Circle!"
+Harleston laughed and related the incidents of the night and early
+morning, finishing his account in the Secretary's private office.
+
+"Most amazing!" the latter reflected, eyes half-closed as though seeing
+a mental picture of it all.
+
+Then he picked up the photograph and studied it awhile.
+
+"So this is the wonderful Madeline Spencer--who came so near to throwing
+our friend, the King of Valeria, out of his Archdukeship, and later from
+his throne. I remember the matter most distinctly. I was a friend of the
+Dalberg family of the Eastern Shore, and of Armand Dalberg himself." He
+paused, and looked again at the picture. "H-u-m! She is a very beautiful
+woman, Harleston, a very beautiful woman! I think I have never seen her
+equal; certainly never her superior. These dark-haired, classic
+featured ones for me, Harleston; the pale blonde type does not appeal.
+The peroxides come of that class." Again the photograph did duty. "I
+could almost wish that she were the lost lady of the cab of the sleeping
+horse--so that I might see her in the flesh. I've never seen her, you
+know."
+
+Harleston smoothed back a smile. The Secretary too was getting
+sentimental over the lady, and he had never seen her; though he had
+known of her rare doings; and those doings had, it appeared, had their
+natural effect of enveloping her in a glamour of fascination because of
+what she had done.
+
+"You've seen her?" the Secretary asked.
+
+"I've known her since she was Madeline Cuthbert. Since then she's had a
+history. Possibly, taken altogether she's a pretty bad lot. And she is
+not only beautiful; she's fascinating, simply fascinating; it's a rare
+man, a very rare man, who can be with her ten minutes and not succumb to
+her manifold attractions of mind and body."
+
+"You have succumbed?" the Secretary smiled.
+
+"I have--twenty times at least. You'll join the throng, if she has
+occasion to need you, and gives you half a chance."
+
+"I'm married!" said the Secretary.
+
+"I'm quite aware of it!"
+
+"I'm immune!"
+
+"And yet you're wishing to see her in the flesh!" Harleston smiled.
+
+"I think I can safely take the risk!" smoothing his chin complacently.
+
+"Other men have thought the same, I believe, and been burned. However,
+if the lady is in Washington I'll engage that you meet her. Also, I'll
+acquaint her of your boasted immunity from her _beaux yeux_."
+
+"The latter isn't within the scope of your duty, sir," the Secretary
+smiled. "Now we'll have Carpenter."
+
+He touched a button.
+
+A moment later Carpenter entered; a scholarly-looking man in the
+fifties; bald as an egg, with the quiet dignity of bearing which goes
+with a student, who at the same time is an expert in his particular
+line--and knows it. He was the Fifth Assistant Secretary, had been the
+Fifth Assistant and Chief of the Cipher Division for years. His superior
+was not to be found in any capital in Europe. His business with the
+secret service of the Department was to pull the strings and obtain
+results; and he got results, else he would not have been continued in
+office. His specialty, however, was ciphers; and his chief joy was in a
+case that had a cipher at the bottom. Ciphers were his recreation, as
+well as his business.
+
+The Secretary with a gesture turned him over to Harleston--and Harleston
+handed him the letter.
+
+"What do you make out of it, Mr. Carpenter?" he asked.
+
+Carpenter took the letter and examined it for a moment, holding it to
+the light, and carefully feeling its texture.
+
+"Not a great deal cursorily," he answered. "It's a French paper--the
+sort, I think, used at the Quay d'Orsay. Have you the envelope
+accompanying it?"
+
+"Here it is!" said Harleston.
+
+"This envelope, however, is not French; it's English," Carpenter said
+instantly. "See! a saltire within an orle is the private water-mark of
+Sergeant & Co. I likely can tell you more after careful examination in
+my workshop."
+
+"How about the message itself?" Harleston asked.
+
+"It is the Vigenerie cipher, that's reasonably certain; and, as you are
+aware, Mr. Harleston, the Vigenerie is practically impossible of
+solution without the key-word. It is the one cipher that needs no
+code-book, nor anything else that can be lost or stolen--the code-word
+can be carried in one's mind. We used it in the De la Porte affair, you
+will remember. Indeed, just because of its simplicity it is used more
+generally by every nation than any other cipher."
+
+"I thought that you might be able to work it out," said Harleston. "You
+can do it if any one on earth can."
+
+"I can do some things, Mr. Harleston," smiled Carpenter deprecatingly,
+"but I'm not omniscient. For instance: What language is the
+key-word--French, Italian, Spanish, English? The message is written on
+French paper, enclosed in an English envelope.--However, the facts you
+have may clear up that phase of the matter."
+
+"Here are the facts, as I know them," said Harleston.
+
+Carpenter leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and listened.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"The message is, I should confidently say, written in English or French,
+with the chances much in favour of the latter," he said, when Harleston
+had concluded. "Everyone concerned is English or American; the men who
+descended upon you so peculiarly and foolishly, and who showed their
+inexperience in every move, were Americans, I take it, as was also the
+woman who telephoned you. Moreover, she is fighting them."
+
+"Then your idea is that the United States is not concerned in the
+matter?" the Secretary asked.
+
+"Not directly, yet it may be very much concerned in the result. We will
+know more about it after Mr. Harleston has had his interview with the
+lady."
+
+"That's so!" the Secretary reflected. "We shall trust you, Harleston, to
+find out something definite from her. Keep me advised if anything turns
+up. It seems peculiar, and it may be only a personal matter and not an
+_affaire d'etat_. At all events, you've a pleasant interview before
+you."
+
+"Maybe I have--and maybe I haven't!" Harleston laughed--and he and
+Carpenter went out, passing the French Ambassador in the anteroom.
+
+Harleston went straight to Police Headquarters. The Chief was waiting
+for him.
+
+"I had Thompson, your cab driver, here," said Ranleigh, "and he tells a
+somewhat unusual but apparently straight tale; moreover, he is a very
+respectable negro, well known to the guards and the officers on duty
+around Dupont Circle, and they regard him as entirely trustworthy. He
+says that last evening about nine o'clock, when he was jogging down
+Connecticut Avenue on his way home--he owns his rig--he was hailed by a
+fare in evening dress, top coat, and hat, who directed him to drive west
+on Massachusetts Avenue. In the neighbourhood of Twenty-second Street,
+the fare signalled to stop and ordered him to come to the door. There he
+asked him to hire the horse and cab until this morning, when they would
+be returned to him at that point. Thompson naturally demurred; whereupon
+the man offered to deposit with him in cash the value of the horse and
+cab, to be refunded upon their return in the morning less fifty dollars
+for their hire. This was too good to let slip and Thompson acquiesced,
+fixing the value at three hundred and fifty dollars, which sum the man
+skinned off a roll of yellow-backs. Then the fare buttoned his coat
+around him, jumped on the box, and drove east on Massachusetts Avenue.
+This morning the horse and cab were backed up to the curb at their
+customary stand in Dupont Circle, where they were found by officer
+Murphy shortly after daybreak; before he could report the absence of the
+driver, Thompson came up and explained."
+
+"Can Thompson describe the man?" Harleston asked.
+
+"Merely that he was clean-shaved, medium-sized, somewhat stout, wore
+evening clothes, and was, apparently, a gentleman. Thompson thinks
+however, that he could readily recognize the man, so we should let him
+have a look at the fellow that's under guard in your apartment."
+
+"It isn't he," Harleston explained. "He's slender, with a mustache and
+imperial. It was Marston, likely. Did any of your officers see cab No.
+333 between nine P.M. and this morning?"
+
+"The reports are clean of No. 333, but we are investigating now. It's
+not likely, however. Meanwhile, if there is anything else I can do, Mr.
+Harleston--"
+
+"You can listen to the balance of the episode--beginning at half-past
+one this morning, when I found the cab deserted at Eighteenth Street and
+Massachusetts Avenue, with the horse lying in the roadway, asleep in the
+shafts...."
+
+"What do you wish the police to do, Mr. Harleston?" the Superintendent
+asked at the end.
+
+"Nothing, until I've seen the Lady of Peacock Alley. Then I'll likely
+know something definite--whether to keep hands off or to get busy."
+
+"Shan't we even try to locate the two men, in preparation for your
+getting busy?"
+
+"H'm!" reflected Harleston. "Do it very quietly then. You see, I don't
+know whom you're likely to locate, nor whether we want to locate them."
+
+"The men who visited your apartment are not of the profession, Mr.
+Harleston."
+
+"It's their profession that's bothering me!" Harleston laughed. "Why are
+three Americans engaged in what bears every appearance of being a
+diplomatic matter, and of which our State Department knows nothing?"
+
+"There's a woman in it, I believe; likely two, possibly three!" was the
+smiling reply.
+
+"Hump!" said Harleston. "A woman is at the bottom of most things, that's
+a fact; she's about the only thing for which a man will betray his
+country. However, as they're three men there should be three women--"
+
+"One woman is enough--if she is sufficiently fascinating and plays the
+men off against one another. Though you've plenty of women in the case,
+Mr. Harleston, if you're looking for the three:--the one whom you're to
+meet this afternoon; the unknown who left the Collingwood so
+mysteriously; and the one of the photograph. If the other two are as
+lovely as she of the photograph they are some trio. I shouldn't care for
+the latter lady to tempt me overlong."
+
+"Wise man!" Harleston remarked, as he arose to go. "I'll advise you
+after the interview. Meanwhile you might have the cabby look at the
+fellow in durance at the Collingwood. Possibly he has seen him before;
+which may give us a lead--if we find we want a lead."
+
+The telephone buzzed; Ranleigh answered it--then raised his hand to
+Harleston to remain. After a moment, he motioned for Harleston to come
+closer and held the receiver so that both could hear.
+
+"I can see you at three o'clock," Ranleigh said.
+
+"Three o'clock will be very nice," came a feminine voice--soft, with a
+bit of a drawl.
+
+"Very well," Ranleigh replied. "If you will give me your name--I missed
+it. Whom am I to expect at three?"
+
+"Mrs. Winton, of the Burlingame apartments. I'll be punctual--and thank
+you so much. Good-bye!"
+
+"Anything familiar about the voice?" Ranleigh asked, pushing back the
+instrument.
+
+Harleston shook his head in negation.
+
+"I thought it might be your Lady of Peacock Alley, for it's about the
+cab matter. She says that she has something to tell me regarding a
+mysterious cab on Eighteenth Street last night sometime about one
+o'clock."
+
+"There are quite too many women in this affair," Harleston commented.
+"However, the Burlingame is almost directly across the street from where
+I found the cab, so her story will be interesting--if it's not a plant."
+
+"And it may be even more interesting if it is a plant," Ranleigh added.
+"If you will come in a bit before three, I'll put you where you can see
+and hear everything that takes place."
+
+"I'll do it!" said Harleston.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+THE GREY-STONE HOUSE
+
+
+Harleston returned at a quarter to three, and Ranleigh showed him into
+the small room at the rear, provided with every facility for seeing what
+went on and overhearing and reducing what was said in the
+Superintendent's private office.
+
+Promptly at three, Mrs. Winton was announced by appointment, and was
+instantly admitted.
+
+She was about thirty years of age, slender, with dark hair and a face
+just missing beauty. She was gowned in black, with a bunch of violets at
+her waist, and she wore a large mesh veil, through which her
+particularly fine dark eyes sparkled discriminatingly.
+
+The Superintendent arose and bowed graciously. Ranleigh was a gentleman
+by birth and by breeding.
+
+"What can I do for you, Mrs. Winton?" he asked, placing a chair for
+her--where her face would be in full view from the cabinet.
+
+"You can do nothing for me, sir," she replied, with a charming smile. "I
+came to you as head of the Police Department for the purpose of
+detailing what I saw in connection with the matter I mentioned to you
+over the telephone. It may be of no value to you--I even may do wrong in
+volunteering my information, but--"
+
+"On the contrary," the Superintendent interjected, "you confer a great
+favour on this Department by reporting to it any suspicious
+circumstances. It is for it to investigate and determine whether they
+call for action. Pray proceed, my dear Mrs. Winton."
+
+She gave him another charming smile and went on.
+
+"I was out last evening, and it was after midnight when I got back to
+the Burlingame. My apartment is on the third floor front. Instead of
+going to bed at once, I sat down at the open window to enjoy the gentle
+breeze. I must have dozed, for I was aroused by a cab coming up
+Eighteenth and stopping before the large, grey-stone house opposite--the
+rest of the houses are brick--which was unoccupied until two days ago,
+when it was rented furnished. I live just across the street and hence I
+notice these things--casually of course, as one does. I watched the cab
+with languid interest; saw the driver descend from the box, which seemed
+a bit peculiar; but when, instead of going to the door of the cab, he
+went up the front steps and into the house--the door of which he opened
+with a key that he took from his pocket--my curiosity was aroused. A
+moment later, a man in evening dress came leisurely out and sauntered to
+the carriage. It seemed to me he was interested in looking around him,
+and at the houses opposite, rather than at the cab. He remained at the
+cab, presumably in talk with those within, for several minutes.
+Presently the door clicked and a woman stepped out, followed by a man.
+The woman disappeared into the house. The two men drew in so close to
+the cab that they were hidden from me; when they reappeared, they were
+carrying a woman--or her body--between them. They hurriedly crossed the
+sidewalk mounted the steps, and the house-door closed behind them
+instantly. The noise of the door seemed to arouse the horse, doubtless
+he took it for the door of the cab, and he started slowly up the street
+toward Massachusetts Avenue. After walking a short distance, and in
+front of a vacant lot near the corner, he halted--obviously he realized
+that no one was holding the lines, and he was waiting for his driver to
+return. Just then one of the men put his head out of the doorway, saw
+that the horse was no longer before the house, and dodged quickly back.
+I waited for further developments from the house. None came, except that
+in one of the rooms a light was made, but it was behind closed shades.
+Pretty soon the horse calmly lay down in the shafts, stretched out, and
+apparently went to sleep. Disturbed by the occurrence, and debating what
+I ought to do, I sat a while longer; and I must have dozed again, for
+when I awoke the house was dark, and a man, a strange man, I think, was
+standing beside the cab, and the horse was up. The man was gathering the
+reins; he fastened them to the driver's seat, spoke to the horse, and
+the horse moved off and into Massachusetts Avenue toward Dupont Circle.
+The man watched him for a moment; then turned and went down
+Massachusetts Avenue. After waiting a short while, I went to bed. This
+morning, I decided it was well for you to know of the episode."
+
+"And you have told it wonderfully well, Mrs. Winton," said the
+Superintendent, "wonderfully well, indeed."
+
+"You don't know how often I rehearsed," she laughed, "nor how much of
+the essentials I may have omitted!"
+
+"Not much, I fancy. However, you'll not object, I suppose, to answering
+a few questions as to details."
+
+"I wish you to ask anything that suggests itself," she replied. "I've an
+appointment at the Chateau at five; just give me time to keep it."
+
+"We'll get through long before five!" the Superintendent smiled, though
+his shrewd grey eyes were coldly critical. It was most unlikely that she
+was the Lady of Peacock Alley; yet all things are possible where a woman
+is concerned, as he knew from experience. "About what time was it when
+the cab stopped before the house?" he asked.
+
+"About one o'clock, as near as I can judge," she answered.
+
+"What was the interval between the driver's going into the house and
+the man in evening clothes coming out?"
+
+"Scarcely any interval--not more than a minute."
+
+"Do you know how long a minute is?" said Ranleigh, drawing out his
+watch.
+
+"Not exactly!" she admitted.
+
+"Do you mind if I test you?"
+
+"Not in the least."
+
+"Then tell me when it is a minute...."
+
+"Now?" said she.
+
+"Fourteen seconds!" he smiled.
+
+"Fourteen seconds!" she exclaimed incredulously "It's not possible."
+
+"You're considerably above the average, Mrs. Winton. However, it depends
+much on what you're doing at the moment. Last night when you were
+watching, not estimating, you probably were nearer right as to the
+interval. When, may I ask, did the driver reappear?"
+
+"He didn't reappear--at least that I saw; he may have come out of the
+house while I dozed."
+
+"Might not the man that you saw last have been he?"
+
+"I'm perfectly sure it wasn't. The driver was medium-sized and stout,
+this man was tall and slender. I couldn't have been mistaken."
+
+Ranleigh nodded. Her story was testing up very well on the known points.
+
+"Now, Mrs. Winton, can you give some description of the woman in the
+case--her appearance--how she was dressed--anything to aid us in
+identifying her?"
+
+"I'm afraid I can't be of much help," Mrs. Winton replied. "She was, I
+think, clad in a dark street gown. In the uncertain electric light, I
+could not distinguish the colour--and the men were so close to her I had
+little chance to see. About all I'm sure of is that it was a woman;
+slender and about the average height. I did not see her face."
+
+The Chief nodded again.
+
+"What about the house, Mrs. Winton? Did you see anything unusual before
+tonight?"
+
+"I saw no one but the servants--though I didn't look quite all the
+time," she added with a smile. "I'm not unduly curious, I think, Major
+Ranleigh, under the, to me, unusual circumstances; and in mitigation of
+my curiosity, I've told no one of the matter."
+
+"You're a woman of rare discretion, Mrs. Winton," the Superintendent
+replied.
+
+"I fear I'm a busy-body," she returned.
+
+"I wish then there were more busy-bodies of your sort. Tell me, could
+you recognize the men?"
+
+"Not with any assurance.--Neither could I recognize the occupants of the
+house," she added. "The truth is, though you may doubt, that I scarcely
+notice them; but one can't see a to-let-unfurnished sign on a house
+opposite for six months, without remarking its sudden disappearance from
+the landscape."
+
+"I should say that you wouldn't be normal if you didn't notice--and
+comment, too," Ranleigh declared. "And the Department is much indebted
+to you for the information, and it appreciates the spirit that moves you
+in the matter."
+
+Mrs. Winton arose to go--the Superintendent accompanied her into the
+hall, rang the bell for the elevator, and bowed her into it.
+
+"Don't you wish to know the result?" he inquired with a quizzical
+smile, as he put her in the car.
+
+"I'm not unduly curious!" she laughed.
+
+When he returned, Harleston was standing in his office lighting a
+cigarette.
+
+"It's infernally close, not to mention hot, in that cabinet of yours,"
+he observed; "though one can see and hear."
+
+"Ever see her before?" the Superintendent asked.
+
+"I don't recall it!"
+
+"Ever hear the voice?"
+
+"No."
+
+"What do you think of her?"
+
+"Good to look at, truthful, sincere."
+
+"And her story?"
+
+"Simple statement of fact, I take it."
+
+"Hum!" said Ranleigh.
+
+"Which means?" Harleston asked.
+
+"Nothing at present; may be nothing at any time. I never believe a story
+till its truth is established--and then I'm still in a receptive state
+of mind. However, it does seem true, and Mrs. Winton herself supports
+it; which is enough for the time."
+
+"At any rate, we've found the lady of the cab," Harleston remarked. "Or
+rather we've located her as of one o'clock, which is shortly before I
+happened on the scene."
+
+"Is there anything in the description that corresponds to the lady of
+the photograph?"
+
+"It all corresponds; slight, above medium-height, dark gown--she affects
+dark gowns;--but thousands of women are slight, above medium-height, and
+wear dark gowns."
+
+"At least it eliminates the very tall and the stout," Ranleigh observed.
+"Let me ask you, what do you make of Mrs. Winton's appointment at the
+Chateau at five, and her being gowned in black?"
+
+"A mere coincidence, I think. What would be her object in telling this
+story to you between three and four o'clock, and meeting me at five to
+recover the lost document."
+
+"Search me! I'm sure only of this: there are too many women in this
+affair, Mr. Harleston, too many women! Man is a reasoning being and
+somewhat consistent; but women--" a gesture ended the remark.
+
+"Just so!" Harleston laughed. "And now for the Lady of Peacock Alley!"
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+SURPRISES
+
+
+Peacock Alley was in full gorgeousness when Harleston, just at five
+o'clock, paused on the landing above the marble stairs inside the F
+Street entrance and surveyed the motley throng--busy with looking and
+being looked at, with charming and being charmed, with wondering and
+being wondered at, with aping and being aped, with patronizing and being
+patronized, with flattering and being flattered, with fawning and being
+fawned upon, with deceiving and being deceived, with bluffing and being
+bluffed, with splurging, with pretending, with every trick and artifice
+and sham and chicanery that society and politics know, or can fancy.
+
+Harleston was familiar with it all for too many years even to accord it
+a glance of contemptuous indifference--when he had anything else to
+occupy his mind; and just now his mind was on a lady in black with
+three American Beauties on the gown.
+
+He went slowly down the steps to the main corridor and joined the
+buzzing, kaleidoscopic crowd.
+
+Somewhere on the floor above, an orchestra was playing for the
+_dansant_; and the music came fitfully through the chatter and
+confusion. He nodded to some acquaintances, bowed formally to others,
+shook hands when it could not be avoided; all the while progressing
+slowly down the corridor in search of three red roses on a black gown.
+
+And near the far end he saw, for an instant through a rift in the crowd,
+the three roses on a black gown, but not the face above them; the next
+instant the rift closed. However, he knew now that she was here and
+where to find her, and he made his way through the press toward where
+she was waiting for him.
+
+Then the crowd suddenly opened--as crowds do--and he saw, on the same
+side of the corridor and scarcely ten feet apart, two slender women in
+black and wearing red roses; one was Mrs. Winton, the other he had never
+seen.
+
+It brought him to a sharp pause. Then he smiled. Ranleigh was right!
+There were altogether too many women in this case. And which one was
+waiting for him? He knew neither, but there was the chance that the one
+he was to meet knew him.
+
+And so he adventured it, walking slowly toward them, and taking care
+that they should notice him.
+
+They did.
+
+Mrs. Winton glanced at him casually and impersonally.
+
+The unknown, whose face was from him, turned sharply when he dropped his
+stick, and looked at him unrecognizingly. As her eyes came down they
+rested on the other woman.
+
+She gave a subdued exclamation, arose and threaded her way to the
+opposite side of the corridor.
+
+Harleston, glancing back, saw the move, and swinging over he followed.
+He would speak to her--meanwhile, he was looking at her. So far, at
+least, both were good to look at; they must be good to look at in this
+business, it is part of the stock in trade.
+
+"Good afternoon, Madame X," he said, bowing before her.
+
+"Why, how do you do, Mr. Harleston," she smiled, giving him her hand
+and making room beside her on the settee. "I'm delighted to see you,
+just delighted!"
+
+"It is nice to meet again, isn't it?" he returned. "When did you get to
+town?"
+
+"Only yesterday! You live in Washington, now, don't you?"
+
+"Yes, off and on. It's my headquarters for refitting and starting
+afresh. What do you say to a turn at the _dansant_?"
+
+"I'm ready, I'm sure," she replied. "Afterward we'll--"
+
+"Discuss other matters!" he interjected.
+
+She gave him an amused look, and they passed down the corridor and up
+the marble steps to the elevator.
+
+They were dancing the _Maxixe_ when they entered.
+
+"Do you mind if we don't do it on the heels?" said she. "I think it's
+prettier the other way."
+
+"So do I," said he, and they drifted down the room.
+
+He knew almost everyone on the floor; the women nodded to him, then
+stared coldly at his companion; the men too stared at her--but not
+coldly--and when they thought about it, which was seldom of late, nodded
+to him, and resumed their staring.
+
+And Harleston did not wonder--indeed, had it been otherwise, it would
+have argued a sudden paucity of appreciation on the part of the smart
+set there assembled. For this slender young person in black, a small hat
+on her head, topping hair of flaming red, an exquisite figure and a
+charming pair of slender high-arched feet, was worth anyone's staring,
+be it either coldly or with frank interest. And she did not seem to know
+it; which in this day of smug and blatant personal appreciation of one's
+good points--feminine points--is something of a rarity in the sex. It
+may be, however that Madame X was fully aware of her beauty, but she was
+modest about it, or seemed to be; which amounts to the same thing.
+
+They sat down at a remote table and Harleston ordered two cold
+drinks--an apollinaris with a dash of lemon for her, a Jerry Hill for
+himself. He noticed that the men were looking and wavering and he
+deliberately turned his chair around and gave them his back. He had no
+objection to presenting the Lady of Peacock Alley to his men friends,
+but just at this time it was not convenient. The adventure was rather
+unusual, and the lady altogether attractive and somewhat fascinating; he
+chose, for the present at least, to go it alone. Moreover, they were to
+meet on a matter of her business and by her appointment.
+
+He had suggested the _dansant_ that he might study her. And the more he
+saw of her, the more he was struck by her unaffected naturalness and
+apparent sincerity. Not a word, not even a suggestion while they were
+dancing, of the matter of the cab; it was as though she were just an old
+friend. And her dancing was a delight--such a delight, indeed, that he
+was reluctant to have it end. Somehow, one gets to know quickly one's
+partner in the _dansant_.
+
+"This is perfectly entrancing, Mr. Harleston," she said presently, "but
+don't you think we would better hunt a retired corner and discuss other
+matters?"
+
+"If you will dine with me when we've discussed them," he replied.
+
+"It's only six o'clock," she smiled; "will the discussion take so long?"
+
+"It depends somewhat on when you wish to dine, and somewhat on the
+character of the discussion."
+
+Her smile grew into a quiet, rippling laugh.
+
+"Come along," she answered. "I've found a secluded nook in the big
+red-room downstairs. It's cozy and nice, and I've had the maid reserve
+it for me. Afterwards," with a sharp stab of her brown eyes, "I'll
+decide whether I'll dine with you."
+
+The place was as she had said, cozy and nice and secluded; and he put
+her into it--where the subdued light would fall on her face.
+
+"Very good, sir," she smiled; "I am not afraid of the light."
+
+"Nor would I be if I were you," he replied.
+
+She shrugged her shoulders ever so slightly.
+
+"Why fence?" she asked.
+
+"Why, indeed?" he replied.
+
+"And why, may I ask, did you meet me here this afternoon?"
+
+"Curiosity--later, satisfaction and appreciation."
+
+"And why do you think I wanted to meet you?"
+
+"Heaven knows!" he replied.
+
+"Suppose, Mr. Harleston, we resume the conversation just where we left
+off last night. Your last remark then was that I had a chance to get the
+articles, but no one else had a chance. I'm here now for my chance."
+
+"And that chance depends on a number of contingencies," he replied:
+"whether I have the desired articles; whether you have the title to
+them, or the right of possession to them; whether they concern private
+matters or public matters; if the latter, whether the United States is
+concerned."
+
+"We can assume the first," said she. "I know for a fact that you took
+the articles in question from the cab, which you found deserted before a
+vacant lot."
+
+"How do you know it?" Harleston asked.
+
+"Because, as I told you over the telephone, you were seen--in fact, I
+saw you. I saw you light a match inside the cab, come out with the
+envelope, look it over quickly, and put it in your pocket. You'll admit
+these facts?"
+
+"I am advised by my counsel that I'm not obliged to answer!" he laughed.
+
+"On the ground that it will incriminate you?" she asked quickly. "Isn't
+that tantamount to admitting the fact?"
+
+"That is a matter of argument, it seems to me."
+
+She smiled good naturedly and went on:
+
+"As to your second contingency, Mr. Harleston; the envelope and its
+contents were left with me for delivery to another party--which I
+believe gives me the right of possession, as you term it. At any rate,
+it gives me a better title than yours."
+
+"If the party who left them with you had a good title," he amended. "If,
+however, he obtained them from--a deserted cab, say--then his title
+would be no better than you've put in me; not so good, in fact, for
+according to your tale I have the envelope."
+
+She shrugged again.
+
+"Now as to your third contingency," she went on, "I am not able to say
+what is the nature of the document, nor whom nor what nation it
+concerns."
+
+"You mean that you're ignorant of its contents and its nature?" he
+asked.
+
+She met his glance frankly. "I mean that I haven't any idea of its
+contents or its purpose."
+
+He slowly tapped his cigarette against the swinging brass ash-receiver.
+
+"Wouldn't it be well, my dear Madame X, to lay your cards on the
+table--all your cards?"
+
+"I'm perfectly willing, if you'll do likewise," she replied instantly.
+
+He looked at her thoughtfully.
+
+"Very well," he returned. "Let me see your hand and you shall see mine."
+
+"This one?" she smiled, holding it up.
+
+He leaned over and took the long, slim fingers in the tips of his
+own--and she let him.
+
+"It's mighty pretty," he said, with assumed gravity. "Am I to have it
+in place of the facts--or along with them?"
+
+"Neither at present," withdrawing her hand. "Business first, Mr.
+Harleston--and cards on the table."
+
+"You're to play," he smiled, "and whenever you will."
+
+Ordinarily he made up his mind very quickly as to another's sincerity,
+but she puzzled him. What was the game? And if there were no game so far
+as she was concerned, how did she happen to be in the very midst of it,
+and trying to recover--or to obtain--the cipher letter and the
+photograph? It was a queer situation? the reasonable inferences were
+against her. Yet--
+
+"I hardly know where to begin," she was saying.
+
+"Begin at the beginning," he advised.
+
+He must appear to credit her story that she was concerned only as an
+innocent associate. And it was not difficult to do, sitting there beside
+her in the subdued light, under the witching tones of her voice, and the
+alluring fascination of her face. The face was not perfect; far from it,
+if by perfect is meant features accordant with one another and true to
+type. Her hair was flaming red; her eyes were brown, dark brown, a
+certain pensiveness in them most inaccordant with the hair; her nose was
+slender, with sensitive nostrils; her mouth was generous with lips a
+trifle full; her teeth were exquisitely white and symmetrical--and she
+showed them with due modesty, yet with proper appreciation of their
+beauty.
+
+Altogether she was a very charming picture; and throwing away his
+cigarette, he lighted a cigar and settled back to watch the play of her
+features and hear the melody of her voice. He was a trifle impressed
+with the lady--and he was willing that the tale require time and
+attention. Furthermore, it was his business to observe her critically,
+so that he might decide as to the matter in hand. In the present
+instance his business was very much to his liking, but that did not make
+it any the less business.
+
+Something of which the lady may have suspected and was prepared to
+humour. A man must be humoured at times--particularly when the woman is
+trying for something that can only be come at through his favour or
+acquiescence.
+
+"To begin at the beginning will make it a long story," she warned.
+
+"Then by all means begin it there," he answered.
+
+"You can endure it?"
+
+"I'm very comfortable; we are alone; and the _light_ is admirable."
+
+"Same here!" she smiled, with a tantalizing glance from the brown eyes.
+"Can you start me?"
+
+"I might, but I won't. The glory shall all be yours."
+
+"I'm glad there is to be some glory in this affair; there's been little
+enough so far. However, to begin."
+
+"No hurry, my dear Madame X."
+
+"Don't you want my decision as to dinner?" she asked.
+
+"You can continue the narrative while we dine. Now to begin."
+
+"Then vanish Madame X, and enter Mistress Clephane."
+
+At that moment a woman and a man entered the room from the corridor by
+the middle door, and crossed to a divan in the corner farthest from Mrs.
+Clephane and Harleston. The former had her back to them; Harleston was
+facing their way and saw them.
+
+The man was middle-aged, bald, and somewhat stout--and Harleston
+recognized one of his visitors of the early morning. The woman was
+sinuous, with raven hair, dead white complexion, a perfectly lovely
+face, and a superb figure. Harleston would have known that walk and that
+figure anywhere and at any time even if he had not seen her face.
+
+It was Madeline Spencer.
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+THE STORY
+
+
+Harleston quickly swung his chair around so that the broad back hid Mrs.
+Clephane and himself. He was quite sure that she had noticed the pair;
+though when he glanced at her she was looking thoughtfully at him, as if
+considering where to begin her story.
+
+"Do you know the two who just came in and are sitting in the far
+corner," he asked; "the slender woman and the bald-headed man?"
+
+"No," she answered; "except that she is an exceedingly fine-looking
+woman--as you doubtless have noted."
+
+"I've noted other things!" he smiled.
+
+"About her?"
+
+"No, not about her."
+
+She laughed, deliciously he thought.
+
+"I best get on with my tale," she said. "So, once upon a time, which
+means, to be accurate, about ten days ago, I took a steamer at
+Cherbourg for New York. On the boat was a Madame Durrand, whom I had
+known on the Continent and in London for a number of years. Neither was
+aware of the other's sailing until we met aboard. I think that it was on
+the fourth day out she asked me to come to her state-room; there she
+told me that she was a secret agent of the French Government and the
+bearer of a most important letter from a high official, written however
+in his private capacity to their Ambassador in Washington; that she had
+a presentiment ill fortune would befall her on the way; that there was
+no one else on the ship in whom she trusted; and that she wanted me to
+accompany her to Washington, and, if she were to meet with an accident,
+to deliver the letter to the Ambassador. I consented, wishing to oblige
+her, and being bound for Washington. She showed me where she carried the
+letter, and gave me the verbal message that went with it, which was the
+name of the Minister and that he sent it in his private capacity and not
+officially.
+
+"I'm not in the secret service of a government, as you doubtless can
+infer from my knowledge of matters and use of technical language!" she
+smiled. "And the affair rather fascinated me, I admit, by its
+unusualness. Moreover, I knew Madame Durrand intimately--how intimately
+may be inferred from the circumstances.
+
+"Well, we landed, had our baggage chalked, and went to the Plaza for the
+night. In the morning, we took a taxi to the Pennsylvania Station, were
+held up by traffic, and were hurrying down the marble steps to catch our
+train, when a man, hurrying also, jostled Madame Durrand. Her heel
+caught and she plunged head first down to the landing. Of course men
+sprang forward to her assistance and picked her up--with her wrist and
+ankle broken. She was plucky, however, wonderfully plucky. She did not
+faint, as I'm sure I should have done; she just turned ghastly pale--and
+said to me, with a bit of smile, motioning for me to bend over her so
+that none could hear:
+
+"'I told you so, Edith. Here is where you come in.' She slid her hand
+under her skirt, drew out the envelope, and slipped it to me. 'Hurry!'
+she said. 'You can yet make the train.'
+
+"But I was obdurate; I wouldn't leave her until she was in a hospital
+and comfortable. And when she saw I meant it, she smiled--and fainted.
+Well, instead of the ten o'clock train, I caught the twelve, which
+should have landed me here at five, but a series of delays, due to
+accidents ahead; put us at seven. It was, I thought, too late to deliver
+my letter that evening, so I took a taxi here and had dinner. Then I
+paid a short visit to some friends at the Shoreham and returned shortly
+before midnight. I found two notices that I had been called on the
+telephone at 10:15 and 11:00, by parties who declined to give their
+names or leave a call. This struck me as queer since no one knew of my
+being in town except my friends at the Shoreham. A moment after I
+entered my room, the telephone rang. I answered. A man's voice came
+back.
