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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/25689-8.txt b/25689-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..700ea48 --- /dev/null +++ b/25689-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13810 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Secret Witness, by George Gibbs + +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 Secret Witness + +Author: George Gibbs + +Release Date: June 3, 2008 [EBook #25689] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SECRET WITNESS *** + + + + +Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + _The_ SECRET WITNESS + + BY GEORGE GIBBS + + AUTHOR OF "PARADISE GARDEN," "THE YELLOW DOVE," ETC. + + ILLUSTRATED BY GEORGE BREHM + + +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY +NEW YORK LONDON +1917 + +Copyright, 1917, by the Curtis Publishing Company +Published in the United States of America + +TO MY FRIEND +MAJOR R. TAIT McKENZIE, R.A.M.C. + + + + +[Illustration: "Your veil--quick," he stammered breathlessly.] + + + + +CONTENTS + + +I. JUNE 12, 1914 + +II. COURT SECRETS + +III. THE HABSBURG HAVEN + +IV. SECRET INFORMATION + +V. TWO INTRUDERS + +VI. HERR WINDT + +VII. THE GREEN LIMOUSINE + +VIII. AN ESCAPE AND A CAPTURE + +IX. CAPTAIN GORITZ + +X. DIAMOND CUTS DIAMOND + +XI. THE MAN IN BLACK + +XII. FLIGHT + +XIII. TRAGEDY + +XIV. THE HARIM + +XV. THE LIGHTED WINDOWS + +XVI. THE BEG OF RATAJ + +XVII. THE MAN IN ARMOR + +XVIII. NUMBER 28 + +XIX. DISGUISE + +XX. RENWICK QUESTIONS + +XXI. AN IMPERSONATION + +XXII. THE NEEDLE IN THE HAYSTACK + +XXIII. SCHLOSS SZOLNOK + +XXIV. PRISONER AND CAPTIVE + +XXV. THE RIFT IN THE ROCK + +XXVI. THE DEATH GRIP + +XXVII. BESIEGED + +IN REGARD TO THE EVIDENCE IN THE CASE + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +"Your veil--quick," he stammered breathlessly. + +"It is too late," she murmured. "They would see us." + +"Who are you?" she asked. + +His Excellency rose and bowed over her hand-- + +"Be quiet. People are watching you," said Goritz sternly. + +"Thank you," she said simply. "I believe you." + + + + +THE SECRET WITNESS + + + + +CHAPTER I + +JUNE 12, 1914 + + +The Countess Marishka was fleet of foot. She was straight and slender +and she set a pace for Renwick along the tortuous paths in the rose +gardens of the Archduke which soon had her pursuer gasping. She ran like +a boy, her dark hair falling about her ears, her draperies like Nike's +in the wind, her cheeks and eyes glowing, a pretty quarry indeed and +well worthy of so arduous a pursuit. For Renwick was not to be denied +and as the girl turned into the path which led to the thatched arbor, he +saw that she was breathing hard and the half-timorous laugh she threw +over her shoulder at him only spurred him on to new endeavor. He reached +the hedge as she disappeared, but his instinct was unerring and he +leaped through the swaying branches just in time to see the hem of her +skirt in the foliage on the other side and plunging through caught her +in his arms just as she sank, laughing breathlessly, to the spangled +shadows of the turf beyond. + +"Marishka," he cried joyously, "did you mean it?" + +But she wouldn't reply. + +"You said that if I caught you----" + +"The race--isn't always--to the swift--" she protested falteringly in +her pretty broken English. + +"Your promise----" + +"I made no promise." + +"You'll make it now, the one I've waited for--for weeks--Marishka. Lift +up your head." + +"No, no," she stammered. + +"Then I----" + +Renwick caught her in his arms again and turned her chin upward. Her +eyes were closed, but as their lips met her figure relaxed in his arms +and her head sank upon his shoulder. + +"You run very fast, Herr Renwick," she whispered. + +"You'll marry me, Marishka?" + +"Who shall say?" she evaded. + +"Your own lips. You've given them to me----" + +"No, no. You have taken them----" + +"It is all the same. They are mine." And Renwick took them again. + +"Oh," she gasped, "you are so persistent--you English. You always wish +to have your own way." + +He laughed happily. + +"Would you have me otherwise? My way and your way, Marishka, they go +together. You wish it so, do you not?" + +She was silent a while, the wild spirit in her slowly submissive, and at +last a smile moved her lips, her dark eyes were upturned to his and she +murmured a little proudly: + +"It is a saying among the women of the House of Strahni that where the +lips are given the heart must follow." + +"Your heart, Marishka! Mine, for many weeks. I know it. It is the lips +which have followed." + +"What matters it now, belovèd," she sighed, "since you have them both?" + +Renwick smiled. + +"Nothing. I only wondered why you've kept me dangling so long." + +She was silent a moment. + +"I--I have been afraid." + +"Of what?" + +"I do not know. It is the Tzigane in my blood which reads into the +future----" + +She paused and he laughed gayly. + +"Because I am a foreigner----" + +"I have not always loved the English. I have thought them cold, +different from my people." + +He kissed her again. + +"And I could let you believe me that!" + +She laughed. "Oh, no.... But you have shown me enough." And, pushing him +gently away, "I am convinced, _mon ami_...." + +"As if you couldn't have read it in my eyes----" + +"Alas! One reads--and one runs----" + +"You couldn't escape me. It was written." + +"Yes," she said dreamily, "I believe that now." And then, "But if +anything should come between us----" + +"What, Marishka?" he smiled. + +"I don't know. I have always thought that love would not come to me +without bitterness." + +"What bitterness, _liebchen_?" + +She settled softly closer to him and shrugged lightly. "How should I +know?" + +He smiled at her proudly and caught her brown hand to his lips. + +"You are dyed in the illusions of your race,--mystery--fatalism. They +become you well. But here among the roses of Konopisht there is no room +in my heart or yours for anything but happiness. See how they nod to +each other in the sunlight, Marishka. Like us, they love and are loved. +June comes to Bohemia but once a year--or to us. Let us bloom in the +sunlight like them--happy--happy----" + +"Blood red, the roses," she said pensively. "The white ones please me +better. But they are so few. The Archduke likes the red ones best. What +is the verse? + + "I sometimes think that never blows so red + The Rose as where some buried Cæsar bled." + +"What matter Cæsar or Kaiser to us, Marishka? Our own kingdom----" + +"Yes, yes," she sighed. "And I am happy in it. You know it, _nicht +wahr_?" + +Silence, except for the drowsy hum of the bees and the songs of the +birds. No fatalism is long proof against the call of love and June. +Marishka was content that her flight had ended in capture and sat +dreamily gazing at the white clouds floating overhead while she listened +to the voice at her ear, replying to it in monosyllables, the language +of acquiescence and content. The moments passed. Konopisht was no longer +a garden. Enchanted their bower and even the red roses forgotten. + +Suddenly the girl started upright to her knees, and peered wide-eyed +through an opening in the foliage. + +"What is it, Marishka?" + +She put a finger to her lips in token of silence, and Renwick followed +her gaze down the graveled path which led toward the arbor. As +under-secretary of the British Embassy in Vienna, he had been trained to +guard his emotions against surprises, but the sight of the three figures +which were approaching them down the path left him bereft for the moment +of all initiative. In the center walked the Archduke, pulling +deliberately at his heavy dark mustaches while he listened to the figure +upon his right, a man of medium stature, who wore a hunting suit and a +jäger hat with a feather in it. He carried his left hand, concealing a +defect of his arm, in the pocket of his shooting jacket, while with his +free right hand he swung an ebony cane. His mustaches were turned +straight upward from the corners of his mouth and the aggressive chin +shot outward as he glanced right and left, talking meanwhile with his +companions. The third figure was very tall, topping even the Archduke, +who was by no means small of stature, by at least six inches; his hair, +or as much of it as could be seen beneath the soft hat, was gray, and a +long beard, almost white in the patches at either side of the chin, +descended in two long points half of the way to his waist. + +Renwick recognized the visitors at once, and turned toward his startled +companion, his own mind as to the propriety of his situation at once +made up. + +"Marishka," he whispered, "we must go." + +"It is too late," she murmured. "They would see us." + +[Illustration: "It is too late," she murmured. "They would see us."] + +"And what does that matter?" + +"I forgot," she breathed helplessly. "I was told I was not to come today +into the rose garden. I wondered why. Sh----! Sit still. Crouch lower. +Perhaps they will pass on and then----" + +Renwick obeyed somewhat dubiously and sank, scarcely daring to breathe, +beneath the thick foliage beside the arbor which concealed his +companion. She seized his hand and he felt her fingers trembling in his +own, but he pressed them gently--aware that the tremors of the girl's +fingers as the footsteps approached the arbor were being unpleasantly +communicated to his own. The breach of hospitality to the household of +the Archduke, upon whose land he was, was as nothing beside the breach +of etiquette to the Empire by his Chief. Renwick's nerves were good but +he trembled with Marishka. The friendship of nations depended upon the +security of his concealment--more than that--and less than that--his own +fate and the girl's. And so Renwick crouched beside her and silently +prayed in English, a language he thought more fitted to the desperate +nature of his desires, that the three figures would pass on to another +part of the garden, that they, the luckless lovers, might flee to the +abandoned tennis court in innocence and peace. + +But Renwick's prayers were not to be answered. Had he known at the +moment how deeply the two of them were to be enmeshed in the skein of +Europe's destiny he would have risen and faced the anger of his host, +or, risking detection, incontinently fled. But Marishka's hand clasped +his own, and lucklessly, he waited. + +The three men reached the gate of the arbor, the smaller one entering +first, the giant with the gray beard, at a gesture from their host, +following, and they all sat in chairs around the small iron table. +Renwick was paralyzed with fear and Marishka's chill fingers seemed +frozen to his. There had been rumors in the chancellories of Europe of +this visit to Konopisht to see the most wonderful rose garden in Bohemia +in mid-June, but Renwick knew, as did every other diplomat in Vienna, +that the visit to the roses of Konopisht was a mere subterfuge. If there +had been any doubt in the Englishman's mind as to the real nature of the +visit, the grave expressions upon the faces of the men in the arbor +would speedily have set him right. The Archduke opened a cigarette case +and offered it to his companions who helped themselves with some +deliberation. + +"A wonderful rose garden, truly, my friend," said the man in the jäger +hat with a smile which broke the grave lines of his face into pleasant +wrinkles. "I will give your gardener twice what you offer him to come to +me." + +The Archduke showed his white teeth in a smile. "_Majestät_ has but to +request----" + +"A jest, my friend. It would be unmannerly. It is Her Highness that I +would also rob, for roses, after all, are more a woman's pleasure than a +man's." + +"The Duchess spends many hours here----" + +"The _Arch_ Duchess," corrected the other vehemently. + +The Archduke shrugged. "She will always hold that rank in my heart," he +said quietly. + +"And with me and my House," said the other quickly. + +"It is a pity that my own family should not be of the same mind." + +"It matters nothing," said the other. "Nothing. You shall see." + +The Archduke examined the ash of his cigarette, but said nothing. + +"You must realize, my great and good friend," continued the man in the +hunting suit, "that I did not come to Konopisht only to see your roses." + +The Archduke nodded attentively. + +"The fortunes of your family are linked to mine by ties deeper than +those of blood,--a community of interest and of fortune which involves +the welfare, happiness and progress of many millions of people. The +history of civilization in Europe has reached a new page, one which must +be written by those who have in keeping the Divine destiny of the +Germanic race. It is not a time to falter before the graveness of our +responsibility and the magnitude of our undertakings. I spoke of these +things at Eckartsau. I think you understand." + +The Archduke nodded gravely. + +"I will not shirk any responsibility. I hesitated once. That hour has +passed. Sophie--Maximilian--Ernest----" + +"They must have their heritage." + +The man in the jäger hat got up and paced impatiently the length of the +arbor, at one moment within three yards of the terrified lovers in the +foliage. + +"Are we alone, your Highness?" he asked of the Archduke. + +"I gave orders that no one should enter the rose garden at any time this +afternoon," replied his host. + +"It is well." He sent a quick glance toward the tall man who had risen. +"You understand, Admiral, _nicht wahr_?" + +A guttural sound came from the old man's throat. + +"The destinies of Europe, _meine Herren_," he went on. + +"_Majestät_ may speak on," said the Archduke coolly, "without fear of +eavesdroppers." + +Renwick, crouched beneath the foliage, was incapable of motion. All his +will power was used in the effort to control his breathing, and reduce +his body to absolute inertness. But as the moments passed, and the men +in the arbor gave no sign of suspicion he gained confidence, all his +professional instincts aroused at the import of this secrecy and the +magnificence of the impending revelations. He was England, waiting, +alert, on guard, for the safety and peace of Europe. He did not dare to +look at Marishka, for fear of the slightest motion or sound which might +betray them. Only their hands clasped, though by this time neither of +them was conscious of the contact. + +"At Eckartsau, my brother," went on the smaller man, "you and I came to +an understanding. Maximilian and Ernest are growing toward manhood. And +what is that manhood to be? Habsburg blood flows in their veins as it +flows in you, the Heir Presumptive, but the Family Law debars them. Not +even the Este estates can pass to your children. They will become +pensioners upon the bounty of those who hate their mother." + +"Impossible!" whispered the Archduke tensely. "It must not be. I will +find a way----" + +"Listen, Franz, my brother. A magnificent horizon spreads before you. +Look at it. Part of the Duchy of Posen, the ancient Kingdom of Poland +with Lithuania and the Ukraine, the Poland of the Jagellons, stretching +from the Baltic to the Black Sea. Yours. And after you, Maximilian's. +For Ernest, Bohemia, Hungary, the Southern Slav lands of Austria, +Serbia, the Slav coast of the Eastern Adriatic and Saloniki;--two +Empires in one. And the states of those who have despised Sophie +Chotek----" he paused expressively and snapped his jaws, "the Austrian +Erbländer will come into the Confederated German Empire." He paused +again and then went on more quietly, "Between us two a close and +perpetual military and economic alliance, to be the arbiters of Europe +under the Divine will, dominating the West and commanding the road to +the East." He paused and took a fresh cigarette from the box on the +table. + +"It is what I have dreamed," murmured the deep voice of the Archduke. +"And yet it is no dream, but reality. Fate plays into my hands. At no +time have we been in a better position." + +It was the turn of the Archduke to walk the floor of the arbor with long +strides, his hands behind him, his gaze bent before him. + +"Yes, civilization, progress--all material things. But the Church--you +forget, _Majestät_, that your people and mine are of different faiths. +Some assurance I must have that there will be no question----" + +"Willingly," said the other, rising. "Do not my people serve God as they +choose? For you, if you like, the Holy Roman Empire reconstituted with +you as its titular head, the sovereignty of central Europe intact--all +the half formulated experiments of the West, at the point of the sword. +This is your mission--and mine!" + +The two men faced each other, eye to eye, but the smaller dominated. + +"A pact, my brother," said the man in the hunting-suit, extending his +hand. + +The Archduke hesitated but a moment longer, and then thrust forward. The +hands clasped, while beside the two, the tall man stood like a Viking, +his great head bent forward, his forked beard wagging over the table. + +"A pact," repeated the Archduke, "which only Death may disrupt." + +They stood thus in a long moment of tension. It was he they called +_Majestät_ who first relaxed. + +"Death?" he smiled. "Who knows? God defends the Empire. It lives on in +my sons and yours." + +"Amen!" said the Archduke solemnly. + +"For the present," continued the other quietly, "silence! I shall advise +you. You can rely upon Von Hoetzendorf?" + +"Utterly. In two weeks I shall attend the grand maneuvers at Savajevo." + +"Oh, yes, of course. You shall hear from me." He took a few steps toward +the door of the arbor. "It does not do to stay here too long. We must +join the others. Berchtold, you said, is coming?" + +The Archduke nodded with a frown, and followed with the Admiral into the +garden. The sun had declined and the warm glow of late afternoon fell +upon the roses, dyeing them with a deeper red. But along the crimson +alleys the three men walked calmly, the smaller one still gesturing with +his ebony cane. Presently the sound of their footsteps upon the gravel +diminished and in a moment they disappeared beyond the hedge by the +greenhouses. + +Renwick in his place of concealment trembled again. The reaction had +come. He drew a long breath, moved his stiffened limbs and glanced at +his companion. Her face was like wax, pale as death and as colorless. +Her fingers in his were ice-cold. Her eyes, dark with bewilderment, +sought his blankly like those of a somnambulist. Renwick rose stiffly to +his knees and peered through the bushes. + +"They have gone," he muttered. + +"The Archduke!" she gasped. "You heard?" + +He nodded. + +"Have we dreamed? I cannot believe----" + +Renwick was thinking quickly. Marishka--their position--his duty--a way +of escape--one thought crowded another in his mind. He glanced about +through the foliage behind them and then rose to his feet. + +"I must get back to Vienna, at once," he said hoarsely. + +Marishka stood beside him, clinging to his arm. + +"And I--I know not what to do. I could not look Her Highness in the +face. But I too must go to Vienna. I am not versed in politics, but the +secret that we share is terrible. It oppresses me. Austria--my country!" + +She hid her face in her hands and stood silent a moment, in the throes +of a struggle, still trembling violently. At the touch of Renwick's +fingers upon her arm, she straightened, lowered her hands, her face now +quite composed. + +"I too must leave here at once," she said quietly. "I have an allegiance +stronger than my duty to Sophie Chotek. I am going----" + +"Where?" he asked. + +"To Schönbrunn." + +"But Marishka, have you thought----?" + +"I pray that you will waste no words. As you love me, Hugh, you will do +what I ask and be silent." + +"What can I do?" + +"Go with me to Vienna tonight." + +"That would be most imprudent. Your reputation----" + +"I care nothing. Will you accompany me?" + +Renwick shrugged. "Of course." + +"Then do as I bid you. I will show you a way out to a small gate from +the garden by which you can reach the public road. Go to your Inn. Make +arrangements for an automobile. I will join you tonight." She peered in +all directions through the foliage and then led the way through the +bushes in a direction opposite to that by which they had come. Renwick +followed silently, his mind turbulent. What was his duty? And where did +it conflict with Marishka's mad plan? What would his Ambassador have +wished him to do? And in what could he serve England best? He must have +time to think. For the present at least Marishka should have her way. +Indeed, had he wished, he saw no means of dissuading her. He would go +with her to Vienna, make a clean breast of things to his Chief, before +Marishka could carry out her plan. After that the matter would be out of +his hands. + +The girl descended some steps to a narrow gate in the hedge. Here +Renwick paused a moment to clasp her in his arms. + +"Belovèd," she whispered, "not now. Go. Follow the path to the wall. You +must climb it. Let no one see you descend. Au revoir. God be with you." + +And she was gone. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +COURT SECRETS + + +Hugh Renwick lay flat upon the coping of the wall for a moment peering +up and down the road until sure at last that the way was clear, when he +let himself down and walked rapidly in the direction of the village. The +events of the last hour were of a nature to disturb the equanimity of an +existence less well ordered than his. The winning of the Countess +Marishka, an achievement upon which he had set his whole soul for many +uncertain weeks in which hope and fear had fought a daily battle in his +heart--that in itself had been enough to convince him that the gods +looked upon him with favor--but this other _coup de foudre_! Whatever +the means by which his information had been obtained, the mere +possession of it and the revelation of it to his Ambassador was a +diplomatic achievement of the highest importance. There had long been +rumors of an _entente_ between Archduke and Kaiser, but _this_! He +rubbed his eyes to make sure that he was awake. + +Hugh Renwick was merely the average Englishman of good family and +wealth, who because of his education in a German university had found +the offer of the post of Vienna singularly attractive. He had filled his +position with circumspection, if not with brilliancy, and had made +himself sufficiently popular in court circles to be sure that if not a +triumphant success in the drudgery of the office, he was at least not +altogether a social failure. Good looking, wealthy, talented though he +was, it was something indeed to have won Marishka Strahni, who, apart +from her high position in Vienna and the success of a season, was, as he +well knew, the finest girl in all Austria. Even yet he doubted his good +fortune. He had come to Konopisht, where the girl was visiting the +Duchess of Hohenberg, who had been a childhood friend of her mother's. +As everyone in Vienna knew, Sophie Chotek was ineligible for the high +position she occupied as consort of the Heir Presumptive. Though a +member of an ancient Bohemian family, that of Chotek and Wognin, the law +of the Habsburg's that archdukes may marry only those of equal rank, +forbade that the Duchess of Hohenberg and her children should share the +position of husband and father. She had been snubbed upon all the +occasions of her appearance at court functions, and had at last retired +to the Archduke's estates at Konopisht, where she led the secluded life +of the _ebenburtige_, still chafing, rumor had it, and more than ever +jealous and ambitious for the future of the children. + +Upon the occasion of a previous visit of the Countess Marishka to +Konopisht, Renwick had spent a week end at the castle, but he thanked +his stars that he was now stopping at the village inn. It would have +been difficult to go through the formality of leave-taking with the +shadow of this impending tragedy to Europe hanging over him. He pitied +Marishka from the bottom of his heart for he had seen the beginnings of +the struggle between her devotion to the Duchess and her duty to her +sovereign. But he knew enough of her quality to be sure that she would +carry out her plan at whatever the cost to her own feelings. + +As Renwick approached the gates which led into the Castle grounds, he +had an actual sense of the consequence of the Archduke's guests in the +appearance of soldiery and police which were to be seen in every +direction, and while he waited in the village road two automobiles came +out of the gate and dashed past him in the direction of the railroad +station, in the foremost of which he recognized Archduke Franz and his +guests of the rose garden. + +"The roses of Konopisht," he muttered, thinking of Marishka's fatalism. +"Were they symbols, those innocent red blossoms?" And then with an +inward smile, "Marishka! What bitterness could the roses of Konopisht +bring between Marishka and him?" + +A sense of the grave importance of his mission came over Renwick with a +rush. He looked at his watch. Six o'clock. It would have been hazardous +to use the wire to reach the Embassy even had he possessed a code. He +knew enough of the activities of the Austrian secret service to be sure +that in spite of his entrée at the Castle, his presence at Konopisht at +this time might be marked. He sauntered down the street with an air of +composure he was far from feeling. There was nothing for it but to obey +Marishka's injunctions and wait, upon his guard against surprises, but +ready to go to any extreme to reach Vienna and the Embassy with a sound +skin. He found the owner of a motor car, and telling the man that he was +traveling by night, he paid its owner in advance and engaged it to be at +a certain place by nightfall, promising a further payment if the matter +were kept secret. Then he went to the inn, took supper, and lighting his +pipe, paced the cobbles and waited. + +As the summer dusk fell slowly upon the streets of the little village, +Renwick found himself a prey to renewed apprehensions as to Marishka. +Had her presence and his in the rose garden been discovered by one of +the Archduke's retainers? And was she now a prisoner in the castle where +a few hours ago she had been so free a guest? She was clever, as he +knew, but the burden of her secret had marked its shadows upon her face. +What excuse would she offer the Duchess for her sudden departure? The +girl was dear to him, dearer than anything in the world but England, and +the thought of making a choice between her safety and the performance of +his duty was bitterly painful to him. Eight o'clock passed--nine. He had +gone inside the house again, for the actions of any stranger in +Konopisht were sure to be conspicuous and he felt himself already an +object of notice. But at last unable to bear the suspense inactive, he +went out, crossed the road and stood, his teeth clenched upon his +extinguished pipe, his gaze upon the road which led to the gates of the +Park. + +There she came to him, out of the darkness. At the touch of her fingers +he started, for he had not been expecting her from this direction, but +the sound of her voice fell like the balm of her presence upon his +spirit. + +"Thank God," he gasped. "Marishka, I was afraid----" + +"I came as soon as I could," she whispered rapidly in English. "It was +difficult. I could make no excuses for leaving. I pleaded fatigue and +went to my room. And when the opportunity offered, stole out through the +garden." + +"And your absence will not be discovered----?" + +"Not until tomorrow--when, please the Holy Virgin, I shall be at +Schönbrunn." + +He took her in his arms and kissed her warmly, but he felt the restraint +in her caress. + +"Hugh, belovèd, let us wait upon duty for our own happiness. I cannot +rest until I have told our dreadful secret. You have a motor car?" + +"Come," he said. And taking her small valise with his own, he led the +way to the spot where the machine was awaiting them. Marishka gave +directions and in a few moments they were off. The danger of detection, +once beyond the village, was slight, and their purpose to reach the +railroad at Budweis and take a late train to Vienna was not difficult of +accomplishment. The machine was none too good, but the road for the main +part was excellent. Renwick's arm was about the girl, and they sat +discussing their plans for the immediate future. + +"You have no fear for what you are about to do?" he asked. + +"What should I fear?" she said lightly. "I am only doing my duty." + +"There will be difficulties, will there not?" + +"Perhaps. But I shall succeed. Prince Montenuovo, the High Chamberlain +of the Court will listen to me." + +"But you will not tell him all." + +"Not unless it is necessary. You, Hugh, will take me to him." + +Renwick was silent for a moment. + +"Marishka," he said at last, "we share a terrible duty, yours to +Austria, and mine to England----" + +"But mine--is it not the greater?" she pleaded. "You must not speak, +Hugh, until I have given you permission." + +Renwick folded his arms and gazed stolidly into the darkness. + +"I must tell what I know to Sir Herbert," he said firmly. "You must not +ask me to be silent." + +He noticed the change in her voice as she replied, "Is my happiness so +slight a thing that you can refuse the first request I make of you?" + +He caught her hand to his lips. + +"Marishka, you know----" + +"My first request----" + +"There is nothing in the world that I would not do for you. You would +think little of me if I did not do my duty." + +"And of your duty to me----? Is that nothing?" + +Renwick smiled into the darkness. Had he been told six months ago that +he would be bandying the interests of England against the plans of a +pretty woman he would have laughed the idea to scorn. + +"What do you wish me to do, Marishka?" he asked gently. + +With a swift impulse, she threw her arms about his neck, whispering in +his ear. + +"O Hugh, I cannot bear that there should be a difference between us, +today, the first of our _fiançailles_. It will perhaps make no great +difference that you should tell what we have heard, for your country, +thank the Holy Virgin, is at friendship with mine. If you would but wait +until I give you permission." + +"And if something happened to me in the meanwhile----?" + +"Nothing can happen. No one at Konopisht can know. I am sure of +that--sure." + +Perhaps the moment of danger that had threatened their happiness had +made each more considerate, and the two great secrets that they +possessed, their own and the other more terrible one had strengthened +the bond between them. + +"I will wait until you have been to Schönbrunn," he decided. + +"Until I give you permission," she insisted. + +He kissed her. She believed it to be a promise and the tight pressure of +her hand rewarded him. In that moment of _rapprochement_, the destinies +of nations seemed a matter of little moment to them. + +"You will marry me soon, Marishka?" he murmured. + +"Perhaps," she whispered gently. + +Morning brought the pair in a _fiacre_ into the Schottenring, Marishka +weary but resolute, Renwick somewhat dubious as to their appearance at +this early hour alone in the streets of Vienna. But at his suggestion +that they drive first to the house of Marishka's aunt and guardian, +Baroness Racowitz, where some excuse could be made for the girl's +unexpected visit, Marishka only shook her head and gave the town address +of Prince Montenuovo, who, as she knew, was still in residence, the +Emperor not being expected at Ischl until the middle of July. Nor would +she permit Renwick to accompany her within the house, and so he sat +alone in the humble _fiacre_ for what seemed an interminable time, until +a man in livery came down the steps and gave him a note in Marishka's +hand. + + "I have succeeded in getting an audience. Go to the Embassy and + await word from me. Silence." + +And so at last he drove away to his hotel, sure at least that for the +present he had done his duty to Marishka. But this was no boy-and-girl +matter. The lives of nations, perhaps, hung upon his decision. In a weak +moment he had promised Marishka an impossible thing. He did not know +what danger hung over him. If anything happened to him England might +never know until it was too late. The vision of Marishka's pale face +haunted him, but he decided to take no further chances, and locking +himself in his own rooms, he wrote a long statement, in which he +accurately recounted his experience in the garden the day before. This +letter written, sealed, addressed, and given to a trusted servant to be +delivered into the hands of the Ambassador at a given time, Renwick +breathed a sigh of relief, then bathed, dressed, and waited. + +It was not until some days later that he heard in detail of Marishka's +visit to the Emperor. The High Chamberlain, aware of the visit of the +Countess Strahni to Konopisht, and convinced of her earnestness and +anxiety, had acted immediately. The Emperor fortunately was not ailing +and the audience was obtained without difficulty. Franz Joseph at +eighty-four, and burdened with more sorrows than those that fall to the +lot of the average man, still found interest in the complaints and +petitions of his subjects and had audience on certain days at +Schönbrunn. It was this intimate touch with his people, kept through +many years, which endeared him to his subjects, and stories of his +paternal kindness were thus continually sent the length and breadth of +the nation. + +Marishka was shown into an antechamber in the Emperor's private suite +where for what seemed an interminable time she sat and waited. At length +her sponsor appeared and conducted her along a short corridor past +several rooms to a white door which the Prince opened, and then stood +aside as Marishka entered. + +"The Countess Strahni," he announced. + +Marishka, a little bewildered and frightened, advanced uncertainly, her +eyes dazzled by the brilliant sunlight which streamed in at the south. +As she hesitated, a voice near the furthest window spoke reassuringly. + +"Come in, child," it said. "I am here." + +She advanced with trembling knees, aware of an old man in a military +blouse sitting in a large chair beyond a desk. The infirmities of age +and suffering had bowed his shoulders and to Marishka the Emperor seemed +smaller than when she had seen him last, smaller and very much older. +There was a stillness about his person, a quality of resignation and +quiescence that was almost statuesque. But his whiskers and mustache, +carefully groomed, were brushed upward and outward from the rather heavy +lip and chin, and had a military cut which comported well with the +dignity of his appearance. His eyes, the right one much smaller than the +left, were light gray in color, and as her own gaze caught them, very +grave and kindly, like his voice, which as he spoke gave her every +encouragement to be at her ease. + +"You will pardon the infirmities of an old man and forgive me for not +rising," he said gently. "Will you be seated, here, before me, where I +may look at you?" + +There was a pathetic touch of his old gallantry in the gesture which +accompanied the words, and a bright flash of his eyes as Marishka came +forward into the light and stood before him. Even today the Emperor was +not immune from the charms of feminine beauty. Marishka did as she was +bidden, sitting upon the edge of her chair before the old man, gazing at +him again, without words to begin. + +"His Highness has told me that you have something of importance to +communicate," said the Emperor with a smile. "Your grandfather once did +me a service. If there is anything that I may do----" + +The quiet voice paused and she was conscious of the gaze of the gray +eyes upon her in gentle inquiry. + +"It is nothing that I want, Sire," she murmured haltingly. "It is +something of the utmost importance that has occurred--at +Konopisht--which I thought it necessary that you should know--something +of the gravest moment to the State--to Austria--and to--to Your +Majesty." + +She paused breathless, finding speech difficult. + +She saw his eyebrows upraised slightly and then contracted, while his +gaze upon her grew concentrated. + +"You may speak freely, child. There is no one here who hasn't the +interests of my country at heart." + +Marishka glanced around swiftly, her pulses throbbing. Prince Montenuovo +stood beside the desk, immovable. + +"Your Majesty," she almost whispered, "my information is of such a +character----" + +She paused again and felt the old man's gaze upon her in deeper interest +and curiosity. There was a silence, but if he had had a momentary doubt +of her, it was speedily dispelled, for his rather weary lips parted in a +smile, as he turned to his Chamberlain. "If Your Highness will be +pleased to await my call----" + +Prince Montenuovo with a bow withdrew. + +"Now, child," said the Emperor, bending slightly forward in his chair, +"will you not tell me freely what has bothered you?" + +"Your Majesty," said Marishka, plunging breathlessly into her subject, +"I was stopping at Konopisht at the castle of the Archduke Franz. The +Duchess of Hohenberg, formerly the Countess Chotek, was a friend of my +mother's, and for many years our families have been intimate." + +She saw the slight contraction of the heavy brows at the mention of +Sophie Chotek's name, but she went on rapidly: + +"Sire, when you know how long our families have been friendly, how kind +Her Highness has been to me since the death of my father and mother, you +will understand that what I am about to say--to reveal--is very painful +to me. I could not speak, Sire, even now, unless the welfare of Austria +and of Your Majesty were not more important to me than any personal +considerations whatever." + +As she paused painfully again, he encouraged her with a smile. + +"Go on, child," he said. + +"I was at the tennis court, playing with"--she paused and blushed +prettily--"with a friend. The game finished, we--we went into the garden +and sat upon the lawn in the shade of some foliage where it was cool. I +did not know, Sire, nor did my companion, of the presence of royalty at +Konopisht, and did not remember that I had been told not to go into the +rose garden until it was too late." + +"Too late?" he asked keenly. + +"We were interested, talking, and not until the sound of footsteps upon +the graveled walk near the arbor, did I realize how grave a violation of +the hospitality of the Archduke had been committed. I should have fled, +but, Sire, I could not. I was frightened. And so we stayed, hidden in +the foliage by the arbor." + +"So!" he broke in, his voice speaking the word with a rising inflection +of intense interest. "It is well that you have come. I, too, know +something of the visitors to the roses of Konopisht. The talk was not +all of roses, _nicht wahr_?" he said quietly, with a little bitterness. + +"No, Sire. The talk was not all of roses," said Marishka. + +"Go on, then," he continued. "Spare me no word of what you heard or saw. +Nothing." + +And Marishka, composing herself with an effort, obeyed the command. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE HABSBURG RAVEN + + +The Emperor heard her through until the end, with a word here, a sudden +question there, the gravity of the girl's disclosures searing more +painfully the deeply bitten lines at eye and brow. But he did not +flinch. It seemed that grief and pain had already done their worst to +that frail body. For whatever this Habsburg's failings, fear was not one +of them. There was resolution too in the clenching of the freckled fist +upon the chair arm and in his footsteps as he started up from his chair +and walked the length of the room. Bowed though his shoulders were with +the weight of his years, he was still a figure to respect--a +personality. Marishka watched furtively, waiting for him to speak again +as he strode back and forth, but his brows were deeply tangled in +thought and his shoulders were more bent than ever. It almost seemed +that he had forgotten her presence. + +But at last he turned toward where Marishka, who had risen and was still +standing, was awaiting his pleasure. He came straight toward her and +extended his fingers. She sank to her knees to kiss them, but he caught +her by the hand and restrained her. + +"You have done well, Countess Strahni," he said quietly. "The men of +your House have always been brave soldiers and good citizens, the women +comely and loyal, and you, my child, have today done much to continue +the honorable traditions of your family. Austria is, for you, as she is +for us all, the Mother, whom God blesses in the loyalty of her children. +As for those"--and his brows clouded--"who follow the devices of their +own hearts, those who consider neither the family law nor the human +law----" He paused, turned and sank into his chair, leaning forward +again intently as the new thought struck him. "Who was your companion, +Countess?" + +Marishka flushed a little but said quietly, + +"A gentleman--an Englishman----" + +"So!" again the rising inflection, followed this time by a slight frown. +"An Englishman!" + +"A friend of mine, Sire," she went on with an access of dignity. "Herr +Renwick, an attaché of the British Embassy----" + +"Ah, I understand. He has told?" + +"He has given me his promise to reveal nothing until I had been at +Schönbrunn and then only with my permission." + +"I see," said the Emperor with a frown. "He is discreet?" + +"He has a reputation for discretion, Sire; I think he may be trusted." + +"So," said the Emperor. "Where is he now?" + +"I was to communicate with him later." + +"Giving him permission to speak?" + +"Yes, Sire." + +"It is a pity," he muttered, as though meditating aloud. "We have washed +enough linen in public. And this----" He turned abruptly toward her. +"You have influence with this Herr Renwick?" he asked keenly. + +Marishka was painfully embarrassed. + +"A little, Sire, I think." + +"You have served Austria well today, Countess Strahni. You can serve her +again if you can prevent this Herr Renwick from communicating with Sir +Herbert Southgate.... This is no concern of England's." + +"I will do what I can, Sire. But the matter, it seemed, was of grave +importance to Herr Renwick. He is an able diplomat and most +intelligent." + +The Emperor regarded her almost wistfully. + +"It would be a pity," he said, "if Herr Renwick should be discredited at +the Austrian court----" + +"It would ruin him, Sire," said Marishka apprehensively; "if he tells +what he knows, he would only be doing his duty." + +"He must not tell, child," said the Emperor gravely. "This is Austria's +secret and her sorrow. You realize that, do you not?" + +Marishka bowed her head, painfully. + +"Yes, Sire." + +"You will promise me to do what you can?" + +She looked into the face of this tired old man and a great pity for him +swept over her. + +"I will, Sire. I will ask him not to tell--demand it of him even if----" + +She paused and hid her face in her hands, unable to say more, trying to +hide the true nature of the sacrifice he was asking of her. + +The Emperor understood and laid a kindly hand upon her shoulder. + +"I understand, my daughter. I pray that no bitterness may come between +you, on account of this. Responsibility comes to you early, and yet you +cannot--must not shirk it." + +"And if he refuses----?" she pleaded. + +The wrinkled face broke into a smile, the gray eyes were bright in +admiration. + +"I am sure," he said gallantly, "that Herr Renwick could refuse you +nothing. Were I younger----" He paused with a sigh and smiled again. "I +am not sure even now that I am not a trifle jealous of this discreet +Englishman of yours." And, then, aware of her intense embarrassment, +"But I am sure that you will succeed." + +"I shall try, Sire," she murmured. + +And still he seemed loath to let her go, walking toward the window where +he stood in the sunlight looking down upon the lovely gardens beneath +him. + +"Perhaps you did not know, Countess, that this visit to the roses of +Konopisht has caused us some concern here in Vienna. Berchtold, who went +yesterday to Konopisht, will, of course, discover nothing. The Duchess +of Hohenberg is a very clever woman. You know her as a friend. If her +loyalty to her friends is as sincere as her ambitions for her children, +then you can surely have no cause for complaint. Friendship begets +friendship, but those who love Austria may not serve other gods--or +goddesses. You have considered these things, and however difficult the +task--have chosen?" + +"It has been bitter, Sire. I can never go back to Konopisht." + +"I am sorry. A terrible lesson awaits Sophie Chotek. I have been sorely +tried. As for the Archduke Franz--a reckoning--a reckoning----" + +She saw the old man pause and start a pace back from the window, toward +which he stared, wide-eyed and immovable. There, upon the sill of the +window, a black bird had suddenly appeared and hopped awkwardly to and +fro. It seemed perfectly at home, and not in the least frightened, +peering into the room with its head cocked upon one side, a baleful +purplish glitter in its eye. + +In a flash Marishka remembered the legend which connects every +misfortune of the House of Habsburg with the appearance of this bird of +ill omen: the flight of ravens at Olmütz, the raven of the ill-fated +Maximilian at Miramar, the raven of the Archduchess Maria Christina on +the eve of her departure for her future kingdom of Spain, the raven +which came to the Empress Elizabeth on the afternoon before the day of +her assassination,--all these incidents so closely connected with the +royal figure before her, passed quickly across her mind as they must +have crossed that of the Emperor. He sank into his chair and she +followed his gaze through the window again. The somber bird had gone. + +Marishka stood in silence, not daring to move, aware of the terrible +undercurrent of thought which must be racking the mind of her sovereign, +this man of sorrows, who stood upon the brink of the grave and peace, +and yet who must still live and suffer until the curse of the Countess +Karolyi should be utterly fulfilled. + +"Sire," she muttered after a moment, "can I----" + +He stirred, and raised a pallid face to hers. It was quite composed now, +but marked with a sadness inexpressible. + +"You may leave me now, child. I am a little tired. If you will touch the +bell upon the table----" + +He paused as she did so, and a servant entered. + +"You will tell Prince Montenuovo that the audience is concluded," he +said. + +Marishka fell upon her knees before him, and touched his fingers to her +lips. + +"May God bless Your Majesty," she murmured half-hysterically, scarcely +knowing what she said, "and give you peace." + +She was aware of his smile as she arose. + +"Go, Countess," he said, "you have done well. Keep this secret at +whatever the cost to yourself. Those who love Austria must now be +prepared to suffer for her. My blessing, child." + +She obeyed the gesture of his hand and followed the High Chamberlain +into the outer corridor. + + * * * * * + +Marishka's first thought, upon emerging from the palace, was that she +must find Hugh Renwick at once. A new idea of her duty had been born in +her. The importance of keeping this secret of theirs from England had +not seemed as obvious before her visit to Schönbrunn. The thought of her +lover's possible refusal of her request now seemed appalling. As she +remembered his sober face last night in the automobile, when this topic +had caused her a moment of unhappiness, it seemed that his refusal to +accede to her request was more than possible. She had liked Hugh Renwick +because he was strong, honest, reliable, serious,--qualities she had not +found abundant among the younger men of the ancient families of her +country. She loved him now because, against many obstacles, he had at +last carried her heart by storm. But she realized that the very +qualities she had most admired in him were the very ones that would make +her present task most difficult. + +He had given his word not to reveal the secret to his Ambassador without +her permission. That was his promise, given, she knew, grudgingly, and +only because he felt for the moment that her duty took precedence over +his own. But was it, after all, merely a question of precedence? And +would he, now that he had kept his promise so far, insist upon doing his +manifest duty to his own country? Fears assailed her that she might not +be able to prevail. His love for her was untried. How far might she rely +upon it in this inevitable conflict between them? And if he refused her! + +The motor car of the Prince carried her to the apartments of the +Baroness Racowitz, where, after a rapidly thought-out explanation of her +sudden visit which seemed satisfactory, she wrote a note to Hugh +Renwick, asking him to come at once to her, addressing it to his +apartments in the Strohgasse and telling the servant if he was not at +home to take it to the Embassy. This note dispatched, her mind somewhat +more at ease, she joined the Baroness at luncheon. + +Baroness Racowitz, her father's sister, was a woman of liberal views. +Educated in England, she had absorbed some of the democratic spirit of +the West, and so looked with favor upon the suit of the young Englishman +who had won his way into Marishka's heart. Today, however, in spite of +the confession which trembled upon her lips, Marishka remained silent. +And the mere fact that she did not speak added conviction of the danger +which threatened her happiness and Hugh Renwick's. + +As the afternoon waned she grew apprehensive, and it was not until +evening that he came. His appearance did little to reassure her. + +"Your note did not reach me until a few moments ago," he began soberly. +"I went upon a mission to the ministry which has kept me all day." + +"I have been worried," she began nervously. "I went to Schönbrunn this +morning----" + +"I know it," he broke in quickly. "Otway, of the Embassy, saw you +leaving in the Prince's car." + +Something in his tone, in the avidity with which he had seized upon her +phrase, warned her of the truth. + +"Oh, Hugh," she cried, "you have already told!" + +His voice sank a note lower, and its very earnestness seemed to make the +barrier between them the greater. "This morning when I left you, I wrote +a complete statement of what happened at Konopisht, and gave it to a +servant with instructions to deliver it at the Embassy at a certain +hour. When I tell you that I was bidden to the Ministry this afternoon, +closely questioned and detained in violation of all precedent, you will +understand that from my own point of view, I acted wisely." + +"You mean----" + +"I mean that larger forces than yours and mine have taken control of the +situation." + +"Then your message has been delivered?" + +"Yes." + +"Oh, I cannot believe it of you----" she said, staring at him in +anguish. + +He smiled gently. + +"I have only done my duty----" + +"Your duty!" she said bitterly. "And what of your duty to me? You +promised----" + +"Merely," he put in quickly, "that I would wait until you had been to +Schönbrunn." + +"No, no, you promised," she said, with rising anger. "It was my +secret--not yours. I have never given you permission to reveal it." + +"Nor having been to Schönbrunn would have given it now, Marishka," he +said firmly. + +"And knowing this, you use subterfuge, an unmanly recantation--break +your promised word----" + +"I have broken no promise, Marishka, listen----" + +"Nothing that you can say----" + +She rose, her face hidden in her hands. "Oh, you have done me a +damage--irreparable! I too have promised----" + +"The Emperor!" + +"My sovereign--he asked this secrecy of me and you--the man I----" + +"Marishka, I love you," he pleaded, trying to take her hand. "Anything +but this! Can't you understand? I would have betrayed my trust. The +situation you placed me in was impossible. Great mischief is brewing in +Europe. Could I sit idly by and let my country be in ignorance of it? +God knows what is to happen, but whatever comes your country and mine +can have no quarrel--any more than you and I can have. England is +strong. No nation in Europe can endure without her friendship. Can't you +see? I have done Austria no wrong--a service, rather, Marishka; and +you----" + +"You can do me no further service, Herr Renwick," she said coldly, +rising. + +He was on his feet too, his face pale, regarding her steadily. + +"I cannot believe that you are willing to blame me for doing my duty. +Love can only exist in an atmosphere of respect, Marishka. Could you +have cared for me if I had been willing to seek your favor at the +expense of my own honor? Could you? Think." + +"Those who can thrive politically upon the misfortunes of my country are +my country's enemies--and mine," she said coldly. + +"I have done your country no harm--nor you. Listen, Marishka," he +pleaded tensely. "Look at me. I love you, dear, with all my heart and +soul, I love you. You cannot forget what happened to us yesterday. I +will not give you up----" + +"You must--I pray that you will leave me, Herr Renwick," and she moved +past him toward a door. + +Renwick straightened. Whatever hopes he had had in his heart that +Marishka might forgive him for acting without her consent, her action +left no doubt as to her present intentions. The bitterness the girl's +fatalism had predicted yesterday had fallen upon them quickly. But he +would not despair. As the girl was yet to learn, Renwick was not one who +despaired easily. But his years of service had given him discretion. + +"I cannot believe that you are quite in earnest," he said quietly. "I +will call upon you again when you have had time to weigh my action +impartially----" + +"I shall not be at home to you." + +"Nevertheless," he said coolly, "I shall come." + +Her shoulders moved disdainfully. "It should be enough that I----" + +"Marishka," he broke in again and came toward her, "at least give me a +chance to speak to you again--tomorrow----" + +The curtains beside her parted abruptly as she fled, leaving Renwick +staring helplessly at the embroidered hangings. + +He stood awkwardly for a moment, like a figure suddenly frozen, and then +dropping his arms to his sides turned and sought his hat and stick. For +the present at least there seemed nothing else to do. He descended the +stairs, a deeply puzzled frown upon his brows, and went out into the +darkness of the street. + +Courts and camps, they say, are the best schools, and Renwick had not +lived his thirty years in vain. He had known since last night what he +must do in England's service, and he had also known what havoc that +service must work in Marishka's mind. He had foreseen the inquietude of +the Austrian government at his possession of this state secret, and had +known that his relations with Marishka must be put in jeopardy. He knew +that she must request his silence, that he must refuse her, and that no +woman's pride, put to the test, could brook such a refusal. Like +Marishka, he had had a brief hope that this love might survive the +ordeal put upon it, but he had not been long in discovering that the +Emperor's request to Marishka had made his action seem unpardonable. And +yet he had known as he knew now, that no other course had been open to +him. Since Marishka's early visit to the Palace, an undercurrent of +events had moved swiftly. The fact that he had received a note from +Baron Lichteveld asking him to call at the Ministry, the interview +between them full of allusions on the Baron's part which showed a +complete knowledge of the situation; a veiled request, a veiled threat, +to both of which Renwick had appeared oblivious. These, and an +uncomfortable sense that he was being detained, had at last made Renwick +open his lips. The information of which he was possessed, he had told +the Baron, was in the hands of those who would at the proper time place +it before the British Ambassador. The firmness of his attitude had +brought the interview, apparently pleasant and quite unofficial, to a +sudden ending, and Renwick had left the Ministry, aware that his own +official position in Vienna had suddenly become precarious. + +His statement was now at the Embassy, and its astounding contents had +been read by his Chief. He made his way thither, somewhat dubious as to +the thrill of his achievement, aware of a shadow about him, the ghost of +yesterday's joy, which made all success save the intimate personal one +that he most craved, flat, stale, and unprofitable. In the darkness of +the street he was aware, too, that he was being observed and followed, +but he went boldly toward his destination, sure that as a member of the +staff of the British Embassy, his person at least partook of the +official immunity of his Chief. + +But there were other forces arrayed against him with which he had not +reckoned. At a deserted and unlighted corner he found his progress +blocked by two figures who attempted to engage him in a conversation. +Now thoroughly awake to a personal danger which no official immunity +could minimize, he was at once upon his guard, moving quickly into the +middle of the street. The two men followed him, and another whom he had +not seen came upon him from the rear. He dodged the blow of a stick +which caught him a stinging blow upon the forearm, but he sprang aside, +striking a furious blow full in the face of one of his antagonists and +leaping out of harm's way as the third came on; and then, finding +discretion the better part of valor, took to his heels, emerging into +the Ringstrasse some moments later, with no greater damage than a +bruised arm and the loss of his breath and hat. + +The Embassy in the Metternichgasse fortunately was not far away, and he +reached the building without further mishap, now fully aware of the +desperateness of his enemies, whom he did not doubt were employed by +those whose interests in his secret were more important even than those +of the Austrian government. Who? It was obvious. There were other +agencies at work, which drew their information from high sources with +which they had little in common. A little bewildered by the rapid march +of events, but now certain of the web of intrigue and hostility of which +he was the center, Renwick entered the office of the Embassy, breathing +a sigh of relief that he was again for the present safe within its +familiar portals. + +The Ambassador was at his desk in his private office, and Renwick went +in to him immediately, the grave faces of his Chief and Captain Otway, +the military attaché, assuring him that his information had already been +received and discussed. + +"Ah, Renwick," said the Ambassador, rising, "glad you've come. We were +beginning to fear that something had happened to you. Why, what's the +matter? You're as white as a sheet----" + +"Am I, sir? Oh, it's nothing. You got my message?" + +The ambassador nodded and then quickly, "Give him a drink, Otway." And +then as the other moved across the room to obey, "You were attacked--in +the street?" + +Renwick laughed. "Oh, don't bother, please. I'm quite all right--just a +bit of a breather--that's all. You see--I ran for it. Safer, I thought. +I could have done for the beggars, if I'd had a heavier stick, but I +didn't want to make a rumpus. You see, I did well in putting the thing +on paper." + +"Are you hurt?" + +"Merely a bruised arm. Little chap with a stick--behind me." + +"Most extraordinary! I can hardly believe that the government would +dare----" + +"It isn't the government, sir, I'm afraid," he said, with conviction, as +he took his whiskey and soda. "There are others who have more to lose +than the Emperor's party by this revelation----" + +"Yes, that may be so," replied the Ambassador judicially, pacing the +floor. "Perhaps you're right, Renwick. But now that you're safe, we +should only concern ourselves with the greater issue. Tell me again in +your own words all that has happened since yesterday morning." + +Renwick obeyed, and it was far into the night before he finished, while +the faces of his auditors grew grave again. The security of this well +ordered office, with the familiar tokens of distant peaceful England all +about them, made a prosaic background for the visions which were +flashing through the minds of these three Englishmen. Even now, to +Renwick, as he related his experience again, the whole thing seemed +incredible, and the reiterated questions of his Chief, who was a prudent +man, might have shaken a less convincing witness. But Renwick had +dreamed no dream, and the returning ache in his arm left no room to +doubt the actuality of his experience. + +"You have done England a service, Renwick," said the Ambassador at last, +magnanimously. "It isn't often that such crumbs of information are +offered us--in such a way. But we will take them--and digest them +overnight. I want to sleep on this matter. And you--you will stay here +tonight, Renwick. It will be safer. Until tomorrow, gentlemen----" + +And so he dismissed them. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +SECRET INFORMATION + + +An ambassador has been wittily described as an honest man sent to "lie" +abroad for the commonwealth. He is supposed to be familiar with all the +scandal and intrigue of the court to which he is accredited, to be +possessed of countless incriminating secrets, and to steer his way amid +the maze, disturbing no ghost or skeleton of family or government, +preserving the while a calm punctilio and an exterior of fathomless +simplicity. The ambassador of modern Europe is at once a Chesterfield, a +Machiavelli, and a Vidocq. He must be a lamb, a lion, and a ferret. He +must fly upon the wing of occasion, he must condescend to act as +messenger boy to his Prime Minister, he must conduct a business office +and a fashionable restaurant and successfully run a detective bureau. + +Something of the ambitions of Franz Ferdinand and his wife had been +known to the Right Honorable Sir Herbert Southgate; the Archduke's visit +with his wife to the court of St. James was significant, and their stay +at Potsdam dutifully recorded at Berlin, had shown something of the +nature of the _rapprochement_ between Archduke and Kaiser. The visit of +the Kaiser to the Archduke's hunting lodge at Eckartzau on the Danube, +had set tongues wagging, and private information had served to warn Sir +Herbert that an understanding had been brought about. The visit to the +roses of Konopisht had not deceived the Ambassador, for it was known +that a pact of some sort had been made, but the revelations of Mr. +Renwick had been of a nature to appall. + +A night of deliberation had done little to obliterate the Ambassador's +grave fears for the future, and he communicated at once in code and in +full with the Home Government. He lost little time upon the following +day in setting in motion all the devices he possessed for obtaining +secret information as to the effect of Countess Strahni's startling +disclosures. + +For several months the surface of the diplomatic pool had been ominously +placid. Few ripples had disturbed its surface, save those occasional +ones from the direction of unquiet Serbia. But the waters were seething +now, stirred to their very lees by plot and counterplot. The advices +received by the Ambassador were alarming. Had the attack upon Hugh +Renwick failed to advise him that the military party possessed full +knowledge of the Countess Strahni's disclosures, he should soon have +discovered it. There was an undercurrent of intrigue in various high +offices which advised him that communications of the greatest importance +were passing. His own interests, of course, were best served by a +studied innocence and unconcern, and his public appearances, both social +and official, gave no sign of his intimate knowledge of approaching +calamity. + +The first surface indication of the turmoil was a polite note from the +ministry, stating that his second secretary, Hugh Renwick, was _persona +non grata_ to the Austrian government, and requesting his recall. This +indicated a definite purpose neither to ignore nor condone, and in +itself was a surprising admission of the facts. The Ambassador by note +expressed his high opinion of the abilities of his secretary and +requested the Ministry's reasons for their decision. They merely +repeated their former request without explanations. And so the +Ambassador, with a smile, which had a world of meaning, offered Renwick +his passports. + +But Renwick had no desire or intention to leave Vienna. He merely +removed his personal belongings to his apartment and stayed. That he had +ventured into deep political currents he was now sure, for though he +moved with great care, he was aware of being followed and once he was +shot at in a quiet street in broad daylight. He made no complaint to the +authorities, but only moved with greater discretion, sure that the +interests that desired his elimination were not among the Austrians. +From the point of view of the Austrian government he was merely a +discredited Englishman, and therefore a person of no importance. That +the Countess Marishka had apparently also reached the same conclusion +was evident, for though he called several times at the apartment of the +Baroness Racowitz, he was not admitted. + +With theories of his own as to the probable effect of the Countess +Strahni's bombshell, Renwick began some investigations which he +conducted with great tact and secrecy. The forthcoming visit of the +Archduke Franz to Sarajevo had assumed suddenly a vital importance. One +morning after a night conference with Sir Herbert he took the train for +Belgrade. When he returned a few days later he was again closeted with +the British Ambassador, and when night fell, he went direct to the +apartment of the Baroness Racowitz, succeeding by a handsome bribe to +the servant at the door in sending a note to the Countess Marishka, +which read as follows-- + + COUNTESS MARISHKA STRAHNI, + + A friend of yours is in grave danger, chiefly through your agency. + I pray that you will see me, if only for a moment. In doing so you + will secure for yourself an opportunity of doing a service which + you can never regret. + + HUGH RENWICK. + +When the servant returned, some moments later, Renwick was shown into +the drawing room, with the word that the Countess Strahni would see him. +She appeared almost immediately, her face a little pallid, her manner +restrained, her accents frigidly polite. But the dark eyes were +luminous, the brows were drawn inward, and her voice trembled slightly +as she spoke his name. + +"Herr Renwick, I can hardly believe that you would impose so difficult a +situation were it not that something of importance has occurred----" + +"It has, Countess Strahni," he said gravely, then paused. "I beg that +you will believe me." + +She sank into a chair and motioned for him to be seated, but he remained +standing, his eyes studying the fine line of her neck and shoulder as +she bent forward, her gaze upon the rug. There was something almost +childish in her imperiousness. He wanted to take her in his arms and +hold her there as he would have done a spoiled child, and trust the +issue to his strength and her weakness, but the quick tap of her +slippered toe upon the carpet warned him that his mission was delicate. + +"Proceed, if you please," she said after a moment. + +"You may not know, but a few days after my return from Konopisht, my +connection with the British Embassy ceased----" + +"I have heard," she broke in quickly, in a suppressed tone; "I am +sorry." + +"But my interests in the political aspect of affairs were so great that +I could not leave Vienna." + +"At least I am not to blame for the actions of the ministry." + +"Naturally. I suppose I might attribute all my misfortunes to the roses +of Konopisht," he said. + +She glanced up at him quickly and a little scornfully, but she swallowed +nervously and her toe accelerated its tapping upon the rug. + +"I beg that you will come to the point of your visit," she said quickly. + +"I will," he went on easily. "The possession of State secrets has given +me an interest in Austrian affairs which has created a pardonable +curiosity. Fortune has favored my investigations and I have learned much +here in Vienna. I have learned more in Belgrade--and in Sarajevo." + +She glanced up quickly. + +"Sarajevo! Why?" + +"You will remember that the Archduke spoke of going there to see the +maneuvers of his troops on the twenty-eighth of this month." + +"Yes." Her eyes stared at him widely now. "But what----?" + +She paused uncertainly, expecting him to go on. Instead he waited a +moment as though seeking his words carefully. + +"The Archduke plans to take the Duchess of Hohenberg to Sarajevo with +him. I came here to tell you that if she goes she will be in great +danger----" + +"Danger!" + +"Yes. There is a plot against the life of the Archduke. I thought that +as a lifelong friend, you would like to know----" + +"Assassination! Holy Virgin! Not that!" + +She had started up from her chair and faced him, trembling violently. + +"I swear to you," he said soberly, "that I have every reason for +believing that in Sarajevo the lives of both will hang by a hair." + +"But who----?" she stammered, her eyes wide with consternation. + +She paused, the thoughts that had come first into her mind, stifled in +horror. + +"It is not necessary for me to say. I am merely giving my belief based +on the closest study of political conditions." + +A slight color had come into her cheeks. + +"I am sure that you must be unduly alarmed," she said coolly. "The +Archduke will be in the midst of his friends--his whole army at +maneuvers!" Her lips found courage in a smile. "Why, the thing is +impossible!" + +Renwick leaned against the mantel, his arms folded, and went on +steadily. + +"The thing is not impossible, Countess Strahni. The danger to Franz +Ferdinand is very real--a danger that no army of Austrian soldiers can +minimize. He goes to a hostile neighborhood. He is not loved in +Sarajevo. Should not this be sufficient?" + +"You trouble me," she muttered, passing a hand before her eyes. "But I +must know more. An Archduke must have enemies----" + +"But this Archduke! Can you conceive of no reason why Franz Ferdinand +should be in danger?" he asked meaningly. + +She searched his face quickly, in her eyes the truth dawning. + +"You mean----?" + +He shrugged. + +"You should know what I mean." + +"I cannot believe----" she halted again. + +"Countess Strahni," he went on quickly, "were I still a member of the +staff of the British Embassy, I should not speak. I do not even now +accuse any group or political party of participation in this plot. The +Emperor at least is guiltless. Death has already done its worst to him. +The matter is out of his hands. But I do know that such a plot exists. +Franz Ferdinand will not return alive from Sarajevo and if the Duchess +of Hohenberg accompanies him, she, too----" + +"It is horrible--and I--I will have been the cause----" + +She sank into her chair and buried her face in her hands. + +"Perhaps now you will understand my motive in coming to you," he said +softly. "I have no desire but to serve you. England has no further +concern for Archduke Ferdinand. Forewarned is forearmed. His sting is +already drawn. But death, like this--sudden, violent, without a +chance--England has never looked with kindness upon the killing of +women, Countess Strahni." + +"It is horrible," she whispered. "Horrible! I cannot believe----" + +"Unfortunately I can give you none of the sources of my information. But +whatever my sins in your eyes, at least you will admit that I am not +given to exaggeration. You may still believe that I have taken a liberty +in coming to you; but the situation admits of no delay. The telegraph +lines are in the hands of the Archduke's enemies. The Archduke and +Duchess leave Konopisht in the morning by special train, but there is +still time to reach them." + +Marishka had risen, and was now pacing the floor, her hands nervously +clasped before her. + +"I see. I--I--understand. I--I should be grateful that you have told me. +But it is all so sudden. So terrible!" + +She paused before him. + +"I have betrayed her," she stammered through pallid lips. + +"You could do nothing else. His fortunes are hers----" + +"But not this----" she whispered. "It is too ghastly!" + +There was a long pause, and then, "Will you make the effort?" he asked. + +"Yes." + +"You must leave in an hour." + +"But how----?" + +She looked at Renwick and their glances met. + +"I will go with you," he said coolly. + +His gaze was on the dial of his watch which he had taken from his pocket +and was regarding judicially. His calmness, his impudence, enraged her. +She had sworn, because of his falseness, that she would never see this +man again, and here he was calmly proposing a night journey into +Bohemia, and she was actually listening to him. + +She turned quickly toward the door and stood, one hand grasping the +portière, while she turned a white face toward him. + +"Thanks, Herr Renwick," she said icily, "but I go alone----" + +"That is impossible. There is danger. A night journey in a train of +uncertain quality----" + +"I hope that you will not waste words. I thank you for what you have +done, but I--I must go at once----" + +Renwick took a pace toward her. + +"Countess Strahni, if you will listen to me----" + +But he got no farther, for he knew that her will was as strong as his +own, and that forgiveness was not to be read in her eyes. + +"I beg that you will excuse me, Herr Renwick. The time is short----" + +He bowed gravely. + +"At least, you will permit me to order you a _fiacre_----" + +She nodded in assent as though to be rid of him and then turned and went +up the stairs leaving Renwick to find his way out into the darkness of +the street. + +Marishka hurried to her room and rang for her maid. In spite of the +turbulence of her thoughts, she gave her orders calmly and then prepared +for the journey. The imminence of the danger to Sophie Chotek should +have obsessed her to the exclusion of all personal considerations, but +while she dressed she could not help thinking of the imperturbable +impudence of her visitor. His kindness, his thoughtfulness, the fact +that he had done her a service, and was at this very moment doing her +another, gave her a sense of being in a false position, which made her +most uncomfortable. And yet one could not treat with contumely a person +who acted in one's interests. His calmness, his assurance enraged her. +She would never see him again, of course, but she seemed to feel the +need of some final words to convince him of the depth of her disdain. He +was so calm, so gravely cheerful, so assured, so maddeningly +considerate! She wondered now why she had not led him on to a renewed +plea for forgiveness, that she might the more effectually have crushed +him. + +But her duty to Sophie Chotek soon drove these speculations as to the +unfortunate Herr Renwick from her mind. Suppose that Sophie Chotek +questioned closely as to the reasons for Marishka's sudden departure. +What should she say? The Duchess was not one who could easily forgive a +wrong. Her placid exterior served well to conceal a strength of purpose +which had already brought her many enemies in the Royal House. That she +was capable of tenderness was shown in her adoration of her children and +in the many kindnesses she had shown Marishka herself, but there was, +too, a strain of the Czech in her nature, which harbored grievances and +was not above retaliation. Marishka's cause, as a loyal Austrian's, was +just, and she had not faltered in doing what she knew to be her duty, +but the thought of seeking the Duchess now that she had betrayed her, +required all of her courage. She had balked an ambitious woman, +stultified all her efforts to advance the fortunes of her children, and +had written her husband before the House of Habsburg a traitor to his +Emperor and his country. What if she had heard something and suspected? +Would the Duchess even listen to a plea for her own life and safety from +the lips of one who had proven an enemy, a bread and salt traitor to the +Houses of Austria-Este and Chotek and Wognin? + +But Marishka did not falter, and when the _fiacre_ came to the door she +descended quickly. The Baroness fortunately had gone upon a visit to +friends in the country, but Marishka left a note with her maid which +explained her absence, and departed alone for the railroad station, +feeling very helpless and forlorn, but none the less determined to see +her venture through to its end. + +She wore a gray traveling dress and was heavily veiled, and when she +reached the station, the guard showed her immediately into an unoccupied +compartment. This, it seemed, was unusual, as her watch indicated that +only a few moments remained before the train should leave. But she +settled herself comfortably, grateful for her seclusion, whatever its +cause, and closed her eyes in an effort to sleep. + +The last warning words of the guards had been given and the train was +already in motion when she heard a warning "Sh----" at the open window, +where a head and a pair of shoulders appeared, followed immediately by +an entire body which was suddenly projected through the opening and +landed head first upon the floor. Marishka had risen, a scream on her +lips, but something familiar in the conformation of the figure +restrained her. The tangle of legs and arms took form, and a head +appeared, wearing a monocle and a smile. It was the imperturbable but +persistent Herr Renwick. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +TWO INTRUDERS + + +Marishka was too dismayed for a moment to trust her tongue to speech. +That she was angry she knew, for she felt the blood rising to her +temples, and the words that hung on her lips were bitter, cruel and +unreasoning. + +"It is a pity, Herr Renwick," she began quite distinctly in English, +"that you have neither the good taste nor the intelligence to leave me +to my own devices." + +Renwick gathered up his stick and straw hat, bowed politely and seated +himself opposite her. Indeed, as the train was now moving rapidly, no +other course was open to him. But he wore no look of recantation. His +calmness was more impudent than ever, and he even took out and reset his +monocle. + +"Oh, I say, Countess Strahni," he said, "that's rather rough on a chap. +I had to come. It was wiser, you know." + +"I care nothing for your wisdom," she said scornfully. "If it is no more +firmly seated than your sense of honor, it can be of little value to you +or to me." + +"I'm sorry. I will try not to interfere with your comfort----" + +"You--you arranged this"--as the thought came to her--"this opportunity +for a tête-à-tête?" + +"The Countess Strahni's conception of a tête-à-tête may differ from +mine," he said with a smile. + +But his coolness only inflamed her the more. + +"You have taken an unpardonable liberty," she said wildly. "You have +already passed the bounds of decency or consideration. You have been not +only impudent but ridiculous. One service you have done me tonight. I +thank you. You may do me another--by getting out at the first station." + +He folded his arms and regarded her gravely. + +"I regret that that is impossible." + +"Why, please?" + +"Because I propose to go with you to Konopisht, and to accompany you +upon your return." + +"You--you----!" + +"One moment, please," he said quietly and with some show of spirit. "It +is not necessary that you should have a further misconception of my +motives or of my agility. I did not seek this--er--tête-à-tête. My +servant engaged this carriage. I had not hoped to have the honor of +accompanying you. Unfortunately, circumstances forced a change of plan." + +"Circumstances!" she said contemptuously. + +He bowed slightly. "As a discredited Englishman, I still possess, it +seems, some interest for certain citizens of Austria. I only discovered +the fact this evening when leaving the apartment of the Baroness." + +"You were followed again?" she asked quickly, her interest in the fact +mastering her animosity. + +"The object of my visit to you has been guessed. I was followed--but you +were followed also." + +"I----?" + +"Yes--to the station." + +"And where----" + +"Booked through to Konopisht not a foot from the back of your head in +the adjoining compartment----" + +And then as she straightened in alarm and regarded the cushioned seat +behind her in sudden terror, "But I do not think you need be unduly +alarmed. We can----" + +"They are following _me_!" she whispered. "But why? Why?" + +"Because of your friendship with the Duchess. Those who plan the death +of the Archduke are in no humor to fail." + +"Incredible! And they----" she halted again, breathless with +apprehension. + +"I fear, Countess Strahni, that your mission to Konopisht has now become +a difficult one. That is why I thought it better to go with you. The men +who are following you are moving with considerable insolence and +confidence. They will carry out their orders unless circumvented." + +"But how?" she whispered, her anger of a moment ago magically +transmuted. "What can I do?" + +He gazed out of the window at the blur of night and smiled. + +"To begin with," he said politely, "they think you are alone. You see, I +might help you, Countess Strahni, if you could manage to endure my +presence for a few hours." + +It was Renwick's innings and he made the most of them. Indeed, +Marishka sat leaning forward looking at him appealingly, aware that +after all here was the only prop she had to lean upon in this extremity. +She did not speak. The wrong he had done her and Austria was +great--unforgivable, but the merit of his service in this situation was +unmistakable. Inimical as he might be to the sentiments in her heart, +there was no disguising the relief his presence gave her or the +confidence that radiated from his calm assurance. + +"One of the men I have seen before," he said. "He has gained some +celebrity in the Secret Service. You see, we must give them the slip +before we get to Budweis. This train makes several stops. It ought not +to be difficult." + +The plural pronoun seemed quite inoffensive now, and she even uttered +it--herself. + +"Yes," breathlessly; "but suppose they tried to stop us?" + +"Er--that would be most unfortunate," he muttered, as though to himself. + +"You don't think they will, do you?" she appealed. + +"I'm sure I don't know," he said thoughtfully. + +For some moments he said nothing and Marishka, whose pride had come +again to her rescue, gazed steadily out of the window away from him, +trying to forget her dependence upon her companion, whose initiative and +devotion were hourly growing more in importance. Whatever his private +purposes in aiding her, and she had no reason to doubt his +disinterestedness, for the present at least they had a common duty to +humanity which must be performed at any costs to prejudice or pride. + +At the next station a surprise awaited them. The door of their +compartment was opened, a man entered and bowing most politely, quickly +closed the door behind him. Marishka examined him with apprehension, +noticing that he seemed more interested in the Englishman than in +herself, for in the brief glance he gave Renwick, the suavity of his +demeanor seemed for a brief moment to have changed. + +He was a person of middle age, tall, stockily built, but withal rather +jaunty in appearance, and when he smiled again he disclosed a gold tooth +which seemed to Marishka for some reason inexpressibly reassuring. He +rubbed his hands together and looked a great deal like a successful +head-waiter in mufti. But he glanced from one to the other quickly and +settled himself in a corner with an air of being very much at home, +which removed the earlier impression. Renwick took the initiative at +once. + +"A pleasant evening," he said to the newcomer, in German. + +"One might say so," replied the other, bowing calmly. + +"But one doesn't?" asked Renwick. "The conditions are not so propitious +as they were a while ago. A storm is brewing perhaps?" + +The man examined him steadily, aware of the double meaning, but only +smiled again. Renwick got up and with great deliberateness, moved the +length of the aisle, and, while Marishka followed him with her gaze, +seated himself directly opposite the intruder. The man made a movement +with his right hand which he put into the side pocket of his coat, but +as Renwick sat, he smiled again and shrugged. + +"You are traveling to Budweis and beyond?" asked the Englishman. + +"To Budweis and beyond," said the other coolly. "And I would advise Herr +Renwick," he went on quickly, "that the hotels of Budweis are +excellent." + +"Ah!" That he had come out into the open suited Renwick's plans +excellently. He removed his monocle and slipped it into a waistcoat +pocket. "To be sure. Budweis. Unfortunately the lady whom I have the +honor to accompany, visits friends at some distance in the country." + +"The Countess Strahni must go to the Kaiser von Oesterreich Hotel at +Budweis tonight," he said with precision. "It is near the station." And +then quickly "I would also advise Herr Renwick to move at once to the +other end of the compartment." + +Renwick stared at him for a moment as though he had not understood his +meaning and then shrugged and rose. Polite amenities had ceased. He +turned half toward Marishka and then, without warning, threw himself +furiously at the man. + +There was a muffled discharge as the stranger attempted to draw the +weapon from his pocket, but the bullet did no damage, and the +Englishman's blow, fiercely struck, sent the other reeling sideways. He +smiled no longer, but struggled upward gamely. Renwick had caught his +pistol hand and forced him down to the floor, where he pinioned him with +his weight. + +The whole affair had happened so quickly that after one gasp of terror, +Marishka had sat stupefied with horror. But as the struggle continued, +the man on the floor began to shout lustily for help, and she sprang to +the aid of the Englishman, who was choking the man by twisting his +cravat. + +"Your veil--quick," he stammered breathlessly. And after she had given +it to him, "Now, take the revolver from his coat pocket." + +She obeyed. Most of the fight was out of their antagonist, and the +muzzle of the automatic, thrust beneath his nose, completed his +subjugation. After they had gagged him, they bound his wrists and ankles +with handkerchiefs, and then straightened and looked at each other, +listening. Marishka's eyes were sparkling and the color was coming back +into her cheeks. + +"He--he might have killed you," she stammered in English. + +"Or I him," said Renwick. "Thank the Lord, I didn't have to. Do you +think they heard?" + +They listened again, but there was no sound above the roar of the train. + +"We'll have to get out of this--at the first stop--and run for it. I +don't know where we are, but Budweis can't be far off. You still want to +go on?" + +"Yes, I must," she cried resolutely. "I must. Oh, God, if I failed now, +I could never forgive myself." + +"You see--they're determined----" + +He paused, staring at the mummy upon the floor, who had raised his head. +One eye was badly damaged, but the other was frowning at them comically. +But neither Renwick nor Marishka felt like laughing. Renwick started +suddenly toward the window and peered out, for the train was coasting +and ahead of them in the distance he saw the lights of a station. + +"Quickly!" he said to the girl. "There's nothing for it but to go out on +the opposite side. The door is locked." He glanced at the prostrate +figure. And then to Marishka, "You must follow me." + +He did not wait for her answer, but opening the closed window he swung +himself from the floor by a grip on the door jamb, put his feet out and +lowered himself to the running board. The brakes were on now as the +train approached the station, but still Marishka hesitated. + +Renwick's face appeared in the aperture. "All clear," he whispered, "the +tracks on this side are empty. Wait until the train stops and then step +out--quickly, please." + +There was no denying his command of her and of the situation, and, +difficult as the feat appeared, in a moment she was sitting on the sill, +her feet depending outside into the darkness, where Renwick without +another word seized her in his arms and lowered her to the step beside +them, thrilled by the danger of her flight, but ready to follow wherever +he led. + +With a grinding of brakes the train stopped, but they got down quickly, +and in a moment had dodged behind a building, and listening for sounds +of pursuit, made their way up the dimly lighted street of a small town. +It was not yet midnight and there were signs of activity here and there. +She hurried beside Renwick blindly, content as he was for the present to +put as much distance as possible between themselves and the railroad +station. They listened anxiously for the train to move, but there was no +sound of bell or exhaust. The distant shouts seemed more ominous. +Renwick only glanced behind them and hurried the pace. He led her around +a corner, into a well-lighted street where an automobile, its engine +running, was standing before a rather pretentious house. He ran up to it +and examined it quickly. + +"It's really too bad," he muttered, with a quick glance toward the +house, "but our need is great," and got in, Marishka following without a +word. "It's a Mercedes, thank God," he whispered. "I hope it will go." + +It did, with a sputter and roar which brought a shouting figure to the +door of the house, but Renwick was beyond stopping and turned blindly at +the next turning and followed the street through the sleeping town into +a well-traveled country road, which led straight onward toward the +setting moon. + +"I haven't the slightest notion where we're going," he said presently, +"but we seem to be on our way." + +Marishka found herself laughing nervously. She wasn't in the least +amused, but the strain was telling on her. + +"Nice chap--the owner of this car, to put it just there. I'll have to +buy it, I suppose. No end of a good machine. I wonder if he thought to +fill the tank." + +Renwick ran the car up a long hill which it took with ease, and at the +summit the moonlit summer landscape was visible for miles in all +directions. There at a crossroad the Englishman stopped the stolen car +in the shadow of a tree, got quickly out and investigated the tank. + +"Plenty of petrol--enough for all night, I should say," he reported. +"And now"--as he looked around him in all directions--"which way? Hanged +if I know." + +Marishka was scanning the valley below them eagerly. In the distance to +their right a row of lights moved slowly into the night. "The train!" +she said, "Budweis lies in that direction. I've often been over the road +from Konopisht. If we can reach it----" + +"That ought not to be difficult. Here goes." And he took the crossroad +to the right. + +So far all was well, but the stolen motor car was a dead weight on +Renwick's conscience, and the danger of detection was still most +unpleasant. If an excuse were needed for his arrest, a pretext which +would hide the real secret of the mission of his pursuers, the larceny +of the machine would now furnish it. He had no humor to see the inside +of a village jail from which communication with the Ambassador would be +difficult if not impossible. There were processes of law in Austria +which suddenly became formidable to one in his position. But he drove +on, keeping a lookout for sign posts, aware that the girl beside him, +now that their danger was passed, had again assumed an uncompromising +silence which was not too favorable an indication of the state of her +mind and feelings toward him. He smiled inwardly. At least she could not +rob him of the moment when on the steps of the train he had held her in +his arms. He did not doubt that she was thinking of that moment also, +hating him the more cordially because she was so dependent on him. Did +she hate him? He stole a glance at her. She sat stiffly staring before +her into the night, a frown at her brows, her lips closed in a thin +line. Pride? + +"Marishka," he ventured softly, "will you forgive me?" + +Her figure grew more rigid. + +"Herr Renwick----!" she gasped. + +"I love you," he broke in. "You must know how much----" + +"It is a pity that I have already gauged your capacity for devotion," +she said bitterly. + +"I _had_ to tell, Marishka----" + +"Herr Renwick, I am already much in your debt. Add to my burden, if you +will, by keeping silence on a matter so painful----" + +"Forgive me----" + +"Never. You have betrayed me." + +"I'll never give you up." + +"You must. Circumstances have placed me in this false position. I am at +your mercy. I beg you to be silent." + +"You will marry me, some day, Marishka," he asserted cheerfully. + +"Never," scornfully. "Never. The House of Strahni, Herr Renwick, holds +honor high and loyalty even higher than honor----" + +"There is another precept of the House of Strahni," he broke in calmly. +"Their women--where they give their lips----" + +"Oh, you are intolerable! I abominate you!" + +"And I--I still adore you," he whispered. "I shall always adore--and +serve." + +"Thank God, the hour of your service nears its end," she said chokingly. + +"Who knows?" he muttered. + +But he made no further attempt to break through her reserve. She was too +greatly in his power. And so he drove in silence, passing through the +silent streets of Budweis without challenge and soon found himself upon +the main highroad to Prague, over which the two had traveled less than a +week ago in their hurried flight to Vienna. The moon had long since set, +but when they climbed the hills along the Moldau faint gray streaks upon +their right hand proclaimed the coming of the dawn. If Marishka was +weary she gave no sign of it, for she sat bolt upright in her seat, her +eyes wide open, staring along the thin yellow ribbon which marked their +road. To the few questions as to her comfort she answered in +monosyllables, and at last he made no further effort to engage her in a +conversation. He felt no anger at her rebuffs--only tenderness--for in +his heart he could not altogether blame her for her repudiation of him. + +Broad daylight found them on the Prague highroad, not three miles from +Konopisht Schloss. Here Renwick decided to desert the car and go afoot +through the forest to the castle. He hid the machine in a thicket and +led the way, Marishka following silently, content to trust herself to a +judgment which until the present moment had seemed unerring. He glanced +at her from time to time, aware of the pallor of her face and the +fatigue of her movements. Once when he turned he fancied that her lips +were smiling, but when he spoke to her she answered him shortly. The +wounds to her pride were deep, it seemed, but he armed himself with +patience and smiled at her reassuringly as they paused at the edge of +the wood. + +"The Schloss is just beyond these woods, I think. Some smoke is rising +yonder. We must avoid the village. I think we may reach the garden by +the lower gate. And there I will await you, Countess Strahni," he +finished quietly. + +It seemed as though in giving her her title, that he was accepting +without further plea any conditions of formality in their relations +which she might impose. + +She waited a long moment without moving or replying. And then she turned +toward him with a smile. + +"Herr Renwick," she said gently, "whatever the personal differences +between us, I owe you at least a word of gratitude for all that you have +done. I thank you again. But I do not wish you to wait for me. I shall +not trouble you longer." + +"I will wait for you," he repeated. + +"It is not necessary. I shall not return." + +"You might, you know," he smiled. "I don't mind waiting at all. I shall +breakfast upon a cigarette." + +"Oh," she cried, her temper rising again, "you are----you are +impossible." + +With that she turned and strode ahead, reaching the gate before him and +entering. + +"_Au revoir_, Countess Strahni," he called after her. + +But she walked rapidly toward the rose garden without turning her head, +while Renwick, after lighting his cigarette, strolled slowly after her, +sure that the world was very beautiful, but that his path of love even +amid the roses did not run smoothly. + +He reached the hedge just in time to see a man, one of the gardeners he +seemed to be, come forward along the path from the direction of the +castle and stand before Marishka bowing. He saw the girl turn a glance +over her shoulder, an appealing glance, and Renwick had just started to +run forward when from each tree and hedge near him figures appeared +which seemed to envelop him. He struck out to right and left, but they +were too many. He felt a stinging blow at the back of his head, and had +the curious sensation of seeing the garden path suddenly rise and smite +him tremendously. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +HERR WINDT + + +When Renwick managed again to summon his wits, he found himself lying in +the dark where somebody was bathing his brows with a damp cloth. His +head ached a great deal and he lay for a moment without opening his +eyes, aware of soft fingers, the touch of which seemed to soothe the +pain immeasurably. He opened his eyes to the semi-obscurity of a small +room furnished with the cot on which he lay, a table and two chairs. It +was all very comfortable and cozy, but the most agreeable object was the +face of Marishka Strahni, not a foot from his own. Through eyes dimmed +by pain he thought he read in her expression a divine compassion and +tenderness, and quickly closed them again for fear that his eyes might +have deceived him. When he opened them again he murmured her name. + +"Marishka," he said gently, "you--you have forgiven me?" + +But she had moved slightly away from him and was now regarding him +impassively. It was too bad for his vision to have played him such a +trick. It was so much pleasanter to sleep with Marishka looking at him +like that. + +"You have had a blow upon the head, Herr Renwick," her voice came as +from a distance. "I hope you are feeling better. It was necessary for me +to bathe your head with cold compresses." + +Necessary! Of course. But it would have been so much pleasanter to know +that she had done it because she wanted to. + +"So it was _au revoir_, after all?" he smiled, struggling to a sitting +posture. + +"You had better lie still for a while," she said briefly. + +His head was throbbing painfully, but he managed to make light of it. + +"Oh, I'm quite all right, I think," he said looking around the room +curiously. "Would you mind telling me what happened and where we are?" + +"They struck you down and brought us here. It's one of the gardener's +cottages on the estate." + +"And you?" + +"They were very polite but we are prisoners--for how long I don't know. +I've failed, Herr Renwick----" she finished miserably. + +"Perhaps it isn't too late----" + +"There are men outside. They intend to keep us here for the present." + +"There ought to be a way----" said Renwick, putting his feet to the +ground. "I could----" He stopped abruptly, for at that moment he +discovered that the captured weapon had been removed from his pocket. + +"I'm afraid it's hopeless," said Marishka bitterly. + +Renwick glanced at his watch. "Only eight o'clock. Even now we +could----" + +He rose and walked to the window, peering through a crack in the +shutter, but an attack of vertigo caused him to sink into a chair. She +regarded him dubiously, pride and compassion struggling, but she said +nothing. + +"Beastly stupid of me," he groaned. "I might have known they'd spare no +detail----" + +There was a knock upon the door, and at Marishka's response, a turning +of the key, and a man entered. In spite of a discolored eye and a +wrinkled neckband, he was not difficult to identify as their friend of +the railroad train. His manner, however, was far from forbidding, for he +clicked his heels, swept off his cap and smiled slowly, his gold tooth +gleaming pleasantly. + +"Herr Renwick is, I trust, feeling better," he said politely. + +Renwick grinned up at him sheepishly. + +"I congratulate Herr Windt upon his adroitness," he said. "I fear I made +the mistake of underestimating his skill in divination." + +"It was not inspired enough to guess that you were in the Countess +Strahni's carriage," he replied. "You have quick fingers, Herr Renwick. +Fortunately I was aware of your destination and knew that we should +meet. All is well that ends well." + +"That depends upon the point of view, Herr Windt. But I might have +killed you in the railway carriage." + +"That would have been an error in judgment, which would have been most +unfortunate for both of us. I, too, might have shot you through my +pocket, but I refrained, at some hazard to myself. I try never to exceed +the necessities of a situation. Having performed my mission successfully +I can now afford to be generous." + +"Meaning--what, Herr Windt?" + +"That I shall keep you here only so long as is absolutely necessary." He +glanced at his watch and said significantly, "The Archduke's private +train will leave here in half an hour." + +Marishka had listened in some amazement to this conversation, but the +politeness of her jailer only angered her. + +"I would like to know by what authority you imprison a loyal citizen of +Austria," she stormed. "Your identity seems to have made some impression +upon Herr Renwick, but I would inform you that I at least am not without +friends to whom you will answer for this outrage." + +Herr Windt bowed low. + +"I beg that Countess Strahni will reconsider that word. I have intended +to act with great discretion. Herr Renwick unfortunately underestimated +the forces to which he was opposed. I am sorry he has suffered injury. +As for you, Countess, I beg leave to recall that those who have +restrained you have treated you with every consideration." + +"Who are you?" she asked angrily. + +"Herr Renwick has spoken my name." + +"You are a member of the secret service of the Austrian government?" + +He smiled again and bowed low. + +"It is the custom of those in my trade to ask questions--not to answer +them. In this service, however, it will please you perhaps to know that +I am not acting for the Austrian government." + +"Who then?" + +"I cannot reply." + +"You dare not." + +"Perhaps. But I am willing to admit, Countess Strahni, that the same +motive which impelled you to Schönbrunn," he said significantly, "has +actuated both myself and my employers." + +"And that motive?" + +"The safety of the Empire." + +"Austria! But not complicity in this dastardly----" + +At a warning sound from Renwick she paused. Herr Windt was regarding her +gravely. + +"I regret that I do not comprehend the Countess Strahni's meaning," he +said with a bow. "It would be a source of great unhappiness to me, if in +doing my duty, I had done you a harm. I am not an enemy, Countess, but a +loyal compatriot. I may add that I am prepared to do what I can to +protect you from the results of your unfortunate connection with a +dangerous political situation." + +"Protect! You!" Marishka smiled bitterly and glanced ironically around +the walls of the cabin. + +"I beg to assure you that I am not jesting. Herr Renwick will recall +that he was attacked one night upon the streets of Vienna. He was also +shot at by some person unknown. The inspiration for those assaults did +not emanate from my employers." + +"I suspected as much," muttered Renwick. + +Marishka was examining Renwick wide-eyed. + +"Shot at!" she murmured. + +"The information in Herr Renwick's possession," Herr Windt went on +suavely, "was more damaging to other interests than to theirs. Herr +Renwick's connection with the British Embassy has terminated. He has +merely the status in Austria of a traveling Englishman. But his +activities are dangerous where they concern the movements of the +Countess Strahni. I am performing an act of friendship to a loyal +Austrian in offering her escort back to Vienna, where if she is wise she +will remain quietly under my surveillance." + +During this speech, of which Herr Windt delivered himself with much +bowing and rubbing of his hands, Marishka remained silent, a wonder +growing in her eyes. + +"I fail to see how my presence here or elsewhere can interest you or +others," she said as she sank upon the cot. Weariness was telling on her +and the disappointment of her mission's failure. And the threat of +danger that hung in his words was hardly reassuring. + +"Countess Strahni may doubt my good intentions. That is her privilege. +In a short time"--here he looked at his watch again--"she will be at +liberty to come and go as she chooses. In the meanwhile I beg that she +will listen to me and heed my warning." + +He looked at her until she raised her head and signified for him to +continue. "The agencies which attempted to prevent the delivery of Herr +Renwick's information to the British Embassy are again at work. Herr +Renwick having been"--he paused and bowed to Renwick--"if I may be +permitted to say so--having been repudiated by his Ambassador and by the +British government, he is politically a person of no importance--at +least as far as my relations with him are concerned. Whatever he may do +privately, unless it proves valuable to the interests of Austria's +enemies, will pass as it has already passed--unnoticed in Austria. The +case of the Countess Strahni is different----" + +He paused a moment to rub his hands together thoughtfully. + +"I can not understand----" + +"Within the past twenty-four hours the apartments of the Baroness +Racowitz have been observed by persons not in my service. The Countess +perhaps has had no unusual communications?" + +Marishka started up in her chair, while Windt, watching her, smiled +slowly. + +"Ah, I was not mistaken----" he said. + +"A request to go to the Hofburg tonight--before Herr Renwick came," she +whispered, now thoroughly aroused. "I did not go. The signature was +unfamiliar to me." + +Herr Windt took a pace toward the window and peered forth through the +slats of the blind. + +"The Countess Strahni would not have reached the Hofburg," he said +quietly. "She would have gone--er--elsewhere!" + +"The man in the green limousine!" came suddenly in cryptic tones from +the silent Renwick. + +"Exactly. He followed the Countess Strahni's fiacre in motor car to the +Nordwest Bahnhof." + +"And you?" + +"We forestalled him--that's all," he said, showing his gold tooth in a +most ingratiating smile, but there was a flash in the deep set eyes +which explained much to Renwick. + +"There was a commotion near the booking-stall," said Renwick. + +"Ah, you witnessed?" + +"From a distance. I had other affairs." + +"Yes. That will perhaps make my laxity with regard to Herr Renwick's +sudden appearance the more pardonable," said Windt, with a professional +air. + +Marishka, who had listened with growing inquietude to these revelations +of her danger, had risen and paced nervously the length of the room. + +"But why?" she pleaded. "Who can dare to molest me in my own home or in +the streets of Vienna?" + +Herr Windt rubbed his injured eye gravely. + +"The Countess Strahni has unfortunately become a political document, the +possession of which, I may even say the suppression of which, is highly +important." + +Marishka sank upon the couch, and for a moment buried her face in her +hands. + +"But what would be gained by getting me out of the way? I have already +told what I know." + +Herr Windt smiled. + +"As Herr Renwick would perhaps inform you, the place for an important +document is the safe. If the document is harmless a desk may do. If it +is incriminating, like you, Countess"--he said with a dramatic +gesture--"the fire!" + +Renwick by this time had risen and stood fitting his monocle into his +eye. + +"Astounding!" he muttered. "And yet I quite believe you." + +"There seems little room to doubt." Herr Windt walked to the window and +peered out again. "My men are all about this place, Herr Renwick, and +yet even now I am not certain that you have not been followed." + +He turned and faced Marishka with his usual bland composure. "Herr +Renwick should, I think, be able to take care of himself. I beg, +however, that Countess Strahni will not be unduly anxious. I shall +myself go outside and take every precaution." He turned at the door and +bowed. "I beg that in the meanwhile, you will come to some decision as +to your immediate plans, counting upon my efforts to aid you. There is +no train for Vienna until this afternoon," he said significantly. "I may +add that the machine in which you came from Altensteig will be returned +to its owner by one of my young men, who will explain the circumstances, +and arrange a proper compensation." + +With this parting shot delivered in his best professional manner, Herr +Windt left the room with an air of triumphant urbanity which added not a +little to the respect with which Renwick now regarded him. + +Marishka sat upright on the bed staring straight before her while +Renwick paced the floor frowning. + +"If I could only have reached her--for a moment," said Marishka +brokenly, as though thinking aloud. "She would have listened to me--she +would have believed me. I would have thrown myself upon her mercy--told +her all. It is horrible--a death like that--when a word might save them +now--and it will be I--I who have killed them----" She started up +staring at Renwick. "And you! Why do you stand there, doing nothing?" +she flung at him wildly. "You learned of this thing--at Belgrade. Why +couldn't you have prevented it? Given it publicity? Why don't you do +something now? England has power. Why doesn't your Ambassador speak? Is +he frightened? Dumb? Will he stand idly by and see this----" + +"It is none of England's affair, Countess Strahni," Renwick broke in +soothingly. + +"Then it is of Germany's?" She halted as the new idea came to her, and +walked to the small table where she sank into a chair and buried her +head in her hands, trying to think. + +After a while she raised her head suddenly and looked at Renwick. + +"Do you believe that this man tells the truth?" + +"I do. He stands high among those of his profession." + +"Do you believe that agents of the German government were trying to take +me prisoner--and you?" + +"Herr Windt is surprisingly well informed. I am quite sure that someone +is trying to shoot me," he laughed. "I believe that you were +followed--by whom I don't know." + +"Then how do you explain the efforts of German agents to take me, when I +am acting in the interests of the Kaiser's friend and ally, the Archduke +Franz?" + +"You forget that this plot is a secret one. The Archduke may fear the +Serbians and the Bosnians, not his own countrymen." + +"Oh! Yes--of course." She was silent again, but moved her hands +nervously along the table top and in a moment got up and peered through +the window-blind. + +"I beg that you will submit yourself to Herr Windt if not to +me----" pleaded Renwick earnestly. "At least in his company you will be +in no danger. I have done what I can to help you reach the Duchess, +because the secret we shared brought about this calamity. But the matter +has been taken out of my hands and yours. I advise you to return this +afternoon to Vienna." + +She did not reply and only stood by the window, tapping at the sash with +unquiet fingers. + +"You are tired," he said gently. "Lie down on this bed for awhile and I +will see what can be done about breakfast." + +"I'm not hungry." + +"You can't go without food." + +"I'm not hungry," she repeated. + +Renwick shrugged and walked to the other window, where he presently +observed Herr Windt coming around the corner of the building. That +remarkable person had thought of everything, for he carried in his hands +a coffeepot and cups, while another man followed with plates and a +saucepan. + +He turned the key in the lock and entered, putting the coffee upon the +table and rubbing his hands with a more than usual gusto. + +"I am delighted to be able to inform you that the occasion for your +detention has passed. Within certain bounds you are now at liberty. The +train of the Archduke has just passed down the valley." + +"Oh!" gasped Marishka. + +"I would advise you, however, to keep within call. If Herr Renwick will +give me his word of honor not to try to escape----" + +"I don't quite know where I should go----" + +"Very good. The wires, of course, Herr Renwick, are in the hands of +Austrian officials." + +Renwick nodded. + +"You have won, Herr Windt. I have no plans which conflict with yours." +He turned a glance toward Marishka. "Countess Strahni is very tired. I +think if we were to leave her for a few hours, she would probably eat +and rest----" + +"By all means," said Windt with alacrity, moving toward the door. "And +if Herr Renwick will follow me I think I can find another coffeepot." + +Marishka did not turn from the window as they went out of the door. Her +heart was heavy within her, and through the glaring summer sunlight +which came in at the window and beat upon her face, she saw--Sarajevo! +Sophie Chotek alighting from her train, the pomp and circumstance, the +glitter of uniforms, the crowded streets through which she must pass and +the crowd which seethed with unrest, along the street through which +Sophie Chotek must pass...! It was too horrible. She wanted to +shriek--to cry out against the infamy that was to be done, but she could +only close her eyes to try and shut the vision out. + +After awhile she grew calmer, and tried to think clearly. There was a +pitcher and basin in the corner of the room, and so she bathed her face +and hands and refreshed herself. The coffee still steamed upon the +table. There was rye bread, and there were eggs in the water of the +saucepan. She felt weak and dispirited, but it would not do to fail for +lack of strength, and so she sat and ate and drank. The plan born of her +talk with Hugh Renwick still turned over and over in her mind. Would +Renwick still be able to do something to help her? Which way should she +turn? If her own efforts to warn Sophie Chotek had been futile, if Hugh +Renwick could not do something, and England selfishly held aloof while +this horrible conspiracy which seemed to have its very tendrils hidden +in the hearts of those who should have been her friends, was under way, +what must she do? She felt dreadfully; alone, and fearfully guilty. Her +own death or the threatened imprisonment of which Herr Windt spoke +seemed slight atonements for the wrong that she had done Sophie Chotek. +If she could still succeed, by using the agents of the Archduke's +imperial friend and ally, in sending a warning through the German +ambassador at Vienna, to Budapest or Sarajevo, the consequences to +herself were immaterial. They might have her to do with as they chose; +for by this sacrifice only could she atone. She did not fear death, for +death to youth and health is inconceivable. She smiled incredulously as +she thought again of the ominous surmises of the impossible Herr Windt. +There was something of the opera bouffe about his methods which +abstracted from the brilliancy of his success. To Marishka he was still +the head waiter. This was the twentieth century. No political secret +could justify the imprisonment or death of a woman!... She shuddered a +little, as she thought of the very death that had been planned by the +employers of Herr Windt--Austrians--loyal Austrians he called them, of +the same blood and lineage perhaps as herself. She had not yet succeeded +in wholly believing it. There was some missing reason for the actions of +this secret service agent, some motive which neither she nor Hugh +Renwick had yet fathomed, which would explain her detention and his. It +was unbelievable that---- + +Marishka started at a small sound from the direction of the fireplace. +It was a curious sound, a subdued metallic clink which nevertheless +differentiated itself with startling clearness from among the already +familiar sounds of the quiet summer morning. She started up and peered +into the shadows of the hearth. There was something there, a small +object--round, wrapped in paper. She reached forward quickly, picked it +up and examined it curiously then took off its covering, disclosing an +Austrian coin--a _kroner_--nothing more. It was most mysterious. The +thing could obviously have not come from the sky. Who? + +She examined the paper closely. It seemed like a leaf torn from a note +book. There was writing on it, and moving to the window she made out the +script without difficulty. It was written in evident haste with a blunt +pencil. + + I have found a way to escape in a machine from Herr Wendt, if you + will come at once. Only one man watches the cabin by the door. + There is another in the orchard. Go quietly out by the window and + follow the hedge to the garden wall. I will be at the gate beyond + the arbor. Destroy this note. + + HUGH RENWICK. + +Marishka read the note twice to be sure that there was no mistake. She +quickly peered through the window by the door. Yes, the man was there, +smoking his pipe in the sunshine, his back against a tree, dozing. +Anything were better than this interminable suspense--this horrible +oppression of acknowledged failure. To be under further obligations to +Herr Renwick was an added bitterness to her wounded pride, but hope had +already beggared her and she could not choose. She got into coat and +hat, and after another careful scrutiny of her somnolent guardian, +quietly opened the shutters of the side window, stepped out into the +shadow of the hedge, and made her way toward the distant garden wall. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE GREEN LIMOUSINE + + +Herr Windt started up from the bench on which he had thrown himself. It +was a pity there was no earlier train for Vienna. He stretched himself +and yawned, for he confessed himself a trifle disappointed that there +was to be, after all, no test of wits between himself and the agent of +the Wilhelmstrasse who had followed the Countess Strahni to the Nordwest +station in Vienna. His men had done the fellow in the motor cap no great +damage, for his own instructions had been limited but definite: to save +Marishka Strahni in all secrecy from coming to harm, but to prevent her +at all hazards from reaching Konopisht before the Archduke and Duchess +left for Sarajevo. This simple task had been accomplished with little +difficulty. The agent of the Wilhelmstrasse, undoubtedly a person of +small caliber, had given up his efforts, or would seek a more propitious +moment, to carry it out later in Vienna. Herr Windt yawned again. His +visit to Bohemia would have been indeed a delight if a secret agent of +the caliber of Herr Hauptman Leo Goritz, or Ober Lieutenant Franz +Scheib, could have been sent upon this delicate mission to oppose him. +But there was no such luck. Herr Windt had made a careful round of +village and garden while Herr Renwick remained under the eye of his men, +and there had been no sign of anything suspicious to disturb the +monotonous peacefulness of the quiet garden. The reaction which always +followed upon success, had set in, and the famous man was now frankly +bored and somewhat fidgety. He got up and paced the stone walk a few +times and then gazed out to where his most trusted man, Spivak, was +dozing in the sun. Everything was too quiet, too peaceful. The serenity +of the landscape annoyed him. He glanced at his watch--still four hours +of this infernal quiet before their train left for Vienna. He went to +the door of the room into which Herr Renwick had gone to lie down and +looked in. The room was empty. This was not surprising, for Herr Renwick +was under parole and would have the freedom of the garden in the +immediate vicinity of the two cabins. As the morning was hot he had +perhaps gone out to enjoy the shade of the trees. But Herr Windt now +moved with alacrity and crossed the small plot of vegetable garden which +separated the two cabins, and in some haste turned the corner of the +small building which sheltered the Countess Strahni. + +Before the door, listening, a puzzled look upon his face was Herr +Renwick. + +"I have called her three times," said the Englishman quickly. "She +sleeps very soundly--or else----" + +But Herr Windt did not stand upon ceremony, for he thrust past the +Englishman, threw open the inner door, then returned bellowing lustily. + +"Gone! The room is empty----" + +"Gone!" cried Renwick. + +Windt eyed him keenly. + +"I have been yonder, by the trees, near your man----" protested Renwick +and there seemed no doubt as to his innocence. + +"Hi! Spivak! Linder! Hadwiger!" cried Windt. And as the men came running +from all directions, "She is gone. What have you been at?" + +"Gone?" + +"By the window, idiots; did none of you see her?" + +"No, Herr Windt----" + +"But she could not have flown up the chimney----" + +He halted abruptly, then dashed into the room again, peering into the +fire place and examining the furniture, all his professional instincts +keenly aroused. As he shook the bed clothing, there was a tinkle upon +the floor, and a coin rolled into the farthest corner of the room. This +he pounced upon like a dog upon a rat and brought it forth into the +light of the window. + +"A _kroner_!" he muttered. "Curious! Could she have dropped it do you +suppose?" + +"Perhaps. Her money was in a handbag," cried Renwick with his legs out +of the window. He had already espied a possible mode of escape, and +started running along in the shadow of the hedge. + +"Your parole, Herr Renwick!" shouted Windt, scrambling after him. + +"Come on then," cried the Englishman over his shoulder while the +Austrian followed swiftly shouting orders to his assistants. "Follow me, +Spivak! The Park gates, Hadwiger! Let no vehicle get out! Linder, notify +Lengelbach--the telegraph!" + +Renwick went fast but Herr Windt and the puffing Spivak kept at his +heels as they reached the garden, crossing it at full speed toward the +arbor, whither Renwick led them as though by an inspiration, through the +bushes and toward the small gate beyond, which led to the door in the +wall, over which a week ago he had climbed in his hurried flight with +Marishka to Vienna. + +Renwick was thinking rapidly. Had Marishka escaped alone--perhaps +devised a plan of her own to reach Vienna from Budweis in time to come +up with the party of the Archduke? Or had someone----He doubled his +pace, cursing his throbbing head and his own simplicity and impotence. A +trap? + +"There is a door?" stammered Windt. + +"In the bushes just beyond--a private one--usually locked----" + +"Spivak! You hear?" + +"I could not know----" panted the other. + +"You should have known----" + +They reached the small flight of steps that led down, and dashed along +the path among the bushes toward an open gate, emerging upon the road +which marked the beginnings of the village street. There were a few +people in sight, an old man hobbling upon a stick, a child with a dog, +two peasants in the shade of a tree eating their midday meal--and down +the road to the west--a cloud of dust! + +The peasants rose in alarm at the rapid approach of the three excited +men, and turned as though to flee into the safety of the adjoining +field, but Renwick overtook them. + +"You saw a lady come out of the gate yonder?" he questioned. + +"A lady, Excellency?" + +"Yes, yes. A lady and perhaps a gentlemen." + +"We are merely eating our dinner, Excellency. We--we have no wish to do +harm to anyone." + +"Idiots!" cried Windt. "A motor-car? An automobile? Did you see it? +Answer--or----" + +"A motor-car--Excellency?" the fellow stammered. "Yes--a motor-car." + +"How long since?" snapped Windt. + +"A moment only--it was here--just here--and now it is gone----" + +"Where?" + +"Y-yonder----" and he pointed down the road. + +The three men exchanged frowning glances, but Herr Windt's were the most +terrible of the three. + +"You saw? Speak--What color was this car?" + +"H--how should I know, Excellency? I was peacefully eating my dinner. +See! It is but half finished----" + +"You will never eat what remains unless you speak the truth----" he +roared. + +"I--I am speaking the truth----" + +"What color had this car?" + +"I don't understand----" + +"Its color, man--the paint?" + +"Oh! The paint----" + +"Speak! Blockhead----" + +"Excellency, I think----" he stammered in terror, "I think----" + +"What--quickly----" + +"I think, Excellency, that it was green." + +Renwick gasped. The face of Herr Windt wore a blank look as though he +had suddenly received a glacial douche. + +"_Herr Gott!_" he muttered, wiping the sweat from his brow with an +eloquent forefinger. + +"The green limousine!" muttered Renwick. + +For a moment all three men stood helplessly staring down the road toward +the west, where the dustcloud was slowly settling on leaf and hedgerow, +but there was a turn in the road which hid all objects beyond. Herr +Windt was the first to recover his initiative. + +"Clever!" he muttered. "A message! Linder should have observed----But +they will not get far. Come----" And he led the way at a quick trot in +the direction of the village, where they reached the telegraph office at +the railway station. + +While Herr Windt went inside to give his orders, Renwick sank upon a +bench outside and tried to think of what had happened and what it might +mean to Marishka and to him. The green limousine--a German secret +agent--there could be no doubt, and he, Renwick, already warned of this +possible danger to Marishka had permitted her to fall into this trap, +while he had come off unscathed. His conscience assailed him bitterly. +Trusting to the efficiency of Herr Windt's men he had slept--slept while +Marishka was being carried off to danger--to imprisonment--or +perhaps--he did not dare to think of anything worse. And Marishka must +have connived at the plan for her escape! How had the message passed? +And what was the lure? + +As the new idea came to him he rose quickly and moved toward the door of +the telegraph office. He paused for a moment to adjust his monocle and +it was fortunate that he did so, for there was a crash of glass at the +window just by his head, followed by a cry of alarm within the room. +Renwick dodged behind a projection of the building, and peered out while +Windt and Linder came rushing from the office. + +"A shot?" + +"Who?" + +"I can't imagine. He can't have gone far." + +The four men raced out, Herr Windt with automatic drawn, but when they +reached the freight station which seemed to be in the direction from +which the shot had come there was no one in sight. Across the railroad +was a patch of dense woods. + +Here Herr Windt paused. + +"He was shooting at _you_, Herr Renwick," he said calmly. + +"I haven't a doubt of it." + +"Go forward, Linder and Spivak--search the woods--but do no shooting +unless attacked." Here Windt pocketed his weapon. "I regret, Herr +Renwick, that my other business is of the utmost importance. You will +come with me to the telegraph office, please." + +Renwick obeyed rather willingly. He was unarmed and saw no possible +utility to his own cause or Marishka's in dodging around in woods which +contained a person bent upon assassinating him. + +"You see, Herr Renwick, the matter is not ended." + +"I'm much more comfortable that it is not," replied Renwick grimly. "He +shoots well." + +"You must be careful," said his companion casually. "Come inside. +Hadwiger will watch." And he calmly took up his interrupted duty with +the telegraph officer, with an air of impassivity, which of course, was +part of his professional mien, but Renwick somehow gained the idea that +his own death whether by shooting, poison, or other sudden device was a +matter with which Herr Windt could have the least possible concern. +Renwick sank into a chair and smoked a pipe, trying to think what he +could do, listening dully meanwhile to the Austrian's dictated messages +to the wire, delivered rapidly and with a certain military precision. + +"Stop all green motor cars traveling north on the Prague highroad--and +all roads leading north. Report at once here by telegraph description of +those arrested. Confirm this message by name of station." And then in +quicker tones, "Send that to all telegraph stations in this district +north and west of here--and quick, you understand--lose no time. When +that message is sent I will give you another--for the Chief of Police at +Prague." Then turning to the door as a new thought came to him he spoke +to Hadwiger. + +"Go to the wood on the Prague highroad where the machine is concealed +and bring it here. Quick. We may need it. You see, Herr Renwick, in ten +minutes all the roads into Prague will be closed to them. Even if they +reach the city they will be detained." + +Renwick did not reply. He was weighing the probabilities in his own +thorough English way. His head still ached, but the pipe of tobacco +aided his faculties. The thought that persisted in his mind was that +Marishka had escaped from Herr Windt with the sole purpose of carrying +out the object of her visit to Konopisht. He remembered the sudden +interest she had displayed at the mention of the possibility of her +having been followed to Konopisht by an agent of the Wilhelmstrasse. +England could do nothing for her, Austria her own country stood +helpless, while the Military Party, which alone possibly had the power +to help her, still remained in ignorance of the plot. Germany! He +remembered the look that had come into her eyes as he had confirmed the +opinions of Herr Windt--an opinion borne out by the attempts upon his +life and her safety in Vienna. But what of the man in the green +limousine? She was a human document, as Herr Windt had said, which was +destined for the safe, or possibly for destruction. By what means had +the man in the green car lured her from the security of the cabin? +Renwick could not believe, after all that he had done for her, that she +would throw herself into the hands of a stranger on the barest chance of +success without at least confiding in him. A shadow had fallen between +them, a shadow and an abyss which had grown darker and deeper with the +hours, but that he was her enemy--political, personal--he could hardly +believe she could think him that; for he had done what he could--striven +earnestly to help her reach the Duchess in safety. That he had failed +was through no fault of his own. He could not understand her flight--not +from Windt, but from him--without a word or a sign. It was not like +her--not even like the Marishka who had chosen to call him dishonorable. +However much she could repudiate his political actions, there still +remained between them the ties of social consanguinity, the memory of +things which might have been, that no wounded pride could ever quite +destroy. But to repudiate him without a word--that was not like +Marishka--not even the Marishka of today and yesterday. And while he +tried to solve the problem in his own way, the telegraph instrument +ticked busily on. Herr Windt leaned over the desk reading the messages, +repeating the names of the towns which replied. + +"Beneschau--Pribram--Wrshowitz--that district is covered, Lengelbach?" + +"Yes. Ah, here is something." + +Windt bent forward again repeating the message aloud. + +"From Beraun--Franz--Schweppenheiser--and--a--woman--says--she--is--his +--wife. Small--four--cylinder--car--American--make--black--in--color +--with--brass--band--on--hood. Both--man--and--woman--have--grey--hair +--age--seventy-two--and----" Herr Windt broke off with an oath, +"_Schafsköpfen!_" he cried. "Enough of that----" And paced the floor of +the room before Renwick, glaring impatiently out of the window. + +"Another," said Lengelbach, "from Bresnitz. Man--and--girl--much +frightened----" + +"Ah!" + +"Say--they--are--running--away--to--be--married." + +"Yes--the description----" + +"Man--dark--age--twenty-five--girl--yellow--hair----" + +"Bah!" furiously. "Enough--the next." + +For an hour or more, Renwick sat helplessly and listened while the +different towns including the city of Prague responded. There was no +green limousine in all Bohemia. At last, his patience exhausted, he rose +and knocked his pipe out. + +"Herr Windt," he inquired calmly, "what reason have you for believing +that they will go to Prague?" + +"The roads are good. The German border lies beyond," said Windt shortly, +turning away. + +"Wait!" Renwick's hand clutched his arm firmly. "Is there a road running +south and parallel to the highroad?" + +Windt regarded him in silence for a moment and then-- + +"Yes, many--but most of them mere cow paths." + +"An automobile could pass over them, Herr Lengelbach?" + +"Yes, the roads to Brünn are not bad," said the man. + +Renwick smiled grimly. "It is my belief, Herr Windt, that they have +slipped through your fingers." + +"No." + +"You have exhausted almost every means----" + +"There are other stations----" + +"I would suggest that you try the country to the southward." + +"Why?" + +"Because that is the way that they have gone----" + +"Impossible!" + +"I think you forget the Countess Strahni's mission--and yours." + +"She will not succeed." + +His stubbornness angered Renwick, and he caught him by the arm again, +and whispered a few words in his ear. + +Herr Windt turned a startled glance at the Englishman. His mind had been +bent upon mere machinery. When he spoke there was in his voice a note of +respect. + +"Ah--it is worth considering. But how? The telegraph wires are now in my +possession--here in this district to Budweis--to Vienna----" + +"Then why don't you use them?" asked Renwick bluntly. + +Windt stood stock still a moment and then went quickly to the desk. + +"Repeat that message to Budweis, to Gmund, to Altensteig and Absdorf. +Also cover the Brünn road. It can do no harm," he said turning urbanely +to Renwick. + +"Perhaps not," said Renwick dryly, "if the harm is not already done." + +Together they listened to the clicking of the telegraph instrument. Half +an hour passed. Hadwiger returned with the machine. Spivak and Linder +came in from their fruitless search of the woods. The suspense was +unendurable. Renwick, forgetting his danger, paced the road outside +until a cry from Windt brought him into the office. The others were +leaning over the instrument while Windt spelled out the words, +"I-g-l-a-u t-w-o s-e-v-e-n-t-e-e-n G-e-r-m-a-n o-f-f-i-c-e-r a-n-d +w-i-f-e. G-r-e-e-n l-i-m-o-u-s-i-n-e p-a-s-s-e-d h-e-r-e t-e-n +m-i-n-u-t-e-s a-g-o f-o-r V-i-e-n-n-a." + +"_Kollosaler Halunke!_" thundered Windt, his urbanity shattered to +shreds. "They have taken the other road. Here, Lengelbach, take this +quick. "Hold green motor-car man and woman." Send that to every +telegraph station between Brünn and Danube. Relay all messages to +Budweis. I'm going there." + +And turning quickly he went toward the automobile, with a sign to the +others to follow. Very politely he stood aside while Renwick entered, +and with one of the men climbed into the rear seat while the other two +got in front, Hadwiger driving at a furious pace. For a long time they +went in silence, Herr Windt sitting with folded arms, his brows tangled +in thought. To acknowledge that he had been outwitted had been galling, +but to let this English creature of pipe and monocle indicate, in the +presence of his own underlings, the precise means of his discomfiture +was bitter indeed. At last his lips mumbled vaguely. + +"Still I do not understand," they said. + +"A note wrapped around the coin," suggested Renwick. + +"_Ach, so._ It is very probable. The simplest expedients are often the +most effective. Still it is remarkable that they have slipped through." + +"The green limousine goes to Vienna," said Renwick. + +Herr Windt had self-respect enough for a rather cynical smile. + +"And after Vienna?" he asked. + +Renwick shrugged. + +"That will depend upon the efficiency of the Austrian Secret Police." + +"Meaning, precisely what, Herr Renwick?" + +"Merely that the Wilhelmstrasse is skillful, Herr Windt," he replied. + +"You mean that they will escape--here in Austria! Impossible!" + +"You will need all your wits," said Renwick dryly. + +The truth of the remark was soon apparent for when Herr Windt's party +reached the telegraph station at Budweis, there were no reassuring +messages. The green limousine had vanished into the earth. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +AN ESCAPE AND A CAPTURE + + +In her flight from the cabin in the Archduke's woods, the Countess +Strahni crept along in the shadow of the hedge which bordered the +orchard, and reached the gate of the garden. She had seen the watcher in +the orchard pacing to and fro, and, awaiting the moment when his back +should be turned, she hurried swiftly on to the shelter of the garden +wall, once within which, she thought that she would be safe from +detection by the men of Herr Windt. She waited for a moment at the gate +to be sure that the man near the cabin had not observed her, and noted, +through the foliage, that he had not moved. Then summoning her courage, +she crossed the garden boldly in the direction of the arbor--the fateful +arbor of Austria's betrayal--and her own. In the path beyond it Hugh +Renwick would be awaiting her--Renwick, the imperturbable, the +persistent, the--the despicable. Yes, she was quite sure that she +despised him, in spite of all his efforts on her behalf, so the thought +that she was once more to be beholden to him in this hapless quest gave +her a long moment of uncertainty as she reached the arbor. She paused +within the structure, wondering whether, now that she had succeeded in +eluding Herr Windt, it would not be better to flee into the castle, and +enlist the aid of the servants in behalf of their master and mistress. +She had even taken a few steps toward the tennis court, when she +remembered--the telegraph in the hands of Austrian officials who had +their instructions! That way was hopeless. The Archduke's chamberlain +had, of course, gone south, and in the castle, beside the +house-servants, there would have remained only the English governess, +the children, and the housekeeper. There could be little help expected +from them--only bewilderment, horror, or perhaps incredulity. She must +go on to Herr Renwick, continue the impossible situation between them, +hide her exasperation in a studied politeness, and trust implicitly, as +she had done before, to his undoubted desire to retrieve his lost +standing. + +She turned into the path which led from the arbor, and hurried through +into the narrow path which led to the hidden gate beyond. Just here +where the foliage was thickest, and not twenty yards from the spot where +she and Hugh Renwick had listened to the pact of Konopisht, a figure +stood bowing. She had been so intent upon seeing the Englishman that it +was a full moment before she recovered from the shock of her surprise. +The man before her was tall, with good shoulders, and wore a brown +Norfolk jacket and a soft hat. His eyes were dark and as he smiled they +wrinkled very pleasantly at the corners. + +Marishka halted and stared at him uncertainly. + +"I beg your pardon," she said. "I came here to meet----" She paused, for +the thought suddenly entered her head that this perhaps might be another +of the men sent to detain her. But in a moment she realized her mistake. +The air with which the man swept off his hat and bowed convinced her +that he was a gentleman and his manner put her at once at her ease. + +"Herr Renwick," he said, with a smile, "has gone on to make some +arrangements for your comfort. He has asked me to conduct you to the +automobile, and will join us beyond the village." + +An automobile! There would still be time, perhaps, to reach Vienna +before the archducal party should leave for Bosnia. + +"Oh, of course," gasped Marishka thankfully. + +"If you will come this way, Countess----" he said, with something of an +air. He bowed, but kept his gaze fixed upon hers. There was something +very remarkable about this man's eyes--she could not tell just what it +was--but they held her for a second, held her motionless until the hand +which held his hat gestured for her to pass on. She took the walk before +him, descended the steps which led to the lower path where he hurried +forward and opened the door in the wall. + +Even now, no notion entered her head that this polite person was other +than he represented himself to be. And the well equipped machine which +stood in the road outside the wall only caused her a momentary thrill of +joy at the opportunity which placed the means of their escape so readily +at the hand of the now really admirable Herr Renwick. As she paused +again for a moment, her companion threw open the door of the limousine, +and lightly touched her elbow. + +"If the Countess Strahni will enter----" he said quietly. "There is +little time to lose." + +Marishka obeyed and in a moment the man in the Norfolk jacket was seated +beside her, the chauffeur had thrown in the gears, and the machine was +moving swiftly upon its way. She sank back into the comfortable cushions +with a sigh of satisfaction which did not escape her companion. + +"It was fortunate that I should have been in this neighborhood," he said +with a strange smile. It was not until then that she noticed the +slightly thick accents with which he spoke and she glanced at his +profile hurriedly. His nose was aquiline and well cut, but the +suggestion of his nationality was elusive. In spite of his evident +gentility, his good looks, his courtesy and his friendship with Hugh +Renwick, Marishka now had her first belated instinct that all was not as +it should be. The man beside her looked past the chauffeur down the road +ahead, turning one or two glances over his shoulder into the cloud of +dust behind them. She noticed now that the car had not gone in the +direction of the village, but had reached the country road which led to +the west and was moving at a high speed which seemed to take the waiting +Renwick little into consideration. All the windows of the car were +closed, and she had a sense of being restrained--suffocated. For a while +she did not dare to give her thoughts utterance, but as the car reached +the Prague highroad and turned to the right, she started and turned in +alarm to the man beside her. + +"You told me that Herr Renwick was waiting for us just beyond the +village. Where is----?" + +The question trembled and died on her lips for the eyes of the man +beside her answered before it was asked. + +"I regret," he said evenly, "that there is no time to wait for Herr +Renwick." + +"You--you have----" she stammered helplessly. + +"I beg that the Countess Strahni will not be unduly disturbed." + +"Where are we going? This is the road to Prague. Tell me where you are +taking me. I insist----" + +He smiled at her again, but did not reply. + +Marishka was now really alarmed and looked out of the closed windows at +the flying hedgerows in desperation, wondering what she must do and +trying to think how this dreadful mishap had befallen her. Hugh +Renwick--his note to her--this stranger with the remarkable eyes who +always smiled! Where was the missing link--what the deduction? But it +was no time in which to lose one's courage. She turned toward the man +beside her who was regarding her calmly. + +"Who are you?" she asked. + +[Illustration: "Who are you?" she asked.] + +His eyes narrowed slightly as he looked past her out of the window. Then +he said politely: + +"The Countess Strahni is well within her rights in asking that question. +I am Captain Leo Goritz." + +That meant nothing to her and she found herself repeating her question. + +He deliberated a moment. + +"I see no reason why I should not tell you," he said at last. "I do not +desire a misconception of my personal motives--which I beg you to +understand are of the highest. I am merely carrying out my orders to +bring the Countess Strahni with all dispatch within the borders of the +German Empire." + +"You--you are----" she paused in dismay. + +"Of the German Imperial Secret Service," he said quickly. + +Marishka sank back into her seat breathless with apprehension, the +warnings of the hated Herr Windt dinning in her ears. + +"Then you sent----" She fingered the scribbled note which had not left +her fingers. + +"I regret, Countess, that the situation made deception necessary. One of +my men in the tree above the chimney. My orders were urgent." + +Marishka glanced about the machine helplessly, her thoughts, in spite of +herself, recurring to Hugh Renwick, who must before long discover her +absence and guess its cause. But there seemed no chance of escape. To +open the door and leap forth into the road at this speed was only +courting injury, and the calm appearance of Captain Leo Goritz seemed +only the mask for a resoluteness of purpose with which she could not +dare to cope. To cry out seemed equally futile for the road was deserted +except for a few market wagons, the occupants of which were country +louts who only stared dully as they passed. But in a flash the +inspiration came to her. Germany! Germany could help her carry out her +purpose to warn the Duchess before she reached Sarajevo. She glanced at +her companion and found that his brown eyes had turned as though by +prescience to hers. + +"Captain Goritz," she stammered, "I--I seem to be in your power. +Whatever your authority for this--this restraint of my liberty--I submit +myself----" + +He showed his fine teeth in a smile. + +"I regret that the Countess Strahni should have been put to this +inconvenience." + +She made a motion of deprecation. + +"I beg that you will spare yourself meaningless civilities. I do not +know the meaning of this outrage." + +"The Countess Strahni is far too clever to suppose that I can believe +her----" he put in quickly. + +"What do you mean?" + +"Merely that an intelligence which can throw central Europe into a +turmoil," and he laughed pleasantly, "does itself and me too little +credit." + +"Oh, you know----" she gasped. + +"Yes, I know." + +She examined Captain Goritz with a new interest. + +"But you did not know the object of my visit to Konopisht," she went on +desperately. + +"I confess," he said slowly, "that your sudden departure from Vienna was +most mystifying----" + +"I will tell you," she went on excitedly. "I came to Konopisht to warn +the Archduke Franz of a plot to assassinate him when he reaches +Sarajevo----" + +"Ah! So that----" Captain Goritz started suddenly forward in his seat +and faced her eagerly in an attitude of sudden alertness. + +"A plot! Serbian?" he asked sharply. + +"No--I----" Loyalty stifled her lips. + +"I see." And then keenly, "Austrian--as a result of your disclosures to +the Emperor?" + +She eyed the man in amazement. He was omniscient. + +"A plot----" she stammered. "I do not know--I came to warn them--the +Archduke and Duchess, but I was prevented from doing so. They----" she +gasped again--"those who plan this dastardly thing are powerful--they +control the telegraph. There was no way to reach them and so I came----" + +"Herr Windt----?" + +She nodded. "You know--he acts for them. He kept me in the cabin until +it was too late." + +"I understand----" He nodded, his brows tangled in thought. "There can +be no other explanation." + +"I heard. I saw--back there in the garden--Emperor and +Archduke--friends. Oh, don't you understand? _He_ would do +something----" + +Captain Goritz had sunk lower into his seat and with folded arms was +gazing at the back of the man in front of them, but under his frowning +brows his eyes glowed with initiative. + +"What you tell me is serious, Countess----" he muttered. + +"So serious that I beg you will listen to me," she went on almost +hysterically. "The Duchess was my friend--I heard and I told what I +heard----" + +"Yes. It is a pity, Countess Strahni." + +"But I did not know," she went on breathlessly, conscious only of the +imminence of Sarajevo and of the power of the man beside her perhaps to +aid her. "I could not know that I should be betraying her--the friend of +a lifetime--to this--I did my duty as I saw it--to Austria. I am telling +you this--a stranger--an enemy perhaps--because it is in your power to +help--to prevent this terrible thing. Think! Think! It is your duty as +well as mine--your duty to the one who shares with Franz Ferdinand the +secret of the rose garden--his friend, and if God so wills--his ally. It +is all so terrible--so bewildering. But you must see that I am in +earnest--that I am speaking the truth." + +"Yes, yes," he said abstractedly, nodding, and then was silent, while +the machine went thundering northward, every moment taking them further +from Marishka's goal. She watched his face anxiously for a sign. His +eyes glowed somberly but he did not more or glance aside. His problem, +it appeared, was as deep as hers. For an age, he sat there like a stone +figure, but she had the instinct not to speak, and after a while he +straightened, leaned quickly forward and threw down the window in front +of them. + +"What is the village before us, Karl?" he asked in quick tones. + +"Beneschau, Herr Hauptmann." + +"There is a road to Brünn?" + +"Yes, a fair one, Herr Hauptmann." + +"Take it--and faster." + +That was all. Marishka knew that she had won. Captain Goritz was +frowning at the dial of his watch. + +"Perhaps we are too late--but we can at least try," he muttered. + +"Whatever your mission with regard to me--that is unimportant--beside +this other duty----" + +"Yes, yes. We shall need you. If you could reach the Duchess +personally----" + +"She will listen. I have known her all my life." + +"Good. We must succeed." And then, figuring to himself. "Brünn--one +hundred kilometers--Vienna seventy more--five hours--six perhaps. They +may not leave Vienna at once----" + +"The German Ambassador----" she suggested. + +"Of course." And then, turning suddenly toward her, his eyes intent, he +said, with great seriousness: "Countess Strahni, for the moment your +interests and mine are identical. The success of this project depends +upon your silence----" + +"Anything----!" + +"One moment, please," he put in quickly. "I wish you to understand the +seriousness of your position. Your security, your safety now and later, +will depend upon your own actions. You have proved yourself politically +dangerous to the peace--to the welfare of Europe. My mission was to +bring you safely into Germany. Failing in that, I must exact absolute +silence and obedience----" + +"Yes----" + +"You travel as my wife, the wife of a German officer going to Vienna for +medical advice----" + +She flinched a little, but his air of abstraction reassured her. + +"Do you agree?" + +"Yes." + +"You have friends in Vienna. You must not see them. Have I your word?" + +"I have no wish but to help you." + +He examined her keenly. + +"I regret that the terms of our contract must be more explicit." + +"In what?" + +"I exact your word of honor to remain under my orders, to make no +attempt to escape, to speak no word as to my identity or your own----" + +"Have I not told you that my own fate is unimportant if I succeed in +reaching the Duchess of Hohenberg?" + +"And after that?" he asked keenly. + +"What do you mean?" + +"Merely that the same conditions as to yourself shall continue to +exist." + +Marishka hesitated. What lay before her? It was incredible that harm +could come to one of her condition at the hands of the servants of a +great and Christian nation like Germany. She glanced at Captain Goritz. +He was still examining her gravely, impersonally. There seemed little +doubt as to the genuineness of his intentions. + +"And the alternative?" she asked. + +His expression changed and he looked slowly away from her at the flying +landscape. "I regret that you are still oblivious to your danger. You +and one other person in Europe were the witnesses to the meeting at +Konopisht. His Majesty's government does not deem it expedient at this +time that you should be at liberty to discuss the matter----" + +"But I have already spoken----" + +"That matters nothing if the witnesses are eliminated." + +His tones were quiet, but there was no doubt as to his meaning and she +started back from him in dismay. + +"You mean that you would----" + +She halted again, wordless. + +"Political secrets are dangerous--their possessors a menace." + +"You--you would destroy----?" she gasped. + +"The evidence!" he finished. + +His voice was firm, his lips compressed, and he would not look at her. +But she was still incredulous. Civility such as his and violence such as +he suggested were incongruous. She took refuge from her terror in a +laugh. + +"You are trying to--to frighten me," she stammered. + +"If you are frightened, I am sorry. You are in no danger, if you will do +what I ask. I shall spare no courtesy, neglect no pains for your +comfort." + +"Thanks. That is kind of you. You will gorge the goose that it may be +the more palatable." + +He gave a slight shrug. + +"I am but doing my duty. In my position, Countess, one is but a piece of +thinking machinery." + +"Yet it has been said that even machinery has a soul." + +He glanced around at her quickly, but she was looking straight before +her at the narrow ribbon of road which whirled toward them. She was very +handsome, this dark-haired prisoner of his, and the personal note that +had fallen into her speech made their relations at once more easy and +more difficult. + +"I regret," he said coolly, "that my orders have been explicit. I still +demand that you comply with the conditions I have imposed. Your word of +honor--it is enough." + +She paused for a long moment--debating her chances. She was selling her +liberty--bartering it with a word--for Sophie Chotek. This was her +atonement, and if she failed, her sacrifice would be in vain. + +She took a surreptitious glance at the profile of Captain Goritz. A part +of the great machine that the world calling Germany he might be, but she +read something in his looks which gave her an idea that he might be +something more than a cog between the wheels. + +Some feminine instinct in her, aroused by his impassive performance of +his duty, gave her new courage. Since they were at war, she would play +the game using women's weapons. After all, he was a man, a mere man. + +When she spoke, it was with the air of calm resolution with which one +faces heavy odds. + +"I am in your power," she said quietly. "I give my word of honor to do +as you wish." + +And as his gaze dwelt for a moment upon her face-- + +"I shall not break it, Captain Goritz." + +"Good!" he said, with an air of satisfaction. "Now we understand each +other." + +Meanwhile the machine went thundering on, the man at the wheel driving +with a skill which excited admiration. At times the speed of the car +seemed frightful, for it swerved dangerously at the frequent turns in +the road, but Marishka clung desperately to the arm-rest to save herself +from being thrown into the arms of Captain Goritz, aware of her +impotence, but conscious, too, of a sense of exhilaration in the +wildness of their pace, which seemed at any moment likely to throw both +the car and its occupants into the ditch. Her companion made no effort +to resume the conversation and only sat staring forth watching the +villages through which they passed, his brows deeply thoughtful. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +CAPTAIN GORITZ + + +At Iglau, a town, as Marishka afterwards learned, inhabited largely by +Germans, they stopped to replenish the petrol tank. But Captain Goritz +wore a deep frown when he got into the seat with the chauffeur, who +immediately started the car. They were off again. + +What this action portended Marishka could not know, nor could she +understand the meaning of the conversation which immediately took place +between the two men. But the car still moved forward as rapidly as +before, and in a moment when they skidded around a passing vehicle and +dangerously near a stone wall, she found herself wishing that Captain +Goritz had chosen to enter the limousine, leaving all the wits of their +astonishing chauffeur for the exigencies of the road. + +But as the front window was down, a tribute to the confidence her jailer +now reposed in her, fragments of their conversation reached her. + +"A road--away from trunk-lines. Jarmeritz, perhaps.... It should not be +difficult--a Peugeot if possible, or a Mercedes--its age would tell. At +any time now.... A détour here, I think--there is a telegraph line along +the hill yonder.... It would be better in a more desolate place, in the +foothills of the Mährische-Höhe. It is a matter of luck, Karl. We must +chance it." + +She saw the chauffeur nodding and putting in here and there a +suggestion, while every little while she caught an allusion to herself. +She had no inkling of the meaning of this extraordinary conversation nor +of the way the man called Karl now slowed down as they passed other +machines either going or coming, and gazed at them with a critical air, +shaking his head as he passed on at redoubled speed. But the mystery was +soon to be revealed to her, for on a long piece of level road which went +straight through a strip of pine woods, she felt the machine leap +suddenly forward and heard the comments of the men in front. + +"I cannot tell at this distance. A good one, I should say, and new." And +gazing through the dust before her she made out the lines of a +touring-car traveling rapidly in the same direction as their own. Karl's +motor horn sent a deep blast, but the fellow in front was in no mood to +give him the road. He repeated it loudly, warningly, encroaching upon +the rear wheels of the touring car, and at last the other car slowed +down, and as the road was narrow, drew aside into a shallow ditch. But +instead of putting on speed in passing, as he had done before, the +chauffeur Karl merely drew up a little ahead of the other car and held +out his hand as a signal to stop while Captain Goritz quickly clambered +down into the road and stood just below Marishka where she could quite +easily hear the conversation which followed. The people in the touring +car were a chauffeur, a stout man and a small boy. Captain Goritz was +bowing politely. + +"Very sorry," he said, "but we are almost out of petrol." + +"There is a garage a few miles beyond," said the chauffeur of the +touring car. + +But Goritz shook his head. + +"I wish to exchange cars with you--at once, please." + +The chauffeur and the stout man, who looked like a small magistrate, sat +staring at Goritz as though they thought that he or they had suddenly +been bereft of their senses. But Karl, who seemed to know precisely what +to do, got down beside them and produced from his pocket a pistol, which +he brandished in their direction. The meaning of the situation was now +obvious, and the Austrians scrambled down in great alarm. + +Captain Goritz smiled at their precipitous movements and his voice was +reassuring as he addressed the fat man. + +"I regret that we have no time to lose. I only ask you to exchange cars +with me. Mine, I think, is the more valuable." + +But the others seemed stricken dumb and continued to stare wide-eyed, +their mouths gaping open. + +"Would you mind telling me how you are equipped with oil and petrol?" +asked Goritz coolly. + +"The tank is full," stammered the frightened chauffeur, still eyeing +Karl's weapon dubiously. But by this time the fat man had regained some +of his courage. + +"What is the meaning of this outrage?" he blustered. + +"We go upon a matter of life and death," said Goritz sharply. + +"And I----" + +His remark was cut short, for at that moment a bullet from Karl's pistol +went off somewhere in his general direction, and leaving the boy and the +chauffeur to their fate, he fled, a frightened behemoth, into the woods. + +Captain Goritz now opened the door of the limousine. + +"You will get down at once, please," he said quietly to Marishka. "We +will go on in the other car." And while Karl transferred a suitcase and +other personal belongings, Captain Goritz scribbled something upon a +card which he handed to the astonished chauffeur. "If your master ever +comes back and is not satisfied with his bargain, he should present +himself at this address in Vienna and the matter will be satisfactorily +arranged." And then as he got into the tonneau of the car beside +Marishka, "I would warn you not to follow us too closely. It would be +dangerous." + +Karl put in the gears and they started at once. "It would also be +difficult, Herr Hauptmann," he said with a laugh, "for I have locked the +switch." + +"Ah, it is better so," said Goritz calmly. "And now, by Jarmeritz, I +should think." + +Karl nodded and, increasing the speed of the touring car, soon left the +green limousine and its new owners far behind. + +The precision and speed with which the exchange of automobiles had been +accomplished and the unruffled impudence of the demeanor of Captain +Goritz gave Marishka a new idea of the caliber of the man upon whose +mercies she had been thrown, a new idea of the lengths to which he was +prepared to go in the performance of his duty. Success, the gaining of +which might easily have been tragic, was by his command of the situation +turned into something which seemed comically near opera-bouffe. She +could not understand what it all meant and timidly she asked him. + +He smiled gravely. + +"Your friend, Herr Windt, will be trying to make our journey difficult +for us. The green limousine was conspicuous. It was observed in Vienna. +We shall be more dusty, but I hope otherwise quite as comfortable." + +"You think that we may be detained?" she asked anxiously. + +"We shall do our best to prevent that from happening," he replied. "The +way is long and our paths must be devious, but I think we shall succeed. +There are many roads to Vienna, Countess." And then, with an air of +consideration, "I hope that loss of sleep is not wearing on you. +Presently we shall get out and have something to eat." + +"Thank you," said Marishka with a grateful glance. + +She felt Captain Goritz's look upon her for a long moment after she had +turned away. Marishka sighed gently. Her companion's gaze left her and +he peered straight before him, frowning. All this she knew by her +woman's sixth sense without even looking at him. Even a thinking machine +must have its moments of aberration. In a little while, the choice of +roads having been decided, he turned to her again and Marishka's eyes +met his fairly. + +"You have not already regretted your bargain?" he asked quietly. + +"No," she replied, smiling at him. "If you succeed, I shall regret +nothing. A pawn has small chance, when the fate of kings is in +question." + +He was silent for a moment. + +"I hope that you will understand my position, Countess. It is not my +wish to make war upon women----" + +"But one's duty is paramount, of course," she put in quickly. "I am not +squeamish, Captain Goritz, but if my--my--er--elimination is necessary +to your plans, it is only fair that I should be advised of the fact in +time to say my prayers." + +He regarded her soberly. Was she laughing at him? Her mien was quite +serious, but her tone was sprightly--even flippant. + +"It would be a matter of profound regret to me, Countess Strahni," he +said, with some dignity, "if any misfortune should happen to you while +under my charge." + +"It is so nice of you to put it that way," she smiled at him. "Under +other conditions, you know, we might even have been friends." + +"I would be deeply pained if you should consider me an enemy," he +replied. + +"_Ach! leider!_" she sighed. "A prisoner can have no choice." + +He made no reply to that and sank back into his favorite position with +arms folded, staring straight before him. This girl was too handsome to +quibble with. Her newly discovered cheerfulness disturbed him. He had +known in abundance women of courage, women of skill in dissimulation, +but he remembered that when they were both beautiful and clever it was +the part of wisdom to be upon one's guard. + +Marishka glanced at Captain Goritz's well-shaped head in the seat beside +her. It was to be war between them--war! A thinking machine! Was he? She +smiled to herself. She knew that she had power. What handsome clever +woman does not know it? Men had desired her--a Russian duke, an Italian +prince. And an Austrian archduke even, braving the parental ire, had +wished to marry her, willing even to sacrifice his princely prerogatives +if she would have said the word. Hugh Renwick----She swallowed +bravely.... But the sense of her power over men gave her a new courage +to meet Captain Goritz with a smile upon her lips while she summoned in +secret all her feminine instinct to aid her in the unequal struggle, a +game needing both caution and daring, a game for high stakes--in which +perhaps no quarter would be given. + +As they approached the environs of Vienna, the car now moved at a +reduced speed and boldly chose the main highroads. Twice they were +stopped and examined. This showed that all the machinery of the +telegraph was now in operation, but the touring car did not answer to +the given description and Captain Goritz's air of surprise and annoyance +was so genuine that there was little delay. + +"Our friends of the Mährische-Höhe are fortunately still frightened or +else quite satisfied with the green limousine," he laughed. "We shall go +through, I think." + +"Shall we be in time?" asked Marishka. + +The German shrugged and looked at his watch. "We shall be in Vienna in +twenty minutes." + +Marishka made no comment. As their journey neared its ending she +realized that she was very tired, but the incentive that, had spurred +her last night and all day still gave her strength to cope with whatever +was to come. + +"To the Embassy," Goritz whispered, "and fast!" + +He had mounted again into the seat beside the chauffeur, and so Marishka +did not question him, but his back was eloquent of determination. They +drove boldly into the Ringstrasse and turned rapidly into a side street. +Here the machine stopped again and Captain Goritz stood at the door of +the tonneau waiting for her to descend. He led the way, walking rapidly, +while Marishka struggled beside him as fast as her stiffened limbs +permitted. + +"The Ambassador can succeed where we should fail. He must procure an +interview for you. I think it may be managed unless----" He paused. "But +we shall see." + +Silently Marishka followed into the Metternichgasse and up the steps of +the Embassy and into a lofty salon where Captain Goritz bade her wait, +and disappeared. A gloomy room with dingy frescoes of impossible cupids +and still more impossible roses. Roses--the _leit motif_ of her tragedy! +There were mirrors--many mirrors, all of which seemed to be reflecting +her pallid face. She was weary and covered with dust, but not so weary +as she was desperate. Why should she wait again, while Sophie Chotek was +here--here in Vienna. Unable to remain seated, she rose and walked about +the room, the eternal feminine impelling a rearrangement of her hat and +veil at the long mirror near the upper end of the room. Beside her was a +window which opened upon a small court. Opposite this window was another +window from which came sound of voices. She listened. It was her +privilege, for they were speaking of her. + +"...I acted upon my own judgment, Excellency. There seemed nothing else +to do. The Countess Strahni has given me her word of honor. She will +keep it." + +"But the telegraph----" + +"Sealed----" + +"Impossible!" + +"I beg you to try it--at once." + +"Ah--the telephone!" + +Marishka heard the clicking of the instrument and the voice again asking +for a number. Silence. And then,--"I do not understand...." A pause. +"_Ach--so!