+
+"'Who is that?' said he.
+
+"'Whom do you want?' said I.
+
+"'I wish to speak to Mrs. Clephane.'
+
+"'Very well,' said I; 'I'm Mrs. Clephane.'
+
+"'Oh, Mrs. Clephane, we have been trying for you since ten o'clock!'
+said he. 'The Ambassador wishes to see you at once. Can you be ready to
+come in fifteen minutes--we'll send a carriage for you?'
+
+"'How did you know'--I began, then stopped. 'Yes, I'll be ready,' said
+I; 'but let one of the staff come with the carriage.'
+
+"'Oh, of course!' he replied. 'In fifteen minutes, madame?'
+
+"I didn't fancy going out at midnight, yet I had undertaken the matter
+and I would see it through. I had not changed from my travelling suit
+and it hadn't a pocket in it; nor had I one such as Madame Durrand
+employed, so I was carrying the letter pinned inside my waist. Now I
+took it out and put it in my hand-bag, all the while thinking over the
+affair and liking it less the more I thought. It was pretty late at
+night, and there was something suspicious about the affair. I went to
+the desk and hurriedly wrote a note to the friends that I had just left;
+then I called a page, and ordered him to take it at once to the
+Shoreham. On the envelope I had written the instruction that it was not
+to be delivered until morning.
+
+"As I finished, the telephone rang and Mr. and Mrs. Buissard, I think
+that was the name, were announced as coming by appointment. I went down
+at once. Mrs. Buissard was in evening dress, a pretty, vivacious woman,
+Mr. Buissard was a man of thirty, slender, with a little black
+moustache and black hair. Somehow I didn't like him; and I was glad he
+had brought his wife--she was charming.
+
+"They had a cab instead of a car or taxi. We got in and drove up
+Fourteenth to H, and out H to Sixteenth. As we swung in Sixteenth, the
+man leaned forward to the window on my side.
+
+"'Look at that!' he exclaimed excitedly.
+
+"As I turned to look, the woman flung her silk wrap over my head and
+twisted it tightly about my neck.
+
+"I tried to cry out, but a hand closed over my mouth and only a weak
+gurgle responded.
+
+"'Listen, Mrs. Clephane!' said the man, 'We mean you no harm. Give us
+the package you have for the French Ambassador, and we will at once
+return you to your hotel.'
+
+"I'm pretty much a coward, yet I managed to hold myself together and not
+faint, and to say nothing. I didn't care a straw for the letter, but I
+didn't fancy being defeated at that stage of the game. I tried to
+think--but thinking is a bit difficult under such circumstances. Just as
+the wrap went over my head, my hand happened to be on my hand-bag. I
+quietly opened it, dropped the letter close along the seat, and closed
+the bag. Here was a slight chance to balk them--at all events, it was
+the only course occurring to me at the moment.
+
+"'Has she fainted?' asked the man.
+
+"'I think so,' said the woman, 'or she is scared to death.'
+
+"Here was a suggestion--and I took it. I remained perfectly quiet.
+
+"'Well,' was his answer, 'we're almost there, and it's a lucky chance.
+No trouble at all, Seraphina.'
+
+"I had felt the cab round several corners; almost immediately after the
+last it stopped. I'm a trifle hazy as to what they did; but finally I
+was passed out of the cab like a corpse and carried into a house. There
+the wrap was removed from my head; I blinked uncertainly, and looked
+around in a bewildered fashion.
+
+"'Where am I?' I gasped.
+
+"The woman replied, 'You're in absolutely no danger, Mrs. Clephane. We
+want the package you have for the French Ambassador; when we have it, we
+will send you back to your hotel.'
+
+"'What is to be done with the cab?' someone asked.
+
+"'Nothing,' another replied. 'The horse will find his way to his stand;
+he's almost there.'
+
+"'But I haven't any package!' I protested.
+
+"'Come, come!' the woman answered briskly. 'You have it about you
+somewhere; that was what you were going to the Embassy to deliver?'
+
+"'Who are you?' I demanded.
+
+"'It matters not who we are--we want the package.'
+
+"'The package is not with me,' I remarked. 'It's locked in the hotel
+safe.'
+
+"'Will you permit yourself to be searched?' she asked, with an amused
+smile. I knew it was a threat.
+
+"'I'm perfectly willing to submit to a search by _you_,' I said. 'The
+quicker you set about it, the quicker I'll be released. I don't care for
+these diplomatic affairs; they may be regular but they seem
+unnecessarily dangerous. I was simply a substitute anyway, and I won't
+substitute again; though how you people discovered it I don't see.'
+
+"'Because you're new at the game,' she replied, as we passed into the
+drawing-room.
+
+"She closed the door--and I soon satisfied her that the package was not
+concealed about me.
+
+"'I may go now?' I inquired.
+
+"'I think so, but I must consult the Chief,' she replied. 'I'll be back
+in a minute.'
+
+"They seemed high-class knaves at least; but it was quite evident that
+the diplomatic game and its secret service were distinctly not in my
+line. I want no more of them even to oblige a friend in distress. I hate
+a mess!"
+
+"I'm very glad for this mess," Harleston interjected. "Otherwise I
+should not have--met you."
+
+"And you are the only compensation for the mess, Mr. Harleston!" she
+smiled.
+
+She said it so earnestly Harleston was almost persuaded that she meant
+it--though he replied with a shrug and a sceptical laugh.
+
+"But the woman was long in returning," Mrs. Clephane resumed; "and after
+a while I put out the light, and going to the window raised the shade.
+The cab was no longer before the house; it had moved a little distance
+to the left, and the horse was lying down in the shafts. As I was
+debating whether to risk the jump from the window, a man came down the
+street and halted at the cab.--That man was you, Mr. Harleston. The rest
+of the tale you know much better than I--and the material portion you
+are to tell me, or rather to give me."
+
+"How did you know the man at the cab was I? You didn't recognize me in
+the corridor, this afternoon."
+
+"Oh, yes I did--but I waited to see if you would follow me, or would go
+up to the other woman in black and roses."
+
+"I never was in doubt!" Harleston laughed. "I told you, on the
+telephone, that I could pick you out in a crowd; after a glimpse of you,
+I could--" he ended with a gesture.
+
+"Still pick me out," she supplied. "Well, the important thing is that
+you _did_ pick me out--and that you're a gentleman. Also you forget that
+your picture has been pretty prominent lately, on account of the Du
+Portal affair; and besides you've been pointed out to me a number of
+times during the last few years as something of a celebrity. So, you
+see, it was not a great trick to recognize you under the electric
+lights, even at one o'clock in the morning."
+
+Harleston nodded. It was plausible surely. Moreover, he was prepared to
+accept her story; thus far it seemed straightforward and extremely
+credible.
+
+"It was about three when you telephoned to me--where were you then?" he
+asked.
+
+"At the Chateau. They were kind enough to release me about three
+o'clock, and to send me back in a private car--at least, it wasn't a
+taxi. Now, have you any other questions?"
+
+"I think not, for the present."
+
+"Have I satisfied you that my tale is true?"
+
+"I am satisfied," he replied.
+
+"Then you will give me the letter?" she said joyfully.
+
+"And what of the roses?"
+
+"I presented them to you last night."
+
+"And of this handkerchief?" drawing it from his pocket.
+
+She took the bit of lace, glanced at it, and handed it back.
+
+"It is not mine," she replied. "Probably it's the other woman's." She
+held out her hand, the most symmetrical hand Harleston had ever seen.
+"My letter, please, Mr. Harleston."
+
+"I no longer have the letter," said Harleston.
+
+"Then why did you--" she exclaimed; "but you can lay your hand on it?"
+
+"I can lay my hand on it," he smiled--"whenever you convince me, or I
+ascertain, that the letter does not concern directly or indirectly the
+diplomatic affairs of the United States. You forget that was the
+concluding stipulation, Mrs. Clephane. Meanwhile the letter will not,
+you may feel assured, fall into the possession of the party who
+attempted to steal it from you."
+
+"What does it all mean?" she asked, leaning forward. "Who beside France
+are the parties concerned?"
+
+"It means that some nation is ready to take desperate chances to prevent
+your letter from reaching the French Ambassador. What actuates it,
+whether to learn its contents or to prevent its present delivery, I
+naturally do not know." Then he laughed. "Would it interest you very
+much to learn, Mrs. Clephane, that I was visited last night by three
+men, who tried, at the point of the revolver, to force the letter from
+me?"
+
+"You surely don't mean it!" she exclaimed.
+
+And with this exclamation the last doubt in Harleston's mind of Mrs.
+Clephane's having aught to do with the night attack vanished--and
+having acquitted her in that respect, there was scarcely any question as
+to the sincerity and truth of her tale.
+
+As it has been remarked previously, Mrs. Clephane was very good to look
+at--and what is more to the point with Harleston, she looked back.
+
+"I had all sorts of adventures, beginning with the cab of the sleeping
+horse, three crushed roses, a bit of lace, and a letter," he laughed;
+"and the adventures haven't yet ended, and they grow more interesting as
+they progress."
+
+"They didn't get the letter?" she asked quickly.
+
+"They got nothing but the trouble of getting nothing," he replied.
+
+"Where is the letter now, Mr. Harleston--is it safe from them?"
+
+There was a note of concern in her voice, and it puzzled him. What else
+did she know--or didn't she know anything? Was it only his habit in
+diplomatic affairs to doubt everything that was not undoubtable.
+
+"The letter," he replied, "is with the expert of the State Department
+for translation."
+
+"What language is it in?" she demanded.
+
+"Cipher language--and a particularly difficult cipher it is. Can you
+help us out, Mrs. Clephane?"
+
+"I can't, Mr. Harleston; I don't know anything about ciphers. And I told
+you the whole truth when I said that I neither knew what the envelope
+contained nor its purpose. What disturbs me is how to explain to the
+French Ambassador the loss of the letter."
+
+"Tell him the exact truth," said Harleston. "It would have been better
+possibly had you told him this morning."
+
+"I thought you would return the letter to me," she replied.
+
+"I likely should, had I seen you before I turned it over to the State
+Department. Now that it has passed out of my hands, it is a matter for
+the Secretary to decide."
+
+"But he will be advised by you!" she exclaimed.
+
+"Advised, yes,--dominated, no. The only chance of the letter being
+returned to you, is that it does not affect this government."
+
+"Diplomacy then is willing to stoop to any crime or to profit by any
+wrong?" she mocked.
+
+"I am afraid I must admit the accusation. Everything is fair in love
+and war, you know--and diplomacy is only a species of war."
+
+"Have I no redress for the outrage upon me, nor for the loss of the
+letter by reason of that outrage?"
+
+"I'm afraid you'll find the wheels of justice very slow-moving--when
+they have to do with affairs diplomatic."
+
+"But the letter, sir?"
+
+"You must remember, Mrs. Clephane, that I found the letter in an
+abandoned cab."
+
+"And now that you know to whom it belongs," she flashed, "you will not
+return it?"
+
+"Because I can't! Which brings us back to where we started--and to
+dinner."
+
+"I will not dine with you!"
+
+"Then let me dine with you!"
+
+"No!"
+
+"Fix it any way you wish, only so that we dine together," he persisted.
+"I've the cosiest little table reserved for us, and--"
+
+"Mr. Harleston," the page was calling. "Mr. Harles--"
+
+Harleston turned, and the boy saw him.
+
+"Telephone, sir," said he, giving Harleston the call slip.
+
+"Will you excuse me a moment, Mrs. Clephane?" Harleston asked, and
+hurried out--conscious all the while that Madeline Spencer and her
+companion were watching him.
+
+"This is Police Headquarters, Mr. Harleston," came the voice over the
+wire. "Major Ranleigh wants to know if you will meet him at his office
+at ten o'clock tonight. The Major was called out suddenly or he would
+have telephoned you, himself!"
+
+"I'll be on hand," Harleston replied, hung up the receiver, and hurried
+back.
+
+As he entered the red-room, he shot a covert glance toward the place
+where Mrs. Spencer and her companion had been sitting.
+
+They were gone!
+
+"Yes! Yes!" said he under his breath, and turned toward the corner where
+he had left Mrs. Clephane.
+
+Mrs. Clephane was gone.
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+DECOYED
+
+
+Harleston faced about and surveyed the entire room. Then not content
+with surveying, he deliberately walked through it, and satisfied himself
+that Mrs. Clephane was not there--nor Madeline Spencer, nor her
+bald-headed companion.
+
+He took a turn up and down the corridor, and up and down again. They
+were not there.
+
+He even walked through the dining-rooms.
+
+Nothing!
+
+"Hum!" said he, at length--and returned to the red-room, and to his
+chair. It was quite possible that Mrs. Clephane would be back in a
+moment--yet somehow he doubted.
+
+He waited for a quarter of an hour, and she did not come. He made
+another tour of Peacock Alley, the lobby, the dining-rooms, and back to
+the red-room.
+
+Nothing!
+
+He looked at his watch--it was half-after-seven o'clock. He would wait
+fifteen minutes longer. Then, if she had not come, he would go about his
+business--which, at present, was to dine.
+
+He sat with his watch in his hand, looking down the room and at those
+who entered.
+
+The fifteen minutes passed. He put up his watch and arose; the wait was
+ended.
+
+He crossed the corridor to the dining-room.
+
+"The table in yonder corner, Philippe," he said, to the bowing
+head-waiter.
+
+"One, Monsieur Harleston?" the man replied; and himself escorted him
+over and placed him, and took his order for dinner. From which facts it
+can be inferred that Harleston was something of a personage at the big
+caravansary.
+
+The clams had just been placed before him, and he was dipping the first
+one in the cocktail, when Madeline Spencer and the bald-headed man
+entered and passed to a table--reserved for them--at the far side of the
+room. Harleston knew that she saw him, though apparently she had not
+glanced his way. Here was another move in the game; but what the game,
+and what the immediate object?
+
+His waiter whisked away the clam cocktail and put down the clear
+turtle.
+
+As Harleston took up his spoon, a page spoke a word to Philippe, who
+motioned him to Harleston's corner. The next instant the boy was there,
+a letter on the extended salver--then he faded away.
+
+Harleston put aside the letter until he had finished his soup; then he
+picked it up and turned it over. It was a hotel envelope, and addressed
+simply: "Mr. Harleston," in a woman's handwriting--full and free, and,
+unusual to relate, quite legible. He ran his knife under the flap and
+drew out the letter. It was in the same hand that wrote the address.
+
+"DEAR MR. HARLESTON:
+
+"I've just seen someone whom I wish to avoid, so won't you be good
+enough to dine with me in my apartment. It's No. 972, and cosy and
+quiet--and please come at once. I'm waiting for you--with an explanation
+for my disappearance.
+
+"EDITH CLEPHANE."
+
+"Hum!" said Harleston, and drummed thoughtfully on the table. Then he
+arose, said a word to Philippe as he passed, and went out to the
+elevator.
+
+He got off at the ninth floor and walked down the corridor to No. 972.
+It was a corner and overlooked Pennsylvania Avenue and Fourteenth
+Street. He tapped lightly on the door; almost immediately it was opened
+by a maid--a very pretty maid, he noticed--who, without waiting for him
+to speak, addressed him as Monsieur Harleston and told him that Madame
+was expecting him.
+
+Harleston handed the maid his hat, stick, and gloves, and crossed the
+private hall into the drawing-room.
+
+As he passed the doorway, a heavy silk handkerchief was flung around his
+neck from behind, and instantly tightened over his larynx; at the same
+time his arms were pinioned to his side. He could neither make a sound
+nor raise a hand. He was being garroted. At his first struggle the
+garrote was twisted; it was be quiet or be strangled. And, queer as it
+may seem, his first thought was of the garroters of India and the
+instant helplessness of their victims. In fact, so immediate was his
+helplessness, that it sapped all will to be otherwise than quiescent.
+
+"Two can play at this game, Mr. Harleston," said a familiar voice, and
+Crenshaw stepped out in front. "I'm in a better humour now, and more my
+natural self; I was somewhat peeved in the Collingwood--due to late
+hours, I think. By the way, it isn't an especially pleasant game for the
+fellow who is it, Mr. Harleston? I'll take your answer for granted--or
+we'll let my distinguished colleague answer for you--you know Mr.
+Sparrow, sir?" as the man with the garrote put his head over Harleston's
+shoulder. "Answer for Mr. Harleston will you, Sparrow?"
+
+"No, it is not, Mr. Crenshaw," said Sparrow.
+
+"I neglected to ask if you're not surprised to see me, Mr. Harleston?"
+
+"I am indeed," said Sparrow.
+
+"I regret that it was inconvenient for me to remain longer in your
+apartment, Mr. Harleston--and so I exchanged places with your
+detective," Crenshaw explained.
+
+"I'm quite content, Mr. Crenshaw," Sparrow replied.
+
+"Yes, certainly, and thank you, Mr. Harleston," Crenshaw smiled. "And
+now, with your permission, sir, we shall inspect the contents of your
+pockets, to the end that we may find a certain letter that you wot
+of--also ourselves."
+
+After the first warning twist, the garrote had been relaxed just enough
+to permit Harleston breath sufficient for life, yet not sufficient for
+an outcry; moreover, he knew that at the first murmur of a yell the
+wrist behind him would turn and he would be throttled into
+unconsciousness.
+
+There was nothing to do but be quiet and as complaisant as his captors
+wished, and await developments. And the irony of such a
+situation--happening in the most crowded and most popular hotel in the
+Capital, with hundreds of guests at hand, and scores of servants poised
+to obey one's slightest nod--struck him with all the force of its
+supreme absurdity. It was but another proof of the proposition that one
+is never so alone as in the midst of a throng.
+
+He smiled--somewhat chillily, it must be admitted--and whispered, his
+speaking voice being shut off by the garrote.
+
+"The quicker you look, the sooner I shall, I hope, be released from this
+rather uncomfortable position."
+
+"Good eye!" said Crenshaw. "You're a reasonable man, Mr. Harleston,
+it's a pleasure to do business with you."
+
+"Proceed!" Harleston whispered. "I haven't the letter with me, as you
+should know. Do I look so much like a novice? Furthermore, if I am not
+mistaken, I told you that I was going direct to the State Department to
+deliver the letter for translation so how could I have it now?"
+
+"We're not debating, we're searching," Crenshaw sneered; "though it may
+occur to you that a copy is as easy of translation as the original.
+However, we will proceed with the inspection--the proof of the caviare
+is in the roe of the sturgeon."
+
+"Then I pray you open the fish at once," said Harleston. "I can't assist
+you in my present attitude, so get along, Mr. Crenshaw, if you please.
+You interrupted my dinner--I was just at the soup; and you may believe
+me when I say that I'm a bit hungry."
+
+"With your permission," Crenshaw replied, proceeding to go through
+Harleston's pockets, and finding nothing but the usual--which he
+replaced.
+
+He came last to the breast-pocket of the coat; in it were the wallet and
+one letter--the letter that had brought Harleston here.
+
+"It caught you!" Crenshaw smiled. "There's no bait like a pretty woman!"
+
+Harleston raised his eyebrows and shrugged his answer.
+
+"And a rather neat trap, wasn't it--we're very much pleased with it."
+
+"You'll not be pleased with what it produces," Harleston smiled.
+
+"It has produced you," the other mocked; "that's quite some production,
+don't you think? And now, as this letter has served its purpose, I'll
+take the liberty of destroying it," tearing it into bits and putting the
+bits in his pockets, "lest one of us be liable for forgery. Now for the
+pocket-book; you found something in mine, you may remember, Mr.
+Harleston."
+
+Harleston gave a faint chuckle. They would find nothing in his
+pocket-book but some visiting and membership cards, a couple of
+addresses and a few yellow-backs and silver certificates.
+
+"The letter doesn't seem to be there--which I much regret, but these
+visiting cards may be useful in our business; with your permission I'll
+take them. Thank you, Mr. Harleston."
+
+He folded the book and returned it to Harleston's pocket.
+
+"I might have looked in your shoes, or done something disagreeable--I
+believe I even promised to smash your face when I got the
+opportunity--but I'm better disposed now. I shall return good for evil;
+instead of tying you up as you did me, I'll release you from your bonds
+if you give me your word to remain quiet in this room until tomorrow
+morning at eight, and not to disclose to anyone, before that hour, what
+has occurred here."
+
+"After that?" said Harleston.
+
+"You shall be at liberty to depart and to tell."
+
+"And if I do not give my word?"
+
+"Then," said Crenshaw pleasantly, "we shall be obliged to bind you and
+gag you and leave you to be discovered by the maid--which, we shall
+carefully provide, will not be before eight tomorrow morning."
+
+"You leave small choice," Harleston observed.
+
+"Just the choice between comfort and discomfort!" Crenshaw laughed.
+"Which shall it be, sir?"
+
+Harleston had been shifting slowly from one foot to the other, feeling
+behind him for the man with the garrote. He had him located now and the
+precise position where he was standing--one of his own legs was touching
+Sparrow's.
+
+At the instant Crenshaw had finished his question, Harleston suddenly
+kicked backwards, landing with all the force of his sharp heel full on
+Sparrow's shin.
+
+Instantly the garrote loosened; and Harleston, with a wild yell, sprang
+forward and swung straight at the point of Crenshaw's jaw.
+
+Crenshaw dodged it--and the two men grappled and went down, fighting
+furiously; Harleston letting out shouts all the while, and even managing
+to overturn a table, which fell with a terrific smash of broken glass
+and bric-a-brac, to attract attention and lead to an investigation.
+
+He had not much trouble in mastering Crenshaw; but Sparrow, when he was
+done spinning around on one foot from the agonizing pain of the kick on
+the shin, would be another matter; the two men and the woman could
+overpower him, unless assistance came quickly. And to that end he raised
+all the uproar possible for the few seconds that Sparrow spun and the
+woman stared.
+
+Just as Sparrow hobbled to Crenshaw's aid, Harleston landed a short arm
+blow on the latter's ear and sprang up, avoided the former's rush and
+made for the hall-way.
+
+At the same moment came a loud pounding on the corridor door. The noise
+had been effective.
+
+In a bound, Harleston reached the door; it should, as he knew, open from
+within by a turn of the knob. But it was double-locked on the inside and
+the key was missing.
+
+He whirled--just in time to see the last of the mixed trio disappear
+into the drawing-room, and the door snap shut behind them.
+
+He sped across and flung himself against it--it was locked.
+
+Meanwhile the pounding on the corridor door went on.
+
+"Try another door!" Harleston shouted.
+
+But by reason of the heavy door and the din, some time elapsed before he
+could attract the attention of those in the corridor and make himself
+understood. Then more time was consumed in getting the floor-maid with
+the pass-key to the room adjoining the drawing-room of the suite.
+
+By that time, the manager of the hotel had come up and put himself at
+the head of the relief; and he was not in the best of temper when he
+entered and saw the debris of the bric-a-brac and the table.
+
+"What is the meaning of--" he demanded--then he recognized Harleston and
+stopped--"I beg your pardon, Mr. Harleston! I didn't know that you were
+here, sir; this apartment was occupied by--"
+
+"Two men and a woman," Harleston supplied. "Well, it's been vacated by
+them in deference to me."
+
+"I don't understand!" said the manager.
+
+"If you will have the baggage, which, I imagine, is in the bedrooms,
+examined, and give me your private ear for a moment, I'll endeavour to
+explain as much as I know."
+
+"Certainly, Mr. Harleston," the man replied; and, directing the others
+to examine the baggage, he closed the door of the drawing-room.
+
+"First tell me who occupied this suite, when it was taken, and when they
+came," said Harleston.
+
+"One moment," said the manager, and picking up the telephone he called
+the office. "It was, the office says, occupied by a Mr. and Mrs.
+Davidson of New York City, who took it this afternoon about five
+o'clock. They had made no reservation for it."
+
+"Now as to their baggage."
+
+The manager bowed and went out--to return almost instantly, a puzzled
+expression on his face.
+
+"Two new and cheap suit cases, each containing a couple of bricks and
+some waste paper," he reported.
+
+"Yes," nodded Harleston, "I thought as much. Mr. Banks, you will confer
+a favour on me, and possibly on the government, if you will be good
+enough to let this affair pass unnoticed, at least for the time. I'll
+pay for the broken table and its contents, and a proper charge for the
+rooms for the few hours they've been occupied. I overturned the table.
+As for the rest--how I came to be here, and what became of the
+occupants, and why the furniture was smashed, and why I have a slight
+contusion in my cheek, and anything else occurring to the management as
+requiring explanation, just forget it, please."
+
+"Certainly, sir."
+
+"Very good!" said Harleston. "Now wait one moment."
+
+He went to the telephone and asked for Mrs. Clephane's apartment.
+
+Her maid answered--with the information that Mrs. Clephane had been out
+since five o'clock and had not yet returned.
+
+Harleston thanked her, hung up the receiver, and turned to Banks.
+
+"I have reason to believe that Mrs. Clephane, who is a guest of the
+hotel, has disappeared. I was talking to her in the red-room at about
+6:30, when I was called to the telephone. On my return, after a brief
+absence, she was gone, and a frequent and thorough search on the first
+floor did not disclose her. She was to have dined with me at
+seven-thirty. She did not keep the engagement. I dined alone, and had
+just begun the meal when a letter was handed to me asking that I dine
+with her in her apartment, No. 972. I came here at once--and was held up
+by two men and a woman, who sought to obtain something that they
+imagined was in my possession. It wasn't, however, and we fought; and I
+raised sufficient disturbance to bring you. You see, I have told you
+something of the affair. The note was a forgery. This isn't Mrs.
+Clephane's apartment, and her maid has just told me that her mistress
+has not been in her apartment since five o'clock--which was the time she
+met me. I am persuaded that she is a prisoner, and likely in this
+hotel--held so to prevent her disclosing a certain matter to a certain
+high official. What I want is for you to make every effort to determine
+whether she is in this house."
+
+"We'll do it, Mr. Harleston," the manager acquiesced instantly. "Come
+down to the office and we'll go over the guest diagram, while I have
+every unoccupied room looked into. In fact, sir, we'll do anything short
+of burglaring our guests."
+
+"I'll be right down," Harleston said; "after I've bathed my face and
+straightened up a bit."
+
+The contusion on his cheek was not particularly noticeable; it might be
+worse in the morning; his collar was a trifle crushed and his hair was
+awry; on the whole, he had come out of the fight very well.
+
+He took up his stick and gloves, put on his hat so as to shade, as far
+as possible, the cheek-bone, and went down to the private office.
+
+There was, of course, the chance that Mrs. Clephane had lured him into
+the trap, and had herself written the decoy note; but he did not
+believe her guilty. Even though Crenshaw had adroitly implicated her,
+he was not influenced. Indeed, he was convinced of just the
+reverse:--that she was honest and sincere and inexperienced, and that
+she had told him the true story of the letter and its loss. At least he
+was acting on that theory, and was prepared to see it through. Maybe he
+was a fool to believe those brown eyes and that soft voice and those
+charming ways; if so, he preferred to be a fool for a little while, to,
+if not, being a fool to her forever. He had, in his time, encountered
+many women with beautiful faces and compelling eyes and alluring voices
+and charming ways, but with none had they been so blended as in Mrs.
+Clephane.
+
+He did not know a thing as to her history--he did not even know whether
+she was married, a widow, or a divorcee. Whatever she was, he was
+willing to accept her as genuine--until she was proven otherwise.
+
+All of which would indicate that she had made something of an impression
+on Harleston--who was neither by nature nor by experience impressible
+and, in the diplomatic game, had about as much sentiment as a granite
+crag. In fact, with Harleston every woman who appeared in the
+diplomatic game lay under instant and heavy suspicion.
+
+Mrs. Clephane was the first exception.
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+SKIRMISHING
+
+
+On the slender chance of finding Mrs. Clephane, Harleston made another
+tour of the rooms and corridor on the first floor.
+
+It was without avail--save that he noticed Madeline Spencer and her
+escort were still at dinner. They did not see him--and he was very well
+content. Later he would want a word with them--particularly with her;
+and he preferred to meet her alone. She was a very beautiful woman, and
+very alluring, and the time was, and not so long ago, when he would have
+gone far out of his way to meet her; but another face--and
+business--occupied him at present. Moreover, the business had to do with
+Mrs. Spencer, and that shortly. Therefore he was content to be patient.
+Mrs. Clephane first.
+
+So he went on to the private office and the manager.
+
+"I've just taken another look over this floor," he said; "Mrs. Clephane
+is not to be seen."
+
+"We paged her, also," returned Banks; "and we've had every vacant room
+in the house examined without result. Here's the diagram; let us go over
+it, perhaps we can get a lead from it. About half of the guests are
+personally known to the hotel; they are either permanent guests or have
+been coming here for a long time. However, pick out any that you suspect
+and we'll try to find a way to get into their rooms. We are always at
+the service of the government, particularly the State Department."
+
+Harleston ran his eyes over the diagram, searching for Madeline Spencer.
+It was barely possible that she was registered under one of her own
+names. He found it at last--or thought he had: No. 717:--Madame Cuthbert
+and maid.
+
+"What do you know of her?" he asked, indicating No. 717.
+
+"Nothing whatever, except that she seems to have plenty of money, and
+looks the lady."
+
+"When did she come?"
+
+"Three days ago."
+
+"What is No. 717?"
+
+"Two bedrooms, a parlour, and a bath."
+
+"I should like to know if she has had callers, and who they are; also,
+if the house detective knows anything of her movements?"
+
+"One moment, sir," said Banks--
+
+"And you might inquire also," Harleston added, "as to the bald-headed
+man who is her companion this evening?"
+
+"Very good, sir," said Banks, and went out.
+
+"I tell you there are quite too many women in this affair," Harleston
+muttered--and went back to inspecting the chart.
+
+And the more he inspected, the more hopeless grew his task. If Mrs.
+Clephane had been lured to one of the rooms, it would be next to
+impossible to find her. There were a hundred well-dressed and
+quiet-mannered guests who seemed beyond suspicion; and yet it was in the
+room of one of these unobtrusive guests, who had never so much as looked
+at Mrs. Spencer, that Mrs. Clephane was held prisoner. There was small
+hope--none, indeed--that a search of Madeline Spencer's apartment would
+yield even a clue. She was not such a bungler; though that she was the
+directing spirit in the entire affair he had not the least doubt. Her
+photograph fixed the matter on her; and while he was quite sure she was
+not aware of the photograph, yet she was aware of the letter, had made a
+desperate effort to prevent its delivery, and now was making a final
+effort to prevent Mrs. Clephane from advising the French Ambassador of
+its loss.
+
+As to him, Mrs. Spencer was not concerned. His possession of the letter,
+under such circumstances, effectually closed his mouth; if he happened
+to know for whom the letter was intended, his mouth was closed all the
+tighter. It was a rule of the diplomatic game never to reveal, even to
+an ally, what you know; tomorrow the ally may be the enemy. Harleston
+might yield the letter to superior force or to trickery, but he would
+never babble of it.
+
+The door opened to admit Banks.
+
+"The detective has nothing whatever as to Madame Cuthbert," he
+explained. "He says she is apparently a lady, and nothing has occurred
+to bring her under his notice. For the same reason, no list of her
+callers has been made--though the desk thinks that they have been
+comparatively few. The man with whom she dined this evening is a Mr.
+Rufus Martin. He has been with her several times. He is a guest of the
+hotel--room No. 410."
+
+"Can you have her apartment and Martin's looked over without exciting
+suspicion?"
+
+"I think we can manage it," Banks responded. "Indeed, I think we can
+manage to have all the rooms inspected; I have already told the
+detective what we suspect, and he has put on an employee's uniform and
+with a basket of electric bulbs is now testing the lights in every
+occupied room. The moment he finds Mrs. Clephane, or anything that
+points to her, he will advise us."
+
+"Good!" said Harleston. "Meanwhile, I'll have another look in Peacock
+Alley."
+
+He was aware that he was acting on a pure hunch. He realized that his
+theory of Mrs. Clephane's imprisonment in the house was most
+inconsistent with the facts. Why did they release her last night, if
+they were fearful of her communicating to the French Ambassador the loss
+of the letter? And why should they take her again this evening? It was
+all unreasonable; yet reason does not prevail against a hunch--even to a
+reasoning man, who is also a diplomat.
+
+He sauntered along the gay corridor bowing to those he knew. As he
+faced about to return, he saw Madeline Spencer, alone, bearing down upon
+him.
+
+The moment their eyes met, she signalled a glad smile and advanced with
+hands extended.
+
+"Why, Guy!" she exclaimed. "What a surprise this is!"
+
+"And what a charming pleasure to me, Madeline," he added, taking both
+her hands and holding them. "I thought you were in Paris; indeed, I
+thought you would never leave the City of Boulevards."
+
+"So did I, yet here I am; yet not for long, I trust, Guy, not for long."
+
+"America's misfortune," he whispered.
+
+"Or fortune!" she laughed. "It's merely a matter of viewpoint. To those
+who have knowledge of the comparatively recent past, Madeline Spencer
+may be a _persona non_. However--" with a shrug of her shapely shoulders
+and an indifferent lift of her fine hands. "Won't you sit down, Mr.
+Harleston; that is, if you're not afraid for your reputation. I assume
+that here you have a reputation to protect."
+
+"I'm quite sure that my reputation, whatever it be, won't suffer by
+what you intimate!" he smiled, and handed her into a chair.
+
+"You were much surprised to see me, _n'est-ce pas_?" she asked low,
+leaning close.
+
+"Much more than much," he replied confidentially.
+
+"Honest?" she asked, still low and close.
+
+"Much more than honest," he answered. "It's been a long time since we
+met."
+
+"Three months!"
+
+"Three months is much more than long--sometimes."
+
+She gave him an amused smile.
+
+"I was thinking of you only last night," he volunteered.
+
+"What suggested me?" she asked quickly.
+
+"I suppose it must have been your proximity," he replied easily and
+instantly.
+
+"Wireless," she laughed, "or community of interests?"
+
+"I don't know--the impression was vivid enough, while it lasted, for you
+to have been in the room."
+
+"Maybe I was--in spirit."
+
+"I'm sure of it," he replied. "How long have you been in Washington,
+Madeline?"
+
+"You should have felt my proximity as soon as I arrived," she responded.
+
+"I felt it nearing when you left Paris--and growing closer as time went
+on. You see, I have a remarkable intuition as--to you."
+
+"Charming!" she trilled. "Why not get a _penchant_ for me, as well?"
+
+"Maybe I have--and don't venture to declare myself."
+
+"You!" she mocked
+
+"Meaning that I can't get a _penchant_, or that I am not afraid to
+declare?"
+
+"Both!" she laughed. "Now quit talking nonsense and tell me about
+yourself. What have you been doing, and what are you doing?"
+
+"At the very profitable and busy occupation of killing time," he
+replied.
+
+"Of course, but what else?"
+
+"Nothing!"
+
+"What, for instance, were you doing last night?"
+
+"Last night? I dined at the Club, played auction and went home at a
+seemly hour."
+
+"Home? Where is that?"
+
+"The Collingwood."
+
+"And what adventure befell you on the way--if any?"
+
+"Adventure? I haven't had an adventure since I left the Continent."
+
+"Sure?"
+
+"Perfectly. I wish I had--to vary the monotony."
+
+She traced a diagram on the rug with the tip of her slipper.
+
+"It depends on what you regard as an adventure," she smiled. "I should
+think the episode of the cab, with what followed at your apartment, was
+very much in that line?"
+
+"Oh, to be sure!" exclaimed Harleston, with an air of complete surprise.
+"However did--Great Heavens, Madeline, were _you_ the woman of the roses
+and the cab?"
+
+"You know that I wasn't!" she replied.
+
+"Then how do you know of the cab of the sleeping horse, and what
+followed?" he inquired blandly.
+
+"I dreamed it."
+
+"Wonderful! Simply wonderful!"
+
+She nodded tolerantly. "Why keep up the fiction?" she asked. "You know
+that I am concerned in your adventure--just as I know of your adventure.
+I was on the street, or in the house, or was told of it, whichever you
+please; it's all one, since you know. Moreover you have seen me with one
+of your early morning callers, as I meant you to do." She leaned forward
+and looked at him with half-closed eyes. "Will you believe me, Guy, when
+I say that the United States is not concerned in the matter--and that it
+should keep its hands off. You stumbled by accident on the deserted cab.
+A subordinate blundered, or you would not have found it ready for your
+investigation--and you've been unduly and unnecessarily inquisitive. We
+have tried to be forbearing and considerate in our efforts to regain it,
+but--"
+
+"Regain, my dear Madeline, implies, or at least it conveys an idea of,
+previous possession. Did Germany--I beg your pardon; did your client in
+this matter have such--"
+
+"I used regain advisedly," she broke in.
+
+"Because of your possession of the lady, or because of your independent
+possession of the letter?"
+
+"You're pleased to be technical," she shrugged.
+
+"Not at all!" he replied. "I'm simply after the facts: whether the
+letter belongs to you, or to the mysterious lady of the cab?"
+
+"Who isn't in the least mysterious to you."
+
+"No!"
+
+"Really, you're delicious, Mr. Harleston; though I confess that _you_
+have _me_ mystified as to your game in pretending what you and I know is
+pretence."
+
+"You're pleased to be enigmatic!" Harleston laughed.
+
+"Oh, no I'm not," she smiled, flashing her rings and watching the
+flashes--and him. "You saw me, and you know that I saw you; and I saw
+you and know that you saw me. Now, as I've said it in words of one
+syllable, I trust you will understand."
+
+"I understand," said he; "but you have side-stepped the point:--To whom
+does this lost letter belong: to you or to--"
+
+"Mrs. Clephane?" she adjected.
+
+"Exactly: to you, or to Mrs. Clephane?"
+
+"What does that matter to you--since it does not belong to _you_?"
+
+"I may be a friend of Mrs. Clephane? Or I may regard myself as a
+trustee for the safe delivery of the letter."
+
+"A volunteer?"
+
+"If you so have it!" he smiled.
+
+She beat a tattoo with her slender, nervous fingers, looking at him in
+mild surprise, and some disapproval.
+
+"Since when does sentiment enter the game?" she asked.
+
+"Sentiment?" he inflected. "I wasn't aware of its entry."
+
+She shrugged mockingly. "Beware, old friend and enemy! You're losing
+your cleverness. Mrs. Clephane is very charming and alluring, but
+remember, Guy, that a charming woman has no place in the diplomatic
+game--save to delude the enemy. She seems to be winning with you--who, I
+thought, was above all our wiles and blandishments. Oh, do not smile,
+sir--I recognize the symptoms; I've played the innocent and the beauty
+in distress once or twice myself. It's all in our game--but I'm
+shockingly amazed to see it catch so experienced a bird as Guy
+Harleston."
+
+"I'm greatly obliged, Madeline, for your shocking amazement," Harleston
+chuckled. "Meanwhile, and returning to the letter; who has the better
+title to possession, Mrs. Clephane or yourself?"
+
+"As I remarked before, either of us has a better title to the letter
+than yourself. Also--I have heard you say it many times, and it is an
+accepted rule in the diplomatic game--never meddle in what does not
+concern you; never help to pull another's chestnuts out of the fire."
+
+"My dear lady, you are perfectly right! I subscribe unreservedly to the
+rule, and try to follow it; but you have overlooked another rule--the
+most vital of the code."
+
+"What is it, pray!"
+
+"The old rule:--Never believe your adversary. Never tell the
+truth--except when the truth will deceive more effectively than a lie."
+
+"That is entirely regular, yet not applicable to the present matter. I'm
+_not_ your adversary."
+
+"You say you're not--yet how does that avoid the rule?"
+
+"Won't you take my word, Guy?" she murmured.
+
+"I am at a loss whether to take it or not," he reflected; "being so,
+I'm in a state of equipoise until I'm shown."
+
+"Tell me how I can show you?" she smiled.
+
+"I haven't the remotest idea. You know as well as I that if you were to
+tell me truthfully why you are here, and what you aim to accomplish, I
+couldn't accept your story; I should have to substantiate it by other
+means."
+
+"You mean that I can't show you?" she said sorrowfully.
+
+He nodded. "No more than I could show you were our positions reversed."
+
+What her purpose, in all this talk, he failed to see--unless she were
+seeking to establish an _entente cordiale_, or to gain time. The latter
+was the likelier--yet time for what? They both were aware that all this
+discussion was twaddle--like much that is done in diplomacy; that they
+were merely skirmishing to determine something as to each other's
+position.
+
+"I had hoped that for once you would forget business and trust me," she
+said softly; "in memory of old times when we worked together, as well as
+when we were against each other. We played the game then for all that
+was in it, and neither of us asked nor gave quarter. But this isn't
+business Guy,--" she had gradually bent closer until her hair brushed
+his cheek--"that is, it isn't business that concerns your government.
+You may believe this implicitly, old enemy, absolutely implicitly."
+
+"With whom, then, has it to do?" he inquired placidly.
+
+She sighed just a trifle--and moved closer.
+
+"You will never tell, nor use the information?" she breathed.
+
+"Not unless my government needs it?"
+
+"_Peste!_" she exclaimed. "You and your government are--However, I'll
+tell you." Her voice dropped to a mere whisper. "It has to do with
+England, Germany, and France: at least, I so assume. It has to do with
+Germany or I wouldn't be in it, as you know."
+
+"And what is the business?" he continued.
+
+"I'm not informed--further than that it's a secret agreement between
+England and Germany, which France suspects and would give much to block
+or to be advised of. As to what the agreement embodies, I am in the
+dark--though I fancy it has to do with some phase of the Balkan
+question."
+
+"Why would England and Germany conclude an agreement as to the Balkan
+question--or any question, indeed--in Washington?" Harleston asked.
+
+"I do not know; I'm quite ready to admit its seeming improbability.
+Possibly Germany desired the experience of her new Ambassador, Baron
+Kurtz, and didn't care to order him to Europe. Possibly, too, they chose
+Washington in order to avoid the spying eyes of the secret service of
+the other Powers. At all events, I've told you all that I know."
+
+"Why are _you_ here?" he went on.
+
+"I'm here to watch--and to do as I'm directed. I'm on staff duty, so to
+speak. I'm not quite in your class, Guy. I've never operated quite
+alone." She looked at him thoughtfully. "We two together would make a
+great pair--oh, a very great pair!"
+
+"I'm sure of it," he replied. "Sometime, I hope, we can try it."
+
+"Why not try it now?" she said gently.
+
+"I'm in the American secret service--and, you said, America is not
+involved."
+
+"Join with Germany--and me--for this once."
+
+He shook his head. "I serve my country for my pleasure. Germany is
+another matter. If, sometime, in an affair entirely personal to you,
+Madeline, I should be able to assist you, I shall be only too glad for
+the chance."
+
+"You don't trust me," she replied sadly.
+
+"Trust is a word unknown in the diplomatic vocabulary!" he smiled.
+"Moreover, I couldn't do what you want even if I believed and trusted
+your every word. You want the letter--the Clephane letter. I haven't
+it--as you know. It's in the possession of the State Department."
+
+"Then let it remain there!" she exclaimed.
+
+"It probably will until it's translated," he replied.
+
+"It's in cipher?"
+
+Harleston nodded. "Do you know what it contains?" he asked.
+
+"Unfortunately, I don't."
+
+"You would like to know?"
+
+"Above everything!"
+
+"And until then you would not have the French Ambassador advised of the
+letter, nor of the adventure of the cab?"
+
+"Precisely, old friend, precisely."
+
+"How will you prevent Mrs. Clephane telling it?"
+
+"We must try to provide for that!" she smiled.
+
+"Why didn't you keep her prisoner, when you had her last night?"
+
+"That was a serious blunder; it won't happen again."
+
+"H-u-m," reflected Harleston; and his glance sought Mrs. Spencer's and
+held it. "Where is Mrs. Clephane now?" he demanded.
+
+For just an instant her eyes narrowed and grew very dark. Then suddenly
+she laughed--lightly, with just a suggestion of mockery in the tones.
+
+"Mrs. Clephane--is yonder!" said she.
+
+Harleston turned quickly. Mrs. Clephane was coming down the corridor.
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+HALF A LIE
+
+
+"Somewhat unexpected, isn't it?" Harleston asked.
+
+"To whom--you, her, or myself?" Mrs. Spencer inquired.
+
+"To you."
+
+"Not at _all_. I'm never surprised at anything!" Then just a trace of
+derision came into her face. "Won't you present me, Mr. Harleston?"
+
+"Certainly, I will," he responded gravely, and arose.
+
+"Another unexpected!" she mocked. "But she _is_ good to look at, Guy, I
+must grant you that. Also--" and she laughed lightly.
+
+"One moment," said he tranquilly, and turned toward Mrs. Clephane--who
+had caught sight of him and was undecided what to do.
+
+Now, smiling adorably, she came to meet him.
+
+"The two beauties of the season!" he thought; and as he bowed over her
+hand he whispered: "Not a word of explanation _now_; and play ignorance
+of _everything_.--Understand?"
+
+"I don't understand--but I'll do as you direct," she murmured.
+
+"I want to present you to Mrs. Spencer--the woman whom, you will recall,
+I asked you in the red-room if you recognized. Be careful, she is of the
+enemy--and particularly dangerous."
+
+"Everyone seems to be dangerous except myself," she replied. "I'm an
+imbecile, or a child in arms."
+
+"_I'm_ not dangerous to you," he answered.
+
+"That, sir, remains to be proven."
+
+"And I like your idea of the child in arms--provided it's my arms," he
+whispered.
+
+Her reply was a reproving glance from her brown eyes and a shake of the
+head.
+
+"I'm delighted to meet you, Mrs. Clephane," Mrs. Spencer greeted, before
+Harleston could say a word. She made place on the divan and drew Mrs.
+Clephane down beside her. "You're Robert Clephane's widow, are you not?"
+
+"Robert Clephane was, I believe, a distant cousin," Mrs. Clephane
+responded. "De Forrest Clephane was my husband. Did you know him, Mrs.
+Spencer?"
+
+"I did not. _Robert_--" with the faintest stress on the name--"was the
+only Clephane I knew. A nice chap, Mrs. Clephane; though, since you're
+not his widow, I must admit that he was a bit gay--a very considerable
+bit indeed."
+
+"We heard tales of it," Mrs. Clephane replied imperturbably. "It is an
+ungracious thing, Mrs. Spencer, to scandalize the dead, but do you know
+anything of his gayness from your own experience?"
+
+Harleston suppressed a chuckle. Mrs. Clephane would take care of
+herself, he imagined.
+
+Mrs. Spencer's foot paused in its swinging, and for an instant her eyes
+narrowed; then she smiled engagingly, the smile growing quickly into a
+laugh.
+
+"Not of my own experience, Mrs. Clephane," she replied confidentially,
+"but I have it from those who do know, that he set a merry pace and
+travelled the limit with his fair companions. It was sad, too--he was a
+most charming fellow. Rumour also had it that he was none too happy in
+his marriage, and that _his_ Mrs. Clephane was something of the same
+sort. I've seen _her_ several times; she was of the type to make men's
+hearts flutter."
+
+"It's no particular trick to make men's hearts flutter," said Mrs.
+Clephane sweetly.
+
+"How about it, Mr. Harleston?" Mrs. Spencer asked.
+
+"No trick whatever," he agreed, "provided she choose the proper method
+for the particular man; and some men are easier than others."
+
+"For instance?" Mrs. Spencer inflected.
+
+"No instance. I give it to you as a general proposition and without
+charge; which is something unusual in these days of tips and gratuities
+and subsidized graft and things equally predatory."
+
+Mrs. Spencer arose. "The mere mention of graft puts me to instant
+flight," she remarked.
+
+"And naturally even the suggestion of a crime is equally repugnant to
+you," Mrs. Clephane observed.
+
+"'As a general proposition,'" Mrs. Spencer quoted.
+
+"And general propositions are best proved by exceptions, _n'est-ce
+pas_?" was the quick yet drawling answer.
+
+The two women's eyes met.
+
+"I trust, Mrs. Clephane, we shall meet again and soon," Mrs. Spencer
+replied, extending her hand.
+
+"Thank you so much," was Mrs. Clephane's answer.
+
+Mrs. Spencer turned to Harleston with a perfectly entrancing smile.
+
+"Good-night, Guy," she murmured.--"No, sir, not a foot; I'm going up to
+my apartment."
+
+"Then we will convoy you to the elevator. Come, Mr. Harleston."
+
+"It is only a step," Mrs. Spencer protested.
+
+"Nevertheless," said Mrs. Clephane, "we shall not permit you to brave
+alone this Peacock Alley and its heedless crowd."
+
+And putting her arm intimately through Mrs. Spencer's she went on: with
+Harleston trailing in the rear and chuckling with suppressed glee. It
+was not often that Madeline Spencer met her match!
+
+When the car shot upward with Mrs. Spencer, Harleston gave a quiet laugh
+of satisfaction.
+
+"Now shall we go in to dinner?" he asked.
+
+Mrs. Clephane nodded.
+
+"The table in the corner yonder, Philippe," Harleston said.
+
+"Who is Mrs. Spencer?" she inquired, as soon as they were seated.
+
+"You've never heard of her?"
+
+"No--nor seen her before tonight. One is not likely to forget her; she's
+as lovely as--"
+
+"Original sin?" Harleston supplied.
+
+Mrs. Clephane smiled.
+
+"Not at all," said she. "Diana is the one I was about to suggest."
+
+"She may look the Diana," he replied, "but she's very far from a Diana,
+believe me, very far indeed."
+
+"I am quite ready to believe it, Mr. Harleston." She lowered her voice.
+"I have much to tell you--and," with a quick look at him, "also
+something to explain."
+
+"Your explanation is not in the least necessary if it has to do with
+anything Mrs. Spencer said."
+
+"Under the circumstances I think I should be frank with you. Mrs.
+Spencer said just enough to make you suspect me; then she dropped
+it--and half a lie is always more insidious than the full truth."
+
+"My dear Mrs. Clephane," he protested, "I assure you it is not
+necessary--"
+
+"Not necessary, if one is in the diplomatic profession," she cut in.
+"Murder and assassination both of men and of reputation, seem to be a
+portion of this horrible business, and perfectly well recognized as a
+legitimate means to effect the end desired. I'm not in it--diplomacy, I
+mean,--and I'm mighty thankful I'm not. Mrs. Spencer cold as ice, crafty
+as the devil, beautiful as sin, and hard as adamant, knowing her Paris
+and London and its scandals--I suppose she must know them in her
+profession--instantly recognized me and placed me as Robert Clephane's
+wife. For I am his wife--or rather his widow. I lied to her because I
+didn't intend that she should have the gratification of seeing her play
+win. She sought to distress and disconcert me, and to raise in your mind
+a doubt of my motives and my story. It may be legitimate in diplomacy,
+but it's dastardly and inhuman. 'Rumour also had it that he was none too
+happy in his marriage, and that his Mrs. Clephane was something of the
+same sort--she was of the type to make men's hearts flutter.' You see, I
+recall her exact words. And what was I to do--"
+
+"Just what you did do. You handled the matter beautifully."
+
+"Thank you!" she smiled. "Yet she would win in the end--with almost any
+other man than you. She plays for time; a very little time, possibly. I
+don't know. I'm new in this business--and can't see far before me.
+Indeed, I can't see at all; it's a maze of horrors. If I get out of this
+mess alive, I'll promise never to get mixed in another."
+
+"Why not quit right now, Mrs. Clephane?" Harleston suggested.
+
+"I won't quit under fire--and with my mission unaccomplished. Moreover,
+this Spencer gang have ruffled my temper--they have aroused my fighting
+blood. I never realized I had fighting blood in me until tonight. Mrs.
+Spencer's ugly insinuation, topping their attempted abduction of the
+evening, has done it. I'm angry all through. Don't I look angry, Mr.
+Harleston?"
+
+"You're quite justified in looking so, dear lady; as well as in being
+so," Harleston replied. "Only you don't look it now."
+
+"You're a sad flatterer, sir!" she smiled. "Believe me, had you seen me
+in the room to which they decoyed me with a false message from you, you
+would believe that I can look it--very well look it."
+
+"So that was the way of it!" Harleston exclaimed "Tell me about it, Mrs.
+Clephane. I was sure that you were a prisoner somewhere in this hotel;
+to find you every room was being inspected."
+
+"Why did you think I was a prisoner in the midst of all this gaiety?"
+she asked.
+
+"Because I was lured by a message purporting to be from you to the ninth
+floor and garroted. I escaped. However, that is another story; yours
+first, my lady."
+
+"You too!" she marvelled.
+
+He nodded. "And now we are sitting together at dinner, looking at the
+crowd, and you're about to tell me your story."
+
+"Thanks to you for having escaped and rescued me!" Mrs. Clephane
+exclaimed.
+
+"The management devised the way."
+
+"But _you_ prompted it--you are the one I have to thank."
+
+"If you insist, far be it from me to decline! It's well worth anything I
+can do to--have you look at me as you're looking now."
+
+"I hope I'm looking half that I feel," she replied instantly.
+
+"A modest man would be more than repaid by half the look," he returned.
+
+"Are you a modest man?" she smiled.
+
+"I trust so. At least, I am with some people."
+
+"You're giving every instance of it with me, though it may be a part of
+the game; even the rescue may be a part of the game. You may be playing
+me against Mrs. Spencer, and taking advantage of my inexperience to
+accomplish your purposes--"
+
+"You don't think so!" he said, with a shake of his head.
+
+"No, I don't. And maybe that only proves my inexperience and unfitness."
+
+For a moment he did not reply. Was _she_ playing _him_? Was it a ruse of
+a clever woman; or was it the evidence of sincerity and innocence? It
+had the ring of candour and the appearance of truth. No one could look
+into those alluring eyes and that fascinatingly beautiful face and
+harbour a doubt of her absolute guilelessness. Yet was it guilelessness?
+He had never met guilelessness in the diplomatic game, save as a mask
+for treachery and deceit. And yet this seemed the real thing. He wanted
+to believe it. In fact, he did believe it; it was simply the habit of
+his experience warning him to beware--and because it was a woman it
+warned him all the more.... Yet he cast experience aside--and also the
+fact that she was a woman--and accepted her story as truth. Maybe he
+would regret it; maybe she was playing him; maybe she was laughing
+behind her mask; maybe he was all kinds of a fool--nevertheless, he
+would trust her. It was--
+
+"I'm glad you have decided that I'm not a diplomat--and that you will
+trust me," she broke in. "I'm just an ordinary woman, Mr. Harleston, just
+a very ordinary woman."
+
+He held out his hand. She took it instantly.
+
+"A very extraordinary woman, you mean, dear lady," he said gravely. "In
+some ways the most extraordinary that I have ever known."
+
+"It's not in the line of diplomacy, I hope," she shrugged.
+
+"Not the feminine line, I assure you; Madeline Spencer is typical of it,
+and the top of her class--which means she is wonderfully clever,
+inscrutable as fate, and without scruple or conscience. No, thank God,
+you do not belong in the class of feminine diplomats!"
+
+"Thank you, Mr. Harleston!" she said gently, permitting him, for an
+instant, to look deep into her brown eyes. "Now, since you trust me, I
+want to refer briefly to Mrs. Spencer's insinuation."
+
+"Robert Clephane was all that she said--and more. Middle-aged when he
+married me, before a year was passed I had found that I was only another
+experience for him; and that after a short time he had resumed his ways
+of--gaiety. Not caring to be pitied, nor to be so soon a deserted wife,
+nor yet to admit my loss of attraction for him, I dashed into the gay
+life of Paris with reckless fervour. I know I was indiscreet. I know I
+fractured conventionality and was dreadfully compromised--but I never
+violated the Seventh Commandment. Robert Clephane and I were not
+separated--except by a locked door.
+
+"Then one day some two years back, dreadfully mangled, they brought him
+home. An aeroplane had fallen with him--with the usual result. That
+moment saw the end of my gay life. I passed it up as completely as
+though it had never been. The reason for it was gone. After a very
+short period of mourning, I took up the quietness of a respectable
+widow, who wished only to forget that she ever was married."
+
+"I can understand exactly," said Harleston. "You shall never hear a word
+from me to remind you."
+
+"I've never heard anything to remind me of the past until this alluring
+beauty's insinuations of a moment ago. That is why it hit me so hard,
+Mr. Harleston. And why did she do it? Is she jealous of you, or of me,
+or what?"
+
+"She's not jealous of me!" he laughed. "I know her history; it's
+something of a history, too.... Sometime I'll tell you all about it;
+it's an interesting tale. Is it possible you've never heard in Paris of
+Madeline Spencer?"
+
+"Never!"
+
+"Nor of the Duchess of Lotzen?"
+
+"Great Heavens!" she cried. "Is she the Duchess of Lotzen?"
+
+"The same," Harleston nodded.
+
+"H-u-m! I can understand now a little of her--No wonder I felt my
+helplessness before her polished poise!"
+
+"Nonsense!" he smiled.
+
+"Why should such an accomplished--diplomat want to injure me with you?"
+she asked.
+
+"She was not seeking to injure you in the sense that you imply," he
+returned. "Her purpose was to put you in the same class as herself, so
+that I should trust you no more than I do her; to make you appear an
+emissary of France, in its secret service, playing the game of ignorance
+and inexperience for its present purpose. For you, as a personality she
+does not care a fig. To her you are but one of the pieces, to be moved
+or threatened as her purpose dictates. In the diplomatic game, my lady,
+we know only one side--all other sides are the enemy; and nothing, not
+even a woman's reputation, is permitted to stand for an instant in the
+way of attaining our end."
+
+"Therefore a good woman--or one who would forget the past--has no
+earthly business to become involved in the game," Mrs. Clephane
+returned. "I shall get out of it the instant this matter of the letter
+is completed--and stay out thereafter. Even friendship won't lure me to
+it. Never again, Mr. Harleston, never again for mine!"
+
+"I wish you would let it end right now," he urged.
+
+"That wouldn't be the part of a good sport, nor would it be just to
+Madame Durrand. She trusts me."
+
+"Then inform the French Ambassador of all the facts and circumstances
+and retire from the game," he advised.
+
+"Shall I inform him over the telephone?" she asked.
+
+"You would never get the Ambassador on the telephone, unless you were
+known to some one of the staff who could vouch for you."
+
+"I don't know anyone on the staff, but Mrs. Durrand has likely
+communicated with the Embassy."
+
+"If she has, she had given them a minute description of you, yet that
+can not be used to identify you over the telephone."
+
+"I hesitate to go to the Embassy without the letter," she said.
+
+"Why do you hesitate?" he smiled.
+
+"Because I--don't want to admit defeat."
+
+"Which of itself will serve to substantiate your story. One skilled in
+the game would have lost no time in informing the Embassy of the loss
+of the letter. He would have realized that, next to the letter itself,
+the news of its seizure was the best thing he could deliver--also, it
+was his _duty_ to advise the Embassy at the quickest possible moment.
+You see, dear lady, personal pride and pique play no part in this game.
+They are not even considered; it's the execution of the mission that's
+the one important thing; all else is made to bend to that single end."
+
+"Then I should go to the French Embassy tonight with my story?" she
+asked.
+
+"You should have gone this morning--the instant you were returned to the
+hotel! Now, unless Madame Durrand had written about you, it's a pretty
+good gamble that the Spencer crowd has forestalled you."
+
+"Forestalled me! What do you mean?"
+
+"Mrs. Spencer admitted to me that your release was someone's blunder.
+The normal thing was to hold you prisoner and so prevent you from
+communicating with the Ambassador until they had obtained the letter or
+defeated its purpose. That was not done; but Spencer, you may assume,
+has attempted to rectify their blunder--possibly by impersonating you,
+and giving the Marquis d'Hausonville some tale that will fall in with
+her plans and gain time for her."
+
+"Impersonating me!" Mrs. Clephane exclaimed incredulously.
+
+"Yes. She knows all the material circumstance--witness the telephone
+call that inveigled you into the drive up the Avenue, _et cetera_--and
+she'll take the chance that you are not known to the Marquis nor any of
+the staff, or even the chance that Madame Durrand has not yet informed
+them. Indeed she may have taken precautions against her informing them.
+A few bribes to the hospital attendants, carefully distributed, would be
+sufficient. It's not everyone who could, or would venture to, pull off
+the coup, but with Spencer the very daring of a thing adds to its
+pleasure and its zest."
+
+"You amaze me!" Mrs. Clephane replied. "I thought also that diplomacy
+was the gentlest-mannered profession in the world--and the most
+dignified."
+
+"It is--on the surface. Fine residences, splendid establishments,
+brilliant uniforms, much bowing and many genuflections, plenty of parade
+and glitter--everything for show. Under the surface: a supreme contempt
+for any code of honour, and a ruthlessness of purpose simply
+appalling--yet, withal, dignity, strained at times, but dignity
+none-the-less."
+
+"Then it isn't even a respectable calling!" she exclaimed.
+
+"It's eminently respectable to intimidate and to lie for one's
+country--and to stoop to any means to attain an end."
+
+"And you enjoy it!" she marvelled.
+
+"I do. It's fascinating--and I leave the disagreeable portion to others,
+when it has to do with those not of the profession."
+
+"And when it has to do with those of the profession?"
+
+"Then it's all in the game, and everything goes to win--because we all
+know what to expect and what to guard against. No one believes or trusts
+the enemy; and, as I said, everyone is the enemy but those who are
+arrayed with us."
+
+"So instead of being the finest profession in the world--and the most
+aristocratic," Mrs. Clephane reflected, "a diplomat is, in truth, simply
+a false-pretence artist of an especially refined and dangerous type,
+who deals with the affairs of nations instead of the affairs of an
+individual."
+
+"Pretty much," he admitted. "Diplomacy is all bluff, bluster, buncombe,
+and bullying; the degrees of refinement of the aforesaid bluff, _et
+cetera_, depending on the occasions, and the particular parties involved
+in the particular business."
+
+"Again I'm well content to be simply an ordinary woman, whose chief
+delight and occupation is clothes and the wearing of clothes."
+
+"You're a success at your occupation," Harleston replied.
+
+"Some there are who would not agree with you," she replied. "However, we
+are straying from the question before us, which is: what shall I do
+about informing the Marquis d'Hausonville? Will you go with me?"
+
+"My going with you would only complicate matters for you. The Marquis
+would instantly want to know what such a move on my part meant. I'm
+known to be in the secret service of the United States, you must
+remember. Furthermore your tale will accuse me of the taking of the
+letter--and you see the merry mess which follows. I cannot return the
+letter--it's in possession of the State Department. I'm far
+transgressing my duty by disclosing anything as to the letter. Indeed,
+I'm liable to be disciplined most drastically, even imprisoned, should
+it chance that the United States was involved."
+
+"You've told me nothing more than you've already told the Spencer
+crowd," she objected.
+
+"The difference is that the Spencer crowd are trying to obtain something
+to which they haven't the least right--and I'm playing the game against
+them. You see my peculiar position, Mrs. Clephane. I've told you what I
+shouldn't, because--well, because I'm sure that you will not use it to
+my disadvantage."
+
+She traced the figures on her gown with the tips of her fingers, and for
+awhile was silent--
+
+"It's all so involved," she reflected; "such wheels within wheels, I am
+completely mystified. I'm lost in the maze. I don't know whom to believe
+nor whom to trust--except," and suddenly she smiled at him confidently,
+"that I trust you."
+
+He held her eyes with his own as he leaned forward across the table and
+answered very quietly:
+
+"I shall try, dear lady, to be worthy."
+
+"And now," she laughed, "may I tell you what happened to me when you
+were called to the telephone?"
+
+"You may talk to me forever," he replied.
+
+"And what as to the French Ambassador?" she asked.
+
+"Bother the Marquis--he may wait until morning."
+
+"Tomorrow, then, is beyond the forever?"
+
+"Tomorrow may take care of itself!"
+
+"Don't be sacrilegious, sir."
+
+"I'll be anything you wish," he replied.
+
+"Then be a good listener while I tell my tale. It was this wise, Mr.
+Harleston. Immediately after you were called away, indeed you were
+scarcely out of the room, a page brought a verbal message from the
+telephone operator that my maid had been found unconscious in the
+corridor of the eighth floor, and carried into 821. I hurried to the
+elevator. As I entered the door of 821, I was seized from behind and a
+handkerchief bound over my mouth and eyes. I then was tied in a chair,
+and a man's voice said that no further harm would come to me if I
+remained quiet until morning. I did not see the faces of my assailants;
+there were two at least, possibly three, and one I think was a woman.
+My feelings and thoughts until the electrician released me may be
+imagined. It seemed days and days--and was somewhat uncomfortable while
+it lasted. When released I hurried down to look for you--or to write you
+a note of explanation if I couldn't find you. I'm sort of becoming
+accustomed to being abducted and kindred innocent amusements. I suppose
+the only reason they didn't kill me is that they can't kill me more than
+once; and to kill me now would be too early in the game."
+
+"Killing is rarely done in diplomacy," observed Harleston, "except in
+large numbers; when it ceases to be diplomacy and becomes war. In fact,
+only bunglers resort to killing; and if the killing be known it ends
+one's career in the service. To have to kill to gain an end is
+conclusive evidence of incompetency. I mean, of course, among reputable
+nations. There are some thugs among the lesser Powers, just as there are
+thugs among the _'oi polloi_."
+
+"Then Mrs. Spencer is an accomplished--diplomat," Mrs. Clephane
+remarked.
+
+"She is at the top of the profession,--and as a directing force she is
+without a superior."
+
+"You are very generous, Mr. Harleston!"
+
+"I believe in giving the devil his dues. Indeed, in handling some
+affairs, she is in a class by herself. Her beauty and finesse and
+alluringness make her simply irresistible. It's a cold and stony heart
+that she can't get inside of and use."
+
+"A man's heart, you mean?"
+
+"Certainly. A man is in control of such affairs."
+
+"Then Mrs. Spencer's presence here indicates that this letter matter is
+of the first importance to Germany."
+
+"It indicates that her business is of the first importance to Germany;
+the letter may simply be incidental to that business, in that its
+delivery to the French Ambassador will embarrass or complicate that
+business. The latter is likely the fact."
+
+"It grows more involved every minute," Mrs. Clephane sighed. "It's
+useless to try to make me comprehend. I want to hear what happened to
+you; such simple concrete doings are more adapted to my unsophisticated
+mind."
+
+"When I returned to the telephone, you were gone," he said; "I waited
+awhile, then cruised through the rooms, then went back to our place and
+waited again. Finally I went in to dinner, leaving word to be notified
+the moment you returned. I was at my soup when a note was brought to me
+saying that you had just seen someone whom you wished to avoid, and
+asking me to dine with you in your apartment--and that you would explain
+your disappearance. I went up at once to No. 972; and there encountered
+pretty much similar treatment to yours,"--and he detailed the episode,
+down to the time she reappeared in the corridor.
+
+She had heard him through without an interruption; at the end she said
+simply:
+
+"I've absolutely no business in this affair, Mr. Harleston. When such
+things can happen in this hotel, in the very centre of the National
+Capital and among the throngs of diners and guests, it behooves an
+ordinary woman to seek safety in a hospital or a prison. It seems that
+the greater the prominence of the place, the greater the danger and the
+less liability to arrest."
+
+"In diplomacy!" he acquiesced.
+
+"Then again, I say, Heaven save me from meddling in diplomacy!"
+
+"Amen, my lady! Moreover," he added, as they arose and passed into the
+corridor, "I want you as you are."
+
+Once again their eyes met--she coloured and looked away.
+
+"Play the game, Mr. Harleston," she reminded, "play the game! And thank
+you for a delicious dinner and a charming evening--and don't forget
+you've an appointment at ten."
+
+"I had forgotten!" he laughed, drawing out his watch.
+
+It was ten minutes of the hour.
+
+"Take me to the F Street elevator and then hurry on," said she.
+
+"And you will do nothing--and go nowhere until tomorrow?" he asked.
+
+"I'll promise to remain here until--"
+
+"I come for you in the morning?" he broke in.
+
+"If I'm not abducted in the interval, I'll wait," and stepped into the
+car. "Good-night, Mr. Harleston!" she smiled--and the car shot upward.
+
+"Hum!" muttered Harleston as he turned for his coat and hat. "I may be
+a fool, but I'll risk it--and I think I'm _not_."
+
+It was but a step to Headquarters and he walked.
+
+"The Superintendent," he said to the sergeant on duty in the outer
+office.
+
+"The Chief has gone home, Mr. Harleston," was the answer.
+
+"Home?"
+
+"Yes, sir, two hours ago; he'll not be back tonight."
+
+"Get him on the telephone," Harleston directed.
+
+"Yes, sir, Mr. Harleston.... Here he is, sir--you can use the 'phone in
+the private office."
+
+"Hello! Is that you, Ranleigh? Yes, I recognized the voice. Did you
+telephone me at the Chateau about six-thirty?... You didn't?... You were
+on your way home at that hour.... Yes, exactly; it was a plant.... Do
+you know Crenshaw escaped from my apartment.... Yes, I saw him in the
+Chateau this evening.... What?... Yes, better look up Whiteside at
+once.... Yes, in the Collingwood.... Very good; I'll meet you there....