_" Another click and tinkle of the bell. "_Donnerwetter_, Herr +Hauptmann! You are right. They say there is a temporary derangement of +the system." + +Another bell sounded. A door opened and shut. Then a question in the +same voice. + +"Graf von Mendel, the Archduke Franz reached Vienna this afternoon with +the Duchess on the way to Sarajevo. Where are they now?" + +Another voice replied, "I do not know, Excellency. They were at prayers +in the Capuchin Church." + +"When does their train leave Vienna?" + +"At six--from the Staats Bahnhof--Excellency." + +"It is six o'clock now," cried the other voice in dismay. "We are too +late----" + +Marishka heard no more. It was enough. Too late! She had failed. Her +sacrifice, her atonement,--fruitless. She sank into a chair and buried +her face in her hands, trying to think. But in her head was a dull chaos +of sounds, echoes of her wild ride, and her body swayed as she sat. She +had never fainted, but for a moment it seemed that she lost +consciousness. She found herself presently staring through her fingers +at the pattern in the gray aubusson carpet--and wondering where she was. +Then she heard the voices again and remembered that she must listen. + +The voice of the one they called Excellency was speaking. + +"_Herr Gott_, Goritz! Austria's mad archdukes! The telegraph also +closed! It is unbelievable. I must send a message in code to Berlin." + +"It would be delayed," said Goritz dryly. + +"But something must be done----" + +"If you will permit----" + +"Speak." + +"Excellency, this is a desperate game. I thought perhaps we should +arrive in time to get a message through. But Herr Windt has wasted no +time. We must suit our actions to the emergency----" + +"Of course. But how?" + +"Go to Sarajevo--at once." + +"But I----" + +"Not you, Excellency. I shall go. A railroad book, Graf Mendel, if you +please. Today is the twenty-sixth. The Archduke goes by way of Budapest. +We can save several hours, I think, by way of Gratz and Agram--if there +is a train tonight." + +"And the Countess Strahni?" + +"Your Excellency may well see her usefulness merely in telling what has +happened in her efforts to reach the ear of the Duchess of Hohenberg. No +word from you to Archduke Franz could be more convincing----" + +"_Ja wohl_, even if I could send it----" + +"And you cannot--of that I am convinced." + +Another voice broke in. + +"A train at eight--Excellency--by way of Oedenburg and Brück--reaching +Marburg in the morning----" + +"Good!" + +"And from there," added Goritz, "by automobile along the new military +road through Brod. We might reach Sarajevo tomorrow night--surely by +Sunday morning." + +"If that would not be too late." + +"It is the only thing to do." + +A silence. And then-- + +"The Countess Strahni is here?" + +"Yes, Excellency." + +"You will make proper preparations to leave at once--secretly--you +understand. I will secure the necessary papers." + +"_Zu befehl_, Excellency----" + +Without waiting to hear the conclusion of the interview Marishka moved +away from the window to the further end of the room, and when Goritz +came some moments later she stood looking out upon the traffic of the +street. Fortunately dissimulation was not difficult, as the growing +darkness of the room hid her face. + +"We are too late," said Captain Goritz. "The Archduke's train has gone." + +"How terrible!" muttered Marishka. + +"Are you prepared to go on, Countess Strahni?" + +"Yes--yes, if----" she paused. + +"To Sarajevo--tonight--at once?" + +"Yes--at once." + +She realized that she was repeating his words like a parrot, but she +seemed to be speaking, moving as in a dream. Captain Goritz came closer +and examined her face in the dim light of the window. + +"You are tired?" + +"A little----" + +"I am sorry. I wish I could spare you further trouble." + +"It does not matter." + +Her voice was very close to tears. + +He paused uncertainly for a moment. + +"Countess Strahni, we leave at eight by the night train. I shall make +arrangements for your comfort, a sleeping compartment. In the meanwhile +you may go upstairs to a guest room of the Embassy and rest. If you will +write a note asking for a valise with necessary articles of apparel, I +will see that it is brought to you. A dark suit and heavy veil." + +He walked to the side of the room and touched a button. "You see," he +said with a smile, "I am trusting you." + +"You are very kind." + +"_Bitte_. You will not mention the Embassy." + +"No." + +A man-servant appeared. + +"His Excellency wishes the Countess Strahni to occupy a room upstairs. +You will inform one of the upstairs maids that everything is to be done +for her comfort. You will also bring to his Excellency's office a note +which Countess Strahni will write." + +The man bowed, then stood aside while Marishka went out. + +"At half-past seven, Countess----" + +She nodded over her shoulder to where the German stood with bowed head +looking after her. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +DIAMOND CUTS DIAMOND + + +Captain Leo Goritz made it a habit to neglect no detail. There was but a +little more than an hour of time, but he acted swiftly. At his request +the Ambassador procured money, and from the War Ministry the necessary +papers, a safe conduct for an officer of the Fifteenth Army Corps, +returning to his regiment at Sarajevo with his wife. Graf von Mendel +attended to the secret arrangements for their departure from the Embassy +and booked the passage. Captain Goritz sat at a desk in a private +office, upon which was a small copper teapot above a spirit lamp. The +water in the pot was steaming. A servant knocked at the door and brought +him a letter. + +"Ah! You followed my directions about the paper and ink?" + +"As you ordered, Herr Hauptmann. And a maid is with the Countess +Strahni." + +"Very good. Wait outside and be prepared to take a message in an +automobile." + +"_Zu befehl_, Herr Hauptmann." + +As the servant reached the door Goritz halted him. + +"The room which the Countess Strahni has is not on the side toward the +British Embassy?" + +"No, Herr Hauptmann." + +"Very good. You may go." + +The man withdrew, closing the door gently. And Captain Goritz took the +note of the Countess Strahni and held it in front of the copper teapot, +moving it to and fro, the back of the envelope in the jet of steam. In a +moment the flap of the envelope curled back and opened. The thing was +simplicity itself. He took two slips of paper out of the envelope and +read them through attentively, smiling amusedly as he did so. Then +without waste of time, he put one of the notes before him, and drawing +some writing paper nearer wrote steadily for ten minutes, tearing up +sheet after sheet and burning each in turn. At last apparently satisfied +with what he had written he put the sheet aside and burned the original +note in which he had been so interested. Then he addressed several small +envelopes, glancing from time to time at the other note of the Countess +Strahni upon the desk in front of him. The envelopes all bore the words, + + HERR HUGH RENWICK Strohgasse No. 26 Wien. + +At last, critically selecting one of those he had written, he burned the +others, and folding the note enclosed it in the smaller envelope, which +he sealed carefully, putting it with the Countess Strahni's letter into +the original and larger envelope, which he pasted anew and carefully +closed. Then he rang the bell, and when the man appeared: + +"You will take this note to the given address. You will explain that the +note within is to be delivered tonight at eight o'clock. Then you will +wait twenty minutes for a suitcase or valise and bring it here. That's +all. And hasten." + +"_Zu befehl_, Herr Hauptmann." + +Goritz sat for a moment--just a moment of contemplation. It was merely a +thread of possibility, a chance, if other expedients had failed, but +thoroughly worth taking. His man Kronberg was a good shot, but he might +have missed, and if so Europe was large, and Herr Renwick clever. The +hook of Leo Goritz was baited with a delectable morsel--most +delectable--it would have been childish not to use it. Where Marishka +Strahni was, there also was the heart of Renwick--the Englishman with +the nine lives--the last of which must be taken. + +This duty accomplished, Goritz went to a room upstairs, bathed and +dressed in the uniform which had been provided, packing a large bag with +several objects besides clothing and necessities of the toilet, +including two automatic pistols, and went down to the Embassy office. +All this had occupied an hour. He was awaiting Marishka when, somewhat +refreshed and newly attired, she descended and entered the Embassy +office. His Excellency rose and bowed over her hand-- + +[Illustration: His Excellency rose and bowed over her hand--] + +"Captain Goritz tells me that you have consented to help us in this +extraordinary affair. I wish you Godspeed, Countess Strahni, and a safe +return," he added with some deliberateness. + +She glanced at Captain Goritz who stood in a military attitude, but he +only smiled politely and said nothing. + +"I thank Your Excellency for your hospitality and protection," she said +slowly. "I am sure that I shall be quite safe with Captain Goritz----" + +"Ober Lieutenant Carl von Arnstorf, at your service," corrected Goritz, +"of the Third Regiment, Fifteenth Army Corps." + +Marishka smiled. + +"And I?" + +"Frau Ober Lieutenant von Arnstorf," said Goritz shortly. + +"It is necessary, I suppose?" + +Goritz bowed, and his Excellency added, "It simplifies matters greatly, +Countess Strahni." + +Marishka shrugged. It was no time for quibbling. + +"The way is clear?" asked the Ambassador of von Mendel. + +"Quite, Excellency. The side street has been patrolled for ten minutes." + +Goritz opened a door which led to a small staircase, and he and Marishka +descended and went through the kitchens to a small street or alley where +a machine was awaiting them. A question--a reply from a man who had +brought down their bags, and they moved slowly out of the alley into a +small street. + +A bath, food, and a glass of wine had restored Marishka, and she now +faced the immediate future with renewed hope and courage. Apart from the +belief, fostered by the careful detail of her companions arrangements, +that she might still be successful in reaching the ear of the Duchess +before the royal train reached Sarajevo, there was an appeal in the +hazard of her venture with Captain Goritz. He was a clever man and a +dangerous one, who, to gain his ends, whatever they were, would not +hesitate to stoop to means beneath the dignity of honorable manhood--an +intriguer, a master craftsman in the secret and recondite, a perverted +gentleman, trained in a school which eliminated compassion, sentiment +and all other human attributes in the attainment of its object and the +consummation of its plans. And yet Marishka did not fear Captain Goritz. +There is a kind of feminine courage which no man can understand, that is +not physical nor even mental, born perhaps of that mysterious relation +which modern philosophy calls sex antagonism--a spiritual hardihood +which deals in the metaphysics of emotion and pays no tribute to any +form of materiality. Captain Goritz, whatever his quality, to Marishka +was merely a man. And whatever the forces at his command, her promise, +the half uttered threat as to her fate--which she had refused to take +seriously--she was aware that she was not defenseless. The elaborateness +of the Ambassador's manner, the graces of Graf von Mendel, and Captain +Goritz's now covert glances advised her that she was still armed with +her woman's weapons. Marishka was young, but her two years in the life +of the gayest court in Europe had sharpened her perceptions amazingly, +but she knew that if beauty is a woman's letter of credit worth its face +value with a man, it can also be a dangerous liability. Captain Goritz +differed from the gay idlers of the Viennese Court. The signs of +interest he had given her were slight,--a courtesy perhaps a trifle too +studied, a lingering glance of his curiously penetrating eyes which +might even have been impelled by professional curiosity, a +thoughtfulness for her comfort which might have been any woman's due, +and yet Marishka did not despair. + +They reached the railway station uneventfully, where she learned that +men from the Embassy had followed on bicycles as a matter of precaution, +and the travelers found their compartment and were safely installed. She +sank into her place silently and looked out of the window into the blur +of moving lights as Vienna was left behind them. Upon the seat opposite +her sat the newly created officer of the Fifteenth Army Corps, Ober +Lieutenant Carl von Arnstorf, looking rather smart in his borrowed +plumage. The intimacy of their new situation did not frighten her, for +she thought that already she had read enough of her companion's +character to know that at least so far she was on safe ground. She gave +him permission to smoke without his asking it, and this, it seemed, made +for the beginnings of a new informality in their relations. + +"There isn't the slightest reason," she said with a smile, "that you +should be uncomfortable. Since you are doomed for the present to share +my imprisonment----" + +"Doomed?" he exclaimed civilly. "You may be sure that I don't look upon +such a doom with unhappiness, Countess. Are you very tired?" + +"A little. I shall sleep presently." + +"Do you know," he said as he thoughtfully inhaled his cigarette, "for +the first time in my rather variegated career, I find myself in a false +position." + +"Really! How?" + +"I will explain. I have had much dealing to do with women--with women +of a certain sort. It is a part of my trade. Were you unscrupulous, +intriguing, you would meet your match. As it is you have me at a +disadvantage." + +"I?" + +"I have felt it--from the first. Even a secret agent has eyes, +dimensions, senses. I am a little abashed as if in the presence of +phenomena. Your helplessness and innocence, your loyalty and +unselfishness--you must be sure that I am not unaware of them." + +Marishka laughed easily. + +"You restore my faith in human kind, Captain Goritz. You'll admit that +your attitude toward me has been far from reassuring." + +"Countess, I beg of you----" + +"The alternative to disobeying your wishes--destruction--death!" she +went on, shuddering prettily. + +"I am merely a cog in the great wheel of efficiency. I spoke +figuratively----" + +"But of course you know," she broke in quickly, with another laugh, +"that I didn't believe you. I haven't really been frightened at all. How +_could_ I be? You're not in the least alarming. To face the alternative +you imposed would take courage. I am easily frightened at a mouse. The +deduction is obvious----" + +He laughed and then said soberly, "It is far from my wish to frighten +you. That kind of brutality has its justification, but this is not the +occasion, nor you the woman." + +"I was sure of it. If I hadn't been I shouldn't have come with you." + +"Ah!" Goritz straightened and stared at her. "But--your promise----" + +"I should have broken that and asked the first _gendarme_ in the +Ringstrasse to take me home. You admit that the plan would have been +feasible?" + +He shrugged. + +"The Countess Strahni's word of honor----" + +"Honor is as honor does and I am here, Captain Goritz." + +"I trust that you will have no reason to regret your decision." + +"That sounds like another threat." + +"It isn't. I actually mean what I say. A secret agent doesn't permit +himself such a luxury very often," he laughed. + +"Then you're not going to murder me offhand----" + +"Countess, I protest----" + +"You wish my last moments to be graced with courtesy. I shall at least +die like a rose--in aromatic pain." + +Her irony was not lost on him. He was silent a moment, regarding her +soberly. + +"Countess, you are too clever to be unkind--your lips too lovely to +utter words so painful. I could not do you harm--it is impossible. I +pray that you will believe me." + +"I am merely taking you at face value, Herr Hauptmann," she returned +coolly. "You have told me that you are merely a thinking machine, or a +cog in the wheel of efficiency, which plans my elimination----" + +"A figure of speech. Your silence was what I meant." + +"Ah, silence! Perhaps. It seems that I have already said enough." + +"Quite," he smiled. "You have set Europe in a turmoil--another +Helen----" + +"With another Paris in your background?" she shot at him. + +He smiled, lowering his gaze to the ash of his cigarette. + +"You speak in riddles." + +"It's your trade to solve them." + +"Do not underestimate my intelligence, I understand you," he laughed. +"It is a fortunate thing for me that you are not a secret agent. My +occupation would be gone." + +"It is a villainous occupation." + +"Why?" + +"Because no secret agent can be himself. It's rather a pity, because I'd +like to like you." + +"And don't you--a little?" + +"I might if I thought that I could believe in you. If a man is not true +to himself, he cannot be true to those that wish to be his friends." + +He was silent for a moment. + +"I think perhaps," he said quietly at last, "that you do me an +injustice. I am merely the servant of my government----" + +"Which, stops at no means--even death." + +"I too look death in the face, Countess," he said with a slow smile. "It +lurks in every byway--hangs in every bush." + +"It is frightful," she sighed, "to live like that, preying upon others, +and being preyed upon--when the world is so beautiful." + +"The world is just what men have made it. I, too, once dreamed----" His +words trailed off into silence, and he looked out of the window into the +night. + +"And now?" she asked. + +Something in the tone of her voice made him straighten and glance at +her. He had seen the same look in other women's eyes. + +"And now, I dream no more, Countess Strahni," he said abruptly. + +Marishka's gaze fell before his. + +"I am sorry," she said. + +There was another silence in which Captain Goritz took out another +cigarette. + +"I do not think that I quite--understand you, Countess Strahni----" + +"Naturally," she broke in. "You have known me--let us see--a little less +than twelve hours." + +Her smile disarmed him. + +"You are far from transparent, Countess," he said quizzically. + +"And if I were?" + +"It would probably be because you wished me to see something beyond," +with a laugh. + +"To one who deals in mystery and intrigue, sincerity must always be +bewildering." + +"H--m! I was once stabbed in the back by a woman who was too sincere." + +The smile left Marishka's face. "How terrible!" + +"It was. I nearly died. It was my mistake, you see." + +Marishka was silent for a long moment. And then, + +"I'm afraid, Captain Goritz, that the world has left you bitter." + +"To the secret agent the world is neither sweet nor bitter. He has no +sense of taste or of feeling. He is merely a pair of ears--a pair of +eyes which nothing must escape----" + +"Deaf to music--blind to beauty," sighed Marishka. "From the bottom of +my heart I pity you." + +Captain Goritz gazed at her for a long moment, in silence, then his eyes +narrowed slightly and his voice was lowered. + +"It is rather curious, Countess Strahni, that you should hold in such +low esteem a profession practiced by one of your most favored friends." + +"Mine?" she questioned, startled. + +"Herr Renwick," he replied dryly, "is a secret agent of the Serbian +government." + +A gasp escaped her, and she struggled for her composure at the mention +of Hugh Renwick's name. + +"That is impossible." + +"I beg your pardon," he said politely, "I happen to know it to be the +truth." + +She laughed uneasily. + +"Until two weeks ago Herr Renwick was an attaché of the British +Embassy," she asserted. + +"Of course. But he has been also in the pay of the Serbian +government--Austria's enemy." + +"You are misinformed," she gasped. + +"I beg your pardon. England and Serbia are on excellent terms. You will +not deny that Herr Renwick has been to Belgrade in the last two weeks?" + +"You--you----" she paused in consternation, aware again of this man's +omniscience. + +"The details had not been clear until my return to Vienna. Think for a +moment. Herr Renwick visits Belgrade and Sarajevo while a plan is +arranged to take the life of the Archduke Franz. It is well within the +bounds of possibility----" + +"Your skill in invention does you credit," she put in quickly, "but Herr +Renwick has no interest in the death of the Archduke. On the contrary, +he has done what he could to save him." + +"You will admit that it was Renwick who gave you the information of this +plot." + +"Yes--but----" + +"One moment. You'll also admit that he gave no authority for his +information." + +"But he did what he could to help me warn the Archduke." + +"H--m! You did not know perhaps that it is to Serbia's interest and to +Renwick's to warn the Archduke. Austria needs a pretext to make war on +Serbia. Every diplomat in Europe is aware of that. If the Archduke is +attacked in Sarajevo, war will be declared on Serbia within a week." + +He paused a moment watching Marishka's face, intent upon its changing +expressions. + +"Herr Renwick is no enemy of Austria," she asserted firmly. + +"If he is no enemy of Austria, how could he act for the Serbian +government, which follows instructions from St. Petersburg? Herr Renwick +knew of the plot against the life of the Archduke, for he told you of +it. Where did he learn of it? In Sarajevo or Belgrade, where it was +hatched. Who informed him? His friends of the Serbian Secret Service who +live among the anarchists at Sarajevo and Belgrade." + +"I do not believe you." + +"You must. Serbia has done what she can to prevent this crime. His +Excellency tells me that today the Serbian Minister in Vienna pleaded +with the Austrian Ministry to use its efforts to have the visit of the +Archduke Franz postponed. He was ignored." + +He paused and flecked his cigarette out of the window, while Marishka +gazed straight before her, trying to think clearly of Hugh Renwick. A +Serbian spy! It was impossible. And yet every word that this man spoke +hurt her cruelly. Renwick had been in Sarajevo and Belgrade, for he had +told her so. He alone of all persons outside the Secret Government of +Austria had been in a position to know the details of the plot and to +prepare her for them. He had sought to use her in warning the Duchess, +not as an agent of humanity and Christian charity, but as the emissary +of the cowardly and vicious government across the border, Austria's +enemy, Serbia the regicide and the degenerate, about the fate of which +hung the peace of Europe. Hugh Renwick! + +Her mind refused her. Fatigue and want of sleep were making her +light-headed. She would not believe. She shut her eyes and by an effort +of will managed to get control of her voice. "I find that I am very +tired, Captain Goritz," she said quietly. + +"Ah, it was very thoughtless--inconsiderate of me," he said, with sudden +accents of civility. "It is very painful to believe ill of those to whom +one is attached," he finished suavely. + +"You are mistaken," she said slowly. "There is no attachment between +Herr Renwick and me." + +"A friend, let us say, then," he put in keenly, "in whom one is +disappointed." + +"It is nothing to me, Captain Goritz," she said, meeting his eyes +bravely, "what Herr Renwick is or does." + +He smiled and bowed. + +"Still," he said with his exasperating pertinacity, "it is of course +interesting to know the truth. It would perhaps be still more +interesting to know what Herr Renwick has to say in regard to the +matter." + +"I do not care what Herr Renwick would have to say. I do not expect to +see Herr Renwick again, Captain Goritz, in Vienna or elsewhere." + +He smiled at her politely. + +"But you will admit, it is not within the bounds of possibility. Herr +Renwick is clever--indefatigable----" + +Marishka started up in her seat. + +"You mean?" + +"Merely that Herr Renwick is not easily discouraged. I would not be in +the least surprised if he followed us on to Sarajevo." + +Marishka stared at her companion for a moment and then sank back in her +seat. + +"Oh," she gasped. + +Her long sustained effort to keep pace with events had been too much for +her. Her faculties failed to respond, and she closed her eyes in an +attempt to obliterate all sight and sound. Dimly she heard the voice of +Captain Goritz above the grinding of the brakes of the train. + +"I am sorry that you are so tired, Countess Strahni. I shall now leave +you to your own devices. We have reached Brück, and I shall go to +another compartment. I shall arrange with the guard to see to your +comfort." + +The train stopped and the guard opened the door. + +"Good-night, _liebchen_," he said with a smile. And as she opened her +eyes in astonishment, she heard him say to the guard: + +"Frau Lieutenant von Arnstorf desires to sleep. I am going to smoke with +a friend in the adjoining carriage. She is not to be disturbed. You +understand." + +The man saluted and closed the door, and Marishka was alone. With an +effort she rose and mechanically made her dispositions for sleep, +thinking meanwhile of the words of Captain Goritz and feeling a dull and +unhappy sense of disappointment and defeat. There was a latent cruelty +under his air of civility which astonished and terrified her. And the +revelations with regard to Hugh Renwick, astounding though they were, +had in them just enough of a leaven of fact to make them almost if not +quite credible. Hugh Renwick, the man she had chosen--a friend, a paid +servant of atrocious Serbia! She could not--would not believe it. And +yet this man's knowledge of European politics was simply uncanny. If his +civility had disarmed her earlier in the day, if she had been able to +speak lightly of the threat of her imprisonment, the fear that had +always been in her heart was now a blind terror--not of the man's +passions but of his lack of them. He was cold, impenetrable, +impervious--a mind, a body without a soul. He haunted her. She lay on +her couch and stared wide-eyed at vacancy. The sound of his voice still +rang in her ears. She wondered now why the memory of it was so +unpleasant to her. And then she thought she knew that it was because the +magnetism of his eyes was missing. His body was a mere shell covering an +intricate piece of machinery. She tried to think what it must be like to +be actuated by a mind without a soul. She had pledged herself obedience +to this man, trusting to her implicit faith in the ultimate goodness of +every human creature to bring her through this venture safe from harm. + +Vaguely, as though in dreams, she remembered that this man had thought +that Hugh Renwick would follow her to Sarajevo. She had written him a +note of warning telling him to leave for England at once. Would he +disregard her message, discover where she had gone, and if so, would he +follow? Renwick's sins, whatever they were, seemed less important in +this unhappy moment of her necessity. He had failed her in a crucial +hour---- + +She started up from her couch a smile upon her lips. Hugh Renwick was no +Serbian spy. The man, Goritz, lied. Hugh Renwick and Goritz--it was not +difficult to choose! One a man who let no personal suffering--not even +the contempt of the woman he loved interfere with his loyalty to his +country; the other, one who used a woman's loyalty as a means to an +end--cruelly, relentlessly--which was the liar? Not Hugh Renwick. Weary +and tortured, but still smiling, Marishka sank back upon her couch and +at last, mercifully, she slept. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE MAN IN BLACK + + +It was after dark when the train bearing Herr Windt and Renwick reached +the Franz Josef station, the stolen machine of Altensteig having been +left at Budweis with Hadwiger, who was to return it to its owner and in +the name of the state to make proper arrangements for compensation. Herr +Windt, sadder if no wiser, took a _fiacre_ and drove off hastily, +leaving Renwick to his own devices. + +To the Englishman, Marishka's case seemed desperate, for though the +identity of the driver of the green limousine was unknown, his +cleverness in eluding the net which Herr Windt had spread for him +indicated him to be an agent of the Wilhelmstrasse, a personal emissary +of those near the Kaiser, who was moving with great skill, using every +means of a great organization to keep Marishka's mission and identity a +secret. But Renwick was not the sort of a man that gives up easily. In +the back of his head an idea persisted, and he planned to follow its +development for good or ill to its conclusion. + +The correctness of his surmise as to the direction of Marishka's flight +in the green limousine had convinced him that Vienna was not her final +destination. He, too, took a _fiacre_ and drove at once to the apartment +of Baroness Racowitz. Marishka's guardian was away, but a fee to the +Austrian maid put him in possession of the facts. + +"No, Herr Renwick," she replied, "Countess Strahni did not return to the +apartment, but she was in Vienna and had sent for a suitcase and +clothing, which were delivered to a man who waited in an automobile." + +"What sort of a man?" + +"I couldn't exactly say, sir, a servant, a butler, perhaps; but there +was a note for Herr Renwick." + +"Ah--give it to me." + +"My instructions were to deliver it at eight o'clock at Herr Renwick's +residence in the Strohgasse. I have but just returned from there." + +Renwick started down the steps and then turned. "There was nothing +else?" + +"Nothing." + +"You do not know where Countess Strahni is?" + +"I know nothing more than I have told you, sir." + +Renwick rushed out to the waiting _fiacre_, and bade the driver go at +top speed. A note from Marishka! Under different circumstances this +would not perhaps have been surprising. The difference that the change +in their personal relations had wrought in the last few weeks, her mood +during their hurried flight to Konopisht, her desertion of him, all of +these circumstances made the fact of her writing to him the more +significant. She had accepted his services in the escape from Windt, +because he had forced them upon her, but he could not forget that she +had afterward repudiated him and fled from him without a word of +explanation of her sudden decision. His own personal danger had warned +him that Marishka, his companion eavesdropper, would also be in jeopardy +at the hands of those unseen forces which were working in the interests +of the Wilhelmstrasse. Marishka had thrown herself into their power and +was perhaps at this very moment in danger. But he was soon to know the +facts. At his apartment his servant handed him the note and hastily he +tore it open and read. + + I have gone to Sarajevo. I must do what I can, but I need you. I am + a prisoner and in great personal danger if we are stopped en route. + Therefore move secretly, telling no one. Go to the Hotel Europa, + where I will try to communicate with you. + + M. S. + +Renwick read the communication through twice, and then glanced at his +watch. Nine o'clock. There was no time to go to the British Embassy in +the Metternichgasse, though he would have liked to know if anything had +been seen of Marishka at the German Embassy which was just adjoining. +But he wrote a note to Sir Herbert, then called his servant, who packed +a bag while Renwick bathed and dressed. At ten he was seated in the +train for Budapest--a slow train that he had taken two weeks before on +his mission to Belgrade. + +He had made this move on impulse, without second thought, for Marishka's +message as to her destination again justified his surmises and +corroborated his fears as to her perilous situation. No other thoughts +save those of her danger and her need of him had entered his head, and +he had moved quickly, aware that any loss of time might be fatal to his +hope of helping her. But seated in his compartment of the railway +carriage, he had time to consider the note in all its aspects and in its +relation to the extraordinary events of the day. There were but two +other occupants of the carriage, an old gentleman with a white beard, +and a young Hungarian officer--a vacuous looking youth in +uniform--neither of them obviously of material from which secret service +agents are made. After the experience at the Konopisht railway station, +Renwick had no humor to be shot at in such close quarters, where the +range would necessarily be deadly. He settled his automatic comfortably +in his pocket, and after another and more reassuring inspection of his +travelling companions he took out Marishka's note and examined it +carefully. + +The knowledge he possessed as to her situation suggested caution. An +agency which could attempt to take his life would not be above forgery. +Marishka's hand? There seemed no doubt of it. It was not difficult for +Renwick to remember the peculiarities of her angular writing. The notes +he had received from her, invitations, appointments, apologies--very +often apologies, he remembered with a slow smile--dainty, faintly +scented missives on gray paper which bore her crest, differed from this +hurriedly written scrawl on a heavier paper which he had no means of +identifying. Only upon closer inspection did he discover a hesitation in +the lower curves and upward strokes of the letters which were not +characteristic of the decisive Marishka. + +Without being certain of its spuriousness, he came to the conclusion +that because of its contents, the note was for the present to be +regarded as an object for suspicion. Would Marishka--the Marishka who a +few hours ago had treated him with such acidulous politeness--write, "I +need you"? Could contemptuous silence be turned so quickly into urgent +appeal? Her danger made such a transition a possibility, and if she was +now ready to recant, all the more reason why he should obey. The one +thing about the message which struck a jarring note was the request for +secrecy under plea of personal danger. And if a forgery--why should his +enemies speak of her personal danger? A lure! So obvious a one that only +the veriest dolt could be deceived by it. The situation then resolved +itself into this: He was invited to go to Sarajevo--if by Marishka, to +save her from personal danger or abduction by her captor--if by the +German agent, with Marishka as a lure, to be the victim of a conspiracy +which planned either murder or imprisonment. And, however keen his own +prescience, Renwick realized that the note had so far succeeded in its +object. He was on his way. + +He was too tired tonight to do the situation justice, for the blow at +the back of his head had taken some of his strength, and he realized +that without sleep his utility would be impaired for the morrow. And +after a glance at his companions, he decided to chance it, and settling +himself comfortably, he was soon heavily sleeping. + +Renwick was awakened some while later by the young Hungarian officer's +cursing as he stumbled over the Englishman's feet. A glance at his watch +showed Renwick that he had slept four hours. It was dawn. Beside him at +the further end of the seat the old man with the white beard still +slept. Renwick glanced out of the window and found that the station was +Vacz. They were twenty or thirty miles from the Hungarian capital. The +morning was cool, and Renwick stepped down from the open door upon the +platform and stretched his limbs, sniffing the air eagerly. He felt +renewed, invigorated, and the ache at his head was gone. He had made no +plans beyond the very necessary one of getting money at the British +Consulate and taking the first train south. The difficulties in making +proper connections, the probability that somewhere he must desert the +railroad and beg, buy, or steal a motor car, and the ever present danger +of a shot from a German agent confronted him, but in his early morning +humor nothing seemed impossible. He would get through in some way and +find a means of reaching Marishka! And if Marishka were already spirited +away? He would find her and the green limousine chap with whom he would +have a reckoning. + +Impatient of the delay of the train, he took out his cigarette case and +was about to smoke, when the warning of the guard was shouted, and he +got into his carriage, followed by another traveler who clambered in at +the last moment and sank into the seat opposite. As the train moved, the +two men scanned each other in the light of the growing dawn which now +vied with the flickering light of the overhead lamp in their +compartment. The stranger was a very tall man in dark clothes, who gave +an instant impression of long rectangularity. He had a long nose, a long +upper lip which hung over a thin slit of a mouth which resembled a +buttonhole slightly frayed by wear. His chin was long and square and, +like his upper lip, blue, as though a stiff black beard were in constant +battle with a razor. His eyes were large and regarded Renwick with a +mild melancholy as he bowed the Englishman a good morning. Renwick +nodded curtly. He had planned another nap and hardly relished sitting +awake and staring at the sepulchral visitor. Where last night's +weariness had sealed his eyes to the ever-present sense of danger, +morning brought counsel of caution and alertness. The leanness of the +huge intruder was of the kind that suggested endurance rather than +malnutrition, a person who for all his pacific and rather gloomy +exterior, could be counted on to be extremely dangerous. + +In a situation where any man might prove to be his hidden enemy, Renwick +was learning to be wary. And so upon his guard for any movement of +hostility, he sat bolt upright and smoked his cigarette, puffing it +indolently into the face of his solemn companion. Beyond the first +greeting, no words passed between them, and the Englishman, more at his +ease, looked out of the window at the low marshlands along the river and +planned the business which brought him. Day came swiftly, and before the +train reached the city the sun was up in smiling splendor, melting the +pale fogbanks of the Danube valley beneath its golden glow. + +At the Westbahnhof, Renwick got down, and bag in hand made his way to +the railway restaurant for a cup of coffee. The keen morning air had +made him hungry, and he breakfasted like a man who does not know where +his next meal is coming from. It was not until he paid his check and got +up from the table that he noticed his gigantic companion of the train +doing likewise, but he gave the matter no thought, and getting into a +waiting _fiacre_ drove to the British Consulate to make some necessary +arrangements, including the procuring of money for possible large +expenses. The Archduke and Duchess, he discovered, had slept in their +car, which had been shifted to a train that had left for the south in +the early hours of the morning. The service on the road was none too +good, except that of the Orient Express, which had gone through last +night, but by haste Renwick managed to catch the nine o'clock train for +Belgrade, planning to get off it at Ujvidek and trust to Providence for +an automobile. + +He was no sooner comfortably seated in his compartment and +congratulating himself upon its emptiness, which would permit of +opportunity for sleep, when the door was thrown open and his tall +companion of the early morning solemnly entered. Renwick did not know +whether to be surprised or angry, and finished by being both, glancing +at the intruder through his monocle in a manner distinctly offensive. +But the tall man if aware of the Englishman's antagonism gave no sign of +it, clasping his cotton umbrella with large bony hands and gazing +gloomily at the passing landscape. + +An accidental meeting of two travelers bound in the same direction? +Perhaps. But there was too much at stake for Renwick to be willing to +take chances, and yet he could not kill and throw out of the window an +entire stranger who looked like the proprietor of a small confectionery +shop, in mourning for a departed friend. Of course there was nothing to +be done, but the man's presence irritated Renwick. As the moments went +on, and the man still silently stared out of the window, Renwick's +choler diminished. The fellow was quite harmless, a person from whom +murder and secret missions were miles asunder. If the man of the green +limousine had foreseen that Renwick would take the nine o'clock train +for Budapest and had set this behemoth upon him, the man would have made +an attempt upon his life this morning in the ride between Vacz and the +capital. And how, since the telegraph lines were closed to the German +agent, could this person have been put upon the scent? It hardly seemed +possible that this was an agent of Germany. And yet as the miles flew +by, the stranger's silence, immobility and unchanging expression got on +Renwick's nerves. He was in no mood to do a psychopathic duel with a +sphinx. + +The morning dragged slowly. At Szabadka he got down for lunch and was +not surprised to see his traveling companion at his elbow, eating with a +deliberation which gave Renwick a momentary hope that the train might +get off without him. Renwick was already in his carriage and the guard +calling when the fellow stalked majestically from the eating-room +munching at the remains of his _Böhmische Dalken_ and entered the +carriage, still clinging to the cotton umbrella, and quite oblivious of +the powdered sugar with which he was liberally besmeared. Secret agent! +The man was a joke--a rectangular comedy in monosyllables. + +There was no connection for Brod at Szabadka until late in the afternoon +and Renwick hoped to make better time by going on to Ujvidek, a large +town, somewhat sophisticated, where the buying or hiring of a machine +would be a possibility. During the afternoon he took Marishka's letter +from his pocket and studied it again, now quite oblivious of the +creature who had curiously enough resumed the same seat opposite him. +And in his concentration upon the problem of the note the man was for +the moment forgotten. It was only when he glanced up quickly and quite +unintentionally that he saw the gaze of his neighbor eagerly watching +him. It was only a fleeting glance, but in it, it seemed, the whole +character of his fellow traveler had changed. His hands still clasped +the umbrella, the sugar was still smeared upon his sallow cheeks, but it +seemed that his eyes had glowed with a sudden intentness. A second later +when Renwick looked at him again, the man was staring dully at the +passing cornfields and vineyards and he thought he had been mistaken. He +would have liked to know more of this fellow, and was again tempted to +try to draw him out but the recollection of his former venture dismayed +him. So he relapsed into silence and lying back in his seat, one hand in +his pocket, he closed his eyes and feigned slumber, watching the man +through his eyelashes. For a long while nothing happened. Then at last +as Renwick's breathing became regular the giant's head turned, and his +eyes regarded the Englishman stealthily. Renwick did not move. But he +saw his companion lean slightly forward while one hand left the umbrella +handle, unbuttoned his coat and then moved very slowly behind him. That +was enough for Renwick, who started upright and covered the man with his +automatic. But the other had merely drawn a large and rather soiled +handkerchief from a pocket of his trousers and was in the act of blowing +his nose when he looked up and saw the impending blue muzzle of +Renwick's weapon. + +Then his jaw dropped and his eyes flew wide open. + +"_Herr Gott!_" he stammered in a husky whisper. "Don't shoot!" + +Whether it was the pleasure of discovering that the man had at last +found his tongue or whether the innocence of his purpose was explained, +Renwick found himself much relieved. + +"Are you crazy?" the other was saying. "To draw a pistol upon me like +that! What do you mean?" + +But Renwick still held the pistol pointed in his neighbor's direction. + +"I will trouble you to stand," he said quietly, "with your hands up and +back toward me." + +The man stared at him wide eyed but at last obeyed, lifting his huge +back to its full height, and Renwick ran an investigating hand over his +hip pockets. They were empty. + +"Thanks," he said at last, "you may be seated." He felt a good deal of a +fool but he managed an uncomfortable laugh as he returned the automatic +to his pocket. "You see," he explained, "I owe you an apology----" + +"Yes, sir--such an outrage upon my dignity. I do not understand----" + +"Let me explain," went on Renwick, feeling more idiotic every moment; "I +have an enemy who seeks my life and when you put your hand in your +pocket I thought that you----" + +"It is strange that a gentleman in a railway carriage may not be +permitted to blow his nose without being threatened with a pistol," he +said hotly. + +"But you will admit, my friend, that your always being next to me in +trains is at least suspicious." + +"_Donnerwetter!_ And why, for the same reason, should I not be +suspicious of _you_?" + +"I trust at least that you have no enemies who seek _your_ life." + +"Who knows?" he shrugged. "Every man has enemies. I will thank you, sir, +to keep your pistol in your pocket." + +"Willingly. And in return I may say that you may blow your nose as often +as you please." + +"_Danke_," with some irony. "You are very kind. I suppose, if when +reaching Ujvidek, I should happen to be going in your direction you +would shoot me without further question." + +"That would depend on which direction you are taking," replied Renwick, +with a sense of abortive humor. + +"I go to Brod--thence to Sarajevo----" + +"The devil you do----!" cried Renwick in English, starting forward and +staring at the man. And then more calmly in German, + +"And how are you going?" + +The fellow paused and looked out of the window again. "As to that--I do +not know," he said slowly. + +He had resumed his air of settled gloom, the dignity of which was +somewhat marred by a vestige of powdered sugar upon his chin, but in +spite of the low esteem in which Renwick had held him, all his former +suspicions of the creature rushed over him in a moment. + +"And suppose that I, too, should be going to Brod and Sarajevo?" he +asked brusquely. + +The stranger turned toward him a slow bovine gaze which gradually +relaxed into the semblance of a smile. + +"_Ach so_," he replied blandly, "then it is just possible that we may go +together." + +His manner was sphinxlike again, and the Englishman eyed him curiously, +feeling a strong desire to kick him in the shins. But luckily he +refrained, saying coolly. + +"And what means of transportation do you propose to employ? Of course +you know there are no trains----" + +"_Natürlich._" + +"Then how shall you travel?" + +"And you, Herr Shooter, how shall you go?" + +Renwick smiled indulgently. + +"If I took an automobile----" + +"I should be constrained to go with you." + +"Constrained?" + +"If you would invite me--or condescend to permit me to pay my share of +the expenses." + +The man's personality was slowly expanding. Second class confectioners +who venture on wild goose chases were rare in Renwick's acquaintance. He +was becoming interesting as well as elusive, but Renwick was in no humor +for further quibbling. + +"I regret that that is impossible. I go on alone," he said decisively. + +"_Ach, so_," said the other sadly. "That is too bad----" His words +trailed off into a melancholy silence and he resumed his occupation of +looking out of the window. The incident in so far as Renwick was +concerned, was concluded. + +At least he thought that. At Ujvidek, when Renwick, bag in hand, got +down upon the station platform, the stranger stood beside him, fingering +his cotton umbrella foolishly and looking this way and that. But when +the Englishman after an inquiry of a loiterer, started in search of a +garage, he found his fellow traveler at his heels, and the frown which +Renwick threw over his shoulder failed utterly to deter him from his +purpose--which clearly seemed to be that of continuing his journey in +the Englishman's company. + +When Renwick reached the garage and talked with the proprietor, a +Hungarian whose German was almost negligible, the man of the cotton +umbrella abandoned the doorway which he had been darkening with his +shadow, and shuffled forward awkwardly. + +"If you will permit me," he said solemnly. "I speak the Hungarian quite +well. I should be glad to interpret your wishes." + +The man's impertinence was really admirable. Renwick's desire to get +forward on his long journey made him impatient of obstacles. He +shrugged. + +"Very well, then. Tell him I must have a machine and chauffeur to take +me to Sarajevo by way of Brod. I will pay him handsomely and in advance. +I must travel today and all night. I must reach Sarajevo in the +morning." + +"_Ach, so_," said the stranger, and Renwick listened to the conversation +that ensued, endeavoring by the light of his small knowledge of the +language to make out what was said. But he was lost in the maze of +consonants. + +In a moment the interpreter turned with a smile. + +"It is good. There is a machine. This man will drive himself. The price +is two hundred _kroner_ and the petrol." + +"Thank you. That is very good. I must leave within half an hour." + +Renwick produced money, the sight of which brought about an amazing +activity on the part of the garage man. Renwick strolled to and fro +outside, alternately smoking and watching the preparations for +departure, while the melancholy giant stood leaning upon his umbrella in +the doorway. What was he waiting for? Renwick thought that he had made +his intentions sufficiently explicit. At last, his impatience getting +the better of him, he stopped before the man with the umbrella. + +"I am greatly obliged to you for your kindness. But you understand? I go +on alone." + +The man in black regarded him blandly. + +"That is not a part of the arrangement," he said. + +"What do you mean?" + +"That I am to go with you." + +"I asked you to make no such arrangement." + +"It is a pity that perhaps I misunderstood." + +Renwick angrily approached the garage owner and tried to make him +understand, but he only proceeded with his work with greater alacrity, +bowing and pointing to the man in the doorway. + +"You observe," said the tall man, "that you will only complicate +matters?" + +Renwick glared at the other, but he returned the look with an impudent +composure, and Renwick, in fear of losing his self-control, at last +turned away. Nothing was to be gained by this controversy. After all, +what difference did the fellow's presence make? As a source of danger he +had already proved himself a negligible quantity. So Renwick with an ill +grace at last acquiesced, and within an hour they were on their way, +crossing the Danube and turning to their right along a rough road by the +Fruska mountains. + +The first accident happened before the machine reached Sarengrad, a +blowout which made another tire a necessity. The second, a broken leaf +of a spring, which made rapid travel hazardous. But it was not until +nightfall, in the midst of a desolation of plains, that carburetor +trouble of a most disturbing character developed. Renwick paced up and +down, offering advice and suggestion and then swearing in all the +languages he knew, but the chauffeur only shrugged and sputtered, while +the tall man gurgled soothingly. An hour they remained there when +Renwick's patience became exhausted, and he gave way to the suspicion +which had for some time obsessed him, that the pair of them were +conspiring to delay him upon his way. + +He came up behind the tall man who was bending over the open hood of the +car, and catching him roughly by the elbow, swung him around and faced +him angrily. + +"I've had about enough of this," he said. "Either that car moves in five +minutes or one of you will be hurt." + +He moved his hand toward his pocket to draw his weapon but his wrist was +caught in midair by a grip of steel that held Renwick powerless. The +Englishman was stronger than most men of his weight and made a sharp +struggle to get loose, but the man in black disarmed him as he would +have disarmed a child, and calmly put the pistol into his own pocket. It +was not until then that his bulk had seemed so significant, and the real +purpose of his presence been so apparent. There was no use in battling +with this melancholy Colossus who might, if he wished, break every bone +in Renwick's body. + +"Herr Renwick, if it will please you to be reasonable," he said, +releasing the Englishman and speaking as if soothing a spoiled child. + +At the mention of his name, Renwick drew back in growing wonder. + +"Who--who are you?" he asked. + +"My name is Gustav Linke," he said suavely. "I have been sent to keep +you from coming to harm. You see"----and he patted the pocket which +contained Renwick's pistol, "it is not difficult to run into danger when +one is always pulling one's pistol out." + +"Who sent you?" demanded Renwick furiously. + +The man in black coolly picked up his cotton umbrella which in the +struggle had fallen to the ground. + +"That is not a matter which need concern you." + +"I insist upon knowing and in going on to Brod without delay." + +The other merely shrugged. + +"I regret to say that that is impossible." + +"Why?" + +"Because my instructions were to keep you from reaching the Bosnian +border until tomorrow morning." + +"You are----?" + +"Herr Gustav Linke--that is all, Herr Renwick." + +"An agent of----" + +"The agent of Providence--let us say. Come. Be reasonable. I am sure +that the trifling disorder in the carburetor may be corrected. We shall +go on presently. The night is young. We shall reach Brod perhaps by +daylight. What do you say? Shall we be friends?" + +There was nothing else to be done. The disgusted Renwick shrugged and +got into the tonneau of the machine, awaiting the pleasure of his +captor. Out of the chaos of his disappointment came the one consoling +thought, that whatever Linke was, he was not a German. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +FLIGHT + + +The visions which disturbed Marishka Strahni in that dim borderland +between sleep and waking persisted in her dreams. And always Goritz +predominated--sometimes smiling, sometimes frowning but always cold, +sinister and calculating. He made love to her and spurned her by turns, +threatened her with the fate of the Duchess, whom she saw dead before +her eyes, the victim of a shot in the back. There was a smoking pistol +in Marishka's hand, and another figure lying near, which wore the +uniform of an Austrian general--the Archduke Franz it seemed, until she +moved to one side and saw that the figure had the face of Hugh Renwick. +She started up from her couch, a scream on her lips--calling to +Hugh----! Was she awake or was this another dream, more dreadful than +the last? There followed a conflict of bewildering noises, as though +night had mercifully fallen upon a chaos of disaster. She sat up and +looked around her. A train. + +She gasped a sigh of relief as her gaze pierced the dimness of the +elusive shadows. She remembered now. Captain Goritz. But she was still +alone. She lay down again, trying to keep awake in dread of the visions, +but exhaustion conquered again and she slept, dreaming now of another +Hugh, a tender and chivalrous lover who held her in his arms and +whispered of roses. + +It was daylight when she awoke. Captain Goritz was now sitting by the +window smiling at her. She started up drowsily, fingering at her hair. + +"You have slept well, Countess?" he asked cheerfully and without waiting +for her reply. "It is well. You have probably a trying day before you." + +Marishka straightened and looked out of the window past him at the +sunlit morning. Could it be possible that this alert pleasant person was +the Nemesis of her dreams? The world had taken on a new complexion, +washed clean of terrors by the pure dews of the night. + +"Thanks, Herr Hauptmann," she smiled at him. "I am quite myself again." + +"That is fortunate," he said. "We are nearly at our journey's end--at +least this part of it. Our train goes no further than Marburg." + +"And then?" + +"An automobile--a long journey." + +"I am quite ready." + +At Marburg they got down, and after Marishka had made a hurried toilet, +they breakfasted in comfort at the Bahnhof restaurant. If Captain Goritz +nourished any suspicion that they were being followed he gave no sign of +it, and after breakfast, to Marishka's surprise, Karl the chauffeur +appeared miraculously and announced that their car was awaiting them. + +"If I were not sure that you were Herr Lieutenant von Arnstorf," laughed +Marishka, "I should say you were the fairy of the magic carpet." + +"The magic carpet--_ach_, yes--if we but had one!" he said genuinely. + +The motion of the automobile soothed and satisfied her. At least she was +doing what she could to reach Sarajevo before the archducal party +arrived, and as her companion hopefully assured her, with a fair chance +of success. If Marishka could see Sophie Chotek, all her troubles would +be over, for then the Wilhelmstrasse would not care to oppose the dictum +of the Duchess in favor of one who whatever her political sins in +Germany's eyes, had made endless sacrifices to atone. + +If Marishka succeeded! But if she failed? + +The morning was too wonderful for thoughts of grim deeds or the authors +of them. The poisons distilled in her mind the night before were +dispelled into the clear air of the mountainside, over which singing +streams gushed joyously down. Birds were calling--mating; wild creatures +scampered playfully in thicket and hedge; and the peaceful valleys were +redolent of sweet odors. + +In the long hours of the afternoon Marishka's thoughts were of Hugh +Renwick. Perspective had given him a finer contour, for she had Goritz +to compare him with. She loved Hugh. She knew now how much. Her +happiness had been too sweet to have had such a sudden ending. She had +been unkind--cruel--broken with him even when he was bending every +effort to aid her. He was trying to help her now for all that she +knew.... She had written him a note from the German Embassy--just a few +lines which she had enclosed with the message to her maid at the +apartment--warning him that he was in danger and praying that he leave +the country and return to England, a kindly note which by its anxiety +for his safety conveyed perhaps more of what was in her heart than she +would have cared to write had she believed that she was to see him +again. + +What reason had Captain Goritz for believing that Hugh would follow her +in this mad quest? How could Hugh be sure where she had gone and with +whom? There had been a quality of the miraculous in the judgment of +Captain Goritz. What if even now Hugh Renwick were near her? Her pulse +went a little faster. Pride--the pride which asks in vain--for a while +had been dashed low, and she had scorned him with her eyes, her voice, +her mien, her gestures, all, alas! but her heart. The women of the house +of Strahni----! Hugh Renwick had kissed her. And the memory of those +kisses amid the red roses of the Archduke was with her now. She felt +them on her lips--the touch of his firm strong fingers--the honest gaze +of his gray eyes--these were the tokens she had which came to her as +evidence that the readings of her heart had not been wrong. A Serbian +spy----! She smiled confidently. + +In a moment she stole a glance at Captain Goritz, who was bent forward +studying his road map. She waited until he gave directions to the +chauffeur and then spoke. + +"Captain Goritz," she said carelessly, "you manage so cleverly that I am +beginning to trust implicitly to your guidance and knowledge. But there +is one thing that puzzles me. It must be more than a whim which makes +you think that Herr Renwick will follow us to Sarajevo." + +"Not _us_, Countess," he smiled; "I said _you_." + +"But granting that he would follow me--which I doubt--how could he know +where I have gone?" + +Goritz laughed easily. + +"He will find a way." + +Marishka's face grew sober. + +"I fear Herr Renwick's friendship cannot achieve miracles. The last he +saw of me was in a hut in Bohemia. What clew could he have----? What +possible----" + +"Ah, Countess," Goritz broke in, "you do not realize as I have done the +cleverness of the Austrian Secret Service. We have so far eluded them. +We were very lucky but it cannot be long before the green limousine will +be discovered, and the direction of our journey." + +"But even that----" + +"To a clever man like Herr Renwick--to a man whose affections are +involved," he added slowly, "it would not be difficult to decide where +you have gone. He knows the discomforts and dangers you have passed +through to achieve your object. He will, of course, seek your apartment +and read the meaning of your sending for your clothing just as +easily"--he paused a moment and smiled at the back of Karl's head--"just +as easily," he repeated slowly, "as though you yourself had written him +a note telling him--er--exactly which train you had taken." + +Marishka felt the warm color flooding her neck and brows. In writing +Renwick she had broken her promise to this man not to communicate with +her friends. Goritz watched her pretty distress for a moment with +amusement which speedily turned to interest. + +"Of course, Countess, you did _not_ write to him?" he said, with sudden +severity. + +"I owe you an explanation, Captain Goritz----" she said timidly. + +"You wrote--Countess?" evincing the most admirable surprise. + +"I inclosed a few words in my note to my maid--a warning of danger and a +request that Herr Renwick leave at once for England----" + +And as Goritz frowned at her, "Surely there is no harm in that." + +"Your word of honor----" + +"I betrayed nothing of my whereabouts or plans," she pleaded. + +"How can I know that you speak the truth?" + +"I swear it." + +Goritz shrugged lightly. + +"It is, of course, a woman's privilege to change her mind. Still, you +put me upon my guard. It is unfortunate. How can I be sure that you will +not be sending other notes without my permission to the Europa when we +reach Sarajevo?" + +"The Europa----? I fail to understand." + +"The Europa Hotel," he said with a curious distinctness, "where all +English people stop, and where of course your friend Mr. Renwick will +stop." + +Marishka examined him keenly. + +"Your prescience cannot be infallible." + +"No. But Herr Renwick will come to Sarajevo," he repeated confidently. + +He was still studying the road map and she was silent, thinking. But in +a moment he raised his head and shrugged again. + +"Of course it is nothing to me. As an English subject he has the +protection of his Ambassador. Even if my orders demanded his arrest I +should be without power to carry them out." + +"It is easier to deal with the credulity of women," she said quietly. + +"Countess Strahni, you make it very difficult for me--doubly difficult +since I have learned how lightly you hold your promise." + +"But confession absolves----" + +"With me, perhaps, because I could refuse you nothing, but not with +those that have sent me." + +"But why should you be uneasy at the possibility of Herr Renwick +following to Sarajevo?" + +"I do not relish the disturbance of my plans." + +She smiled a little at that. + +"I think I should be a little happier if I knew just what those plans +were." + +He did not reply at once. Then he went on slowly, choosing his words +with care. + +"My sentiments of respect must by this time have told you that no harm +can come to you. Last night His Excellency, the German Ambassador, +informed me that I shall do a great damage to the friendship between +your nation and mine, if I presume to take you across the German border +without your consent. I have been much moved by his advice. He has +already written to the Wilhelmstrasse in your behalf. I cannot yet +absolve you from your promise since my own actions in Austria have been +far from conventional. Herr Renwick, if he chooses, can make my visit to +Sarajevo most unpleasant. But I see no reason, after our purpose has +been achieved, why you should not be restored to your friends, even to +Herr Renwick, if that is your desire," and then in a lower tone, "I can +assure you, Countess Strahni, that I relinquish you to him with an ill +grace." + +"Herr Renwick is no Serbian spy, Captain Goritz," she said steadily. + +He smiled. + +"Oh, you do not believe me. Very well. You will discover it for +yourself." + +"How?" she asked timidly. + +He looked at her with every mark of admiration, but his reply did not +answer her question. + +"Herr Renwick is indeed fortunate in having so loyal a friend--even +though, as you say, there is nothing between you in common. I envy him +the possession. I hope that he may better deserve it." + +She smiled but did not speak for a moment and then, "Why is it that you +so dislike a man whom you do not know--whom you--you have never seen?" + +Goritz bent forward toward her, his voice lowered while his strange dark +eyes gazed full into hers: + +"Need I tell you?" he whispered. "You have thought me cruel, because I +have done my duty, heartless--cold--a mere piece of official machinery +which could balk at nothing--even the destruction of a woman's +happiness--because my allegiance to my country was greater than any +personal consideration. But I am not insensible to the appeals of +gentleness, not blind to beauty nor deaf to music, Countess Strahni, as +you have thought. Beneath the exterior which may have seemed forbidding +to you, I am only human. Last night I took advantage of your weariness +and weakness in telling you, with cruel bluntness, of Herr Renwick's +relations with the Serbian government. I learned what you have labored +to conceal--that you care for him--that you care for one who----" + +"It is not true," she broke in calmly. "I do not care for Herr Renwick." + +"It would delight me to believe you," he went on with a shake of the +head, "but I cannot. It has been very painful to me to see you suffer, +for whatever you have done in a mistaken sense of loyalty to your +country, nothing can alter the fact of your innocence, your virtue, and +your dependence upon my kindness in a most trying situation. I have told +you the facts about Herr Renwick because I have believed it my duty, to +you and to Austria. If I have hurt you, Countess Strahni," he finished +gently, "I pray that you will forgive me." + +Marishka was silent, now looking straight before her down the mountain +road which they were descending slowly. The voice of Captain Goritz had +a sonorous quality which could not have been unpleasant to the ears of +any woman. She listened to it soberly, trying to detect the tinkle of +the spurious, but she was forced to admit that beyond and behind the +mere phrases which might in themselves mean nothing, there was a depth +of earnestness that might have proved bewildering to one less versed in +the ways of the world than herself. His eyes, singularly clear and +luminous, dominated and held her judgment of him in abeyance. For the +moment she was able to forget her terrors of the night before, his +enmity for Hugh Renwick, and the threat he had hung over her freedom. +She did not dare to trust him. Too much still hung in the balance of her +favor or disfavor. And yet she was forced to admit the constraint of his +fervor, his kindness and courteous consideration. A woman forgives much +to those who acknowledge without question the scepter of her femininity. + +At last she turned toward him with a smile and gave nun her hand. Nor +did she withdraw it when bending low he pressed it gently to his lips. +This was a game that two could play at. + +"We are to be friends, then?" he asked quietly. + +"Of course," she smiled at him. + +Toward six of the afternoon a trifling mishap to the motor delayed them +for two hours, and it was long after midnight before they reached Brod +and learned that the train of the Archduke had left within the hour. +This was a terrible disappointment, which seemed to menace the success +of their venture. But Captain Goritz determined to go on as rapidly as +possible, trusting to reach their destination before the royal party +left its train, hoping that the sight of Countess Strahni by the Duchess +would be sufficient to let down any official barriers which might be +interposed. But an unforeseen difficulty at Brod still further delayed +them, a difficulty which required all of the ingenuity of Captain Goritz +to get them once more upon their way. It was three o'clock in the +morning, when having made some necessary repairs to the machine, they +reached the Austrian end of the great bridge across the Save. Here they +were halted by an iron chain across the bridge entrance and a police +officer who, it seemed, looked upon their night traveling with +suspicion. Captain Goritz protested indignantly and produced his papers, +which the officer inspected by the dim light of an ancient lantern held +by a subordinate. + +"I am sorry," he said firmly, "but no motor cars are permitted to cross +into Bosnia until tomorrow morning." + +"But, my friend," said Goritz with an air of outraged patience, "I am an +officer of the Third Regiment of the Fifteenth Army Corps returning to +Sarajevo from a leave of absence which expires at nine in the morning. +It is necessary that my party goes through at once." + +"I must obey orders, Herr Ober Lieutenant." + +"But my papers are correct. They are signed, you will observe, by +General von Hoetzendorf himself." + +"I am sorry, but you cannot go through. If you choose to take up the +matter with my superior officer, you will find the Kaserne in the main +street near the mosque. I shall pass you only upon his visé. That is +final. You will please turn your car and return to the village." + +Captain Goritz gazed longingly along the pale beam of the motor lamps +into the dark reaches of the bridge, and then at the shadow of the heavy +chain. At last with reluctance he gave the order to turn back. There +seemed no doubt that the restriction was unusual, and that the visit of +the Archduke had much to do with the obstruction of traffic between +Sarajevo and central Europe. The car moved slowly back through the +darkened village in the direction from which they had come, while Goritz +planned what was better to be done. The nearest other crossing at Kobas +was twenty miles away, over the road by which they had come, and they +knew that the roads upon the Bosnian side of the river were mere cow +tracks. If the officer at the bridge refused to pass them, how were they +to be certain that they would fare any better at the hands of his +superior, probably a crusty village official who would not relish being +awakened in the small hours of the morning even by a belated army +officer? At the order of Captain Goritz, the chauffeur Karl backed the +car into a meadow and put out the lights. Then Goritz lighted a +cigarette and smoked rapidly. + +"Brod is Serbian for ford. Is the passage above the bridge or below?" + +"Below, Herr Hauptmann, but dangerous at this season. I should not risk +it." + +"Ah, I see." He paused a moment, thinking rapidly. "Is there a chain at +the other end of the bridge?" + +"I have never seen one, Herr Hauptmann." + +"Very good. You will await me here." + +And without further words he got down and disappeared into the darkness. +Marishka sat trembling with uncertainty, trying to pierce the obscurity +in the direction in which her companion had gone. Silence, except for +the droning of the insects and the distant rushing of the river. +Fifteen, twenty minutes in which Marishka sat tensely waiting, hoping, +fearing she knew not what, and then silently, merely a darker shadow of +the night itself, a figure appeared and silently mounted into the seat +beside the waiting Karl. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +TRAGEDY + + +She heard a few phrases pass between them and then, without lights, the +machine suddenly moved forward. The explosions of the engine, muffled +though they were, seemed like rifle shots to ears newly accustomed to +the silences of the night. But the speed of the motor increased rapidly, +and she felt the damp of the river fog brushing her cheek. She could see +nothing though she peered into the blackness eagerly. The car was +rushing to destruction for all that she knew, yet Karl was driving +straight and hard for the entrance of the bridge. Marishka saw the dim +gleam of a lantern, heard a hoarse shout, and then the sound of shots +lost in the crashing of the timbers of the bridge as they thundered +over, the throttle wide, past the bridge house at Bosna-Brod upon the +other side of the river, and on without pause through the village into +the open road beyond. All this in darkness, which had made the venture +the more terrible. + +It was with relief that she heard the light laugh and even tones of +Captain Goritz. + +"That is well done, Karl. Your eyes are better than mine. But I have no +humor for a bath in the Bosna, so we will have the lights, if you +please." + +"They will follow us?" stammered Marishka. + +"There is a greater danger of detention at Dervent or Duboj, but I'm +hoping the bridge-tender may keep silent. It was stupid of him not to +guard the chain." + +"You lowered it----?" + +"It made a fearful racket, but the roar of the river helped." + +A little further down the road, at a signal, Karl brought the car to a +stop and silenced the engine, while Goritz got down into the road and +listened intently, striking a match meanwhile and looking at the dial of +his watch. There were no sounds in the direction from which they had +come but the distant roar of the river and the whispering of the wind in +the trees. + +"It is half-past three, Karl. How far have we to go?" + +"More than two hundred kilos--two hundred and fifty perhaps." + +"Ah, so much?" and he frowned. "I wish to reach the capital by eight +o'clock, Karl," he said. + +"_Zu befehl_, Herr Hauptmann--if it is in the machine. I can at least +try." + +As Goritz got in beside Marishka, he started the engine, and they were +off again. As a sign that at least the chauffeur was trying to carry out +his orders, in a moment they were rushing along at a furious pace which +seemed to threaten destruction to them all. In spite of an impending +storm which had now, fortunately, passed, at Brod Karl had lowered the +top of the car in order to make better speed in the final race for their +goal, and the rush of wind seemed to make breathing difficult, but +Marishka clung to the bracket at her side, trying to keep her balance as +they swung around the curves, and silently praying. Conversation was +impossible until the road rose from the plains of the Save into the +mountains, where the speed was necessarily diminished. The car, +fortunately, seemed to be a good one, for no machine unless well proven +could long stand the strain of such work as Karl was giving it to do. +Through Dervent they went at full speed, seeing no lights or human +beings. Beyond Duboj the moon came out, and this made Karl's problems +less difficult, though the road wound dangerously along the ravines of +the Brod river, which tumbled from cleft to cleft, sometimes a silver +thread and again a ragged cataract hundreds of feet below. There were no +retaining walls, and here and there as they turned sudden and unexpected +corners it almost seemed to Marishka that the rear wheels of the machine +swirled out into space. She held her breath and closed her eyes from +time to time, expecting the car to lose its equilibrium and go whirling +over and over into the echoing gorge below them, the depth of which the +shadow of the mountains opposite mercifully hid from view. But Karl had +no time in which to consider the thoughts of his passengers. He had his +orders. If achievement were in the metal he intended to carry them out. +The feudal castles of old Bosnia passed in stately review, Maglaj, +Usora, clinging leech-like to their inaccessible peaks, grim sentinels +of the vista of years, frowning at the roaring engine of modernity which +sent its echoes mocking at their lonely dignity. Marishka could look, +but not for long, for in a moment would come the terrible down-grade and +the white, leaping road before them, which held her eyes with fearful +hypnotism. Death! What right had she to pray for her own safety, when +her own lips had condemned Sophie Chotek? There was still a chance that +she would reach Sarajevo in time. She had no thought of sleep. Weary as +she was, the imminence of disaster at first fascinated--then enthralled +her. She was drunk with excitement, crying out she knew not what in +admiration of Karl's skill, her fingers in imagination with his upon the +wheel, her gaze, like his, keen and unerring upon the road. + +Beside her Captain Goritz sat silently, smiling as he watched her. + +"It is wonderful, is it not?" he said in a lull, when the machine +coasted down a straight piece of road. "Fear is the master passion of +life. Even I, Countess, am in love with fear." And then with a laugh, +"We shall arrive in time if the tires hold. It is a good machine, a very +good machine." + +Dawn stole slowly across the heavens between the mountain peaks, an opal +dawn, pale and luminous. Here and there objects defined themselves +against the velvety surfaces of the hills, a hut by the river brink, a +thread of smoke rising straight in the still air, a herdsman driving his +flock in a path across the valley. But Karl, the chauffeur, drove madly +on, more madly, it seemed, as the light grew better. People appeared as +if by magic upon the road, with loaded vehicles bound to +market--awe-stricken peasants, who leaped aside and then turned +wondering. + +The machine climbed a mountain from which a vista of many miles of +country was spread out before them, but there was no sign of their +destination. Half-past eight--nine----! The roads became crowded again, +with vehicles, horsemen, footmen, and groups of soldiers, all traveling +in the same direction. Sarajevo was not far distant but they went at a +snail's pace, their nerves leaping in the reaction. Marishka, pallid +with fatigue, sat leaning forward in her seat, dumb with anxiety. Goritz +rubbed his chin thoughtfully. But he had not yet begun to despair. +Suddenly the car came to a turning in the road, and the Bosnian capital +was spread out at their feet. Goritz looked at his watch. It was nearly +ten. If the thing they dreaded had not yet come to pass there might +still be time. As they descended the hill into the valley of the +Miljacka, it was apparent that the town was in holiday attire. Flags +floated from many poles, and the streets and bridges were crowded with +people. At the direction of Captain Goritz, Karl drove quickly to the +railroad station, where a group of officials stood gesturing and talking +excitedly. + +"Has His Highness gone into the city?" asked Goritz of the man nearest +him. + +The fellow paused and turned at the sight of the Austrian uniform. + +"Ah, Herr Lieutenant--you have not heard?" + +"I have just come down from the hills. What is the matter?" + +"A bomb has been thrown into the automobile of the Archduke----" + +"He is killed?" asked Goritz, while Marishka leaned forward in horror. + +"Fortunately, no. He cast the bomb into the street, but it exploded +under the vehicle of his escort, killing several, they say." + +"She is safe--Her Highness is safe?" questioned Marishka. + +"Yes, but it was a narrow escape," said another man. + +"Where is the Archduke now?" asked Goritz. + +"At the Rathaus--where he is to receive a testimonial from the +Burgomaster, in behalf of the city. From there they go to the Governor's +palace, I think." + +"Thanks," said Goritz with a gasp of relief, and gave the word to Karl +to drive on toward the center of the town. + +"'Forewarned is forearmed,'" he muttered to Marishka. "They may not dare +to attempt it again. I think you need have no further anxiety, +Countess." + +"But I must reach Her Highness. I must let her know everything." + +"We shall try." And then to Karl, "Go as far as you can into the town, +to Franz Josef Street." + +But at the tobacco factory the crowd was so great that they could not go +on, and Goritz after some directions to Karl, helped Marishka down, and +they went forward through the crowd afoot, listening to its excited +comments. + +"Cabrinobitch----" + +"A Serbian, they say. The police seized him." + +"I was as near to him as you are. Stovan Kovacevik was hit by a piece of +the bomb. They have taken him to the hospital." + +"Colonel Merizzi--they say he is dead. And Count von Waldeck badly +wounded." + +Marishka shuddered. She had known them both at Konopisht. She caught +Captain Goritz by the arm and forced her way to the Stadt Park, +following the crowd of people and at last reaching Franz Josef Street, +which was filled almost solidly with an excited, gesticulating mass of +humanity. + +"A Serbian plot!" they heard a man in a turban say in polyglot German. +"Not Serbian nor Bosnian. We have no murderers here." + +"So say I," cried another. "They will blame it upon us. Where are the +police, that the streets are not even cleared." + +"Why does he come here to make trouble? We do not love him, but we are +an orderly people. Let him be gone." + +"He was at least brave. They say after the bomb was thrown into his +machine he threw it into the street." + +"Brave! Yes. But he is a soldier. Why shouldn't he be brave?" + +"Courage may not save him. There is something back of this. A man told +me there was a bomb thrower on every street corner." + +Marishka pushed forward shuddering, with Captain Goritz close behind +her. + +"I cannot believe it," she whispered. + +"The ravings of a crowd," he muttered. "It matters nothing." + +But as they neared the corner of Rudolfstrasse, there was a stir and a +murmur as all heads turned to look up the street in the direction of the +Carsija. + +"He comes again." "The machine is returning from the Rathaus." The word +flew from lip to lip with the speed of the wind. A few Austrian soldiers +were riding down the street clearing the way. They were all. No police, +no other soldiers. It was horrible. The sides of the machine were +utterly unprotected from the people, who closed in upon it, almost +brushing its wheels. Marishka pressed forward again, jostled this way +and that, until she stood upon the very fringe of the crowd at the +corner of the street. Captain Goritz held her by the elbow. What purpose +was in her mind he could not know. But every nerve in her--every impulse +urged her to go forward to the very doors of the machine and protect +Sophie Chotek, if necessary with her own body, against the dangers +which, as the people about her said, lurked on every corner. The machine +approached very slowly. There was no cheering, and it seemed strange to +Marishka that there could be no joy in the hearts of these people at the +courage of their Heir Presumptive, who had faced death bravely, and now +with more hardihood than prudence was facing it again. The car was open, +and she could see the figures of the royal pair quite clearly, their +faces very pale, the Archduke leaning forward talking with a man in +uniform in the front seat opposite him, the Duchess scanning the crowd +anxiously. As the machine stopped again at the street corner, Marishka +rushed forward until she stood just at its front wheels, waving a hand +and speaking the Duchess's name. She saw the gaze of Sophie Chotek meet +hers, waver and then become fixed again in wonder, in sudden +recognition, and incomprehension. Words formed on the girl's lips and +she called, + +"It is I--Marishka Strahni, Duchess--I must speak----" + +She got no further. Out of the mass of people just at her elbow the +figure of a man emerging, sprang upon the running board of the machine. +He seemed to wave his hand, and then there were sounds of shots. The +Archduke started up, holding a protecting arm before the body of the +Duchess, who had sunk back into her seat, her hand to her breast. The +Archduke wavered a moment and then fell forward across the knees of the +Duchess. + +Of the mad moments which followed, Marishka was barely conscious. She +was pushed roughly back into the turgid crowd and would have fallen had +not an arm sustained her. Men seized the assassin and hurried him away. +There were hoarse shouts, glimpses of soldiers, as the machine of death +pushed its way through the mass of people, and always the strong arm +sustained her, pushing her, leading her away into a street where there +were fewer people and less noise. + +"Come, Countess, he brave," Goritz was saying. "God knows you have done +what you could." + +"It is horrible," she gasped brokenly. "A moment sooner, perhaps, and I +should have succeeded. She recognized me--you saw?" + +He nodded. "Kismet! It was written," he said grimly. + +"But someone must pay--someone--who was----?" + +"A Bosnian student--named Prinzep--a man said." + +"He was but a boy--a frail boy----" + +"He has been well taught to shoot," muttered Goritz. + +"Death!" she cried hysterically. "And I----" + +"Be quiet. People are watching you," said Goritz sternly. "Lean on my +arm and go where I shall lead. It is not far." + +[Illustration: "Be quiet. People are watching you," said Goritz +sternly.] + +The sight of strange, distorted faces regarding her gave Marishka the +strength to obey. Mechanically her feet moved, but the sunlight blinded +her. She passed through a maze of small streets lined with market stalls +where groups of people shouted excitedly; and dimly as in a dream she +heard their comments. + +"The police--we have police--where were they? The Government will be +blaming us. We are not murderers! No. It is a shame!" + +Marishka shuddered and leaned more heavily upon the arm of her +companion. She was weary unto death, body and spirit--but still her feet +moved on, out of the maze of small alleys into a larger alley, where her +companion stopped before a blue wooden gate let into a stone wall. He +put his hand upon the latch, the gate yielded, and they entered a small +garden with well ordered walks and a fountain, beside which was a stone +bench. Upon this bench at the bidding of Captain Goritz she sank, +burying her face in her hands, while he went toward the house, which had +its length at one side of the garden. She put her fingers before her +eyes trying to shut out the horrors she had witnessed, but they +persisted, ugly and sinister. Over and over in her mind dinned the +hoarse murmur of the crowd, "We are not murderers! No!" Who then----? +Not the frail student with the smoking pistol ... the agent of +others.... The eyes of Sophie Chotek haunted her--eyes that had looked +so often into her own with kindness. She had seen terror in them, and +then--the mad turmoil, the dust, the acrid smell of powder fumes, and +the silent group of huddled figures in the machine!... + +There were sounds of voices and of footsteps approaching, but Marishka +could not move. She was prone, inert, helpless. + +"She is very tired," someone said. + +"_Ach_--she must come within and sleep." + +A woman's voice, it seemed, deep but not unsympathetic. + +"A glass of wine perhaps--and food." + +"It shall be as you desire, Excellency. I know what she needs." + +Arms raised her, and she felt herself half led, half carried, into the +house and laid upon a bed in a room upstairs. It was dark within and +there was a strange odor of spices. Presently someone, the woman, it +seemed, gave her something to drink, and after awhile the turmoil in her +head grew less--and she slept. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE HARIM + + +Dreams, colorful and strangely vivid, but not unpleasant. It seemed that +Marishka lay upon a couch so soft that she sank deliciously without end +to perfect rest. Above, about, below her, perfumed darkness, spangled +with soft spots of light, which came and went curiously. She tried to +fix her gaze upon one of them, but it was extinguished immediately and +appeared elsewhere. She found another--and another, but they fled from +her like _ignes fatui_. She heard the whir of a machine, fast and then +slow again, near and then at a distance. Was it an automobile or an +aeroplane? The notion of an automobile speeding in space was +incongruous, the milky way--a queer concept! She smiled in her +dreams.... Then suddenly a bright sunlight peopled with strange figures +in fez and turban, faces that leered at her, lips that howled in +excitement, arms that moved threateningly, dust, noise, commotion, from +which she was trying in vain to escape.... And then darkness again and +the subdued murmur of voices, one voice familiar, one gruff and +unfamiliar. + +"Ten thousand _kroner_--that is a large sum," said the gruff voice. + +"Yours, Effendi, if the thing is accomplished." + +"It should not be difficult. You may reply upon me." + +"And you are to show the lady every attention--every comfort----" + +"_Zu befehl_----" + +There was a recurrence of the changing lights and the voices receded. +Presently she seemed to hear them again. + +"She is to be kept in seclusion of course, but otherwise you will accede +to all her requests--all, you understand----Should she care to +write--you will send a message. There are more ways than one to kill a +goose. And this one lays the golden egg, Effendi----" + +"I understands--a golden egg." + +"Very good--perhaps tonight----We shall see." + +"I shall be prepared, Excellency." + +The voices died away and melted into the murmur of a crowd, which merged +curiously into the whir of an automobile. But it was dark again and the +spots of light in the darkness reappeared. One, two, three, a dozen she +counted and then they vanished. She was alone, an atom in the expanse of +infinity, but the darkness and the perfume now oppressed, suffocated +her, and she tried to escape. But she moved her limbs with difficulty, +and a weight sealed her eyelids. She struggled up against it and managed +to rise upon one elbow and look about her. + +She was awake. Slowly memory returned, the memory of things which seemed +to have happened a long while before, and time and distance seemed to +have robbed them of their sting. She was awake and alone in a dark room, +lying on a low couch, upon which were spread a number of pillows of +strange design. A latticed window was near, and outside, the shadows of +a tree branch fell across the barred rectangle, cutting the lines of +light into broken lozenges of shadow. The room was furnished somberly +but richly with heavy hangings and teakwood furniture decorated with +mother-of-pearl. A lantern of curious design depended from the ceiling. +There was a figure standing in the corner. She raised herself upon one +elbow and examined the figure attentively, not frightened yet, but +merely curious. + +It was a suit of ancient armor of a period with which she was +unfamiliar. She moved her limbs painfully and sat up. Her head throbbed +for a few moments but she found that she was able to think clearly +again. Slowly she realized where she was and what had happened. The blue +door in the wall--this the house that adjoined the garden. She had +slept--how long she did not know, but the beams of sunlight were orange +in color and made a brilliant arabesque upon an embroidered hanging on +the opposite wall. She must have slept long. Her dreams returned to her, +fleeting and elusive, like the _ignes fatui_ which had been a part of +them. The whir of wheels, the vision of the vari-colored crowd, the +murmur of voices speaking--these too had been a dream. She tried to +recall what the voices had murmured. Phrases came to her. "Ten thousand +_kroner_--the goose that lays the golden egg----" It was all like a +story from a fairy tale. She looked about her--a dream--of course. Who +could have been speaking of _kroners_ and golden eggs here? + +There were two doors to the apartment in which she lay, one, ornate with +Turkish fretwork, which had in its center panel what seemed to be a +small window, covered by a black grille. At the other end of the room +another door, open, from which came a flicker of cool light, the soft +pad of footsteps and the sound of a voice humming some curious Oriental +air. Marishka did not get up at once, but sat among the pillows, her +fingers at her temples as she tried to collect her thoughts. She knew +that she must think. Everything seemed to depend upon the clearness with +which her mind emerged from the fog of dreams. Slowly, the happenings of +the last few days recurred--the flight, the wild ride down the ravines +of the Brod, Sarajevo, the tragedy, the car of Death! She put her +fingers before her eyes and then straightened bravely. And what now? +Goritz! What was he going to do with her? She tried to judge the future +by the past. She had given herself unreservedly into his hands in the +hope of reaching Sophie Chotek before--before what had happened. Their +interests had been identical--the saving of life--and if they had +succeeded, there would have been no need for anxiety as to her own +future. But now the situation seemed to have changed. Failure had marked +her for its own, an unbidden guest in a strange country in which she was +for the present at the mercy of her captor. She could not forget that +she was his prisoner, and the terms of her promise to him came to her +with startling clearness. His recantation, his courtesy, his ardent +looks had allayed suspicion, but had not quite removed the earlier +impression. In this hour of awakening and depression there seemed to be +room for any dreadful possibility. + +Was she a prisoner? If so, the window was not barred, and she saw that +it let upon the tiny garden fifteen feet below. If she could gather the +strength, it might not be difficult to lower herself from the window +sill--drop to the garden and flee. But where? To whom? She turned +quickly, listening for the sounds of the footsteps in the adjoining +room, her hand at her breast, where her heart was throbbing with a new +hope. Hugh! Hugh in Sarajevo! And yet why not? It came to her in a throb +of joyous pride that in spite of all that she had done to deter him, he +had persisted in helping and protecting her, oblivious of her denial of +him and of her cutting disdain. But would the frail clew of her flight +through Vienna be enough to point her object and destination? The memory +of his cleverness and initiative in their night ride to Konopisht gave +her new hope. Why should he not come to Sarajevo? Between the lines of +the note she had written him he must have read the tenderness that had +always been in her heart. He was no coward, and the idea of fleeing to +England when danger threatened her would, of course, be the last that +would come into his mind. It was curious that she had not thought of +this before. He would come to Sarajevo if he could--perhaps he was here +now---- + +A heavy figure stood in the doorway regarding her. She could not at +first decide whether it was a man or a woman for the wide, baggy +trousers resembled a skirt, and the short, sleeveless jacket was similar +to that worn by the male Moslems she had seen in the Carsija. But in a +moment, a voice of rather low pitch spoke kindly, in atrocious German. + +"The Fräulein is at last awake. Does she feel better?" + +"Ah, thanks, yes," said Marishka, at last deciding that it was a woman. +"I have slept long." + +"Seven hours at least, and like the dead. But you must be hungry. I will +prepare something at once." + +"Thank you. And if I could wash my face and hands." + +"It shall be as you wish. If you will but come with me----" + +Marishka rose, and as she did so, the door with the black grille opened +from within, and a girl came into the room. Like the older woman she +wore baggy trousers and slippers, but above the waist, typifying the +meeting of East and West, a somewhat soiled satin blouse which might +have been made either in Paris or Vienna. The face was very pretty, +regular of feature and oval in contour, but the effect of its beauty was +marred by the hair above it, which was dyed with henna a saffron red. +But she wore a flower at her breast, and in spite of her artificialities +exhaled the gayety of youth. She smiled very prettily and came forward +with a confiding air, giving Marishka her hand. + +"I have been waiting for you to wake up," she said in a soft voice. "I +have never known anyone to sleep so soundly." + +She laughed like a child who is very much pleased with a new toy, and +holding Marishka's hand, looked at her curiously from head to foot. +There was something very genuine in her interest and kindliness, and +Marishka found herself smiling. + +"I must have been very tired," she said. + +"I am sorry. You are feeling better now?" + +"Yes, but very dirty----" + +"Come with me. Zubeydeh will bring food." + +She led the way through the door of the black grille, down a short +passage into a large room at the end of the house. The apartment was +strewn with rugs, and its furniture was a curious mixture of the color +of the East and the utility of the West--a French dressing stand beside +a stove of American make, a Bosnian marriage chest, a table which might +have come out of the Ringstrasse, a brass tray for burning charcoal, a +carved teakwood stand upon which stood a nargileh, a box of cigars, some +cigarettes, and two coffee cups still containing the residue of the last +draught. There were latticed windows in _meshrebiya_, which overlooked +the garden and street, and piled beside them were a number of pillows +and cushions. The room was none too clean, but there were evidences here +and there of desultory attempts at rehabilitation. + +The girl with the red hair led Marishka to one of the window recesses, +where she bade her sit upon a pile of pillows, bringing a basin and an +ewer of water which she put upon the rug beside her. + +"Ah, I was forgetting," said the girl, and going to the corner of the +room produced with much pride Marishka's suitcase. "His Excellency left +it for you this afternoon." + +The sight of water and a change of clothing did much to restore +Marishka's confidence and self-respect, and she opened the bag with +alacrity, bringing forth from its recesses soap, clean linen and a +washcloth. + +While Marishka ate and drank, the girl with the red hair crouched upon +her knees beside the suitcase, sniffed at its contents eagerly, and with +little cries of delight touched with her fingers the delicate articles +which it contained. + +"How pretty! How soft to the touch!" And then rather wistfully, "It is a +pity that one cannot get such things in Bosna-Seraj." + +"You like them?" asked Marishka, reveling in the delight of being free +from the dust of her journey. + +"Oh, they are so beautiful!" + +For all her years, and she must have been at least as old as Marishka, +she had the undeveloped mind of a child. + +"You, too, are beautiful," she sighed enviously, "so white, your skin is +so clear. Your hair is so soft." And then as an afterthought, "But I +think it would look just as pretty if it were red." + +Marishka laughed. + +"What is your name, my dear?" she asked. + +"I am called Yeva--they say after the first woman who was born." + +"Eve--of course. It becomes you well." + +"You think so. Was she very beautiful?" + +"Yes--the mother of all women." + +"The ugly ones?" + +"Yes. We cannot all be beautiful." + +"It must be dreadful to be old and ugly like Zubeydeh." + +As Marishka brought out brush and comb and a towel, Yeva ran quickly and +procured a mirror--a small cheap affair with tawdry tinsel ornaments. + +"You will let me brush your hair, Fräulein. It will be a great +privilege." + +"Of course, child--if you care to." + +And while Yeva combed and brushed, Marishka questioned and she answered. +The house in which she lived was near the Sirokac Tor. Her lord and +master was of the Begs of Rataj, once the rulers of a province in +Bosnia, where his father's fathers had lived, but now shorn of his +tithes and a dealer in rugs. He was an old man, yes, but he was good to +her, giving her much to eat and drink, and many clothes. She must ask +him to get some of these pretty soft undergarments from Vienna. And the +Excellency. She had seen him twice, some months before through the +_dutap_, when he had conversed with the Effendi in the adjoining room. +And was the beautiful Fräulein in love with the Excellency? + +Marishka answered her in some sort, listening to the girl's chatter, +meanwhile thinking deeply of the plan that had come into her mind. +Scraps of suggestion that she had gleaned from her talks with Goritz +gave her at least a hope that she might be successful in reaching Hugh +Renwick by messenger. "The English always go to the Europa," he had +said. There, if Hugh Renwick had come to Sarajevo, was the place where a +note would find him. And so, the hair brushing having been successfully +accomplished, she asked the girl if there was someone by whom she could +secretly send a note. + +A message! To an Excellency--a Herr Hauptmann--or perhaps a +General--yes. She was sure that it could be managed. She herself perhaps +could take it. Had not the Effendi told her that the Fräulein was to +want for nothing? And greatly excited at the thought of intrigue, +brought a tabourette which she placed before Marishka, then found paper, +ink and envelopes and squatted upon a pillow, watching eagerly over +Marishka's shoulder. But the girl's scrutiny troubled Marishka. Was she +in the confidence of Captain Goritz? And if not, could she be persuaded +to hold her tongue? Instead of writing at once, Marishka relinquished +the pen and took Yeva's hand. + +"It is very necessary for my peace and happiness that the contents of +this note should be only seen by the person to whom it is delivered----" + +"Ah, Fräulein, it shall be as you say. By Allah, I swear----" + +"Do you care enough? I will give you anything I possess if you will keep +my secret." + +"Ah!" her eyes were downcast and her tone was pained. "That the Fräulein +should not believe in my friendship----" + +"But I _do_ believe in it----" + +"Still," broke in Yeva smiling craftily, "I should very much like to +have something by which to remember the Fräulein--the pink sleeping +garment which is so sweetly smelling and soft to the touch." + +"It is yours, Yeva. See," and Marishka took it from the valise, "I give +it to you." + +The girl gurgled delightedly, and crooned and kissed the garment like a +child with a new doll. She was for trying it on at once and, thus for +the moment relieved of Yeva's scrutiny, Marishka bent over the +tabourette, pen in hand. But before she wrote she called Yeva again. + +"There is no entrance to this house except by the garden, Yeva?" she +asked. + +"Oh, yes, to the _selamlik_, the _mabein_ door and this----" + +She walked to the side of the room and thrusting aside a heavy +Kis-Kelim, showed Marishka a door cunningly concealed in an angle of the +wall. + +"That leads--where?" Marishka asked. + +"To a small court of the next house." + +"And the street below?" + +Yeva nodded and renewed the inspection of her new present in the mirror, +so Marishka wrote: + + HUGH, + + I am a prisoner in a house near the Sirokac Tor beyond the + Carsija--a house with a small garden the gate of which has a blue + door. I am treated with every courtesy, but I am frightened. Come + tonight at twelve to the small court at the left of the house and + knock twice upon the door. I will come to you. Forgive me. + + MARISHKA. + +While Yeva was scrutinizing her new adornment in the small mirror +Marishka reread the note. She did not wish to alarm her lover unduly, +for perhaps after all there were no need for grave alarm. + +The intentions of Captain Goritz were perhaps of the best, his given +word to liberate her, to free her from her promise and return her to her +friends, had been spoken with an air of sincerity, which under other +conditions might have been impressive. But some feminine instinct in her +still doubted--still doubted and feared him. And in spite of his many +kindnesses, his few moments of insensibility to her weariness and +distress there in the motor in the flight from Konopisht, and in the +railway carriage when he had spoken of Hugh Renwick's connection with +hated Serbia--these memories of their association lingered and +persisted. She feared him. The failure of their mission would perhaps +have made a difference; and the promise of a man whose whole existence +was a living lie, was but a slender reed to hang upon. + +She straightened abruptly and gazed before her in sudden dismay. Her +word of honor--as a Strahni! She was breaking her promise--had already +broken it. For she had pledged herself to Goritz--to go with him whither +he pleased, if he would enable her to save the life of Sophie Chotek. + +But he had failed! _But he had failed!_ She clutched at the sophistry +desperately. Goritz had failed. Under such conditions should she +consider her promise binding? It had been conditional. Liberty, there in +the street below, just at her elbow, and Hugh Renwick within reach! She +came to this conclusion with desperate speed, and quickly addressed and +sealed the envelope. + +Yeva, before the mirror, was wrapped in admiration of her new +possession. + +"Am I not beautiful in it, Fräulein?" she was asking as she twisted and +turned, examining herself at every angle. + +"Yes, Yeva," said Marishka quietly, "but it is not a garment in which +one goes out upon the street." + +"The street!" Yeva laughed deliciously. "I would make a sensation in +Bosna-Seraj, I can tell you, attired only in this and a _yashmak_." + +And then seeing the note lying upon the tabourette, she came running +with little childish footsteps. "Ah, you have sealed it! And you are not +going to let me see?" + +"It is nothing, Yeva." + +"But I thought----" peevishly. + +"How can you be interested in my little affairs?" + +"I hoped that he might come and I should see him through the _dutap_." + +"Perhaps he may!" said Marishka with an inspiration. "Could you be +trusted to keep this message a secret? To tell no one?" + +"I have already promised----" + +"Not even to Zubeydeh----?" + +"Of course not. Zubeydeh is old and ugly. She would not understand what +a young girl thinks about." + +"And can you go out without her knowing?" + +"By the private stairway. Of course. There is another door below, +locked, but I can procure a key." + +"Then I too----" Marishka paused and Yeva turned, reading her thoughts. + +"Ah, I understand. You wish to go to him. It is a pity, but it is +impossible." + +"Impossible! Why?" + +"I can do the Fräulein a favor, since she has been kind to me, but to +disobey the commands of my lord and master--I would call upon myself the +curses of Allah." + +Marishka pondered for a moment. "The Effendi desires that I remain +here?" she asked. + +"That is his command, Fräulein." + +"I see." + +If Marishka had had any doubts as to the intentions of Captain Goritz, +the Beg of Rataj had now removed them. How much or how little of what +the girl revealed had been born of innocence or how much of design, +Marishka could not know, but it hardly seemed possible that the child +could be meshed so deeply in this intrigue. Marishka felt sure that Yeva +had promised to deliver her note, because the situation amused and +interested her, as did her visitor, and because of the pink garment Yeva +was now so reluctantly laying aside. + +Marishka took another garment from the valise, a dainty drapery of silk +edged with fine lace, and held it up temptingly. + +"Yeva," she said. + +"Yes, Fräulein." + +"This, too, is very beautiful, do you not think so?" + +Yeva sighed wistfully. + +"Yes. It is very beautiful." + +"And would you care to have this too?" + +"Would I----? Oh, Fräulein! I cannot believe----" + +Yeva came forward with arms outstretched, brown fingers curling, but as +she was about to touch the garment Marishka swept it away and put it +behind her back. + +"I will give it to you----" + +"Yes----" + +"If you will take me out with you by the secret door to the Europa +Hotel." + +"Fräulein!" The girl stopped aghast and then slowly turned away. + +"You would have me disobey the commands of my lord and master?" she said +in an awed whisper. + +"I am asking only my rights," urged Marishka desperately. "I am an +Austrian with many friends. I have believed that I was a guest in this +house, welcome to come and to go as I choose. If the Effendi desires to +keep me against my will he runs a great risk of offending the government +of Austria and my friends." + +"As to that I do not know----" said Yeva plaintively. + +"It will do you no harm to be my friend." + +"I am your friend. But to disobey the command of one's lord and +master----" + +"It is worse to disobey the laws of Bosnia." + +"But what can I do?" asked the girl, helplessly weaving her fingers to +and fro. + +"You need do nothing but go out to deliver my message. Then you shall +appear to lock the door below, but the bolt shall not catch. That is +all. When you are gone I shall follow into the street." + +"And I shall not see you--and your lover through the _dutap_?" + +"You shall see us there--yonder. I promise you." + +"It is a terrible thing that you ask." + +"Yeva!" Marishka held the silk garment up before the childish gaze of +the girl. "Look, Yeva." + +It was enough. With a cry, Yeva seized the garment in both hands and +carried it to her lips, kissing it excitedly. + +"And if I do what you ask--you will never tell?" + +"Never." + +Marishka had won. It was with difficulty that she restrained her +companion from disrobing again and putting on the new garment, but at +last by dint of much persuasion she succeeded in getting Yeva to put on +her own garments, her head dress, veil and _yashmak_, and in a short +while they were both attired for the street. With a last look around the +room, a short vigil at the _dutap_ for sounds of watchful Zubeydeh, Yeva +timorously found the key of the lower door, pushed the hanging aside, +and with a last rapturous look at the draperies upon the dressing stand, +vanished into the darkness of the door. + +Marishka, her heart beating high with hope, quickly packed a few of her +belongings into a small package and followed. It was very dark upon the +narrow stair, but with a hand upon the wall to steady herself, she +slowly descended. Feeling for the steps with her feet, at last she +reached the floor below, and stepping cautiously forward came upon a +blank wall. She turned to the left and found her egress stopped--to the +right--yes, there was a door. She fingered for the latch and found it, +opening the door, which let in the daylight. But just as she was about +to step out, she started back in sudden consternation. Upon the step, +grim and forbidding, dressed in fez, white shirt, and wide breeches, +stood a man with folded arms facing her. He made no sign of greeting, +nor did he change his posture by so much as a millimeter, but she heard +his voice quite distinctly, though he spoke in a low tone. + +"You will be pleased to return at once." + +"But I----" It was the courage of desperation--short-lived, alas! + +"At once," the man repeated, unfolding his arms. "At once--or shall +I----" + +Marishka waited no more upon the order of her going but went at once, +finding her way up the dusty stairs, terrified, again a prey to the most +agonizing fears. + +Would Yeva find Hugh at the Hotel Europa? + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE LIGHTED WINDOWS + + +The night journey of Mr. Renwick to the Bosnian border with the man in +black was one long chapter of accidents and delays. But Herr Linke +commanded the situation. He had taken care not to return the +Englishman's weapon, and there was nothing for Renwick to do but sit in +silence by the side of the melancholy Colossus, and pray for an +opportunity which never came, for Linke had a watchful eye and sat in +the tonneau of the machine. Toward midnight they reached Vinkovcze, +where they had supper, and resumed their leisurely journey with a new +supply of petrol, which only seemed to increase the trouble in the +carburetor. It was at this time that an uncontrollable drowsiness fell +upon Renwick. He struggled against it but at last realized that in spite +of himself sleep was slowly overpowering him. As in a haze he saw the +huge figure of Linke beside him lean over, smiling, while a deep voice +which seemed to come from a distance rumbled calmly, + +"You are very sleepy, Herr Renwick?" + +Renwick dimly remembered muttering a curse. + +"You've drugged--cof----" + +Then Renwick slept. + +When he awoke it was broad daylight. The car was moving smoothly enough +along a good road between two mountains, and at the side of the road a +river flowed in the direction from which the machine had come. + +Renwick felt light-headed and rather ill, and it was some moments before +he became conscious of the figure beside him, while he struggled upright +and found his speech. + +"Where are we?" he asked. + +"Near Duboj, Herr Renwick, where we shall presently eat our supper----" + +"Supper!" + +"Yes. You have slept the clock around----" + +"Ah, I remember," and he turned upon the man with a renewed and quite +futile anger. "You drugged me, you----" + +"Softly, my friend," the big man broke in soothingly. "You can do no +good by defaming me." + +Renwick shrugged. "You'll pay the score at settling time, nevertheless." + +"Perhaps. In the meanwhile I beg you to consider that you are but fifty +kilometers from your destination. Since we passed the Save we have +proceeded with greater rapidity." + +But Renwick had sunk into a sullen silence. The huge creature, whom he +had held in such light esteem, had made a fool of him, had reduced him +to the impotence of a child. As his mind cleared, the object of the +man's actions became more involved. Whatever he was, he had succeeded in +preventing Renwick from reaching Sarajevo before the Archduke's party +should arrive, but why he should wish to drug a man who was meeting his +wishes and giving no trouble was more than Renwick could answer. Still +puzzled, he glanced at his watch. It was now five o'clock. The sight of +the dial startled him. Had Marishka succeeded in reaching the Duchess or +had----? Forgetting his quarrel with Linke in the new interest in +portending events, he questioned, + +"You have heard from Sarajevo?" + +"By wire at Yranduk," said Linke, nodding gravely. "The Archduke Franz +and the Duchess of Hohenburg were assassinated this morning in the +streets of Sarajevo." + +Renwick's knowledge of the plot and the difficulties which surrounded +his and Marishka's efforts to prevent its consummation had convinced him +that the attempt would at least be made, but Herr Linke's bold statement +of the fact shocked him none the less. + +"They are dead?" + +"Both," said Linke. "They died before reaching the Landes hospital." + +"Who----" Renwick paused, aware that names meant nothing. + +"A Serbian student, named Prinzep." + +The Englishman said nothing more, for he was again thinking of Marishka. +She had failed! Had she arrived too late or had her visit to Sarajevo +been prevented? And if so where was she now? There was nothing for it +but to go on to the Europa Hotel and inquire for the note that she would +leave there. In a somewhat desperate mood, he followed Herr Linke into +the small hotel at Duboj, for he knew that he could not go on without +food, having eaten nothing since the day before. As he hesitated, the +_goulash_ upon the dish before him, Linke smiled. + +"You need have no further fear, Herr Renwick," he said calmly. "We are +now friends, engaged upon precisely the same service." + +"Indeed! And that----?" + +"To find the Countess Stranhni at the earliest possible moment." + +"And after that?" + +"To restore her to her friends." + +"You know where she is?" + +"No. But I can find her." + +It entered Renwick's head at the moment to tell the fellow of the note +in his pocket, but the events of the night had made him careful. + +"Who are you?" he asked again. + +But the man evaded. + +"I beg that you will eat, Herr Renwick," he said coolly. "We have no +time to spare." + +And so at last, when Herr Linke ponderously helped himself and the +Hungarian chauffeur from the dish, Renwick followed his lead and ate. + +In less than half an hour they were again upon their way, reaching the +hills above the Bosnian capital just before nightfall. Here, for some +reason, the machine again halted with a loud explosion of back-fire and +a prodigious amount of smoke. The chauffeur got out, looked into the +hood and straightened, gesticulating wildly. Herr Linke followed, and a +conversation ensued, the import of which was lost upon the Englishman. +But when it was finished, Linke turned to Renwick and explained that the +machinery was injured beyond repair and that the car could go no +further. Two Bosnian policemen who had appeared in the road before them, +now rode up and made inquiries. Renwick shrugged and was about to walk +away with the intention of finishing his journey afoot, when the +chauffeur came forward and caught him by the arm, shouting something in +an excited and angry voice, appealing to the men on horseback and +pointing alternately at the Englishman and at the injured machine. The +Bosnians got down and listened while one of them, who seemed to +understand, addressed Renwick in German. + +"This man says that you engaged to pay for any breakages to the machine, +and that you have not paid him all that you owe." + +"He lies. I paid him at Ujvidek. Herr Linke here will bear me +witness----" As he turned to address his traveling companion, he paused +in amazement, for without a word, or a sound, Herr Linke had suddenly +vanished into space. + +But the Hungarian was screaming again, and what he said must have +impressed the policeman who had spoken to him, for he turned to Renwick, +scratching his head dubiously, and suggested that the matter be further +discussed before a magistrate in the city below. Renwick agreed, gave +the policeman his card with the word that he would find him at the +Europa Hotel and leaving his suitcase in the car as security for his +appearance when summoned went hurriedly down the hills toward the city. +The colloquy had occupied some moments, but when Renwick came to a +straight reach of road which led toward the tobacco factory buildings he +was surprised to find that Herr Linke was nowhere in sight. The man was +an enigma, a curious mixture of desperado and buffoon, but his sudden +disappearance without a word of thanks, apology or explanation, gave +Renwick something to puzzle over as he made his way to the bridge. Its +possible significance escaped him until he had reached the river, when, +a thought suddenly occurring to him, he put his hand into the breast +pocket of his coat, feeling for the note from Marishka. It was gone! He +hunted, feverishly, one pocket after another, and was on the point of +going back for a search of the machine when the truth suddenly dawned. +Herr Linke had taken it from him, last night when he slept--had drugged +him that he might get it without commotion! In an illuminating flash he +remembered the sharp look in the man's eyes yesterday morning in the +train from Budapest when Renwick had taken the note from his pocket. +Linke! He hurried his footsteps, bewailing his own simplicity and +wondering what this new phase of Herr Linke's activities might signify. +Renwick had assumed that the Austrian was an agent of Herr Windt, who +unable to follow him on to Sarajevo had guessed the train upon which he +had left and had sent this man up from Budapest to get into his +carriage. But his most recent accomplishment seemed to leave this +presumption open to doubt. If Herr Linke had stolen the letter in the +belief that it contained secret information which would be of value to +Austrian secret service officials, the mere reading of it would have +convinced him of its innocence in so far as Marishka was concerned. And +if a forgery! Perhaps something in the message which Renwick had +overlooked would put him upon the track of the fellow of the green +limousine. He went along the river bank from the bridge toward the +hotel, the location of which was familiar to him, hurrying his pace. At +any rate the note was gone and with it the mysterious Linke, facts which +clearly indicated one purpose. Herr Linke was bent upon intercepting any +message which might come to the Hotel Europa for the Englishman. And +given that to be his purpose, what was his intention with regard to the +Countess Strahni? + +Still puzzling over the mysteries, which gained in elusiveness as he +hurried into Franz Josef Street, he reached the hotel, which was near +the Carsija, and made hurried inquiries of the Turkish porter, who +smiled and professed ignorance, but said to the Excellency that he would +diligently inquire, bringing Renwick at last to the major-domo, who +informed him that a note bearing the name of Herr Renwick had been left +at the hotel an hour before, but that not twenty minutes ago, Herr +Renwick had called and claimed it. + +"That is not possible," said Renwick hotly, "since I am Herr Renwick." + +The major-domo shrugged and bowed obsequiously. It was most unfortunate, +he said, but of course as Excellency must know, the Hotel Europa was not +a postoffice and could not be held responsible for the proper delivery +of letters when it knew nothing of the identity of those to whom they +were addressed. + +Renwick paused a moment, and then said quickly, "To whom was the note +delivered? You saw?" + +"Yes, Excellency. The person who said he was Herr Renwick was tall, +attired in black clothing, and carried an umbrella." + +"Who brought the note?" + +"As to that--I do not know." + +The major-domo moved majestically away, but the Turkish porter who stood +listening, broke in. + +"If your Excellency will permit. It was I who received the note, late +this afternoon. It was brought by a woman in a _yashmak_--a Turkish +woman. Of course I could not know her, since one looks with averted eyes +upon the women of Islam, but she would have come from the Turkish +quarter of the town--from beyond the Carsija--perhaps. I do not know. I +can say no more." + +Renwick paused irresolutely and giving the man a fee, went out of the +hotel into the street, mingling with the crowds upon Franz Josef Street, +where but a few hours before on a nearby corner, the Archduke and +Duchess had met their deaths. Deciding that at all hazards he must +remain inconspicuous while he thought out a plan, he crossed the river +and went into a small park, where he sank wearily into a bench and +buried himself in new speculations. + +A pipe and tobacco soothed, if they failed to stimulate his faculties. +He had reached an _impasse_. What if the Enigma in black were playing +some deep game of his own with regard to Marishka? What if, after all, +he was no agent of Herr Windt, but represented perhaps the military +party of Austria, which had as deep an interest in Marishka's silence as +had the Wilhelmstrasse? And yet such a theory was hardly plausible, for +if Linke were interested in Marishka's silence he would also be +interested in Renwick's, and this being the case, the easiest way out of +the business would have been to have dropped Renwick into some deep pool +of the Save or the Bosna while he slept. Herr Linke puzzled Renwick, but +reason informed him that the unknown limousine chap was the greater +menace both to Marishka and himself. That he held Renwick's life cheaply +was indicated by the frequent attempts upon it in Vienna and in Bohemia +and the mere fact that he had twice failed was no sign that a third +attempt might not be successful. The most unfavorable phase of the +situation was that the German agent knew Renwick by sight, and would +have every opportunity of following him to some secluded spot--shooting +him in the back and escaping into a nearby street before the excitement +subsided. What did the German agent look like? He might pass the fellow, +elbow to elbow, and the Englishman would not know him. Renwick had no +fear of meeting the man on even terms, but the thought of being stabbed +in the back or shot at by any casual passer-by was disturbing to his +morale. Every innocent bush, every tree was an enemy. What did the green +limousine chap look like? A Prussian? With a bulky nose, small mustache, +and no back to his head? Or was he small, clean shaven, and ferret-like? +How would he be dressed? In mufti? Or in some favoring disguise which +might better lend itself to his purposes? + +Renwick rose suddenly and, with a careful glance about him, made slowly +for the Lateimer Bridge, sure at least, that he had not been followed, +and convinced that he must equalize the hazards between this German and +himself by playing the game according to the standards of the +Wilhelmstrasse. So he found his way carefully into the Carsija, and +found a stall where he managed to buy a native Bosnian costume,--fez, +white shirt, short jacket, wide trousers fitting close below the knee, +sash and slippers. His automatic having been taken by the prudent Linke, +he was unarmed, but managed to find a revolver of American make and +cartridges which fitted it. With his newly acquired purchases he +returned in the darkness to the other bank of the river, where he found +a small inn in the Bistrick quarter. + +He concealed ten one hundred _kroner_ notes in the lining at the belt of +the trousers, and pinned it securely. The remainder of his money, a few +fifty crown notes and coins, he put in his pockets with his watch and +other valuables, and changed his clothing. When he had finished dressing +he examined himself in a mirror. His face was tanned by exposure, and +the dust of the journey which he retained gave him a soiled appearance +sufficiently Oriental. He was now Stefan Thomasevic, a seller of sheep +and goats, which he had brought to the market. He left his English +clothing in a bundle in the care of the innkeeper and advising the man +that he would return later in the night or at least upon the morrow, +went forth across the river again, with a sense of greater security from +the observations of any who meant mischief to Hugh Renwick. If he did +not know what the green limousine chap looked like, the limousine chap +at least could not know him. + +As he slouched through the alleys of the Carsija, reassured as to the +completeness of his disguise, he smoked a native cigarette, and asked +many questions among the keepers of the stalls, squatting cross-legged +with them upon the ground and learning much of all matters save of the +one with which he was most concerned. + +"Few but Moslem people had passed through the Carsija upon this day," +they said, "for the terrible happenings of the morning had kept the +Austrian Excellencies in their own part of the town and Islam--Islam in +time of trouble was always wise to find its company among its own +people." + +Renwick's task seemed hopeless, but he did not despair, leaving the +bazaar at last, and climbing the hill to the old town beyond the +Bastion. Here he again questioned every passer-by. "Had the Effendi seen +a tall Excellency dressed in black who carried an umbrella? He, Stefan +Thomasevic, had sold the Excellency some sheep and goats, but the +Excellency had not yet paid all of that which he owed. It was not a +matter about which to laugh. If the Excellency did not soon appear in +the Carsija, it was a matter for the police." + +But no one could help him. Herr Linke was moving with discretion, for it +was probable that if such a creature had strolled through the Carsija, +there would be a dozen idlers who would have observed and noted the +fact. Renwick's chief hopes were crumbling. And yet, if Linke suspected +that the note which had been sent to the Hotel Europa was a bait, he +would of course act with great caution. It was nearly midnight when, +weary and disappointed, Renwick returned from the Kastele quarter in the +direction of the Carsija. The houses were dark save for a glimmer of +light in an upper window here and there, but the moon had come out, and +Renwick, moving silently along in the shadow of walls and houses, gazed +about him with the eagerness of despair. For a while he stopped in the +angle of a wall, and listened to the sounds of the city below him, the +rush of the river below the Bastion, the motor and bell of the electric +tram-car, the whistle of a freight locomotive at the further end of the +town--strident noises brought from the West to break the drowsy murmur +of the Orient, but not a sight nor a sound which could give him a clew +as to the whereabouts of Linke or Countess Marishka. The inaction was +maddening. In his belt the American revolver hung its futile weight. Had +it not been for Linke, he might have had a chance at least to follow the +instructions of the note of the Hotel Europa to some conclusion whether +for good or ill--it did not matter. If Marishka herself had written +it!... She would be awaiting him now--and he could not come to +her.... In his stead--Linke the gigantic, the mellifluous.... + +Renwick turned slowly into a side street, and crouched in the dark angle +of a wall, for a motor car was coming toward him. Motors in the region +of Franz Josef Street and the river were not uncommon, but as a rule +they were seldom to be seen in the hilly region near the Bastion. From +his dark vantage point, Renwick saw the car approach and pass him, +quietly coasting, and stop a short distance below the angle of the +street from which he had emerged. He caught a glimpse of the profile of +the chauffeur, and noted the condition of the car. He judged that it had +come a long journey, for Sarajevo and the part of Bosnia through which +his own machine had traveled, had suffered much from the drought. This +machine was covered with dust, of course, but it was also literally +spattered with mud. The Englishman watched the machine for a while, but +the chauffeur having silenced the engine, remained motionless, in deep +shadow, waiting. Of course belated visitors from the European section of +the city to the Kastele were a possibility, but the quietness with which +the chauffeur had approached, and the eager way in which he now leaned +forward in his seat watching the _meshrebiya_ windows of a house at some +distance, excited Renwick's curiosity. Why was the man there? Who was he +watching in the house of the lighted window? Had this mystery anything +in common with his own? Renwick watched the windows too. A light burned +dimly within, and once he thought a shadow passed. The window and the +chauffeur interested him, but he was too far away to distinguish the +house clearly, and so, moving stealthily, he stole quietly up the hill +to a cross street, and turning to the left, in the shadow of a wall, +walked rapidly down to a small alley which he took at random, at the end +of which he paused for observation. The house with the _meshrebiya_ +windows was now just below where he stood, but opposite him was an +ancient stone wall, and in its center was a blue door. There were trees +within the enclosure, and he heard the sound of falling water. He found +a dark doorway and crouched silently, watching. + +A _cul-de-sac_? Perhaps. Disappointment and chagrin had done their worst +to him. He would wait see what was to happen, and if nothing came of the +venture he would merely have his labor for his pains. He noted above the +wall that there were windows of the house which overlooked the garden. +In one of them, in the room which the chauffeur had been observing, the +light still dimly burned, but he saw no shadows. Peering out from the +angle of the alleyway, he thought he had discovered a doorway or court +between the house he was watching and the one below it toward the +Carsija, and in a moment fancied that he could distinguish the sound of +whispering voices, from that direction; but the shadow of a mosque +nearby threw its shadow upon this part of the street, and he could see +nothing clearly. If there were men there, they were keeping in the +shadow of the wall around the turn of the street, beyond the range of +Renwick's vision, but the night breeze which carried the sound of the +whispers also wafted the odor of a native cigarette. The smell of it +made Renwick wish to smoke, for the suspense and inaction were telling +upon him, but he resisted the impulse, sinking lower into the shadow, +and awaiting events. + +Minutes passed--hours they seemed to the waiting Renwick--and then came +the deep boom of a bell, which echoing down the silent streets, seemed +just at Renwick's elbow--another--another--until he counted twelve, of +the belfry of the cathedral announcing midnight. + +He waited, thinking deeply. The machine which had come a long journey? +The lighted windows which the chauffeur watched? The whisper of voices +from the street below him? There was mystery here. He crouched lower and +watched the dark shadow of the arch below the house. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE BEG OF RATAJ + + +When Marishka reached the top of the stairs, entered the Harim, gazing +terrified into the darkness from which she had emerged, she pushed aside +the Kis-Kelim and listening fearfully for sounds of footsteps below, +then closed the door, turned the key, and put her back against it, +viewing with a new vision the interior which a while ago had seemed so +friendly. Without Yeva who had given its disorder a personality, the +room seemed alien, hostile and madly chaotic. For the first time since +the reassurances of Captain Goritz in the green limousine as to her +safety, she had a definite sense of personal danger. She was not +timorous by nature, and the hope of success in her mission of atonement +had given her the courage for the venture. She realized now that the +will which had kept her buoyant through two arduous days and nights had +suddenly forsaken her and left her supine, without hope or initiative. +The actions of the man at the doorway below had frightened her. He had +been so uncompromising in his ugliness. The shock of her awakening had +been rudely unexpected, and had bewildered her with its brutal +significance. She was a prisoner in this Turkish house, in an obscure +quarter of a half Oriental town, and night was imminent, a night which +seemed to possess untold possibilities for evil. What was to happen? Why +had not Captain Goritz returned? Enemy though she now knew him to be, +even Goritz was a refuge in this perilous situation. And yet it seemed +certain that the man at the foot of the stairs was acting under his +orders or under the orders of another who was accountable to him. + +Weakness overpowered her and she threw herself on the pile of cushions +in the window and buried her face in her hands, as if by blinding +herself to the imminent facts of her surroundings she could free her +spirit of the terrors which were overtaking it. As in her dream, her +faculties were elusive, thoughts and half-thoughts conflicting and +interchangeable. The rush and the roar of the hurrying motor car, the +kaleidoscope of the maddened crowd, the shots, the sunlight and then the +spangled darkness with the sound of voices. She started upright in her +cushions, her face pallid and drawn, her thoughts now focusing with +sudden definiteness. The voices! They were no dream--no more a dream +than the other horrors that encompassed her. She tried to remember what +they had said. "Ten thousand _kroner_--the goose that lays the golden +egg----" What did the phrases mean? Another--"To be kept in seclusion, +of course, but you will accede to all her wishes." The meaning of the +voices became clearer, at every moment. "Should she care to write, you +will send a message!" Marishka put her hand to her lips as though to +stifle a cry, and then sank back with a gasp of comprehension. Goritz! +He had expected her to send a message, and had prepared for its +delivery. But why? How could he have known!... Slowly the meaning of it +all came to her. His certainty and insistence as to Hugh Renwick's +pursuit--the belief that Renwick would go at once to the Hotel Europa! +The power of suggestion! And she had followed it blindly--unawares, +leading Hugh Renwick into this deadly trap which Goritz had laid. She +read the plan now in all its insidious perfection. There was something +malign--hypnotic--in an influence which could so easily compel +compliance. And Hugh? She had written him to come here--to the door in +the court below, where men would be waiting--perhaps to take his life. +It was too horrible! + +Nature mercifully intervened. The strain of long days and nights of +anguish had reached the limit of her endurance, and her nerves, too, +long under tension, suddenly rebelled. She sank helplessly upon the +floor, sobs racking her body from head to foot. She did not know how +long she lay there, but when she raised her head it was already growing +dark in the room, like the shadows that were stealing about her heart. +Whichever way she turned, groping mentally for a thought which would +lead her toward a light, disorder reigned, danger threatened. If there +was a man at the foot of the stairs to prevent her escape, there would +be others beneath the windows and at the door into the garden. + +Yeva! She clung to the hope of Yeva's sincerity--the last thing left to +her. It was difficult for her to believe that this child with the body +of a woman could be guilty of complicity in any plot. She might have +obeyed instructions to be the bearer of any note that Marishka might +write--indeed her childish prattle as to the wishes of her lord and +master verified the voices of Marishka's dream, and suggested that +Marishka should be permitted to do as she chose--so that Yeva had +offered, without fear of consequences, to deliver Marishka's note at the +hotel. She had even consented to leave the lower door open that Marishka +might escape and follow her. No woman of the world could have acted a +part as Yeva had played it. If the girl had known of the guardian of the +lower door, her skill in dissimulation was consummate--so much out of +keeping with the simplicity of her mind as to be entirely incredible. +Yeva was innocent, a mere tool in the hands of Captain Goritz, who +disposed all the pawns in his command to play his game. Yeva had been +permitted to depart without hindrance. Would Marishka's note reach its +destination? Or would it be intercepted and its message read by Captain +Goritz? His cunning had amazed her but it frightened her now. A ruse so +carefully planned could have for its object nothing less than the +obliteration of Hugh Renwick, as a prisoner or something worse--perhaps +Death! She shuddered. She, Marishka, would unwittingly have caused it! +She had asked him to come at midnight and knock upon the door in the +court below and she knew enough of Hugh to be sure that if he received +the message, no matter how great the danger to himself, he would come. +The note! If she could recall it! She would suffer whatever Goritz had +in store for her, if Hugh could only be spared. She had already done him +hurt enough--without the chance of this last most dreadful sacrifice in +her behalf--in vain. He would come to her and she must wait--without the +power to warn him, and perhaps see him killed before her very eyes. + +Her thoughts made her desperate--and the idea of another attempt to +escape came into her head. If she could only reach the street, she could +run--and it would be a better race with her pursuer than she had given +Hugh in the rose gardens of the Archduke! She made the attempt, quietly +opening the door by which she had entered the room and passing on +tip-toe down the corridor to the door with the _dutap_. She drew aside +the curtain which covered it and noiselessly turned the knob. As she +peered out she found herself staring straight into the eyes of Zubeydeh. +The woman's look was cold but full of understanding. + +"Does the Fräulein wish anything?" she asked without the slightest +change of expression. Her voice was colorless, like the speech which +might be expected from a graven image. + +"I--I was hungry," stammered Marishka helplessly. "I--I am sorry to +bother you." + +"If you will return to the room within, I will bring food at once," she +said stolidly. And so Marishka, once more balked in her enterprise, went +back to the Harim. Strong as she was, armed anew with the sudden +strength of desperation, she knew that even if she could use her +strength she was no match for this massive creature who, in the +_selamlik_ nearby, perhaps had men within call. She went to the windows +and peered out into the street. There was no one in sight, except a tall +man in black who carried an umbrella. She watched him a moment through +the carved screen, but he went up the street and disappeared around a +corner. The garden seemed to be deserted. Would the gate to the street +be locked? She made an effort to move the lattice of _meshrebiya_, but +it was nailed fast to the main wood work of the house. Her case was +hopeless. There was nothing to do but wait upon the clemency--the mercy +of Captain Goritz. A new idea of her captor was being born in her, of a +creature who differed from the courteous German official of Vienna and +Agram. His eyes haunted her, the dark eyes set just a little obliquely +in his head, a racial peculiarity which she had not been able to +identify. She knew now. They were Oriental, like Zubeydeh's, like those +of the man at the door below, alien, hostile and cruel. And yet it was +curious how the smile in them had disarmed her and she remembered, with +a futile glow of returning hope, that she had not feared him, that she +had even had the temerity to defy him. But her courage had ebbed--she +could not have defied him now and in the darkness while she waited for +Yeva she feared him--feared him. + +It seemed strange that Yeva had not returned. She had been gone an hour +or more and the Hotel Europa could not be a great distance away. As the +moments passed she gave up the other hope of persuading the girl, when +she returned, to go back at once to the hotel and reclaim the note, +before Hugh could get it. Could anything have happened to her? Marishka +wanted her--the sound of a voice, the touch of a feminine hand, her airs +and graces--the foibles of a child perhaps, but intensely virile in +their childishness and intensely human. It seemed that even Yeva was to +be denied to her. + +For when Zubeydeh brought lights and food the woman made no comment upon +the absence of the girl--a confirmation of Marishka's suspicions that +Zubeydeh was aware of the conspiracy and what was to come of it. But as +Marishka made a pretense of eating what the woman had brought, she +summoned courage to inquire. + +"Yeva went out into the city by the passage to the street. She has not +yet returned?" + +"I do not know," she said in her heavy colorless voice. + +The woman lied. Marishka knew it by the shifting glance of her eye. + +"Will you kindly inform His Excellency--I need mention no names--that I +should be very glad if he would meet me at his convenience----" + +"Excellency is not here," said the woman. + +"Well, when he comes, I should be grateful if you will deliver my +message." + +"I will tell him." + +Nothing more. Her manner was not discourteous, but her voice was +forbidding. She had been given instructions to keep silence. And just +before leaving the room, a further confirmation of Marishka's conviction +that Yeva was at that very moment in another part of the house, Zubeydeh +gathered up the two pieces of drapery which Marishka had given the girl, +and carried them out of the room. + +The hours lengthened while Marishka sat trying to gather the remnants of +her courage to face Captain Goritz when he should come to her. The +Turkish lamp which hung from the ceiling burned dimly, casting grotesque +shadows about the room, flickering in patches of tawdry light upon the +gilt of the embroidered hangings, and touching the blades of the ancient +weapons which decorated the wall about the couch, scimitars, swords, +daggers and spears! Marishka got up and examined them more closely, +curiously, as though she had not seen them before. She shuddered a +little as she plucked from its sheath a small dagger with a bronzed +handle, and found that its blade was very sharp and bright. She reached +up to put it back, but as she did so there was a sound from the room +beyond the passage, and a knock upon the door. So she slipped the weapon +into the waistband of her skirt, beneath her blouse, and went to her +seat among the pillows. In a moment the knock was repeated, and in reply +to her call, the door opened and she heard footsteps along the corridor. + +The man who entered was tall and slender, with a hooked nose, heavy +brows, and a beard streaked with white. He wore the turban and bright +green belt which denoted the Moslem, and the fingers with which he +touched brow, lips, and heart in salutation were covered with rings. + +"_Saläm 'alaikum_," he muttered, bowing. + +Marishka knew no reply to this and made none, waiting in some +trepidation for him to proceed. He was a villainous looking creature, +but comported himself with an air of some dignity. In a moment he spoke +again in excellent German. + +"I hope that Excellency has been able to make herself quite comfortable +in my poor house." + +As he spoke, Marishka remembered that this was one of the voices of her +dreams, the gruff voice which talked with Goritz. + +Something was required of her in reply, and so, with an effort, + +"Yeva has been very kind, Effendi," she managed. + +"Yes. Allah has been good to me. Yeva has a heart of gold." + +"You are the Beg of Rataj?" Marishka asked. + +He salaamed again. + +"Will you tell me, then, what has become of Herr Hauptmann Goritz?" + +The man's face wore a sudden crafty look of incomprehension. + +"Goritz, Excellency?" he asked coolly. "There is no one of that name in +my acquaintance." + +Marishka accepted the rebuke and ventured timidly, "I mean, the--the +Excellency--who brought me here----" + +"Ah! Lieutenant von Arnstorf! He has gone, I think, upon a journey," +said the Beg. + +Marishka was silent a moment, thinking. + +"That is strange. It is very necessary that I should see him." + +The man smiled up at the lamp above his head, revealing a void where +teeth should have been. + +"I need not say that he has directed that everything possible shall be +done for your comfort--and it is my pleasure to obey Excellency's +orders, in so far as my poor house can afford. And even were these not +Excellency's instructions," he added with a grin, "it is an honor for +the house of Rataj to have beneath its roof one so noble and so +beautiful." + +A wave of nerves swept over Marishka for the admiration in his glance +was unmistakable, but she knew that any possible chance of safety for +Hugh--for herself--lay in the favor of this man. And so with a shudder +of repugnance which she concealed with difficulty, she motioned to him +to be seated. His small eyes appraised her eagerly for a moment, and +then he sank upon a cushion near her, and without asking permission, +took out a cigarette. + +"I--I shall not forget your kindness, Effendi," said Marishka, +struggling for her composure. "Already Yeva and I are good friends." + +"Ah, that is fortunate, for it was upon the question of the future of +Yeva that I have come to talk with you." + +"In what may I serve you, Effendi?" + +He sighed deeply. + +"Times change, Excellency. In the days gone by, the Begs of Rataj were +reckoned among the rulers of Bosnia, high in the counsels of the +Janissaries, feudal lords of great domains. But I, alas! the last of the +Begs of Rataj, whose father even held the sway of a king, have been +deprived of my tithes, and reduced to the low condition of a merchant in +rugs, a dealer in antiquities, dependent upon the good will of tourists +from the West, reduced perhaps one day to sit in a stall in the Carsija. +It is not so much that I am no longer rich, but it is my pride, the +pride of race which suffers under misfortune." + +Whither was the man leading? Much as she distrusted him, her curiosity +was aroused, and she listened, watching him intently. + +"You will perhaps understand," he continued gravely, "that all this is +very hard upon Yeva, the star of my heart, with whom Allah has blessed +me. The West has flowed in upon the East at Bosna-Seraj, and engulfed +it. We are no more a simple Moslem city with the tastes of our fathers; +and our women are no more satisfied to remain as they were, childish, +ignorant, and unlettered. The spell of the Occident is upon the land. +Vienna, Berlin, Paris, have come to Bosna-Seraj. Our women sigh for the +things which are beyond the mountains. The peace of the home is invaded +and our women are unhappy, because their lords and masters have no money +to procure for them the things that they wish." + +Money! Thank God! This man could be bought! + +"And Yeva?" Marishka asked, trembling in fear for the new hope that had +risen. + +"It is the same with her as with the others, Excellency," he shrugged +despairingly. "She is but a child. I have been foolishly liberal with +her--as liberal as my poor means allowed, and she has come to know the +value of money--the dross for which men perjure their souls, and die if +need be. Yeva, alas! wishes jewels, the pretty clothing of the women of +fashion. And I, as I have related, being a mere dealer in rugs, +Excellency, have not been able to give them to her. It has made +unhappiness come into my household; it has made me, the Beg of Rataj, +hereditary ruler of thousands, ashamed to raise my head or my voice in +her presence--I, Excellency, her lord and master!" + +He wagged his head to and fro with an air which might have been comical, +had not Marishka's need been so desperate. But she read him easily, a +vile, blackmailing rogue who held no allegiance higher than what he got +from it--a man who, for all his fine flow of talk, could be dangerous as +well as unscrupulous. But Marishka met him fairly. + +"I have taken a fancy to Yeva, Effendi," she said quietly. "She will +tell you perhaps that I have already given her several trifles which she +fancied. Perhaps I can do something to solve your problems. In my own +country I am considered wealthy and I can be generous with those who +treat me with kindness." + +"Ah!" The Effendi's eyes sparkled hungrily. The Austrian countess was no +fool. She had already begun to understand him. + +"To treat Her Excellency with kindness! And could I do anything else? My +house, poor as it is----" + +"Effendi," Marishka cut in boldly, "let us waste no words. I am a +prisoner in your house, at the instance of Captain--of Herr Lieutenant +von Arnstorf----" + +"A prisoner? Has not the Excellency----?" + +"One moment. I am not aware how much you know of the political situation +which has brought me to Bosna-Seraj, but I do know that I am confined +here against my will--a prisoner in a house within the realms of my own +country. Of course you know that I have sought to escape, that I have +written to a friend who will do what he can to liberate me." + +"Excellency, I beg of you----" + +"Please let me finish. For political reasons, the fact of my presence +here and my mission should be kept a secret. My friends, therefore, +would not wish to call upon General Potiorek, the governor, for soldiers +or police, if my liberty can be secured quietly--without commotion. I am +willing to meet you upon any reasonable grounds." + +Marishka paused, for the man had risen and was pacing the floor slowly. + +"Ah, Excellency, I, too, will waste no further speech, for I see that +you are a woman of the world, and I, Beg of Rataj, am only a seller of +rugs. But I am placed in a difficult position. It has pained me deeply +to see you constrained to stay in my poor house against your will. And +yet, what would you? His Excellency has done me many favors, and +gratitude is one of the strongest traits in a nature which suffers much +misuse. I do not know anything of politics, or of the controversy +between you, and I have simply obeyed the dictates of my heart in giving +his Excellency some proof--some return of his kindnesses to me. But +since I have seen you, heard your voice, felt the distinction of your +presence in my poor house, I am torn between my emotions--of gratitude +and of pity." + +"How much do you want?" said Marishka quietly. + +"Excellency, the brutality of the words!" + +"I mean them. How much?" + +The man's keen eyes appraised her quickly and then looked away, but he +sank upon his cushion again, wagging his head and breathing a deep sigh +to measure his humiliation. + +"I am but a poor man, Excellency," he sighed again. + +Upon Marishka's wrist was a bracelet set with diamonds. She slipped it +off quickly and handed it to him. + +"You are a poor man," she said. "I give you this--for Yeva." + +"Ah, yes. For Yeva." But his eyes were regarding the bracelet, which he +was weighing in his hand. + +"And if you do what I wish, I shall give you fifteen thousand _kroner_ +more." + +"Fifteen thou----!" he whispered. "Excellency, a fortune----" + +"If you do what I wish----" + +"Anything--Excellency has but to speak." + +Marishka deliberated a moment and then, "You will first remove the guard +at the foot of the private stairway to this----" + +"Excellency, the hour is late. If you can be comfortable in my house +until the morning, all shall be arranged. For tonight I have +planned----" + +"No. It must be as I wish. You will also take a message addressed to Mr. +Hugh Renwick at the Hotel Europa, and find him----" + +"And he will give me money?" the man broke in quickly, his bony fingers +clutching like talons at the bracelet. "He will give me fifteen thousand +_kroner_?" + +Marishka hesitated. The price she had mentioned was cheap for her +liberty--for freedom from the fear that had all day obsessed her, but it +was a large sum, and one which it might be impossible to procure at this +time of night. + +"He will give you such assurances as you may require. At least he will +give you something. I shall write that I need this sum of money, and he +will surely do what he can." + +"Something--yes," he mused. "Something is, of course, better than +nothing at all. But how can I be certain that I shall see him?" + +"Ah, but you must, Effendi. It is necessary for you, to find him--and at +once." + +"But if he should refuse?" + +"He will not. Do you consent?" + +He salaamed deeply. + +"Excellency's wish is my law." + +So Marishka sat before the tabourette and wrote: + + I have promised the bearer of this note fifteen thousand _kroner_, + as the condition of my liberation. Give him what you can, and + arrange for the payment of the balance tomorrow. This is the cry of + desperation. _Do not come here or attempt to see me._ It is + dangerous. I will come to you. + + M. + +She sealed the note and handed it to him. He turned it over and over in +his fingers, his gaze aslant. + +"But suppose," he repeated slowly, "that I should not be able to find +him." + +"You must," she said with desperate hardihood. "If the note should not +reach him, the conditions of our agreement change. And be sure of this, +Effendi--if harm comes to Hugh Renwick, payment will be exacted from you +to the tenth part of a hair. His safety and my freedom----" + +"I do not comprehend," said the man, his brows raised in a +well-simulated surprise. "What have I to do with the safety of this +Excellency? He can be in no danger, here in Bosna-Seraj. We are a +peaceable people----" + +"Still--" she said distinctly, "you will remember." + +He shrugged and took a pace away from her, still fingering the note. + +"I do not comprehend," he repeated. "But I will do as you request. I +shall go at once," and he moved toward the door, then paused. "As to the +guard at the door below, that will not be necessary, since you will +await me in the _mabein_." He went quickly down the corridor, opened the +door of the _dutap_, and called Zubeydeh, who entered at once. "The +Countess will wait in the outer room. When I return I shall conduct her +to the Hotel Europa, where she will spend the night. You will wait upon +her in the meanwhile, as becomes a distinguished guest of the house of +Rataj." + +Then followed a phrase or two of Turkish, and the woman bowed stolidly. + +"It shall be as you wish, Effendi." + +And he passed the woman with another phrase, and was gone. + +Zubeydeh and Marishka stood facing each other, the elder woman in sullen +antipathy, illy concealed by the habitual mask of imperturbability. +Marishka had disliked her from the first, actuated by that rare instinct +which only women can employ, and now there seemed something ominous in +her stolid ugliness. Marishka had not fully understood the instructions +of the Beg, and not until Zubeydeh picked up her suitcase and carried it +down the corridor, did she realize that she was merely carrying out the +orders of her master. But Marishka did not move. Before her eyes danced +the words of her earlier note to Hugh, which asked him to come to her by +the private passage to the court below. If the Effendi did not succeed +in finding him, he would come; and she would not be there to meet him. +Instead of following Zubeydeh, who had returned and stood staring at +her, her feet refused to obey. + +"But I should prefer to remain here----" she said firmly. + +A vestige of a smile--slight, but none the less disagreeable--came into +the woman's yellow face. + +"The Harim," she said dryly, "is intended for the daughters of the +faithful. You cannot stay tonight." + +And as Marishka still stood irresolutely, she caught her by the arm with +a grip which was none too gentle, and pushed her down the corridor and +out into the _mabein_. + +Marishka sat upon the couch in the room into which she had first been +conducted, her head near the latticed window, through which the pale +green moonlight vied with the glow from the lantern over her head. +Though it could not yet be time for him to return, she listened intently +for the sound of the footsteps of the Beg. Had she succeeded? In spite +of the danger which threatened Hugh Renwick, and the ominous absence of +Captain Goritz, she felt that there was a chance that all might still be +well. Where was Captain Goritz? The tale that he had gone upon a journey +was an invention, of course. He was here in Sarajevo if not in the house +where she was held a prisoner, at least somewhere near, where he could +be sure of the culmination of the plot to remove Hugh Renwick, without +himself being involved in any unpleasant issues. From the appearance of +the Beg of Rataj and of the man she had met at the foot of the stairs, +she knew that any dreadful deed was possible in the darkness of the +secluded streets outside the house, in the garden below, or in the house +itself. But she did not despair. It was easier to win money by keeping +within the law than by breaking it. The Beg was a rogue, but money was +his fetish, and Marishka's bribe was the larger. + +As the moments lengthened and the man did not return, hope ebbed, and +she grew anxious. The small metal clock on the table in the corner +indicated the hour. It was half-past eleven. In half an hour, if the Beg +had not delivered her note, Hugh Renwick would come to find her, unless! +She breathed a silent prayer--unless he had not yet reached Sarajevo! +For hours she had prayed that he had followed her, for that was the +proof of his devotion that her heart required of him; but now she prayed +just as fervently that he had not come. The notion of another attempt to +escape occurred to her, but when she got up and peered down into the +darkness of the stairway which led below, her courage failed her, and +she remembered the man at the foot of the other stair. Zubeydeh, too, +was near, and while she was planning, the woman passed into the Harim +and closed the door behind her. + +She peered out of the window into the garden, searching its shadows for +signs of a guard, but all was quiet, except for the sound of whispering +voices, which might have come from the street or from the house +adjoining. In the dim light she watched the hour hand of the clock as it +slowly moved around the dial. Ten, fifteen minutes passed, and still she +heard no sound of footsteps. What if Hugh came while the Beg was absent +searching for him? She knew that there must be other men besides the +villain she had met at the foot of the stairs. What orders had the Beg +given his men? And what orders had he countermanded? The silence was +closing in upon her like a fog. She could not bear it. What if Hugh were +already at the foot of the stairs, waiting to knock upon the door of the +Harim as she had directed? The suspense was killing her. She rose +quietly and tried the door of the _dutap_ into the corridor which led to +the Harim. It was locked. + +She staggered and clung to the wall to keep from falling. She saw it all +now. Goritz had intercepted the note she had sent by Yeva. _They_ were +in there--Zubeydeh, the Beg and his men, and perhaps Goritz, too, +waiting--waiting for the two knocks at the steps below. And then the +door would be opened, and Hugh---- + +The bell of the cathedral tolled, and fearfully she counted its strokes. +It was twelve o'clock. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE MAN IN ARMOR + + +Renwick waited in his place of concealment near the blue door, listening +and watching eagerly. Something was happening in the house with the +_meshrebiya_ windows, for it was after midnight, and all Islam was +asleep. There were sounds of whispering again, but when he peered out +there was no one in sight. Then he thought he heard footsteps; but +whether they came from the direction of the house of the lighted window, +or whether from up the street he could not yet decide. Now he was sure +of them. Someone was approaching over the rough cobbles--from the alley +behind him! He crouched into a place of concealment behind a broken +lattice, flattening himself against the door, and waited--breathless. He +did not dare to look out, for the figure was almost upon him, but the +footsteps now silent, now moving rapidly forward, indicated the stealth +of a man who evades pursuit or fears detection. Presently a shadow +loomed beside him as a man paused for a moment beside the doorway where +Renwick stood, so close that the Englishman could hear his breathing, +and then moved on to the corner of the wider street a few feet away. +Even yet, Renwick feared to move, but at last, as the man went on toward +the wall of the blue door, Renwick risked detection, and peered out. + +The figure glanced at the blue door, and then turning quickly, went with +long strides down the street toward the house with the _meshrebiya_ +windows. Renwick's glance had been but a momentary one, but in it he had +marked a huge figure, in a squarish hat and ill-fitting clothes. Gustav +Linke! In his hand, clutched like a weapon, he still carried his +atrocious umbrella. A grotesque outlandish figure, an ink-blot on the +velvet night! What was he doing here near the house of the lighted +windows? Renwick sprang from his place of concealment, whispering +Linke's name; but when he reached the corner of the alley the man was +twenty paces away, and so bent upon his mission that he heard nothing. +Renwick halted instinctively, and in the moment of hesitation, his +opportunity was lost. As wisdom had urged caution while Renwick had +waited, so doubly it urged it now. Linke moved like a man with a +mission, and Renwick peered forth from the angle of the wall watching +eagerly, sure now of what that mission was--the pursuit of Marishka +Strahni! + +He saw the man stop beneath the lighted windows, look up, and then with +a glance to right and left, enter the shadow of the mosque and disappear +within the small court beside the house. Renwick thought rapidly and +clearly. In the court where Linke had disappeared there must be another +entrance to the house. For a fleeting second, the idea entered Renwick's +head to follow the man, and trust to fortune; but the wall and blue door +opposite tempted him. Inside the garden, at least there would be a +chance for concealment, and a vantage point from which he could watch +and hear what went on within the house. He waited a moment, trying to +decide whether or not he had better risk detection in the narrow strip +of moonlight, or wait and see if anyone moved in the street below. He +was on the point of taking the chance when from the door of a house just +below him, several men emerged. It was difficult to determine how many +there were, but Renwick thought that there were at least four--perhaps +five; but whether Bosnians or Turks he could not decide. And from their +stealth and silence, and the rapidity with which they followed the tall +figure of Linke into the dark passage, the obvious inference was that +they were bent upon mischief. + +There was no further time to plan, so Renwick, with a quick look to +right and left, darted furtively across to the gate of the blue door and +tried the latch. It was unlocked, and quickly he entered the garden; +with his hand upon the revolver in his belt he waited, listening, but +there was no sound within but the plashing of the water of the fountain. +His eyes had grown accustomed to the darkness, and he searched the +shadows of the bushes by the reflected moonlight which silvered the +upper stories of the building. He saw that there was a door near the +center of the house facing the fountain, and upstairs in the windows +over it was the dull glow of a lamp or lantern. The windows of the other +room, which he had observed from across the street, were now darkened. +This was curious, but there was no time to debate upon it. He must act +quickly. He was sure now that Marishka was somewhere in this house, a +prisoner. She had sent for him, or why should Linke be here? He drew the +revolver from the folds of his sash, and with a keen glance to right and +left, crouching below the level of the shrubbery, he reached the door of +the house and tried it. + +It was locked. He hesitated for a moment, looking over his shoulder, and +then slipping his weapon into his belt again, he put a foot into the +trellis beside the doorway and began climbing. It was a dangerous thing +to attempt, for as he emerged from the shadows below, his figure would +be clearly outlined against the moonlit wall, and a well directed shot +from the garden would send him clattering down like a maimed squirrel +from a tree. But the game was worth the candle, for he had seen that the +window in the room above the door was open, and as he had decided to +enter the house at any cost, this was the only way. But it was slow +work, for the trellis was old, and creaked beneath his weight, and once, +when his foot slipped, he thought he must surely be discovered. Then he +waited, with his fingers almost at the window ledge, listening. He heard +the low murmur of voices, but they seemed to come from another part of +the building, and so risking the whole venture in one effort, he quickly +raised his head above the level of the window-ledge, and peered in. At +first he saw only the flickering shadows of a lamp hanging from the +ceiling, and then a figure in the corner opposite, which startled him +until he saw that it was immovable--a suit of armor upright against the +wall. The room appeared to be empty, and so he grasped the inside of the +sill, and hauled himself up until his shoulders were within the window +opening. + +It was then that a female figure started up from a couch just beside +him, stifling a cry. The light from the lantern above fell full upon her +face, and her eyes were staring at him in terror. It was Marishka. He +whispered her name, but still she stared at him wildly, and it was not +until then that he remembered his disguise. He took off his fez, and +spoke to her again. + +"Marishka, it is I, Hugh!" + +He saw her stare and then take a pace toward him as he clambered into +the room, and in a moment she was in his arms. + +"Hugh--belovèd!" she murmured brokenly, as she leaned heavily against +him. "I have been so frightened----" + +"Marishka! Your hands are ice cold. They have kept you here--against +your will?" + +"Yes. And you--Hugh--they've tried----" + +"Don't fear," he smiled. "I've as many lives as a cat. Didn't you hear +me scratching my way up the wall? Sh----" + +He left her for a moment, and peered out into the darkness of the +garden. All was silent as before, and so he returned and took her in his +arms again. + +"You've forgiven me?" he whispered. + +"Need you ask? Oh, Hugh, I've wanted you so!" + +"Thank God for that." Their lips met and she clung to him, all the +pitiful longings of her days and nights of misery in her caress, the +dependence of helpless womanhood, but greater than that, the fear for +his safety, which took precedence over her own. + +He kissed her tenderly, the joy of possession the greater for the +dangers that they ran. + +"You're trembling, Marishka. Don't worry." + +But she clung to him anew. + +"If anything should happen now--that I have you again." + +"Dearest! I, too, have suffered with you--but I haven't despaired. I +would never have given you up, you know," he said with a smile. + +"I've never wanted you to give me up, Hugh. I've tested you +cruelly--because--because--my pride was hurt----" + +"It had to be, Marishka. But you've survived it----" + +"My love is greater--greater than anything in the world to me," she +murmured. "Danger has proved it--and yours----" + +"It needed nothing. I love you--now and always." + +"You forgive?" + +He kissed her again and again, and for a long moment they clasped each +other in silence, their lips together, questioning, replying in broken +syllables. To the woman, nothing else mattered. If death came now, she +knew that it would be sweet. And it was Renwick who found his reason +first. Her hands still in his, he led her to the window, where he +scanned the garden anxiously. But there was still no sign of anything +suspicious, nor, in the house, any sound. But Renwick now questioned her +quickly. + +"You sent me a note in Vienna?" + +"Yes. A warning. I was afraid. I urged you to return to England, but I +hoped----" + +"Ah! The note--a forgery!" + +"What do you mean?" + +"Your note told me to come to Sarajevo--to the Hotel Europa, where you +would communicate with me." + +"A forgery! Goritz! Now I understand. He said that you would follow." + +"Goritz--the limousine chap! He is here?" + +"I don't know. I haven't seen him since this morning. Hugh! He has laid +plans to kill you--a trap----" + +"We shall outwit him----" + +"But I am frightened, even now with you here beside me, Hugh. He +is clever--I am no match for him--I wrote you to come--tonight. It +was what he wished. Don't you understand? A trap! You are in +danger--here--now----" + +But Renwick did not seem to be greatly disturbed. His mind had cleared +amazingly. + +"We shall fight him with his own weapons----" + +"I am frightened. Are you sure that no one saw you enter the garden?" + +"Positive." And then pursuing his thought, "You sent a note to the Hotel +Europa?" + +"Yes--" she stammered, "this afternoon. I asked you to come +here--tonight at twelve. You received it?" + +"No. It was intercepted." + +"I don't understand." + +He laughed. "I don't wonder. It's the luckiest thing in the world that +I've found you." + +He kissed her again, and then quickly, "The Harim is--where?" + +She pointed to the door with the grille, and he regarded it with a new +interest. In the silence that followed, they heard again the murmur of +voices, a woman's and a man's. + +"Zubeydeh!" she whispered. "The woman here and--a man's voice." + +"We must find a way out quickly. They may come around this way." + +He noticed the door upon the other side of the room. + +"Where does that lead?" + +"To the _selamlik_, I think. But it is better to go by the window. I can +climb. Let us go." + +He shook his head. + +"It's dangerous. The stairs----" + +"It is dark below. I don't know where they lead." + +"To the garden. They must. The door is locked on the inside, but perhaps +there's another exit at the rear. Come." + +He drew his revolver from his belt, and taking her by the hand, led her +to the stair, and there they stopped, for Marishka clutched his arm in +sudden consternation. From the Harim came a sudden muffled noise--as +though some one were beating upon a carpet. + +"Shots!" whispered Renwick. "We must hurry." + +"Shots! What does it mean?" + +"I'll explain later. Hurry!" + +There were cries now--the shriek of a woman, and above all, a hoarse +bellow as of some enraged animal. Renwick had already descended a few +steps, Marishka following him, when the door to the _selamlik_ opened, +and a female figure clad in Marishka's silk drapery rushed forth. It was +Yeva. + +"Fräulein----" she whispered in awed tones to Marishka. "Forgive me!" +she pleaded. "I have seen. It was beautiful. I could not see harm come +to you. His Excellency has been in the street at the back of the house, +but when the fighting began came up the rear stairway of the +_selamlik_----" + +"Goritz!" stammered Marishka in terror. + +"But I have locked the upper door." + +"He will come here, Yeva!" + +"Excellency must go--if there is yet time." + +"The garden!" + +"No," said Renwick, looking about for a place of concealment. "I shall +stay." + +"It is death----" whispered Marishka. + +But Yeva was resourceful. "The armor!" she whispered. "I have often +hidden in it from Zubeydeh. Quickly, Excellency! It stands upon brackets +in the wall." + +And while Marishka watched the stairhead in terror, Yeva helped the +Englishman into this strange place of concealment. Excited as Yeva was +at her share in the affair, her fingers were nimble, and she buckled the +straps quickly, then turning fled into the _selamlik_ and unlocked the +door. But Goritz by this time had managed to find a way to the stairs to +the _mabein_, and came up stealthily, listening eagerly to the +increasing commotion in the Harim. He found Marishka and Yeva hand in +hand at the door to the _selamlik_ staring in consternation at the door +of the black grille. There were no more shots, but more ominous even +than shots were the sounds of voices, strained, subdued, tense with +effort--the heavy breathing of men, the crashing of furniture, and then +at last the jar of heavy bodies falling--a cry of triumph--and silence. + +Captain Goritz had folded his arms and waited expectant. + +"It is very strange," he said coolly to Yeva. "Someone has broken into +the Harim?" + +"Excellency, I do not know. I was at the other end of the house. The +Fräulein was frightened and called to me," she lied glibly. + +"It is not to be wondered at----" he said with a strange smile. "They +have made enough noise to raise the dead. I have a pardonable curiosity +as to what has happened." But as he strode toward the door and laid a +hand upon the knob, Yeva rushed forward. + +"Excellency!" she whispered. "You dare not! The law!" + +He looked at her for a moment, then shrugged and turned to Marishka. + +"I would suggest, Countess Strahni, that you go with this girl at once +into the _selamlik_. I have no idea of what has happened, but it must be +something quite disagreeable--an intruder within the Harim--the penalty +is severe----" + +Marishka was leaning against the rail of the stairway near the suit of +armor, and Goritz watched her curiously. + +"I--shall not go," she stammered faintly, wondering at the growing +mystery. + +He shrugged. "As you please," he muttered, "but I warn you that the +situation may be--unpleasant----" + +"I shall remain--" she said again. + +There were sounds of heavy footsteps, and the door of the _dutap_ swung +open, revealing the Beg of Rataj, torn and dishevelled, his face +distorted with passion. He paused in the doorway, and looked from Goritz +to Marishka, breathing rapidly. + +"Ah, Excellency," he gasped. "I call you all to witness. A man has +entered the Harim--a Christian. Yeva, I knew, was not there, but I saw +him and followed from the street with my friends--my son, my +brother-in-law, my cousins. He is here. We have killed him." + +Goritz glanced at Marishka, but she stared past the dreadful apparition +into the corridor, behind him, incapable of speech or thought. + +"A Christian!" said Goritz. "Incredible!" + +"You shall see," said the Effendi. And turning to those within he +uttered a phrase in Turkish, and presently Zubeydeh and a man came +forward dragging something behind them. Marishka hid her face in her +hands, and crouched nearer the corner where the armor was. + +She saw Goritz suddenly start forward, his gaze upon the prostrate +figure in black, which its bearers had deposited none too gently in the +middle of the rug. Then he peered into the upturned face, starting +upright and glaring at the Effendi. + +"_Vermalerdeiter Hällen_----" he cried. "_It's not the man!_" + +"What do you mean, Excellency?" cried the Beg. + +"What I say--Idiots!" + +"A Christian--in my Harim!" wailed the old ruffian. "He has ruined my +furniture and killed my brother-in-law and my cousin." + +"What do I care?" cried Goritz furiously. "You've got us all into +trouble with your bungling. Do you know who this man is?" he stormed. + +"Who, Excellency?" cried the Effendi. + +"Nicholas Szarvas--the most famous secret service agent in Hungary." + +"What say you, Excellency?" the Effendi asked bewildered. + +"You have heard." + +"It is impossible. This was the man----" + +"Bah! You are a sheep's head." + +"Sheep's head I am not----" + +"Then you are a fool!" + +"By the beard of the Prophet--he was in my Harim," muttered the Effendi. +"I call you all to witness----" + +"I wash my hands of the matter," said Goritz furiously. + +"I am within my rights--the Harim----" + +"Bah--You have killed a police officer of the Empire!" + +"And you?" The Effendi's face was the color of that of the man upon the +floor, but his eyes glowed with fear and desperation. + +"I know nothing of the matter," continued Goritz. "A Christian comes +into your Harim and you kill him. If he turns out to be an officer of +the law, what is it to me?" + +"You will pay me that which you owe," shrieked the Effendi. "The man has +broken my furniture." + +"It is a pity he didn't break your head. I pay you nothing." + +And then to Marishka, "Come, Countess, we must be upon our way." + +Marishka stood staring at Goritz, a new horror in her eyes. She now +understood. The Effendi thrust himself between them. + +"You will pay me that which you owe," he stormed again. + +"Stand aside!" said the German, and then to Marishka, + +"If the Countess Strahni will be good enough to accompany me?" he said, +civilly. + +But Marishka stood fixed, staring at him with alien eyes, as the Effendi +rushed forward toward her, his arms extended. + +"She shall not go. She will see what has been done. He is _not the man_. +She will remain here in my house until----" + +"Stand aside, Effendi!" cried Goritz furiously, and as the man did not +move, he caught him by the shoulder and thrust him roughly aside. He +scorned to use a weapon, and the other man and the woman seemed +completely dominated by his air of command. + +"You will please come at once, Countess Strahni. There is no telling how +soon the police will be coming." + +And as Marishka did not move-- + +"You heard?" + +"I will not go," stammered Marishka. + +Goritz paused, examining her keenly, as though he had not quite +understood. + +"I have asked you quite courteously, Countess----" + +"I will not go," repeated Marishka. Her voice was ice-cold, like her +body, which seemed to be frozen into immobility. + +"I beg to remind you of your promise--to go with me----" + +"I will not go," she said again. + +"Then I must take you," he said, striding toward her furiously, and +reaching out a hand to seize her by the wrist. + +Then a strange thing happened. The man in armor, in the corner behind +Marishka, strode clanking forth into the room, while a voice +reverberated in the iron helmet. What it said no one understood. The +Effendi gazed at the moving thing in terror, and then with a shriek fled +down the stairs, Zubeydeh and her companion, _calling in loud tones upon +Allah_, at his heels. Goritz glanced at the thing and then stood +irresolute a moment, as the man in the armor slowly raised an arm, for +at the end of the arm Goritz saw a revolver pointed directly at him. + +"Hold up your hands, Captain Goritz," rang the voice from the depths of +the helmet. "Quickly, or I'll shoot." + +Goritz bit his lips. + +"Clever--Herr Renwick," he said coolly in English. "You've taken the +trick." + +"Hold up your hands----" + +But Goritz with a sudden leap had sprung behind Marishka. Renwick fired +once as he jumped, and missed. And now Goritz, shielding himself behind +Marishka's body, drew his automatic and fired again and again, riddling +the ancient armor like a sieve. Marishka struggled wildly in the arms of +the German, and managed to draw the dagger concealed in her waist, but +he caught her wrist and held her in front of him, taking careful aim at +the man in the armor and firing deliberately. Renwick tottered forward +silently and came crashing to the floor in the corner, where after a +moment of struggle, he relaxed and lay motionless. + +Goritz caught Marishka around the waist and disarmed her. But this act +of precaution was unnecessary, for after one fleeting glance at the +tangled heap of iron in the corner, she sank a dead weight in his arms. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +NUMBER 28 + + +For a month the Landes Hospital had been greatly interested in the +mystery of patient Number 28. In spite of the imminence of war, and the +preparations which were being made to care for the wounded along the +border, the physicians, the nurses, and the other patients had all +formed theories as to the man's history and the possible causes of his +injuries. And during the long period in which he lay unconscious, +hovering in the dim realm between life and death, not a day passed in +which his temperature, respiration, and other symptoms were not +discussed from one end of the hospital to the other. The Head Surgeon, +Colonel Bohratt, inclined to the opinion that if the man continued for a +few days longer without change he would recover. But the Head Nurse +shook her head sagely. The wound in the head had been difficult, as the +operation was an unusual one, the wound in the shoulder was nothing, but +the one in the stomach! If the operation of Colonel Bohratt proved +successful, then a miracle had been performed. + +The interest in the case, both from the sentimental as well as the +professional point of view, was so great that the man's bed had been +carefully wheeled from a ward where he had been taken from the operating +table, into a private room, where every chance would be given him to +recover. + +On the twenty-seventh of July, Fräulein Roth, the nurse on duty at the +bedside of the man of mystery, noted a slight change in his breathing, +and saw that he had opened his eyes, which were regarding her calmly, +but with the puzzled expression of one who has come a great distance +into a strange country. She knew then that what the Head Surgeon had +said was true, and that the man of mystery had turned the corner which +led away from the land of the Great Beyond. But being a prudent person, +she gave no sign of her delight, merely moving softly closer to the +bedside, and in German quietly asked him if he felt better. + +The man did not or could not reply at once, but she saw that his gaze +slowly passed beyond her to the bare walls of the room and to the open +window, beyond which were clouds, sunshine, and the distant drowsy +murmur of the city. + +"You are feeling more comfortable?" she asked again, in German. + +"Yes," he _muttered_. + +"You have been sick," she whispered softly, smoothing his pillow. + +"Ah, yes, sick," the man muttered, and closing his eyes, slept again. + +It was not long before the news of the awakening of Number 28 had +reached the nurses and attending physicians. Colonel Bohratt, greatly +pleased at the correctness of his prophecy and the end of the period of +coma, at once a tribute to his wisdom as well as to his professional +skill, came himself and viewed the patient, gave directions for +treatment and predicted speedy recovery. + +That night, the man of mystery awoke again, exchanged a few words with +Fräulein Roth as before, and again slept. And on the morrow, a sure sign +that all was going well with him, he had gained so much strength that he +moved freely in his bed, and took more than the casual interest of the +desperately sick in his situation and surroundings. Fräulein Roth had +been given instructions to keep him quiet, but she smiled at him when +quite rationally he questioned her. + +"Is this a hospital?" he asked. + +"Yes--the Landes Hospital." + +"Where?" + +"Sarajevo." + +"Ah,--Sarajevo." + +He remained silent for a long moment. + +"I have been here long?" he asked again. + +"A month." + +"A month! And the date?" + +"The twenty-eighth of July----" + +"Yes. I understand." + +Fräulein Roth wished him to be quiet, but after a long moment of +contemplation of the ceiling, in which his brows puckered in a puzzled +way, he spoke again. + +And when Fräulein Roth anxiously desired him to be quiet, she discovered +that Number 28 had a will of his own and only smiled at her earnestness. + +"I am feeling quite strong," he said weakly. "It will do me no harm to +talk, for some things puzzle me. I was brought here. Won't you tell me +how?" + +She debated with herself for a moment, but after an inspection of her +patient she decided to tell him the facts. + +"A peasant had discovered two men lying in a strip of woods near the road +to Gradina. At first he had thought that both were dead, but upon closer +examination he found that one of the men, although desperately wounded, +still breathed, and notified the police, who summoned the ambulance." + +"I?" asked the sick man. + +She nodded. "You were brought here--to the Landes Hospital in a bad +condition. The other man was dead." + +"The other man--dead?" + +"Yes," said the nurse, "with stab wounds in the back, and one in the +heart." She regarded her patient keenly a moment, and then went on. +"There were no marks of identification upon either of you. You were +without clothing. Following so closely upon the assassination of the +Archduke Franz and his wife, the circumstances were suspicious, and the +police of Sarajevo and the secret service officials have done all they +could to find some clew to the murderers. You see," she concluded with a +smile, "you are a man of mystery and all Sarajevo awaits your recovery." + +"Oh, I see. They are waiting for me to speak?" + +Number 28 lay silent, regarding the ceiling intently, frowning a little. +His mind worked slowly and Fräulein Roth saw that he found some +difficulty in mental concentration. + +"We will talk no more at present," she said firmly. "If you are no +worse--perhaps again tomorrow." + +But on the following day and the next the condition of the patient was +not so favorable, for he lay in a drowsy condition and showed no +interest in anything. It seemed that the pallid fingers of Death were +still stretched over him. There were whispered consultations at the +bedside, and a magistrate came to take a deposition, but the Head +Surgeon advised delay. He had a reputation at stake. + +The wisdom of his advice was soon proved, for at the end of three days +Number 28 rallied, his fever subsided, and he smiled again at Nurse +Roth. But she had learned wisdom and refused to talk. + +Number 28 straightened in bed and ran his thin fingers through the beard +with which his face was now covered. He ate of his food with a relish +and then eagerly questioned. + +"I am quite strong again, Fräulein. See--my hand does not even tremble. +Will you not talk with me?" + +"My orders are to keep you quiet." + +"I have been quiet long enough--a month!" he sighed. "The world does not +stand still for a month." + +The nurse smiled. "I see that you are used to having your own way," she +said. + +"Is it not natural that I should wish to know what has happened in the +world? Tell me. The Archduke Franz was killed. Did they discover a +plot?" + +"A plot? Yes. The boy Prinzep was employed by the Serbians." + +"He confessed?" + +"Not to that--but it is obvious." + +"And what has happened?" + +She examined him intently, aware now of what she herself had long +suspected, that this patient was no ordinary kind of man. His German had +a slight accent, but whether he came from central Europe or elsewhere +she could not decide. + +"Austria Hungary is on the eve of great events. A week or more ago +Austria Hungary sent an ultimatum to the Serbian government, to which an +unsatisfactory reply was received. The Austro-Hungarian minister has +left Belgrade, and war has been declared upon Serbia." + +"War! and Russia?" + +"Russia, France and Germany have mobilized." + +"And England?" + +"Nothing is known of what England will do. But it is feared that she may +join the cause of Russia and France." + +Number 28 lay silent for a moment thinking deeply, and then-- + +"It has come at last. War. All of Europe----" + +"It is frightful. There has already been fighting on the Serbian border. +We are preparing here to receive the wounded." + +He remained silent a moment, his eyes sparkling as he thought of what +she had told him and then quietly, "War!" he muttered. "I must get well +very quickly, Nurse, I must----" + +_She waited for him to go on, for, being a woman,_ curiosity as to his +history obsessed her, but he said no more. And in spite of her interest +in this man whom she had faithfully watched and served for more than a +month, some delicacy restrained the questions on her tongue. + +"You will not get well for a long while, Herr Twenty-Eight, if you do +not keep quiet," she said quickly. + +"You are very good to me," he replied. "I shall do as you wish." + +Several days after this, the patient having gained strength rapidly, he +was permitted solid food. He slept much, and in his waking hours seemed +to be thinking deeply. He was very obedient, as though concentrating all +his mind upon an effort toward speedy recovery, but he did not talk of +himself. His strength now permitting more frequent conversation, the +nurse brought him the news of the world outside, which included the +declaration of war by Great Britain against Germany--and the certainty +of a declaration against Austria Hungary. + +"It is as I suspected," he muttered. "England----" + +Again her patient was silent, and Nurse Roth glanced at him quickly. +English! + +She did not speak her thought, for the import of her news had sent her +patient into one of his deep spells of concentration. No Englishman that +she had ever met had spoken the German language so fluently. But +concealing her interest and curiosity when he turned toward her again, +she smiled at him brightly. + +"You are now getting much stronger, Herr Twenty-Eight," she said. "The +Head Surgeon has given permission for your examination." + +"Examination?" + +"A magistrate will come tomorrow to take your deposition." + +"I don't understand." + +"About all the facts connected with your injuries." + +"They have learned nothing?" + +"A little. The man who was found with you has been identified." + +"Ah!" + +"As Nicholas Szarvas, a Hungarian police officer----" + +"Szarvas!" + +"You knew him?" + +The patient was silent again. She had come suddenly upon the stone wall +which had balked all her efforts. Her hand was near him upon the bed. He +took it and pressed it to his lips. + +"Do not think me ungrateful for all your kindnesses, Fräulein. Some day +perhaps I can repay you. But there are reasons why I cannot speak." + +She drew her hand away from him slowly. + +"But you must speak when the magistrate questions," she said gently. + +"Perhaps!" And he was silent again. + +With his growing strength had come wariness. If England declared war, +he, Hugh Renwick, at present unknown, would be interned, a prisoner; and +all hope of finding Marishka and the German, Goritz, would be lost. In +the first few days of his awakening, he had thought of sending for +Warwick, the British Consul, and putting the matter entirely in his +hands. But before he had had the strength to decide what it was best to +do, had come the declarations of war, and he had determined to remain +silent and act upon his own initiative. Unless he had muttered something +of his past in his fever, and this he doubted, or some sign of it would +have come from Fräulein Roth, there would he no means of identifying him +as an Englishman, and when he recovered, they would let him go. As it +was, he was a man of mystery, and as such he intended to remain. He had +noted the marks of interest in the face of the nurse, and in her +questions, and his gratitude to her was very genuine, but he was sure +now that he was in no position to take chances. War being declared, +Warwick would have been given his passports, and would have left the +country. No one in Sarajevo knew the Englishman, Renwick--at least no +one who would be likely to connect the man of mystery of the Landes +Hospital with the former secretary of the British Embassy in Vienna. + +As his mind had grown clearer, the wisdom of his decision became more +apparent. If a magistrate came, he would be obliged to see him, but he +knew that his period of illness could cover a multitude of remembrances. + +The magistrate came with a clerk, and questioned with an air of +importance. Renwick realized that if he refused to answer, he might make +himself an object of suspicion, and endanger the chances of his release +upon recovery, and so, as he was not under oath, he invented skillfully. + +"What is your name?" + +"Peter Langer." + +"What nationality?" + +"Austrian, if you like. I am a citizen of the world." + +The magistrate examined him over his glasses. + +"The world is large. From what part of Austria did you come?" + +"Vienna." + +"Your parents are Viennese?" + +"They were in Vienna when I was young." + +"Were they born there?" + +"I do not know." + +"It is necessary that you should." + +"I am sorry if it is necessary. I do not know." + +"What brought you to Sarajevo?" + +"I am a wanderer. I wished to see the world." + +"A wish that has almost proved fatal. You have no business?" + +"Merely the business of wandering." + +The magistrate frowned. + +"I beg that you will take this matter seriously, Herr Langer." + +"I do. It is not in the least amusing." + +The man consulted his notes for a moment. + +"Where were you on the night of June twenty-eight?" + +"I have been ill for a month. Dates mean nothing to me. My memory is +bad." + +"Ah! Well, then, where were you on the night of the assassination?" + +"What assassination----?" + +"The assassination of the Archduke," replied the magistrate sternly. + +"In Sarajevo, I should say." + +"_Natürlich._ But in what place?" + +"In the street, perhaps--or in a house. I don't remember." + +"I beg that you make the effort to remember." + +"I cannot," said Renwick after a pause. + +"You must." + +"My mind is clouded." + +The magistrate exchanged a glance with the nurse, who stood at the head +of the bed, and spoke to her. "This man talks to you quite rationally?" + +Fräulein Roth hesitated and then said: "Yes. But he has been very ill. I +should suggest that you excuse him where possible." + +"H--m! This is a matter of great seriousness. A police officer has been +murdered by a person or persons unknown. This man was found near his +body, both of them left for dead. It is not possible that he can have +forgotten the circumstances--the fight, the shooting which preceded his +unconsciousness." And then to Renwick--"You knew Nicholas Szarvas?" + +"No." + +"I would remind you that this is the man who was found dead beside you." + +"I did not know him." + +"What are your recollections of the evening I have mentioned?" + +"I have no recollections." + +"You said that you were in a house." + +"Or the street--I forget." + +"You remember having an altercation with someone?" + +"In my dreams--yes. Many." + +"But before your dreams, when you were conscious?" + +"None." + +"Szarvas was stabbed. Did you see him attacked?" + +"I did not." + +"Have you any idea who shot you?" + +"A man who was my enemy, I should say." + +"Ah--you had an enemy?" + +"What man has not?" + +"What was his name?" + +"I don't remember." + +The magistrate got up frowning, and paced up and down the room, his +hands behind his back. + +"I should advise you, Herr Langer, that it is my opinion that you are +willfully endeavoring to impede the steps of this investigation. I would +remind you also that those who try to thwart the officers of the law in +the performance of their duty, are alike amenable to it. Your +reticence--I can call it by a less pleasant word--is aiding and +abetting a criminal, who must be brought to justice." + +"It is not likely----" He paused. + +"What?" + +"That I should wish to save a man who had tried to murder me." + +"But this is precisely what you are doing." + +Renwick smiled. + +"What would you? Have me invent a story for your record? I can say no +more than I remember. I remember nothing." + +The magistrate took off his glasses and rubbed them rigorously, as if by +so doing he could clear his own mind as to what had best be done. Then +he put them upon his nose and took up his hat and papers. It was certain +that the patient's brain was still far from strong. + +"I shall not pursue this investigation now," he said to Nurse Roth. "I +shall wait a few days in which Herr Langer may have time to reflect. He +is still very weak. In the meanwhile, Herr Langer, I would tell you that +it would be wise for you to recover your memory." + +"A desire which I sincerely share," said Renwick with a smile. + +"If not," continued the magistrate with his most magisterial manner, +"you will be detained, as a material witness, in Sarajevo." + +"I have no intention of leaving Sarajevo unless someone should happen to +pay my railroad fare," replied Renwick wearily. + +The man left, followed by his clerk, and Nurse Roth closed the door +behind them. When the sounds of their footsteps had faded away along the +corridor, she turned to the table where she rearranged some roses in a +vase. + +"You lie very ingeniously, Herr Twenty-eight," she said with a smile. + +Renwick regarded her calmly. + +"It is not my nature, Nurse Roth. But a cracked skull doesn't improve +the brains beneath." + +She came over to him quickly, and stood beside the bed. + +"You have some reason for concealing your identity. I know that you +remember what happened. But I will protect you as far as I can, upon one +condition." + +"And that?" he asked anxiously. + +"That you will give me your word of honor that it was not you who killed +Nicholas Szarvas." + +He caught her by the hand and smiled up at her with a look so genuine +that there was no question as to his sincerity. + +"I give it. I did not kill Nicholas Szarvas." + +"Thank you," she said simply. "I believe you." + +[Illustration: "Thank you," she said simply. "I believe you."] + +"I wish I could tell you," he whispered earnestly, "for I know that you +are my friend, but"--and he relinquished her hand--"but I _must_ keep +silent." + +She touched him gently upon the shoulder in token of understanding, and +from that moment said no more. + +The days passed slowly, but it was evident to those who were interested +in the case that Number 28 gained strength very rapidly. His wounds had +healed, and he was soon permitted to get up and sit in an armchair near +the window, where he could look out over the minarets of the city below +the hill. But to all except Nurse Roth, it seemed that the injury to his +head had done something to retard the recovery of his memory. He spoke +quite rationally to Colonel Bohratt upon matters regarding his physical +condition, but sometimes even when the Head Surgeon was talking with +him, he relapsed into a state of mental apathy which caused that worthy +man to remove his bandage and examine the wound in his head. After which +the Colonel would leave the room with a puzzled expression. And in +consequence of this curious mental condition, it was thought wise to +defer the visit of the officer of the law until the patient's mind +should show a change for the better. There was even a consultation upon +the advisability of another operation upon the head, but the patient +showed such encouraging marks of growing lucidity that the operation was +deferred. + +It was a dangerous game that he was playing, and Renwick knew it, for +the time would come when he must tell who he was, or find a chance to +escape from the hospital. Escape was his hope and each day as he gained +new strength, he thought of a hundred expedients by which it might be +accomplished. He knew that even now he was under surveillance, and +virtually a prisoner of the Austrian government, until he could give +some account of himself, and of the events of the night of the +twenty-eighth of June. And so he conserved his energies carefully, +gaining courage and weight with each new day, playing the game of delay +until he was assured of his strength and the moment was propitious. The +chief difficulty which confronted him was a means to procure clothing. +He was allowed the privileges of the hospital, permitted to walk upon +the terrace, but he had no clothing except the sleeping suit of cotton +and a wrapper-like affair which he wore when out of his room. Whether +his restriction to this costume was by neglect or by design, he did not +know, for all the other convalescents whom he met out in the air wore +the clothes in which they had come to the hospital. The fact that he had +been brought here unclothed was of little comfort to him, and he feared +to request a change of garments for this might excite suspicion. There +was nothing for it but to wait, and when strength enough came, seize the +first opportunity presented to slip quietly away. + +He had been studying his chances with a discriminating eye. His room was +upon the second floor, but there was a rain-spout which passed just +beside it, and given the strength of hand and wrist to accomplish the +descent, the matter would be simple. There was a row of shrubbery just +below the terrace, which led to a path over the hills, where he might be +lost under cover of the night. But even at night he could not go into +Sarajevo without clothing. For a while the idea of appealing to Nurse +Roth occurred to him, but he at last rejected it, aware that she had +already done much that could not be repaid, and unwilling to subject her +to the alternatives of refusal or acquiescence--one of which might be +hazardous to his own chances, the other surely fruitful of +unpleasantness to herself. He had no right to ask this of her. He wished +to incur no new obligations, for when the time came, he intended to go, +and he could not repay her kindness with deceit. And so he waited, +simulating weakness, exercising in secret, and gaining in strength for +the hopeless task before him. + +He had made no plans. What plans could he make when he had no means of +making inquiries? Goritz was gone with Marishka,--by this time perhaps +far beyond the German border, the girl a prisoner--or----? For a moment +he paused as the new thought came to him. What would be the status of +the Countess Strahni since the outbreak of war? The conditions which +existed before the pact of Konopisht were no more. Germany's ambitions +stultified--Austria forgiving--both nations involved in a great +undertaking the prosecution of which must make them careless of all less +vital issues! Had Goritz been recalled from this secret mission to +another more important? And if so, where was Marishka? Could she have +been released? There was a chance of it, but it seemed a slender one. +Goritz! Something--some deeply hidden instinct, some suspicion harbored +perhaps in the long days and nights of his unconsciousness, some pang of +fear born of pain and unrest, advised him that, behind the secret duty +which had first brought Goritz to Vienna, he was now playing a game of +his own. The brief glimpse he had had of the man, short but fearfully +significant, had made an unpleasant impression. He had seen the look in +the eyes of the German as he had asked Marishka to go with him from the +house of the garden, a look courteous and considerate, that had in it, +too, something more than mere admiration. If the man were in love with +her! And what man of any vision, learning to know Marishka could help +caring for her! Not love, surely! Not love from a man who sheltered +himself from danger by using her as a shield. He had been safe then. +Renwick could not have fired then. And Goritz was clever enough to know +it. But the dastardliness of such a trick! There was a long score to pay +between Renwick and Goritz, a score the items of which had begun with +the attempts upon the Englishman's life in Vienna and Konopisht, the +imprisonment of Marishka, and the shooting in Sarajevo which had +nothing to do with politics. They were enemies. Their countries were +enemies. It was written. + +Absorbed in these unpleasant meditations, Renwick sat upon the terrace +of the hospital after supper, idly manicuring his nails with Nurse +Roth's scissors. As it grew dark, he got up, slowly pacing up and down +the length of the terrace. The moment was approaching when he would be +called in to go to his room, but he grudgingly relinquished the moments +in the soft evening air. It was curious how much latitude they gave +him--curious, also, that the magistrate, after his second fruitless +visit a few days ago, had not returned. As Renwick had continued evasive +the magistrate had grown angry and at last had threatened him with the +visit of one who would make him speak. Who was this new inquisitor to +be? Someone in higher authority? Or perhaps some secret service agent +who had finally succeeded in getting some clews as to the murder of the +colossal Szarvas? + +Of one thing Renwick was sure--that soon he must make a break for +liberty. Tonight--now--into the dusk beyond the hills. He was not very +strong yet, but it might be---- + +"Herr Twenty-Eight," said the voice of Nurse Roth at his elbow, "you are +to go at once to your room for examination." + +"Thanks, Fräulein. I shall go. It is the magistrate?" + +She nodded soberly. + +"The magistrate and another whom I have never seen. They are now in the +office consulting the Head Surgeon." + +Renwick smiled at her as he whispered, "I am to be _grilled_?" + +"I fear so." + +He shrugged. "The time for subterfuge is past." And then, taking her +hand again, "I shall go at once. But whatever happens I want you to know +that I shall never forget what you have done for me." + +"It is nothing. Now go, please." + +He bowed and preceded her into the hallway. As they passed the office +the door was open and Renwick glanced in. The magistrate was there and +another man, talking to Colonel Bohratt, all of them unaware of the +patient in the darker hallway looking at them. Renwick started, and then +gazed again at the third man leaning over the table facing him. His +figure seemed familiar, his bowing and gestures more so, and yet for a +second Renwick could not place him. And then the man smiled, showing a +gold tooth which caught the reflection of the electric light upon the +table. A gold tooth---- + +Nurse Roth was regarding Renwick who glanced at the open door behind him +and then at Nurse Roth. The pause was momentous. Renwick quickly +recovered his poise and went on a few steps. + +"They wish to see me--in the office?" he asked in a whisper. + +"In your room, please. I shall tell them that you are waiting." + +"Thanks, again," said Renwick abruptly, with outstretched hand, "and +good-by." + +"Good-by?" she asked in alarm. + +He smiled over the shoulder as he went up the stairs. + +"I think I shall exchange the hospital--for the jail." + +He left her standing there looking up at him in wonder or pity, and then +turning the stairhead went on down the upper corridor. There were nurses +conversing here, and a patient or two, so Renwick went slowly until he +reached his room. But once within the door he acted with speed and +resolution. First he turned the key in the lock and softly shot the +bolt, then crossed the room quickly, his heart beating rapidly. He was +not strong and his nerves already were warning him, but they did not +fail him. He peered out of the window upon the terrace. It was not yet +dark and there was a nurse below standing beside a man in a wheel chair. +He could not go now for they would see him and surely give the alarm, +and so he waited, going back to the door and listening for the sound of +approaching male footsteps. As yet no sound. He peered down upon the +head of the luckless nurse, mutely imprecating. The moments were +precious. Would they never go in? It was past the hour for loitering on +the terrace. For a moment the idiotic notion came to him to go out into +the corridor and call the attention of the nurse in charge of the floor +to the infraction of rules, but he turned again to the window. The nurse +was moving now, slowly pushing the wheel chair toward the door. It was +barely a hundred feet away, but to Renwick it seemed an eternity before +the pair vanished within. Then taking off his slippers he put them in +the pocket of his wrapper, and rolling it into a bundle, dropped it +noiselessly upon the terrace below. His nerves quivered as he sat +astride the window-sill but he set his jaw and lowered himself from the +window, catching the iron gutter-pipe with bare fingers and toes. The +spout seemed to creak horribly, and for a moment he thought that it was +swaying outward with him. But the sensation was born of his own +weakness. The pipe held and slowly he descended, reaching the ground, +his knuckles bruised and torn, but so far, safe. + +He paused for a moment to slip into his wrapper and then crossed the +terrace quietly, reached the lawn and the shelter of the bushes below. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +DISGUISE + + +Long ago he had planned the direction in which he should go when the +time came for him to escape. And so without pausing to look behind him +he hurried down the hill in the shelter of the hedge until he reached +its end. A hundred yards away was a hillock. By going forward in a line +which he had already marked he would have the partial protection of +rocks and bushes. He paused just a moment to be sure that no one was +coming after him. All was as before and the dark group of buildings, his +home for nearly two months, loomed in silent dignity behind him. But +Renwick knew that it would not be long before the whole countryside +would be buzzing like a hornet's nest. In his enfeebled condition, he +could hardly hope to cope with his pursuers in the matter of speed and +so as he went on across the stream at the base of the hill, he tried to +plan something that would outwit them. The nearest outlying houses of +the town were but a few hundred yards distant, but instead of taking the +road down the hill, he turned sharply to his left after crossing the +road and entered the Moslem cemetery, laid according to the custom in a +cypress grove. He now moved slowly and leaning against the bole of a +tree regained his breath while he listened for the expected sounds of +pursuit. The cemetery seemed to be deserted, but he decided to take no +chances, so he found a tree with thick foliage, and climbed from one +bough to another until he found a crotch of a limb where he disposed +himself as comfortably as possible to wait until the pursuit had passed +him by. + +His pulses were still pounding furiously from the sudden effort of +muscles long unused, and his nerves were tingling strangely, but he +clung to his perch until the period of weakness passed and then planned +what he had better do. Inside of an hour every policeman in Sarajevo +would be warned by Herr Windt to look out for a man with a beard, +wearing a sleeping suit and a blue woolen wrapper. The obvious thing +therefore was to avoid Sarajevo or else find a means to change his +costume. But if he begged, borrowed, or stole an outfit of native +clothing--what then? Where should he turn? He had no money, for that, of +course, had been taken by the ruffians who had carried his body into the +woods and stripped him of his clothing. To all intents and purposes he +had been born again--had come into the world anew, naked save for the +unsightly flapping things in which he was wrapped. His English clothes +were at the inn in the Bistrick quarter where he had left them, but to +seek them now meant immediate capture. And if he wore English clothes in +the streets of a town full of men in uniform he would be as conspicuous +as though in sleeping suit and wrapper. A native costume was the +thing--and a fez which would hide the plaster on his head. But how to +get it? He heard voices, and two men passed below him weaving in and out +among the trees; he blessed the inspiration which had bidden him climb. +He would have known Windt. He was not one of them. They were men from +the hospital, out of breath with running, and the phrases they exchanged +gave Renwick comforting notion that they were already wearily impressed +with the hopelessness of their task. A while they waited, and then he +saw them go out on the further side of the copse as though glad to be +well away from so melancholy a spot. Indeed the gray turban-carved +tombstones were eloquent to Renwick and a newly made grave not far away +was unpleasantly suggestive of the fate that had so nearly been his. It +was starlight now, but dark, and the owls were already hooting +mournfully as though the souls of those who lay in the sod beneath had +come again to visit by night their last resting places. It was not the +most cheerful spot for a man who had just come out of a bout with death, +and Renwick had no mind to stay there. So when the men who had been +searching for him had gone their ways, he clambered stiffly down. He +lingered by the newly made grave, obsessed by the rather morbid notion +of digging up the estimable Moslem who reposed there and exchanging his +own hospital wrapper for the much to be desired native costume, but +desperate as was his need the idea was too unpleasant. He would rob, if +necessary, but not the dead. + +As he wandered among the trees in the direction of the nearest lights, +he felt a pair of scissors in the pocket of his wrapper--Fräulein +Roth's. His fingers closed upon them now. A weapon? Better than that. A +plan had come to him which he proceeded immediately to put into +practice. Taking off his wrapper he seated himself upon a tombstone and +began cutting it into pieces, shaping a short sleeveless jacket. He cut +the sleeves of the wrapper lengthwise and made a turban. + +Its skirt made him a belt with something left over. He puzzled for +awhile over the remnant of cloth left to him, thinking of his legs, but +at last discarded it as useless, and hid it among the bushes. Then, +laboriously, he trimmed his mustache and beard. It was low work without +light or mirror, but he persevered until to the touch of his fingers the +merest bristle remained, a stubble such as a man would have who had gone +a few days without shaving. Then, satisfied that under cover of the +darkness he might pass in a crowd of people unnoticed, he slipped the +scissors into the coat of his sleeping suit and sallied forth. + +At least he was rid of the flowing robe which would have made of him a +marked man. Fortunately the night was hot and sultry, and so far he +suffered no inconveniences, but he knew that this disguise was only a +makeshift and that by fair means or foul, he must come into the +possession of some sort of costume in which he could face the light of +day. In the road, he passed a farmer returning from the bazaar, and the +careless greeting of the man reassured him. A polyglot costume +surely--but this was a city of polyglots. The disguise would do--at +least for this night. But the appearance of Windt had seriously alarmed +him. It meant, if he was taken, that he would surely be interned, or +worse, perhaps that he might be accused of complicity in the murder of +Szarvas, Windt's own man. In the back of his head a plan had been +forming, which meant if not active help in escaping from the city, at +least a short refuge from pursuit, and perhaps something more. He meant +to go to the house where Marishka had been--and speak to the girl, Yeva. +It was the only hope he had of a clew to Marishka's whereabouts--the +only hope of help in this city of enemies. He was quite sure that he +would not be a welcome visitor, for it was the old ruffian in the +turban, of course, who had taken the clothing from Renwick's body and +left him for dead upon the hillside. The theory in the hospital had been +that those who had carried Renwick into the woods had intended burying +the bodies--for a spade had been found later near the place--but that +the murderers had been frightened away before being able to carry out +their plan. And lacking information upon the subject, Renwick had come +to the same conclusion. He might not be welcome at the house of the blue +door, but he knew the old man's secret and decided to risk danger by +playing the game with an open hand. + +Instead of going into the city by the nearest way, which would have led +him in a few moments into the European part of the town, he bore to the +left again, climbing the hill behind the Tekija mosque, until he reached +an eminence back of the fortress above the Golden Bastion, and then +slowly descended into the Turkish quarter of the town where the streets +were narrow and dark and the danger of detection minimized. He had +already passed many people who had merely glanced at him and gone their +ways, and the success of his disguise gave him confidence; but as he +approached the Sirocac Tor he was badly frightened, for on turning the +corner of a street he ran directly into the arms of a stout Bosnian +policeman who was looking for him. The man swore at him in bad German +and Renwick drew back against the wall, sure that the game was up, until +he realized that the fellow was only cursing because he was almost, if +not quite as much startled as Renwick. So the Englishman, regaining his +composure, bowed politely and would have gone on, but the policeman +spoke. + +"Which way have you come?" he asked. + +"From the Kastele." + +"You have seen no bareheaded man with a beard, wearing a long blue +coat?" + +"A long blue coat? There are none with long blue coats in the Kastele in +the month of August." + +"Pfui--! I do not wonder!" said the fat Bosnian, and hurried on. + +But the venture made Renwick more cautious, and he avoided the +street-lights, moving under the shadows of walls and houses, at last +reaching the tortuous alleyway down which he had once come to inspect +the house with the _meshrebiya_ windows. Almost two months had passed +since he had stood in this spot, watching these same lighted windows, +unaware of the success that had been almost within his grasp. Outwardly +nothing was changed. The blue door faced him, and gathering courage, he +crossed the street and entered the garden. It was very dark under the +trees and he went quietly forward, stopping by the fountain to listen +for sounds within the house. He realized that it was growing late, and +that while the garden offered him a refuge from those who were seeking +him in the city, daylight would make his tenure precarious even here. If +the girl Yeva would only come down into the garden! He waited by the +bench listening, and presently was rewarded by hearing a light rippling +laugh from the room above the door. She was there--the girl--but not +alone--with the old woman perhaps, or the man with the beard. Renwick +listened again and watched the window, but heard nothing more. There +was nothing for it but to put on a bold front, so summoning his courage, +he walked to the door of the house and loudly knocked. + +There was an exclamation, a sound of footsteps upon the stair, and at +last the bolt of the door was shot and the door opened. Zubeydeh stood, +a lantern in her hand, scrutinizing him. + +He spoke in German at once. "I come upon an urgent matter," he said +coolly. "Upon a matter very important to the owner of this house----" + +"Speak--what do you want?" she asked. + +"I bear a message." + +"The Effendi is not at home----" + +"Ah--then Yeva may receive it." + +"Yeva! Who are you?" + +He smiled. "For the present that need not matter." + +Zubeydeh blocked the door more formidably with her body. + +"No one enters this house in the Effendi's absence." + +"I do not desire to enter the house. I merely wish to talk with Yeva, +here----" + +"That is not possible." The woman moved back and made a motion to close +the door, but Renwick took a pace forward and blocked her effort with +his foot. + +"Wait," he said. + +Something in the tone of his voice arrested her, and the hand which held +the door relaxed. She regarded Renwick with a new curiosity. Her eyes +narrowed as she peered into his face. She had seen someone who looked +like this tall beggar, but where----? + +"Who are you?" she asked again, this time with a note of anxiety, +scarcely concealed. + +Renwick smiled, but he had not yet removed his foot from the sill of the +door. + +"You do not remember me?" + +"No--and yet----" She paused in bewilderment, and Renwick quickly +followed his advantage. + +"I am one who can save this house from a danger." + +"Speak!" + +"I have but to speak yonder," and he gestured eloquently toward the city +below them, "and the danger will fall." He leaned forward, whispering +tensely, "The secret police of the Austrian government wish to know more +about the death of Nicholas Szarvas and----" + +Zubeydeh dropped the handle of the door and seized Renwick's arm, while +her narrow eyes glittered terrified close to his own. + +"And you----?" + +"It is merely that I did not die," he said coolly. + +"You are----?" + +"I am the man in the armor, Zubeydeh," he said solemnly. + +She started back from him in affright, her hands before her eyes. + +"Allah!" she whispered, and then leaned forward again touching his arm +lightly, imploringly, while she looked past him into the dark recesses +of the garden. + +"Then they are there--the police are coming----?" + +He quickly reassured her. + +"No. I mean you no harm. Do you understand? I have said nothing--nor +shall I speak unless----" he paused significantly. + +"Unless----?" + +"Unless you refuse to permit me to speak with Yeva. That is all. Listen, +Zubeydeh; since that night I have been in the hospital. They would keep +me here a prisoner. I have escaped--in this disguise. I make a bargain +with you. You help me--I will be silent. If you refuse, I shall tell the +police." + +"What do you want?" she asked breathlessly. + +"A disguise, a weapon, and some money--not much." + +"Money! The Effendi has gone upon a journey." + +"A few _kroner_ only--enough to get me out of town." + +"And you will keep silent?" + +"As the grave. Don't you understand? I wish to go away from +here--quickly, and then you will not see me again." + +"How can I believe you?" she said suspiciously. + +"Bah! Don't be stupid! If I had desired to betray you, I should have +told the truth long ago." + +Zubeydeh hesitated. + +"You will go away?" + +"Yes. I shall go----" + +There was a sound upon the stairs behind Zubeydeh and Yeva thrust +herself forward. + +"I was at the window above. I heard. Allah be praised! You are alive?" + +"Yeva! You know anything--of _her_?" + +"No, nothing," sadly. And then as she examined him closely, "But you +must come into the house. I will do what you wish." + +The matter was now out of Zubeydeh's hands, for whatever her doubts, +Yeva's swift confidence had swept them away. She stood aside and +motioned for him to go up the stairs. + +"You will not remain long?" she asked. + +"Only long enough to change my clothing--you will provide?" + +"Yes. There are garments." + +"A fez, jacket, breeches, stout _opankas_." + +"It shall be as you desire." + +Renwick went up the stairs into the room where he and Goritz had met, +recapitulating briefly in his mind the sequence of events which had led +to his own downfall. If he had only shot the man when he had stood there +a fair mark, defenseless! It had not been the sporting thing, but if he +had known what was to follow, he would have done it nevertheless. At +least he thought so now. The fateful armor had been restored to its +place in the corner, and while he anxiously awaited Yeva's return he +examined it casually with the rather morbid interest which one might +display in the inspection of one's coffin. It was dented upon the sides +with the marks of bullets which had glanced aside, but three neatly +drilled holes, two in the breastplate and one in the helmet, reminded +him again how narrow had been his escape from death. "Close shooting, +that," he muttered to himself. "Emptied clip and not one miss." + +Yeva, who had gone with Zubeydeh into the Harim, now returned +(discreetly veiled) and with an air of restraint made a sign to the +Englishman to be seated while Zubeydeh brought refreshments. + +He heard Yeva speaking gently at his ear. + +"Allah is good. Excellency, they told me that you were dead--that they +would bury you. They took your body and that of the other man in a cart +to the hills above the city. But someone came, and they were forced to +go away." + +"You saw her go with him?" + +"Yes. She had fainted. I helped to carry her down through the +_selamlik_ to the street at the back of the house. Then an automobile +came, and they took her away." + +"There have been no inquiries here?" + +"None. And you will say nothing?" she asked anxiously. + +"Not a word. Would you have me deliver myself into the hands of my +enemies?" + +"I shall help you, Excellency, if you will try to find her." + +"Yes. I shall try. I will follow, if you will provide me with clothing." + +"It shall be done. But first you must eat and drink and then we shall +plan." + +Zubeydeh, now completely disarmed, brought cakes and sherbet, and when +Renwick had eaten and drunk, gave him cigarettes and the clothing, +showing him into a room where he quickly divested himself of his rags of +wrapper and put on the garments which she had brought. They were +curiously familiar. His own disguise--that which he had bought in the +bazaar and had worn when he had first come to this house. He felt in the +pockets of his trousers but the money was gone. And when he was dressed, +Zubeydeh colored his face with some liquid which she brought from the +kitchen. + +The clock on the mantle indicated the hour of eleven when Renwick +prepared to take his departure. It had been a market day in the Turkish +quarter, and late at night the farmers would be returning to their +homes. Aware of the difficulties which might lie in the way of his +leaving the city, Yeva proposed that Renwick should leave the Carsija in +the cart of a cousin of Zubeydeh's, a farmer who lived on the Romanja +Plain; and Renwick, quick to see the advantages of the plan, readily +agreed, for it was toward the Visegrader Gate, he had learned, that the +automobile of Captain Goritz had departed. + +As he left the lower door with Zubeydeh, who was to accompany him as far +as the Carsija, Renwick caught Yeva by the hand. + +"I cannot thank you, girl. But some day I shall pay. You will remember. +I promise." + +"It is nothing," she said; and then with a laugh: "But if in Vienna or +Paris or London, you should see a silk dress of blue----" + +"You shall have two of them--and two of pink----" + +"Excellency----!" she cried, clapping her hand childishly. + +"And if I find her--jewels----!" + +"It is too much----" she cried. And then eagerly, as though she feared +he might misinterpret, "Still, I should like them----" + +"You shall have them--some day." + +"I shall pray to Allah that you may find her. Go, Excellency. Go to her +and tell her that I have done what I can." + +"Allah will bless you." + +"May Allah bless you both," she sighed, "for it is all so very +beautiful." + +The last glimpse that Renwick had of her was from the gate of the +garden, where he turned to wave his hand as she stood, leaning wistfully +against the doorpost of the house, looking after him. + +The arrangements for his journey were readily made and the business of +the night being concluded, in half an hour Renwick, passing again as +Stefan Thomasevics on his way to Rogatica to help in gathering the +harvest, was seated beside Selim Ali, Zubeydeh's cousin, driving in a +cart through the silent Kastele. Renwick saw several Bosnian police +officers in uniform, who inspected the empty vehicle, but merely glanced +at the slouching figures on the seat. At the Visegrader Gate they were +detained and questioned, but Selim had a clever tongue and told a +straight story which Renwick corroborated with nods and gestures. It +would have been dangerous to risk his too fluent German on the officer +of the guard. No, they had seen no bearded man in a blue coat. It had +been a hot day in the bazaar. One didn't like to think of blue coats on +such a day. Even tonight it was still sultry, but soon the harvest time +would be here, and after that the snows. Would the Excellency like a +fine melon, for forty _hellers_--the only one left in all the day? No? +Then we will give it to the Excellency for nothing. + +The officer grinned and let them pass, but he took the melon. It was +after midnight for in the distance behind them they had heard the bell +of the cathedral tolling the hour. Safely past all military barriers, +Selim, who had had a long day, yawned and clambered into the tail of the +cart to sleep, leaving the horse to its own devices. But sleep was not +for Renwick. His escape had been accomplished without much trouble, and +given a little luck and some skill he thought he could manage to lose +himself quickly in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. But the magnitude of his +undertaking in finding Marishka was formidable. Most of Bosnia and all +of Austria Hungary lay between Sarajevo and the German border--five +hundred miles of enemy's country to be traversed without other resources +than eighteen _kroner_ pieces and a pair of somewhat worn _opankas_! And +after that--the heart of the enemy's country! + +Eighteen _kroner_! His own, probably, filched from the pockets of the +clothing he had worn when he had entered the house in search of +Marishka. His own clothing, the disguise he had bought in the bazaar. +Then perhaps----! Feverishly he felt along the upper lining, where he +had pinned the larger sum of money he had taken from his purse when he +had changed from mufti at the inn over in the Bistrick quarter of the +town. They had found it? Something crinkled under the pressure of his +fingers, and a pin pricked his thumb. It was there--his money. They had +not searched for it, thinking of course that the money they had found in +the pockets was all that he had possessed. He found the head of the pin +and opened the lining, counting the notes--ten of them in all--of one +hundred _kroners_ each. + +A thousand _kroners_! He could have shouted for glee. But caution came +to him in time. He looked around to find that Selim had awakened and was +sitting up rubbing his eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +RENWICK QUESTIONS + + +Had the man observed him when he was counting his money? The hazard of +his position made Renwick suspicious. Selim was a crafty rogue as his +conversation with the officer at the Visegrader Gate had shown, and one +of Zubeydeh's breed needed watching. But the man yawned and stretched +his arms, then got up and looked about with so genuine an air of +drowsiness and fatigue that Renwick concluded that he had been mistaken. +How much or how little Selim had been told of Renwick's affair the +Englishman did not know. But the man had already done him a service and +might be in a position to help him further. So he decided upon an +attitude of friendliness and gratitude which might perhaps be measured +by a few of his eighteen _kroners_ but no more. + +It was about three o'clock, when having met no adventures upon the way, +they reached the farm of Selim Ali upon the border of the Romanja Plain. +Twenty hours at a stretch, nine of which had been spent in the tension +of his escape, were more than Renwick's strength permitted, and he sank +upon the straw pallet to which Selim assigned him, weary and shaken, and +with a hand which instinctively clutched the lining of his trousers +where his money was pinned, he fell into a deep sleep, from which he +did not awaken until the sun was high in the heavens. + +He did not rise at once, but lay on his cot, gazing at the ceiling, his +mind adjusting itself slowly to his situation. He felt for the money in +the lining of his trousers. It had not been touched. If Selim had +discovered the notes in Renwick's possession he was either without +design upon them or had concluded to postpone its consummation until +some later hour. Where was the man? Renwick wanted to talk to him. He +heard the sound of a voice in another part of the house, and getting up +went outside and walked around to the rear of the building. A young +woman in Turkish costume was washing some clothing in a tub by the door. + +Renwick greeted her with a bow and a smile, and asked for Selim. She +pointed toward a distant field, and then asked if he desired food. +Renwick thanked her and replied that he would wait until Selim returned, +and went back to bed. There, some moments later the woman brought him +coffee, bread, and excellent soup, which the Englishman devoured +hungrily, not aware until the moment that it was precisely food he +required. When he had finished eating, he smoked a cigarette and planned +his pilgrimage. + +He had but two known facts with regard to the flight of Captain Goritz +with his prisoner; first, the automobile had gone through the Kastele in +the direction of the Visegrader Gate, over the very road by which +Renwick had come with Selim; second, the object of Captain Goritz was to +reach the German border as speedily as possible. + +The fact that Goritz had left town by this road to the north and east +indicated one of two things: that Goritz, seeking the more quietly to +escape from the town, had chosen the road through the Kastele quarter, +intending to make a détour over the mountains and reach the Bosna road, +by which he would go straight through Hungary and Austria to his +destination; the other inference was that Goritz had chosen the more +easterly road to the north in order to avoid passing through Austria, +seeking the shortest road into Silesia, through central Hungary and +Galicia by way of Cracow. It seemed probable that Goritz had already +reached Germany, and yet even this was no assured fact. If Goritz had +chosen to return through Austria by the main traveled roads, by Bosna, +by Agram, or by Budapest, there was scarcely a chance that he could have +eluded the agents of the watchful Windt. The plot against the life of +the Archduke had consummated in his death. Marishka had failed, but with +her failure had come a restitution of her complete rights as an Austrian +citizen. Herr Windt, no longer seeking to restrain her actions, would +wish to save her from the results of her own imprudences, redoubling his +efforts to come between Goritz and the German border. + +Renwick tried to think as Goritz would think. Why had Goritz come by the +circuitous road over the Romanja Plain? Surely not to go north by way of +Serbian territory. Goritz had a reason. The shortest road--the least +traveled road, the road which avoided Brod, the main gateway into +Bosnia, was the road by which he would pass through the rural districts +of eastern Hungary, proceeding all the while along the level country of +the Danube or the Thiess, reaching Silesia--the long tail of the German +Empire which thrust out between Poland and Galicia. + +Renwick paced the room with quick strides. The theory hung together. And +given this to be the plan of Goritz, had he succeeded in carrying it +out? Possibly. But Hungary was wide. It was five hundred miles at least +from Sarajevo to the Carpathians, and much may happen to an automobile +in five hundred miles. Marishka, Yeva told him, had fainted. It would +have been inhuman for Goritz to have taken her such a distance without a +chance for rest or recuperation. Goritz! Every theory that Renwick +devised seemed to fall to the ground when he thought of him. The +cleverness of the man was amazing. And what lay behind his cleverness? +What of decency or what of deviltry lay behind the mask that Renwick had +seen? The man had treated her with consideration--for Marishka had not +complained of his attitude toward her--until there in the Turkish house, +when he had seized her by the arm.... + +Deliberation had gained something--only a theory as yet, but if a +theory, one which stood the acid of inspection from every angle. + +Renwick's task seemed hopeless, but that spirit of persistence, of which +Marishka had once spoken, was one of the dominating characteristics of +his nature. Given a sound purpose, a worthy desire, he was not easily +dismayed, and desperate as his chances of finding Marishka now seemed, +it did not enter his head to give up and seek his way--as he might +easily have done--to the Serbian border and so to safety. Marishka had +forgiven him! During the long days of his convalescence the memory of +their brief joyous moments in the Turkish house had renewed and +invigorated him. He had heard her calling to him across the +distances--despairingly, but hoping against hope that the man she loved +was still alive. It thrilled him to think that he could still come to +her--if she would wait--come even from the grave and answer her call to +him--the call of one brave spirit to another, which needed no material +fact of physical utterance to make itself heard. He would find her--not +soon perhaps, but all in good time. Providence had not saved him +miraculously for failure, and it was written that he should succeed. The +gods would be with him now and arm him against disaster. He rejoiced to +find how strong he felt today. All the tremors had gone out of his +nerves, and he was ready to begin his journey whenever it should be +time. But first he wanted to question Selim--Goritz had passed this +house--there was a chance ... + +Selim Ali returned from the fields at supper time, greeted Renwick with +bluff heartiness, and together they sat at a substantial meal of +_Jungfern-Braten_, over which Selim's wife Zaidee presided. In the light +of events, Renwick willingly reconstructed his estimate of Selim. Last +night Renwick would have been suspicious of the angel Gabriel, but with +the courage of the sunlight had come confidence in himself, and faith in +his star. It seemed that Zubeydeh had told her cousin nothing of +Renwick's nationality or predicament, but that he was a friend who had +gotten into a trouble, and that the police of Sarajevo were looking for +him. Selim was to shelter him and speed him upon his way. Selim asked +many questions which Renwick answered as he chose, biding his own time. +Yes, _he_, Stefan Thomasevics, had gotten into trouble in Sarajevo, all +because of a woman (and this Renwick knew to be true), and desired to +leave the country. He did not wish to go to the war and he would not +fight against the Serbians who were not in the wrong. He, Thomasevics, +wished to go north to Budapest where he would work in the factories and +amass a fortune. Selim wagged his head wisely and laughed. + +"You must work long, my young friend, and spend nothing," he said. +"Come. You're a strong fellow--a little weak just now from smoking too +many cigarettes and staying up too late at night. But I will give you +work here upon my farm and pay you well." + +But Thomasevics shook his head. + +"Thank you. You are kind, but I have already made up my mind." + +Selim shrugged and lighted his long pipe. + +"As you will, but I have made you a good offer." + +"A good offer. Yes. Which I would accept were my mind not set upon other +matters." He paused and then, "Selim, you are a good fellow. I will tell +you the truth. I would like to stay with you, but I am searching for +something which may take me to the ends of the earth." + +"That is a long way, my friend." + +"Yes, a long way, when one doesn't know which way to go." + +"Ah, that is even longer. There are but two things which will take a man +like you so far as that--vengeance, or a woman." + +Renwick smiled. + +"I see that you are wise as well as clever. I go for both, Selim." + +"A woman? Young?" + +"Yes." + +"Beautiful?" + +"Yes." + +"And the vengeance----" + +"That shall be beautiful also." + +Selim smoked his pipe solemnly and as Renwick hesitated, + +"Will it please you to tell me more?" he asked. + +Renwick deliberated. + +"Yes. I am groping in the dark. And the darkness begins at Sarajevo. She +left there in the night--with _him_." + +"Ah, a man! Of course." + +"They fled by the Visegrader Gate and they came upon this road, past +this very house." + +Selim shrugged. + +"At night! It is a pity. I might have seen them but I sleep soundly." + +"There are no other houses for a long distance in either direction. They +might have stopped here." + +"But they did not!" And as Renwick gave up despairingly, "You see, I +worked very hard all last week and slept like a dead man." + +"It was not last week," said Renwick gloomily, "almost two months +ago----" + +"Ah, as to that----" and Selim shrugged again. "One has no recollection +of things that happened before the Hegira." + +Of course it was hopeless. Renwick had only unraveled the thread to see +how far it would lead. Here it broke off, and so he relinquished it. +Rather wearily he sank back into his chair and gazed out of the window +into the sunset. + +Selim's wife entered with a tray to take away the dishes. She wore no +_yashmak_, for Selim, though professing the Moslem faith, was somewhat +lax in carrying out its articles. He did not believe in running a good +thing into the ground, he said. So Zaidee came and went as she chose. + +"I have been listening from the kitchen," she said with a smile. "It is +always a woman that makes the trouble, _nicht wahr_?" + +"Then how can Paradise be Paradise?" grunted Selim. + +"Thou wouldst get on poorly without us, just the same," said Zaidee +demurely. + +"But I should not go to the ends of the earth, like Stefan, here." + +"Thou! Thou dost not know the meaning of love. I wish I could help him." + +"It is impossible," sneered Selim. + +"But it is interesting," sighed Zaidee. "She went away with another +man--that is cruel!" + +"Perhaps Stefan is better off than he knows," said Selim. + +"Selim," said Zaidee with great solemnity, "thou art a pig!" + +"Pig I am not." + +"Pig!" she repeated with more acerbity. + +Renwick was in no mind to take a part in their quarrel and was moving +toward the door of the adjoining room when a phrase caught his ear. + +"And thou art a magpie, Zaidee, always croaking. It will get us into +trouble, thy talking. I have but to set my foot outside the house and +thy tongue wags like the clothing of a scarecrow." + +"I have done no harm," she said angrily. + +"It is no affair of thine--they will come again asking questions. I have +no humor to talk with any of that accursed breed." + +"What harm can come--if we tell the truth----?" + +"Bah--what do the police care about the truth?" + +Renwick turned and reëntered the room. + +"The police!" he said quickly. + +"Zaidee talks too much. A month ago in my absence they came inquiring." + +"And what wouldst _thou_ have said?" cried Zaidee angrily. "To shelter a +sick woman is no crime----" + +"I should have said nothing." + +"And what happened?" asked Renwick eagerly, now aware of the bone that +chance had thrown in the way of a starving man. + +"In the middle of the night which followed the day upon which the +Archduke was assassinated----" + +"And whose tongue is wagging now--thou magpie?" put in Zaidee +spitefully. + +"Be quiet----" said Selim. + +Renwick glared at the woman as though he would have liked to choke her, +and she subsided. + +"An automobile stopped at my door. There were three people, an Austrian +officer, a lady who was sick, and a man who drove the car. They asked +admittance on account of the Excellency who was sick. I could not +refuse, for they said that they would pay me well." + +Selim paused, hunting in his pockets for a match to light his pipe, and +Renwick, containing his patience with difficulty, stood, his hands +clenched behind him, waiting. They had stopped here--at this very house. + +"And then----?" he asked calmly. + +"We put the Excellency to bed----" + +"_I_ did," said Zaidee. + +"Bah! What matter? They were bound upon a journey over the mountains to +Vlasenica, where the Excellency was taking his wife for the waters." + +"His wife," mumbled Renwick. + +"They traveled at night to avoid the heat of midday, but the sudden +sickness of the Excellency made further travel impossible." + +"The officer Excellency lied----!" said Zaidee. + +"Be quiet, thou----!" roared Selim. + +"Let Zaidee speak. I am no policeman," said Renwick. + +"What interest is it of yours?" + +Renwick caught the man by the shoulders with both hands and glared at +him. + +"Merely because this is the woman I seek." + +"An Excellency like--and you?" + +"What I am does not matter. A hundred _kroner_ if you tell the +truth----" + +"A hundred _kroner_----!" + +His eyes searched Renwick eagerly, and then, "There is little I would +not tell for a hundred _kroner_, but----" + +"I am not of the police, I tell you. This lady is an Austrian noblewoman +in danger." + +"And the Austrian officer----" + +"Is no Austrian, but an enemy of Austria----" + +"A Serb----?" + +"No." + +"Who are you?" + +"What does that matter?" + +Selim shrugged. "Nothing perhaps--still----" + +"And if I tell you, you will keep silent?" + +"A hundred _kroner_ will make me dumb." + +"I am an Englishman," said Renwick after a moment. + +"Ah--a spy!" + +"No. A prisoner who has escaped." + +"That is better." + +"Speak!" + +And as the man still hesitated Renwick unpinned the notes in his pocket +and tossed one of them upon the table, in front of him. Selim took it +eagerly. + +"I am quite ready to believe anything you say----" + +But Renwick seized his wrist in a strong grip. "You have not spoken +yet." + +"I will speak, then," said Zaidee. "Selim is a fool to hesitate. I +nursed the Excellency for two nights and a day. I cooked her eggs and +chicken and soup, but she would not eat. She was very much frightened." + +"The man--he treated her badly?" + +"Oh, no. Very politely, and paid us for our service, but the Excellency +was frightened. I was kind to her, and she was grateful, but she spoke +nothing of where she was going. Perhaps she did not know. But it was not +to take the waters." + +"You, Selim," broke in Renwick, "you heard the men speaking? What did +they say?" + +He shrugged. + +"How can I remember? They planned their journey with a map, but I had no +interest----" + +"What map----?" + +"A map--how should I know----" + +"Of Hungary----" + +"Hungary!" And then scratching his head, "Yes, it must have been of +Hungary, for they spoke of Budapest----" + +"And what else? The Danube--the Thiess?" + +"I do not remember?" + +"You must----!" Renwick's fingers closed again upon the hundred _kroner_ +note which Selim had put back on the table. + +"What good would it do if I lied to you?" + +"Think, man, think! They made marks upon the map?" + +"Marks? Oh, yes--marks." + +"Up and down, the way they were sitting?" + +"Yes. I think so. By the beard of the Prophet! You can't expect a fellow +to remember such things as this for two months." + +"Did they speak of mountains?" + +"Mountains----!" Selim scratched his head again. "How should I know?" + +"The Carpathians?" + +"The Carpathians. Perhaps. Ah----" + +Selim tapped his brow with a stubby forefinger. + +"There was a name they spoke many times. It was a strange name." + +"What?" + +"I can't think." + +"Zaidee, you heard?" Renwick asked. + +"I was listening, but I could not understand." + +"Was it a city?" + +"I do not know." + +"Was it Cracow? Kaschau? Agram? Was it Brünn?" + +But they made no sign. + +"Think!" said Renwick. "At the top of the map--away from them--near the +edge?" + +Selim shrugged hopelessly. "I can't remember," he said. + +Renwick despaired. + +"Was the map large?" + +"Yes. I remember that. It covered this table----" + +"Ah--then you can tell me how they stood?" + +"Yes. I can tell you that." + +He got up and placed himself at the side of the table. "The Excellency +was here--the map spread out----" + +"Did he lean to the left or to the right?" + +"He leaned well forward with both elbows upon the table--straight +forward--yes--almost across--a pencil in his hand--the other was +pointing. The lamp was just there----" pointing to the left center of +the table. + +"The lamp was on the map?" + +"Yes--to keep it in position----" + +"On the left-hand side?" + +"Yes." + +"And they didn't move the lamp?" + +"No. It remained there until they raised it to take the map away." + +"I understand. And they made marks up and down with a pencil?" + +Selim shrugged. + +"It is what I think, merely." + +"And the name was----?" + +"How can one be sure of a name? It is a wonder just now that I can +remember my own. Had I known what was to happen----" And he shrugged and +dropped wearily again into his chair. + +"And the police--? What has Zaidee said to the police?" + +"Merely that the Excellencies were here--in this house." + +"The police are coming again?" + +"I do not know. It would seem that they have forgotten." + +"And if they come, you will speak?" + +"The hundred _kroner_ will make me dumb." + +"And Zaidee?" + +"I will not speak." + +"Nothing of me, you understand. I am but Stefan Thomasevics----" + +"It is understood." + +"And you remember nothing more?" + +"Nothing." + +"You are sure. The Excellency left no message--no note----?" + +"Nothing." + +Renwick pushed the hundred _kroner_ note toward Selim and straightened. + +"You have done me a service, Selim. They have gone to the east of the +Tatra----" + +"Tatra!" suddenly shouted Selim triumphantly. "It is the name!" + +"Are you sure?" asked Renwick excitedly. + +"Yes. Tatra--that is it. They spoke of it for half an hour. Eh--Zaidee?" + +"Yes. It is the name." + +Renwick paced the floor with long steps. + +"Selim," he said at last, "it is now dark. I must go at once." + +"Tomorrow." + +"Tonight. The stars are out." + +He moved to the door and peered out. + +"You will keep silent?" he asked. + +"Have I not promised?" said Selim. + +He caught them both by the hand. + +"Allah will bless you." + +"A hundred _kroner_--that is blessing enough for one day, Stefan +Thomasevics," he laughed. + +"Adieu!" said Renwick, and walked bravely off into the starlight. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +AN IMPERSONATION + + +At least he now had a goal--"the center of the map, near the top"--the +Tatra region by which Goritz had passed (if he had not been intercepted) +into Galicia and so into Germany. Aside from the value of Selim's +information, one other fact stood out. The secret service men who had +visited Selim a month ago had not returned. Did this mean that Herr +Windt had already succeeded in closing the door of escape? The passes +through the Carpathians could of course be easily guarded and closed, +for there were few of them accessible to traffic by automobile. Was +Renwick's goal, after all, to be there and not beyond? He had put in one +summer in the Tatra region with Captain Otway of the Embassy, and he +knew the district well,--a country of mountain villages, feudal castles, +and rugged roads. Otway had been interested in the military problems of +the Austro-Hungarian empire, and Renwick remembered the importance of +the Tatra as a natural barrier to Russian ambitions. The shortest +automobile road into Silesia lay to the _east_ of the Tatra range--and +the passes through the Carpathians at this point were few and well +known. By process of elimination, Renwick had at last assured himself +that his first theory was tenable, for Selim had confirmed it. A hundred +conjectures flashed into the Englishman's mind as he trudged onward, to +be one by one dismissed and relegated to the limbo of uncertainty. But +assuming that Selim had told the truth, Renwick had found the trail, and +would follow wherever it might lead him, to its end. + +His idea of traveling afoot by night and of hiding by day, at least for +the first part of his journey, was born of the desire to leave nothing +to chance. His own capture meant internment until the end of the war, or +possibly an exchange for some Austrian in England. But they should not +catch him! Concealed in his belt he wore the American revolver, and +carried some cartridges which Zubeydeh had restored to him. + +The weather fortunately had been fine, and the days and nights in the +open were rapidly restoring him to strength. The discomfort at the wound +in his body which had bothered him for a few days had disappeared. He +was well. And with health came hope, faith even, in the star of his +fortunes. It took him two weeks to reach Polishka, below which he +crossed the Save at night in a boat which he found moored to the bank, +and daylight found him at a small village through which a railroad ran +north towards the plains of the Danube. Here he paused dead-tired for +food and rest. + +The innkeeper, who spoke German fairly well, swallowed Renwick's story, +his taste somewhat stimulated by the sight of the ten-_kroner_ piece +which the Englishman used in paying for his breakfast. + +But the time had now come for the execution of a bold plan which for +some days and nights Renwick had been turning over and over in his mind. +It was a good plan, he thought, a brave plan which stood the test of +argument pro and con. The British Embassy in many of its investigations +during times of peace,--investigations of a purely personal or financial +nature,--had been in the habit of calling in the services of one Carl +Moyer, an Austrian who ran a private inquiry bureau in Vienna. He was an +able man, not directly connected with the secret service department of +the Empire, but frequently brought into consultation upon matters +outside the pale of politics. Renwick's interest in Moyer had been +limited to the share they had both taken in some inquiries as to the +standing of a Russian nobleman who had approached the Ambassador with a +scheme of a rather dubious character. But a physical resemblance to +Moyer, which had been the subject of frequent jokes with Otway, had now +given Renwick a new and very vital interest in the personality of the +man which had nothing to do with their business relations. Moyer was +thinner than Renwick, and not so tall, but their features were much +alike. When at first the idea of an impersonation had come to Renwick, +he had rejected it as dangerous, but the notion obsessed him. The very +boldness of the project was in its favor. He could now move freely along +the railroads and if one ignored the hazard of meeting the man himself +or someone who knew him intimately, he could pursue his object of +following the trail of Captain Goritz with a brave front which would +defy suspicion. True, he would have no papers and no credentials, but +this, too, was a part of the guise of a man who might be moving upon a +secret mission. Carl Moyer, disguised as an Austrian of the laboring +class, moving from Bosnia to the Carpathians--what could be more +natural? + +As Renwick ate his breakfast in the small inn at Otok, he came to a +sudden decision to put this bold plan into practice. And so, exhibiting +another ten-_kroner_ piece, he made known his wishes to the innkeeper. +He was a Bosnian, he said, but in Hungary he did not wish to attract +attention by wearing his native costume. In parts of Hungary there was a +feeling that the Bosnians who lived near the Serbian border were not +loyal to the Emperor and this, it had been said, might make it difficult +for him to obtain employment. His purse was not large but if his host +would procure for him a suit of western clothing, a coat, a pair of +trousers, a shirt, a cravat, and a soft hat, he, Thomasevics, would +offer his Bosnian clothing in exchange and do what was fair in the +matter of money. The train from Britzka did not go north for an hour. +Would it be possible to find these things in so short a time? The +innkeeper regarded the worn and mud-stained garments of his guest rather +dubiously, but the terms of the offer in the matter of money having been +made clear, the transformation was accomplished without difficulty and +Renwick boarded the train rather jubilant at the celerity and speed of +his journey. By nightfall, with luck, he would be across the Danube and +well within the borders of Hungary, mingling in crowds where all trace +of his identity would be lost. He spent most of his afternoon on the +train trying to recall the mannerisms of the man Moyer, a trick of +gesture, a drawl and a shrug which he thought he could manage. Carl +Moyer he now was, on a mission from Bosnia to the North, in which the +better to disguise himself he was permitting his hair and beard to grow. + +Hut success had made him over-confident, for at the Bahnhof at Zombor +where he had to change into a train for Budapest, something happened +which drove all thought from his head save that of escape from the +predicament into which his imprudence had plunged him. + +He was sitting upon a bench on the platform waiting for his train when a +man approached and sat beside him. Renwick needed no second glance to +reassure himself as to the fellow's identity. He was Spivak, Windt's +man, the fellow who had kept guard on the cabin at Konopisht. The +Englishman feared to get up and walk away, for that might attract +attention. So he sat, slouched carelessly, his hat pulled well down over +his eyes, awaiting what seemed to be the inevitable. Spivak--one of +Windt's men sent of course to Zombor, one of the important railway +junctions, to watch all arrivals from the south. Renwick had been ready +with his story when he debarked from the train but there had been a +crowd and he had been in the last carriage. Renwick's mind worked +rapidly, and to an imagination already prescient of disaster, the man +seemed to be inspecting him. As Spivak's chin lifted, Renwick faced him +squarely. Their glances met--and passed. Renwick calmly took out a +cigarette and bending his head forward lighted it coolly, aware that the +man was saying something in Hungarian. + +Renwick made a gesture of incomprehension, wondering meanwhile how he +could kill the man on the crowded platform without attracting +observation. + +"The train from the south was crowded today," said Spivak in German. + +"Crowded? Yes." + +"Do you come from Brod or Britzka?" + +"From Britzka," said Renwick without hesitation, and then with the +courage of desperation-- + +"I have seen you before," he went on, calmly puffing at his cigarette. + +"I have, I think, the same impression." + +"Your name is Spivak--of the Secret Service----" + +"You----" + +"My name is Carl Moyer." + +It was a gambler's chance that Renwick took. If Spivak intimately knew +the man--but he did not and the effrontery disarmed him. + +"You are Carl Moyer? I must have seen you," he muttered. "I have been in +Vienna a little--with Herr Windt, but I am of the Hungarian branch. You +have been in Sarajevo?" + +"Yes," said Renwick easily following out a wild plan that had come into +his mind. "I have been employed by the Baroness Racowitz to find the +Countess Marishka Strahni." + +"Ah, I see. It has come to that!" And then, regarding his companion with +a new interest, "When did you come from Sarajevo?" + +"Last night. It is a strange case." + +"And you have found a lead?" + +"Several----" + +"You can do nothing against such a man as Goritz." + +"It is Goritz--yes--but I will find her if I have to go through Germany +with a harrow." + +"They have not gone to Germany, my friend. Every gate out of Hungary has +been closed to them since the assassination." + +Renwick smiled. The thing had worked. The spirit of the venture glowed +in him--its very impudence fascinated. + +"Perhaps!" he replied. "Still, a man who could outwit Nicholas +Szarvas----" + +Spivak caught him so suddenly by the arm that Renwick trembled. + +"You think he killed Szarvas----?" whispered Spivak eagerly. + +"If not himself, it was by his orders. And the Englishman--Renck----" + +"Renwick." + +"I've found the evidence that Renck was lured to Sarajevo. He possessed +a secret dangerous to Germany and so Goritz killed him." + +"And this Peter Langer--who escaped from the hospital----?" asked Spivak +cynically. + +"The chauffeur of Goritz, left for dead in the fight with Szarvas and +stripped of his clothing to hide all marks of identity. It is no wonder +that he wished to escape----" The Englishman broke off with a rough +laugh and rose. "But this won't do, I'm giving you all my thunder. Herr +Windt does not relish my employment in this service, but since he has +accomplished nothing you cannot blame my clients. I am on my way to +Germany. The surest way to catch a fox is to smoke him out of his hole." + +Spivak took a few paces away, and then slowly returned. + +"What you say is interesting, Herr Moyer, and the theory hangs together, +but you will waste your time in Germany." + +"Why?" + +"Because Captain Goritz is still in Hungary." + +"What further reason have you for believing that he is here?" + +Spivak smiled and hesitated a moment. And then, "You have talked freely. +One good turn deserves another. I will tell you. We know that Captain +Goritz is still in Hungary because within the past week the +Wilhelmstrasse has sent urgent messages to Vienna inquiring for him." + +"Ah--that is interesting," said Renwick slowly, trying to hide the throb +of triumph in his throat. "Then you think----?" + +"Merely that he is in hiding--with the lady," said Spivak with a leer. +"It is no new thing for a man to go in hiding with a lady." + +Renwick's laugh was admirably managed, for fury was in his heart. "This +information is helpful," he said. "You believe that it is true?" + +"I am sure. Berlin is anxious because he has not returned. I do not know +what they suspect over there, but the situation is changed. The war has +made a difference. We have no idea where he has gone. All that we know +is that it will be very difficult for him to get out." + +In the distance the train was rumbling up the track, and Renwick was +thankful. But he caught the fellow by the hand. + +"You are a good fellow, Spivak. If at any time you wish to leave the +government service and take a good place at a fair payment, you will +come to see me in Vienna." + +"Thanks, Herr Moyer. I shall remember. You are going on to Budapest?" + +"Yes. And you?" + +"I am detained here to watch for a Russian spy who is trying to get +through to the Galician border." He laughed. "You're sure you're +not----?" + +"That's a good joke, Spivak," he smiled. "A Russian! I'd have precious +little chance----" And then as the train rolled in-- + +"Don't forget--Ferdinand Strasse, Number 83----" + +"I will not. Adieu!" + +"Adieu, my friend." + +And with a final wave of the hand Renwick turned and slowly mounted into +his third class carriage. The plan had worked and the man, it seemed, +had not the slightest suspicion. He was, as Renwick remembered from +Konopisht, not infallible, and the ease with which Renwick had +accomplished his object and the remarkable nature of his newly acquired +information could only be explained by the fact that Spivak was seeking +the Russian and not himself, and by the boldness of his impersonation, +which had immediately pierced the crust of Spivak's professional +reserve. All had gone well, but it seemed an age before the train drew +out of the station. Renwick did not dare to look out of the window to +learn if the man were still there, and until the bell of the locomotive +rang announcing the departure of the train, he was unpleasantly nervous, +for fear that a suspicion might dawn in the man's mind which would lead +him to pursue the conversation. + +Renwick never learned whether Spivak's second thoughts had warned him +that all was not as it should be, for instead of taking any chances, the +Englishman got down from the train at the first stop and disappeared +into the darkness. + +It was with a feeling of elation mingled with apprehension that Renwick +made his way forward. Elation because of the new crumbs of information, +apprehension because of the definite assurance that Goritz still held +Marishka a prisoner somewhere within the borders of Hungary. Definite it +seemed, for Spivak had spoken with the utmost confidence of things with +which he was intimately concerned. The trail narrowed. It seemed as +though Providence, aware of past impositions, was bent on making amends +to one who had suffered much from her disfavor. The sudden appearance of +Spivak, which had seemed to threaten disaster, had been turned by a bold +stroke from calamity to good fortune. But Renwick determined to avoid +further such encounters if possible. And so, resuming the mode of +progress which had been so effective on the way to Tuzla, he walked at +night, and slept under cover by day, reaching a town upon the banks of +the Danube, where he bought new clothing, a straw hat, a change of +linen, and a hand bag with which (representing himself as a grain +merchant of Ujvidek), he boldly boarded a steamer upon the river, +reaching Budapest without further incident. + +It was not until he had passed the Quai and was safely in the Karoly +Korut that Renwick breathed easily. He was now safe, finding his way to +his immediate destination, the house of a person connected with the +English Secret Service, into whose care he confidently entrusted +himself. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE NEEDLE IN THE HAYSTACK + + +Herr Koulas was by birth a Greek, by citizenship, an Austrian, and by +occupation, a chemist; but his real métier, concealed under a most +docile and law abiding exterior, was secret inquiry in behalf of the +British government into all matters pertaining to its interests, either +social, political, or military. He knew his Hungary from Odenburg to +Kronstadt, from the Save to the Carpathians, and Renwick, while somewhat +dubious as to the wisdom of his visit under the circumstances, found +himself received at this excellent man's home with a warmth of welcome +which left no doubt in his own mind as to the unselfishness of his host. +Even before the war Renwick and Constantine Koulas had met in secret, so +that if trouble came no plan should mar the man's impeccable character +in Austrian eyes. And Renwick would not have come to him now, had not +his own need been great. But Herr Koulas, having heard the tale of his +adventures and reassured as to the present danger of pursuit, gave +willingly of his hospitality and counsel, and when he learned the +character of Renwick's mission, volunteered to procure him a set of +papers which would rob his pilgrimage to the north, at least, of its +most obvious dangers. He was ready with information, too, and offered a +mind with a peculiar genius for the kind of problem that Renwick +presented. The fact that the great Prussian secret agent, Leo Goritz, +was involved in the affair lent it an individuality which detracted +nothing from its other interest. Leo Goritz! Only last year there had +been a contest of wits between them, both under cover, and Koulas had +managed to get what he wanted, not, however, without narrowly escaping +the revelation of his own part in the investigation. Goritz was a clever +man and a dangerous one, young, brilliant, handsome, unscrupulous, who +wore an armor of impenetrability which had not yet revealed a single +weak link. And yet, Herr Koulas reasoned, broodingly, that there must be +one. A weak link! Where was the man without one? The messages from the +Wilhelmstrasse! Why had Goritz not returned to Berlin upon the outbreak +of the war? What was keeping him in Hungary? He was in the Tatra region? +Possibly. Which were the passes by which he might try to go? Uzoker, +Dukla, or perhaps even Jablunka. The Russians were already battering at +Przemysl--Uzoker Pass was out of the question. Jablunka--that was nearer +the German border, but eagerly watched even in times of peace. Goritz +would not have dared to try to abduct the Countess Strahni by way of +Jablunka! The railroad went through Jablunka, a narrow highway with no +outlet for many miles. It was not the kind of _cul-de-sac_ that Goritz +would have chosen. Dukla? Perhaps. A little farther to the east, of +course, but not yet menaced by the Russian advance. + +The thing was puzzling, but interesting--very. The abduction of a loyal +citizen of Austria--a lady of noble birth--a hurried flight by +unfrequented roads and then an _impasse_! Had Herr Windt blocked the +way? Was the lady ill? Or had something else detained them? + +Renwick sat in the back room of the small laboratory, his arms folded, +his brows tangled in thought, as Herr Koulas, puffing great clouds of +smoke from his long pipe, thus analyzed the situation. + +"I have thought of all of these things, Herr Koulas," Renwick muttered, +"and my mind always comes back to the same point. If I know that Goritz +has come to this region, if I know that he has not gone out of it, I +also know that he remains. I do not care _why_--my question is +_where--where_?" + +Koulas ran his long forefinger over the map upon the table. + +"It is the map Goritz might use--a road map of the government," he +grumbled. + +"The center near the top--Poprad--he would get through there with +difficulty----" + +Renwick had risen and paced the floor slowly. + +"I have not been through Dukla. It is accessible?" + +"Yes. Svidnik to Przemysl. Rocks--a _schloss_ or two----" He turned. "It +was there that the Baron Neudeck was killed--you remember--three years +ago?" + +"I have forgotten--Neudeck--an Austrian?" + +"A German--Neudeck was selling military plans to the Russians--Goritz!" + +Koulas sprang to his feet triumphantly--"Goritz! It was Goritz who +discovered him----" + +Renwick was listening eagerly, and Koulas turned with a shrug. "Nothing +much, my friend. And yet--a coincidence perhaps--Goritz, Neudeck, Dukla. +Goritz--Strahni--'the center of the map--at the top.' It might be worth +trying." + +"I shall try it. There is nothing else for me to do. The Pass is used +for transport?" + +"No. The line of communication is through Mezo Laborcz." + +"It will be risky----" + +"Not unless you make it so. With luck you shall bear a letter to General +Lechnitz (which you need never deliver) as a writer for a newspaper." + +"That can be managed?" + +"I hope--I believe--I am confident." + +Renwick smiled. Herr Koulas was something of a humorist. + +"Tell me more of this Neudeck case," asked the Englishman. + +"There is unfortunately little more to tell. Neudeck was a German baron +with military connections, not too rich and not above dishonesty. Goritz +traced the plans to Schloss Szolnok, an ancient feudal stronghold which +an elder Baron Neudeck had bought----" + +"In the Dukla?" + +"--in the Dukla--where some Russian officers were invited for the +shooting. They did not know how little they were to enjoy it----" Koulas +chuckled and blew a cloud of smoke--"for Goritz shot Neudeck before +their very eyes, and took the plans back to Germany. This is secret +history--a nine days' wonder--but it passed and with it a clever +scoundrel who well deserved what he got." + +"And since his death who lives in Schloss Szolnok?" + +"I don't know." He laughed again. "You jump very rapidly at conclusions, +my friend." + +"Time passes. I must jump at something. I am going to Dukla +Pass--tomorrow if you will help me." + +"That goes without saying. For the present you shall go to bed and sleep +soundly. I would like to go with you, but alas--I am not so young as I +was and I can best serve all your interests here." + +Renwick shook Koulas by the hand and took the bedroom candle that was +offered him. + +"Good night," he said. "I pray that no harm may come to you from this +imprudence of mine." + +"Do not worry, my friend. I am well hedged about with alibis. Good +night." + +The next evening after dark Renwick, now Herr Max Schoff of the _Wiener +Zeitung_, supplied with a pass which Herr Koulas by means of his +underground machinery had managed to procure, took the night train for +Kaschau, which he reached in the early morning of the following day, +going on later to Bartfeld, the terminus of the railroad, a small and +ancient town under the very shadow of the mountains. Here, it being late +in the afternoon, he found the Hungaria, a hotel to which he had been +directed, where he made arrangements to stop for the night while he +leisurely pursued his inquiries. + +Now at last, so very near his destination, he was curiously oppressed +with the futility of his pilgrimage. He had come far, braving the danger +of detection and death, for he had no illusions regarding the status of +an Englishman approaching the battle lines under the guise of a +newspaper writer. If taken, it would be as a spy, and he would be +treated as such. + +Herr Koulas had warned him not to be too sanguine, for the roads out of +Hungary were many, and Dukla Pass, merely because of a bit of forgotten +secret history, a possibility not to be neglected. Herr Koulas had also +warned him that the methods in induction which had been open to him had +also been open to the Austrian secret service men who, perhaps, had +already taken measures to follow the same scent. And so it was that the +golden smile of Herr Windt still persisted in Renwick's dreams by night, +and in his thoughts by day. If Spivak had told his story of his meeting +with the spurious Moyer, his conversation about Szarvas would +immediately identify him as Renwick the Englishman. But however near the +two trails ran, Windt's men had not yet come up with him, and, until +they did, Renwick knew that he must move boldly and quickly upon his +quest. And so at last resolution armed him anew. + +It was now approaching dusk, and he cast about for a person to whom he +might talk without arousing suspicion, and so he turned into an inn at +the corner of the street and ordering beer sat himself upon a bench +along the wall before a long wooden table. The few men who sat drinking +and smoking gave him a curious glance, and the proprietor of the +establishment, aware of a stranger, felt it to be his duty to learn +something of his mission to this small town and of his identity. This +was what Renwick wanted, and as the man spoke in German, he told with +brief glibness his well rehearsed story, inviting his host to join him +in a glass, over which they were presently chatting as thick as thieves. +He was a newspaper writer, Renwick said, upon his way to the front, and +showed the letter to General Lechnitz. But he had never before been in +this part of the country and intended to see it, upon the way. It was an +interesting town, Bartfeld, a fine church too, St. Aegidius. Had his +host lived in Bartfeld a long time? + +The man was a native, and very proud of his traditions, expanding +volubly in reply to Renwick's careless questions. His father and +grandfather had kept this very inn, and indeed for all he knew their +fathers' fathers. A quiet town, but interesting to those who were fond +of historical associations. Renwick listened patiently, slowly drawing +the man nearer to the subject that was uppermost in his mind. It was a +short distance to Dukla Pass, a very picturesque spot, he had been told, +one well worth a visit, was it not? + +"Dukla Pass!" said the man. "A name well known in the annals of the +country in the days of John Sobieski, long before the railroad went +through beyond; a wonderful spot with cliffs and ravines. I have been +there often. In the season, before the war, one drove there--for the +view. Now alas! what with the Cossacks running over Galicia, the people +had more serious things to think about." + +"It is easily reached?" asked Renwick. + +"By the road beyond the town--a short cut--a climb over the mountains, +but not difficult at this time of the year." + +"There is a village there?" + +"A few farmhouses merely, in the valley along the streams. The glory of +the Dukla is its ruins." + +"Ah, of course, there are feudal castles----" + +"Javorina, Jägerhorn, Szolnok----" + +"Szolnok!" said Renwick with sudden interest. "I have heard that name +before----" + +He paused in a puzzled way. + +"It was the summer residence of Baron Neudeck----" + +"Ah, then it is not a ruin?" + +"Until three years ago he lived there--in the habitable part--when +something terrible happened. No one about here is sure--but the place +has an evil name." + +"That is interesting. Why?" + +"The facts have never been clearly explained. The story goes that Baron +Neudeck was in the midst of entertaining guests--a hunting party of +gentlemen; that there was a night of revelry and of drinking. One of the +servants, entering the dining-hall in the morning, found Baron Neudeck +lying dead upon the hearth with a bullet wound in his forehead. The +guests had disappeared--vanished as if the earth had swallowed them." + +"And the police?" + +"The police came and went. It was very strange. Nothing further was +heard of the matter. But no one about here will go within a mile of the +place after nightfall." + +"And the servants--what became of them?" + +The man shrugged. "They did not come from around here. They were +Germans, who came with the Baron. If the police are satisfied, I am." + +The man shrugged and drained his glass. + +"The other castles are ruined, you say? Then it cannot be long before +Szolnok will share their fate--since it is not occupied," suggested +Renwick. + +"Perhaps," said the man indifferently, rising with a view to closing the +conversation. + +Renwick ordered another glass of beer, and sat looking out of the small +casement window at the passers-by, thinking deeply. + +The inspiration of Herr Koulas had at least set him upon a scent which +still held him true upon this trail. The information he had received +might mean much or little. German servants? Had Goritz used the servants +of Baron Neudeck in unraveling the secret of the stolen plans? Had they +been implicated in the affair? Did he hold them his creatures by a +knowledge of their share in the guilty transaction? Three years had +passed since the killing of Neudeck. What had happened in the meanwhile? +Had the title of the property passed to others? Had the Schloss been +occupied since the Baron's death, or was it deserted? He evolved a +theory rapidly, determining to test it at once. It would perhaps be +imprudent to question further this innkeeper, a public character, and it +seemed quite probable that he knew little more than had already been +told. A visit to the farmhouses in the valley would reveal something. He +would go---- + +Renwick had been gazing out of the window, but his attention was +suddenly arrested by the figure of a man at the corner of the street, +who stood, smoking a cigarette. There was nothing unusual in his +clothing or demeanor, but the thing which had startled Renwick into +sudden alertness was the rather vague impression that somewhere he had +seen this man's face before. A vague impression, but definite in the +sense that to Renwick the face had been associated with something +unpleasant or disagreeable. But even as Renwick looked, the man tossed +his cigarette into the cobbles and turning on his heel walked up the +street, passing out of Renwick's range of vision. The Englishman started +up from his unfinished glass with the notion of following, but a second +thought urged caution. It was still light outside, and if the stranger's +memory for faces were better than his own, a meeting face to face would +merely court unnecessary danger. So Renwick returned to his bench and +made a pretense of finishing his beer, awaiting in safety the darkness. +Where had he seen this man before? He searched his mind with painful +thoroughness--wondering if the injury to his head had robbed his brain +of some of its clearness. He had seen this man's face before--before his +sickness--he was sure of that. Hadwiger, Lengelbach, Linder--one by one +he recalled the secret service men. The face of the stranger was that of +none of these. Someone--a shadowy someone--out of darkness--or dreams. +Could the idea have been born of some imaginary resemblance, some +fancied recollection? The thing was elusive, and so he gave it up, aware +that if his brain had played him no trick, there was here another +confirmation of his hope that he was on the true scent. Were the threads +converging? + +The plan that he now had in mind was to go over the mountains afoot and +make some quiet inquiries among the farmhouses in the valley below the +Pass, in regard to Schloss Szolnok. And so as the light had grown dim, +he got up and went forth into the street, pulling his soft hat well down +over his eyes, and making his way toward the road which led to Dukla +Pass. He verified the innkeeper's direction by inquiry at the end of the +main street, and as the night was clear, set forth briskly upon his walk +over the mountain road, for the idea of spending the evening in +inactivity was not to be thought of until all the facts regarding this +Schloss Szolnok were in his possession. + +A ruin--uninhabited? And with its crumbling, his own hope.... It was no +time for despair. Had he not come miraculously from death and traveled +safely from one border of the enemy's country almost to the other, as +though led or driven by some secret impelling force--some inspiration, +some hidden guidon or command? At each turn, at each danger, he +remembered he had acted with swiftness and decision, and had at no time +been at a loss. Fortune had favored him at each stage of his journey and +had directed his steps with rare assurance in this direction. Fortune or +a will-o'-the-wisp? Or was Marishka calling to him? He had had the +impression of her nearness often--there in the hospital--and since, at +Selim Ali's--upon the road. It seemed strange and a little mystifying +too, that he had never doubted that he would be able to find her.... And +now--if not at Schloss Szolnok--elsewhere. + +As the darkness of the mountain road deepened, swift vision came to him. +The possible danger of attack ... Out of the gloom of shadowy rocks, he +had a vision of men who interposed, barring his way, a man in a cap +asking the time. Vienna--the night that he had left Marishka, when the +three men had attacked him! The face of the man in the cap, and the +stranger of Bartfeld--they were the same! + +He could have shouted aloud in the joy of the revelation. The man who +had attacked him in the streets of Vienna--this cigarette-smoking +stranger in Bartfeld. A German? Who else? Perhaps the man who had shot +at him--in Vienna--at the Konopisht railroad station, a minion of +Goritz. Then Goritz could not be far away.... + +Renwick strode down the mountain side toward the distant lights of the +valley, like a man in seven-league boots, searching eagerly meanwhile +the gloomy peaks above him to his left for signs of Schloss Szolnok. He +could distinguish nothing amid the deep shadows of the mountain side. +But the lights below beckoned warmly, and finding a road to his right at +the foot of the declivity, he went toward them rapidly, knocking boldly +at the door of the first house to which he came. + +An old man answered his summons, a tall old man with a long pipe in his +hand, who inspected the visitor narrowly. + +"I have lost my way," said Renwick with a smile, "and thought you might +let me have a cup of milk and some bread, for which I will pay +generously." + +The man in the doorway waved his hand in assent, and Renwick followed +him into the house, where his host made a motion for him to be seated. A +girl and a woman sat by the table knitting, and an old crone sat in a +large chair by the fireplace, in which some embers still glowed. Renwick +was hungry, but not nearly so hungry as impatient for the crumbs of +information that these worthy people might possess, and so he invented a +story while he ate which the girl, who spoke German more fluently than +the old man, translated to her elders. The woman at the table spoke a +little German and shyly added her share to the rather desultory +conversation. Bartfa was not far, only a few miles over the mountain--a +short distance by wagon or horseback, but something of a distance for +one who was weary and footsore. Herr Schoff had come all the way from +Mezo Laborez--and afoot? A newspaper writer? That was a dangerous +occupation in times like these. + +Renwick, having finished his bread and milk, deftly directed the +conversation to the possibilities of Dukla Pass from the Russian point +of view as a means of invasion of the Hungarian plain, and it was soon +quite clear that this possibility had not been absent from their minds. +Renwick praised the effectiveness of the Austrian army which he had +seen, and quickly reassured them. For Dukla Pass, as he had heard, was +but a slit in the mountains, which the Austrians could easily defend. A +few guns upon the rocks, and a million Cossacks could not break through. + +It was encouraging, the man put in in his patois, for they had been +greatly disturbed by rumors among the country-folk and many soldiers +already had passed through. + +"It is a place of historical interest," said Renwick easily, "a +_Schloss_ or two perhaps." + +"Javorina--Jägerhorn, yes--but mere ruins, long ago the property of the +Rakoczi family. And Szolnok----" Here the man paused, glanced at the +girl and the woman, and they both made the sign of the cross with their +forefingers at their breasts. + +In the slight period of embarrassment which followed, Renwick regarded +them with a new interest. The old crone at the fireside, who had been +leaning forward with a hand cupped at her ear, caught the significance +of the gesture and solemnly imitated them. + +"Ah, I remember now," said Renwick with an air of seriousness which +matched their own. "Was it not at Szolnok that Baron Neudeck was +killed?" + +The old man glanced at the others before speaking. + +"Yes. It was there," he said quietly. + +"And the place is no longer occupied?" asked the Englishman. + +No one replied. + +"There is a mystery attached to Schloss Szolnok?" asked Renwick, +lighting his pipe. + +"He asks if there is a mystery," said the woman dully. And then followed +as before the strange ceremony of the cross. + +"I am a stranger in these parts," Renwick went on, "and no mischief +maker. This story interests me. I should like to know----" He paused +again as the old man leaned forward toward him, and laid his skinny +forefinger along Renwick's knee. + +"It is the abode of the devil," he whispered, and then crossed himself +again. + +"Ah--something mysterious----" + +"It is not a matter which we talk about in this house. We are poor, +hard-working people who fear God. But strange things are happening up +yonder night after night. Here in the valley, we no longer go near by +day--nor even look." + +"Ah, I see. Then the place has long been unoccupied?" + +The old man was silent, but the woman, gathering confidence, took up the +story. + +"It was always a place of mystery--even in the days of Baron Neudeck, +who was an evil man. The servants were strangers to our people and spoke +not at all. They never came into the valley." + +"And they did not come for food--for milk, eggs, butter?" + +"Szolnok farm was above the Schloss upon the mountain side. They had +what they needed." + +"Ah, I understand. And since the death of the Baron?" + +"We do not know. We do not go there. Two years ago a young man from +this village went there seeking a sheep which had gone astray. He never +came back. And the sheep skin was found some days later at the foot of +the precipice. And scarcely a month ago, a venturesome young man from +Bartfa climbed the road to the castle in the dead of night on a wager. +What he saw no one will ever know, for he came running down the road to +his companion stricken with terror, and has never spoken of the matter +from that day to this. It was a ghost he saw, they say----" + +"Or a devil," put in the old man. + +"And by day? You see no one?" + +"The Schloss is well within the gorge. I do not go to look, my friend." + +"Have there been no lights at night for three years?" + +"None that I remember--until now." + +"Then it is only for a month or more that they have been seen?" + +"Perhaps. I do not know." + +The man was growing reticent and his family followed his example. The +character of the occupants of Szolnok was not a popular topic for +conversation in Dukla Valley. But this man could help Renwick, and he +determined to use him. And so as the woman bade him good night and went +upstairs, Renwick rose and went to the door, where the old man followed +him. + +"It is late, my friend," he said, "and a weary walk for me to Bartfa. I +will pay you well for a bed." + +"Willingly, if we but had the room----" + +"Or a pallet of straw in your stable. I am not fastidious." + +"Ah, as to that, of course. It can be managed." Renwick took out a +hundred-_kroner_ note, and held it before the man's eyes. + +"If you will do as I ask I will give you this." + +"And what is that?" + +"A place in your stable tonight--breakfast at three in the morning, and +the clothing you now stand in----" + +"My clothing?" + +"No questions asked, and silence. Do you agree?" + +"But I do not understand." + +"It is not necessary that you should. I shall do you no harm." + +"A hundred _kroner_--it is a large sum----" + +"Yours--if you do what I ask----" And he thrust the note into the old +man's fingers. + +This bound the bargain. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +SCHLOSS SZOLNOK + + +The night and day which followed the terrible events in the house of the +Beg of Rataj were like an evil dream to Marishka Strahni. She slept, she +awoke, always to be hurried on by her relentless captors, too ill to +offer resistance or any effort to delay them. Hugh Renwick was dead. All +the other direful assurances as to her own fate were as nothing beside +that dreadful fact. And Goritz--the man who sat beside her--Hugh's +murderer! Fear--loathing--she seemed even too weak and ill for these, +lying for the first part of their long journey, inert and helpless. The +man beside her watched her furtively from time to time, venturing +attention and solicitude for her comfort, but she did not reply to his +questions or even look at him. At the house of Selim Ali she recovered +some of her strength, and again upon the following night, at a small inn +not far from the Serbian border, she fell into a deep sleep of +exhaustion, from which she was aroused with difficulty. The machine was +stopped frequently, and its occupants were questioned, but in each case +Captain Goritz produced papers from his pocket, which let them pass. +They were now well within the borders of Hungary, and as the girl grew +stronger, courage came, and with it the thought of escape. But in spite +of her apparent helplessness she was aware that her captors were +watching her carefully, permitting no conversation with anyone, locking +the doors of the rooms in which she slept, at the houses where they +stopped, and taking turns at keeping guard outside. But their very +precautions gave her an appreciation of the risks that they ran. She was +a prisoner in her own country. All those she passed upon the road were +her friends. She had only to make her identity known, and the object of +her captors, to gain her freedom. She was somewhere in eastern Hungary, +but just where she did not know. The chauffeur spoke the language +fluently, and Marishka's ignorance of it made her task more difficult. +But one night at an inn in a small village, she found a girl who spoke +German, and in a moment when the attention of her guards was relaxed, +she managed to make the girl understand, promising her a sum of money if +she would summon the police of the town, to whom Marishka would tell her +story. The girl agreed, and in the early morning just as the machine +came around to the door Goritz found himself confronted by two men in +uniform. + +Marishka, who had been waiting, trembling, in her room above, came +running down the stairs and threw herself upon their mercy, telling her +story and begging their intercession. + +But even as she spoke she realized that the very wildness of her +narrative was against its verity in the minds of these rustic policemen. + +"It is an extraordinary tale," said the elder man, "and one which of +course must be investigated--an abduction!" + +"If you will permit me," said Goritz smiling calmly. "This lady is my +wife. I am taking her to the north for the baths. As you observe, she +is the subject of delusions----" + +"It is not true," cried Marishka despairingly. "I beseech you to +listen--to investigate----" + +"I regret," said Goritz, with a glance at his watch, "that I have no +time to delay. I am Lieutenant von Arnstorf of the Fifteenth Army Corps, +bearing a safe conduct from General von Hoetzendorf, which all police +officers of the Empire are constrained to respect. Read for yourself." + +And he handed them the magic paper which already had done him such +service. The men read it through with respect and not a little awe, +bestowing at the last a pitying glance upon Marishka, which too well +indicated their delicacy in interfering in the affairs of one in such +authority. + +"And you will not summon the mayor? What I tell is the truth. In the +name of the Holy Virgin, I swear it." + +One of the men crossed himself and turned away. Goritz had already laid +his fingers firmly upon her arm and guided her toward the machine. + +"Come, Anna," he said in a sober, soothing tone, "all will be well--all +will be well." + +And so Marishka, with one last despairing glance in the direction of the +two officers, permitted herself to be handed into the machine by Captain +Goritz who, before the automobile departed, handed a piece of money to +the girl who had done Marishka this service. The last glimpse that +Marishka had of the police officers showed them standing side by side, +their fingers at their caps. Her case was hopeless. She had no friend, +it seemed, in all Hungary, and she abandoned herself to the depths of +her despair. How could she have expected to cope with such a man as +this? + +Goritz said nothing to her of warning or of reproach, but in the same +afternoon, after drinking a cup of coffee which he urged upon her, she +became drowsy and slept. + +She awoke in a large room with walls of panelled wood, and a groined +ceiling. She lay upon a huge bed, raised high above the floor, over the +head of which was a faded yellow silken hanging. Her surroundings +puzzled her, but she seemed to have no desire to learn the meaning of it +all, lying as one barely alive, gazing half conscious toward the narrow +Gothic window near by, through which she had a glimpse of mountains and +blue sky. But the sunlight which fell in patches upon the Turkey rug +dazzled her aching eyes, and she closed them painfully. She felt +wretchedly ill. Her throat was parched, and her body was so weak that +even to move her hand had been an effort. She slept again, woke and +slept again, aware now, even in her stupor, of someone moving near her +in the room. At last with all the will-power left at her command, she +opened wide her eyes and raised herself upon an elbow. It was night, but +lamps upon two tables shed a generous glow. + +As she moved, a figure that had sat near the foot of the bed, rose and +came toward her. It was a very old woman with a wrinkled face and the +inturned lips of the toothless. But her face was kindly, and her voice +when she spoke had in it a note of commiseration. + +"The Excellency is feeling stronger?" she asked. + +"I--I do not know," said Marishka painfully struggling to make her lips +enunciate. "I--I still feel ill. What is this place?" + +"Schloss Szolnok, Excellency, in the Carpathians." She laid her rough +hand over Marishka's. "You have some fever. I will get medicine." + +"A--a glass of water----" + +"At once." The woman moved away into the shadows and Marishka tried to +focus her eyes upon the objects in the room--large chests of drawers, +and tables, a cheval glass, a _prie-dieu_, a carved escritoire with +ormolu mountings, a French dressing table, portraits let into the +panelling, massive oaken chairs, well upholstered--a room of some +grandeur. Schloss Szolnok? What mattered it where she was? Death at +Schloss Szolnok could be no worse than death elsewhere. Weakness +overpowered her, and she sank back into her pillow, aware of her +throbbing temples and a terrible pain that racked her breast. Death. +Hugh, too. He was calling to her. She would come. Hugh! With his name +upon her lips she sank again into unconsciousness. + +For weeks, the very weeks that Hugh Renwick lay in the Landes Hospital, +Marishka lay upon the tall bed in the great room at Schloss Szolnok, +struggling slowly back to life from the clutches of pneumonia. There was +a doctor brought from Mezo Laborcz, who stayed in the castle for a week +until the danger point had passed, and then came every few days until +the patient was well upon the road to recovery. Marishka did not learn +of this until much later when, convalescent, she sat by the window, +looking out over the sunlit mountains beyond the gorge, and then in +wonder and something of disappointment that Goritz had not permitted her +to die. And when the old woman, who bore the name of Ena, related that +the Herr Hauptmann had himself driven the automobile which brought the +doctor in the dead of night to Szolnok, the wonder grew. Marishka had +learned to think of Goritz as one interested only in her death or +imprisonment, and after Sarajevo she had even believed that her life +while in his keeping had hung by a hair. He had killed Hugh, brought her +into this far country against her will, had even drugged her that he +might avoid a repetition of her attempt at escape. And now he was +sparing no pains to bring her back to health, daily sending her messages +of good will and good wishes, with flowers from the garden in the +courtyard, which, as Ena had reported, he had plucked with his own hand. +It was monstrous! + +A few mornings ago he had written her a note saying that he awaited her +pleasure, craving the indulgence of a visit at the earliest moment that +she should care to see him. Marishka, much to Ena's chagrin, had sent no +reply. The very thought of kindness from such a man as Goritz--a +kindness which was to pay for Hugh's death and her favor, made a mockery +of all the beauties of giving--a mockery, too, of her acceptance of +them, whether tacitly or otherwise. A man who could kill without +scruple, a woman-baiter, courteous that he might be cruel, tolerant that +he might torment! By torture of her spirit and of her body he had +brought her near death that he might gain the flavor of saving her from +it. + +He was of a breed of being with which her experience was unfamiliar. The +note of sentiment in his notes, while it amazed, bewildered and +frightened her a little. She was completely in the man's power. What was +Schloss Szolnok? Who was its owner? Ena would not talk; she had +received instructions. Before her windows was spread a wonderful vista +of mountains and ravines, which changed hourly in color, from the +opalescent tints of the dawn, through the garish spectrum of daylight to +the deep purple shadows of the sunset, to the crepuscular opalescence +again. Under any other conditions, she would have been content to sit +and muse alone with her grief--and Hugh. He was constantly present in +her thoughts. It was as though his spirit hovered near. She seemed to +hear him speak, to feel the touch of his hand upon her brow, soothing +her anguish, praying her to wait and be patient. Sometimes the +impression of his presence beside her was so poignant that she started +up from her chair and looked around the vast room, as though expecting +him to appear in the spirit beside her. And then realizing that the +illusions were born of her weakness, she would sink back exhausted, and +resume her gaze upon the restful distance. + +Ena, her nurse, was very kind to her, leaving nothing undone for her +comfort, sitting most of the while beside her, and prattling of her own +youth and the Fatherland. And so, sure of the woman's growing interest +and affection, she slowly revealed the story of Konopisht Garden, her +share in it, and the events that had followed. Marishka could see that +the woman was greatly impressed by the story which lost no conviction +from the pallid lips which told it. And of her own volition, that night, +Ena promised the girl to reveal no word of her confidences, and gave +unreservedly the outward signs of her friendship for the tender creature +committed to her care. She had believed that the kindness of the Herr +Hauptmann had meant the beginnings of a romance. But she understood, +and aware of the sadness of the sick woman's thoughts, did what she +could to delay a meeting which she knew must be painful. + +In reply to Marishka's questions, now, she was less reticent, and told +of the long years at Schloss Szolnok under the Barons Neudeck, father +and son, of the coming of Herr Hauptmann Goritz, and of the threat which +had hung over them for three years since the dreadful night when her +young master had been killed. There had been no heirs to the estate and +no one knew to whom the half-ruined Schloss belonged, but each month +money had arrived from Germany, and so she and Wilhelm Strohmeyer, her +man, and two other servants under orders from Germany, had remained. She +had lived here almost all her life. The people in the village a mile +away were the nearest human folk, and Baron Neudeck had not endeared +himself to them, for once he had beaten a farmer who had questioned the +Excellency's right to shoot upon his land. And so the country people +passed aside and did not venture up the mountain road which indeed had +become overgrown with verdure. And for their part the servants were +contented to stay alone. It was very quiet, but as good a place to die +in as any other. + +Marishka listened calmly, trying to weave the complete story and Captain +Goritz's part in it. Whether Schloss Szolnok was or was not the property +of the German government--and it seemed probable that it would have been +confiscated upon the discovery of Baron Neudeck's treachery--the fact +was clear that Goritz was now its occupant and master. She had not dared +to wonder what was still in store for her at the hands of Captain +Goritz, and had lived from day to day in the hope that something might +happen which would end her imprisonment and martyrdom. She heard nothing +from the outside, and Ena, who had long ago given up the world, was in +no position to inform her. + +But as she gained her strength, Marishka knew that she could not longer +deny herself to Captain Goritz. The mirror showed her that her face, +while thin and wan, was still comely. Wisdom warned her that however +much she loathed the man, every hope of liberty hung upon his favor. And +so she gained courage to look about her and to plan some means of +outwitting him or some mode of escape from durance. The latter +alternative seemed hopeless, for it seemed that the castle was built +upon a lonely crag, its heavy walls, which dated from feudal times, +imbedded in the solid rock. From her bedroom window, below the +buttressed stone, were precipitous cliffs which fell sheer and straight +to the rocky bed of the stream which rushed through the ravine two +hundred meters below. But there would be other modes of egress, and so, +feeling that her strength was now equal to the task, she determined to +go forth and test the cordon which constrained her. One morning, +therefore, she called Ena's attention to her pallid face and suggested +the sunlight of the garden as a means to restoration. The woman was +delighted, and attired in a costume of soft white silk crepe, which she +had fashioned in her convalescence from some posthumous finery that Ena +had discovered, Marishka walked forth of her room down a stone stairway +into the great hall of the castle; and so into the ancient courtyard +where the flower garden was. She had expected Captain Goritz to join +her, and in this surmise she was not mistaken, for she had culled an +armful of blossoms which she sent to her room by Ena when the German +appeared. She heard his voice behind her, even before she had summoned +courage for the interview. + +"My compliments upon your appearance, Countess," he said soberly. "I +hope that you find yourself well upon the road to recovery." + +"Thanks," she replied in a stifled tone. "I am feeling much stronger." + +"It has been a very pitiful experience for you--one which has caused me +many qualms of conscience," he muttered, "but I have tried to atone and +would beg you to believe that all my happiness for the future depends +upon your forgiveness." + +"I can--never forgive--never----" said Marishka, her throat closing +painfully. "I hoped to die," she sighed, "but even that you denied me." + +"I have only done my duty--my duty, Countess--a sweeter duty than that +which urged me to Vienna--to undo the wrong that I have done you, to +bring again the roses into your cheeks." + +She waved her hand in deprecation. "For your courtesy, for the kindness +of your servants, I thank you. But for what you are yourself--only the +God that made you can understand--can forgive--that." + +He straightened a moment and then slowly leaned against the wall beside +her, his chin cupped in his hand. + +"You are cruel----" + +"I am truthful. Anything else from me to you would be beneath my +womanhood. I would kill you if I had the strength or if I dared." She +gave a bitter laugh. "It is at least something, that we understand each +other." + +He paused a long moment before replying. + +And then, "_Do_ we understand each other? I hope that you will permit me +to speak a few words in extenuation of a person you have never known--of +Leo Goritz, the man." + +"A man who makes war upon a woman--who uses violence to compel +obedience----" + +"A woman--but an enemy to my country. Between my duty to Germany and my +own inclinations, I had no choice. I was an instrument of the State, +pitiless, exact and exacting. You have spoken the truth. So shall I. Had +my duty to Germany required it of me, I should have killed you with my +own hand--even if you had been my sister." + +She gazed at him with alien eyes. + +"It is monstrous! I would to God you had." + +He bowed. + +"That is merely my official conception of my obligation to the +Fatherland," he said quietly. + +She still gazed at him unbelieving, but he met her glance squarely. + +"You need not believe me unless you choose, but I speak the truth. My +orders were to bring you safely into Germany, or to--to eliminate you. +Perhaps you will understand now my difficulties in keeping you +unscathed." + +"My death would have relieved you of that responsibility. It would have +been so easy to have let me die----" + +"I could not!" He bent his head over his folded arms. "I could not," he +repeated. And then, after a silence, "Countess Strahni, I beg that you +will consider that I have succeeded so far in saving you from personal +danger." + +"And yet you used me as a shield to save yourself from the bullets of +the man you killed----" She broke off, laughing bitterly. + +"He would not fire. I knew it. He was a fool to give me the chance. I +took it. There was nothing else----" + +"It was murder. And you----" + +She glanced at him once and then turning away, hid her head in her arm. +"O God!" she whispered, as though to herself. "How I loathe you!" + +Though the words were not even meant for him to hear, he did not miss +them. + +"That is your privilege," he said after a moment, "and mine--to--to +adore you," he said in deep accents. + +Slowly she lowered her hands and gazed at him with eyes that though they +looked, seemed to see not. + +"You--_you_--! You care for _me_!" She dropped her hands to her sides, +and then with a voice that sought steadiness in its contempt, "What +object has the Fatherland to gain by this new hypocrisy, Herr Goritz?" + +He stood stock still, making no effort to approach her. + +"I think you do me some injustice," he said. + +"Injustice!" she said coldly. "_I_ do _you_ injustice? I think you +forget." + +"If you will permit--it is only fair at least that you should listen. +Even if what I say does not interest you." + +She waved a hand in a gesture of deprecation--but he went on rapidly in +spite of her protest, with an air of pride, which somehow robbed the +confession of its sincerity. + +"Your words have been cruel, Countess, but the cruelest were those in +which you attribute the highest motive of my life to the baseness of +hypocrisy. I have done many wrongs, broken many oaths, sinned many +sins--in the interests of my country--the service of which has been the +only aim of my existence. I have been entrusted by the Emperor himself +with missions which would have tested the courage of any man, and I have +not failed. That is my pride--the glory of my manhood, for the means of +accomplishment no matter how unworthy, are unimportant compared with the +great mission of the Germanic race in the betterment of humanity." + +"I fail to see, Herr Hauptmann, how----" + +He commanded her silence with an abrupt gesture. + +"If you will be pleased to bear with me a little longer. _Bitte._ I +shall not be very long. I merely wanted you to understand how my whole +life has been devoted to the great uses of the State, with the most +unselfish motives. I have been not a human sentient being, but a highly +specialized physical organism to which any wish, any emotion, unless of +service to the state, was forbidden. Charity, kindness, altruism, all +the gentler emotions--I foreswore them. I relinquished friendship. I +became a pariah, an outcast, save to those few beings from whom I took +my orders, and to them I was merely the piece of machinery which always +accomplished its tasks. I have had no happiness, no friendships, no +affection, but I am the most famous secret agent in Germany. A somber +picture, is it not?" + +He paused and shrugged expressively. And then his voice lowered a note. +"Perhaps you will believe me when I say that my whole existence is a +living lie. Ah, yes, you think that. It is a lie, Countess, because no +human being can defy the living God that is within him. He cannot +forever quell the aspirations of the spirit. The spark is always alight. +Sometimes it glows and fades, but sometimes a worthy motive sets it on +fire. It is that spark which has survived in me, Countess Strahni, in +spite of my efforts--my desires even--to deny its existence. Your +illness----" + +"Herr Hauptmann, I beg of you----" + +"No. You cannot deny me. I nursed you, there--brought you back to life. +Ah, you did not know. I brought a doctor at the hazard of the discovery +of my hiding place. Charity came, love----" + +"Herr Hauptmann, I forbid you," whispered Marishka chokingly, wondering +now why she had listened to him for so long. "I must go--go to my room." + +Goritz straightened and stood aside. + +"You need not fear me, Countess," he said. "You see?" he added quickly. +"I do not touch you." + +Marishka moved a few paces away and then turned to look at him. He stood +erect, smiling at her, his cap in his hand. + +"I--I must go to my room, Herr Hauptmann," she murmured haltingly. "I--I +am yet--far from strong." + +"I am sorry. I pray that you will feel stronger in the morning. Adieu!" + +"Adieu----" she murmured, and hurried through the stone portal, aware of +the gaze of those dark, slightly oblique eyes which had puzzled, then +fascinated--then frightened her. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +PRISONER AND CAPTIVE + + +It was with mingled feelings that Marishka found the sanctuary of her +sleeping room. Her abhorrence of Goritz as the murderer of Hugh Renwick +was uppermost in her breast, her fear of him as her captor of scarcely +less import, but his tumultuous plea for her forgiveness and his strange +avowal had given her food for thought. Such a rapid _volte-face_ was +beyond credence. This man had watched by her bedside, nursed her during +the week that she had lain unconscious. Her cheeks burned hot at the +thought of the situation, and quickly she questioned Ena who at last +reluctantly admitted the truth. Herr Hauptmann Goritz had sat many +nights by the bedside while she, Ena, had slept so as to be fresh for +the day to follow. He had commanded her silence, and Ena had obeyed. She +hoped that the Excellency would understand. + +Marishka nodded and sent her from the room, for she wanted to be alone +with her thoughts. He had watched by her sickbed, carrying out the +orders of the doctor while she had lain unconscious--Goritz, the master +craftsman of duplicity--Goritz, the insensible! What did it mean? Had +the man spoken the truth? Was he--? Love to such a man as Goritz! It was +impossible. + +He had always been courteous and considerate, but there was a new note +in his voice which rang strangely. Another lie--another hypocrisy? And +yet the very frankness of his admission with regard to her safety for a +moment disarmed her. He would have killed her--"eliminated" her--had the +necessities of his duty demanded it of him. And yet he had confessed his +love for her. What was the meaning of the paradox? Had he something to +gain by her favor? Had a change taken place in their situation? A chance +phrase had revealed the fact that there was now a danger of the +revelation of this hiding place. They had been pursued--what had balked +him in the continuance of their flight into Germany? Meditation only +served to enhance the mystery, and she emerged from an hour of thought +over the scene in the courtyard with no very clear idea of what the +future had in store for her, sure only of one thing--that she must not +hang importance upon the words of this man, who had already proved +himself a deadly enemy to her happiness. He had hired assassins to kill +Hugh, and when they had failed, had accomplished his purpose by a vile +expedient. + +Love! She knew what love was. She closed her eyes and buried her face in +her arms in wordless, silent grief for the man to whom she had given all +that was best and noblest of her--Hugh! But she could not weep. It +seemed as though, long since, the fountains of her misery were dry. For +a long while she crouched in the window, motionless, and when at last +she raised her head and gazed out down the shimmering vista of the +gorge, it was with a look of new resolution and intelligence. She must +escape. Every iota of cleverness must be given to find a way out of +Schloss Szolnok. What if, in spite of all, the things that Leo Goritz +had confessed were true! She doubted it and yet--if he loved her--! Here +was a woman's revenge, to bait, to charm, to spurn; and then to outwit +him! A test of the sincerity of his professions, and of her own feminine +art--a dangerous game which she had once before thought of playing, +until his cruelty had atrophied all impulse. + +But now! If he really cared--her power would grow with the venture, her +own safety the pledge of his purity--a dangerous game, indeed, here +alone upon this crag in the mountains, but if he were sincere, she was +armed with a flaming sword to defend--to destroy! If--? She would not +trust him, but she would fight him with the weapons she had. Her lips +closed in a thin line, and a glint as of polished metal came into her +eyes as the scene in the house of the Beg of Rataj shut out the lovely +landscape before her. To destroy--to fan the spark to flame that she +might extinguish it; to corrode the spirit with the biting acid of +contempt; to envenom the soul--newly born, perhaps--to the sweeter uses +of beneficence, and then escape! If he cared! + +And if he did not care--if, as she really believed, he lied to gain an +end.... + +This was the thought of him that obsessed her. A liar, always. Why not +now? Men of his kind were unusual to women of hers, but even in the +midst of his confession--as near self-abasement as a man of his type +could come, the note of egotism rang clear above the graceful +phrases--too graceful to be anything but manufactured in that clear +inventive brain of his. + +She paced the floor, thinking deeply, and at last stopped by the window +and sought again the counsel of the eternal hills. After a while she +turned again into the room and peered into a mirror, seeking in her +face the answer to the riddle. It was pale, resolute, but it was not +ugly. + +She planned her campaign with the calm forethought of a general who +picks out his own battlefield, disposing his forces to the best +advantage, for attack or for repulse, for victory, or defeat. She must +mask her approach, conceal her intentions, and develop slowly the real +strength of her position. There was much that she wished to learn as to +Schloss Szolnok, and its security from those who sought to intercept +them, much in regard to the plans of her captor for the future, but she +knew that she must act with caution and skill, if she hoped to escape. + +Goritz had previously expressed a wish that when she grew strong enough +to leave her bedroom, she would join him at dinner, which she heard was +served in one end of the great Hall, but she decided that the first +skirmish should take place in a situation of her own choosing. And so +after dusk, the moon coming out, she went again upon the terrace where +she leaned upon the wall of the bastion and looked down with an air of +self-sought seclusion, upon the mists of the valley. + +Goritz was not long in joining her. She heard his footsteps as he +approached but did not give any sign or acknowledgment of his presence. + +"May I talk with you, Countess Strahni?" he asked easily. + +Her shrug, under her cloak, was hardly perceptible. + +"Since you have already done so it seems that my own wishes do not +matter," she said coolly. + +"I have no wish to intrude." + +Marishka laughed. "I can go in----" She drew her wrap more closely +about her throat and straightened. + +"I hope that you will not do that," he said. + +"Is there anything you wished to speak to me about--? That +is--er--anything of importance?" + +Goritz looked past her toward the profile of the distant mountain, and +smiled. + +"I thought that you might be interested to learn something of my reasons +for stopping here." + +"The insect in the web of the spider has little emotion left for +curiosity." + +"The spider! I have always admired your courage, Countess." + +"I can die but once." + +"Perhaps you may care to know that you are not in the slightest danger +of death." + +"Thanks," she said coolly. "Your kindness is overwhelming. Or is +my--'elimination' no longer essential?" + +The more flippant her tone, the more somber Goritz became. + +"My purposes, Countess Strahni, I think, you no longer have any reason +to doubt. You are quite safe at Schloss Szolnok----" + +"So is the insect in the web--from all other insects but the spider." +She turned away. "You cannot blame me, Herr Hauptmann, if I judge of the +future by the past." + +"I would waste words to make further explanations which are so little +understood, but there are matters of interest to you." + +"Ah." + +"You have been ill. Many things have happened. You would like to hear?" + +"I am listening." + +"It is the trifles of the world which make or prevent its greatest +disasters. The man with the lantern at the bridgehead at Brod did not +know that he held the destiny of Europe in his hand. And yet, this is +the truth. Had he permitted us to pass unquestioned we should have +reached Sarajevo in time to prevent the greatest cataclysm of all the +ages." + +Marishka turned toward him, her interest now fully aroused. + +"What do you mean?" + +"War, Countess Strahni--the most bloody--terrible--in the history of the +world--the event that I have striven all my life to prevent. All of +Europe is ablaze. Millions of men are marching--battles have already +been fought----" + +"Horrible? I cannot believe----" + +"It is the truth. It followed swiftly upon the assassination at +Sarajevo----" + +"Serbia!" + +"Serbia first--then Russia--Germany--Belgium--France--England, too----" + +"You are speaking the truth?" + +"I swear it." + +"And Austria?" + +"Germany and Austria--against a ring of enemies bent on exterminating +us----" + +"England--?" + +And while with eager ears she listened, he told her the history of the +long weeks, now growing into months, in which she had been hidden from +the world--including the defeat of the Austrians by the Serbians along +the Drina, and the advance of the Russians in East Prussia and Galicia. + +She heard him through until the end, questioning eagerly, then aware of +the dreadful significance of his news, forgetting for the moment her own +animosities, her own questionable position in the greater peril of her +country--and his. His country and hers at war against the world! + +"Russia has won victories against Austria--in Galicia?" she urged. + +"Yes--the Cossacks already are approaching Lemberg----" + +"Lemberg!" + +"They are less than two hundred kilometers from us at the present +moment." + +"And will they come--here?" + +"I hope not," he said with a slow smile. "But Schloss Szolnok is hardly +equipped to resist a siege of modern ordnance." + +"And you--why are you here?" + +The ingenuousness of her impetuous question seemed to amuse him. + +"I?" he said. "I am here because--well, because you--because I had no +other place to go." + +"Will you explain?" + +"I see no reason why I should not. I chose the place as a temporary +refuge from pursuit. Your illness marred my plans. The war continues to +mar them." + +"How?" + +He smiled. + +"The insect _has_ curiosity, then? Schloss Szolnok has proved safe. I +have no desire to take unnecessary risks." + +"You were pursued?" + +He nodded. "Yes. And I managed to get away--here, but the other end of +this pass is now strongly guarded. I could have gone through when I +first came, but you were very ill. You would probably have died if I had +gone on. Now it is too late. You see," he said with a shrug, "I am quite +cheerful about it." + +She turned and examined him with an air of timidity. + +"You mean that--that to save my life you--you have sacrificed all hope +of winning through to Germany?" + +"With you, yes--for the present," he smiled. + +She turned away and leaned upon the wall. + +"I--I think that I--I have done you some injustice, Herr Hauptmann," she +murmured with an effort. + +"Thank you." + +"But I cannot understand. The papers which passed you through +Hungary--signed by General Von Hoetzendorf----" + +"Unfortunately are of no further service. An order for my arrest has +been issued in Vienna." + +"Your arrest? For taking me?" + +"For many things----" And he shrugged. + +"What do you propose to do?" + +"Remain here for the present," he said slowly. "It is doubtful if anyone +would think of seeking us here. The Schloss has an evil name along the +countryside. None of the peasants dares to come within a league of the +place." + +"And I--?" she asked. + +"It seems, Countess Strahni," he said slowly, smiling at her, "that our +positions are now reversed--you the captor--I the prisoner. And yet, as +you see," with a shrug, "I am making no effort to escape. You have led +captivity captive." + +His phrases were too well spoken, and the look in his eyes disturbed +her. + +"You--you wish me to understand that I am free to go----" + +"Hardly that," he interrupted with a short laugh. "Only this morning you +said that you would kill me if you dared. I do not relish the notion of +being delivered into the hands of the police." + +"You think that I would do that?" she questioned. + +"Wouldn't you?" + +"I don't know. I----" + +"I am sure of it. I am no longer under any illusions with regard to your +sentiments toward myself. This morning I uncovered my heart to you--and +you plunged a dagger into it. It was too much--beyond my deserts. I am +no man for a woman to spit upon, Countess Strahni. You are still a +prisoner--as completely under my power as though you and I were the last +people left upon the earth." + +His tone was mild, but there was a depth of meaning under it. + +"I--I can scarcely be unaware of it," she murmured. "What are you going +to do with me?" + +"For the present we shall stay here--until an opportunity presents----" + +"For escape?" + +"I could go alone tonight--and reach Germany--without you. That is not +my purpose." + +"Then you propose to take me with you?" + +"When the coast is clear--yes." + +"And if the coast should not be clear?" + +"I shall remain." + +The situation was as she had supposed, but his motive--the real motive! +She drew the wrap more closely around her throat and turned away from +him again. To escape from him! That was the only thing she could think +of now. Upon the road, his attitude of firm consideration, his cool +insistence upon compliance with his wishes, had not been nearly so +ominous as the personal note which he had injected into their relations. +He frightened her now. But to escape? She was watched, she was sure, for +in the afternoon, while the drawbridge was lowered, she had made out the +figure of a man on guard at the end of the causeway. But while her +conversation with Goritz dismayed her, she studied him keenly, trying to +read him by what he did not say. + +She smiled at him impudently. + +"And suppose I attempted to escape?" she asked. + +"You would fail. There is but one exit from Szolnok--the drawbridge--and +that is continually guarded." + +"You have ordered your men to shoot me?" + +"No--but you will not pass." + +"I see. Your contrition does not go as far as that." + +"Not beyond the walls of Schloss Szolnok," he said coolly. + +"And you ask me to believe in the integrity of your motives? What was +the use, Herr Hauptmann? I could understand duplicity to me in the +performance of a duty, but to practice your machine-made emotions upon +my simplicity--! I could hardly forgive you that." + +He kept himself well in hand and even smiled again. + +"You wrong me, Countess Strahni. I have spoken the truth." + +"You cannot deny me the privilege of doubting you," she replied. + +"What further proof would you have me give you that I am honest in my +love for you?" + +She pointed past the drawbridge along the causeway toward the valley +below. + +"Permit me to go--there--alone--tonight." + +He laughed quietly. + +"Alone? I do not know what danger may lurk in the valley. The fact that +I wish to keep you here--is a better proof of my tenderness." + +She turned away from him and leaned upon the wall. But to him at least +she did not show fear. + +"We cannot remain here indefinitely," she said coolly. + +"Are you not comfortable? Is not everything provided for you? It has +been my pride to make your convalescence agreeable in all ways," he +said, leaning a little nearer to her. "I have tried to atone for the +discomforts of your journey. Was it not my solicitude for your health +which balked my own plans? You have questioned the truth of my +professions, but you cannot deny the evidences of your safety." + +Marishka was thinking quickly. Much as she abhorred the man, she +realized that, if she were to have any chance of success she must meet +him with weapons stronger than his own. And so she turned to him with a +smile which concealed her growing terror. + +"Herr Hauptmann, I do not wish you to think that I am ungrateful for the +many indulgences that you have shown me. Your position has been a +difficult one. But from the beginning we have been enemies----" + +"Before the outbreak of the war--but allies now----" + +"Not if you persist in your plan to carry me to Germany." + +He asked her permission to smoke, and when she had granted it he went on +coolly. + +"Perhaps something may happen to prevent the execution of my plan," he +said. + +"What?" she stammered. + +He searched her face eagerly for a moment. + +"You may be sure, Countess Strahni," he said in a half-whisper, "that it +is very painful to me that you should think of me as an enemy. Enemy I +am not. It is my duty to take you to Germany, but it is very painful to +me to do anything which makes you unhappy. Here, safe from detection, I +am still doing my duty. And in remaining here you, too, are safe. Will +you not try to be contented--to endure my society just for a little +while? I want to show you that I can be as other men----" + +She laughed to hide her fears. + +"All men are alike where a woman is concerned--" + +"Will you try? I will be your slave--your servant. Within the castle you +may come and go as you please. No one shall approach you without your +permission. You see, I am not an exacting jailer. All I ask is the hope +of your friendship, a glimpse of your returning smile, and such +companionship as you care to give me. It is not much. Do I not deserve +it? _Bitte_, think a little." + +Marishka gasped and fought the impulse to run from him, for his face was +very near her shoulder, his voice very close to her ear. + +"I--I think that--we may be friends," she murmured. + +"Will you give me your hand, Countess Strahni?" + +She extended it slowly and he bowed over it, pressing it to his lips. + +She found her excuse in a cough, a vestige of her illness which she +summoned to her rescue. + +"It--it is getting late, Herr Hauptmann," she said. "I must be going in. +The night air----" + +"By all means." He accompanied her to the portal of the hall and then +she left him. + +That night Marishka did not sleep, and the next day, pleading fatigue, +remained in her bedroom, trying to muster up the courage to go forth and +meet Goritz at this tragic game of his own choosing. That she had +stirred some sort of an emotion in the man was not to be doubted. She +read it in his eyes, in the touch of his fingers, and in the resonant +tones of his voice, but she read too, the sense of his power, the +confidence of his egotism to which all things were possible. And much as +she wished to believe the testimony of his flashes of tenderness, the +hazard of her position stared her in the face. But she knew that with +such a man she must play a game of subtlety and courage. And so she +resolved to meet him frequently, testing every feminine device to win +him to her service which would obliterate all things but her own wishes, +and present at last an opportunity for her escape. + +In the week that followed she walked out with him across the causeway +into the mountain road, visiting Szolnok farm and climbing the hills +adjacent to the castle, but she saw no one except the German farmers, +and it seemed indeed as though the gorge was taboo to all human beings. +Goritz made love to her, of course, but she laughed him off, gaining a +new confidence as the days of their companionship increased. Slowly, +with infinite patience, with infinite self-control, she established a +relationship which baffled him, a foil for each of his moods, a parry +for each attack. With a smile on her lips which masked the lie, she told +him that Hugh Renwick had been nothing to her. + +And Goritz told her of the women he had met in the performance of his +duty from London to Constantinople, women of the secret service of +England, France, Russia, who had set their wits to match his. Some of +them were ugly and clever, some were stupid and beautiful, but they had +all been dangerous. He had passed them by. No woman in the world that he +had ever known had had the nobility of spirit, the courage, the +self-abnegation of the Countess Strahni. + +It was in these moods of adulation and self-revelation that Marishka +found him most difficult. But she managed to keep him at arm's length by +the mere insistence of her spirituality which accepted his friendship +upon its face value, telling him that she forgave the past, and vaguely +suggesting hope for the future. With that he had to be content, though +at times he was dangerously near rebellion. She promised him many things +but denied him her lips, hoping day by day for the rescue which came +not, and praying night after night that the God who watched over her +would forgive her for her duplicity and for the hatred of him that was +in her heart. + +But there came a day when the walks beyond the causeway ceased, and from +the window of her bedroom she learned the reason. Far, far below her in +the valley along the road which wound through the Pass, she saw the +figures of marching men. Austrian soldiers! What did their presence +mean? They were going toward the other end of the pass--thousands of +them. Had the Russians crossed Galicia? That night there were no lights +in the side of the castle toward the gorge save the candle in her room, +which was screened by heavy hangings. And when at dinner she questioned +Goritz he gave her the briefest of replies. The Cossacks were coming? +Perhaps, but they would not take Dukla Pass. He warned her not to show +her figure at the castle windows or above the wall of the rampart, and +she obeyed. + +For several days Goritz disappeared, and she gained a breathing space to +think over her position. She ventured out many times into the courtyard +in the hope of finding an opportunity to elude her guard, but each time +she approached the drawbridge she saw the chauffeur Karl seated in the +shadow of the wall, smoking his pipe. And so she knew that any attempt +to pass him would be impossible. + +At the end of the fourth day, Captain Goritz joined her at the supper +table. He had now discarded his Austrian uniform and wore a rough suit +of working clothes, similar to the peasant costume which Ena's husband +wore. He greeted her gladly, but she asked him no questions as to his +absence, upon her guard as she always was against the unknown quality in +the man, which held her in constant anxiety. But after he had eaten, the +cloud which had hung over him seemed to pass, and he leaned forward, +smiling at her across the table. + +"You have been obedient?" he asked. + +"What else is left for me?" she smiled. "I have wondered where you +were." + +"Ah," he laughed, "you missed me? That is good. You wondered what would +happen to you if I did not come back." He laughed as he lighted his +cigarette. "I am not so easily to be lost, I assure you. I have been +through Dukla Pass." + +"Many soldiers have gone through the pass today--many this morning--many +more this afternoon." + +"Yes, I saw them." + +"And the Russians?" + +He was silent for a while, and then spoke very quietly. "They are +coming." + +She made no sound and seemed to be frozen into immobility by the import +of the information. + +"The Austrians have fortified the other end of the Pass, but it is said +that the Russians are in great numbers, sweeping everything before +them----" + +"Przemysl--! Lemberg--!" + +"Lemberg has fallen. The fate of Przemysl hangs in the balance." He +shrugged. "Tomorrow, perhaps, may see the Cossacks at Dukla Pass." + +"And then----" + +"I do not wish to alarm you," he said gently. "Six hundred years have +passed over Schloss Szolnok, and it still stands. I am not going to run +away." + +"But you can do nothing--against so many." + +"They will not bother us, I think. The Austrians, you see, have passed +us by. They are taking all their artillery to Javorina and Jägerhorn and +mounting them upon the old emplacements of the ruins. The defense will +be made there where the gorge is narrower." + +"But if they should come--here--the Cossacks--!" she whispered +fearfully. + +He laughed easily. "Ah, Countess, I am not a half-bad jailer, after +all?" + +"The Cossacks!" she repeated. + +"They shall not come here." + +"What can you do?" + +"The place is impregnable--sheer cliffs upon all sides--the causeway two +hundred meters long. I could pick them off one by one from the top of +the keep. With the drawbridge up, we are as safe as though we were in +Vienna." + +"But their artillery?" + +"They will not think us worth their while. In the armory there are six +repeating hunting rifles and four shotguns, ammunition plentiful----" He +broke off and, rising, came over and stood beside her. "But we will not +think of unpleasant possibilities. It has been so long since I have seen +you--too long." + +She let him take her hand and press it to his lips, but tonight that +condescension did not seem to be enough. He fell to one knee beside her +and would have put his arm about her waist if she had not risen and +struggled away from him. + +"You forget, Herr Hauptmann, the dependence of my position here--alone +with you. Whatever our personal relations, a delicacy for my feelings +must warn you----" + +"Marishka!" he broke in. "What does a man who loves as I do, care for +the conventions of the sham world you and I have left so far behind. I +adore you. And you flout me." + +"For shame! Would you care for me if I were a woman without delicacy or +dignity? I beg of you----" + +But he had held her by the hand and would not release her. + +"I adore you--and you flout me--that is all that I know. Your +indifference maddens me. Perhaps I am not as other men, and must not be +judged by other standards than my own which are sufficient for myself as +they should be sufficient for you. You know that I--I worship you--that +by staying here I have forgotten my duty to my country at a time when I +am most needed. Does that mean nothing to you? Can you be callous to a +love like mine which lives only in your happiness and hangs upon your +pleasure? I worship you, Marishka. Just one kiss, to tell me that you +care for me a little. I will be content----" + +She struggled in his grasp, her fear of him lending her more strength. +Her lips--? Hugh's! Never--never--as God witnessed. + +"One kiss, Marishka----" + +She struggled free and struck him with her clenched fist furiously, full +in the face, and then ran to the window, as he released her, breathing +hard, trembling, but full of defiance. The suddenness of the affair and +its culmination had driven them both dumb, Marishka with terror, Goritz +with chagrin at his mistake and anger at her temerity. He touched his +face with the fingers of one hand and stared at her with eyes that +burned with black fire in the pallor of his face. + +"You have struck me," he muttered. And then, with a shrug, "That was not +a love tap, Countess Strahni." + +She could not speak for very terror of the consequences of the +encounter, but stood watching him narrowly, one hand upon the +window-ledge beside her. + +"Well," he asked presently, "are you dumb?" + +"You--you insulted me," she gasped. + +"Whatever I have done, you have repaid me," he muttered. + +She glanced out of the window into the black void beneath. + +"I--I am not afraid to die, Herr Goritz," she said. + +He caught the meaning of her glance and her poise by the window-ledge, +and their significance sobered him instantly. He drew back from her two +or three paces and leaned heavily against an oaken chair. + +"Am I so repellent to you as that?" he whispered. + +"My lips--are mine," she said proudly. "I give them willingly or not at +all." + +His gaze flickered and fell before the high resolve that he read in her +face. And her courage enthralled him. + +"_Herr Gott!