+All right, I'll tell the sergeant."
+
+
+
+
+XII
+
+CARPENTER
+
+
+Harleston took a taxi to the Collingwood, arriving just as Ranleigh came
+up, and the two men went in together.
+
+Whiteside was there; gagged and bound to the same chair that had held
+Crenshaw.
+
+The rooms were in confusion. Everything had been gone through; clothes
+were scattered over the floor, papers were strewn about, drawers stood
+open.
+
+They released Whiteside, and presently he was able to talk.
+
+"When did it happen?" Ranleigh asked.
+
+"About five o'clock this afternoon, sir," Whiteside replied, in a most
+apologetic tone. He knew there was no sympathy and no excuse for the
+detective who let his prisoner escape. "The bell rang. I went to the
+door--and was shot senseless by a chemical revolver. When I came to, I
+had exchanged places with the prisoner, and he and another man were
+just departing. 'My compliments to Mr. Harleston when he returns,' said
+Crenshaw, as he went out."
+
+"Describe the other man!" said Ranleigh.
+
+"Medium sized, slender, dark hair and eyes, good features, looked like a
+gentleman, wore a blue sack-suit, black silk tie, and stiff straw hat."
+
+"It's Sparrow," Harleston remarked. "Did they take anything with them?"
+
+"Nothing whatever that I saw, sir."
+
+"You're excused until morning," said the Chief curtly.
+
+The detective saluted and went out.
+
+"I am exceedingly sorry I overlooked Whiteside when I escaped from
+Crenshaw's garrote in the Chateau," Harleston remarked. "The simple fact
+is, I clean forgot him until I was talking with you on the telephone."
+
+"It's just as well, Mr. Harleston," Ranleigh replied. "It served him
+right. He will be fortunate if his want of precaution doesn't cost him
+his job."
+
+"No, no!" Harleston objected. "Whiteside has been punished. I intercede
+for him. Let him continue in his job, please."
+
+"Very good, sir," Ranleigh acquiesced. "But he'll be informed that he
+owes his retention entirely to you."
+
+When Ranleigh departed, after hearing a detailed account of the
+evening's doings at the hotel, Harleston sat for a little while
+thinking; finally he drew over a pad and made a list of things that
+required explanation, or seemed to require explanation, at the present
+stage of the matter:
+
+"(1) The translation of the cipher letter. This should explain Madeline
+Spencer's connection with the affair.
+
+"(2) Did the following persons, incidents, or circumstances have any
+bearing on the affair.
+
+"(a) The lone and handsome woman, who left the Collingwood at three that
+morning.
+
+"(b) The note 'a l'aube du jour' (signed) 'M,' found in Crenshaw's
+pocket.
+
+"(c) The telephone call of the Chartrand apartment at 12:52 A.M., by a
+man who said that he was 'here' and to meet him at 10 A.M.
+
+"(d) The persons in the Chartrand apartment the previous night.
+
+"(e) After 1 P.M. no one entered the Collingwood by the usual way, and
+no one telephoned; how, therefore, did anyone in the Collingwood know of
+the incident of the cab, and of my connection with it.
+
+"(f) Who is Mrs. Winton of the Burlingame apartments?
+
+"(g) Why was she in Peacock Alley, wearing black and red roses, at five
+o'clock this afternoon?"
+
+Harleston read over the list, folded it, and put it in his pocket-book;
+then he went to bed. There was plenty for him to seek, in regard to the
+affair of the cab of the sleeping horse, but nothing more for the
+Spencer gang to inspect in his apartment. Crenshaw had made a thorough
+job of his investigation.
+
+In the morning he took out the list and went over it again. They all
+were dependent on the translation of the letter; if it did not show that
+the United States was concerned in the matter, the rest became merely of
+academic interest--and Harleston had little inclination and no time for
+things academic. The difficulty was, that until the key to the cipher
+was found nothing was academic which appeared to have any bearing on the
+affair.
+
+So he sent for the manager of the Collingwood, and asked as to the
+Chartrands. The manager's information, which was definite if not
+extensive, was to the effect that the Chartrands were people of means
+from Denver, with excellent social position there, and with connections
+in Washington. They had been tenants of the Collingwood less than a
+week, having sublet the Dryand apartment. It was a large apartment. Mr.
+Chartrand was possibly forty-five, his wife thirty-eight or forty and
+exceedingly good-looking. There was, of course, no record kept of their
+visitors, nor did the house know who they were entertaining the previous
+evening. He was entirely sure, however, that the Chartrands were above
+suspicion. Mrs. Chartrand was a blonde, petite and slender; Chartrand
+was tall and rather stout, with red hair, and a scar across his
+forehead. As for the tall, slender woman who left the Collingwood at
+three in the morning, he did not recognize her from the description; he
+would, however, investigate at once.
+
+That it might be Madeline Spencer, now that her presence in Washington
+was declared, Harleston thought possible. "Slender, twenty-eight, walks
+as though the ground were hers," the telephone operator had said. He
+would get the photograph from Carpenter and let Miss Williams see it. If
+she recognized it as Spencer, much would be explained.
+
+He stopped a moment at the Club, then went on to the State Department.
+As he turned the corner near the Secretary's private elevator, the
+Secretary himself was on the point of embarking and he waited.
+
+"You want to see me?" he asked.
+
+"Just a moment, Mr. Secretary, since you're here," Harleston responded.
+"I came particularly to see Carpenter. There has been a plenty doing in
+that matter, but nothing worthy of report to you--except one thing.
+Madeline Spencer is in town."
+
+"The devil she is!" exclaimed the Secretary.
+
+"And as beautiful, as fascinating, as sinuous, and as young as ever."
+
+"She must be a vision."
+
+"She is--and an extraordinarily dangerous vision."
+
+"Only to you impressible chaps!" the Secretary confided. "She is not
+dangerous to me, be she ever so beautiful, and fascinating, and
+sinuous, and young. When will you present me?"
+
+"When do you suggest?" Harleston asked.
+
+"Tomorrow, at four?"
+
+"If I can get the lady, certainly."
+
+"Later she'll get me, you think!" the Secretary laughed.
+
+"If she is so minded she'll get you, I have not the least doubt,"
+Harleston shrugged.
+
+"Then here is where you have your doubt resolved into moonshine."
+
+"Very well; it won't be the first time I've had the pleasure of seeing
+moonshine. I'll try to make the appointment for tomorrow at four."
+
+"Self-opinionated old mountebank," Harleston thought, as he went down
+the corridor to Carpenter's office. "I shall enjoy watching Spencer make
+all kinds of an ass of him. 'You impressible chaps!--not dangerous to
+me!' Oh, Lord, the patronizing bumptiousness of the man!... Have you
+anything for me, Carpenter?" he asked, as he entered the latter's
+office.
+
+The Fifth Assistant was sitting with his feet on his desk, a cigar in
+his mouth, his gaze fixed on vacancy.
+
+"Damn your old cipher, Harleston!" he remarked, coming out of his
+abstraction. "It's bothered me more than anything I've tackled for
+years. I can't make head nor tail of it. Its very simplicity--or seeming
+simplicity--is what's tantalizing. It's in French. Of so much I feel
+sure, though I've little more than intuition to back it. As you know,
+this Vigenerie, or Blocked-Out Square, cipher is particularly difficult.
+I've tried every word and phrase that's ever been used or discovered. We
+have a complete record of them. None fit this case. Can you give me
+anything additional that will be suggestive?"
+
+"Here's what I've brought," Harleston replied--and related, so far as
+they seemed pertinent, the incidents of the previous afternoon and
+evening.
+
+"A French message in an English envelope, inclosing an unmounted
+photograph of Madeline Spencer, a well-known German Secret Agent in
+Paris," Carpenter remarked slowly; "and the letter is borne by Madame
+Durrand to the French Ambassador. You see, my intuition was right? the
+letter is in French; and as it is of French authorship the key-word is
+French. That narrows very materially our search. Find the key-word to
+the Vigenerie cipher of the French Diplomatic Service and we shall have
+the translation."
+
+"You haven't that word?" Harleston asked.
+
+"We've got quantities of keys to French ciphers, and numerous ones to
+the Blocked-Out Square, but they won't translate this letter." He took
+up a small book and opened it at a mark. "Here are samples of the
+latter: _ecclesiastiques, coeur de roche, a deau eaux, fourreau, chateau
+d'eau_, and so on. But, alas, none of them fits; the French Government
+has a new key. Indeed, she changes it every month or oftener; sometimes
+she changes it just for a single letter."
+
+"Then we must apply ourselves to obtaining the French key-word,"
+Harleston remarked. "Can you--do it?"
+
+"Maybe we can pilfer it and maybe we can't. At least we can make a brisk
+attempt. I will give orders at once. In the meantime, if you'll keep me
+advised of what happens, we may be able to piece your and my information
+together and make a word."
+
+"I'll do it!" Harleston replied and started toward the door. Half-way
+across the room he suddenly whirled around. "Lord, Carpenter. what an
+imbecile I am!" he exclaimed. "I fancy I've had the key-word all the
+while and never realized it."
+
+"There are too many petticoats in this case," Carpenter shrugged.
+
+"Never mind the petticoats!" Harleston laughed. "Get out the letter and
+try this phrase on it: _a l'aube du jour_."
+
+Without a word of comment, Carpenter set down the cipher message, letter
+by letter, and wrote over it _a l'aube du jour_. Then he took up a
+printed Blocked-Out Square and with incredible swiftness began to write
+the translation.
+
+"Where did you get this 'at the break of day,' Harleston?" he asked as
+he wrote.
+
+"Found it in Crenshaw's pocket-book when he returned to hold me up,"
+Harleston replied.
+
+"Only this isolated phrase?"
+
+"Yes--and signed with the single initial 'M.'"
+
+"Hump!" Carpenter commented. "Mrs. Spencer's name, I believe you said,
+is Madeline. I tell you there are too many women in this affair."
+
+Suddenly he threw down the pen. "What's the use in going on with it. If
+you can supply a key to this key we may arrive. Such an array of
+unpronounceables may be Russian, it assuredly isn't French or English.
+Look at it!" and he handed the translation to Harleston, who read:
+
+  AGELUMTONZUCLPMUHRHUNBARGPUH
+  PJICLWYIAOIWFPHLUOZFRXUFJWH
+  WASNVDPS
+
+"Good Lord!" said Harleston. "I pass. Did you ever see so many
+consonants. I reckon my key-word isn't the key."
+
+"Try being held up again," Carpenter advised; "you may succeed the
+second time. If Madeline Spencer is the holdee, no telling what you'd
+find."
+
+"I'd find nothing," Harleston rejoined.
+
+"You'd be holding a particularly lovely and attractive bit of skirts!"
+Carpenter smiled.
+
+"I don't want to hold that at present."
+
+"Not even--Mrs. Clephane?"
+
+Harleston raised his eyebrows slightly.
+
+"What do you know about Mrs. Clephane?" he asked.
+
+"That she's even lovelier and more attractive than Mrs. Spencer."
+
+"You've seen her--you know her?"
+
+"You told me," replied Carpenter.
+
+"I told you!--I never referred to Mrs. Clephane's appearance."
+
+"Exactly: your careful reticence told me more than if you had used tons
+of words. I'm a reader of secret ciphers; you don't imagine a mere
+individual presents much of a problem. I tell you there are too many
+petticoats mixed up in this affair of the cab of the sleeping horse,"
+Carpenter repeated. "Be careful, Harleston. Women are a menace--they
+spoil about everything they touch."
+
+"Marriage in particular?" Harleston inquired.
+
+"Exactly!"
+
+"A bachelor's wisdom!" Harleston laughed.
+
+"Why are you a bachelor?" Carpenter shrugged.
+
+"Because I never--"
+
+"--found the woman; or have been adroit enough to avoid her wiles,"
+Carpenter cut in. "And whichever it is, you've shown your wisdom. Don't
+spoil it now, Harleston, don't spoil it now. Millionaires and
+day-labourers are the only classes that have any business to marry; the
+rest of us chaps either can't afford the luxury, or are not quite poor
+enough to be forced to marry in order to get a servant."
+
+"You would be popular with the suffragettes," Harleston remarked.
+
+"Worldly wisdom of any sort is never popular with those against whom it
+warns."
+
+"An aphorism!" Harleston laughed.
+
+"Aphorism be damned; it's just plain horse sense. Don't do it, old man,
+don't do it!"
+
+"Don't do what?"
+
+"Don't fall in love with Mrs. Clephane."
+
+"Good Lord!" Harleston exclaimed.
+
+"Good Lord all you want, you're on the verge and preparing to leap
+in--and you know it. Let some other man be the life-saver, Harleston.
+You're much too fine a chap to waste yourself in foolishness."
+
+"And all this," Harleston expostulated with mock solemnity, "because I
+neglected to include a description of Mrs. Clephane."
+
+"Neglected with deliberation. And with you that is more significant than
+if you had detailed most minutely her manifold attractions. Look here,
+Harleston, do you want this translation for yourself or for Mrs.
+Clephane?"
+
+"I want the translation because the Secretary of State wants it,"
+Harleston replied quietly.
+
+"Oh, don't become chilly," Carpenter returned good-naturedly. "If you
+permit, I'll tell you something about a Mrs. Clephane--queer name
+Clephane, and rather unusual--whom I used to see in Paris," glancing
+languidly at Harleston, "several years ago. Want to hear it?"
+
+"Sure!" said Harleston. "Drive on and keep driving. You won't drive over
+me."
+
+"It isn't a great deal," Carpenter went on, slowly tearing the consonant
+collection into bits, "and perchance it wasn't your Mrs. Clephane; but
+her name, and her beauty and charm, and Paris, and some other inferences
+I drew, led me to suspect that--" He completed the sentence by a wave of
+his hand. "She was Robert Clephane's wife--yes, I see in your face that
+she is your Mrs. Clephane--and he led her a merry life, though if rumour
+lied not she kept up with the pace he set. I saw her frequently and she
+was as--well you have not overdrawn the 'reticence picture.' Shall I
+continue?"
+
+Harleston smiled and nodded.
+
+"Doubtless you already know the tale," Carpenter remarked.
+
+"I know only what Mrs. Clephane has told me," Harleston replied.
+
+The Fifth Assistant Secretary picked up a ruler and sighted carefully
+along the edge.
+
+"I seem to be in wrong, old man," he said. "Please forget that I ever
+said it or anything--you understand."
+
+"My dear fellow, don't be an ass!" Harleston laughed. "I'm not sensitive
+about the lady; I never saw her until last night."
+
+"Quite long enough for a man disposed to make a fool of himself--if the
+lady is a beauty."
+
+"I'm disposed to hear more from you, if you care to tell me," Harleston
+replied. "However, jesting aside, Carpenter, what do you know? Mrs.
+Clephane is something of a puzzle to me, but I have concluded to accept
+her story; yet I'm always open to conviction, and if I'm wrong now's the
+time to enlighten me--the State comes first, you know."
+
+"Are you viewing Mrs. Clephane simply as a circumstance in the affair of
+the cipher letter?" Carpenter asked.
+
+"Certainly!" said Harleston.
+
+"Then I'll give you what I heard. It's not much, and it may be false;
+it's for you to judge, in the light of all that you know concerning her,
+whether or not it affects her credibility. Mrs. Clephane went with a
+notoriously fast set in Paris, and her reputation was somewhat cloudy."
+
+"I know of that," returned Harleston, "also that Clephane was a roue,
+and generally an exceedingly rotten lot."
+
+"Precisely--and her conduct as to him may be quite justifiable; yet
+nevertheless it weakens her credibility; puts her story as to the letter
+under suspicion. And there is one thing more: Clephane, you know, was
+killed in an aeroplane smash. Did Mrs. Clephane tell you anything as to
+it?"
+
+"Merely referred to it."
+
+"Well, at a dinner the night before, he effervesced that his wife had
+repeatedly tried to poison him, and had told him only that evening that
+she hoped the flight of the morrow would be his last, and that he would
+fall so far it would be useless to dig for his remains. At the aviation
+field the following day he appeared queer, and his friends urged him not
+to try the flight; but he waved them aside, with the remark that maybe
+Mrs. Clephane had drugged him and at last would win out. His fall came
+a trifle later. Suspicion followed, of course."
+
+"How do you know all this?" Harleston asked.
+
+"From a man who was one of his intimates, and has reformed; and from
+having myself been in the aviation field the day of the tragedy."
+
+"You heard Clephane's remark?"
+
+"I did."
+
+"Hum!" said Harleston slowly. "A man of Clephane's habits will accuse
+anyone of anything at certain times. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't
+blame Mrs. Clephane, nor any other woman, for chucking such a husband
+out of the boat. It's contrary to the Acts of Assembly in such cases
+made and provided, but it's natural justice and amply justifiable."
+
+"You don't credit it?" Carpenter asked.
+
+"I can't. Moreover, didn't she change instantly her course of life and
+disappear from the gay world?"
+
+"I believe that is so."
+
+"And hasn't she remained disappeared?"
+
+Carpenter nodded.
+
+"Then I'm inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt. I'll trust
+her, until I've seen something to warrant distrust--bearing in mind,
+however, what you have just told me, and the possibility of my being
+mistaken. I reckon I can veer quickly enough if--"
+
+The telephone rang. Carpenter picked up the receiver.
+
+"Yes, Mr. Harleston is here," he replied, passing the receiver across.
+
+"Yes," said Harleston. "Oh, how do you do, Mrs. Clephane.... Very nice,
+indeed.... Be delighted!... In ten minutes, I'll be there. Good-bye." He
+pushed back the instrument. "Mrs. Clephane has telephoned that she must
+see me at once. Meanwhile--the key-word, my friend."
+
+Carpenter drummed on the table, and frowned at the door that had closed
+behind Harleston.
+
+"The man's bewitched," he muttered. "However I threw a slight scare into
+him, and maybe it will make him pause; he is not quite devoid of sense.
+Bah! All women are vampires."
+
+
+
+
+XIII
+
+THE MARQUIS
+
+
+"Mrs. Clephane will be right down, Mr. Harleston," said the telephone
+operator.
+
+A moment later the elevator flashed into sight, and Mrs. Clephane
+stepped out and came forward with the languorously lithe step, perfectly
+in keeping with her slender figure. She wore a dark blue street suit,
+and under her small hat her glorious hair flamed like an incandescent
+aureole. She greeted Harleston with an intimate little nod and smile.
+
+"You're good to come!" she said.
+
+"To myself, I think I'm more than good," he answered.
+
+"No, no, sir!" she smiled. "No more compliments between us, if we're to
+be friends."
+
+"We're to be _friends_," he returned.
+
+"_Ergo_," she replied. "Sit down just a minute, will you?"
+
+"I'll sit down for a month, if you're--"
+
+"_Ergo! Ergo!_" she reminded him.
+
+"I had not gotten used to the unusual restriction" he exclaimed. "You're
+the first woman ever I met or heard of who dislikes compliments."
+
+"I don't dislike compliments, Mr. Harleston; but compliments, it seems,
+are given in diplomacy for a purpose; and as I don't understand anything
+of diplomacy we would better cut them out--until we have finished with
+diplomacy. Then you may offer as many as you like, and I'll believe them
+or not as I'm minded."
+
+"Have it as you wish!" he smiled, looking into the brown eyes with frank
+admiration.
+
+"Compliments may be conveyed by looks as well as by words," she
+reproved.
+
+"But of the feeling that prompts the look you can be in no doubt.
+Moreover, a look is silent."
+
+"Nonsense," said she. "Besides, I want to ask you a favour. You see, I'm
+prepared to go out--and I want you to go with me. Will you do it?"
+
+"It will have to be mightily against my conscience to make me refuse
+_you_," Harleston replied.
+
+"I'm glad you recognize a conscience," she remarked.
+
+"I refer to my diplomatic conscience."
+
+"And a diplomatic conscience is a minus quantity," she observed.
+
+"What is it you would of me, dear lady?" he asked.
+
+"I would that you should go with me to the French Ambassador, and help
+me to explain the--now don't say you won't, Mr. Harleston--"
+
+"My dear Mrs. Clephane, it is--" he began.
+
+"It is _not_ impossible!" she declared. "Why won't you do it?"
+
+"For your sake as well as for my own," he explained. "America and France
+are not working together in this matter, and for me to accompany you
+would result simply in your being obliged to explain _me_ as well as the
+letter, besides leading to endless complications and countless
+suspicions. Didn't I expound this last evening?"
+
+"You did--also much more; but I've thought over it almost the whole
+night, and I simply must get this miserable letter off my mind. Perhaps
+Mrs. Spencer has forestalled me with the Ambassador and has given him
+such a tale as will insure my being shown the door; nevertheless I'll
+risk it."
+
+"Why don't you get in communication with your friend Madame Durrand,"
+Harleston suggested "and have her, if she hasn't done so already,
+identify you to the Marquis?"
+
+"I shall, if the Marquis is sceptical. I'll admit that I'm pitiably
+foolish, but I don't want Mrs. Durrand to know how I've bungled her
+matter until the bungle is corrected."
+
+"I can quite understand," said Harleston gently.
+
+"Oh, I know you are right," she murmured, "yet I'm afraid to go alone."
+
+"Take some other friend with you; some well-known man who can vouch for
+your identity."
+
+"I know no one in Washington except the friends at the Shoreham, and
+they are not residents here."
+
+"Are you acquainted with any prominent woman?"
+
+"No! I've lived in Europe for years--and while I have met over there
+women from Washington it's been only casually. They won't recollect me,
+any more than I would them, for purposes of vouchment or
+identification."
+
+"Then go alone."
+
+"I will. It is the right thing to do. Yesterday I was thinking that you
+had the letter and could return it to me. I waited. Today I can
+appreciate your reason for withholding it--likewise the necessity for me
+to go to the Ambassador with my story. And I shall tell him the _whole_
+story; he may believe it or not as he is inclined. I'm only a volunteer
+in this affair, and I've decided that for me the course of discretion
+and frank honesty is much wiser than silently fighting back.
+Furthermore, it does not estop me from fighting the Spencer gang."
+
+"You have made a wise decision," Harleston commented. "Tell the
+Ambassador, and be quit of the affair--and don't fight the Spencer gang,
+Mrs. Clephane; it is not worth while."
+
+She arose, and he went with her down the corridor and up the steps to
+the entrance.
+
+"Every action is suspected and distrusted in diplomacy," he said,
+"therefore I may not accompany you. Someone would be sure to see us and
+report to the Embassy that I had brought you--the natural effect of
+which would be to make the Marquis disbelieve your tale. For you see,
+until we have translated the letter, we cannot assume that America is
+not concerned."
+
+"And you will not think ill of me for disclosing your part in the
+affair?" she asked.
+
+"Quite the contrary," he smiled. "Moreover, it is the course for you to
+pursue; to hold back a single thing as to me will result only in
+distrust. Indeed, implicating me will help substantiate your story."
+
+"You're very good and very thoughtful," she murmured--and once more
+suffered him to look deep into her eyes.
+
+"I am very willing for you to think me both," he replied. "Now I'm going
+to call a taxi at the Fourteenth Street exit, and follow yours up
+Sixteenth Street until I see you at the French Embassy. Tell your
+chauffeur to drive down to Twelfth Street, up to H and then out to
+Sixteenth. My taxi will be loitering on Sixteenth and will pick up yours
+as it passes and follow it to the Embassy. Once there you're out of
+danger of the Spencer gang. And let me impress you with this fact: tell
+the story to someone of the staff. If you fail to get to the Ambassador,
+get a Secretary or an Attache."
+
+"I'll try to find someone who will listen!" she laughed.
+
+"And I rather fancy you will be successful," he smiled. "It would be a
+most unusual sort of man who won't both listen and look."
+
+"Careful, Mr. Harleston!" she reminded.
+
+He put her in the taxi; bowed and turned back into the hotel--wondering
+why he had ever fancied Madeline Spencer.
+
+Mrs. Clephane gave her orders to the chauffeur, ending with the
+injunction to drive slowly.
+
+As they swung into Sixteenth Street, a taxi standing before St. John's
+Episcopal Church followed them; and Mrs. Clephane recognized Harleston
+as its occupant.
+
+At the French Embassy she descended and rang the bell, and was instantly
+admitted by a liveried footman.
+
+"I wish to see his Excellency the Ambassador!" she said, speaking in
+French.
+
+The flunky took her card and bowed her into a small reception room.
+
+After a moment or so a dapper young man entered, her card in his
+fingers.
+
+"Messes Cleephane?" he inquired.
+
+"I am Mrs. Clephane," she replied in French. "I wish to see his
+Excellency the Ambassador on a most important matter."
+
+"You have an appointment with his Excellency?" he asked, this time in
+French.
+
+"You are--" she inflected.
+
+"His secretary, madame," the young man bowed.
+
+"No, I have not an appointment," she replied, "but I come from Madame
+Durrand who was the bearer of a cipher letter from the Foreign Minister.
+Madame Durrand was injured as she was about to take train in New York,
+and gave me the letter to deliver."
+
+The secretary looked at her blandly and smiled faintly.
+
+"You have the letter with you?" he asked.
+
+"Again, no," she replied. "It is to explain its loss, and to warn the
+Ambassador that I am here."
+
+"His Excellency is exceedingly busy--will you not relate the
+circumstances to me?"
+
+"My instructions from Madame Durrand are most specific that I am to deal
+only with his Excellency," Mrs. Clephane explained--with such a dazzling
+smile that the secretary's eyes fairly popped. "Won't you please tell
+him I'm here, and that I have a luncheon engagement at one o'clock."
+
+The secretary hesitated. Again the smile smote him full in the face--and
+he hesitated no longer.
+
+"Come with me, Madame Clephane," he replied "His Excellency is occupied
+at present, but I'll deliver your message."
+
+Once more the smile--as opening the door for her he bowed her into an
+inner office, and carefully placed a chair for her.
+
+"A moment, madame," he whispered, disappearing through an adjoining
+doorway.
+
+Whereat Mrs. Clephane sighed with amused complacency, and waited.
+
+Presently the door opened and the secretary appeared. "His Excellency
+will receive you, Madame Clephane," he said.
+
+"I thank you--oh, so much!" she whispered as she passed him--and the
+look that went with the words cleared all her scores--and almost
+finished him.
+
+So much for a smile--when a beautiful woman smiles, and smiles in just
+the right way, and especially when the man smiled on is a Frenchman.
+
+The Ambassador was standing by a large, flat-topped desk in the centre
+of the room, his back was to the light, which was generously given in
+all its effulgence to his visitors. He was a small man and slight of
+build, intensely nervous, with well-cut features, gray hair--what there
+was of it--and a tiny black moustache curled up at the ends but not
+waxed.
+
+He came briskly forward and extended his hand.
+
+"My dear Madame Clephane," he said in French, leading her to a chair,
+"how can I serve you?"
+
+"By listening to my story, your Excellency, and believing it," Mrs.
+Clephane answered,--"and at the end not being too severe on me for my
+misfortune and ignorance."
+
+"That will not be difficult," he bowed, with a frank look of admiration.
+"You come from Madame Durrand, I believe?"
+
+"Yes--you know Madame Durrand?"
+
+The Marquis nodded. "I have met her several times."
+
+"I'm glad!" said she. "It may help me to prove my case."
+
+"Madame is her own proof," was the answer.
+
+For which answer he drew such a smile from Edith Clephane that in
+comparison the secretary's smile was simply as nothing.
+
+"Your Excellency overwhelms me," she replied. "I'm positively trembling
+with apprehension lest I fail to--" she dropped into English--"make
+good."
+
+He laughed lightly. "You will make good!" he replied, also in English,
+"Pray proceed."
+
+And Mrs. Clephane told him the whole story, from the time she met Madame
+Durrand on the steamer to the present moment--omitting only the
+immaterial personal portions occurring between Harleston and herself,
+and the fact that his taxi had escorted hers until she was at the
+Embassy.
+
+Her narrative was punctuated throughout by the Marquis's constant
+exclamations of wonder or interest; but further than exclaiming, in the
+nervous French way, he made no interruption.
+
+And on the whole, she told her story well; at first she was a little
+nervous, which made her somewhat at a loss for words; yet that soon
+passed, and her tale flowed along with delightful ease.
+
+"Now you have been a wonderfully gracious listener, your Excellency,"
+she ended, "ask whatever questions you wish in regard to the matter; I
+shall be only too glad to answer if I am able."
+
+"Madame's narrative has been most detailed and most satisfactory," the
+Marquis answered. "But let me ask you to explain, if you can, why Madame
+Durrand has not made a written report of this matter to the Embassy?"
+
+"I have no idea--unless she is ill."
+
+"Broken bones do not usually prevent one from writing, or dictating, a
+letter."
+
+"It _is_ peculiar!" Mrs. Clephane admitted.
+
+"What is the name of the hospital?" the Marquis asked.
+
+"In the hurry and excitement I quite forgot to ask the name," she
+replied. "The station officials selected it. I was thinking of
+her--Madame Durrand, I mean--more than the name of the hospital. I don't
+even know the street; though it's somewhere in the locality of the
+station. It is dreadfully stupid of me, your Excellency, not to
+know--but I don't."
+
+"We can remedy that very readily," he said, and pressed a button. His
+secretary responded. "Telephone our Consul-General in New York to
+ascertain immediately from the railroad officials the hospital to which
+Madame Durrand, who broke her ankle and wrist in the Pennsylvania
+Station, at ten o'clock on Monday, was taken."
+
+The secretary saluted and withdrew.
+
+"Might not our friends the enemy have bribed someone to suppress Madame
+Durrand's letter or wire?" Mrs. Clephane asked.
+
+"Very possibly. It is entirely likely that they wouldn't be apt to stop
+with the accident."
+
+"You think they were responsible for Madame Durrand's fall?" she
+exclaimed.
+
+"Have you forgotten the man who jostled Madame Durrand?" the Marquis
+reminded.
+
+"To be sure! How stupid not to think of it. You see, your Excellency, I
+am not accustomed to the ways of diplomacy and to assuming every one's a
+rogue until he proves otherwise."
+
+"You have a poor opinion of diplomats!" he smiled.
+
+"Not of diplomats, only of their professional ways. And as they all have
+the same ways, it's fair, I suppose, among one another."
+
+"Did you tell Monsieur Harleston your opinion of our vocation?" he
+asked.
+
+"I did--somewhat more emphatically."
+
+"And what, if you care to tell, did he say?"
+
+"He quite agreed with me; he even went further."
+
+"Wise man, Harleston!" the Marquis chuckled.
+
+"Implying that he was not sincere?"
+
+The Marquis threw up his hands. "Perish the thought! I imply that he is
+a man of rare discrimination and admirable taste."
+
+"Now won't you please tell me, your Excellency, if you credit, no, if
+you _believe_, my story--and don't be a diplomat for the telling."
+
+"My dear Madame Clephane, I do believe your tale--it bears the impress
+of truth in what you've not done, as well as in what you've done. Had
+you ever been in the service you would recognize my meaning. That the
+abductors did not triumph was due first to their carelessness, and
+second to chance, in the person of Monsieur Harleston. He plays the
+game; and is violating no rule of diplomacy by his course in the affair.
+Indeed he would be recreant to his country's service were he to do
+otherwise. And France would infinitely prefer the United States to have
+the letter rather than Germany. It's unfortunate, but it's not as
+unfortunate as it might be."
+
+"You make me feel much, oh, so much better!" Mrs. Clephane replied. "I
+feared lest my blunder could never be forgiven nor forgotten; and that
+Madame Durrand would be held responsible and would never again be
+trusted."
+
+The Ambassador smiled and shook his head. "I think you need not worry,"
+he replied.
+
+"And I'm perfectly sure, your Excellency, that if the United States is
+neither directly or indirectly concerned in the matter of the letter,
+and if you were to submit a translation of the letter to prove it, Mr.
+Harleston will deliver to you the original."
+
+"Did Monsieur Harleston tell you so?" the Marquis smiled.
+
+"No, oh, no! I only thought that--"
+
+"--in this one instance diplomats would trust each other?" he
+interjected. "Alas, no! Monsieur Harleston would only assume the
+translation to be false and given for the sole purpose of deception. I
+should assume exactly the same, were our positions reversed."
+
+"Couldn't you prove your translation by giving him the key to the
+cipher?" she asked.
+
+"My dear madame," the Marquis smiled, "such a thing would be
+unprecedented--and would mean my instant dismissal from the service,
+and trial for treason."
+
+She made a gesture of defeat. "Well, you can at least have the letter
+repeated by cable."
+
+"Also we can cable the government to dispatch another letter," the
+Ambassador soothed. "There are plenty of ways out of the difficulty, so
+don't give yourself any concern--and the United States is welcome to the
+letter. It will be a far day, I assure you, ere its cipher bureau
+translates it."
+
+He glanced at the clock. Mrs. Clephane arose.
+
+"I'm sorry for the mess I have made," she said.
+
+"Don't give it a thought," he assured her. "If you can help us, you will
+be where?"
+
+"I will be at the Chateau until this matter is straightened out--and
+subject to your instant call."
+
+"Good--you are more than kind; France appreciates it."
+
+He took her hand, escorted her with gracious courtesy to the door, and
+bowed her out.
+
+Then he stepped to his desk and rang twice.
+
+The First Secretary entered.
+
+"Did you hear her entire story?" the Marquis asked.
+
+"I did, sir," the First Secretary replied.
+
+"You believe it?"
+
+"Absolutely."
+
+"Then set Pasquier to work to ascertain what this Madame Spencer is
+about. Let him report as quickly as he has anything definite. I'll cable
+Paris at once as to the letter."
+
+
+
+
+XIV
+
+THE SLIP OF PAPER
+
+
+Madeline Spencer, leaning languidly against the mahogany table in the
+corner of the drawing-room, drummed softly with her finger tips as she
+listened.
+
+"What is the use of it all?" Marston was asking. "We can't get the
+letter. Harleston evidently told the truth; he has turned it over to the
+State Department, so why not be content that it's there, and let well
+enough alone?"
+
+"I've been letting well enough alone by occupying them with the notion
+that the letter is the thing most desired," Mrs. Spencer returned.
+"Muddying the water, as it were, so as to obscure the main issue and get
+away with the trick. Direct your attention here, if you please,
+gentlemen! Meanwhile we escape from the other end."
+
+"Mrs. Clephane was at the French Embassy this afternoon," he observed.
+
+"At last she had a glimmering of sense!" Mrs. Spencer laughed. "Why she
+didn't beat it there direct from the train I can't imagine. Such
+ignorance is a large asset for those of us who know. I had thought of
+impersonating her and amusing myself with d'Hausonville, but I concluded
+it wasn't worth while. It _riles_ me, however, that the affair was so
+atrociously bungled by Crenshaw and the others. What possessed them to
+release Mrs. Clephane once they had her?--and what in Heaven's name made
+them overlook the letter in the cab?"
+
+"Search me!" Marston replied.
+
+"There is no occasion to search you, Marston," she smiled, "I shouldn't
+find very much except--placidity."
+
+"Placidity has its advantages," he smiled back.
+
+"It has; that's why I asked the Chief for you. You were not as happy in
+your choice of assistants, Marston. They are a stupid lot. You may send
+them back to New York. We'll handle this matter ourselves, with Mrs.
+Chartrand's involuntary assistance."
+
+"Very good, madame!" said Marston. "The trouble, you see, came with that
+chap Harleston's butting into the affair. Who would have foreseen that
+he would happen along just at that particular moment and scoop the
+letter without turning a hair. It was rotten luck sure."
+
+"It was all easy enough if the blundering fools had only exercised an
+atom of sense," Mrs. Spencer retorted. "Mrs. Clephane couldn't deceive a
+normal two-year-old child; she is as transparent as plate glass."
+
+"She was clever enough to get rid of the letter in the cab, and to give
+them the plausible story that it was locked in the hotel safe. And the
+hotel safe was the reasonable place for her to leave the letter until
+she had seen the Ambassador, and someone from the Embassy could return
+with her and get the letter."
+
+"Granted--if Mrs. Clephane were a wise woman and in the service. She
+isn't wise and she isn't in the service; and both these facts are so
+apparent that he who runs may read. She played the Buissards for fools
+and won. If they had exercised the intelligence of an infant, they'd
+have known that she had the letter with her when she left the hotel. You
+got a glimmer of light when you thought of the cab--and Mrs. Clephane
+told you that Mr. Harleston had stopped and looked at the sleeping
+horse and then started him toward Dupont Circle. You came to me to
+report--and I, knowing Harleston, solved the remainder of the mystery.
+But with Harleston's entry the affair assumed quite a different aspect;
+and it is no reflection on you, Marston, that your expedition to his
+apartment didn't succeed; though somewhat later Crenshaw did act as a
+semi-reasonable man, and secured the letter--only to foozle again like
+an imbecile. The play in the hotel last night, as schemed by us, should
+have gone through and eliminated Clephane and Harleston for a time; but
+Harleston upset things by his quick action and sense of
+danger--moreover, he guessed as to Clephane, for the management got wise
+and made a search, and the dear lady found Harleston and me in Peacock
+Alley--and she pre-empted him."
+
+Marston blinked and said nothing.
+
+"Why don't you say something?" she asked sharply.
+
+"What is there to say that you don't already know," he replied placidly.
+
+"Very little, Marston, about the subject in hand," she replied curtly.
+"And now let us see how matters stand to date. First--the French
+Ambassador knows that a cipher letter to him from his Foreign Minister
+has been intercepted and is in the hands of the American State
+Department. Second--as it is in letter cipher, there isn't much
+likelihood of it being translated. Third--the matter covered by the
+letter must be something that they are reluctant to send by cable; for
+you know, Marston, that the United States, in common with European
+nations, requires all telegraph and cable companies to forward
+immediately to the State Department a copy of every cipher message
+addressed to a foreign official. Maybe they are not able to translate
+it, but of that the sending nation cannot be sure and it makes it very
+careful, particularly when the local government is affected.
+Fourth--France will have to choose between consuming a week in getting
+another letter from Paris to Washington, or she will have to chance the
+cable with the risk of America learning her message."
+
+"What do you think France will do?" Marston asked.
+
+"If the letter concerned my mission, she will risk the cable," Mrs.
+Spencer replied. "She would far rather disclose the affair to the United
+States, than to let Germany succeed."
+
+"May she not be content now to warn the United States?" suggested
+Marston.
+
+"It's quite possible. All depends whether the letter concerns my
+mission. We have been informed by the Wilhelm-strasse that it probably
+does, and directed to prevent its delivery to the French Ambassador.
+We've succeeded in preventing, but bungled it over to the United
+States--the one country that we shouldn't have aroused. What in the
+devil's name ails your assistants, Marston--particularly Crenshaw?"
+
+"To be quite candid," Marston replied, "he had a grouch; he thought that
+Sparrow and I flub-dubbed the matter of the cab, and deliberately tried
+to lose him when we went to the Collingwood. And when he did come, he
+drew his gun on us until he understood."
+
+"What?" she exclaimed.
+
+"He thought that it was a scheme of Sparrow to injure him in your eyes.
+It seems that he and Sparrow are jealous of your beautiful eyes."
+
+"What are you talking about?" she demanded. "What have I, or my
+beautiful eyes, to do with Crenshaw and Sparrow?"
+
+"What usually happens to the men who are associated with you in any
+enterprise: they get daffy over you."
+
+"Because they get daffy over me is no excuse for stupid execution of the
+business in hand," she shrugged. "_You_ never have been guilty of
+stupidity, Marston."
+
+"Because I've managed never to be a fool about you--however much I have
+been tempted to become one."
+
+"Have been, Marston?" she inflected.
+
+"Have been--and _am_," he bowed. "I'm not different from the
+rest--only--"
+
+She curled herself on a divan, and languidly stretched her slender
+rounded arms behind the raven hair.
+
+"Only what, Marston?" she murmured.
+
+"Only I know when the game is beyond me."
+
+"So, to you, I'm a game?"
+
+"Of an impossible sort," he replied. "I admire at a distance--and keep
+my head."
+
+"And your heart, too, _mon ami_?"
+
+"My heart is the servant of my head. When it ceases so to be, I shall
+ask to be detached from the Paris station."
+
+"Are you satisfied with your present assignment?"
+
+"Much more than satisfied; very much more than satisfied."
+
+She held out her hand to him, and smiled ravishingly.
+
+"We understand each other now, Marston," she said simply; which tied
+Marston only the tighter to her--as she well knew. And Marston knew it,
+too. Also he knew that he had not the shade of a chance with her--and
+that she knew that he knew it. It was Madeline Spencer's experience with
+men that such as she tried for she usually got. There were exceptions,
+but them she could count on the fingers of one hand. Harleston--though
+for a time he was on the verge of submission--was an exception. And for
+that she was ready to rend him at the fitting opportunity; the more so
+because her own feelings had been aroused. As they were once before with
+Armand Dalberg--who had calmly put her in her place, and tumbled her
+schemes about her ears.
+
+All her life there would be a weak spot in her heart for Dalberg; and,
+such is the peculiarly inconsistent nature of the female, a hatred that
+fed itself on his scorn of her.
+
+She had dared much with Dalberg--and often; and always she had lost. The
+Duke of Lotzen was only a means to an end: money and exquisite ease.
+Left with ample wealth on his decease, she, for her excitement and to be
+in affairs, had mixed in diplomacy, and had quickly become an expert in
+tortuous moves of the tortuous game.
+
+Then one day she encountered Harleston, and bested him. With a rare good
+nature for a diplomat, he had taken his defeat with a smile, at the same
+time observing her manifold attractions with a careful eye and an
+indulgent mind for the past. Which caused her to look at him again, and
+to think of him frequently; and at last to want him for her own--after a
+little while. And he had appeared not averse to the wanting--after a
+little while. Now, just as he was about to succumb, he was suddenly
+whisked away by another woman--that woman simply a later edition of
+herself: the same figure, the same poise, the same methods, the same
+allurements; but younger in years, fresher, and, she admitted it to
+herself, less acquainted with the ways of men. And now she had lost
+him; and never would she be able to get him back. Another woman had
+filched him from her--filched him forever from her, she knew.
+
+Therefore she hated Mrs. Clephane with a glowing hate.
+
+"Have you seen the--_man_?" Marston asked, when her attention came back
+to him.
+
+She nodded. "I've had a communication from him."
+
+"Anything doing?"
+
+"Not yet. He will duly apprise me. Meanwhile we, or rather I, am to
+remain quiet and wait expectantly."
+
+"He thinks you are alone?"
+
+"Of course. He would be off like a colt if he thought that I had a corps
+of assistants."
+
+"The longer the delay the more chance France has to repeat the letter by
+cable," Marston remarked.
+
+"Certainly--but I shan't be fool enough to tell him so, or anything as
+to the letter. He would end negotiations instantly."
+
+"When are you to see him?"
+
+"This afternoon at three."
+
+"At Chartrands?"
+
+"No, in Union Station."
+
+"It's a long way to go," Marston observed.
+
+"So I intimated, but without avail."
+
+"Is he afraid?"
+
+"No, only inexperienced in deception and over cautious. Moreover, it is
+a serious business."
+
+"Particularly since Harleston is on the trail?" Marston added.
+
+Mrs. Spencer nodded again. "We'll pray that he does not uncover the
+matter until we are up and away."
+
+"If we pray, it should be effective!" Marston laughed.
+
+"It likely will be--one way or the other," she returned drily. "However,
+if we are careful, a prayer more or less won't effect much damage. It's
+really up to the--man in the case. If he can get away with it, we can
+manage the rest."
+
+"And if he can't?"
+
+"Then there will be nothing on us, unless the Clephane letter is
+translated and implicates me by name--or Paris resorts to cable. If it
+were not for France's meddling, it would be ridiculously simple so far
+as we are concerned; everything would be up to the man."
+
+"And you do not know who the man is, nor what he is about to betray?"
+Marston asked.
+
+"I do not--nor am I in the least inquisitive, despite the fact that I'm
+a woman. I haven't even so much as tried to guess. I was ordered here
+under express instructions; which are to meet someone who will
+communicate with me by letter in which a certain phrase will occur.
+Thereafter I am to be guided by him and the circumstances until I
+receive from him a certain package, when I am instantly to depart the
+country and hurry straight to Berlin. Whether I am to receive a copy of
+a secret treaty between our friends or our enemies, a diplomatic secret
+of high importance, a report on the fortifications or forces of another
+nation, or what it is, I haven't the slightest idea. It's all in the
+game--and the game fascinates me; its dangers and its uncertainty. Some
+other nation wants what Germany is about to get; some other nation seeks
+to prevent its betrayal; some other nation seeks to block us; someone
+else would even murder us to gain a point--and our own employer would
+not raise a hand to seek retribution, or even to acknowledge that we
+had died in her cause. They laud the soldier who dies for his flag, but
+he who dies in the secret service of a government is never heard of. He
+disappears; for the peace or the reputation of nations his name is not
+upon the public rolls of the good and faithful servants. It's risky,
+Marston; it's thankless; it's without glory and without fame;
+nevertheless it's a fascinating game; the stakes are incalculable, the
+remuneration is the best."
+
+"You're quite right as to those high up in the service," Marston
+remarked, "the remuneration, I mean, but not as to us poor devils who
+are only the pawns. We not only have no glory nor honour, but
+considering the danger and what we do we are mightily ill paid, my lady,
+mightily ill paid. The fascination and danger of the game, as you say,
+is what holds us. At any rate, it's what holds me--and the pleasure of
+working sometimes with you, and what that means."
+
+"And we always win when together because we are in accord," she smiled,
+holding out her hand to him. "Team work, my good friend, team work!"
+
+He took the hand, and bending over raised it to his lips with an air of
+fine courtesy and absolute devotion.
+
+"And we shall win this time, Marston," she went on, "we shall sail for
+Europe before the week is ended--I'm sure of it."
+
+"I shall be satisfied if we never sail--or sail always," he returned,
+and slowly released her fingers and stepped back.
+
+She paid him with a ravishing smile; and Madeline Spencer, when she
+wished, could smile a man into fire--and out again. It was too soon for
+the "out again" with Marston. He was very useful--he was not restless,
+nor demanding, nor sensitive, nor impatient of others, nor jealous. He
+was like a faithful dog, who adores and adores, and pleads only to be
+allowed to adore. Moreover, he was a capable man and trustworthy;
+dependable and far above his class. Therefore she took care that his
+chains should be silken, yet at the same time that he be not permitted
+to graze too far afield.
+
+"I wonder," Marston was saying, after a little thought, "if Carpenter,
+the Chief of the Secret Bureau of their State Department, might be
+purchasable--if we made him a good stiff bid?"
+
+"I don't know," she answered. "It isn't likely, however; he is too old
+and tried an official to be venal. Furthermore we haven't any money at
+hand, and my instructions are to act independently of the German
+Embassy, and under no circumstances whatever to communicate with it. In
+such business as we are engaged, the Embassy never knows us nor of our
+plans. They don't dare to know; and they will calmly deny us if we
+appeal to them."
+
+"The money might be arranged," Marston suggested. "You could cable to
+Berlin for it--and have it cabled back."
+
+"It might be done," said she thoughtfully. "You mean to try Carpenter
+for a copy of the cipher letter?"
+
+"It won't do any particular harm, as I see it; it can't make us any
+worse off and it may give us the letter. It's worth the trial, it seems
+to me."
+
+"But if Carpenter has not succeeded in finding the key-word, how will
+the letter help? Do you expect to bribe the French Embassy also?"
+
+"It may not be necessary," he replied. "I know a number of keys of
+French ciphers; one of them may fit."
+
+"Very well," said she quietly; "you are empowered to have a try at
+Carpenter."
+
+"Good--I'll start after it at once. Any further orders, madame?"
+
+"None till evening," again holding out her hand--and again smiling him
+into kissing it adoringly.
+
+"A useful man, Marston!" she reflected when the door closed behind him.
+"And one who never presumes. A smile pays him for anything, and keeps
+him devoted to me. Yes, a very useful and satisfactory man. His idea of
+corrupting Carpenter may be rather futile; and he may get into a snarl
+by trying it, but," with a shrug of her shapely shoulders, "that is his
+affair and won't involve me. And if he should prove successful, the new
+French key-word which the Count, the dear Count, gave me just before I
+left Paris, may turn the trick."
+
+The Count de M---- was confidential secretary to the Foreign Minister,
+and he had slipped her the bit of paper containing the key-word at a
+ball, two evenings before she sailed on her present mission. He was not
+aware that she was sailing, nor was she; the order came so suddenly that
+she and her maid had barely time to fling a few things in a couple of
+steamer trunks and catch the last train. She had fascinated the Count;
+for a year he had been one of her most devoted, but most discreet,
+admirers. He also was exceedingly serviceable. Hence she took pains to
+hold him.
+
+Languidly she reached for her little gold mesh bag--the one thing that
+never left her--and from a secret pocket took several slips of paper.
+
+"Why, where is it!" she exclaimed, looking again with greater care....
+"The devil! I've lost it!"
+
+However, after a moment of thought, she recalled the key-word, and the
+rule that he whispered to her--also the squeeze he gave her hand, and
+the kiss with the eyes. The Count had fine eyes--he could look much,
+very much.... She smiled in retrospection.... Yet how did she drop that
+bit of paper--and where?... Or did she drop it?... All the rest were
+there. It was very peculiar.... She had referred to the De Neviers slip
+on last Saturday--and she distinctly remembered that the Count's was
+there at that time. Consequently she must have dropped it on Sunday when
+she was studying the Rosny matter, and then she was in this room--and
+Marston and Crenshaw and Sparrow were in the next room.--H-u-m.... Well,
+the Count wrote in a woman's hand; and the finder cannot make anything
+out of the words:
+
+_A l'aube du jour_.
+
+
+
+
+XV
+
+IDENTIFIED
+
+
+So it happened, that on the same day and practically at the same hour
+Carpenter gave instructions looking to the pilfering of the French
+private diplomatic cipher, Marston began to lay plans to test
+Carpenter's venality, and Madeline Spencer betook herself to Union
+Station to meet the man-in-the-case, whose face she had never seen, and
+whose name she did not know.
+
+She went a roundabout way, walking down F Street and stopping to make
+some trifling purchases in two or three shops. She could not detect that
+she was being followed, but she went into a large department store, and
+spent considerable time in matching some half-dozen shades of ribbon. On
+the way out she stepped into a telephone booth, and directed the
+dispatcher at the Chateau to send a taxi to Brentano's for Mrs.
+Williams. By the time she had leisurely crossed the street the taxi was
+there; getting in, she gave the order to drive to Union Station by way
+of Sixteenth Street and Massachusetts Avenue. As she passed the Chateau,
+she saw Mrs. Clephane and Harleston coming out; a bit farther on they
+shot by in a spanking car.
+
+She drew back to avoid recognition; but they were too much occupied with
+each other, she observed, even to notice the occupant of the humble but
+high-priced taxi. At Scott Circle their car swung westward and
+disappeared down Massachusetts Avenue; she turned eastward, toward
+tomorrow's rising sun, Union Station, and the rendezvous--with hate in
+her heart for the woman who had displaced her, and a firm resolve to
+square accounts at the first opportunity. Mrs. Clephane might be
+innocent, likely was innocent of any intention to come between Harleston
+and her, but that did not relieve Mrs. Clephane from punishment, nor
+herself from the chagrin of defeat and the sorrow of blasted hopes. The
+balance was against her; and, be it man or woman, she always tried to
+balance up promptly and a little more--when the balancing did not
+interfere with the business on which she was employed. Madeline
+Spencer, for one of her sort, was exceptional in this: she always kept
+faith with the hand that paid her.
+
+At Union Station she dismissed the taxi and walked briskly to the huge
+waiting-room. There she dropped the briskness, and went leisurely down
+its long length to the drug stand, where she bought a few stamps and
+then passed out through the middle aisle to the train shed, inquiring on
+the way of an attendant the time of the next express from Baltimore. To
+his answer she didn't attend, nevertheless she thanked him graciously,
+and seeing the passengers were beginning to crowd through the gates from
+an incoming train she turned toward them, as if she were expecting
+someone. Which was true--only it was not by train.
+
+It had been five minutes past the hour, by the big clock in the station,
+when she crossed the waiting-room; by the time the crowd had passed the
+gates, and there was no excuse for remaining, another five had gone. The
+appointment was for three exactly. She had not been concerned to keep it
+to the minute, but the man should have been; as a woman, it was her
+prerogative to be careless as to such matters; moreover she had found
+it an advantage, as a rule, to be a trifle late, except with her
+superiors or those to whom either by position or expediency it was well
+to defer. With such she was always on time--and a trifle more.
+
+As she turned away, a tall, fine-looking, well set-up, dark-haired,
+clean-cut, young chap, who had just rounded the news-stand, grabbed off
+his hat and greeted her with the glad smile of an old acquaintance.
+
+"Why, how do you do, Mrs. Cuthbert!" he exclaimed. "This is an
+unexpected pleasure, and _most opportune_."
+
+There was a slight stress on the last two words:--the words of
+recognition.
+
+"Delightful, Mr. _Davidson_!" she returned--which continued the
+recognition--taking his extended hand and holding it.
+
+"Can't I see you to your car, or carriage, or whatever you're using?" he
+asked.
+
+"You may call a taxi," she replied; "and you may also come with me, if
+you've nothing else to do."
+
+"I'm too sorry. There has been a--mixup, and it is _impossible_ now,
+Mrs. Cuthbert. _I have an important appointment at the Capitol._" Which
+completed the recognition.
+
+"When can you come to see me?" she asked. "I'm at the Chateau."
+
+"I hope tomorrow, if I'm not suddenly tied up. You will be disengaged?"
+
+"I've absolutely nothing on hand for tomorrow," she replied.
+
+"Fine!" he returned. "I think I can manage to come about one and take
+you out for luncheon."
+
+"That will be charming!" she smiled.
+
+"Where would you like to go--to the Rataplan?"
+
+"Wherever you suggest," she replied. "I'll leave it to you where we
+shall go and what we shall have."
+
+"You're always considerate and kind," he averred. "If nothing untoward
+occurs, it will be a fine chance to talk over old times, to explain
+everything, and to arrange for the future."
+
+"That will be charming!"
+
+"And unless I am disappointed in a _certain matter_, I shall have a
+surprise for you."
+
+"I shall welcome the surprise."
+
+"We both shall welcome it, I think!" he laughed. "It seems a long time
+since I've seen you, Madeline," he added.
+
+"It seems a long time to me, too, Billy. We must do better now, old
+friend. Come to Paris and we'll make such a celebration of it that the
+Boulevards will run with--gaiety."
+
+"I shall come. Meanwhile--tomorrow." He raised his stick to the taxi
+dispatcher. "I'm sorry to leave you," he confided to her.
+
+"Let me take you as far as the Capitol," she urged.
+
+"Not today. Wait until I come to Paris--then you may take me where you
+will and how."
+
+"I like you, Billy!" she exclaimed.
+
+"And I've something more to tell you," he whispered, as he put her in
+and closed the door. "The Chateau!" he said to the driver then stepping
+back, he doffed his hat and waved his hand.
+
+"Yes, I like you, Mr. Davidson," she smiled, as the taxi sped away, "but
+I'll like you better when the present business is completed and I'm in
+Paris--without you."
+
+He was a handsome chap enough, and he would have considerable money when
+the present business was completed, yet, somehow he did not appeal,
+even to her mercenary side. Moreover she no longer dealt in his sort.
+Time was when he would have served admirably, but she was done with
+plucking for plucking's sake. She plucked still, but neither so
+ruthlessly nor so omnivorously as of yore. She did not need; nor was she
+so gregarious in her tastes. She could pick and choose, and wait--and
+have some joy of _Him_ and take her time; be content not to pluck him
+clean, and so retain his friendship even after he had been displaced.
+With her now it was the man in high office or of high estate at whom she
+aimed--and her aim was usually true. Neither with one of her tastes and
+tendencies was monogamy apt to be attractive nor practiced--though at
+times it subserved her expediency. At present, it was the Count de
+M----, an English Cabinet Minister, and a Russian Grand Duke;--but
+_discreetly_, oh, so discreetly that none ever dreamed of the others,
+and the public never dreamed of them. To all outward appearances, she
+dwelt in the odor of eminent respectability and sedate gaiety.
+
+"Drive slowly through Rock Creek Park until I tell you to return," she
+ordered the man when they had passed beyond the station; then withdrew
+into a corner of the taxi, and busied herself with her thoughts.
+
+It was almost two hours later that she gave him the Collingwood as a
+destination.
+
+At the Collingwood she dismissed the taxi, and without sending up her
+name passed directly up to Mrs. Chartrand's apartment.
+
+Miss Williams, who was on duty at the telephone desk, saw her--and
+whistled softly. The instant the elevator door clanged shut, she rang
+Harleston.
+
+"If you can come down a moment, Mr. Harleston," she said softly, "I have
+some interesting information for you; it may not be well to--you know."
+
+"I'll be down at once," Harleston replied.
+
+When he appeared, it was with his hat and stick, as though he were going
+out.
+
+"If anyone calls, Miss Williams," he remarked, pausing by her desk,
+"I'll be back in about half an hour."
+
+"Very well, Mr. Harleston," she replied. Then she lowered her voice.
+"Your slender lady of the ripples, of the other night, has just come in.
+She's young, and a perfect peach for looks."
+
+"Who is she?" he asked.
+
+"I don't know. She didn't have herself announced; she went straight on
+up. Ben!" motioning to the elevator boy, "where did the slender woman,
+you just took up, get off?"
+
+"At the fou'th flo', Miss Williams," said Ben. "She went into fo' one."
+
+"You're sure of that?"
+
+"Yas, Miss," the negro grinned, "I waited to see."
+
+Miss Williams nodded a dismissal.
+
+"Four one is Chartrands' apartment," she remarked.
+
+"Is this the lady of the ripples?" Harleston asked, handing her the
+photograph of Madeline Spencer.
+
+"Sure thing!" she exclaimed. "That's she, all right. How in the world
+did you ever--pardon me, Mr. Harleston, I shouldn't have said that."
+
+"You're not meddling, Miss Williams. But it's a long story--too long to
+detail now. Some day soon I'll confide in you, for you've helped me very
+much in this matter and deserve to know. In fact, you've helped me more
+than you can imagine. Meanwhile mum's the word, remember."
+
+"Mum, it is, Mr. Harleston," she replied, "For once a telephone girl
+won't leak, even to her best friends."
+
+"I believe you," Harleston returned. "Keep your eyes open, also your
+_ears_, and report to me anything of interest as to our affair."
+
+Miss Williams answered with a knowing nod and an intimate little smile,
+then swung around to answer a call. Harleston returned to his rooms. The
+happenings of the recent evening were quite intelligible to him now:
+
+When the episode of the cab of the sleeping horse occurred, Mrs. Spencer
+was in the Chartrand apartment. Marston, in some way, had learned of
+Harleston's participation in the cab matter, and with Sparrow had
+followed him to the Collingwood, entering by the fire-escape--with the
+results already seen. The noise on the fire-escape was undoubtedly made
+by them, and the long interval that elapsed before they entered his
+apartment was consumed in reporting to her, or in locating his number.
+
+One thing, however, was not clear: how they had learned so promptly of
+Harleston's part in the affair, and that it was he who had taken the
+letter from the cab. Either someone had seen him at the cab and had
+babbled to the Marston crowd, or else Mrs. Winton or Mrs. Clephane had
+not been quite frank in her story. He instantly relieved Mrs. Clephane
+of culpability; Mrs. Winton did not count with him. Moreover, it was no
+longer of any moment--since Spencer's people knew and had acted on their
+knowledge, and were still acting on it--and were still without the
+letter. The important thing to Harleston was that it had served to
+disclose what promised to be a most serious matter to this country, and
+which, but for the trifling incident of the cab, would likely have gone
+through successfully--and America been irretrievably injured.
+
+Madeline Spencer had assured him that the United States was not
+concerned; that the matter had to do only with a phase of the Balkan
+question. But such assurances were worthless and given only to deceive,
+and, further, were so understood by both of them. Maybe her story was
+true--only the future would prove it. Meanwhile you trust at your peril,
+_caveat emptor_, your eyes are your market, or words to similar effect.
+Of course he could cause her to be apprehended by the police, yet such
+a course was unthinkable; it would violate every rule of the game; it
+would complicate relations with Germany, and afford her adequate ground
+for reprisals on our secret agents. A certain code of honour obtained
+with nations, as well as with criminals.
+
+As he opened the door, the telephone rang. He took up the receiver.
+
+"Hello!" he said.
+
+"Is that you, Mr. Harleston?" came a soft voice.
+
+"It is Madame X!" he smiled.
+
+"Still Madame X?" she inflected.
+
+"Only to one person."
+
+"And to her no longer," she returned. "What are you doing?"
+
+"Thinking about coming down to dine with you."
+
+"Just what I was about to ask of you. Come at seven--to my apartment. I
+have something important to discuss."
+
+"So have I," he replied. "I'll be along in an hour, or sooner if you
+want me."
+
+"I want you, Mr. Harleston," she laughed, "but I can wait an hour, I
+suppose."
+
+"Which may mean much or little," he replied.
+
+"Just so.--You may try your diplomatic methods on solving the problem."
+
+"My methods or my mind?" he asked.
+
+"Your mental methods," she replied.
+
+"I pass!" he exclaimed. "You may explain at dinner."
+
+"Meanwhile, I recommend you to your diplomatic mind."
+
+"Until dinner?"
+
+"Certainly--and forever after, Mr. Harleston, be an ordinary man with
+me, please."
+
+"Do you fancy that a _seeing_ man can be just an ordinary man when _you_
+are with him?" he asked.
+
+"I'm not required to fancy you what you're not," she returned.
+
+"In other words, I'm not a seeing man?"
+
+"Not especially, sir.--And there's another problem, for your diplomacy.
+_A bientot_, Monsieur Harleston."
+
+He telephoned to the Club for a taxi to be at the door at a quarter to
+seven; then dressed leisurely and descended.
+
+"Any developments?" he inquired of Miss Williams.
+
+"None," she replied. "Ripples hasn't come down yet."
+
+"All right," said he. "Tell me in the morning--you're on duty then?"
+
+She answered by a nod, the flash was calling her, and he passed on
+toward the door--just as the elevator shot down and Madeline Spencer
+stepped out.
+
+"How do you do, Mr. Harleston?" said she, with a broad smile.
+
+"Hello, Mrs. Spencer! I'm glad to see you," he returned. "If you're
+bound for the Chateau or downtown, won't you let me take you in my car?
+It's at the door."
+
+"If you think you dare to risk your reputation, I'll be glad to accept,"
+she replied.
+
+"Is it a risk?" he asked.
+
+"That is for you to judge," as he put her in.
+
+"The Chateau?" he inquired;--and when she nodded he leaned forward and
+gave the order.
+
+"I was surprised to see you--" he began.
+
+"Why pretend you were surprised to see me?" she laughed. "You were not;
+nor am I to see you. We are too old foes to pretend as to the
+non-essentials--when each knows them. The cards are on the table, Guy,
+play them open."
+
+"How many cards are on the table?" he asked.
+
+"All of mine."
+
+"Then it's double dummy--with a blind deck on the side."
+
+"Whose side?" she flashed back.
+
+"Yours!" he returned pleasantly.
+
+"What am I concealing?" she demanded.
+
+"I don't know. If I did--it would be easier for me."
+
+"The one thing I haven't told you, I can't tell you: the precise
+character of the business that brings me here. I've told you all I
+know--and broken my oath to do it. I can't well do more, Guy."
+
+"No, you can't well do more," Harleston conceded. "And I can't well do
+less under all the--admitted circumstances; inferentially and directly
+admitted."
+
+"Why did you--butt in?" she asked. "Why didn't you let the cab, and the
+letter, and well enough alone?"
+
+"It was so mysterious; and so full of possibilities," he smiled. "And
+when I did it, I didn't know that you were interested."
+
+"And it would have made you all the more prying if you had known," she
+retorted.
+
+"Possibly! I've never yet heard that personal feelings entered into the
+diplomatic secret service--and no more have you, my lady."
+
+"Personal feelings!" she smiled, and shrugged his answer aside. "When
+did you first know that I was concerned in this affair?"
+
+"When I saw you in the Chateau," he replied--there was no obligation on
+him to mention the photograph.
+
+"Which was?" she asked.
+
+"The evening I met you in Peacock Alley. How long then had you been
+here?"
+
+"Two days!"
+
+"And not a word to me?"
+
+"'Personal feelings do not enter into the diplomatic secret service,'"
+she quoted mockingly.
+
+"Precisely," he agreed, "We understand each other and the game."
+
+It served his purpose not to notice the mock in her tones. He very well
+understood what it imported and what prompted it. For the first time
+the tigress had disclosed her claws. Hitherto it was always the soft
+caress and the soothing purr--and when she wished, her caress could be
+very soft and her purr very soothing. He had assumed that there were
+claws, but she had hidden them from him; and what is ever hidden one
+after a time forgets. And she had some justification for her resentment.
+He admitted to himself that his attitude and manner had been such as
+might cause her to believe that she was more to him than an opponent in
+a game, that he was about to forgive her past, and to ask her to warrant
+only for the future. And he had a notion that she was prepared to
+warrant and to keep the warrant--even as she had done with the Duke of
+Lotzen. Now it was ended. He knew it.
+
+And she knew it, too. One sight of Mrs. Clephane with him and she
+realized that he was lost to her: Mrs. Clephane had all her outward
+grace and beauty, but not her past. Her woman's intuition had told her
+in the red-room of the Chateau; she knew absolutely when she saw his
+greeting to Mrs. Clephane in the corridor after her escape. She must go
+back to her Count de M----, her Cabinet Minister, and her Russian Grand
+Duke. The only two men she had ever cared for would have none of her,
+despite her beauty and her fascination. Dalberg ever had scorned her;
+Harleston had looked with favour, wavered, was about to yield, when
+another--outwardly her _alter ego_, save only in the colour of her
+hair--appeared and filched him from her. And whether Dalberg's scorn or
+Harleston's defection was the more humiliating, she did not know.
+Together they made a mocking and a desolation of her love and her life.
+And as she came to hate with a fierce hatred the Princess whom Dalberg
+loved, so with an even more bitter hatred she hated Mrs. Clephane who
+had won Harleston from her. For while with Dalberg she never had the
+slightest chance, and knew it perfectly, with Harleston there was the
+bitterness of blasted hopes as well as of defeat.
+
+And Harleston, sitting there beside her, the perfume of her hair and
+garments heavy about him, read much that was in her thoughts; and some
+remorse smote him--a little of remorse, that is--and he would have said
+something in mitigation of her judgment. But a look at her--and the
+excuse was put aside and the subject ended before it was even begun.
+She was not one to accept excuses or to be proffered them, it were best
+to let the matter rest. Meanwhile, Mrs. Clephane must be warned of the
+danger confronting her.
+
+He glanced again at her--and met her subtle smile.
+
+"This Mrs. Clephane," she remarked with quiet derision, "wherein is she
+different from the rest of us?"
+
+"By 'us' you mean whom?" he asked.
+
+"The women you have known."
+
+"And seen?"
+
+"And seen."
+
+"You're exceedingly catholic!" he smiled.
+
+"You're exceedingly exclusive--and precipitate; and you haven't answered
+my question. Wherein is Mrs. Clephane different from the rest of us?"
+
+"At the risk of being personal," he replied, "I should say that she is
+very like you in face and figure and manner. If her hair were black, the
+resemblance would be positively striking."
+
+"Then, since we're on the personal equation, the difference is where?"
+
+He threw up his hands and laughed to avoid the obvious answer, an
+answer which she knew, and knew he wished to avoid.
+
+"The difference is where?" she repeated.
+
+"I shall let you judge if there is a difference, and if there is, what
+it is," he replied.
+
+"I wish to know _your_ mind, Mr. Harleston--I already know my own."
+
+"Good girl!" he applauded.
+
+"Please put me aside and consider Mrs. Clephane," she insisted. "Is she
+cleverer than--well, than I am?"
+
+"You are the cleverest woman that I have ever known."
+
+"Is she more intellectual?"
+
+"Preserve me from the intellectual woman!" he exclaimed.
+
+"Is she more travelled?"
+
+"I think not."
+
+"Is she superficially more cultured?"
+
+"I should say not."
+
+"Has she a better disposition?"
+
+"No one could have a better disposition than you have ever shown to me."
+
+"Is she more fascinating in manner?"
+
+"She couldn't be!"
+
+"She _is_ younger?" tentatively.
+
+Harleston did not reply.
+
+"But very little--two or three years, maybe?" she added.
+
+Again Harleston did not reply.
+
+"Is her conversation more entertaining?" she resumed.
+
+"Impossible!"
+
+"Or more edifying?"
+
+"Excuse me again!" he exclaimed. "Edifying is in the same class as
+intellectual."