_" he muttered, "you have never been so beautiful as now, +Marishka!" + +She did not reply or move, but only watched him steadily. + +He paced the floor stiffly, his hands behind him, struggling for his +self-control. And the better instinct in him, the part of him that had +made life possible for Marishka at Schloss Szolnok, was slowly +triumphant. + +"A kiss means much or little," he said quietly at last. "To me, the +consecration of a love which has leaped the bounds of mere platitude. A +woman of your training perhaps cannot grasp the honesty of my +unconvention. I have meant you no harm. But that you should have +misunderstood--!" + +"One thing only I understand--that you have violated the hospitality of +Schloss Szolnok." + +"I beg of you----" + +"It is true. Was your kindness, your courtesy, your consideration, but +the means to this end? I can never believe in you again." + +"Do you mean that?" + +"I do----" + +"It is a pity." + +"It is the truth. Fear and affection cannot survive together." + +"Fear?" + +"I can never trust you again. Let me go--I beg that you will excuse me." + +He bowed. "If that is your wish----" and turned and walked to the window +opposite, while Marishka found her way up the stairs and so to her room +where she lay upon her bed fully dressed, in a high state of nervous +excitement. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE RIFT IN THE ROCK + + +Hugh Renwick in his borrowed plumage, strode forth before dawn, and +reaching a spot where the valley narrowed into the gorge and marked the +grim outline of Schloss Szolnok against the lightening East, slowly +climbed the rugged slope of the mountain on his left which faced it. He +meant to spend the morning in a study of the approaches to the castle, +and if possible devise some means by which he could inspect it +unobserved at closer range. Daylight found him perched in a crevice of +rock among some trees, through the leaves of which he could clearly see +the distant mass of stone which rose in solitary dignity, an island +above the mists of the valley, a grim relic of an age when such a +situation meant isolation and impregnability. + +Indeed, it scarcely seemed less impregnable now, for upon two sides at +least, the cliffs rose sheer from the gorge until they were joined by +the heavy buttresses which tapered gracefully until they joined the +walls of the crenelated towers and bastions. In the center of the mass +of buildings rose the square solid mass of the keep, with its crenelated +roof and small windows commanding every portion of the space enclosed +within the gray walls. He marked the dim lines of a road which ascended +from the valley upon the further mountain, now scarcely visible because +of the vegetation which grew luxuriantly on the hillsides, and he +studied this approach to the castle most attentively--the straight reach +of wall, built to span a branch of the gorge beyond, perhaps two hundred +feet deep and six hundred wide. This was the main entrance to the +castle, a narrow causeway, that terminated at the gate where he marked a +drawbridge now raised, which hung by chains to the heavy walls above. + +The only means of access? Perhaps, and if the gate were guarded, +impassable by night as well as day. But Renwick was not sure that there +was no other means of ingress. To the left of the keep, and on a level +with the top of the long curtain of wall, the building fell away in +ruins, for portions of old bastions were missing, and there was a breach +in the northern wall, which had tumbled outward over the precipice into +the ravine below. + +As daylight came Renwick watched the windows and ramparts intently. +There was no sign of life, but remembering that here there was no need +for early rising, he waited patiently, gazing steadily through the +leaves across the valley. At last his patience was rewarded, for from a +building in the courtyard near the central mass, he made out a thin pale +blue line which ascended straight into the sky. Smoke! Breakfast was +cooking. His heart gave a leap. There were no devils in Schloss +Szolnok--but Goritz! In a short while, still watching intently, he saw a +figure pass from the gate toward the main buildings, where it +disappeared. Renwick would have given the remainder of his +hundred-_kroner_ notes for a good pair of field glasses, by which it +might have been possible to distinguish the identity of any figure that +could be seen. But he realized that he had accomplished the object of +his visit, for the raised drawbridge indicated that whoever occupied the +castle, seclusion was important to him. Deciding that he knew enough to +warrant closer investigation, Renwick moved slowly along the mountain +side into the gorge, under the cover of rocks and undergrowth, slowly +descending toward the road, with the idea of crossing the stream and +climbing the rugged cliff beyond, from which he could gain a nearer view +of the northern and ruined end of the castle. + +But after an hour of careful progress, as he reached a projection of +rock which hung over the road below, he crouched, suddenly listening. +For he heard the sound of voices, a rumble of wheels, and the creaking +and clanking of heavy metallic objects. The sounds came nearer, swelling +in proportion, now clearly distinguishable; and so lying flat upon his +stomach, he parted the bushes at the edge of the rock and peered over. +There was a cloud of dust and the clatter of iron-shod boots against the +flints of the road, and in a moment he made out long ranks of soldiers, +marching rapidly to the northward into the Pass. Renwick knew that the +northern end of the Pass was already strongly guarded, for his host had +told him that many soldiers had gone through during the weeks before; +but the sight of these hurrying men, the shrouded guns which lumbered +amidst them, and the long line of motor trucks and wagons which +followed, gave Renwick a notion that events of military importance +were pending in the Galician plain beyond. He tried to form some +idea of the number of men that passed. A regiment--two, three, +four--artillery--three batteries at least. For an hour or more they +passed, and then at last, silence and solitude. + +Although adequately disguised, Renwick was in no position to be stopped +and searched, for if he wore no marks of identification, his automatic, +and the money pinned in his trousers lining, would have made him an +object of suspicion, the more so in a country where soldiers were moving +in so precarious a military situation. + +And so he descended slowly, hiding in a copse at the base of the rocks +where he waited for a while listening, and then peered cautiously out. +Then matching his footsteps to those of the soldiers, he crossed the +road obliquely and plunged through the bushes down over the rocks to the +bed of the Dukla, where he waited and listened again, crossing the +stream at last by a fallen tree and reaching the protection of the +undergrowth upon the farther bank. + +Though he had been able to learn little in Budapest of the military +situation, even from Herr Koulos, the sight of Austrian soldiers +marching toward the northern end of the Pass assured him that the +Russians must have won important victories in Galicia, thus placing all +the passes of the Carpathians in jeopardy. But whatever his interest in +conjectures regarding the possibility of victory or defeat, his own +business was too urgent to admit of other issues, and so he made his way +forward cautiously through the underbrush, which in places was almost +impenetrable. Four-footed things, startled by this unusual invasion of +their hunting ground, started up almost beside him and fled--rabbits, +squirrels, a wolf, and a brown bear, which rocked upon its four legs +dubiously for a moment, and then lumbered comically away. These +creatures and the pathless woods advised him that however frequented the +mountain road below, the inhabitants hereabout were not in the habit of +traversing the wooded mountain sides. Moving forward slowly he climbed +the hills in the general direction of the castle, the sunlit bastions of +which suddenly appeared through the foliage above him and to the right. + +He moved more warily now, for if Goritz were in hiding within Schloss +Szolnok, he would of course take pains that every avenue of approach +should be watched. But a careful inspection of the crag upon which the +castle was perched, and from this new angle, led Renwick to the +conclusion that Goritz might be so sure of its inaccessibility from the +north that no guard at the ruined end would be thought necessary. At +first glance, indeed, Renwick was inclined to that opinion himself, for +the rocks, though fissured and scarred as though by the blasts of +winter, though not so high, were scarcely less precipitous than upon the +southern side. At his very feet, perhaps already buried for years in the +loam and moss, were the huge blocks of stone which had fallen from the +northern towers and rolled down the steep slope of the natural +counterscarp which the conformation of the mountain provided. + +Renwick scrutinized the beetling wall of rock above the incline with a +dubious eye, seeking a possible path or succession of footholds by means +of which he might make his way to the breach in the stone rampart above. +The task seemed hopeless, but he knew that the most formidable +difficulties are often solved by the simplest devices, and so he studied +the wall patiently, his gaze suddenly focusing upon a fissure in the +cliff, a little to his right, which went upward at an angle, its apex +passing a projection of the rock which extended for a hundred feet or +more to the southward. Above that precarious platform, the cliff was +splintered and torn as though the agencies which had devastated the wall +above had wreaked their vengeance here too. But there were finger holds +and footholds, a desperate climb even in the daylight to a member of an +Alpine club. But Renwick from his ambush studied the face of that rock +foot by foot, and at last decided that when night came, the +possibilities of entrance having been denied him elsewhere, he would +make the effort. + +He did not know what he would find among the ruins above, their +connection with the habitable part of the castle having probably been +walled up by Baron Neudeck, and granting that Renwick succeeded in +making his way to the top, his chances of reaching the main buildings +might be slim indeed. And suppose after all this effort, that Marishka +were not here--that Goritz had gone on--! + +But how could he have gone on? Surely not by a road guarded by an army +at its other end. And it was only last night that he had seen Goritz's +fellow assassin and hireling. Marishka was within, and Renwick had not +permitted a doubt of it to enter his mind since yesterday. + +But to make certain of the matter he decided upon further investigation, +retracing his steps for some hundred yards down the declivity, making +sure of his landmarks as he went, until he reached the lower level of +the valley, where crossing a brook he began climbing the steeper slope +of the northern mountain. Here a greater degree of caution was required, +for the rock upon which the Schloss was built was close to the northern +slope and it was over the eastern reaches of the northern crags that +the road passed which led to the causeway. To make his investigation +more difficult of accomplishment, most of the mountain side was in +bright sunlight while the castle was in shadow. And so, it being now the +middle of the afternoon, he decided to move slowly at first, find a +secluded spot and eat of the bread and cheese which was to be both his +breakfast and supper. + +From his position, well up among the rocks, he had a view of the +tree-tops of the valley below with a glimpse of the road a short +distance from the spot where he had crossed it in the morning. The +ruined end of the castle he commanded, too, from a new angle. He was now +above the level of the crag and made out among the twisted mass of stone +the vestiges of what had once been a chapel, and a watchtower. There was +an arch which seemed to lead into a vaulted structure, but from his +position he could not see within it. + +Renwick's eyes were good and they searched the valley below him +ceaselessly. He thought he heard a rumble as of thunder in the distance, +but as the sky was clear he knew that he must have been mistaken, but +after a while along the road below him more soldiers passed, riding +rapidly and silently--into the deeper shadows of the gorge. Their +clattering wagons followed, and this, Renwick decided, was the cause of +the distant sound that he had heard. Once or twice he thought that he +saw motion among the undergrowth at some distance below him, but decided +that he had been mistaken. Again--nearer and to his right. There was no +doubt of it now. Renwick crawled deeper into his place of concealment +and peered out. + +Some one was climbing up over the rocks below him, mounting slowly a +little farther up the gorge. He heard the crackling of twigs and the +sound of voices in a subdued murmur. There were two of them. Venturing +his head beyond the leaves he got a glimpse through the trunks of the +pine-trees--a tall man and a shorter, stouter one. They were more than a +hundred yards away and moving up the mountain side away from him, but to +Renwick's mind, fixed only upon the men he sought and those who sought +himself, the figures, though wearing rough clothing like his own, seemed +strangely like those of Herr Windt and Spivak. Of course he might have +been mistaken, for within two miles of this spot at least two hundred +people lived, but the profusion of game in the valley confirmed the +report of his host of last night that the peasants who lived in the +vicinity of Dukla were not in the habit of venturing into the Pass. And +if not peasants and not the men he had imagined them to be, who were +they and what were they doing here? He lay quietly, listening for the +sound of their footsteps which seemed to pass toward the castle above +him and at last died away in the distance. + +Windt here? It seemed incredible that he had traced Renwick so quickly. +Or was it as Herr Koulos had said, that the same sources of information +which had been open to Renwick had been open to Herr Windt also? Was he +seeking Goritz or Renwick or both, trusting to the relations between +Renwick and Marishka to bring all trails to this converging point? If +the strangers among the rocks above him were Windt and Spivak, he was +indeed in danger of detection and capture, and the fate of an Englishman +taken armed in a region where Austrian troops were massing was +unpleasant to contemplate. And yet Renwick decided that before he made +the rash attempt to mount the cliff he must further investigate. And so +he lay silent until nightfall when with drawn automatic he emerged from +his hiding place and quietly made his way along the mountain side. He +searched the undergrowth eagerly, as a man only can when his life +depends upon the keenness of his senses, and without mishap reached a +point opposite the castle where he commanded both the courtyard and the +mass of buildings around the central tower. The distance across the +narrow gorge at this side of the castle was perhaps two or three hundred +yards, and Renwick from the shelter of a bush could see the windows +quite distinctly. As the night grew dark two lights appeared--both, he +noted, upon the side of the buildings toward where he sat--lights which +could not be visible from the deeper, wider valley upon the other side +or from the road below. He saw figures moving--the small bent figure of +a woman in the building upon the left which seemed to be the kitchen, a +man in the courtyard near the gate which Renwick had seen from the other +side. The room upon the right near the keep, seemed to be the Hall, for +the windows were longer than any others and denoted a high ceiling +within. There was a light here too, and Renwick watched the windows, his +heart beating high with hope. In his anxiety to see who was within the +apartment he forgot the strangers upon the mountain side, the danger of +his position, the hazardous feat before him--all but the hope that +Marishka was here. + +He had almost given up hope of seeing her when she appeared. He knew her +instantly, though he could not easily distinguish her features. She sat +in a chair at a table, conversing with some one whom he could not see. +A pang of jealousy shot through him. Goritz--! + +What if believing him dead Marishka had learned to tolerate the German +agent, even to the point of friendship. There they were, sitting face to +face at table, as they had done for two months or more. What were their +relations? Prisoner and captive? And which was which? How could he have +blamed Marishka,--Renwick, a dead man? + +He knew that she had grieved, that she must have hated the man who had +done him to death--perhaps still hated him as Renwick did. He peered at +the fragment of Marishka's white dress, the only part of her that was +visible to him, and upbraided himself for his unworthy thoughts of her. + +And when the dead came to life what would she say to him? + +Hedged about with difficulties and dangers as he was, the sight of the +girl so near him and yet so inaccessible was maddening. Now that he had +discovered her, every impulse urged him to the feat of scaling the wall. +And yet, as though fascinated, he still sat, his gaze fixed on the bit +of white drapery which was a part of Marishka. He tried to imagine what +Goritz was saying to her, for he seemed to know that Goritz was her +companion, seemed to hear the murmur of their voices. He waited long and +then the white drapery vanished, reappeared, and Marishka's figure stood +in the window, leaning with one hand upon the casement, in silhouette +against the light. And now quite distinctly against the velvety soft +background of the breathless night the sound of her voice, refined by +the distance between them, but fearful in its tone and significance. + +"_I--I am not afraid to die, Herr Goritz_," it said. + +Renwick started to his feet as though suddenly awaking from a dreadful +dream into a still more dreadful reality. Marishka still stood in the +window motionless, but the words that she had spoken seemed to be +ringing endlessly down the silent gorge and in his brain, which was +suddenly empty of all but its echoes. He wanted to shout to her a cry of +encouragement--and hope, but he remained silent, grimly watching and +listening. + +Marishka said something else and then turned into the room, while +through another window he saw the dark figure of Goritz pass away from +her toward the outward wall. Of Marishka he saw no more, but at +intervals he saw Goritz pacing to and fro.... + +How much longer Renwick watched he did not know, but after a while he +found himself stumbling along the face of the mountain, descending by +the way that he had come, Marishka's words singing their message through +and through him. It was as though the words had been meant for him +instead of Goritz, that Renwick even in death should know of her danger +and come to her aid. He was coming now, not as an avenging spirit, but +in the flesh, armed with righteous wrath and a fearful lust for +vengeance. He understood what the message meant. Hers was not a cry of +despair but of defiance.... What had happened? He had not seen. + +"I am not afraid to die." Nor was Renwick--but to live were better--to +live at least for tonight. Fury gave him desperation, but for the task +before him he needed coolness, too. And realizing that haste might send +him hurtling to the bottom of the gorge, he moved more cautiously, +stepping down with infinite pains until he reached the brook, which he +crossed carefully, and then moved back up the declivity toward the +castle. + +The night was clear, starlit but moonless, and the cliff as he reached +it looked down upon him with majestic and sullen disdain. The ages had +passed over and left it scarred and seared but still defiant and +inaccessible. Renwick paused a moment to be sure of his ground and then +boldly crawled up over the chaos of tumbled bowlders and broken masonry, +until he reached the wall of solid rock, where he stopped again to +regain his breath and examine the fissure that he had studied earlier in +the day. It was a cleft in the rock, the result of some subterranean +upheaval which had caused the whole crag to settle into its base; a +fissure, originally a mere crack which had been widened and deepened by +the erosion of time. Upon closer inspection, it was larger than it had +appeared from below, perhaps ten feet in width at the outside, and +tapering gradually as it rose. + +He entered and ran his fingers along its sides, penetrating to its full +depth until there was just room enough in which to wedge his bent body. +Then rising cautiously, seated, so to speak, upon the incline which +seemed to be about thirty degrees from the vertical, he dug the +iron-shod toes of his peasant's boots into the roughnesses of the wall +before him and rose, pushing with elbows and arms where the wall was too +smooth for a foothold. It was hard work, and at the end of ten minutes, +perspiring profusely, and leg and arm weary, he stopped upon a +projecting ledge, where he found a perfect balance for his entire body, +and relaxed. But he had gained fifty feet. + +Above him was the long streak of pallid light shimmering against the +gloom of the rock like the blade of a naked sword, with its point far +above him among the stars. For a full five minutes he rested, and then +went upward again, feeling with his finger ends while he braced his +body, taking advantage of every foothold before and behind. At one spot +the fissure widened dangerously, but he struggled inward; at another it +went almost straight upward, requiring sheer strength of fingers; but at +last he found another ledge and braced himself with his feet for another +rest. He did not dare to look downward now, for fear of dizziness, but +he knew that he had already come high. The sword blade was shorter, +curved now more like a scimitar at its tip, which showed that the angle +was greater. + +But what if before he reached the rocky platform, the cleft should grow +too narrow to admit the passage of his body? It was too late now to +think of any such impediment. He struggled upward again, slipping back +at times, clawing like a cat, with toes and fingers, fighting for his +breath, but always mounting higher, his gaze upward toward a star in the +heavens near the point of the scimitar. Would he ever reach the top? +Bits of the rock crumbled, broke off and flew out into space, and once +he slipped and slid outward, only saving himself from destruction by the +aid of a jutting piece of jagged rock which caught in his clothing. A +desperate venture--but successful, for with one final effort, with +fingers torn, and knees and elbows bruised and bleeding, he hauled +himself up to the level of the flat projection of rock upon which he +dragged himself, exhausted and breathless, but so far, safe. + +He lay there for a long time, flat on his back, his eyes dimmed with +effort, his gaze on the stars, which now seemed to blink in a friendly +way upon his venture. To succeed so far--failure was now impossible. +Fearfully he peered over the edge of the cliff upon the velvety +tree-tops of the valley below. Three hundred feet, four perhaps, and +beyond to the left where the crag fell down to the very bed of the Dukla +itself, black void--vacancy. + +Above him still was the hazardous climb up the broken face of the rocks, +but he did not fear it. His nerves were iron now. There were roots +growing here, and small bushes, stunted trees, growing in the +interstices of the rocks, and he climbed steadily, always looking +upward, toward the breach in the wall now so very near, fifty feet, +forty--and then the wall seemed to hang over him smooth and bare. So he +hung there by a sturdy branch, one foot clinging, and studied the +surface, descending a few feet carefully and then rising again to the +left in a fissure, swinging himself along a narrow ledge where the +masonry of the bastion joined the rock. Over this he climbed, finding +solid footing at last, and then rest and a breathing space within the +broken walls. + +He lay behind a pile of rocks which had fallen from the walls of the +watchtower, recovering his breath again, and the strength of his +fingers, every bone of which was crying out in protest. He peered over +into the depths below, trying to measure the distance he had come--three +hundred feet--perhaps more. Could he find a rope of that length within +the castle--? After a while he straightened in the shadow of the wall +and peered cautiously up at the dark bulk of the keep and the tower, +beyond the ruined chapel, searching its roofs and window for a sign of +life. Silence. The ruin was deserted. For half an hour he watched and +waited, and then sure that there was no chance that he had been +observed, rose to his feet and moved forward stealthily into the shadows +of the chapel. The roof had long since fallen in and been removed, but +Renwick stumbled over a dusty tomb, toward the fragment of altar with +the reredos still showing traces of sculpture, partially protected by a +fragment of roof over the apse which had been spared by the wind and +storm. To the right of the altar was a Gothic door, which had at one +time led into the building adjoining, but upon investigation he found +that it had been built in with solid blocks of stone. The other arch of +the vaulted structure outside which he had noted from the mountain side +was also filled by a wall. So far as Renwick could see, the ruined part +of Schloss Szolnok was isolated, with no mode of egress from the +habitable part. + +Renwick had screened his movements as far as possible from view of the +windows in the keep and other buildings, and now discovered that the +lowest one was at least fifteen feet above the level of this rampart; +and so before planning any action, he investigated the guardhouse, a +fallen ruin upon the north bastion. He seemed to make out the forms of +what had once been the stone treads of a circular stair in a tumbled +mass. At first the appearance of the place discouraged him, for it +seemed too far away from the main mass of buildings to furnish any +communication with them, but as he peered among the fallen masonry he +thought he detected a darker spot in the obscurity, and bending forward +was aware of a heavy smell, as of mold and dampness. Upon investigation +he discovered an irregular hole under the mass of stone, a little wider +than his body. + +He dared not strike a match for fear the glow of it might be observed +from one of the windows of the keep, but testing the balance of the +heavy stone steps, he decided to investigate, and so lowering his legs +into the dark aperture he let himself hang from his waist and found that +his toes encountered solidity. He tested his footing with his weight, +and then let go, descending into the hole, which seemed to be a +stairway, leading from the tower into the bowels of the rock. With a +touch of fingers upon the efflorescent walls he moved cautiously down, +step by step, sure now that this was the ancient corridor by which the +men-at-arms passed from the guardhouse to the other rampart. Sixty-two +steps down he counted, and then he reached a level, where he paused a +moment to look at the vague blotch of gray which was the starlight. Even +with eyes that had now grown accustomed to the darkness he could see +nothing, and so deeming himself safe from observation, he struck a +match, which struggled a moment against the foul air and then went out. +But in the brief moment of partial illumination, Renwick made out a +corridor extending straight before him, slightly downward. He followed +it cautiously his hands stretched out, his toes feeling for pitfalls, +and at last came to a rough wall. + +Was this the end--a wall which shut off communication with the ruins? +Emptiness to the right. He turned and followed the wall blindly, down +its tortuous way, aware of a difficulty in breathing, and a throbbing at +his temples down which the moisture was pouring profusely. In a while +which seemed hours, the rough wall stopped, and his fingers encountered +a wooden upright--a doorway--open. And testing the stone floor carefully +he passed through it, the echoes of footfalls advising him that he was +in a larger space. He peered in all directions, seeking a sign of light +within, for it seemed that the air had now grown fresher, but he saw +nothing, and so striking a third match which burned more brightly, he +held it over his head for a moment and looked about him. + +It was a kind of crypt in a good state of preservation, octagonal in +shape, about twelve feet high, and the ceiling was supported by arches +which sprang from dwarf columns of stone at the angles. From the center +of the ceiling by a heavy chain hung an ancient iron lamp which still +contained the remnants of a candle. There was a heavy wooden table at +one side, and two heavy chairs, but Renwick's gaze passed these quickly +to a partition of rough boards in one of the walls opposite, and then +his match burnt his fingers and expired. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE DEATH GRIP + + +He stood in the middle of the stone floor, matchbox in hand, trying to +decide what he must do next. As nearly as he could judge by his +observations during the afternoon, and the direction of the steps and +passageways, the vault was somewhere under the main group of buildings, +the keep or one end of the Hall, two or three stories below the level of +the chapel floor. Part of the corridor through which he had passed was +hewn from the solid rock, and part was built of masonry. The wooden +partition opposite him was obviously the beginning of the used part of +the castle, but admitting that he could pass it, in which direction +would it lead him? He feared to strike another match, for beyond the +door perhaps someone might be moving. It was now, as nearly as Renwick +could judge, about one o'clock in the morning. He crossed the crypt +carefully and found the partition, feeling its surface, which was made +of rough boards loosely nailed together. He put his eye to one of the +cracks and peering in, could see nothing; but a current of warmer air +which came through the slits, slightly aromatic in odor, warned him that +the space beyond was surely connected with the habitable part of the +castle--a wine cellar perhaps, or a storage room. He debated for a +moment whether it was wise to use another light and then at last decided +to take the risk, and as matches were scarce, found the ancient candle +in the iron lamp, which after sputtering feebly for a moment, consented +to burn. By its aid he examined the dust upon the floor of the crypt, +which showed the imprint of no footsteps but his own; then the walls of +the crypt, discovering immediately another door which his eyes had +missed in the earlier glow of the match,--a narrow door open to the +left, of thick wood, with heavy iron hinges, the flanges of which formed +the braces of the door itself. He blew out the candle and put it into +his pocket. Peering through the keyhole and seeing nothing, he lifted +the latch and tried to open it. + +His efforts proved that it had been unused for many years, for the +hinges had sagged, and some of its weight rested upon the stone floor. +But with an effort, he managed to move it an inch or so. Another effort +swung it clear of its stone sill, and at last he managed to open it wide +enough to admit the passage of his body. But with this last attempt the +rusty hinges rasped horribly; and so he waited in silence, listening +fearfully for any sounds in front or behind him which might indicate +alertness above. + +Another passage lay before him, a narrower one, which soon developed a +straight flight of narrow stairs leading upwards. He stood for a moment +staring, for the gloom above him seemed to lighten. He sat upon the +lower step and took off his heavy boots, then crept up the stairs +noiselessly, reaching a landing dimly lighted by a small slit of a +window which looked out upon the night. Pausing here, he was enabled +definitely to establish his position within the castle walls. Below him +was the narrower gorge, opposite him the cliff upon which he had +crouched this afternoon. He was beneath one end of the Hall, and from +all indications, in an ancient secret passageway, the existence of which +from its condition had for years been forgotten. At the landing there +was a heavy wooden door upon his left. This he examined as minutely as +possible by the dim light of the loophole, peering through the keyhole, +from which exuded a faint odor of gasoline. It must be here that Goritz +kept the car. The platform was near the level of the rampart, then. +Renwick did not pause here long for he saw that the stairs turned and +mounted again in the opposite direction. + +Renwick felt for his automatic, and leaving his shoes on the landing by +the window, again climbed into the darkness. Another landing--and before +his eyes, now sensitive to the slightest lessening of the gloom, a thin +thread of light crossed the narrow passage, terminating at his right in +an illuminated spot upon the wall. It did not emanate as he had at first +supposed, from a keyhole, but from a crevice between two stones, where +the joints had turned to powder. He peered through eagerly, but his +range of vision was small, covering merely a section of paneled +woodwork, a mullioned window, and a chair or two. He held his breath and +listened, for he fancied he heard the sound of footsteps. Yes, there +they were again, the slowly moving footsteps of a man pacing to and +fro--and then the footsteps halted suddenly and a voice spoke. It was +that of Leo Goritz. + +"Are you sure that you saw them?" + +"There is no mistake. My eyes are good." + +"Did they remain long?" + +"For twenty minutes or so, but they saw that the thing was impossible +and went away." + +"The situation becomes interesting," said Goritz. + +"Rather too risky, I should say," put in the other. "If the Herr +Hauptmann had only taken my advice last week----" + +"I never take advice. But you may have been mistaken. I can scarcely +believe that Herr Windt had the skill to trace us here--unless----" + +"But it was he. I was peering through the slit in the postern, not +twenty feet away. I could have killed him easily." + +"But twenty feet is a long distance when two hundred feet yawn beneath. +Let him come. We have food enough for a siege--ah, there it is again!" + +There was a significant silence between the two men, but Renwick +listened the more keenly, for he heard the deep rumble, as of thunder, +which had perplexed him in the afternoon--a reverberation, repeated and +continued, which seemed to make the very flags beneath him tremble. But +since he could hear and feel it within these solid walls, much nearer +and louder, he realized now that it meant the roar of artillery--the +defiant blasts of the Austrian guns at the end of the Pass, or the +triumphant salvos of the Russians. And the voice of Goritz confirmed +him. + +"The thing has come rather sooner than I expected," he growled. +"_Donnerwetter!_ Why couldn't the Russians have put off the attack for a +week!" + +"And if they win the Pass----" + +"Perhaps it is just as well for us if they do. Herr Windt may neglect us +in the general scramble for safety." + +"He is not of that sort, Herr Hauptmann." + +"Then let him come. Twenty feet is a long jump even for the legs of the +Windt." + +Goritz laughed at his joke and then yawned sleepily. + +"You may go now, Karl. Is Strohmeyer at the gate?" + +"Yes, Herr Hauptmann." + +"You are sure that he will not go to sleep?" + +"I think not." + +"The signal is one stroke of the postern bell. He understands?" + +"Yes, Herr Hauptmann. Any other orders?" + +"None except these. That he is on no account to fire unless attacked. +But this fact is to be understood. No man is to pass into Schloss +Szolnok tonight." + +"_Zu befehl_, Herr Hauptmann." + +The chauffeur, Karl, passed across Renwick's range of vision and the +steps of Goritz resumed their pacing of the floor--more slowly now. The +Englishman had been kneeling, scarcely daring to breathe, and now he +wondered what he had better do next. Taking infinite pains to make no +sound he investigated the wall of the Hall with his finger tips. There +was a door here, a secret door, he thought, hidden from the interior of +the Hall in the paneling of the wainscoting. Did Goritz know of its +existence? The floor of the crypt, it was true, had shown no sign of +footsteps, and the door below, Renwick was sure, had not been opened for +many years. But if Goritz knew of this passage, there was a chance of +his entering and finding him. Renwick dared not strike matches now, and +determined to go on until he had mastered all the architectural details +of the passage, and then devise some plan to reach Marishka. Balked in +other directions he could return to this secret door into the Hall, and +awaiting the departure of Goritz, force an entrance and trust to luck. + +But there might be some other and less dangerous means of reaching +Marishka. Even if he entered the Hall, he would have no idea which way +to turn. Better to follow the passage to the upper floors, if it were +possible, and enter above, thus creating a diversion which might add to +the advantage of his surprise. But did the passage mount higher? Or +was--? His advancing toes touched something solid. Bending forward, he +found steps, and immediately began mounting them on all fours. + +The sleeping-rooms, he had supposed, were on the two upper floors of the +keep and in the buttressed building toward the south which was a part of +it. This was the direction in which he was going now. He reached another +landing, as nearly as he could judge by the steps he had taken, almost +over the crypt, three levels below. This was the keep, then, upon his +left. With pulse beating rapidly he felt for and found a wooden +upright--another door. He paused and listened. There was no sound nor +any light upon the other side. So he went on slowly until at a distance +above him he saw the starlight coming through another loophole, the +counterpart of that below the Hall, and mounted noiselessly, peering out +upon the wider valley to the south. He had therefore traversed the +castle from one side to the other, and was now near the top of the +buttressed wing of the keep. + +Breathing in deep gasps the keen night air, Renwick waited, listening, +and now heard again from outside the thunderous reverberations of the +battle at the head of the Pass. He had been so intent upon his mission +that he had forgotten it! But now the furious character of the +engagement was obvious. It was far distant, perhaps four or five miles +away, and yet the wild heavens were aglow with strange flashing fires, +the reflections of the bombs and star-shells which paled the ineffectual +lights of the firmament. Battle! Schloss Szolnok, too, should see +battle--his own with Goritz! But Renwick would take no chances this +time. + +The heavy reverberations rose and died away, but a fainter spatter of +sounds continued, the deadly counter-melody of machine-gun and rifle +fire which went on without intermission. Far below the Schloss, in the +direction of the road along the Dukla, he heard the clatter of +transport, and the calls of men. + +All of this Renwick's mind assimilated in his moment of rest and +recuperation, but beside the loophole, clearly defined by the flashes in +the heavens, his searching glances made out the uprights of another +door. Here, perhaps----He bent forward, listening at its cracks, and +then knelt, searching for a latch or keyhole. Nothing. But as he turned +his back to the loophole, shutting out the starlight, he imagined that +he saw something white upon the stone flagging. He leaned forward to +pick it up and found that his fingers were softly illuminated. The spot +was the reflection of a dim light within the room. He put his face close +to the floor and found the aperture, a small hole of irregular shape in +the baseboard of the door. A candle. Someone, then, was within? He put +his ear to the chink and listened. A muffled sound, faint, but +agonizingly definite--a woman's sobs! Renwick straightened and then +listened again. Silence. Perhaps he had been mistaken. No. There it was +again--fainter now. He ran his fingers softly along the edges of the +woodwork, seeking a latch, a handle, but could find none. If there were +a secret spring, it was so deftly hidden that he could not discover it. +But in the brief moments of his search he had decided that he must enter +this room at all costs. And so rising to his feet, he gave up trying to +find the secret of admittance and slowly put his weight against the +woodwork. It made no sound nor yielded to his pressure. He tried it +again with the same results. Then despairing, and desperate, he struck a +match and ran it quickly along the jambs. The hinges were concealed, but +he found signs of them at the right. To the left, then--another match--a +handle, a knob--where? And then just as the third match went out he +found it--a flat, iron lever which moved around a swivel, cunningly let +into the woodwork. He caught it quickly in his fingers, twisted it down, +and then, automatic in hand, he pushed upon the door which opened and +swung inward upon its hinges. + +Renwick waited for a moment in the doorway, pistol in hand, blinking at +the candle upon the table, like a cat emerging from a cellar, searching +the vast room for its occupant. A huge room with wainscoted walls, with +heavy hangings at the windows, massive furniture, a high canopied +bed---- + +He took a few quick steps forward into the room, for a figure clothed in +soft white had started up from the bed and was staring at him with +startled eyes--Marishka! + +Renwick was hatless, tattered, covered with dust, his face streaked with +grime and sweat, and the short beard that he wore still further +transformed him. But it seemed that a look of recognition struggled +with the terror in her eyes. + +"You, Hugh--again!" she whispered. + +A pang shot through him at the pitiful sound of her voice and at the +words. Had her sufferings---- + +"Your spirit. It has--has been--with me often, Hugh." She went on +dreamily. + +"Marishka!" he whispered, crossing to her swiftly. "It is I--Hugh. It is +no dream, no vision. Awake!" + +She brushed an arm across her eyes like one arousing from a deep sleep, +and then straightened suddenly and still uncertainly. But he caught her +by the arm and brought her face close to his own so that she might see. + +"I didn't die, dear. I am here in the flesh--to protect--to take you +away from this place." + +"Then I--I have not dreamed?" + +"Not now?" + +She clasped his wrists, his shoulders, his face with her hands to assure +herself of the truth, and he took her in his arms and kissed her +tenderly. + +"Marishka!" he murmured again. And then she seemed to grow heavy in his +arms, repeating his name breathlessly. + +He was frightened for a moment for her head drooped away from him. She +looked so piteously thin and white, and her hands were ice cold. + +"Marishka!" he pleaded. "Marishka." + +Her eyes opened again and her smile reassured him. + +"Forgive me, Hugh. The joy is almost more than I can bear." + +"You are safe now," he whispered. "Safe!" And he clasped her close, +holding her there in a breathless moment oblivious to their danger. + +Then while she still wondered, Renwick suddenly released her, moving +quickly to the door by which he had entered, and after examining the +mechanism carefully, quietly closed it. Then he turned to Marishka and +questioned, while still seated upon the bed, she regarded him with +bewildered eyes. + +"What men are there at Schloss Szolnok, Marishka?" he asked quickly. + +"Goritz--the chauffeur--and Ena's husband," she answered slowly, with an +effort. + +"Strohmeyer?" + +"Yes. The two men--at the farm--are not here--at night." + +"Ah, I see----" And then, "That other door," he whispered tensely. "Is +it locked?" + +"Yes. I--I locked it tonight." + +"You feared?" + +"Hugh--until tonight----" + +She stopped and shuddered, until he came to her and held her for a +moment in his arms. + +"He will not frighten you again," he muttered between set lips. + +"Thank God," she whispered, now starting up as though with the first +realization of their position. + +"Have you any plan of what you will do?" + +"Yes. Goritz is still below in the Hall. I have a plan, but I can do +nothing until he goes to bed. Where is his room?" + +"In the keep, along the passageway outside." + +"I see," thoughtfully; and then, "Do you know where I can find a +rope--several ropes, stout ones?" + +"I do not know. There is a storeroom." + +"Do you know where it is?" + +"Yes, I think so." + +"And you can find it--in the dark?" + +"I think so." + +"Is there any way of telling when Goritz goes to bed?" + +"I hear his steps sometimes in the corridor outside." + +He went noiselessly over to the door, listened a moment and then +returned. + +"No sounds. There isn't much sleep for anyone here tonight. The noise +and the knowledge that Herr Windt is somewhere near----" + +"Herr Windt!" + +"He has followed us here. I think he found a trace of me at +Bartfeld--the village beyond the mountain," he whispered. + +"But we might go down through the castle and the courtyard--if we could +pass the man at the drawbridge. Does it make a noise when it is +lowered?" + +"Oh, yes, Hugh--a dreadful noise." + +"That's awkward." He crossed to the door into the wainscoting and +listened there, then at the other door into the corridor, and returned +to her. + +"For the present, at least, we're safe." + +He caught her in his arms and held her silently. Her arms clinging to +him, she raised her head and found his lips. + +"Belovèd," she whispered, "how did you----" + +"I followed you here--on a mere fragment of a clew--but it was enough." + +"But he shot you----" + +"I was well cared for--in a hospital." + +"You were wounded--dangerously?" + +"Yes, but I don't die easily. I'm quite well again." + +"Are you sure?" + +He laughed. "Could I be here, else? Your cliffs are steep----" + +"You climbed----?" + +"Yes, up a fissure and through the ruins. I saw you--there in the +window--from across the gorge. I heard you call, Marishka----" + +"Call----?" + +"That you were not afraid to die." + +"But I _was_ afraid, Hugh--it was so far--so dark below." She shuddered. + +He pressed her closer to him. "Has he--has Goritz----" + +"Until tonight, Hugh--he has not been unkind," she said slowly. "I was +sick; he nursed me. But I've feared him--I fear him still----" + +He felt her body trembling against his own, and reassured her gently, +pausing a moment to listen tensely for sounds at either door. And +then---- + +"Don't worry, dearest. He cannot harm you. I was not spared from death +for nothing." + +"I am not frightened now, but tonight has been horrible--the noise--my +terror of I know not what. It has been like the end of the world to me." + +"The beginning of our world, yours and mine," he said confidently. + +She straightened, drew away from him and put a hand before her eyes +again. "Even yet I cannot believe." She looked up at him with a wide +gaze that still held in it something of the reflection of the long days +of helplessness and misery--something more deeply spiritual than he had +ever seen. "Hugh, dear," she went on softly, "you will think it strange, +but I--I have heard you calling to me--speaking to me, like a living +presence here in this room. Not as you are now, belovèd, but +paler.... I thought that you were dead.... And so when you came--at the +door--I thought--I must have dreamed----" + +"You were frightened, dear." + +"Yes--terribly frightened, Hugh," she confessed, "by _him_--and by the +firing. It seemed at times as though the castle were rocking under me. +Listen!" + +A terrific cannonading began again--louder, more continuous than any +that had gone before. + +"Yes--they are fighting for the end of the Pass," he muttered; "the +Russians----" + +"And will they----?" + +"God knows. I pray----" he paused and scanned her face anxiously. + +"What, Hugh?" + +"That the Russians may win." + +She started away from him, her eyes widely inquiring. + +"Why?" + +He smiled slowly. + +"It's simple enough. Because if I am taken by the Austrians I shall be +shot as a spy." + +"You--a spy!" + +"No, not really," he said soberly. "But I'm an Englishman, an enemy of +Austria armed and in disguise. That is enough----" + +"They--my people would shoot you!" She whispered, horror-stricken. + +"I have no illusions about my fate--if taken----" + +"But you have come here--to help me----" + +"Unfortunately that does not change matters." + +He put her gently aside and went for a while and listened at the doors, +and then came back to her. + +"Silence. But we will wait a little longer," he whispered. + +Marishka caught him by the shoulders and looked up into his eyes. + +"Hugh, what you have said frightens me. You mean that you--that we are +enemies--you and I--because our nations are at war----!" + +She drew away and held him at arm's length while she scrutinized him in +the light of the guttering candle. + +"You--my enemy, Hugh? I--yours?" A wan smile came proudly to her lips. +"If I am your enemy, belovèd, then love and loyalty have perished from +the earth. And you, who have risen from the grave to come to me----!" + +"Sh----, dear," he whispered. "You must know the truth. Whatever +happens--here in the castle, the Austrian troops are all around us. Herr +Windt, too. There is no escape for me unless the Russians come through. +That is why I hope----" + +Marishka put her arms around his shoulders quickly and kissed him on the +lips. + +"Then I, too, pray that they may come through," she whispered fervently. + +"Marishka! I do not ask you to give up your allegiance----" + +"No, Hugh. I give without asking. Belovèd, I want you to understand," +she said solemnly. "Those that are your enemies are my enemies. You +would have died for me--and I, can I do less for you?" + +"Sh----, Marishka," he murmured, "there is no death----" + +"Death can be no worse for me than the horrible utter loneliness without +you; but whatever comes, I am yours, Hugh--in life--in death. I owe no +allegiance, no fealty, but to you, and I have kept the faith, Hugh, even +here. I can have no country that you may not share, no compatriots that +are not yours also. My kingdom is in your heart, belovèd, there to live +while you will have it so." + +"Marishka!" He caught her in his arms and held her long in his embrace, +and she clung close to him, her lips on his in this final test of their +plighted troth. About them the thunder of battle, ever approaching +nearer; the rumble and din of groaning wagons on the road below; the +hoarse cries of men; the whine and sputter of laboring motors trying to +pass in the narrow road--confusion, disorder, chaos; but now they heard +nothing. For them the earth stood still. Nations might totter and crash, +but their Empire was in each other.... + +Renwick raised his head at last. "Marishka," he whispered, "it is time +that we made a move." He released her suddenly, listened at the doors, +and then moved to the table beside her. + +"First, we had better put out the light--then perhaps we can see if +there is anyone outside." + +Marishka snuffed the candle, and they went to a window overlooking the +courtyard, drew the hangings and peered out. The din in the valley below +them was increasing, a hurrying of wagons, horses and guns in the narrow +road. Were more Austrian reinforcements coming up? It seemed so. From +the mountains beyond, the rattle of small-arm fire had risen to a steady +roar, but the detonations of heavy ordnance were less frequent. + +"The Austrians--may be winning," he said calmly. + +She pressed his hand. "I am sorry," she said bravely. + +But there was a world of meaning for Renwick in the way she whispered +it. + +"Your people shall be my people," she murmured again. "And your God, my +God." + +He could only return her pressure in silence. + +He would have been little happy if he could have said how much. + +Together they peered through the slip of the silken hanging to the +rampart below. Flashes of reflections from the end of the Pass played +like sheet lightning, and in the fitful illuminations they could see the +figure of the old man, Strohmeyer, reclining in the shadow by the +postern gate. The drawbridge was still raised, and beyond it they could +see in the flashes, the length of the causeway stretching out into the +darkness of the mountainside beyond. Strohmeyer did not move. It almost +seemed as though he were asleep. + +"What makes you think that Herr Windt is here?" asked Marishka suddenly. + +"I saw him with Spivak yonder," and he pointed to the north beyond the +gorge. + +Marishka was silent, her eyes eagerly searching the shadows. Her hand +was trembling a little with the excitement of their situation, but her +voice was firm as she whispered: + +"Perhaps tonight my eyes are uncertain, Hugh. But do you not see +something moving in the shadow of the wall?" + +"Where?" + +"Of the causeway--there, beyond the chain of the drawbridge----" + +He peered eagerly in the direction she indicated. + +"A shadow----?" he questioned. "I can't--no--yes--it moves--there!" + +"Yes--another and still another. And they are carrying something." + +Renwick watched again for a tense moment. + +"Windt--and his men," he said with conviction. "They are going to try to +span the abyss." + +"Strohmeyer----" + +Here at least was a community of interest with Goritz. "They will win +their way across, unless he wakes," said Renwick tensely. + +"What is it that they are carrying?" + +"Timbers--see! There are at least four men to each. They are putting +them in the shadow of the wall. Will the man never wake up?" + +"What can we do?" she whispered desperately. "I could call out to him." + +"No----" he said, "I don't want to arouse Goritz yet. Ah! They have +slunk away again to get more timbers, I think." + +"And if they should succeed----?" + +"They must not. One man could hold the place indefinitely from the +protection of the gate. If the man would only wake!" + +But Strohmeyer slept on. + +"And Goritz?" she said anxiously. "Surely tonight he cannot be +sleeping." + +"Perhaps he is so sure of himself--yes--in the passage below I +heard--there was to be a signal--one stroke of the postern bell----" + +"But if the man sleeps----" + +"If they come again--no matter what happens, we must warn him," he +decided. + +"Sh----" + +Renwick felt his arm seized suddenly by Marishka's icy fingers and +turned, following her wild gaze into the room behind them listening. The +anxieties of the night had made Marishka's senses keen. "The door!" she +whispered. "The secret door by which you came!" + +Renwick listened. In a brief lull in the commotion outside, he heard a +slight sound, near and startlingly distinct like that of a rat in a +partition. Then in the blackness of the room, a gray streak appeared, +slowly widening. The door into the secret passage had opened, and the +starlight from the loophole beyond now showed a dusky silhouette. +Renwick felt Marishka's arm clutch his in terror, as Goritz noiselessly +stepped forward into the room. Renwick had instinctively drawn the +hanging behind him, and he and Marishka were in deep shadow while every +move that Goritz made was clearly defined. First he took a pace toward +the bed, then paused and turning struck a match and searched for the +candle. + +He was in shirt sleeves. Renwick had drawn his automatic and could have +shot him easily. But murder, in cold blood--even when his life and +Marishka's depended upon it! Renwick could not. He saw Goritz turn from +the lighted candle and stare toward the empty bed and then quickly +search the shadows of the room. It was a long moment before he saw the +blaze of the candle beside him reflected in Renwick's eyes which peered +down the barrel of his automatic. + +"What nonsense is this--Marishka----?" he began. + +But Renwick's voice cut the darkness like a steel blade. + +"Don't move--Goritz. Hands up--high!" + +"Who----?" + +"Hands up, I say----" And as he slowly obeyed, "Now turn toward the +bed----" + +Goritz was now staring at Renwick as though he had seen a ghost, but he +knew better than to take his hands down. + +"You----" he muttered. "You're----" + +"I'm Renwick," said the Englishman crisply. "Now do as I tell you +or----" + +He paused uncertainly, for at that moment, behind him through the window +came the deep boom of a bell. + +"The drawbridge!" cried Marishka. + +"Ah!" came from Goritz's throat as with an incredibly swift movement he +smothered the candle. Renwick fired twice and then threw Marishka to one +side, but there was a crash of the door in the wainscoting, and then +silence. + +"He has gone!" cried Marishka somewhere in the darkness. + +"Wait!" shouted Renwick. Some instinct warned him of the trick, and he +sprang aside just as Goritz darted at the spot where he had been. He +felt the rush of the man's body and turned, but did not dare to fire, +for fear of hitting Marishka, so he ran forward toward the window and +presently they met, body to body, clutching in primitive combat. The +man's hand went at his throat, but he wrenched it away again--again. His +arms went around the waist of his adversary low down, in the attempt to +raise him and bear him to the ground. Goritz was now striking furiously +at his head, and by this token Renwick knew that the man was unarmed. +Renwick's furious rush brought them with a thud against the wall, where +they fell, oversetting a table to the floor. Amid the broken furniture +they struggled, in the pitch blackness, with their bare hands, for +Renwick's weapon had been knocked from his fingers. In the rebound from +the wall Renwick fell beneath, Goritz with one hand upon his throat with +a grip which was slowly tightening, but Renwick managed to tear it away +and release himself, striking furiously at the man's face. Goritz was +young and strong, and Renwick's struggle up the cliff had taken away +some of his staying power, but he fought on blindly in the darkness; +grimly, like the bulldog that holds and ever tightens his jaws, no +matter what the punishment he suffers. The bulldog against the wolf. +Goritz was agile, and his arms were strong and wiry. He struck and tore, +but Renwick's arms were cracking his ribs, squeezing the breath from his +body. He struggled with an effort to one knee, and in the change of +position managed to get the fingers of one hand around Renwick's throat +again. They rolled over and over upon the floor, first one uppermost and +then the other, but the fingers on the Englishman's throat were strong. +Fires flashed before Renwick's eyes and the blood seemed to be bursting +from his temples. + +His grip was relaxing.... He felt his strength going. Then with his +remaining consciousness he was aware of a warm moisture upon one of his +wrists. Blood! Goritz had been struck by one of his bullets. With a +desperate effort, he let go one arm and struck. The man's grip relaxed +and he tore it away, gasping greedily for breath. + +Marishka in terror had at first slunk into a corner, listening to the +fearful sounds of the combat--following it with her ears from one part +of the room to another. What must she do? Gathering courage, she passed +the foot of the bed, and grasping for the table found the match box and +managed to light the candle. + +They were upon the floor near one of the windows over the valley, locked +in a deadly grip, breathing in terrible gasps. She must do something to +help--something--for as the glow fell upon them they seemed to struggle +upward against the wall by the window, upon the sill. She could not make +out which was which--but instinctively she seemed to realize their +deadly purpose--death for one or both on the rocks below! The hanging at +the window came crashing down and enveloped them, but they did not know. +They were drunk with the lust of killing--mad! + +Out of the confusion she saw Goritz rise smiling, straining with his +arms, hauling Renwick over the sill. Death! Hers, too, then! With a cry +of despair she reached them, clinging with her arms around Renwick's +waist. + +Goritz opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came forth. He might have +struck her down but he did not. Instead he rose with one foot upon the +sill in one supreme effort to throw Renwick over, but the Englishman, +already half out of the window, got his right arm loose, and swinging +with all the strength left to him, launched a terrible blow at his +adversary. It struck him on the point of the chin. Goritz staggered, +lost his balance, toppled for a moment in the air, his grip on the +Englishman's collar, which tore loose as he fell--out--into the black +abyss.... + +Renwick sprawled half across the wide sill, but Marishka clung +desperately, dragging him in--to safety. He toppled in upon the floor +and lay motionless while Marishka hovered over him. + +"Hugh----!" she cried. "Hugh!" + +Renwick struggled up slowly, trying to speak, but his chest heaved +convulsively, and he could only gasp meaninglessly. + +"All--right," he managed to utter after a moment. + +She got water and he drank of it. + +"You're hurt--you're covered with blood." + +"No, no----" he gasped, "winded." + +"But the blood!" + +"His. I had shot him--through the body." + +Marishka peered toward the window and shuddered. + +"His face--Hugh--I can't forget." + +Renwick struggled painfully to his feet. + +"Nor I. He almost did for me. If it hadn't been for you----" + +"You'd have followed him, Hugh!" And then almost inaudibly, "Holy +Virgin!" she whispered. + +Renwick moved his limbs to be sure that they were sound. + +"Close thing, that," he muttered. "Beastly close." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +BESIEGED + + +So desperate had been the struggle that they had forgotten the peril of +the drawbridge. Shots had already been fired in the courtyard but they +had not heard them. Now, as an awed silence fell upon them, at the +passing of Goritz and at their relief from immediate danger, they were +suddenly aware of the sounds of commotion outside near at hand, the +sharp crack of small arms, the cries of men and the booming of the +postern bell--calling Goritz--who would never come! + +Renwick staggered to the window over the courtyard, Marishka's hand in +his, and peered out. Somewhere a great fire was burning, for overhead +the sky was copper-colored with its reflections, and below they saw +dimly two figures crouching in the shadow of the postern gate. As they +looked, three men emerged from the wall of the causeway, carrying a +timber with which they approached the abyss, but as they neared the edge +a flash darted from the postern and the foremost man fell. The others, +with a rush, tried to cast an end of the heavy plank across the +intervening space, but it fell short and went crashing down into the +void below. + +"They may be able to hold out for a time," whispered Renwick, "long +enough to let us get away--come, Marishka--the ropes!" + +He took the candle, and she opened the door into the corridor which led +to the keep. Outside they met the old woman Ena, who was crouched upon +the floor by a window, wringing her hands, half dead with fear. But she +started up at the sight of Renwick, who led the way, and then looked in +astonishment at Marishka. + +"Who----?" she gasped, and paused. + +"A friend, Ena," said Marishka. "Do not fear." + +But she still regarded Renwick in terror, for his appearance, +disheveled, torn and bloody, was not one to inspire confidence. + +"The Herr Hauptmann----!" + +"He is dead," said Marishka quietly. + +"Dead! _Herr Gott!_" And she shrank back into her corner, her head in +her hands. + +But there was no time to delay. Renwick hurried Marishka down the stone +stairway to the Hall, whence they descended to a lower floor to the +storeroom. + +It was filled with a conglomeration of dusty odds and ends, boxes, +barrels, bottles innumerable, the relics of the hospitality of Baron +Neudeck, but at first they could see no sign of what they were seeking. +Above them shots sounded intermittently, and the roar of the distant +battle never ceased. Renwick searched feverishly while Marishka held the +candle above his head, overturning the dusty objects, and at last with a +cry of triumph found what they sought, a coil of heavy rope in a far +corner. He dragged it forth and examined it carefully. It was heavy and +long. Was it long enough? There was no way of telling except by +measuring in yard lengths, and no time to risk that. + +There had been a long interval of silence on the rampart above. Had +Windt succeeded in winning his way across? + +He raised the coil of rope from his shoulder with an effort and took the +candle from Marishka's hand, moving toward an arch to their left, +seeking a direct way to the boarded door into the crypt. It should be in +this direction--yes, the wine cellar--here it was--the boarded +partition. Marishka took the candle from his hand again while he +examined the fastenings--nails somewhat rusted, which would not resist +leverage. He found a piece of plank which he inserted in the edge of the +door and managed to pry it open a little, and then bracing a foot +against the stone wall, made an opening wide enough to admit them. + +So far, so well. They were within the crypt, but while Marishka waited, +Renwick pulled the partition back into place to hide their mode of +retreat if the gate above were taken. Then moving rapidly along the +tunnel they reached the steps which led to the watchtower, where Renwick +snuffed the candle; and they climbed, emerging at last among the ruins +with their precious rope. If they could get down they would crawl +through the bushes and undergrowth, making their way before daylight to +the house of the peasant who had sheltered him last night. Another sum +of money would secure their immunity--at least for the present. + +To the northward, the sky was vividly aglow with the reflection of the +flames of a burning house--fired perhaps by the shells of the Russians, +which still seemed to be bursting not far away. And now their acrid +fumes were poisoning the clean night-wind from the north. Below them in +the valley they still heard the sounds of passing transport, and the +hoarse calls of men. The battle for the head of the Pass was +desperate--but with such reënforcements, the Austrians would hold it. +The crackle of small arms after a slight lull rose in intensity to a +continuous roar. And while Renwick was making the end of his rope fast +around a huge granite block, there was a tremendous explosion which +seemed to tear the bloody sky to tatters. + +"A magazine or a mine," muttered Renwick. + +She smiled at him bravely, and resumed her watch of the windows of the +castle. Here in the open, hidden from the courtyard beyond the bulk of +the buildings, they could hear nothing of what was passing at the +drawbridge gate. The silence seemed ominous. Had Windt's men succeeded +in bridging the gap? As yet there were no signs of light in the castle +windows, except the lurid reflections of the northern sky. But in any +event there was no time to spare. Renwick tied a large knot and a loop +in the end of the rope and then carefully lowered it over the northern +wall, measuring its length by his arms, as it went over. Fifty yards, +sixty, seventy, eighty--when it stretched taut. Eighty yards! Sick with +anxiety, he crawled upon his stomach to the edge of the precipice and +peered over into the abyss. + +The rope swung like a giant pendulum from side to side. By the luminous +heavens he could just see the loop at its end--at least seventy feet +from the counterscarp. Seventy feet--or fifty or even twenty-five--for +Marishka sure death among the welter of jagged rocks below! + +Slowly he rose and faced her. She read the truth in his dejection. + +"The rope is too short," he muttered. + +She caught him by the hand. + +"I can climb down by----" + +"No, no," he said in sudden horror, "it is not to be thought of. You, at +least, are safe." + +"But you----?" + +"Perhaps something may happen. We can at least hide in the wall. They +may not find us. Come." + +He descended into the hole among the broken masonry and lowered Marishka +gently beside him, and there for a moment upon the stairs he held her in +his arms while they listened again for noise of pursuit along the dark +passage. Silence. + +She drew his head down until their lips met. + +"Your fate, Hugh--whatever it is--shall be mine." + +He smiled in the darkness. A love like this was worth fighting for. "We +shall win--somehow," he whispered, "we must!" + +Together slowly they retraced their steps to the crypt, where they +lighted the candle and listened again, and now, faintly above, they +heard the sound of a shot. + +"They have not won through yet, Marishka," he said. "My cause is +Goritz's now. We must hold the gate." + +"I am not afraid," she said. "We can still fight." + +He looked at her pale face in admiration, for the fire of resolution +glowed in her eyes. + +"Yes," he muttered grimly, "we can still fight." And then, "Are there +any weapons here?" + +"In the armory--come!" And she led the way up the stair. But as they +searched the Hall, Ena hobbled down the stone stairway from above, +shrieking, and threw herself at their feet. They could not make out +what she said, but Renwick rushed to the door and peered out toward the +postern. Upon the flagging, a figure lay motionless, and the other man +was nowhere to be seen. But worse than that, as though aware of their +advantage, in the causeway beyond, several men were advancing, bearing +another timber. Renwick's eye appraised the situation hurriedly and he +planned quickly, for delay would be fatal. As he reloaded the clip of +his automatic he ordered quickly. + +"Marishka, I have a plan. There are two joists at the foot of the +stair--not very heavy. You and Ena must bring them up here. Then get +what loaded weapons you can. Bring them here, too. Lose no time. I will +return." + +And leaving her, he dashed out of the door, and running to the right +gained the protection of the rampart, behind which he crawled toward the +gate. Where was the other man, the chauffeur, Karl? + +In a moment he learned. For as Renwick approached, the men upon the +other side succeeded in spanning the abyss, and one of them rushed over. +When the man was halfway across, a shot rang out from the gate and the +man on the board swayed and fell. Another followed and another shot rang +out, but the man still came on. + +Renwick, running forward, shouted a word of encouragement. He saw the +man Karl rise from his concealment and meet the fellow just as he +reached the gate, striking him a blow which made him lose his balance +and fall. Then he swung the end of the timber free and it fell into the +gorge as he sprang back to safety, but before he reached the protection +of the gate, several flashes darted from the causeway and the chauffeur +staggered and dropped forward upon his face just as Renwick reached him. + +"Your orders, Herr Hauptmann," he gasped. "But they're too many--my +cartridges--are gone----" He turned with a groan, and for the first time +saw Renwick's face. "You----" he muttered. "You're not----?" + +"It doesn't matter who I am. Are you badly hurt?" + +"_Donnerweiter!