+
+"Then all Mrs. Clephane has on me is a few years?"
+
+He nodded.
+
+"Other things don't count with you, I assume--when they're of the past,
+and both have been a trifle tinctured."
+
+She said it with affected carelessness and a ravishing smile; but
+Harleston was aware that underneath there was bitterness of spirit, and
+cold hate of the other woman. She had touched the pinch of the matter.
+Both knew it, and both knew the answer. Yet she was hoping against hope;
+and he was loath to hurt her needlessly, because Mrs. Clephane would be
+sure to catch the recoil, and because he himself was very fond of
+her--despite all and Mrs. Clephane. He had seen his mistake in time, if
+it was a mistake, but that did not blind him to Madeline Spencer's
+fascinating manner and beautiful person, and to the fact that she cared
+for him. However, neither might he let pass the charge she had just made
+against Mrs. Clephane. Yet he tried to be kind to the woman beside him,
+while defending the woman who was absent, and, as is often the case
+under such circumstances he played for time--the hotel was but a block
+away--and made a mess of it, so far as the woman beside him was
+concerned.
+
+"Who are a trifle tinctured--and with what?" he asked.
+
+She smiled languidly.
+
+"That is scarcely worthy of you, Guy," she remarked. "You are aiming
+at--windmills; at least, I think you are not suddenly gone stupid.
+However, you do not need to answer. Mrs. Clephane, you think, is not
+tinctured, and you know that I have been--several shades deep. In other
+words, she surpasses me in your estimation in the petty matter of
+morals. So be it; you're no fool, and a pretty woman cannot blind you to
+the facts for long. Then we shall see which you prefer. The woman who
+is honest about the tincture, or the woman who is not. Now let us drop
+the matter, and attend strictly to business until such time as the
+present business is ended,--and Mrs. Clephane appears as she is."
+
+"So be it!" Harleston replied heartily, "We understand each other,
+Madeline."
+
+"Yes, we understand each other," she said laconically, as the car drew
+in to the curb.
+
+"So well, indeed," he continued, as he gave her his hand to the
+sidewalk, "that I have to arrange for you to meet the Secretary of State
+at four o'clock tomorrow afternoon."
+
+"Where?" said she, looking at him narrowly.
+
+"In his office. You would like to meet him, Madeline?"
+
+"I don't know what your play is," she laughed, "but I'll meet him--and
+take my chances. From all I can learn, the gentleman isn't much but
+bumptiousness and wind. To either you or me, Guy, he should be easy."
+
+"The play," Harleston explained, "is that the Secretary has heard of you
+and wishes to see the remarkable woman who--almost upset a throne."
+
+"His wish shall be gratified," she shrugged. "Will you come for me, or
+am I to go to him--a rendezvous _a deux_?"
+
+"I'll escort you to him--afterward it will depend on you."
+
+"Very good!" she replied--"but all the same I wonder what's the game."
+
+"The Secretary's wish and curiosity is the only game," he replied.
+
+"Far be it from me to balk either--when something may result of
+advantage to your--"
+
+"--beautiful and fascinating self," he interjected.
+
+She raised her eyebrows and laughed scornfully, as the lift bore her
+upwards.
+
+
+
+
+XVI
+
+ANOTHER LETTER
+
+
+Harleston sauntered through Peacock Alley; not finding Mrs. Clephane, he
+had himself announced and went up to her apartment.
+
+Outwardly he was impassive; inwardly there was the liveliest sensation
+of eagerness and anticipation. He could not recall a time when he had so
+much joy in living, and in the expectation of the woman. And when he
+felt Mrs. Clephane's small hand in his, and heard her bid him welcome,
+and looked into her eyes, he was well content to be alive--and with her.
+
+"I've quite a lot to tell you," she smiled. "I'm so glad you could dine
+with me--it will give us much more time."
+
+"Time is not of the essence of this contract," he replied.
+
+"What contract?" she asked, with a fetching little frown of perplexity.
+
+"The contract of the present--and the future."
+
+"Oh, you mean our friendship--and that you won't doubt me ever again?"
+
+"Precisely--and then some," he confided.
+
+"What is the 'some', Mr. Harleston?" frowning again in perplexity.
+
+"Whatever may happen," he said slowly.
+
+"You mean it?" she asked.
+
+"I mean it--and more--when I may."
+
+"The 'more' and the 'may' are in the future," she remarked. "Meanwhile,
+what have you to report?"
+
+"Very considerable," said he. "Mrs. Spencer was in the Collingwood, this
+afternoon--in the Chartrands' apartment. And the telephone girl
+recognized her as the woman who left the building on the night of
+the--cab."
+
+"That explains a lot to you!" Mrs. Clephane exclaimed.
+
+"The explanation isn't necessary, except to complete the chain of
+events," he replied. "We know the later and essential facts as to the
+letter. There is just one earlier circumstance that isn't clear to me;
+and while, as I say, it's immaterial yet I'm curious. How did the
+Spencer gang know that I had taken the letter from the cab?"
+
+"Oh!" Mrs. Clephane cried. "I fancy I can explain. You know I saw you at
+the cab. Well, when they released me, I concluded I'd give them
+something to think about, and I remarked that Mr. Harleston, of the
+United States Diplomatic Service, had stopped at the cab, looked inside,
+and then started the horse out Massachusetts Avenue. I thought I had
+told you."
+
+"You didn't tell me, but it's very plain now. Madeline Spencer inferred
+the rest and instructed them how to act. And they came very close to
+turning the trick."
+
+"You mean to getting the letter?" she cried.
+
+He nodded. "I had gone to bed, when something told me to take
+precautions; I carried the letter across the corridor and gave it to a
+friend to keep for me until morning. A short time after, the three men
+called."
+
+"Good Heavens!" she breathed. "What if they had gotten the letter."
+
+"Unless they knew the key-word, they wouldn't have been any better off
+than are we--I mean than is the United States."
+
+"I'm France, am I?" she smiled.
+
+"For only this once--and not for long, I trust," he replied.
+
+"Amen!" she exclaimed, "Also for ever more. I'll be so relieved to be
+out of it and back to my normal ways that I gladly promise never to try
+it again. I'm committed to seeing this affair through and to aiding the
+French Embassy in whatever way I can, both because I must keep faith
+with Madame Durrand, and because my inexperience and credulity lost it
+the letter. That done, and I'm for--you, Mr. Harleston!" she laughed.
+
+"And I'm for you always--no matter whom you're for, nor what you may do
+or have done," he replied.
+
+For just an instant she gave him her eyes; then the colour flamed up and
+she turned hastily away.
+
+"Sit down, sir," she commanded--most adorably he thought; "I had almost
+forgotten that I have something to tell you."
+
+"You've been telling me a great deal," he confided.
+
+She shrugged her answer over her shoulder, and peremptorily motioned him
+to a chair.
+
+"Madame Durrand has been located," she began. "The Embassy telephoned
+me that she is in Passavant Hospital, getting along splendidly; and that
+she duly wired them of her accident and of my having the letter, with an
+identifying description of me. The wire was never received."
+
+"It was blocked by a _present_," he remarked. "The wire never left the
+hospital."
+
+"So the Marquis d'Hausonville said. He also assured me that the letter
+was of no immediate importance, and that steps were being taken to have
+it repeated."
+
+"Which may be true," Harleston smiled, "but it is entirely safe to
+assume that he is acting precisely as though the letter was of the most
+immediate importance. You may be sure that the moment you left him he
+dispatched a cable to Paris reciting the facts, so that the Foreign
+Office could judge whether to cable the letter or to dispatch it by
+messenger. And he has the reply hours ago."--("Also," he might have
+added, "our State Department--only it may not be able to translate it.")
+"I should say, Mrs. Clephane, that your duty is done now, unless the
+Marquis calls on you for assistance. You have performed your part--"
+
+"Very poorly," she interjected.
+
+"On the contrary, you have performed it exceptionally well. You, a
+novice at this business, prevented the letter from falling into
+Spencer's hands, and so you blocked that part of their game. No, no,
+Mrs. Clephane, I regard you as more than acquitted of blame."
+
+"You're always nice, Mr. Harleston!" she responded.
+
+"Nice expresses very inadequately what I wish to be to you," he said
+slowly.
+
+Again the flush came--and her glance wavered, and fled away.
+
+"Meanwhile," he went on, "I am quite content to know that you think me
+nice to you."
+
+She sprang up and moved out of distance, saying as she did so, with a
+ravishing smile:
+
+"Nice is comprehended in other pleasant--adjectives."
+
+"It is?" said he, advancing slowly toward her.
+
+"But you, Mr. Harleston, are forbidden to guess how pleasant, or the
+particular adjective, until you're permitted."
+
+"And you'll permit me to guess some day--and soon."
+
+"Maybe so--and maybe not!" she laughed. "It will depend on the both of
+us--and the business in hand. Diplomats, you are well aware, are given
+to very disingenuous ways and methods."
+
+"In diplomacy," he appended. "A diplomat, as a rule, is merely a man of
+a little wider experience and more mature judgment--the American
+diplomat alone excepted, save in the secret service. Therefore he knows
+his mind, and what he wants; and he usually can be depended upon to keep
+after it until he gets it."
+
+"And to want it after he gets it?" she inquired.
+
+"Don't be cynical," he cautioned.
+
+"I'm not. The world looks good to me, and I try to look good to the
+world."
+
+"You have succeeded!" he exclaimed.
+
+"I've about-faced," she went on. "Now I presume everybody trustworthy
+until it's proven otherwise. Time was, and not so long ago, when I was
+more than cynical; and I found it didn't pay in a woman. A man may be
+cynical and get away with it; a woman only injures her complexion, and
+makes trouble for herself. Me for the happy spirit, and side-stepping
+the bumps."
+
+"Good girl!" Harleston applauded--thinking of her unhappy spirit, and
+the hard bumps she must have endured during the time that the late
+deceased Clephane was whirling to an aeroplane finish. "You're a wonder,
+Mrs. Clephane," he ended.
+
+"Aren't you afraid you'll make me vain?" she asked.
+
+"It can't be done," he averred. "You simply can't be spoiled; you're much
+too sensible."
+
+"La! la!" she trilled. "What a paragon of--"
+
+--"everything," he adjected.
+
+"Everything that I must be, if you so wish it."
+
+"Just so!" he replied.
+
+"Aren't you afraid of a paragon, Mr. Harleston?"
+
+"Generally, yes; specifically, no."
+
+"La! la!" she trilled again. "You're becoming mystic; which means
+mysterious, which means diplomatic, which means deception--which warns
+us to get back to the simple life and have dinner. Want dinner, Mr.
+Harleston?"
+
+"With you, yes; also breakfast and luncheon daily."
+
+"You couldn't do that unless you were my husband," she replied
+tantalizingly and adorably.
+
+"I'm perfectly aware of it," he responded, leaning forward over the
+back of the chair that separated them.
+
+"But I'm not ready to take a husband, monsieur," she protested lightly.
+
+"I'm perfectly aware of that also. When you are ready, madame, I am
+ready too. Until then I'm your good friend--and dinner companion."
+
+He had spoken jestingly--yet the jest was mainly pretence; the real
+passion was there and ready the instant he let it control. As for Mrs.
+Clephane, Harleston did not know. Nor did she herself know--more than
+that she was quite content to be with him, and let him do for her,
+assured that he would not misunderstand, nor misinterpret, nor presume.
+So, across the chair's back, she held out her hand to him; and he took
+it, pressed it lightly, but answered never a word.
+
+"Now you shall hear the special matter I've got bottled up," said she.
+"Whom do you think was here late this afternoon?"
+
+"The Emperor of Spain!" he guessed.
+
+"A diplomatic answer!" she mocked. "There is no Emperor of Spain; yet
+it's not absolutely wide of the diplomatic truth, for it was Mrs.
+Buissard--she of the cab, you'll remember."
+
+"So!" Harleston exclaimed. "What's the move now; I fancy she was not
+paying a social visit."
+
+"You fancy correctly," Mrs. Clephane replied. "She came to the apartment
+unannounced; and when I, chancing to be passing the door when she
+knocked, opened it, and saw who was without, I almost cried out with
+surprise. I didn't cry out, however. On the contrary, remembering
+diplomatic ways, I most cordially invited her in. To do her justice,
+Mrs. Buissard, beyond expressing hope that I had experienced no ill
+effect from the occurrence of the other night, wasted no time in coming
+to business."
+
+"'Mrs. Clephane,' she said, sitting on the corner of the table just
+where you are sitting now, 'I have a proposition to make to you--may I
+make it?'
+
+"I could see no reason to forbid, so I acquiesced.
+
+"'And if you cannot accept straightway, will you promise to forget that
+it was made?' she asked.
+
+"Again I acquiesced. I admit, I was curious.
+
+"'We assume,' said she, 'that between France and Germany you are
+indifferent.'
+
+"'Paris and Berlin have each their good points,' I replied.
+
+"'Quite so,' she acquiesced; 'just now, however, we ask you to favour
+Berlin and for a consideration.'
+
+"'I don't want a consideration,' I smiled; 'tell me what's the favour
+you seek?'
+
+"'We ask you,' she replied instantly, 'to take a letter to the French
+Ambassador and tell him that it is the letter Madame Durrand gave you in
+New York, and that it has just been returned to you by the American
+State Department.'
+
+"'Have you the letter with you?' I asked.
+
+"'I have,' she replied, producing it from her bag. 'It may not exactly
+resemble the original.'
+
+"'It doesn't,' said I.
+
+"'But the French Ambassador won't know it,' she smiled. 'Further, so as
+to make the matter entirely regular with you, you will receive an
+appointment in the German Secret Service and five thousand dollars in
+advance.'
+
+"'Is it usual to--change sides so suddenly?' I asked.
+
+"'You're not changing sides,' she explained. 'You've never had a side,
+in the diplomatic sense. It is entirely regular in diplomacy for you to
+take such a course as is proposed; there is nothing unusual about it.
+And, my dear Mrs. Clephane, a position in the German Foreign Secret
+Service is a rare plum, I can assure you, even though you may not care
+to be--active in it.'
+
+"Naturally, I understood. Mrs. Spencer thinking me the same type as
+herself, without conscience, character, or morals, had evolved this plan
+either to test me or to ensnare me. To test me, because she is jealous
+of you; or to ensnare me because she wants to win out diplomatically--or
+both, it may be. I am a poor hand at pretence; but I played the game, as
+you would say, to the best of my ability. So I seemed to fall in with
+her scheme; France was nothing to me; I had been given no option in the
+matter of accepting the letter and attempting its delivery; I had done
+all and more than could be expected of a disinterested person; I had
+lost the letter but through no fault of mine. I was acquitted of further
+responsibility; was at liberty to choose. And Mrs. Buissard agreed with
+me in everything. In the end, I accepted the spurious letter for
+delivery to the French Ambassador."
+
+"Good!" Harleston applauded. "You're learning the method of diplomacy
+very rapidly; fire with fire, ruse with ruse, deceit with
+deceit--anything for the object in hand."
+
+"It went against me to do it," she admitted, "but I'll pay them in their
+own coin--or something to that effect. Of course, I've no intention of
+delivering the letter to the French Embassy. I'll deliver it to you
+instead."
+
+"Delightful!" Harleston exclaimed. "You're a bully diplomat. However,
+I'm not so sure that Spencer ever imagined her letter would reach the
+Marquis. She's playing for something else, though what is by no means
+clear. Let us have a look at the letter; maybe it will help."
+
+She stood beside him as he cut the envelope and he took out the single
+sheet of paper--on which was an assortment of letters, set down
+separately and without relation to words.
+
+"What is it," said she, "a scrambled alphabet?"
+
+"Looks like it!" he smiled. "As a matter of fact, however, it's in the
+Blocked-Out Square cipher--like the original lett--"
+
+"Then they could read the original?" she cut in.
+
+"Not unless they have its particular key-word--"
+
+"Oh, yes; I remember now," said she. "Go on!"
+
+"There's no 'go on,'" he explained. "Nor would it help matters if there
+were. This letter is spurious; there is nothing to find from it, even if
+we could translate it. It's intended as a plant; either for us or for
+the Marquis; but I fancy, for us--so with your permission we will waste
+no time on it further than to keep alert for its purpose. When were you
+to receive the five thousand dollars?"
+
+"I don't know!" she laughed.
+
+"And the appointment to the German Secret Service?"
+
+"I don't know; she didn't say and I didn't ask. I was too much occupied
+with meeting her on her own ground and playing the game. I was crazy to
+get the letter so I could show it to you."
+
+"Which doubtless was what she too wanted; I can't see through her
+scheme--unless it is to muddy the water while the main play is being
+pulled off. And our men haven't discovered a single material thing,
+though they have had Spencer and all the rest of the gang under shadow
+since the morning after the cab affair."
+
+The telephone buzzed. Mrs. Clephane answered it.
+
+"Yes, Mr. Harleston is here," she said, passing the receiver to him.
+
+"Hello!" said Harleston.
+
+"Can you make it convenient to drop around here sometime this evening?"
+Major Ranleigh inquired.
+
+"Will ten o'clock do?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I'll be there," said Harleston.
+
+
+
+
+XVII
+
+IN THE TAXI
+
+
+At ten o'clock Harleston walked into Ranleigh's office.
+
+"I just wish to ask," said the Major, "if you want us to pick up the man
+who met Mrs. Spencer this afternoon. It's against your orders, I know,
+but this chap can be arrested without resulting complications, I think.
+He's an American."
+
+"Who is he?" Harleston asked.
+
+"Snodgrass, an ex-Captain in the Army; a man of seeming independent
+means, who lives at the Boulogne."
+
+"I'm acquainted with him," returned Harleston. "I can't think that he's
+crooked. I reckon Spencer's figure and face attracted him--or probably
+he has known her in Europe."
+
+"I'm only giving you the facts: he's the first man, other than those of
+her entourage, that she has met since we've had her under surveillance.
+It was at Union Station, this afternoon. She went there alone, after
+loitering for an hour through the shops of F Street. In the train-shed
+she chanced, seemingly by the veriest accident, upon Snodgrass. He
+almost bumped into her as they rounded the news-stand. From their gaiety
+they are old acquaintances; and after a word he turned and accompanied
+her to the cab-stand and put her in a taxi. As far as the shadow saw,
+there was no letter or papers passed--only conversation. And what he
+managed to overhear of it was seemingly quite innocent of value to us.
+He called her Madeline and she called him Billy, which isn't his name,
+and invited him to Paris; so they must be pretty well acquainted. They
+are to meet at one o'clock tomorrow. That's the first matter to report.
+The second is that Marston is spying around the French Embassy. He has
+walked up Sixteenth Street frequently since four o'clock, and never once
+glanced at the big marble mansion when he thought anyone was looking.
+His eyes were busy enough other times. Also he visited, after dark,
+Paublo's Eating-House in the Division, and had a talk with
+Jimmy-the-Snake--a professional burglar of the best class. We are
+watching The Snake, of course. Something will be done at the French
+Embassy tonight, I imagine. Finally, at nine o'clock, Marston went to
+Carpenter's residence and was admitted. He came out fifteen minutes
+later, and returned to the Chateau. I assume that Carpenter will tell
+you of this errand."
+
+Harleston nodded.
+
+"What shall be done as to Snodgrass--also as to Mrs. Spencer and one
+o'clock tomorrow?" Ranleigh asked. "Do you wish me to prevent the
+meeting?"
+
+"No," said Harleston, after a little consideration; "simply keep them in
+view and follow them. I can't imagine Snodgrass being concerned in this
+affair. It's the lady he's after, not her mission. It's likely he
+doesn't even know she's in the Secret Service. However, keep an eye on
+them; I may be mistaken."
+
+The telephone buzzed. Ranleigh answered, then passed the instrument
+across to Harleston.
+
+"Is that you, Harleston?... This is Carpenter. I've just had a most
+amazing proposition made to me. It will keep until morning, but drop
+around at the Department about nine-thirty and I'll unburden myself."
+
+"Is it Marston?" Harleston asked.
+
+"Exactly; however did you guess it?"
+
+"However did you guess I was with Ranleigh?" Harleston laughed.
+
+"I didn't guess; I called Mrs. Clephane, told her I wanted you--and
+presto! There's small trick about that, old fox--except in knowing your
+quarry. So long--and don't!"
+
+"If you don't mind, Carpenter, I'll stop on my way home. I'm just
+beginning to be interested."
+
+"Come along!" was the answer.
+
+"Carpenter--to explain a Marston proposition," Harleston remarked,
+pushing back the instrument.
+
+"They are muddying the water all around," Ranleigh commented. "So I
+imagine they are about to make a get-away with the goods."
+
+"Try to, Ranleigh, try to," Harleston amended. "They won't make a
+get-away so long as we have Madame Spencer in our midst. Keep your eye
+on the dark-haired loveliness; with her in the landscape the goods are
+still here. Now for Carpenter."
+
+"Permit me to suggest a taxi!" Ranleigh observed. "It's just as well
+that you shouldn't wander about alone on the well-lighted streets of the
+National Capital--"
+
+"You think I might be suspended by the Interstate Commerce Commission,
+or enjoined by the Federal Trades Commission, or be violating the
+Clayton Anti-Trust Act?"
+
+"You might be any and all of them, God knows--as well as contrary to
+some paternal act of a non-thinking, theoretical, and subservient
+Congress. However, I'm pinning my faith to you and hoping for the best;
+Jimmy-the-Snake is cruising whether and whence and wherefore."
+
+"Also besides and among!" Harleston laughed.
+
+"Seriously, I mean it about The Snake," Ranleigh repeated; "and you'd
+better have this with you also," taking a small automatic from a drawer
+of his desk and handing it across. "You may have need of it; if you do,
+it will be very convenient."
+
+Harleston, descending from the taxi, found Carpenter waiting for him on
+the front piazza.
+
+"Your friend Marston is a very pleasant chap," he remarked; "also he has
+a most astonishing nerve. He actually tried to bribe me for a copy of
+the Clephane letter."
+
+"How did you meet it?" Harleston asked.
+
+"I was at a loss how to meet it--whether to be indignant and order him
+out, or to be acquiescently non-committal. I chose the latter course;
+and after a few preliminary feelers he came out with his offer: five
+thousand dollars for liberty to make a copy of the original letter. I
+thought a moment, then came back at him with the counter proposition: if
+he would secure the key-word from the French Embassy, I would obtain the
+letter; then together we would make the translation."
+
+"Delightful!" Harleston applauded. "What did he say to that?"
+
+"What could he do but accept? It was fair, and he had premised his offer
+by a solemn assurance that the United States was not involved!"
+
+"Delightful!" said Harleston again. "I reckon you've seen the last of
+Marston."
+
+"He said he would have the key-word by tomorrow night or sooner,"
+Carpenter remarked.
+
+"I suppose you parted like fellow conspirators," Harleston laughed.
+
+"Yes; suspicious of each other and ready for anything. We were strictly
+professional. Diplomatic manners and distrustful hearts."
+
+"Do you think that Marston will try for the key-word?" Harleston asked.
+
+"I do! He probably has it, or rather Spencer has it. Also I think he
+will submit it for a test with the letter. He knows his attempt to bribe
+me failed, and that the only way he can have access to the letter is to
+come with the key-word. And you need not fear that I shall let him copy
+the letter until after I've tested the key-word and found it correct."
+
+"Where is the letter?" Harleston asked.
+
+"Locked in the burglar-proof safe in my office."
+
+"Who knows the combination?"
+
+"Spendel, my confidential clerk."
+
+"Trustworthy?"
+
+"I would as soon suspect myself."
+
+"Very good! Now, another thing: do you know Fred Snodgrass, an
+ex-Captain of the Army, who lives at the Boulogne?"
+
+"Casually," said Carpenter.
+
+"Ever suspect him of being in the German pay?"
+
+"No. However, he is an intimate friend of Von Swinkle, the Second
+Secretary--if that's any indication."
+
+"Rather the reverse, I should say. However, he met Madeline Spencer
+yesterday in Union Station. The meeting was apparently accidental, and
+so far as his shadow could see or hear was entirely innocent."
+
+"I distrust the apparently accidental and the entirely innocent--in
+diplomacy," Carpenter remarked. "We should keep an eye on Snodgrass."
+
+"Meanwhile what are _you_ doing as to the French key-word--trying for
+it?" Harleston asked, going toward the door.
+
+Carpenter nodded. "I've got my lines out. I hope to land it in a few
+days. If Marston has it, or gets it earlier, so much the better for us."
+
+Harleston had walked a block before he recollected that he was obligated
+to Ranleigh to go in a taxi. The one in which he had come from
+Headquarters he had dismissed, not knowing how long he would be at
+Carpenter's, and he had neglected to telephone for another. He would not
+go back to Carpenter's; and, anyway, it was nonsense always to be
+guarding himself from the enemy.
+
+He had not a thing they wanted, nor did he know aught that would be of
+use to them; and his directorship of the affair was not of great
+importance; another, if he knew the facts, could take his place and see
+the matter through. That was the important point, however. Time was
+exceedingly material; and if the Spencer gang caused him to disappear
+for a few days, they would have a free hand until Ranleigh or Carpenter
+awoke to the situation. It was not exactly just to the cause for him to
+take unnecessary chances. A drug store was but a short distance up the
+street, on the other side; he would telephone from it for a taxi.
+
+A moment later, with the honk of a horn, a yellow taxi rounded the
+corner and bore his way.
+
+He raised his stick to the driver, in event of him being free--and
+stepped out from the sidewalk.
+
+The man shook his head in negation and the machine flashed by--leaving
+Harleston staring after it with a somewhat surprised and very much
+puzzled frown.
+
+Madeline Spencer was in the taxi--alone. Furthermore, she had not seen
+him.
+
+
+
+
+XVIII
+
+DOUBT
+
+
+At N, the next cross-street, the taxi turned west. Instantly Harleston
+made for the corner. When he got there, the machine was swinging north
+into Connecticut Avenue. He ran down N Street at the top of his speed.
+When he reached the avenue the car was not in sight, nor was there any
+one on the street as far as Dupont Circle; and as thoroughfares radiate
+from the Circle as the spokes of a wheel from the hub, the taxi could
+have gone in practically any direction.
+
+So he gave over running--running after a taxi-cab was not in his
+line--and resumed his walk northward. At Dupont Circle he found a lone
+cab with a drowsy negro on the box; who came quickly to life, however,
+at his approach.
+
+"Cab, seh, cab?" he solicited.
+
+"Which way did the yellow taxi go that just came up Connecticut Avenue?"
+Harleston asked.
+
+"Out Massachu'ts abenu', seh, yass seh.--Cab, seh?"
+
+"Drive out Massachusetts Avenue," Harleston directed, getting in. "If you
+see a taxi, get close to it."
+
+"I'll do hit, seh, yass seh!" said the negro, as he climbed on the box
+and jerked the lines.
+
+But though they went out the avenue to beyond Sheridan Circle, and back
+again, and along the streets north of P and west of Twentieth, no taxi
+was seen--nor any trace of Madeline Spencer. They drove over the route
+for more than an hour--and never raised a yellow taxi nor a skirt.
+Finally Harleston abandoned the search and headed the cab for the
+Collingwood.
+
+Miss Williams was on duty when he entered, and she signalled him to the
+desk.
+
+"The Chateau has been trying to get you for the last half-hour," said
+she. "Shall I call them?"
+
+"If you please," he replied, "I'll wait here."
+
+Presently she nodded to Harleston; he stepped into the booth and closed
+the door.
+
+"This is Mr. Harleston," said he.
+
+"I recognize your voice, Guy, dear," came Madeline Spencer's soft
+tones. "I'd know it _anywhere_, indeed."
+
+"The same to you, my lady," Harleston returned. "Was that what you were
+calling me for?"
+
+"No, no!" she laughed. "I just wanted to tell you that I'm back at the
+Chateau. I thought you might be interested, you know; you sprinted so
+rapidly up N Street, and spent so much time driving around in a cab
+searching for me, that I assume it will be a very great relief to you to
+know that I am returned. It was such a satisfaction, Guy, to feel that
+you were so solicitous for my safety, and I appreciate it, my dear, I
+appreciate it. Meanwhile, you might wish to get busy as to my _alter
+ego_. I saw her going up Sixteenth Street, as I was returning--a little
+after eleven o'clock. Maybe _she_ needs assistance, Guy; you never can
+tell. See you tomorrow, old enemy. Good-bye for tonight."
+
+"I say--are you there, Madeline?" Harleston ejaculated; then asked
+again. When no one answered he hung up the receiver and came from the
+booth. Spencer, that time, had put one over him; two, maybe, for he
+_was_ concerned about Mrs. Clephane. Spencer had gone without her
+shadow, been free to transact her business, and returned--and all the
+time she knew of passing him and his pursuit of her, and was enjoying
+his discomfiture. To add a trifle more uneasiness, she had thrown in the
+matter of Mrs. Clephane. Probably it was false; yet he could not be sure
+and it troubled him. All of which, he was aware, Mrs. Spencer
+intended--and took a devilish joy in doing.
+
+Harleston made a couple of turns up and down the room; then he sat down
+and drummed a bit on the table; finally he reached for the telephone. It
+was very late, but he would call her--she would understand.
+
+He got the Chateau and, giving his name, asked whether Mrs. Clephane was
+on the first floor of the hotel. In a few minutes the answer came: she
+was not; should they give him her apartment? He said yes. Presently a
+sleepy voice answered. He recognized it as Marie--the maid--and had some
+difficulty in convincing her of his identity. He did it at last only by
+speaking French to her--which, as he had hitherto addressed her only in
+French, was not extraordinary.
+
+And, being convinced, she answered promptly enough that Mrs. Clephane
+was not in--she had gone down-stairs about two hours ago telling her not
+to wait up. She had no idea where Mrs. Clephane went; she had said
+nothing about leaving the hotel.
+
+"Ask her to call me at the Collingwood the moment she comes in," said
+Harleston.
+
+Then he got Ranleigh and told him of the Spencer episode and of Mrs.
+Clephane's disappearance.
+
+"You would better put Mrs. Clephane under lock and key--or else stay
+with her and keep her from rash adventures," Ranleigh commented.
+
+"I quite agree with you," said Harleston. "Meanwhile I might inquire
+where was Mrs. Spencer's shadow while she was taxiing up the avenue?"
+
+"I fancy he was on his job, though you may not have seen him," Ranleigh
+replied. "His report in the morning will tell."
+
+"I would sooner have a report as to Mrs. Clephane's whereabouts,"
+Harleston remarked.
+
+"I can't see what good she would be to them now?" said Ranleigh. "She
+hasn't a thing they want."
+
+"Granted; yet where is she? moreover, she promised me to do nothing
+unusual and to beware of traps."
+
+"She has the feminine right to reconsider," Ranleigh reminded him.
+"However, I'll instruct the bureau to get busy and--"
+
+"Wait until morning," Harleston interjected. "If Mrs. Clephane hasn't
+appeared by nine o'clock, I'll telephone you."
+
+Harleston leaned back in his chair frowning. Washington was not a large
+city, yet under certain circumstances she could be lost in it--and stay
+lost, with all the efforts of the police quite unavailing to find her.
+It seemed improbable that she had been abducted; as Ranleigh had said,
+they had nothing to gain from her. She could neither advance their plans
+nor hinder them; she was purely a negative quantity. Spencer might be
+striking at him through Mrs. Clephane, intending to hold her surety for
+his neutrality, or to feed her own revenge, or maybe both. Yet, somehow,
+he could not hold to the notion; it was too petty for their game.
+Moreover, Spencer knew that it would be ineffective, and she was not one
+to waste time in methods, petty or inefficient. Of course, it might be
+that she had merely twitted him about the episode, as a jealous woman
+would do.
+
+And yet what could have taken Mrs. Clephane from the hotel at such an
+hour, and without apprising her maid; and why was she driving up
+Sixteenth Street? Or was Spencer's talk just a lie; intended to throw a
+scare into him and give him a bad quarter of an hour--until he would
+venture to call up Mrs. Clephane's apartment? And if he did not venture,
+the bad quarter would last the balance of the night. At all events and
+whatever her idea Madeline Spencer had succeeded in disturbing him to an
+unusual degree--and all because of Mrs. Clephane.
+
+At last he sprang up, threw on a light top-coat, grabbed a hat, and made
+for the door. He would go down to the Chateau and investigate. Anything
+was preferable to this miserable waiting.
+
+The corridor door was swinging shut behind him, when his telephone
+buzzed. He flung back the door and reached the receiver in a bound.
+
+"Yes!" he exclaimed.
+
+"I forgot to say, Guy," came Madeline Spencer's purring voice, "that
+I'll tell you in the morning, if you care to pay me a visit, how my
+_alter ego_ came to be on Sixteenth Street at so unusual an hour. It's
+rather interesting as to details. By the way, you must be sitting beside
+the receiver expecting a call; you answered with such amazing
+promptness!" and she laughed softly. "Shall I expect you at eleven, or
+will you be content to wait until we go to the Department at four?"
+
+"I had just finished talking with Mrs. Clephane when you called,"
+Harleston replied imperturbably, then laughed mockingly. "I'll be at the
+Chateau for you at half-after-three; you can give me the details then. I
+shall be delighted, Madeline, to compare your details with hers."
+
+"I wonder!" said she.
+
+"What do you wonder?" said he.
+
+"Whether you are--well, no matter; we'll take it up this afternoon.
+_Tout a l'heure, Monsieur Harleston_!"
+
+He was turning once more toward the door, when the telephone rang again.
+
+"Is that Mr. Harleston?" said Mrs. Clephane's lovely voice--and
+Harleston's grin almost flowed into the transmitter.
+
+"It is indeed!" he responded--then severely: "Where have you been, my
+lady? You have given me a most horrible fright."
+
+"I cry your pardon, my lord; I'll not transgress again," she laughed.
+"And if you don't scold me I'll tell you something--something I'm sure
+will be worth even a diplomat's hearing."
+
+"Anything you would tell would be well worth any diplomat's hearing,"
+said he; "only I shall always prefer to be the diplomat on duty when you
+are doing the telling!"
+
+"That's deliciously nice, Mr. Harleston; I--"
+
+"Where are you now?" he demanded.
+
+"At the Chateau--in my apartment. Anything more?"
+
+"Nothing; except to pray you to be prudent and not do it again."
+
+"I'll promise--until I see you." She lowered her voice--"Are you there,
+Mr. Harleston?"
+
+"I'm here--since I can't be with you there," he replied.
+
+"Assuredly not! I'm not exactly in receiving attire. Meanwhile the
+morning--and Madame Brunette's doings. Good-night, _Mon camarade_."
+
+
+
+
+XIX
+
+MARSTON
+
+
+At nine o'clock the next morning, Marston tapped gently on the door of
+Madeline Spencer's apartment, and was immediately admitted by the demure
+maid; who greeted him with a smile, which he repaid with a kiss--several
+of them, indeed--and an affectionate and pressing arm to her shapely and
+slender waist.
+
+"I suppose monsieur wants to see my mistress," said she.
+
+"Now that I've seen you, yes, little one," Marston returned, with
+another kiss.
+
+"Have you seen me, monsieur?"
+
+"Not half long enough, my love; but business before pleasure. There's
+another now, so run along and do your devoir."
+
+She fetched him a tiny slap across his cheek, for which she was caught
+and made to suffer again; then she wriggled loose, and, with a flirty
+backward kick at him, disappeared through the inner doorway.
+
+In a moment she returned, dropped him a bit of curtsy, and informed him
+that her mistress would receive him.
+
+He rewarded her with another caress, which she accepted with assumed
+shyness--and a wicked little pinch.
+
+"I'll pay you later for the pinch!" he tossed back, softly.
+
+She answered with an affected shrug and a wink.
+
+"Elise _is_ remarkably pretty!" Madeline Spencer remarked when he
+entered the boudoir. She was sitting up in bed, eating her rolls and
+coffee--a bewildering negligee of cerise and cream heightening the
+effect of her dead-white colouring and raven-black hair.
+
+Marston drew in his breath sharply, then sighed.
+
+"And _you_ are ravishingly beautiful, my lady," he replied.
+
+"You like this robe?" she asked.
+
+"I--like you; what you may wear is incidental. It merely increases the
+effect of your wonderful personality."
+
+"My good Marston!" she smiled. "What a faithful friend you are; always
+seeing my few good points and being blind to my many bad."
+
+"And being always," he added, bowing low, "your most humble and loving
+servant."
+
+"I know it--and I am very, very grateful." She put aside the tray and
+languidly stretched her lithe length under the sheet. "What have you to
+report, Marston?" she asked.
+
+"I have to report, madame," said Marston, with strict formality of a
+subordinate to his chief, "that I have procured the French code-book."
+
+"Good work!" she exclaimed, sitting up sharply. "However did you manage
+it?"
+
+"By the assistance of one Jimmy-the-Snake. He visited the French Embassy
+last night, and persuaded the safe to yield up the code. It would have
+been better, I admit, to copy the code and then replace it, but it
+wasn't possible. He had just sufficient time to grab the book and make a
+get-away. Someone was coming."
+
+"You've accomplished enough even though we don't obtain the letter" she
+approved. "I shall recommend you for promotion, Marston."
+
+She took the thin book and glanced through it until she came to the
+key-words of the Blocked-Out Square--the last key-word was the one the
+Count de M---- had given her. After all, the Count was not so bad; and
+he was handsome; thus far dependable; and he was, seemingly at least, in
+love with her. She might do worse.... Yet he was not Harleston; there
+never was but one equal to Harleston, and that one was lost to her. She
+shut her lips tightly and a far-away look came into her eyes. And now
+Harleston, too, was lost to her; and--she lifted her hands resignedly,
+and laughed a mirthless laugh. As she came back to reality, she met
+Marston's curiously courteous glance with a bit of a shrug.
+
+"Pardon my momentary abstraction," she said softly; "I was pursuing a
+train of thought--"
+
+"And you didn't overtake it," he remarked.
+
+"I can never overtake it. I haven't the requisite speed. Did you ever
+miss your two greatest opportunities, Marston?"
+
+"I've missed my greatest," Marston replied instantly. "Oh--it was out of
+my class, so I never started."
+
+"It may have been a mistake, my friend," she observed; "one never can
+tell until he's tried it--and failed. I mightn't have missed had I gone
+on another schedule. However, the past is to profit by, and to forget
+if we can't remember it pleasantly. So let us return to the business in
+hand, Marston; it's a rattling business and a fascinating, and at it you
+and I are not to be altogether despised," throwing him a bewitching
+smile.
+
+"Don't!" he exclaimed. "I'm not stone."
+
+"Forgive me, my friend!" putting out her hand to him.
+
+Marston simply bowed, "I think it wiser to refrain," he said gently, and
+bowed again. "By all means let us to the business in hand."
+
+He understood her nature better than she thought. The sympathy in her
+was, for the moment, real enough, but it was only for the moment; the
+love of admiration was the controlling note--what she sought and what
+she played for. She felt the sympathy while it lasted, but it was the
+effect as to herself, the selfish effect, that inspired the sensation.
+When a beautiful woman stoops to sympathy, it is rare indeed that she
+does not thereby arouse admiration for herself. Madeline Spencer may
+have been cold and shrewd and selfish and calculating, yet with it all
+she was warm-hearted; but the warm heart never got away with the cool
+head--unless it was with that head's permission and for its benefit. She
+played men--and men played her--but the man that had won was not yet to
+be found. Two only of those whom she tried had failed to succumb to her
+fascinating alluringness--and these two she had loved, and still did
+both love and hate.
+
+"Returning then to the code-book and the letter," said she. "How about
+the latter; have you found Carpenter susceptible to persuasion?"
+
+"To persuasion, no; to exchange, yes. Our agreement is that if I provide
+the key-word, he will provide the letter in question. At ten o'clock
+this morning the trick is to be turned."
+
+"And if the translation concerns the United States, he simply would turn
+the key upon you and hold you prisoner until the matter is cleared up."
+
+"One must take some risks," Marston observed.
+
+She nodded slightly.
+
+"Which of these do you fancy is the key-word?" she asked.
+
+"We shall try them in turn, beginning with the last: _a l'aube du jour_.
+I've a hunch that we'll end there."
+
+"And that you'll go into temporary confinement?" she smiled.
+
+"My hunch stops with the key-word!" he smiled back.
+
+"Your hunch as to the key-word is partially correct," she replied
+slowly, "but it does not, however, reach quite to the last conclusion. I
+may not explain now, Marston. Do you go to the meeting, with the
+code-book as your only exhibit. It should be indisputable proof of your
+good faith, and our honest belief that the letter does not concern the
+United States. Moreover, you run no danger of imprisonment, for you'll
+not effect a translation. But you must obtain a copy of the letter; it's
+but a fair exchange for the French code, you know; and you're
+permitted--nay you're authorized, in the interest of the service--to
+allow Carpenter to copy the book if he will give you the letter to copy.
+Furthermore, you may proceed leisurely in the process; there is no
+particular haste; while they are occupied with the letter matter, there
+is apt to be less activity along other lines. Only get a _copy of the
+letter_; I have the key-word."
+
+"You have the key-word!" Marston exclaimed.
+
+She nodded. "I'm quite sure of it; and the code-book confirms me. It is
+up to you to procure the letter; I'll do the rest, if any rest is
+necessary. We may be headed for Europe by evening, Marston; in which
+event, the cipher letter is of no consequence to us."
+
+"You'll be glad to get back to Paris?" he asked.
+
+"I shall, indeed--won't you?"
+
+"I'm quite content anywhere, so long as I am working with you," he
+answered. It was much as a faithful dog would wag his tail and snuggle
+up for a pat of the hand.
+
+She smiled straight into his eyes--a frank, appreciative smile, as
+though an intimate camaraderie existed between them, and would never be
+violated by either. She would have been in danger had she smiled that
+way at some men; they would not have remained quiescent. And a little
+more aggression by Marston might have been more conducive for
+success--less of the faithful dog and more of the independent
+subordinate and the equal human. As it was, he was only a plaything.
+
+"Now, my friend, if you're done you may go," she said briskly. "I must
+dress, and you're rather _de trop_ at such a time, however much you may
+be welcome at another. And, Marston, don't miss the copy of the letter;
+I'll expect you with it at seven; we'll make the translation together,
+either here or on the train to New York. You're to accompany me, you
+know. I've an appointment at one, and another at four, but I'll be here
+at seven. If I'm detained, wait."
+
+When Marston had gone she turned over and composed herself for sleep--it
+was two hours until she had need to array herself for luncheon and
+Snodgrass.... Yes, Snodgrass was a very good-looking chap; her drive
+with him last night had been very satisfactory; he had the requisite
+wealth, so it might be just as well to let him become fascinated. It
+would be at least a momentary diversion; something to occupy her for the
+loss of Harleston. She closed her eyes--and shivered ever so little.
+Damn Mrs. Clephane! But for her she would not have lost him.
+
+She flung off the cover and sprang up. There was a chance left and she
+would try it. If it failed, she would not lose more than she had already
+lost. If it won, she won Harleston!
+
+
+
+
+XX
+
+PLAYING THE GAME
+
+
+She threw a kimono around her and hastened to the telephone.
+
+"Get me," she said to the hotel central, "Mr. Harleston at the
+Collingwood, the Cosmopolitan Club, or the State Department."
+
+"I'll call you," said the operator--and Madeline Spencer leaned back in
+her chair and waited.
+
+Presently the call came.
+
+"I have Mr. Harleston for you," said the operator and switched on the
+trunk.
+
+"Where are you, Guy?--this is Madeline Spencer," said she.
+
+"I'm at the Collingwood, Madeline. Anything I can do for you?" was the
+answer.
+
+"Yes. Be here in an hour; I must see you."
+
+"Important?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then I'll be there at ten-thirty."
+
+"You're always good!" said she softly.
+
+"Not always," he laughed, "but I will be this time."
+
+She dressed in feverish haste, yet with great care and attention to
+effects. Her gown was a lustreless black silk, trimmed with gold and
+made as plain as her modiste would--and the styles permitted. Her hair
+was piled high, with an elongated twist; her dead-white complexion was
+unmarred by powder or rouge, and beneath the transparent skin the blood
+pulsed softly pink.
+
+Her toilet finished, and passed upon in the mirror, she sent her maid on
+a shopping expedition which would occupy her until noon, and even
+hurried her off. She wanted no one about, not even Elise, when she made
+her last play at Harleston.
+
+Elise gone five minutes before the hour, she compelled herself to
+outward tranquillity--while she strove for inward calm. And succeeding
+wonderfully well--so well, indeed, that none would ever have suspected
+the agitation seething under the cold placidity. Its only evidence was
+in the gentle swing of her narrow foot, and the nervous play of her
+slender fingers. And even these indications disappeared at the knock on
+the corridor door; and she went almost blithely and flung it back--to
+Harleston bowing on the threshold.
+
+"Punctual as usual!" she greeted.
+
+"Because I came to one who is always punctual," he replied, taking her
+hand, nor dropping it until they were well inside the reception room.
+
+"Sit down, old enemy," said she, sinking into a chair and pointing to
+another--which she had been careful to place just within reach. "You've
+nothing much to do for a short while, have you?"
+
+"I've nothing much to do any time except to keep an eye on you!" he
+laughed.
+
+"Am I so difficult?" she asked.
+
+"You keep me fairly occupied at all times--and sometimes rather more."
+
+"At least I endeavour not to offend your eye!" she smiled, her head on
+her hand, her eyes on him.
+
+"The only difficulty is that you are too alluring," he returned. "One is
+prone to forget that his business is not to admire but to observe
+dispassionately and to block your plans. You're much too beautiful,
+Madeline; you usually make monkeys of all of us, and while we're held
+fascinated by your loveliness you scoop the prize. It's not fair, my
+lady; you play with--loaded dice."
+
+"Flatterer!" she said, melting into another pose.
+
+"Flatterer!" he exclaimed. "If you could but see yourself now, you would
+confess the truth of the indictment. You're the loveliest thing, and you
+grow lovelier every day and younger. Positively, Madeline, you're a--"
+he paused for words and raised his hands helplessly.
+
+"I'm a what?" she murmured, leaning a bit toward him.
+
+"I haven't the word; there isn't one adequate to the--subject."
+
+"You actually mean that?" she asked, gliding into another posture, even
+more alluring.
+
+"You know I mean it," he declared. "Haven't we agreed to be honest with
+each other?"
+
+"I've been honest!" she answered.
+
+"Meaning that I've not been?"
+
+"Have you?" she inflected, "I wonder, Guy."
+
+She might just as well have asked direct his feeling for Mrs.
+Clephane--and he understood perfectly the question.
+
+He nodded, slowly but none-the-less definitely.
+
+She took a cigarette and lighted it with careful attention, then blew
+the smoke sharply against the incandescent coal.
+
+"Guy," said she, "I'm about to speak plainly; please don't
+misunderstand; I'm simply a woman, now--a weak woman, perhaps; it will
+be for you to judge me at the end." She smiled faintly.
+
+"Not a weak woman, Madeline," he replied. "Your worst enemy would not
+venture to call you that."
+
+He wondered what more was coming, and at what directed. Her tone and
+attitude and deprecation of self were new to him. He had never seen her
+so; always she was the embodification of calm, self-reliance, poise,
+never flustered, never disturbed. A weak woman! It was so absurd as to
+be ridiculous, and she was aware of it. So what was the play with so
+bald a notice to beware?
+
+"No, no, Guy," said she. "You think it's a play, but it isn't. It's the
+simple truth I'm about to tell you, and as truth I pray you take it."
+
+"I'll take it as you wish it taken," he responded, more than ever
+mystified.
+
+She carefully laid her cigarette on the receiver, then arose and leaned
+against the table, her hands behind her. He arose also, but she
+declined the courtesy.
+
+"Keep your seat," she said, "and don't be alarmed, I'm not preparing to
+have you daggered or garroted. Entirely the reverse, Guy. I've decided
+to offer terms: to capitulate; to throw the whole thing over; to betray
+my mission and get out of the service forever. No, don't smile
+incredulously, I mean it."
+
+"Good Lord!" thought Harleston. "What is coming and where do we go?"
+What he said, however, was:
+
+"Wouldn't you be incredulous if our positions were reversed? Madeline
+Spencer, the very Queen of the Service, betray her trust? Impossible!"
+
+"Thank you, Guy," said she. "I've never yet been false to the hand that
+paid me--and sometimes _I've_ paid dearly for keeping faith. Now for the
+first time,--and the last time, too, for if successful the service will
+know me no longer--I am ready and willing deliberately to make a failure
+of my mission, if you will take that failure as conclusive evidence of
+my good faith." She bent a bit forward and threw into her words and
+tones and attitude every grace that she possessed. "Will you do it,
+Guy?"
+
+"When you ask that way," said Harleston, "who of mankind would refuse
+you anything on earth."
+
+She was alluring, wonderfully alluring. Time was, and that lately, when
+he would have succumbed. But that time was no longer; beside the
+raven-hair and dead-white cheek was now another face, with peach-blow
+cheek and the ruddy tresses--and the peach-blow cheek and ruddy tresses
+prevailed. And so he had responded, sincere enough, in tribute to her
+loveliness and in memory of what had been.
+
+And Madeline Spencer detected the absent note; but she ignored it. She
+would go through with it--make her bid:
+
+"Almost you say that as though you meant it!" she smiled, and forced his
+hand. Now he must either deny or affirm.
+
+"I do mean it," he replied. It was all in the game, and he was obligated
+to be truthful only to Mrs. Clephane.
+
+She looked at him contemplatively, trying to read behind his words.
+
+"What is it, Madeline?" he asked.
+
+"I wonder!" she said speculatively.
+
+"Can't I answer?"
+
+"Yes, you can answer--"
+
+"Then ask me," he invited, seeking to get something that would afford
+him an inkling of her aim. Assuredly she had him guessing.
+
+For a moment she looked him straight in the eyes; then suddenly her
+glance wavered, a faint flush crept from neck to cheek, and she smiled
+almost bashfully.
+
+"Guy," said she, "I ask you to forget our profession if you can, and
+take what I am about to say as free from guile or expediency--and of
+supreme importance to me. I'm just a simple woman now, with a woman's
+desires and affection and hopes. I've come to the parting of the ways:
+on one side lie power, excitement, loneliness; on the other,
+contentment, peace, companionship. I'll choose the latter, if you're
+willing. You have but to say the word and I'll give up everything,
+confess what I'm here for, what I've done, and what is arranged for in
+the future."
+
+"Upon what condition, Madeline?" he smiled, more puzzled than ever. He
+was almost ready to believe she meant it.
+
+She caught her breath, hesitated, blushed furiously--and answered
+softly:
+
+"Upon the condition that you marry me."
+
+For the instant Harleston was too amazed for words; and, despite all his
+training in dissimulation, his surprise was evidenced in his face. Small
+wonder he had been unable to make out the play--it was not a play; she
+meant it. She was ready to throw her mission overboard to attain her
+personal end.
+
+"Will you marry me, old enemy?" she whispered, putting out her hand to
+him and smiting him with a ravishing smile--a smile such as she had had
+for but one other man. It had been utterly lost on that other, but it
+had almost won with Harleston; and it might have won now with him but
+for another's smile, she of the ruddy tresses and peach-blow cheek.
+
+"My dear Madeline," said he slowly, holding her hand with intimate
+pressure, "I cannot permit you to betray yourself for me. You are--"
+
+"Quite old enough in the ways of the world," she interjected, "to know
+my own mind. I love you, Guy, and unless I've mistaken your attitude,
+you love me. When our minds meet in such a matter, why should anything
+be permitted to intervene?" Her hand still lay in his; her eyes held
+his; her personality fairly enveloped them. With lips a little parted,
+she bent toward him. "It's a bit unusual, dear, for the woman to
+propose, to the man, but we are an unusual two, and the business of life
+has shaken us free from the conventions of the drawing-room and frothy
+society. With us there need be no cant nor pretence nor false modesty,
+because there is not the slightest possibility of misunderstanding."
+
+"And yet, Madeline, we may not defy the right and permit you to
+sacrifice yourself," he opposed. "There is a standard which neither cant
+nor pretence nor false modesty can affect--the standard of honour."
+
+"Honour!" she inflected. "What is honour, such honour, when a woman
+loves."
+
+"Nothing--and therefore must the love abide; honour can't abide once it
+is lost."
+
+She shook her head sadly. "I'm afraid it's not so much my honour as your
+love," she said. "A week ago, and I would have had a different
+answer--in fact, I would have been the one to answer and _you_ the one
+to ask. You know it quite as well as I; for when you left me that
+afternoon in Paris, expecting to return in the evening, you were ready
+to speak and I was ready with the answer. Then fate, in the person of an
+unsympathetic Foreign Office intervened, and sent you on the instant to
+St. Petersburg. We never met again until in this hotel. I have not
+changed, but you have. I fear your answer does not ring quite true; it
+isn't like you. Why is it, Guy?"
+
+Never a reference to Mrs. Clephane; never an intimation--and yet Mrs.
+Clephane might as well have been in the room, so living was her
+presence.
+
+"Madeline," said he, lingeringly freeing her hand, "I hardly know what
+to say nor how to say it. I'm embarrassed, frightfully embarrassed; yet
+you have been frank with me so I must be frank with you--even though it
+hurts. I'm distressed to have been such a bungler, such a miserable
+bungler, such a blind fool, indeed. The false impression must be due to
+me; assuredly, without the most justifiable cause you would not have
+drawn the erroneous inference. And a man who is responsible for that
+inference with a woman of your experience and ability, Madeline, must
+be more or less a fool, even though his intentions have been absolutely
+correct."
+
+"Which leads where, Guy?" she mocked.
+
+"Nowhere," he replied, "I'm trying to say something, and can't say it.
+But you know what it is, Madeline. I'm sorry, supremely sorry. Let us
+forget this little talk, and go on as though it hadn't occurred--playing
+our parts in the present game and besting the other by every means in
+our power. I can't accept your offer, because I cannot pay the
+consideration. It still must be _a outrance_ with us, Madeline; no
+quarter given and no quarter asked."
+
+For a space she looked at him with cold repellence, eyes black as night.
+Then her eyes narrowed and she laughed, a mirthlessly sarcastic laugh,
+so low that Harleston barely heard it.
+
+"Is red hair then prettier than black, Mr. Harleston?" she asked
+mockingly; "or is Mrs. Clephane's character whiter than mine?"
+
+"That is not worthy of you, Madeline," Harleston reproved. "You're a
+good sport; hitherto you've taken the count, as well as given it,
+without the flutter of an eyelash--and over far more serious matters
+than your humble servant, who hasn't anything to give him value."
+
+Again the sarcastic laugh. She knew he was playing the game, two games
+indeed, the diplomatic and his own. He had never forgot himself nor
+regarded her for one little instant.
+
+"As a lecturer on morals, Mr. Harleston, you are a wonder," she mocked;
+"you have almost succeeded--nay quite, shall I say--in convincing
+yourself. And when you--a man--do that, what is to be expected of a
+woman--who is alone in the world? So I must accept your argument, and
+your conclusions, and be content with my duty--and"--with a sudden
+ravishing smile--"if I best you, Guy, you will have only yourself to
+blame. I won't send Mrs. Clephane a present, nor will I wish you joy of
+her, nor her of you; but _you_ won't look for it, and _she_ would think
+it somewhat presumptuous in me to assume to know you. These red-headed
+women are the very devil, Guy, after they've got you landed--also
+before, but in a different way."
+
+"What's your game, Madeline?" he smiled. It had pleased her suddenly to
+veer around and resume the play; and far be it from him to balk her.
+"I'll admit you have me guessing."
+
+"I thought you believed me, Guy. My game was you--and I've lost."
+
+"Nonsense!" he replied. "I was inclined to think so at first; your fine
+acting and man's conceit, I reckon. But my conceit has been punctured,
+and you've slipped a bit in your acting; therefore, to descend to the
+extremely common-place, the jig is up."
+
+"And the next lead is yours!" she laughed back.
+
+"That is precisely why I asked you the game--so I could make an
+intelligible lead."
+
+"Ask Mrs. Clephane!" she suggested.
+
+"I'll do it," said he--and bowed himself out.
+
+"Do it? Of course, you'll do it," Madeline Spencer gritted, as the door
+closed behind him. "I've no chance, it seems, against a red-haired
+woman. The other one also had red hair." She seized a vase from the
+table at her hand, and hurled it across the room. It crushed in
+fragments against the wall. "Damn Mrs. Clephane!" she said softly.
+
+
+
+
+XXI
+
+THE KEY-WORD
+
+
+Promptly at ten o'clock Marston walked into Carpenter's office and sent
+in his card.
+
+It found Carpenter pacing up and down, and frowning at a paper spread
+open on his desk. At the messenger's apologetically discreet cough, he
+glanced around and took the extended card.
+
+"Show him in!" he snapped, and swept the paper from the desk and into a
+drawer.... "Good-morning, sir!" as Marston bowed on the threshold; then,
+without any preliminaries: "What success?"
+
+"I have the French code-book," Marston replied.
+
+"With you?"
+
+Marston drew out the slender book. "It embraces all their codes, I
+believe," he remarked.
+
+"H-u-m!" said Carpenter thoughtfully, retrieving the paper he had just
+swept into the drawer. "How are we to work it, Mr. Marston?"
+
+"As allies," Marston replied. "I'm perfectly willing to let you have the
+book and everything in it, if you will let me have a copy of the letter.
+I'm confident that the key-word is here; I'm equally confident that the
+letter does not involve, either directly or indirectly, the United
+States. I understand that the letter is in the cipher of the Blocked-Out
+Square; in this book there are two pages and more of key-words to this
+Square, the last dozen or so of which are added in writing. If the
+letter is in that cipher, we should have no particular difficulty in
+finding the key-word. I would suggest, however, that we first try the
+last word on the list--maybe we won't have to go any farther."
+
+"Very well," said Carpenter, briskly.
+
+The advantage was all with him. If Marston thought the letter was only a
+line and that he could remember the letters used, he was in for a shock.
+No man living could remember twenty spilled alphabets; and if he
+attempted to make a copy it could easily be prevented. The Fifth
+Secretary spread the paper on the table.
+
+"Here is a copy of the cipher letter in question--we had it made large
+for convenience," he explained. "The original is in the safe; you'll wish
+to compare it with the copy, so we'll have it here."
+
+He gave the necessary order; when the letter was brought he passed it to
+Marston.
+
+"I'll read the copy, if you'll hold the original," he said; and
+proceeded to call off the letters with amazing rapidity. "Correct, isn't
+it?" as he ended.
+
+"Yes!" said Marston returning the original to Carpenter. He wanted in
+every way to disarm suspicion; moreover, a copy could be made more
+readily from a large typewritten edition than from the small, written
+original. "Now for the code-book and the last key-word--_a l'aube du
+jour_, I think it is ... yes, _a l'aube du jour_, it is," and he handed
+the book across. "Shall we try it first, Mr. Carpenter?"
+
+"By all means," said Carpenter. "Shall I set it down, or will you?"
+
+One would never have imagined from his expression or his intonation that
+he had already tried _a l'aube du jour_ for the key-word and failed;
+nor that why he had failed he now knew. The book was right as to the
+word, and the slip that Harleston had taken from Crenshaw's pocket-book
+confirmed it. _A l'aube du jour_ was not the key-word but the key-word
+was constructed from it by some arbitrary rule; and that rule was
+susceptible of solution. After he was free of this fellow Marston, he
+would solve the problem quickly enough. It was as sure as tomorrow. The
+prescience was come.
+
+"About twenty letters should be enough for experiment?" he suggested,
+taking up a test card.
+
+When he had written the key-word and the letters under it, he, scarcely
+without reference to the Blocked-Out Square, wrote the translation.
+Marston did the same, very much slower.
+
+"It doesn't fit!" Marston announced. "You can't make anything out of
+AGELUMTONZN, and so forth."
+
+"I can't!" Carpenter smiled--and waited. Would Marston suggest the
+transposed or elided word?
+
+"I'm disappointed," Marston confessed, "I thought sure we had it. Let's
+try the next key-word in the book."
+
+They tried it, and the next, and all the rest. None of them translated
+the letter.
+
+It took more than an hour; at the end, as a full measure of good faith
+and because it was of no further use to him--he having preserved a
+copy--Marston insisted that Carpenter retain the original of the French
+code-book and have a copy made, after which the book could be returned
+to him at the Chateau. During this hour and more his hand was in and out
+in his side coat-pocket. When he left the room there went with him, in
+that pocket, a copy of the original letter--roughly made by the sense of
+touch alone, yet none the less a copy and sufficiently distinct to be
+decipherable. For years Marston had practised writing in the dark and
+under all sorts of handicaps. In his pocket, a number of small slips of
+paper and a pencil were concealed. He would write a line, then take his
+hand from his pocket; after a time he would shift the page of paper,
+write another line, and then another, and so on until the copy was made.
+And all the while he was so frankly communicative, with apparently not
+the slightest intent to obtaining a copy--even tearing up the paper on
+which were the various trial translations--that he completely deceived
+Carpenter. When he left, the latter went with him to the elevator and
+bowed him down.
+
+"I don't quite understand their game," Carpenter chuckled, as he turned
+away, "but it's no matter. I took all the tricks this morning and still
+have a few trumps left. I thought he certainly would try for a copy of
+the letter, but he didn't even attempt it. He may have committed it to
+memory, but I'll chance it."
+
+Returning to his office he gave the code-book another careful inspection
+and confirmed his impression as to its being authentic. Then he laid it
+aside, and took up the letter and _a l'aube du jour_!
+
+First he tried it in reverse position: _ruoj ud ebua'l a_. The
+translation was gibberish. Then he wrote the first and last letters, the
+second and next to last, the third and the third from last, and so on.
+The result, too, was gibberish. Next he dropped the first word, 'a' and
+tried the rest--still gibberish. He dropped also the 'l'--still
+gibberish. Then, in turn, the 'a' of the third word the 'd' of the
+fourth, the 'j' of the last word--all gibberish. Next he wrote the
+key-word entire but transposed the 'a' from the first letter to the
+last--still gibberish. He began with the _aube_--still gibberish.
+
+"Damn!" said he.
+
+He was persuaded that the key-word was in the sentence before him; the
+code-book, Crenshaw's slip of paper, and his own hunch were convincing,
+yet the combination was slow in coming.
+
+_Du jour a l'aube_ was the next arrangement. He wrote it under the
+printed words and began to apply the Square.
+
+The D and the A yielded A; the U and the B yielded V; the J and the C
+yielded E; the O and the D yielded R; the U and the E yielded T; the R
+and the F yielded I.
+
+"_Averti!_"
+
+Carpenter gave a soft whistle of satisfaction. French, it was--his hunch
+had not deceived him. The key-word was found!
+
+Swiftly he worked out the rest of the cipher, setting down the letters
+of the translation without regard to words. "_Averti_" was evident
+because it was the first word. At the end, he had this result:
+
+  AVERTIQUELALLEMAGNEAENGAG
+  EUNOFFICIERADECELERLAFORM
+  ULESECRETEDESETATSUNISEMP
+  LOYEEACOLLODONNIERLAFULMI
+  COTONPOURLAPOUDRESANSFUME
+  EALARTILLERIEDEGROSCALIBR
+  EETQUEMADELINESPENCEREMIS
+  SAIREDELALLEMAGNEAPARISPH
+  OTOGRAPHIECIINCLUSEAETECH
+  ARGEEDELARECEVOIRNESEPEUT
+  DECOUVRIRLENOMDUTRAITRESP
+  ENCERESTPARTIEPOURNEWYORK
+  SURLALUSITANIAQUIDOITARRI
+  VERLEQUATORZEATOUTEFORCEI
+  NTERCEPTEZLAFORMULEOUEMPE
+  CHEZAMOINSQUELALLEMAGNENE
+  LOBTIENNESPENCERSIMPORTAN
+  TEALAFRANCE
+
+There was not the least doubt as to it being in French--the last three
+words, as well as the first, proved it; also that he had the correct
+key-word. It only remained now to separate the result into words. And
+this puzzle presented no difficulties to Carpenter; he quickly
+marshalled it into form:
+
+"_Averti que l'Allemagne a engage un officier a deceler la formule
+secrete des Etats-Unis employee a collodonnier la fulmi-coton pour la
+poudre sans fumeee a l'artillerie de gros calibre; et que Madeline
+Spencer, emissaire de l'Allemagne a Paris,--photographie ci, incluse--a
+ete de chargee la recevoir. Ne se peut decouvrir le nom du traitre.
+Spencer est partie pour New York sur la Lusitania qui doit arriver le
+quatorze. A toute force interceptez la formule; ou empechez a moins que
+l'Allemagne ne l'obtienne. Spencer pas importante a la France._"
+
+And under it he wrote the English translation: "Informed Germany has
+induced an officer to betray United States secret formula for colloding
+process of treating gun-cotton for smokeless powder for high power guns,
+and that Madeline Spencer, a German Secret agent in Paris, photograph
+enclosed herein, is delegated to receive same. Cannot ascertain name of
+traitor. Spencer sailed Lusitania, due New York, fourteenth. Take any
+means to intercept formula; or at least to prevent Germany obtaining it.
+Spencer not essential to France."
+
+_Spencer not essential to France!_ Surely this woman had great power,
+either of knowledge or of friends; she resided in Paris, yet France was
+reluctant to lift hand against her so long as she was on French soil.
+Well, he would turn the matter over to Harleston; let him decide whether
+it was to be thumbs up or thumbs down for her Alluringness. Furthermore,
+the meeting with Snodgrass now assumed much significance. Snodgrass was
+an ex-army officer. Harleston must be warned at once.
+
+He tried for him at the Collingwood, the Cosmopolitan, the Rataplan, and
+finally at the Chateau. He got him there.
+
+"Can you come here at once?" he asked.
+
+"Not well," said Harleston, "I've an appointment."
+
+"Forget it!" Carpenter exclaimed. "I've found the key-word and made the
+translation. It's serious--Very well, come right in; I'll be waiting."
+
+Harleston scribbled a note to Mrs. Clephane and sent it up by a page; he
+would be back in half an hour; would she meet him in the Alley.
+
+
+
+
+XXII
+
+THE RATAPLAN
+
+
+A moment before Harleston's return, Madeline Spencer, stepping out of
+the F Street elevator, was met by Snodgrass who had been walking up and
+down the lobby. They took a taxi and sped away; followed closely by
+another taxi, which their driver was most careful not to distance. A
+second later Harleston entered the corridor. As he was about to greet
+Mrs. Clephane, a man approached him and said:
+
+"They have started, sir; Burke's just behind in a taxi--and both drivers
+are wise. They're bound for the Rataplan."
+
+"Follow them and wait just outside," Harleston ordered--and turned to
+Mrs. Clephane. "I must go to the Rataplan at once," said he. "Let us
+lunch there. The end of the affair of the cab of the sleeping horse is
+in sight; I thought you might like to see it."
+
+"I want to see it!" Mrs. Clephane exclaimed. "Have you found the
+key-word?"
+
+"Carpenter found it--I'll tell you about it on the way out. Come along,
+little lady."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"But why do you suspect Captain Snodgrass?" she inquired, when Harleston
+had finished his account. "He would not have access to the formula,
+would he?"
+
+"The man that has access to such secrets never is the man who actually
+delivers," he explained; "he has a confederate. Snodgrass is the
+confederate, we think."
+
+"Is this secret colloding process of gun-cotton so tremendously
+valuable?" she asked.
+
+"It's a secret for which any nation would give millions of dollars. It's
+admittedly the most powerful explosive ever discovered, as well as the
+easiest handled. Temperature, weather, ordinary shock have absolutely no
+effect on it; in fire it simply chars and doesn't explode. Yet when it
+is exploded by the proper method, lyddite, dynamite, and all the other
+ites, are as a gentle zephyr in comparison. Now tell me about last
+night; where were you?"
+
+"After you left," she explained, "I wrote some letters, and then went
+into the corridor to drop them in the chute beside the elevator shaft;
+as I approached, the car came down with Mrs. Spencer in it. Something
+impelled me to follow her; and running back I grabbed a cloak, and
+dashed for the elevator, catching it on the fly. She wasn't in the main
+corridor; on a chance, I hurried to the F Street entrance; I got there
+just as she stepped into a taxi and shot away. Instantly I called
+another taxi and told the driver to follow the car that had just
+departed. He did for a little way; but in a sudden halt of traffic at
+Vermont Avenue and H Street, where, you may remember, the street is torn
+up, we lost the other taxi; and though we drove around the north-west
+section for more than an hour on the chance that we'd come up with
+it--my driver knew the other driver--we never did come up with it. But
+as we rolled up to the Chateau, Mrs. Spencer was alighting from a
+limousine with a tall, fine-looking, fair-haired chap who had the walk
+of a military man."
+
+"Snodgrass," Harleston observed.
+
+"She saw me; and, with a maliciously charming smile, nodded and went
+on. In the corridor I came on some friends and we talked awhile. Then I
+went up to my apartment, got your message, and telephoned to you."
+
+"Don't do it again," he cautioned. "It was very dangerous."
+
+They turned in at the Rataplan and drew up at the carriage entrance.
+Harleston helped Mrs. Clephane from the taxi and they passed into the
+Club-House.
+
+He inquired of the doorman whether Mr. Carpenter was in, and another
+servant, who overheard the question, added that Mr. Carpenter was in the
+dining-room. Harleston and Mrs. Clephane went directly in and to a table
+next to Carpenter's. Three tables away were Madeline Spencer and
+Snodgrass.
+
+Harleston nodded to Mrs. Spencer and to Snodgrass, then spoke to
+Carpenter and invited him over.
+
+"I don't know if you will remember me, Mrs. Clephane," said Carpenter,
+coming across. "I met you several years ago in Paris."
+
+"Yes, indeed, Mr. Carpenter, I remember you!" Mrs. Clephane replied.
+
+"Anything?" Harleston asked, without moving his lips.
+
+"Nothing. I was here when they arrived," Carpenter replied in the same
+manner--and went back to his table.
+
+"Who is the woman with Harleston?" Snodgrass asked Mrs. Spencer. "I've
+never seen her."
+
+"A Mrs. Clephane," Madeline Spencer replied. "She's very good-looking,
+isn't she?"
+
+"I'm perfectly satisfied with the lady immediately in my fore," he
+smiled. "I don't run to blondes--"
+
+"When you're with a brunette!" she smiled back.
+
+"I don't run to anyone when I'm with you," he replied with quiet
+earnestness, leaning toward her across the table.
+
+She shot him a knowing glance. Last night she had held him to strict
+propriety. Today in the taxi she had deliberately set herself to
+fascinate him, and had succeeded well. She had been demurely
+tantalizing--holding him at a distance, letting him come a little
+nearer, bringing him up sharply; all the tricks of the trade executed
+with a perfection of technic and a mastery of effect. Snodgrass, with
+all his experience, was but a novice in her hands; she always struck
+directly at the affections--got them: and then the rest was easy. She
+never lost her head, nor allowed her own affections to become involved;
+save only twice--and both those times she had failed. Snodgrass, she had
+learned through inquiries, had quite sufficient money to make him worth
+her while; moreover, he was such a big, good-natured, dependable
+chap--and a gentleman. If he had not been a gentleman he would not have
+attracted Madeline Spencer for an instant. She dealt only in gentlemen.
+
+She had not told Snodgrass of the Clephane letter, nor anything as to
+Harleston except to refer casually to him as the confidential emissary
+in delicate matters of the State Department. She had found that
+Snodgrass was not the actual man in the case; that he was simply a
+friendly confederate, or rather, to use his own words, "a friend of
+Davidson." She had expected that the package or letter would be
+delivered to her in the taxi; but Snodgrass had told her as soon as they
+were started that Davidson would forward it to him at the Rataplan by
+mail, not later than the two o'clock delivery. He would get it as they
+were leaving and transfer it to her, accepting the consideration as
+specified by Davidson, and receipting for it. He said flatly that he did
+not want to know the contents of the letter; he was doing this favour
+for Davidson. He understood that it was to be entirely _sub rosa_ and
+that nothing must ever transpire as to it. Therefore he was prepared to
+forget the entire episode the moment it was over; the epochal meetings
+with her he would not forget, nor would he permit her to forget him if
+constant devotion and assiduous attention were of avail. To which she
+had made a most demurely fitting answer, and the conversation thereafter
+grew exceedingly confidential. Oh, they were getting on very well indeed
+when the Rataplan was reached. And they were still progressing very
+well--in a discreetly informal way.
+
+The entrance of Mrs. Clephane and Harleston was unexpected to Mrs.
+Spencer; Carpenter was a stranger to her and she had thought nothing of
+him; but when he spoke to Harleston, and seemed to know Mrs. Clephane,
+she put him on the list of the enemy. She kept him there when Snodgrass
+told her his name and position in the Diplomatic Service and that it
+was reputed there was no cipher too difficult for him to solve.
+
+"We would better be very circumspect," she said low. "I think that these
+two men are here to watch us; they know that I'm in the Secret Service,
+of Germany, and they're naturally suspicious of me."
+
+"Carpenter was here when we came in," Snodgrass remarked. "He was
+sitting in the lobby. However, if you prefer, I'll let my mail go until
+evening."
+
+"We can decide when we're through luncheon," she replied. "Haste is of
+vital importance, my instructions say. I had hoped to get away on the
+midnight train for New York, and to sail tomorrow for England."
+
+"I had hoped to do the same!" he whispered.
+
+"Really?" she asked.
+
+"More than really! May I?" leaning forward.
+
+"If you care to, Captain Snodgrass. It will be very pleasant to have you
+on board."
+
+"And afterward?"
+
+"You may not care for the afterward," she murmured.
+
+"I'll risk it!" he exclaimed. "We'll sail tomorrow."
+
+"And the letter?" she asked.
+
+"I'll get it for you--or have it along!"
+
+"What about the consideration?"
+
+"Hang the consideration. I'll pay it myself, if need be."
+
+"No, no, my friend!" she laughed. "I'm not worth so much, nor anything
+near it. And even though I were, I'd not permit the wasteful
+extravagance."
+
+She might have added that she had no objection whatever to his wasteful
+extravagance, in fact, she would rather encourage it, if she were its
+object. Only that must come later--after the present business was
+finished, and they had sailed from New York. How long the extravagance
+would continue was dependent on the depth of his purse and his
+disposition.
+
+"Wasteful extravagance does not apply where you are concerned," he
+replied. "However, we'll let Germany pay the consideration, and I'll
+have that much more to spend on you."
+
+She rewarded him with one of her alluringly ravishing smiles and a touch
+of her slender foot. She had him--and she knew she had him. She would
+be Madeline Spencer once again--always having a victim, and always ready
+for a fresh one. Since she had failed with Harleston, what mattered it
+how many the victims, or what the price they paid.
+
+
+
+
+XXIII
+
+CAUGHT
+
+
+"Mrs. Spencer and her friend have reached some sort of an
+understanding," Mrs. Clephane remarked. "She just smiled at him
+significantly and pressed his foot."
+
+"I noticed the smile but not the foot business," Harleston chuckled.
+"It's something quite personal to them, I take it!"
+
+"Exactly; but what's the effect on the matter in hand? Does not this
+_personal_ understanding signify that the delivery of the formula has
+been arranged, maybe even effected."
+
+Harleston nodded. With Madeline Spencer it was, he knew, business first
+and personal matters afterward.
+
+"I think we shall see the end of the affair of your cipher letter and
+its ramifications before the afternoon is over," he replied.
+
+"What about the French Embassy?" she asked.
+
+"The Marquis has been advised that we have the translation. He will keep
+his hands off, you may believe."
+
+"You think either that Captain Snodgrass has the document in his
+possession, or that he has given it to Mrs. Spencer?"
+
+"Or that it will come into his possession before they leave the
+Rataplan, and be transferred to her here or in the taxi on their way
+back to town," he added.
+
+"What if he transferred it to her on their way here?"
+
+"Then she still has it--once she gets it in her possession she won't
+part with it, even in her sleep, until she places it in the hands of the
+official who sent her to America."
+
+"And Mr. Carpenter was here to watch until you came?"
+
+"Yes--and afterward; you see one of us might be called away. From the
+time she and Snodgrass met at the Chateau this morning, they have not
+been out of espionage and close espionage. So long as they are in a
+taxi, or at the Rataplan, there is no danger of the document getting
+away if either of them has it; but until we are certain that they have
+it, we won't detain them; we want the document to aid us in running down
+the traitor. I'm not at all sure that Snodgrass is aware of the
+character of the document. He probably stipulated not to know; he will
+be content with a division of the money--and with a chance to spend some
+of it on Spencer; which spending she is quite ready to facilitate, as
+witness the pleasant understanding they seem to have arrived at during
+luncheon."
+
+"What are you going to do, Mr. Harleston?" Mrs. Clephane asked.
+
+"I think you will enjoy it better if you're not wise, little lady!" he
+smiled. "Moreover, it depends on circumstances just how it's to be gone
+about--except that it ends in the office of the Secretary of
+State.--Hush!"
+
+"The Secretary of State!" she exclaimed low.
+
+"I've an appointment to take Mrs. Spencer to meet his Excellency at four
+o'clock."
+
+"And what are you going to do with me, Mr. Harleston?" she smiled.
+
+"You mean at four o'clock, or permanently?"
+
+"At four o'clock, sir," with a charming lilt of the head.
+
+"Take you along."
+
+"With _that woman_? Thank you!"
+
+"No, with me."
+
+"Didn't you say you had an appointment to take Mrs. Spencer?"
+
+"I did!"
+
+"You intend to keep the appointment?"
+
+"I do!"
+
+"Surely, sir, you don't imagine for a moment that I would go anywhere
+with Mrs. Spencer!"
+
+"No more than you imagine that I would ask it of you!" he smiled.
+
+"It seems to me your meaning is somewhat obscure," she retorted.
+"However, whether you don't mean it, or do mean it, I'll trust myself to
+you because it's you, Mr. Harleston."
+
+"Permanently, my lady?"
+
+"Certainly not, sir. I refer only to this afternoon; I want to be in at
+the end of the game."
+
+"For me," said Harleston slowly, "it's been a very fortunate game."
+
+"Games are uncertain and sometimes costly," she shrugged.
+
+"When played with Spencer, they are both and then some," he replied.
+
+At that moment Carpenter pushed back his chair and arose, nodded
+pleasantly to Mrs. Clephane and Harleston as he passed, and went out.
+
+"Will Mr. Carpenter be at the finish?" Mrs. Clephane asked.
+
+"Probably; but he'll be in the lobby when we go through."
+
+"They are going!" she whispered. "And they're coming this way."
+
+As Mrs. Spencer and Snodgrass went by, the former with an intimate
+little look at Harleston, said confidentially:
+
+"I'll be ready at half-past three, Guy."
+
+"Very good!" Harleston answered promptly--when she was past, he looked
+at Mrs. Clephane.
+
+"The cat!" she muttered; then smiled quizzically. "Such a pleasant air
+of proprietorship," she observed.
+
+"Too pleasant," he returned. "I've something to tell you as to it and
+her, when the present matter is ended."
+
+"Will it keep?"
+
+He nodded. "I can tell it better then--and have more time for the
+telling."
+
+The headwaiter approached casually, as though surveying the table.
+
+"Well!" said Harleston.
+
+"He went to the private mail boxes; she's waiting in the lobby," the man
+replied. "He received a small letter, which he opened; it enclosed only
+another envelope, which he put in his pocket without opening. He
+returned to the lobby and they left the Club-House."
+
+Harleston nodded. "It's time for us to be moving," said he to Mrs.
+Clephane. "Will you trust me?" he asked as they passed into the lobby,
+at the far end of which Carpenter was sitting absorbed in his cigar.
+
+"Absolutely!" she replied.
+
+"And will you go with Carpenter; he understands? I'll be with you
+shortly. I must act quickly now."
+
+Carpenter arose as they neared.
+
+"Just started," said he, and bowed to Mrs. Clephane.
+
+"Mrs. Clephane understands," Harleston explained "I confide her to your
+care. _A bientot._"
+
+He hurried out. A taxi, waiting with power on, sped up; he sprang
+aboard and it raced away.
+
+As it neared the Connecticut Avenue bridge, the taxi slowed down a
+trifle and the driver half-faced around.
+
+"The other car is just ahead, sir," he reported.
+
+"Very good," said Harleston. "Does the driver know we're behind him?"
+
+"I've signalled, sir, and he's answered."
+
+"Maintain the distance," Harleston directed.
+
+"Yes sir," said the man.
+
+Keeping about a hundred yards apart--the two cars sped down the hill and
+around Dupont Circle to Massachusetts Avenue, thence by it and Sixteenth
+Street to H. The one in the lead continued on toward Fourteenth.
+Harleston's shot down Fifteenth, flashed over the tracks at Pennsylvania
+Avenue, swung into F Street, and drew in at the Chateau just as the
+other came around the Fourteenth Street corner, and rolled slowly up to
+the curb.
+
+As Snodgrass was assisting Madeline Spencer to alight--and taking his
+time about it--Harleston glanced at his watch, sprang from his car, and
+hastened over.
+
+"This is fortunate, Mrs. Spencer!" he exclaimed. "Just after you left
+the Rataplan the Secretary of State telephoned that he was summoned to
+the White House at four, and I should bring you an hour earlier. On the
+chance of overtaking you, I beat it after you. Now if Captain Snodgrass
+will permit you, we have just time to get over to the Department."
+
+"Will you excuse me, Captain Snodgrass?" she asked, with her compelling
+smile.
+
+"A Secretary of State may not be denied," Snodgrass replied. "In this
+instance in particular I would I were his Excellency."
+
+"Come and dine with me at eight," giving him her hand.... "Now, Mr.
+Harleston, I am ready."
+
+"What did you do with Mrs. Clephane?" she asked, when they were started.
+
+"I left her at the Rataplan," he replied.
+
+"Alone?"
+
+"Oh no--with Carpenter, who chanced to be handy."
+
+"The bald-headed chap, who spoke to you in the dining-room?"
+
+"Exactly!"
+
+"Carpenter is the chief of the Cipher Division, I believe you said."
+
+"I don't recall that I said it, Madeline, but your information is
+correct."
+
+"I think I'll ask the Secretary for the letter," she remarked.
+
+"Ask him anything you've a mind to!" Harleston laughed. "You've a very
+winning pair of black eyes et cetera, my lady."
+
+"I've never seen the Secretary!" she smiled.
+
+"Small matter. He'll see you, all right."
+
+"I'll make an impression, you think?"
+
+"If you don't, it will be the first failure of the sort you've ever
+registered."
+
+"Except with you," she murmured.
+
+"Good Lord!" he exclaimed. "You've had me going many times."
+
+"Yes, Guy--but not now," she whispered.
+
+"Now, I'm strong!" he laughed, bluntly declining the overture.
+
+"Hence you are willing that I try my smiles on the Secretary," she
+retorted.
+
+"We are fellow diplomats," he countered. "You did me a good turn in the
+Du Plesis affair; I'm trying now to show my appreciation. Moreover, it
+will give Snodgrass an opportunity to reflect on your beauty and
+fascinating ways--and to look forward to eight o'clock."
+
+"It is pleasant to have something agreeable to look forward to," she
+replied, ironically suggestive.
+
+"Isn't it?" he approved. "I don't know anything more pleasant--unless it
+is the finishing stroke of an _affaire Diplomatique_."
+
+"Do you anticipate the finishing stroke to the present affair?"
+
+"In due time."
+
+"Due time?" she inflected.
+
+"Whatever is necessary in the premises," he explained.
+
+"It hasn't then gotten beyond the premises?"
+
+"No, it hasn't gotten beyond the premises," he replied--with an inward
+chuckle.
+
+There was no occasion to explain that, by the latter premises, he meant
+herself. His whole scheme was dependent on her having the traitorous
+letter in her possession. He was quite sure Snodgrass had received it by
+mail at the Rataplan; and why had he put the unopened envelope in his
+pocket unless to give it to her on their way to the Chateau. And as he
+(Harleston) had caught her as she alighted from the taxi, and had
+hurried her off to the State Department, she must still have it. Of
+course, there was the possibility that Snodgrass had not yet delivered
+it; so Snodgrass was being looked after by others.
+
+"Won't you give me a line on his Excellency, Guy?" she asked. "Is he
+easy, or difficult, or neither?"
+
+"I may not betray the weak points of my chief!" Harleston smiled.
+"Moreover, here we are," as the taxi came to a stop on the Seventeenth
+Street side of an atrociously ugly, and miserably inadequate building
+that partially houses three Departments of the great American
+Government.
+
+"Am I to be left alone with the great one?" she asked, as they went up
+the steps from the sidewalk.
+
+"What do you wish me to do?" he inquired.
+
+"Wait until I signal!"
+
+"And if his Excellency signals first?"
+
+"It will be for me to influence that signal," she replied.
+
+They took the private elevator to the next floor. The old negro
+messenger was waiting at the door of the reception room and he bowed to
+the floor--a portion of the bow was for Harleston, but by far the
+larger portion was for Madeline Spencer.
+
+"De Sec'eta'y, seh, am waiting for you all at onct, Mars Ha'lison," he
+said; and ushering them across the big room to the Secretary's private
+office he swung back the heavy door and bowed them into the Presence.
+
+As she passed the threshold, Mrs. Spencer caught her breath sharply, and
+straightened her shoulders just a trifle. She saw where she stood, and
+what was coming. Very well--she would defeat them yet.
+
+
+
+
+XXIV
+
+THE CANDLE FLAME
+
+
+The Secretary was standing by the window; with him were Mrs. Clephane
+and Carpenter.
+
+"How do you do, Mrs. Spencer!" he said, without waiting for the formal
+presentation.
+
+She dropped him--Continental fashion--a bit of curtsy and offered him
+her slender fingers; which, as well as the rest of her hand, he took and
+held. Its shapeliness together with her beauty of face and figure were
+instantly swept up by his appraising glance.
+
+"Your Excellency is very gracious!" she murmured bestowing on him a look
+that fairly dizzied him.
+
+Small wonder, he thought, that she was reputed the most fascinating and
+loveliest secret agent in Europe--and the most dangerous to the other
+party involved; it would be a rare man, indeed, who could withstand such
+charms, to say nothing of the alluring and appealing ways that must go
+with them. If he only might try them--just to test his own fine power
+of resistance and adamantine will! He shot a quick glance of suppressed
+irritation at Harleston--and Madeline Spencer saw it and smiled, turning
+the smile toward Harleston.
+
+"I know what you are about to do," the smile said. "Now do it if you
+can. You were afraid to trust me alone with this man; you knew how easy
+he would be for me. Proceed with your game, Mr. Harleston--and play it
+out."
+
+Meanwhile the Secretary, still holding her hand, was saying:
+
+"Let me present the Fifth Assistant Secretary of State, Mr.
+Carpenter;--" and Carpenter received a smile only a little less dazzling
+than that bestowed on his chief--"I believe you have met Mrs. Clephane,"
+he ended, and only then did he release her hand.
+
+"Yes, I have met Mrs. Clephane," she replied indifferently, and without
+so much as a glance her way.
+
+It was to be a battle, so why delay it?
+
+"Your Excellency," said she, "when this appointment was made, some days
+ago, I thought that it was merely to enable an insignificant woman to
+say that she had met a great dignitary and famous man. I think so no
+longer. It has assumed an international significance. I am here not as
+plain Madeline Spencer but as Madeline Spencer of the German Secret
+Service. It seems that a certain letter intended for the French
+Ambassador has gone astray, and has come into your possession; therefore
+I am to be asked to explain the matter, though I've never seen the
+letter nor know the cipher in which, I am told by Mr. Harleston, it is
+written. So what is it you would of me, your Excellency?"
+
+"My dear Madame Spencer," said the Secretary, "what you say as to the
+original reason for this little meeting, arranged by our mutual friend,
+Mr. Harleston, is absolutely correct--except that it was a mere man who
+was desirous of being presented to a beautiful and a famous woman. It
+seems, however, that certain circumstances have suddenly arisen that
+made it imperative for the meeting to be advanced half an hour--"
+
+"What are those circumstances, may I ask?" she cut in.
+
+"I shall have to request Mr. Harleston to answer. To be quite candid,
+Madame Spencer, I can only infer them; Mr. Harleston arranged them."
+
+She turned to Harleston with a mocking smile.
+
+"I am listening, monsieur," she inflected. "What is it you, or rather
+America, would of me?"
+
+"The letter you have in your possession," said Harleston.
+
+"The letter!" she marvelled. "Why, Mr. Harleston, you know quite well
+that I never had the Clephane letter."
+
+"Very true; we have the Clephane letter, as you style it; and we have
+also a _translation_. What we want from you is the letter that Captain
+Snodgrass took from his mail box at the Rataplan this afternoon, and
+gave to you in the taxi on the way to the Chateau."
+
+She smiled incredulously.
+
+"Absurd, sir!" she replied. "Surely you are not serious!"
+
+"Let me be entirely specific," he returned "I'll put all my cards on the
+table and play them open."
+
+"Double dummy, by all means!" she laughed, perching her lithe length on
+the arm of a chair, one slender foot swinging slowly back and forth.
+"Your play, monsieur."
+
+"There is no need to go back farther than this morning," he observed.
+"We knew that you were to meet Captain Snodgrass and lunch with him at
+one o'clock at the Rataplan. Your man Marston, when he visited Mr.
+Carpenter this morning, managed inadvertently to furnish the key-word of
+the Clephane letter. Do you see whither your meeting with Snodgrass, an
+ex-officer of the Army, in view of the translation of the letter leads,
+Madeline? Marston, I might remark, was quickly apprehended; if he made a
+copy of the letter, he had no opportunity to use it. Well, you went to
+the Rataplan with Snodgrass--every movement you two made, from the time
+you joined Snodgrass at the Chateau until I myself put you in my cab
+when you returned to the hotel, was observed by numerous and competent
+shadows. We were convinced that you were to receive the formula--"
+
+"What formula, Guy?"
+
+"The formula mentioned in the Clephane letter," he explained; "which
+formula you received from Snodgrass during the ride back from the
+Rataplan to the Chateau. He received it there by post, and got it from
+his box as you were leaving. He even was foolish enough to open the
+original envelope, and to put the one enclosed, unopened in his pocket.
+You immediately took a taxi for the Chateau. My taxi was close behind
+yours; and I caught you as you were alighting and hurried you off to--"
+
+"This pleasant appointment!" she laughed. "I suppose, Guy, you want the
+envelope and contents--which you assume Captain Snodgrass transferred to
+me in the taxi; _n'est-ce pas?_"
+
+"Exactly, Madeline."
+
+"And it's three strong men and one woman against poor me," she
+shrugged--"unless Mrs. Clephane is merely a disinterested spectator."
+
+"I am always interested in what Mr. Harleston does," Edith replied
+sweetly.
+
+"Particularly when he is doing another woman," was the retort.
+
+"It depends somewhat on the woman done," said Edith.
+
+"Why are you here?" Mrs. Spencer laughed.
+
+"To see the end of the affair of the cab-of-the-sleeping-horse."
+
+Mrs. Spencer shrugged and turned to Harleston.
+
+"Do you expect to end it, Guy?" she asked. "Because if you do, and this
+formulaic letter, that you think I have, will end it, I am sorry indeed
+to disappoint you. I haven't that letter, nor do I know anything as to
+it."
+
+"In that event you have the consideration which you were to pay for the
+letter," Harleston returned.
+
+"My dear Guy, where would I carry this consideration?" she laughed, with
+a sweeping motion to her narrow lingerie gown that could not so much as
+conceal a pocket.
+
+"I don't imagine that you are carrying gold or even Bank of England
+notes. You're not so crude. The consideration is, most likely, a note to
+the German Ambassador, on the presentation of which the money will be
+paid in good American gold. And I'm so sure of the facts that it is
+either the formula or the consideration. The latter we shall not
+appropriate; the former we shall keep."
+
+"And if I have neither?" she asked.
+
+"Then we get neither--though that is a consummation most unlikely."
+
+"And how are you to determine?"
+
+"By your gracious surrender of it!"
+
+She laughed softly. "But if I am not able to be gracious?"
+
+"I trust that we shall not be obliged to go so far." And when she would
+have answered he cut her short, courteously but with finality. "You've
+lost, Madeline; now be a good loser. You've won from me, and made me pay
+stakes and then some--and I've paid and smiled."
+
+"Exactly! You've paid; I can't pay, because one loses before one pays,
+and I haven't anything to lose."
+
+"You will prove it?" he asked.
+
+"Certainly," said she. "Do you wish me to submit to a search?"
+
+"I don't wish it, but you have left no alternative."
+
+"Burr!" went the telephone.
+
+The Secretary answered. "Here is Mr. Harleston," he said and pushed the
+instrument over.
+
+"This is Ranleigh," came the voice. "We've searched the man, also the
+cab, and found nothing beyond some innocent personal correspondence.
+We've retained the correspondence and let the man go."
+
+"That, I suppose," Mrs. Spencer remarked as Harleston hung up the
+receiver, "was to say that Mr. Snodgrass and the cab have been
+thoroughly searched and nothing suspicious found."
+
+"Your intuition is marvellous," Harleston answered. "Major Ranleigh's
+report was that exactly. Consequently, Madeline, the letter must be with
+you."
+
+"How about the consideration that Captain Snodgrass received from me in
+return for the formulaic letter?" she asked. "He doesn't seem to have
+had it."
+
+"Maybe you managed both to get the letter from him and to keep the
+consideration. It would not be the first time I have known you to
+accomplish it."
+
+"Only once--against you, Guy!" she laughed.
+
+Which was a lie; but scored for her--and, for the moment, silenced him.
+
+She shot a glance at the Secretary. He was beating a tattoo on the pad
+before him and looking calmly at her--as impersonal as though she were a
+door-jamb; and she understood; however much he might be inclined to aid
+her, this was not the time for him even to appear interested. On another
+occasion, _a deux_, he would display sufficient ardour and admiration.
+At present it must be the impassive face and the judicial manner. The
+business of the great Government he had the honour to represent was at
+issue!
+
+There being no help from that high and mighty quarter, she turned to
+Harleston.
+
+"Well," with a shrug of resignation, "I've lost and must pay. Here,"
+opening the mesh-bag that she carried, "is the--"
+
+She threw up her hand, and a nasty little automatic was covering the
+Secretary's heart.
+
+He gave a shout--and sat perfectly still. Mrs. Clephane, with an
+exclamation of fear, laid her hand on Harleston's arm. Carpenter was
+impassive. Harleston suppressed a smile.
+
+"Tell them if I can shoot straight, Guy," Mrs. Spencer said pleasantly;
+"and meanwhile do you all keep your exact distance and position. Speak
+your piece, Mr. Harleston--tell his Excellency if I can shoot."
+
+"I am quite ready to assume it without the testimony of Mr. Harleston,
+or ocular demonstration in this immediate direction," the Secretary
+remarked with a weak grin.
+
+"Tell him, if I can shoot, Guy," she ordered.
+
+"I've never seen her better," Harleston admitted "though I'm not at all
+fearful for your Excellency. Mrs. Spencer won't shoot; she's only
+bluffing. If you'll say the word, I'll engage to disarm her."
+
+"Meanwhile what happens to his Excellency?" Madeline Spencer mocked.
+
+"Nothing whatever--except a few nervous moments."
+
+"Try it, Mr. Secretary, and find out!" she laughed across the levelled
+revolver.
+
+"Train your gun on Mr. Harleston and test him," the Secretary suggested,
+attempting to be facetious and failing.
+
+Mrs. Spencer might be, probably was, bluffing but he did not propose to
+be the one to call it; the result was quite too uncertain. He had never
+looked into the muzzle of a revolver, and he found the experience
+distinctly unpleasant--she held the barrel so steady and pointed
+straight at his heart. Diplomatic secrets were wanted of course, but
+they were not to be purchased by the life of the Secretary of State,
+nor even by an uncertain chance at it.
+
+"Mr. Harleston's life isn't sufficiently valuable to the nation," she
+replied, "I prefer to shoot you, if necessary--though I trust it won't
+be necessary. What's a mere scrap of paper, without value save as a
+means to detect its author, compared to the life of the greatest
+American diplomat? Moreover, the letter would yield you nothing as to
+its meaning nor its author. The meaning you already know, since you have
+found the key-word to the cipher; so only the author remains; and as it
+is typewritten you will have small, very small, prospect from it." She
+had read the Secretary aright--and now she asked: "Am I not correct,
+your Excellency?"
+
+"I think you are," the Secretary replied, "We all are obligated and
+quite ready to give our lives for our country, if the sacrifice will
+benefit it in the very least; yet I can't see the obligation in this
+instance, can you Harleston?"
+
+"None in the least, sir, provided your life were at issue," Harleston
+answered. "For my part, I think it isn't even seriously threatened. If
+Mrs. Spencer will shift her aim to me, I'll take a chance."
+
+Mrs. Clephane gave a suppressed exclamation and an involuntary motion of
+protest--and Mrs. Spencer saw her.
+
+"Mrs. Clephane seems to be concerned lest I accept!" she jeered.
+
+Mrs. Clephane blushed ravishingly, and Harleston caught her in the act;
+whereupon she blushed still more, and turned away.
+
+"Play acting!" mocked Madeline Spencer--then, shrugging the matter
+aside, she turned to the Secretary. "Since we two are of one mind in the
+affair before us, your Excellency," she observed, "I fancy I may take it
+as settled. Nevertheless you will pardon me if I don't depress my aim
+until we have attended to a little matter; it will occupy us but a
+moment," making a step nearer the desk and away from the others, yet
+still holding them in her eye.
+
+"What is it you wish, madame?" the Secretary inquired a trifle huskily;
+his throat was becoming somewhat parched by the anxiety of the
+situation.
+
+"I see you have on your desk a small blue candle; employed, I assume,
+for melting wax for your private seal," she went on. "May I trouble your
+Excellency to light the aforesaid candle?"
+
+The Secretary promptly struck a match, and managed with a most unsteady
+hand to touch it to the wick.
+
+As the flame flared up, she drew a narrow envelope from her bag and
+tossed it on the desk before him.
+
+"Now," said she, "will you be kind enough to look at the enclosure."
+
+The Secretary took up the envelope and drew out the sheet. It was a
+single sheet of the thinnest texture used for foreign correspondence. He
+looked first at one side, then at the other.
+
+"What do you see, sir?" she asked.
+
+"The sheet is blank," he replied.
+
+"Try the envelope," she recommended.
+
+He turned it over. "It also is blank," he said.
+
+"Sympathetic ink!" Carpenter laughed.
+
+"Just what we are about to see, wise one!" she mocked. "Now, your
+Excellency, will you place the envelope in the candle's flame?"
+
+The Secretary took the envelope by the tip of one corner and held it in
+the blaze until it was burned to his fingers--no writing was disclosed.
+
+"Now the letter, please?" she directed. And when Carpenter would have
+protested, she cut him short with a peremptory gesture. "Don't
+interrupt, sir!" she exclaimed.
+
+And Carpenter laughed softly and did nothing more--being, with
+Harleston, in enjoyment of their chief's discomfiture.
+
+"The letter--see--your Excellency," she repeated with a bewildering
+smile.
+
+And as the flame crept down the thin sheet, just ahead of it, apparent
+to them all, crept also the writing, brought out by the heat. In a
+moment it was over; the last bit of the corner burning in a brass tray
+where the Secretary had dropped it.
+
+"Now, Mr. Harleston," said Madeline Spencer, lowering her revolver as
+the final flicker of the flame expired, "I am ready to submit to a
+search."
+
+Harleston glanced inquiringly at the Secretary.
+
+"The lady is with you," the Secretary remarked with a sigh of relief.
+
+"Very well, sir," said Harleston. "Ranleigh has a skilled woman in the
+waiting-room, she will officiate in the matter. We're not likely to find
+anything, but it's to provide against the chance."--And turning to
+Madeline Spencer: "Whatever the outcome, madame, you will leave
+Washington tonight and sail from New York on the morrow; and I should
+advise you to remain abroad so long as you are in the Diplomatic
+Service."
+
+And she--knowing very well that the search was necessary, and aware that
+while there was nothing incriminating upon her yet from that moment,
+until the ship that carried her passed out to sea, she would be under
+close espionage--answered, pleasantly as though accepting a courtesy
+tendered, and with a winning smile:
+
+"I had arranged to sail tomorrow, Mr. Harleston so it will be just as
+intended. Meanwhile, I'm at the service of your female assistant. She
+will find nothing, I assure you."
+
+"Give me the pleasure of conducting you to her," Harleston replied, and
+swung open the door.
+
+"If Mrs. Clephane will trust you with me," she inflected, flouting the
+other with a meaning look; which look flitted across the room to the
+Secretary and changed to one of interrogation as it met his eyes--calm
+eyes and steady, and with never a trace of the interest that she knew
+was behind them, yet dared not show--yet awhile.
+
+And Mrs. Clephane answered her look by a shrug; and Harleston answered
+that to the Secretary by a soft chuckle. As the door closed behind
+them, he remarked:
+
+"At a more propitious time."
+
+To which she responded:
+
+"Which time may never come." Then she held out her hand. "Good-bye,
+Guy," she smiled.
+
+"Good-bye, Madeline," said he; "and good luck another time--with other
+opponents."
+
+"And we'll call this--"
+
+"A stale-mate! I didn't win everything, yet what I lost was of no
+moment--"
+
+"Do you think so?" she asked sharply.
+
+"To my client, the United States," he added. "So far as I am concerned,
+Madeline, we still are friends."
+
+He put out his hand again; she hesitated just an instant; then, with one
+of her rare, frank smiles, she laid her own hand in it.
+
+"Guy," she whispered, "she wasn't as bad as she was painted; in fact,
+she wasn't bad at all--and I know."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Your Secretary of State is a peculiar man?" Mrs. Clephane observed, as
+she and Harleston came down the steps into the Avenue.
+
+Harleston leaned over. "I'll confide to you that he is an egotistical
+and insufferable old ass," he whispered.
+
+"And yet he thinks he is a perfect fascinator with the ladies!" she
+laughed. "Even now he is contemplating what a conquest he made of Mrs.
+Spencer. It was great fun to watch her playing him; and then how
+suddenly he pulled himself up and assumed a judicial manner--which
+deceived no one. Certainly it didn't deceive her, for the flying look
+she gave him, as she went out, was the cleverest thing she did. It told
+him everything he wanted to know, and simply gorged his vanity. She may
+be, doubtless is, a bad, bad lot; yet nevertheless I can't help liking
+her--and for finesse and skill she is a wonder." Then she looked at him
+demurely. "You're fond of her, Mr. Harleston, are you not?"
+
+"I'm fond of her," he replied slowly; "but not as fond as I once was,
+and not so long ago, I'll tell you more about it before we go in to
+dinner this evening."
+
+"I wasn't aware that we were to dine together In fact, I was thinking of
+doing something else."
+
+"But you _will_ dine with me now, won't you?" he asked meaningly.
+
+Her eyes hesitated, and fell, and a bewitching flush stole into her
+cheek; she understood that he asked of her something more than a mere
+dinner. And, after a pause, she answered softly, yet not so softly but
+that he heard:
+
+"If you wish it, Monsieur Harleston."
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAB OF THE SLEEPING HORSE***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 15094.txt or 15094.zip *******
+
+
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/0/9/15094
+
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+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
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit:
+https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+