_ Yes--through the breast--I'm done for." + +But Renwick stepped past him and found a loophole through which he could +watch what was passing upon the other side of the abyss. + +The last disaster had robbed the besiegers of some of their enthusiasm, +for they had withdrawn to the other end of the causeway where they were +holding council. Searching the shadows of the wall for signs of any +others concealed near at hand, Renwick took the chance of leaving the +gate unguarded, and in the shadow of the wall rushed back to the Hall. +There he found Marishka with the two joists, waiting for him. + +"They've withdrawn," he said, "but they'll be coming on again in a +moment. We are alone, dear, to defend the gate. Can you help?" + +She was deathly pale, but she smiled at him bravely. He picked up the +two joists and carried them outside while she followed him, listening. + +"You on one side of the gate, I on the other. If they succeed in +throwing a timber across, we must push it off. In this way neither of us +need expose ourselves." + +"I understand--and there are rifles and shotguns." + +"Good! Can you load them?" + +"Strohmeyer loaded them while Karl kept the gate, but Ena was afraid to +take them out." + +"Then bring them. You're quite safe if you keep below the wall of the +rampart. Now go, dear--and God bless you!" + +He reached the gate before Windt's men returned to the attack, and put +one of his new weapons of defense upon each side of it. But he feared to +leave the gate again and crouched, waiting. Below in the valley the +commotion had increased and the sounds of firing went on unceasingly. It +seemed indeed, as Marishka had said, that the end of the world had come. +Beside him, the man Karl was breathing with difficulty. From his post at +the loophole, Renwick heard him mutter, and as the road was still clear, +he listened. + +"You're Renwick--the Englishman?" he whispered hoarsely. + +"I am." + +"And Herr Hauptmann Goritz?" + +"He is dead," replied Renwick. + +"_Ach--danke_," said the man. "It is well then--you too--soon----" + +He nodded forward, toppled sideways and lay still. + +The situation was desperate, and yet as Renwick thought calmly, he +gained courage. With Marishka upon one side and him on the other armed +with the joists, it would be difficult for the attackers to get a +lodgment for their bridges, for the stone outside the gate was quite +smooth, and little effort would be required to push their timbers down. +Both Strohmeyer and Karl had lost their lives by exposing themselves +unnecessarily. But with the two joists, both sides of the gate could be +commanded. In a moment, creeping under the protection of the wall, +Marishka joined him, bringing two rifles. + +"Are they coming?" she asked. + +"Not yet. But they will soon." + +He explained his plan more fully, then bade her go back for another +rifle, ammunition; and return in the protection of the opposite wall to +the post opposite. + +"They can do nothing unless they bring artillery," he said confidently. +"Don't expose yourself or look out, but if a plank comes over, push it +down." + +She smiled and slipped away into the darkness, and Renwick returned to +his loophole. The sky above was getting lighter, and a glance up the +mountain side to his left showed it already in clear profile against the +lightening east, which announced the coming of the dawn. And with the +dawn--light. Was this what the attackers were waiting for? + +He saw the gray figure of Marishka creep along the opposite wall, and in +a moment she was there, not ten feet away at her post, crouched in +safety and waiting. + +"On no account look through the loophole," he ordered. "As the light +grows, there will be men to shoot at them. Keep under cover. +Understand?" + +She only laughed hysterically. + +In a moment, as the light grew, he warned her that they were coming +again. + +"Keep in," he cried. "Don't try to look at the end of the----" + +The warning came just in time, for a fusillade of bullets swept the gate +and they heard the sounds of many men's voices as they came on the run. +Another fusillade which sent dust and fragments of stone flying all +about them! Then a timber crashed across, but before it settled into +place the two joists had pushed it off the smooth landing. At the same +time another volley was fired which would have surely found a mark if +Renwick had exposed himself, but Marishka matched her action to +Renwick's, crouching low, safe from observation, pole in hand, eagerly +watching her half of the gate. + +Another timber--which fell harmlessly and crashed down into the gorge, +and another volley--alike harmless to the defenders. High hopes rose in +Renwick. They could do nothing. Opposite him Marishka, forgetting all +her fears, had caught the contagion of successful resistance and +crouched, her jaws set, eyes sparkling, her slender hands grasping the +rough timber, undaunted and resolute. + +"Keep under cover----" he shouted, as another timber came across. + +This one was better cast and lodged squarely upon the stone lintel. They +both shoved at its end, but a man's weight already upon it made their +task difficult. + +"It is on my side. Push, Marishka!" + +He aimed his automatic past the edge of the gatepost and shot the +man--an Austrian soldier--just as he sprang for the landing. He fell +upon the stone, hung to the timber a moment, and fell. Renwick sprang +further out and emptied his clip at the next man, who gave a cry and +dropped. Renwick felt a stinging blow on his left arm, but before +another man began to cross Marishka managed to shove the timber clear +and it fell into the abyss below. + +They were safe for the moment. He looked at Marishka in the gathering +light. She was pale as death, but she did not show fear. + +"All right?" he asked anxiously. + +"Yes--yes," she gasped, "and you?" + +"Never better." + +His arm burned like a live coal, but the madness of battle was in his +blood and he did not care--so long as Marishka did not know of his +injury. The firing had ceased for the moment, as he crawled up and +peered through the loophole. + +"We've beaten them, Marishka," he cried triumphantly. "They've gone +back--I see no timbers. They're doing something. I can see quite plainly +now--fastening a handkerchief to the muzzle of a rifle." And as she rose +to look, "Don't expose yourself. It may be a trick. For God's sake keep +down." + +He picked up the magazine rifle beside him and thrust it through the +loophole, covering the two men who were advancing to the brink of the +abyss. In the pale light he marked the figure of Windt quite clearly. +The other man wore the uniform of an officer of Austrian infantry. And +now he heard the voice of the officer raised in parley. + +"Schloss Szolnok--a truce!" + +For reply Renwick thrust the muzzle of his rifle further through the +loophole. + +"In the name of the Emperor of Austria, I command you to deliver Herr +Hauptmann Leo Goritz." + +Renwick laughed madly. + +"I regret that that is impossible." + +"I beg that you will listen to reason. Austrian troops are all about +you. You cannot resist by daylight. If you will deliver the person of +Herr Hauptmann Goritz and Countess Strahni, we will leave you in peace." + +Renwick paused. Far below in the valley to his right, a new sound broke +the stillness of the early morning--rifle-fire close at hand, rapid +volleys, and then a scattering of shots which echoed with a new +significance up the mountain side. He peered through one of the +crenelations of the rampart beside him and could just see through the +morning mists the moving mass of rushing men,--horses--guns in mad +confusion. + +"Well, what is your reply?" came the voice of the Austrian officer. + +Renwick laughed again. + +"Why should you leave us in peace if you can take the drawbridge?" he +shouted. + +"Hauptmann Goritz is wanted on the charge of murder. I give you this +chance. Will you take it?" + +"I regret that it is impossible," replied Renwick. + +"Why?" + +"Because Herr Hauptmann Goritz is dead." + +"Dead? What assurances can I have that this is the truth?" + +"You have only to look at the foot of the cliff below." + +The two men consulted for a moment and then Herr Windt's voice was +heard. "Is Countess Strahni there?" + +"Yes--and quite safe." + +"And who are you?" + +"My name is Hugh Renwick, Herr Windt----" + +"Renwick--the Englishman----" he heard him gasp. + +"Precisely. And if you're going to take this gate, you'd better be in a +hurry about it--for the Russians are approaching." + +"Then you refuse?" + +"Positively." + +The Austrian officer saluted, and the two men marched up the causeway. +Marishka, on the other side of the gate, had started up and was +regarding him anxiously. + +"What you say, Hugh--it can't be that----" + +"It's true, dear," he almost shouted. "The Russians. They're coming +below there in the valley. I have just seen. The Austrians are in full +retreat. The army has been retreating all night, and we thought there +were reënforcements. If we can hold out a short while longer, we will be +safe. Are you frightened?" + +"No. Will they come again, you think?" + +"Yes. They'll hardly give up so easily. But keep down, Marishka, +further--in the corner. You can see as well. Ah! I wasn't mistaken. Here +they come!" + +Into the squad of Austrian soldiers advancing Renwick emptied the +magazine of his repeating rifle, and took up the other. Two men fell and +the remainder paused, only to be brought on by the Austrian officer who +led them, sword in hand. Renwick could have shot him easily, but he held +his fire and as the mass of men came on he saw them raise their rifles +to their shoulders. + +"Keep down!" he shouted to Marishka, "they're going to----" + +Dust and mortar flew from the ancient gate and behind in the castle, +windows crashed. + +"You are safe?" he shouted. + +"Yes," her voice replied. + +"Now watch the gateway." + +A plank came over, but profiting by their earlier experience, they +shoved it off before it came to rest. Another, a longer one, and +another, both of which found lodgment squarely between the gate posts. +Renwick sprang to the loophole; but the volley that followed spattered +harmlessly around him. + +He was a good shot with a rifle, and aimed deliberately, dropping the +first man that put his foot on the hazardous bridge. Gasping with her +exertions Marishka pushed the shorter timber over, but the longer one +jammed hopelessly against the gate post. + +"Hugh," she cried, "we are lost." + +But a strange thing happened then. For as the second man approached the +bridge and had even put one foot upon it, a shrill call rang out at the +other end of the causeway. + +"The retreat!" the officer shouted. "To the rear----" + +The look of relief upon the face of the brave fellow who was venturing +death upon the precarious timber was reflected in Renwick's own heart, +for he spared the man who, with a startled glance over his shoulder, +presently caught up with the rapidly vanishing Windt. Renwick rushed out +and lifting the dangerous timber hurled it down into the gorge. + +Then he caught Marishka by the waist and lifted her. + +"We're safe, dear--they've gone----" he cried. + +She turned one look up at him and then, slowly closing her eyes, sank +back helpless in his arms. + +"Marishka! It has been too much----" + +The blood flowed from a slight cut upon her cheek where she had been +struck by a piece of flying stone, but he saw that it was not deep. He +laid her gently upon the flagging, and ran to the Hall for water. There +he found Ena, crouched in a corner, more dead than alive. But he +commanded her to come and bring water and brandy, and she obeyed. + +Marishka had only fainted and the brandy soon restored her. + +"They've gone?" she asked of him. + +"Yes, dear. We're quite safe. Listen. The Russians are driving them down +the valley." + +He washed the wound in her cheek tenderly. + +"It will not scar you, Marishka," he smiled. "But if it does--an +honorable scar such as no woman of Austria wears." + +She touched it with her fingers and smiled. + +"I did not even know----" + +And then she saw the blood at his shoulder. + +"You're hurt?" + +"Only a scratch. It's nothing." + +But weak as she was she tore away the sleeve of his shirt, and made him +bathe and bind it with linen from her skirt. + +"Will the Russians come here, you think?" she asked. + +He smiled. + +"If they don't come to us," he said soberly, "we will go to them." + +She smiled. + +"'And your people shall be my people ... '" she murmured softly. + + * * * * * + +Galenski, Colonel of Russian cavalry, sat on his horse on a slight +eminence beside the road which descended from Dukla Pass into the valley +beyond, watching through a pair of field glasses the ramparts of an +ancient castle perched upon a crag. + +Beside him his regiment streamed down the hill at a hand gallop, its +gray coats flapping, as it spread out fanwise in the meadow below, its +lances lightly poised in pursuit of the fleeing Austrians. As a company +captain passed he called out a name, and the officer, with a word to his +lieutenant, galloped up and saluted. + +"Is not that Schloss Szolnok, Captain Kotchukoff?" + +"Yes, sir. You remember--the affair of Baron Neudeck." + +"Of course. I have been watching it, as we came down the road. Fighting +has been going on there for an hour or more." + +"Fighting?" + +"Yes. I don't understand. The Austrians were attacking it. I am certain +for I clearly made out the kepi of the infantry." + +"That is strange." + +"Is it possible that some of our advance posts could have occupied it?" + +"I should say that that was impossible." + +"We must investigate. Detach your company from the command and bring +your men up the road yonder. I will join you." + +Captain Kotchukoff saluted, wheeled his horse and galloped at full speed +down the road into the meadow, while Colonel Galenski trotted slowly +down the hill until he found a ford in the stream, and then slowly rode +up the hill beyond. + +"It is very strange," he muttered. + +As he reached the road above, the company of Captain Kotchukoff came +riding up, but he gave the command to walk their horses, and slowly, +Colonel and Captain riding in front, they approached the end of the long +causeway which led to the castle. That he had not been mistaken in his +observations was clearly to be seen, for several men lay either dead or +severely wounded in the middle of the walled road. As they neared the +drawbridge three more prostrate figures were seen, one of them hanging +almost on the lip of the abyss. + +The drawbridge was raised and beyond the gate another form lay beyond +the threshold. But as yet he saw no sign of life. Colonel Galenski +reined in his horse sharply, raised his hand, and behind him his captain +shouted the loud order to halt. + +At the sound a man suddenly appeared in the gate, and beside him a very +beautiful young woman. Colonel Galenski was a good officer, but the +fact, though of no military importance, was quite clearly to be noted--a +very beautiful woman. The man beside the girl was tall, and bore himself +well. But he was covered with grime and dust and his clothing was torn +and streaked with blood. One sleeve of his shirt was missing, and his +bare arm was bandaged just below the arm-pit with a bloodstained cloth. +And as he looked, the man smiled and saluted. + +Colonel Galenski returned the salute, and spoke in German. + +"You will lower the drawbridge if you please. I wish to enter." + +The man disappeared for a moment, the girl beside him, and presently, +with a loud clatter of rusty chains which made necessary some excellent +feats of horsemanship by the men of the company behind him, the +drawbridge crashed down, and Colonel Galenski rode forward through the +gate, followed by the company of horsemen, who wheeled by fours into +line and halted in the courtyard. + +Colonel Galenski dismounted, neglecting no detail of the signs of +combat, the bullet-scarred flagging, the broken rock, the timbers, the +two figures lying in the shadow of the wall of the gate. + +"From below, with my glasses, I saw the Austrians attacking your +drawbridge," he said. "There were many of them along the road. Your men +have well defended the position. Where are they?" + +The tall man smiled and took the beautiful young woman by the hand. + +"I beg to present you to my garrison," he said with a laugh. "Countess +Marishka Strahni--and--er----?" + +"Colonel Galenski of the Fifth Regiment--horse," said the Colonel with a +bow. "And you, sir--who are you?" + +The tall man extended a grimy hand to the immaculate Russian. + +"I will tell you that, sir, if"--and he laughed--"if you'll give me a +cigarette." + + + + +IN REGARD TO THE EVIDENCE IN THE CASE + + +If the reader of this book is not inclined to accept the _prima-facie_ +evidence as presented in the newspapers from official sources with +regard to the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand and his wife, the +Duchess of Hohenberg, he is referred by the publishers to the very +interesting article by Mr. Henry Wickham Steed called "The Pact of +Konopisht," printed in the _Nineteenth Century_ for February, 1916. Mr. +Steed, as is well known, was for twenty years the correspondent in +Vienna of the _London Times_, and is also the author of the latest and +presumably the most authoritative work in English on the +Austro-Hungarian government and the House of Habsburg. + +The facts presented in that article beginning with the open breach +between Franz Joseph and the Archduke on his marriage to Sophie Chotek; +the _entente_ between Kaiser and Archduke at Eckartzau and Potsdam; the +seizure of the Archduke's papers by the Austrian government after the +assassination; the instructions to the Sarajevo police from the military +authorities of Austria-Hungary to make no special arrangements for the +Archduke's protection; the fact that no evidence has ever been adduced +proving the complicity of the Serbian government; the funeral of the +Archduke and Duchess, at which no wreaths were sent by Emperor Franz +Joseph, by the Archduke's sister, or any member of the Austro-Hungarian +Imperial Family; the inadequacy of the formal arrangements for burial +and the obvious intention of the Court authorities to pay as little +honor as possible to the dead; the exclamation of the Kaiser, during +Kiel week when the news of the assassination was brought to him, "Now I +must begin all over again":--these facts must be considered as +circumstantial evidence of the most positive sort that the relations +between Archduke and Kaiser had been looked on with disfavor and +suspicion by the Imperial Family of Austria. What actually happened at +Konopisht of course will never be known, but there is strong presumptive +evidence that a pact of the character suggested in this story was made +in the rose garden of the castle and that Von Tirpitz was a witness to +it. + +Whatever the police records show with regard to Cabrinovitz and Prinzep, +the former, who threw the bomb, the latter who did the killing, no +successful effort has been made to show that they were employed by the +Serbian government, nor is it probable that Serbia would have promoted a +plot which would give Austria Hungary a pretext for assailing her, a +pretext that Austria Hungary had already sought. The story of the +beginnings of the Great War has shown how she found it. + + In the light of the ascertained facts concerning the production of + anti-Serbian forgeries employed by Austria during the annexation + crises of 1908-9, and exposed during the Friedjung trial of + December, 1909, it certainly would not be beyond the power of + Austro-Hungarian Secret Service agents to cook up a plot at + Belgrade or Sarajevo, were it considered desirable, for reasons of + Imperial policy, either to "remove" obnoxious personages or to + provide a pretext for war. + +The dream of an empire from Hamburg to Saloniki is as yet a dream, but +that it was dreamed in Potsdam no one doubts. + + * * * * * + +Books by George Gibbs + + The Secret Witness + Paradise Garden + The Yellow Dove + The Flaming Sword + Madcap + The Silent Battle + The Forbidden Way + The Bolted Door + Tony's Wife + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Secret Witness, by George Gibbs + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SECRET WITNESS *** + +***** This file should be named 25689-8.txt or 25689-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/6/8/25689/ + +Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + +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. 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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 Secret Witness + +Author: George Gibbs + +Release Date: June 3, 2008 [EBook #25689] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SECRET WITNESS *** + + + + +Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + +<h1><i>The</i> SECRET WITNESS</h1> + +<h2>BY GEORGE GIBBS</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">AUTHOR OF "PARADISE GARDEN," "THE YELLOW DOVE," ETC.</span></h3> + + +<h4>ILLUSTRATED BY GEORGE BREHM</h4> + +<h4>D. APPLETON AND COMPANY<br /> +NEW YORK LONDON<br /> +1917</h4> + + +<h4><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1917, by the Curtis Publishing Company</span><br /> +Published in the United States of America</h4> + + + +<h4>TO MY FRIEND<br /> +MAJOR R. TAIT McKENZIE, R.A.M.C.</h4> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="secret1" id="secret1"></a> +<img src="images/secret1.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>"Your veil—quick," he stammered breathlessly.</h3> +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + + + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p> +<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I. <span class="smcap">June</span> 12, 1914</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II. <span class="smcap">Court Secrets</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III. <span class="smcap">The Habsburg Haven</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV. <span class="smcap">Secret Information</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V. <span class="smcap">Two Intruders</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI. <span class="smcap">Herr Windt</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII. <span class="smcap">The Green Limousine</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII. <span class="smcap">An Escape and a Capture</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX. <span class="smcap">Captain Goritz</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X. <span class="smcap">Diamond Cuts Diamond</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI. <span class="smcap">The Man in Black</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII. <span class="smcap">Flight</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII. <span class="smcap">Tragedy</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV. <span class="smcap">The Harim</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV. <span class="smcap">The Lighted Windows</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI. <span class="smcap">The Beg of Rataj</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII. <span class="smcap">The Man in Armor</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII. <span class="smcap">Number</span> 28</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX. <span class="smcap">Disguise</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX. <span class="smcap">Renwick Questions</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI. <span class="smcap">An Impersonation</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">CHAPTER XXII. <span class="smcap">The Needle in the Haystack</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">CHAPTER XXIII. <span class="smcap">Schloss Szolnok</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">CHAPTER XXIV. <span class="smcap">Prisoner and Captive</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">CHAPTER XXV. <span class="smcap">The Rift in the Rock</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">CHAPTER XXVI. <span class="smcap">The Death Grip</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">CHAPTER XXVII. <span class="smcap">Besieged</span></a><br /> +<a href="#IN_REGARD_TO_THE_EVIDENCE_IN_THE_CASE">IN REGARD TO THE EVIDENCE IN THE CASE</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#Books_by_George_Gibbs">Books by George Gibbs</a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + + +<p><a href="#secret1">"Your veil—quick," he stammered breathlessly.</a></p> + +<p><a href="#secret2">"It is too late," she murmured. "They would see us."</a></p> + +<p><a href="#secret3">"Who are you?" she asked.</a></p> + +<p><a href="#secret4">His Excellency rose and bowed over her hand—</a></p> + +<p><a href="#secret5">"Be quiet. People are watching you," said Goritz sternly.</a></p> + +<p><a href="#secret6">"Thank you," she said simply. "I believe you."</a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE SECRET WITNESS</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>JUNE 12, 1914</h3> + + +<p>The Countess Marishka was fleet of foot. She was straight and slender +and she set a pace for Renwick along the tortuous paths in the rose +gardens of the Archduke which soon had her pursuer gasping. She ran like +a boy, her dark hair falling about her ears, her draperies like Nike's +in the wind, her cheeks and eyes glowing, a pretty quarry indeed and +well worthy of so arduous a pursuit. For Renwick was not to be denied +and as the girl turned into the path which led to the thatched arbor, he +saw that she was breathing hard and the half-timorous laugh she threw +over her shoulder at him only spurred him on to new endeavor. He reached +the hedge as she disappeared, but his instinct was unerring and he +leaped through the swaying branches just in time to see the hem of her +skirt in the foliage on the other side and plunging through caught her +in his arms just as she sank, laughing breathlessly, to the spangled +shadows of the turf beyond.</p> + +<p>"Marishka," he cried joyously, "did you mean it?"</p> + +<p>But she wouldn't reply.</p> + +<p>"You said that if I caught you——"</p> + +<p>"The race—isn't always—to the swift—" she protested falteringly in +her pretty broken English.</p> + +<p>"Your promise——"</p> + +<p>"I made no promise."</p> + +<p>"You'll make it now, the one I've waited for—for weeks—Marishka. Lift +up your head."</p> + +<p>"No, no," she stammered.</p> + +<p>"Then I——"</p> + +<p>Renwick caught her in his arms again and turned her chin upward. Her +eyes were closed, but as their lips met her figure relaxed in his arms +and her head sank upon his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"You run very fast, Herr Renwick," she whispered.</p> + +<p>"You'll marry me, Marishka?"</p> + +<p>"Who shall say?" she evaded.</p> + +<p>"Your own lips. You've given them to me——"</p> + +<p>"No, no. You have taken them——"</p> + +<p>"It is all the same. They are mine." And Renwick took them again.</p> + +<p>"Oh," she gasped, "you are so persistent—you English. You always wish +to have your own way."</p> + +<p>He laughed happily.</p> + +<p>"Would you have me otherwise? My way and your way, Marishka, they go +together. You wish it so, do you not?"</p> + +<p>She was silent a while, the wild spirit in her slowly submissive, and at +last a smile moved her lips, her dark eyes were upturned to his and she +murmured a little proudly:</p> + +<p>"It is a saying among the women of the House of Strahni that where the +lips are given the heart must follow."</p> + +<p>"Your heart, Marishka! Mine, for many weeks. I know it. It is the lips +which have followed."</p> + +<p>"What matters it now, belovèd," she sighed, "since you have them both?"</p> + +<p>Renwick smiled.</p> + +<p>"Nothing. I only wondered why you've kept me dangling so long."</p> + +<p>She was silent a moment.</p> + +<p>"I—I have been afraid."</p> + +<p>"Of what?"</p> + +<p>"I do not know. It is the Tzigane in my blood which reads into the +future——"</p> + +<p>She paused and he laughed gayly.</p> + +<p>"Because I am a foreigner——"</p> + +<p>"I have not always loved the English. I have thought them cold, +different from my people."</p> + +<p>He kissed her again.</p> + +<p>"And I could let you believe me that!"</p> + +<p>She laughed. "Oh, no.... But you have shown me enough." And, pushing him +gently away, "I am convinced, <i>mon ami</i>...."</p> + +<p>"As if you couldn't have read it in my eyes——"</p> + +<p>"Alas! One reads—and one runs——"</p> + +<p>"You couldn't escape me. It was written."</p> + +<p>"Yes," she said dreamily, "I believe that now." And then, "But if +anything should come between us——"</p> + +<p>"What, Marishka?" he smiled.</p> + +<p>"I don't know. I have always thought that love would not come to me +without bitterness."</p> + +<p>"What bitterness, <i>liebchen</i>?"</p> + +<p>She settled softly closer to him and shrugged lightly. "How should I +know?"</p> + +<p>He smiled at her proudly and caught her brown hand to his lips.</p> + +<p>"You are dyed in the illusions of your race,—mystery—fatalism. They +become you well. But here among the roses of Konopisht there is no room +in my heart or yours for anything but happiness. See how they nod to +each other in the sunlight, Marishka. Like us, they love and are loved. +June comes to Bohemia but once a year—or to us. Let us bloom in the +sunlight like them—happy—happy——"</p> + +<p>"Blood red, the roses," she said pensively. "The white ones please me +better. But they are so few. The Archduke likes the red ones best. What +is the verse?</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"I sometimes think that never blows so red<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Rose as where some buried Cæsar bled."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"What matter Cæsar or Kaiser to us, Marishka? Our own kingdom——"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes," she sighed. "And I am happy in it. You know it, <i>nicht +wahr</i>?"</p> + +<p>Silence, except for the drowsy hum of the bees and the songs of the +birds. No fatalism is long proof against the call of love and June. +Marishka was content that her flight had ended in capture and sat +dreamily gazing at the white clouds floating overhead while she listened +to the voice at her ear, replying to it in monosyllables, the language +of acquiescence and content. The moments passed. Konopisht was no longer +a garden. Enchanted their bower and even the red roses forgotten.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the girl started upright to her knees, and peered wide-eyed +through an opening in the foliage.</p> + +<p>"What is it, Marishka?"</p> + +<p>She put a finger to her lips in token of silence, and Renwick followed +her gaze down the graveled path which led toward the arbor. As +under-secretary of the British Embassy in Vienna, he had been trained to +guard his emotions against surprises, but the sight of the three figures +which were approaching them down the path left him bereft for the moment +of all initiative. In the center walked the Archduke, pulling +deliberately at his heavy dark mustaches while he listened to the figure +upon his right, a man of medium stature, who wore a hunting suit and a +jäger hat with a feather in it. He carried his left hand, concealing a +defect of his arm, in the pocket of his shooting jacket, while with his +free right hand he swung an ebony cane. His mustaches were turned +straight upward from the corners of his mouth and the aggressive chin +shot outward as he glanced right and left, talking meanwhile with his +companions. The third figure was very tall, topping even the Archduke, +who was by no means small of stature, by at least six inches; his hair, +or as much of it as could be seen beneath the soft hat, was gray, and a +long beard, almost white in the patches at either side of the chin, +descended in two long points half of the way to his waist.</p> + +<p>Renwick recognized the visitors at once, and turned toward his startled +companion, his own mind as to the propriety of his situation at once +made up.</p> + +<p>"Marishka," he whispered, "we must go."</p> + +<p>"It is too late," she murmured. "They would see us."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="secret2" id="secret2"></a> +<img src="images/secret2.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>"It is too late," she murmured. "They would see us."</h3> +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + + + +<p>"And what does that matter?"</p> + +<p>"I forgot," she breathed helplessly. "I was told I was not to come today +into the rose garden. I wondered why. Sh——! Sit still. Crouch lower. +Perhaps they will pass on and then——"</p> + +<p>Renwick obeyed somewhat dubiously and sank, scarcely daring to breathe, +beneath the thick foliage beside the arbor which concealed his +companion. She seized his hand and he felt her fingers trembling in his +own, but he pressed them gently—aware that the tremors of the girl's +fingers as the footsteps approached the arbor were being unpleasantly +communicated to his own. The breach of hospitality to the household of +the Archduke, upon whose land he was, was as nothing beside the breach +of etiquette to the Empire by his Chief. Renwick's nerves were good but +he trembled with Marishka. The friendship of nations depended upon the +security of his concealment—more than that—and less than that—his own +fate and the girl's. And so Renwick crouched beside her and silently +prayed in English, a language he thought more fitted to the desperate +nature of his desires, that the three figures would pass on to another +part of the garden, that they, the luckless lovers, might flee to the +abandoned tennis court in innocence and peace.</p> + +<p>But Renwick's prayers were not to be answered. Had he known at the +moment how deeply the two of them were to be enmeshed in the skein of +Europe's destiny he would have risen and faced the anger of his host, +or, risking detection, incontinently fled. But Marishka's hand clasped +his own, and lucklessly, he waited.</p> + +<p>The three men reached the gate of the arbor, the smaller one entering +first, the giant with the gray beard, at a gesture from their host, +following, and they all sat in chairs around the small iron table. +Renwick was paralyzed with fear and Marishka's chill fingers seemed +frozen to his. There had been rumors in the chancellories of Europe of +this visit to Konopisht to see the most wonderful rose garden in Bohemia +in mid-June, but Renwick knew, as did every other diplomat in Vienna, +that the visit to the roses of Konopisht was a mere subterfuge. If there +had been any doubt in the Englishman's mind as to the real nature of the +visit, the grave expressions upon the faces of the men in the arbor +would speedily have set him right. The Archduke opened a cigarette case +and offered it to his companions who helped themselves with some +deliberation.</p> + +<p>"A wonderful rose garden, truly, my friend," said the man in the jäger +hat with a smile which broke the grave lines of his face into pleasant +wrinkles. "I will give your gardener twice what you offer him to come to +me."</p> + +<p>The Archduke showed his white teeth in a smile. "<i>Majestät</i> has but to +request——"</p> + +<p>"A jest, my friend. It would be unmannerly. It is Her Highness that I +would also rob, for roses, after all, are more a woman's pleasure than a +man's."</p> + +<p>"The Duchess spends many hours here——"</p> + +<p>"The <i>Arch</i> Duchess," corrected the other vehemently.</p> + +<p>The Archduke shrugged. "She will always hold that rank in my heart," he +said quietly.</p> + +<p>"And with me and my House," said the other quickly.</p> + +<p>"It is a pity that my own family should not be of the same mind."</p> + +<p>"It matters nothing," said the other. "Nothing. You shall see."</p> + +<p>The Archduke examined the ash of his cigarette, but said nothing.</p> + +<p>"You must realize, my great and good friend," continued the man in the +hunting suit, "that I did not come to Konopisht only to see your roses."</p> + +<p>The Archduke nodded attentively.</p> + +<p>"The fortunes of your family are linked to mine by ties deeper than +those of blood,—a community of interest and of fortune which involves +the welfare, happiness and progress of many millions of people. The +history of civilization in Europe has reached a new page, one which must +be written by those who have in keeping the Divine destiny of the +Germanic race. It is not a time to falter before the graveness of our +responsibility and the magnitude of our undertakings. I spoke of these +things at Eckartsau. I think you understand."</p> + +<p>The Archduke nodded gravely.</p> + +<p>"I will not shirk any responsibility. I hesitated once. That hour has +passed. Sophie—Maximilian—Ernest——"</p> + +<p>"They must have their heritage."</p> + +<p>The man in the jäger hat got up and paced impatiently the length of the +arbor, at one moment within three yards of the terrified lovers in the +foliage.</p> + +<p>"Are we alone, your Highness?" he asked of the Archduke.</p> + +<p>"I gave orders that no one should enter the rose garden at any time this +afternoon," replied his host.</p> + +<p>"It is well." He sent a quick glance toward the tall man who had risen. +"You understand, Admiral, <i>nicht wahr</i>?"</p> + +<p>A guttural sound came from the old man's throat.</p> + +<p>"The destinies of Europe, <i>meine Herren</i>," he went on.</p> + +<p>"<i>Majestät</i> may speak on," said the Archduke coolly, "without fear of +eavesdroppers."</p> + +<p>Renwick, crouched beneath the foliage, was incapable of motion. All his +will power was used in the effort to control his breathing, and reduce +his body to absolute inertness. But as the moments passed, and the men +in the arbor gave no sign of suspicion he gained confidence, all his +professional instincts aroused at the import of this secrecy and the +magnificence of the impending revelations. He was England, waiting, +alert, on guard, for the safety and peace of Europe. He did not dare to +look at Marishka, for fear of the slightest motion or sound which might +betray them. Only their hands clasped, though by this time neither of +them was conscious of the contact.</p> + +<p>"At Eckartsau, my brother," went on the smaller man, "you and I came to +an understanding. Maximilian and Ernest are growing toward manhood. And +what is that manhood to be? Habsburg blood flows in their veins as it +flows in you, the Heir Presumptive, but the Family Law debars them. Not +even the Este estates can pass to your children. They will become +pensioners upon the bounty of those who hate their mother."</p> + +<p>"Impossible!" whispered the Archduke tensely. "It must not be. I will +find a way——"</p> + +<p>"Listen, Franz, my brother. A magnificent horizon spreads before you. +Look at it. Part of the Duchy of Posen, the ancient Kingdom of Poland +with Lithuania and the Ukraine, the Poland of the Jagellons, stretching +from the Baltic to the Black Sea. Yours. And after you, Maximilian's. +For Ernest, Bohemia, Hungary, the Southern Slav lands of Austria, +Serbia, the Slav coast of the Eastern Adriatic and Saloniki;—two +Empires in one. And the states of those who have despised Sophie +Chotek——" he paused expressively and snapped his jaws, "the Austrian +Erbländer will come into the Confederated German Empire." He paused +again and then went on more quietly, "Between us two a close and +perpetual military and economic alliance, to be the arbiters of Europe +under the Divine will, dominating the West and commanding the road to +the East." He paused and took a fresh cigarette from the box on the +table.</p> + +<p>"It is what I have dreamed," murmured the deep voice of the Archduke. +"And yet it is no dream, but reality. Fate plays into my hands. At no +time have we been in a better position."</p> + +<p>It was the turn of the Archduke to walk the floor of the arbor with long +strides, his hands behind him, his gaze bent before him.</p> + +<p>"Yes, civilization, progress—all material things. But the Church—you +forget, <i>Majestät</i>, that your people and mine are of different faiths. +Some assurance I must have that there will be no question——"</p> + +<p>"Willingly," said the other, rising. "Do not my people serve God as they +choose? For you, if you like, the Holy Roman Empire reconstituted with +you as its titular head, the sovereignty of central Europe intact—all +the half formulated experiments of the West, at the point of the sword. +This is your mission—and mine!"</p> + +<p>The two men faced each other, eye to eye, but the smaller dominated.</p> + +<p>"A pact, my brother," said the man in the hunting-suit, extending his +hand.</p> + +<p>The Archduke hesitated but a moment longer, and then thrust forward. The +hands clasped, while beside the two, the tall man stood like a Viking, +his great head bent forward, his forked beard wagging over the table.</p> + +<p>"A pact," repeated the Archduke, "which only Death may disrupt."</p> + +<p>They stood thus in a long moment of tension. It was he they called +<i>Majestät</i> who first relaxed.</p> + +<p>"Death?" he smiled. "Who knows? God defends the Empire. It lives on in +my sons and yours."</p> + +<p>"Amen!" said the Archduke solemnly.</p> + +<p>"For the present," continued the other quietly, "silence! I shall advise +you. You can rely upon Von Hoetzendorf?"</p> + +<p>"Utterly. In two weeks I shall attend the grand maneuvers at Savajevo."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, of course. You shall hear from me." He took a few steps toward +the door of the arbor. "It does not do to stay here too long. We must +join the others. Berchtold, you said, is coming?"</p> + +<p>The Archduke nodded with a frown, and followed with the Admiral into the +garden. The sun had declined and the warm glow of late afternoon fell +upon the roses, dyeing them with a deeper red. But along the crimson +alleys the three men walked calmly, the smaller one still gesturing with +his ebony cane. Presently the sound of their footsteps upon the gravel +diminished and in a moment they disappeared beyond the hedge by the +greenhouses.</p> + +<p>Renwick in his place of concealment trembled again. The reaction had +come. He drew a long breath, moved his stiffened limbs and glanced at +his companion. Her face was like wax, pale as death and as colorless. +Her fingers in his were ice-cold. Her eyes, dark with bewilderment, +sought his blankly like those of a somnambulist. Renwick rose stiffly to +his knees and peered through the bushes.</p> + +<p>"They have gone," he muttered.</p> + +<p>"The Archduke!" she gasped. "You heard?"</p> + +<p>He nodded.</p> + +<p>"Have we dreamed? I cannot believe——"</p> + +<p>Renwick was thinking quickly. Marishka—their position—his duty—a way +of escape—one thought crowded another in his mind. He glanced about +through the foliage behind them and then rose to his feet.</p> + +<p>"I must get back to Vienna, at once," he said hoarsely.</p> + +<p>Marishka stood beside him, clinging to his arm.</p> + +<p>"And I—I know not what to do. I could not look Her Highness in the +face. But I too must go to Vienna. I am not versed in politics, but the +secret that we share is terrible. It oppresses me. Austria—my country!"</p> + +<p>She hid her face in her hands and stood silent a moment, in the throes +of a struggle, still trembling violently. At the touch of Renwick's +fingers upon her arm, she straightened, lowered her hands, her face now +quite composed.</p> + +<p>"I too must leave here at once," she said quietly. "I have an allegiance +stronger than my duty to Sophie Chotek. I am going——"</p> + +<p>"Where?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"To Schönbrunn."</p> + +<p>"But Marishka, have you thought——?"</p> + +<p>"I pray that you will waste no words. As you love me, Hugh, you will do +what I ask and be silent."</p> + +<p>"What can I do?"</p> + +<p>"Go with me to Vienna tonight."</p> + +<p>"That would be most imprudent. Your reputation——"</p> + +<p>"I care nothing. Will you accompany me?"</p> + +<p>Renwick shrugged. "Of course."</p> + +<p>"Then do as I bid you. I will show you a way out to a small gate from +the garden by which you can reach the public road. Go to your Inn. Make +arrangements for an automobile. I will join you tonight." She peered in +all directions through the foliage and then led the way through the +bushes in a direction opposite to that by which they had come. Renwick +followed silently, his mind turbulent. What was his duty? And where did +it conflict with Marishka's mad plan? What would his Ambassador have +wished him to do? And in what could he serve England best? He must have +time to think. For the present at least Marishka should have her way. +Indeed, had he wished, he saw no means of dissuading her. He would go +with her to Vienna, make a clean breast of things to his Chief, before +Marishka could carry out her plan. After that the matter would be out of +his hands.</p> + +<p>The girl descended some steps to a narrow gate in the hedge. Here +Renwick paused a moment to clasp her in his arms.</p> + +<p>"Belovèd," she whispered, "not now. Go. Follow the path to the wall. You +must climb it. Let no one see you descend. Au revoir. God be with you."</p> + +<p>And she was gone.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>COURT SECRETS</h3> + + +<p>Hugh Renwick lay flat upon the coping of the wall for a moment peering +up and down the road until sure at last that the way was clear, when he +let himself down and walked rapidly in the direction of the village. The +events of the last hour were of a nature to disturb the equanimity of an +existence less well ordered than his. The winning of the Countess +Marishka, an achievement upon which he had set his whole soul for many +uncertain weeks in which hope and fear had fought a daily battle in his +heart—that in itself had been enough to convince him that the gods +looked upon him with favor—but this other <i>coup de foudre</i>! Whatever +the means by which his information had been obtained, the mere +possession of it and the revelation of it to his Ambassador was a +diplomatic achievement of the highest importance. There had long been +rumors of an <i>entente</i> between Archduke and Kaiser, but <i>this</i>! He +rubbed his eyes to make sure that he was awake.</p> + +<p>Hugh Renwick was merely the average Englishman of good family and +wealth, who because of his education in a German university had found +the offer of the post of Vienna singularly attractive. He had filled his +position with circumspection, if not with brilliancy, and had made +himself sufficiently popular in court circles to be sure that if not a +triumphant success in the drudgery of the office, he was at least not +altogether a social failure. Good looking, wealthy, talented though he +was, it was something indeed to have won Marishka Strahni, who, apart +from her high position in Vienna and the success of a season, was, as he +well knew, the finest girl in all Austria. Even yet he doubted his good +fortune. He had come to Konopisht, where the girl was visiting the +Duchess of Hohenberg, who had been a childhood friend of her mother's. +As everyone in Vienna knew, Sophie Chotek was ineligible for the high +position she occupied as consort of the Heir Presumptive. Though a +member of an ancient Bohemian family, that of Chotek and Wognin, the law +of the Habsburg's that archdukes may marry only those of equal rank, +forbade that the Duchess of Hohenberg and her children should share the +position of husband and father. She had been snubbed upon all the +occasions of her appearance at court functions, and had at last retired +to the Archduke's estates at Konopisht, where she led the secluded life +of the <i>ebenburtige</i>, still chafing, rumor had it, and more than ever +jealous and ambitious for the future of the children.</p> + +<p>Upon the occasion of a previous visit of the Countess Marishka to +Konopisht, Renwick had spent a week end at the castle, but he thanked +his stars that he was now stopping at the village inn. It would have +been difficult to go through the formality of leave-taking with the +shadow of this impending tragedy to Europe hanging over him. He pitied +Marishka from the bottom of his heart for he had seen the beginnings of +the struggle between her devotion to the Duchess and her duty to her +sovereign. But he knew enough of her quality to be sure that she would +carry out her plan at whatever the cost to her own feelings.</p> + +<p>As Renwick approached the gates which led into the Castle grounds, he +had an actual sense of the consequence of the Archduke's guests in the +appearance of soldiery and police which were to be seen in every +direction, and while he waited in the village road two automobiles came +out of the gate and dashed past him in the direction of the railroad +station, in the foremost of which he recognized Archduke Franz and his +guests of the rose garden.</p> + +<p>"The roses of Konopisht," he muttered, thinking of Marishka's fatalism. +"Were they symbols, those innocent red blossoms?" And then with an +inward smile, "Marishka! What bitterness could the roses of Konopisht +bring between Marishka and him?"</p> + +<p>A sense of the grave importance of his mission came over Renwick with a +rush. He looked at his watch. Six o'clock. It would have been hazardous +to use the wire to reach the Embassy even had he possessed a code. He +knew enough of the activities of the Austrian secret service to be sure +that in spite of his entrée at the Castle, his presence at Konopisht at +this time might be marked. He sauntered down the street with an air of +composure he was far from feeling. There was nothing for it but to obey +Marishka's injunctions and wait, upon his guard against surprises, but +ready to go to any extreme to reach Vienna and the Embassy with a sound +skin. He found the owner of a motor car, and telling the man that he was +traveling by night, he paid its owner in advance and engaged it to be at +a certain place by nightfall, promising a further payment if the matter +were kept secret. Then he went to the inn, took supper, and lighting his +pipe, paced the cobbles and waited.</p> + +<p>As the summer dusk fell slowly upon the streets of the little village, +Renwick found himself a prey to renewed apprehensions as to Marishka. +Had her presence and his in the rose garden been discovered by one of +the Archduke's retainers? And was she now a prisoner in the castle where +a few hours ago she had been so free a guest? She was clever, as he +knew, but the burden of her secret had marked its shadows upon her face. +What excuse would she offer the Duchess for her sudden departure? The +girl was dear to him, dearer than anything in the world but England, and +the thought of making a choice between her safety and the performance of +his duty was bitterly painful to him. Eight o'clock passed—nine. He had +gone inside the house again, for the actions of any stranger in +Konopisht were sure to be conspicuous and he felt himself already an +object of notice. But at last unable to bear the suspense inactive, he +went out, crossed the road and stood, his teeth clenched upon his +extinguished pipe, his gaze upon the road which led to the gates of the +Park.</p> + +<p>There she came to him, out of the darkness. At the touch of her fingers +he started, for he had not been expecting her from this direction, but +the sound of her voice fell like the balm of her presence upon his +spirit.</p> + +<p>"Thank God," he gasped. "Marishka, I was afraid——"</p> + +<p>"I came as soon as I could," she whispered rapidly in English. "It was +difficult. I could make no excuses for leaving. I pleaded fatigue and +went to my room. And when the opportunity offered, stole out through the +garden."</p> + +<p>"And your absence will not be discovered——?"</p> + +<p>"Not until tomorrow—when, please the Holy Virgin, I shall be at +Schönbrunn."</p> + +<p>He took her in his arms and kissed her warmly, but he felt the restraint +in her caress.</p> + +<p>"Hugh, belovèd, let us wait upon duty for our own happiness. I cannot +rest until I have told our dreadful secret. You have a motor car?"</p> + +<p>"Come," he said. And taking her small valise with his own, he led the +way to the spot where the machine was awaiting them. Marishka gave +directions and in a few moments they were off. The danger of detection, +once beyond the village, was slight, and their purpose to reach the +railroad at Budweis and take a late train to Vienna was not difficult of +accomplishment. The machine was none too good, but the road for the main +part was excellent. Renwick's arm was about the girl, and they sat +discussing their plans for the immediate future.</p> + +<p>"You have no fear for what you are about to do?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"What should I fear?" she said lightly. "I am only doing my duty."</p> + +<p>"There will be difficulties, will there not?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps. But I shall succeed. Prince Montenuovo, the High Chamberlain +of the Court will listen to me."</p> + +<p>"But you will not tell him all."</p> + +<p>"Not unless it is necessary. You, Hugh, will take me to him."</p> + +<p>Renwick was silent for a moment.</p> + +<p>"Marishka," he said at last, "we share a terrible duty, yours to +Austria, and mine to England——"</p> + +<p>"But mine—is it not the greater?" she pleaded. "You must not speak, +Hugh, until I have given you permission."</p> + +<p>Renwick folded his arms and gazed stolidly into the darkness.</p> + +<p>"I must tell what I know to Sir Herbert," he said firmly. "You must not +ask me to be silent."</p> + +<p>He noticed the change in her voice as she replied, "Is my happiness so +slight a thing that you can refuse the first request I make of you?"</p> + +<p>He caught her hand to his lips.</p> + +<p>"Marishka, you know——"</p> + +<p>"My first request——"</p> + +<p>"There is nothing in the world that I would not do for you. You would +think little of me if I did not do my duty."</p> + +<p>"And of your duty to me——? Is that nothing?"</p> + +<p>Renwick smiled into the darkness. Had he been told six months ago that +he would be bandying the interests of England against the plans of a +pretty woman he would have laughed the idea to scorn.</p> + +<p>"What do you wish me to do, Marishka?" he asked gently.</p> + +<p>With a swift impulse, she threw her arms about his neck, whispering in +his ear.</p> + +<p>"O Hugh, I cannot bear that there should be a difference between us, +today, the first of our <i>fiançailles</i>. It will perhaps make no great +difference that you should tell what we have heard, for your country, +thank the Holy Virgin, is at friendship with mine. If you would but wait +until I give you permission."</p> + +<p>"And if something happened to me in the meanwhile——?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing can happen. No one at Konopisht can know. I am sure of +that—sure."</p> + +<p>Perhaps the moment of danger that had threatened their happiness had +made each more considerate, and the two great secrets that they +possessed, their own and the other more terrible one had strengthened +the bond between them.</p> + +<p>"I will wait until you have been to Schönbrunn," he decided.</p> + +<p>"Until I give you permission," she insisted.</p> + +<p>He kissed her. She believed it to be a promise and the tight pressure of +her hand rewarded him. In that moment of <i>rapprochement</i>, the destinies +of nations seemed a matter of little moment to them.</p> + +<p>"You will marry me soon, Marishka?" he murmured.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," she whispered gently.</p> + +<p>Morning brought the pair in a <i>fiacre</i> into the Schottenring, Marishka +weary but resolute, Renwick somewhat dubious as to their appearance at +this early hour alone in the streets of Vienna. But at his suggestion +that they drive first to the house of Marishka's aunt and guardian, +Baroness Racowitz, where some excuse could be made for the girl's +unexpected visit, Marishka only shook her head and gave the town address +of Prince Montenuovo, who, as she knew, was still in residence, the +Emperor not being expected at Ischl until the middle of July. Nor would +she permit Renwick to accompany her within the house, and so he sat +alone in the humble <i>fiacre</i> for what seemed an interminable time, until +a man in livery came down the steps and gave him a note in Marishka's +hand.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"I have succeeded in getting an audience. Go to the Embassy and +await word from me. Silence."</p></div> + +<p>And so at last he drove away to his hotel, sure at least that for the +present he had done his duty to Marishka. But this was no boy-and-girl +matter. The lives of nations, perhaps, hung upon his decision. In a weak +moment he had promised Marishka an impossible thing. He did not know +what danger hung over him. If anything happened to him England might +never know until it was too late. The vision of Marishka's pale face +haunted him, but he decided to take no further chances, and locking +himself in his own rooms, he wrote a long statement, in which he +accurately recounted his experience in the garden the day before. This +letter written, sealed, addressed, and given to a trusted servant to be +delivered into the hands of the Ambassador at a given time, Renwick +breathed a sigh of relief, then bathed, dressed, and waited.</p> + +<p>It was not until some days later that he heard in detail of Marishka's +visit to the Emperor. The High Chamberlain, aware of the visit of the +Countess Strahni to Konopisht, and convinced of her earnestness and +anxiety, had acted immediately. The Emperor fortunately was not ailing +and the audience was obtained without difficulty. Franz Joseph at +eighty-four, and burdened with more sorrows than those that fall to the +lot of the average man, still found interest in the complaints and +petitions of his subjects and had audience on certain days at +Schönbrunn. It was this intimate touch with his people, kept through +many years, which endeared him to his subjects, and stories of his +paternal kindness were thus continually sent the length and breadth of +the nation.</p> + +<p>Marishka was shown into an antechamber in the Emperor's private suite +where for what seemed an interminable time she sat and waited. At length +her sponsor appeared and conducted her along a short corridor past +several rooms to a white door which the Prince opened, and then stood +aside as Marishka entered.</p> + +<p>"The Countess Strahni," he announced.</p> + +<p>Marishka, a little bewildered and frightened, advanced uncertainly, her +eyes dazzled by the brilliant sunlight which streamed in at the south. +As she hesitated, a voice near the furthest window spoke reassuringly.</p> + +<p>"Come in, child," it said. "I am here."</p> + +<p>She advanced with trembling knees, aware of an old man in a military +blouse sitting in a large chair beyond a desk. The infirmities of age +and suffering had bowed his shoulders and to Marishka the Emperor seemed +smaller than when she had seen him last, smaller and very much older. +There was a stillness about his person, a quality of resignation and +quiescence that was almost statuesque. But his whiskers and mustache, +carefully groomed, were brushed upward and outward from the rather heavy +lip and chin, and had a military cut which comported well with the +dignity of his appearance. His eyes, the right one much smaller than the +left, were light gray in color, and as her own gaze caught them, very +grave and kindly, like his voice, which as he spoke gave her every +encouragement to be at her ease.</p> + +<p>"You will pardon the infirmities of an old man and forgive me for not +rising," he said gently. "Will you be seated, here, before me, where I +may look at you?"</p> + +<p>There was a pathetic touch of his old gallantry in the gesture which +accompanied the words, and a bright flash of his eyes as Marishka came +forward into the light and stood before him. Even today the Emperor was +not immune from the charms of feminine beauty. Marishka did as she was +bidden, sitting upon the edge of her chair before the old man, gazing at +him again, without words to begin.</p> + +<p>"His Highness has told me that you have something of importance to +communicate," said the Emperor with a smile. "Your grandfather once did +me a service. If there is anything that I may do——"</p> + +<p>The quiet voice paused and she was conscious of the gaze of the gray +eyes upon her in gentle inquiry.</p> + +<p>"It is nothing that I want, Sire," she murmured haltingly. "It is +something of the utmost importance that has occurred—at +Konopisht—which I thought it necessary that you should know—something +of the gravest moment to the State—to Austria—and to—to Your +Majesty."</p> + +<p>She paused breathless, finding speech difficult.</p> + +<p>She saw his eyebrows upraised slightly and then contracted, while his +gaze upon her grew concentrated.</p> + +<p>"You may speak freely, child. There is no one here who hasn't the +interests of my country at heart."</p> + +<p>Marishka glanced around swiftly, her pulses throbbing. Prince Montenuovo +stood beside the desk, immovable.</p> + +<p>"Your Majesty," she almost whispered, "my information is of such a +character——"</p> + +<p>She paused again and felt the old man's gaze upon her in deeper interest +and curiosity. There was a silence, but if he had had a momentary doubt +of her, it was speedily dispelled, for his rather weary lips parted in a +smile, as he turned to his Chamberlain. "If Your Highness will be +pleased to await my call——"</p> + +<p>Prince Montenuovo with a bow withdrew.</p> + +<p>"Now, child," said the Emperor, bending slightly forward in his chair, +"will you not tell me freely what has bothered you?"</p> + +<p>"Your Majesty," said Marishka, plunging breathlessly into her subject, +"I was stopping at Konopisht at the castle of the Archduke Franz. The +Duchess of Hohenberg, formerly the Countess Chotek, was a friend of my +mother's, and for many years our families have been intimate."</p> + +<p>She saw the slight contraction of the heavy brows at the mention of +Sophie Chotek's name, but she went on rapidly:</p> + +<p>"Sire, when you know how long our families have been friendly, how kind +Her Highness has been to me since the death of my father and mother, you +will understand that what I am about to say—to reveal—is very painful +to me. I could not speak, Sire, even now, unless the welfare of Austria +and of Your Majesty were not more important to me than any personal +considerations whatever."</p> + +<p>As she paused painfully again, he encouraged her with a smile.</p> + +<p>"Go on, child," he said.</p> + +<p>"I was at the tennis court, playing with"—she paused and blushed +prettily—"with a friend. The game finished, we—we went into the garden +and sat upon the lawn in the shade of some foliage where it was cool. I +did not know, Sire, nor did my companion, of the presence of royalty at +Konopisht, and did not remember that I had been told not to go into the +rose garden until it was too late."</p> + +<p>"Too late?" he asked keenly.</p> + +<p>"We were interested, talking, and not until the sound of footsteps upon +the graveled walk near the arbor, did I realize how grave a violation of +the hospitality of the Archduke had been committed. I should have fled, +but, Sire, I could not. I was frightened. And so we stayed, hidden in +the foliage by the arbor."</p> + +<p>"So!" he broke in, his voice speaking the word with a rising inflection +of intense interest. "It is well that you have come. I, too, know +something of the visitors to the roses of Konopisht. The talk was not +all of roses, <i>nicht wahr</i>?" he said quietly, with a little bitterness.</p> + +<p>"No, Sire. The talk was not all of roses," said Marishka.</p> + +<p>"Go on, then," he continued. "Spare me no word of what you heard or saw. +Nothing."</p> + +<p>And Marishka, composing herself with an effort, obeyed the command.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>THE HABSBURG RAVEN</h3> + + +<p>The Emperor heard her through until the end, with a word here, a sudden +question there, the gravity of the girl's disclosures searing more +painfully the deeply bitten lines at eye and brow. But he did not +flinch. It seemed that grief and pain had already done their worst to +that frail body. For whatever this Habsburg's failings, fear was not one +of them. There was resolution too in the clenching of the freckled fist +upon the chair arm and in his footsteps as he started up from his chair +and walked the length of the room. Bowed though his shoulders were with +the weight of his years, he was still a figure to respect—a +personality. Marishka watched furtively, waiting for him to speak again +as he strode back and forth, but his brows were deeply tangled in +thought and his shoulders were more bent than ever. It almost seemed +that he had forgotten her presence.</p> + +<p>But at last he turned toward where Marishka, who had risen and was still +standing, was awaiting his pleasure. He came straight toward her and +extended his fingers. She sank to her knees to kiss them, but he caught +her by the hand and restrained her.</p> + +<p>"You have done well, Countess Strahni," he said quietly. "The men of +your House have always been brave soldiers and good citizens, the women +comely and loyal, and you, my child, have today done much to continue +the honorable traditions of your family. Austria is, for you, as she is +for us all, the Mother, whom God blesses in the loyalty of her children. +As for those"—and his brows clouded—"who follow the devices of their +own hearts, those who consider neither the family law nor the human +law——" He paused, turned and sank into his chair, leaning forward +again intently as the new thought struck him. "Who was your companion, +Countess?"</p> + +<p>Marishka flushed a little but said quietly,</p> + +<p>"A gentleman—an Englishman——"</p> + +<p>"So!" again the rising inflection, followed this time by a slight frown. +"An Englishman!"</p> + +<p>"A friend of mine, Sire," she went on with an access of dignity. "Herr +Renwick, an attaché of the British Embassy——"</p> + +<p>"Ah, I understand. He has told?"</p> + +<p>"He has given me his promise to reveal nothing until I had been at +Schönbrunn and then only with my permission."</p> + +<p>"I see," said the Emperor with a frown. "He is discreet?"</p> + +<p>"He has a reputation for discretion, Sire; I think he may be trusted."</p> + +<p>"So," said the Emperor. "Where is he now?"</p> + +<p>"I was to communicate with him later."</p> + +<p>"Giving him permission to speak?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Sire."</p> + +<p>"It is a pity," he muttered, as though meditating aloud. "We have washed +enough linen in public. And this——" He turned abruptly toward her. +"You have influence with this Herr Renwick?" he asked keenly.</p> + +<p>Marishka was painfully embarrassed.</p> + +<p>"A little, Sire, I think."</p> + +<p>"You have served Austria well today, Countess Strahni. You can serve her +again if you can prevent this Herr Renwick from communicating with Sir +Herbert Southgate.... This is no concern of England's."</p> + +<p>"I will do what I can, Sire. But the matter, it seemed, was of grave +importance to Herr Renwick. He is an able diplomat and most +intelligent."</p> + +<p>The Emperor regarded her almost wistfully.</p> + +<p>"It would be a pity," he said, "if Herr Renwick should be discredited at +the Austrian court——"</p> + +<p>"It would ruin him, Sire," said Marishka apprehensively; "if he tells +what he knows, he would only be doing his duty."</p> + +<p>"He must not tell, child," said the Emperor gravely. "This is Austria's +secret and her sorrow. You realize that, do you not?"</p> + +<p>Marishka bowed her head, painfully.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Sire."</p> + +<p>"You will promise me to do what you can?"</p> + +<p>She looked into the face of this tired old man and a great pity for him +swept over her.</p> + +<p>"I will, Sire. I will ask him not to tell—demand it of him even if——"</p> + +<p>She paused and hid her face in her hands, unable to say more, trying to +hide the true nature of the sacrifice he was asking of her.</p> + +<p>The Emperor understood and laid a kindly hand upon her shoulder.</p> + +<p>"I understand, my daughter. I pray that no bitterness may come between +you, on account of this. Responsibility comes to you early, and yet you +cannot—must not shirk it."</p> + +<p>"And if he refuses——?" she pleaded.</p> + +<p>The wrinkled face broke into a smile, the gray eyes were bright in +admiration.</p> + +<p>"I am sure," he said gallantly, "that Herr Renwick could refuse you +nothing. Were I younger——" He paused with a sigh and smiled again. "I +am not sure even now that I am not a trifle jealous of this discreet +Englishman of yours." And, then, aware of her intense embarrassment, +"But I am sure that you will succeed."</p> + +<p>"I shall try, Sire," she murmured.</p> + +<p>And still he seemed loath to let her go, walking toward the window where +he stood in the sunlight looking down upon the lovely gardens beneath +him.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you did not know, Countess, that this visit to the roses of +Konopisht has caused us some concern here in Vienna. Berchtold, who went +yesterday to Konopisht, will, of course, discover nothing. The Duchess +of Hohenberg is a very clever woman. You know her as a friend. If her +loyalty to her friends is as sincere as her ambitions for her children, +then you can surely have no cause for complaint. Friendship begets +friendship, but those who love Austria may not serve other gods—or +goddesses. You have considered these things, and however difficult the +task—have chosen?"</p> + +<p>"It has been bitter, Sire. I can never go back to Konopisht."</p> + +<p>"I am sorry. A terrible lesson awaits Sophie Chotek. I have been sorely +tried. As for the Archduke Franz—a reckoning—a reckoning——"</p> + +<p>She saw the old man pause and start a pace back from the window, toward +which he stared, wide-eyed and immovable. There, upon the sill of the +window, a black bird had suddenly appeared and hopped awkwardly to and +fro. It seemed perfectly at home, and not in the least frightened, +peering into the room with its head cocked upon one side, a baleful +purplish glitter in its eye.</p> + +<p>In a flash Marishka remembered the legend which connects every +misfortune of the House of Habsburg with the appearance of this bird of +ill omen: the flight of ravens at Olmütz, the raven of the ill-fated +Maximilian at Miramar, the raven of the Archduchess Maria Christina on +the eve of her departure for her future kingdom of Spain, the raven +which came to the Empress Elizabeth on the afternoon before the day of +her assassination,—all these incidents so closely connected with the +royal figure before her, passed quickly across her mind as they must +have crossed that of the Emperor. He sank into his chair and she +followed his gaze through the window again. The somber bird had gone.</p> + +<p>Marishka stood in silence, not daring to move, aware of the terrible +undercurrent of thought which must be racking the mind of her sovereign, +this man of sorrows, who stood upon the brink of the grave and peace, +and yet who must still live and suffer until the curse of the Countess +Karolyi should be utterly fulfilled.</p> + +<p>"Sire," she muttered after a moment, "can I——"</p> + +<p>He stirred, and raised a pallid face to hers. It was quite composed now, +but marked with a sadness inexpressible.</p> + +<p>"You may leave me now, child. I am a little tired. If you will touch the +bell upon the table——"</p> + +<p>He paused as she did so, and a servant entered.</p> + +<p>"You will tell Prince Montenuovo that the audience is concluded," he +said.</p> + +<p>Marishka fell upon her knees before him, and touched his fingers to her +lips.</p> + +<p>"May God bless Your Majesty," she murmured half-hysterically, scarcely +knowing what she said, "and give you peace."</p> + +<p>She was aware of his smile as she arose.</p> + +<p>"Go, Countess," he said, "you have done well. Keep this secret at +whatever the cost to yourself. Those who love Austria must now be +prepared to suffer for her. My blessing, child."</p> + +<p>She obeyed the gesture of his hand and followed the High Chamberlain +into the outer corridor.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Marishka's first thought, upon emerging from the palace, was that she +must find Hugh Renwick at once. A new idea of her duty had been born in +her. The importance of keeping this secret of theirs from England had +not seemed as obvious before her visit to Schönbrunn. The thought of her +lover's possible refusal of her request now seemed appalling. As she +remembered his sober face last night in the automobile, when this topic +had caused her a moment of unhappiness, it seemed that his refusal to +accede to her request was more than possible. She had liked Hugh Renwick +because he was strong, honest, reliable, serious,—qualities she had not +found abundant among the younger men of the ancient families of her +country. She loved him now because, against many obstacles, he had at +last carried her heart by storm. But she realized that the very +qualities she had most admired in him were the very ones that would make +her present task most difficult.</p> + +<p>He had given his word not to reveal the secret to his Ambassador without +her permission. That was his promise, given, she knew, grudgingly, and +only because he felt for the moment that her duty took precedence over +his own. But was it, after all, merely a question of precedence? And +would he, now that he had kept his promise so far, insist upon doing his +manifest duty to his own country? Fears assailed her that she might not +be able to prevail. His love for her was untried. How far might she rely +upon it in this inevitable conflict between them? And if he refused her!</p> + +<p>The motor car of the Prince carried her to the apartments of the +Baroness Racowitz, where, after a rapidly thought-out explanation of her +sudden visit which seemed satisfactory, she wrote a note to Hugh +Renwick, asking him to come at once to her, addressing it to his +apartments in the Strohgasse and telling the servant if he was not at +home to take it to the Embassy. This note dispatched, her mind somewhat +more at ease, she joined the Baroness at luncheon.</p> + +<p>Baroness Racowitz, her father's sister, was a woman of liberal views. +Educated in England, she had absorbed some of the democratic spirit of +the West, and so looked with favor upon the suit of the young Englishman +who had won his way into Marishka's heart. Today, however, in spite of +the confession which trembled upon her lips, Marishka remained silent. +And the mere fact that she did not speak added conviction of the danger +which threatened her happiness and Hugh Renwick's.</p> + +<p>As the afternoon waned she grew apprehensive, and it was not until +evening that he came. His appearance did little to reassure her.</p> + +<p>"Your note did not reach me until a few moments ago," he began soberly. +"I went upon a mission to the ministry which has kept me all day."</p> + +<p>"I have been worried," she began nervously. "I went to Schönbrunn this +morning——"</p> + +<p>"I know it," he broke in quickly. "Otway, of the Embassy, saw you +leaving in the Prince's car."</p> + +<p>Something in his tone, in the avidity with which he had seized upon her +phrase, warned her of the truth.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Hugh," she cried, "you have already told!"</p> + +<p>His voice sank a note lower, and its very earnestness seemed to make the +barrier between them the greater. "This morning when I left you, I wrote +a complete statement of what happened at Konopisht, and gave it to a +servant with instructions to deliver it at the Embassy at a certain +hour. When I tell you that I was bidden to the Ministry this afternoon, +closely questioned and detained in violation of all precedent, you will +understand that from my own point of view, I acted wisely."</p> + +<p>"You mean——"</p> + +<p>"I mean that larger forces than yours and mine have taken control of the +situation."</p> + +<p>"Then your message has been delivered?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I cannot believe it of you——" she said, staring at him in +anguish.</p> + +<p>He smiled gently.</p> + +<p>"I have only done my duty——"</p> + +<p>"Your duty!" she said bitterly. "And what of your duty to me? You +promised——"</p> + +<p>"Merely," he put in quickly, "that I would wait until you had been to +Schönbrunn."</p> + +<p>"No, no, you promised," she said, with rising anger. "It was my +secret—not yours. I have never given you permission to reveal it."</p> + +<p>"Nor having been to Schönbrunn would have given it now, Marishka," he +said firmly.</p> + +<p>"And knowing this, you use subterfuge, an unmanly recantation—break +your promised word——"</p> + +<p>"I have broken no promise, Marishka, listen——"</p> + +<p>"Nothing that you can say——"</p> + +<p>She rose, her face hidden in her hands. "Oh, you have done me a +damage—irreparable! I too have promised——"</p> + +<p>"The Emperor!"</p> + +<p>"My sovereign—he asked this secrecy of me and you—the man I——"</p> + +<p>"Marishka, I love you," he pleaded, trying to take her hand. "Anything +but this! Can't you understand? I would have betrayed my trust. The +situation you placed me in was impossible. Great mischief is brewing in +Europe. Could I sit idly by and let my country be in ignorance of it? +God knows what is to happen, but whatever comes your country and mine +can have no quarrel—any more than you and I can have. England is +strong. No nation in Europe can endure without her friendship. Can't you +see? I have done Austria no wrong—a service, rather, Marishka; and +you——"</p> + +<p>"You can do me no further service, Herr Renwick," she said coldly, +rising.</p> + +<p>He was on his feet too, his face pale, regarding her steadily.</p> + +<p>"I cannot believe that you are willing to blame me for doing my duty. +Love can only exist in an atmosphere of respect, Marishka. Could you +have cared for me if I had been willing to seek your favor at the +expense of my own honor? Could you? Think."</p> + +<p>"Those who can thrive politically upon the misfortunes of my country are +my country's enemies—and mine," she said coldly.</p> + +<p>"I have done your country no harm—nor you. Listen, Marishka," he +pleaded tensely. "Look at me. I love you, dear, with all my heart and +soul, I love you. You cannot forget what happened to us yesterday. I +will not give you up——"</p> + +<p>"You must—I pray that you will leave me, Herr Renwick," and she moved +past him toward a door.</p> + +<p>Renwick straightened. Whatever hopes he had had in his heart that +Marishka might forgive him for acting without her consent, her action +left no doubt as to her present intentions. The bitterness the girl's +fatalism had predicted yesterday had fallen upon them quickly. But he +would not despair. As the girl was yet to learn, Renwick was not one who +despaired easily. But his years of service had given him discretion.</p> + +<p>"I cannot believe that you are quite in earnest," he said quietly. "I +will call upon you again when you have had time to weigh my action +impartially——"</p> + +<p>"I shall not be at home to you."</p> + +<p>"Nevertheless," he said coolly, "I shall come."</p> + +<p>Her shoulders moved disdainfully. "It should be enough that I——"</p> + +<p>"Marishka," he broke in again and came toward her, "at least give me a +chance to speak to you again—tomorrow——"</p> + +<p>The curtains beside her parted abruptly as she fled, leaving Renwick +staring helplessly at the embroidered hangings.</p> + +<p>He stood awkwardly for a moment, like a figure suddenly frozen, and then +dropping his arms to his sides turned and sought his hat and stick. For +the present at least there seemed nothing else to do. He descended the +stairs, a deeply puzzled frown upon his brows, and went out into the +darkness of the street.</p> + +<p>Courts and camps, they say, are the best schools, and Renwick had not +lived his thirty years in vain. He had known since last night what he +must do in England's service, and he had also known what havoc that +service must work in Marishka's mind. He had foreseen the inquietude of +the Austrian government at his possession of this state secret, and had +known that his relations with Marishka must be put in jeopardy. He knew +that she must request his silence, that he must refuse her, and that no +woman's pride, put to the test, could brook such a refusal. Like +Marishka, he had had a brief hope that this love might survive the +ordeal put upon it, but he had not been long in discovering that the +Emperor's request to Marishka had made his action seem unpardonable. And +yet he had known as he knew now, that no other course had been open to +him. Since Marishka's early visit to the Palace, an undercurrent of +events had moved swiftly. The fact that he had received a note from +Baron Lichteveld asking him to call at the Ministry, the interview +between them full of allusions on the Baron's part which showed a +complete knowledge of the situation; a veiled request, a veiled threat, +to both of which Renwick had appeared oblivious. These, and an +uncomfortable sense that he was being detained, had at last made Renwick +open his lips. The information of which he was possessed, he had told +the Baron, was in the hands of those who would at the proper time place +it before the British Ambassador. The firmness of his attitude had +brought the interview, apparently pleasant and quite unofficial, to a +sudden ending, and Renwick had left the Ministry, aware that his own +official position in Vienna had suddenly become precarious.</p> + +<p>His statement was now at the Embassy, and its astounding contents had +been read by his Chief. He made his way thither, somewhat dubious as to +the thrill of his achievement, aware of a shadow about him, the ghost of +yesterday's joy, which made all success save the intimate personal one +that he most craved, flat, stale, and unprofitable. In the darkness of +the street he was aware, too, that he was being observed and followed, +but he went boldly toward his destination, sure that as a member of the +staff of the British Embassy, his person at least partook of the +official immunity of his Chief.</p> + +<p>But there were other forces arrayed against him with which he had not +reckoned. At a deserted and unlighted corner he found his progress +blocked by two figures who attempted to engage him in a conversation. +Now thoroughly awake to a personal danger which no official immunity +could minimize, he was at once upon his guard, moving quickly into the +middle of the street. The two men followed him, and another whom he had +not seen came upon him from the rear. He dodged the blow of a stick +which caught him a stinging blow upon the forearm, but he sprang aside, +striking a furious blow full in the face of one of his antagonists and +leaping out of harm's way as the third came on; and then, finding +discretion the better part of valor, took to his heels, emerging into +the Ringstrasse some moments later, with no greater damage than a +bruised arm and the loss of his breath and hat.</p> + +<p>The Embassy in the Metternichgasse fortunately was not far away, and he +reached the building without further mishap, now fully aware of the +desperateness of his enemies, whom he did not doubt were employed by +those whose interests in his secret were more important even than those +of the Austrian government. Who? It was obvious. There were other +agencies at work, which drew their information from high sources with +which they had little in common. A little bewildered by the rapid march +of events, but now certain of the web of intrigue and hostility of which +he was the center, Renwick entered the office of the Embassy, breathing +a sigh of relief that he was again for the present safe within its +familiar portals.</p> + +<p>The Ambassador was at his desk in his private office, and Renwick went +in to him immediately, the grave faces of his Chief and Captain Otway, +the military attaché, assuring him that his information had already been +received and discussed.</p> + +<p>"Ah, Renwick," said the Ambassador, rising, "glad you've come. We were +beginning to fear that something had happened to you. Why, what's the +matter? You're as white as a sheet——"</p> + +<p>"Am I, sir? Oh, it's nothing. You got my message?"</p> + +<p>The ambassador nodded and then quickly, "Give him a drink, Otway." And +then as the other moved across the room to obey, "You were attacked—in +the street?"</p> + +<p>Renwick laughed. "Oh, don't bother, please. I'm quite all right—just a +bit of a breather—that's all. You see—I ran for it. Safer, I thought. +I could have done for the beggars, if I'd had a heavier stick, but I +didn't want to make a rumpus. You see, I did well in putting the thing +on paper."</p> + +<p>"Are you hurt?"</p> + +<p>"Merely a bruised arm. Little chap with a stick—behind me."</p> + +<p>"Most extraordinary! I can hardly believe that the government would +dare——"</p> + +<p>"It isn't the government, sir, I'm afraid," he said, with conviction, as +he took his whiskey and soda. "There are others who have more to lose +than the Emperor's party by this revelation——"</p> + +<p>"Yes, that may be so," replied the Ambassador judicially, pacing the +floor. "Perhaps you're right, Renwick. But now that you're safe, we +should only concern ourselves with the greater issue. Tell me again in +your own words all that has happened since yesterday morning."</p> + +<p>Renwick obeyed, and it was far into the night before he finished, while +the faces of his auditors grew grave again. The security of this well +ordered office, with the familiar tokens of distant peaceful England all +about them, made a prosaic background for the visions which were +flashing through the minds of these three Englishmen. Even now, to +Renwick, as he related his experience again, the whole thing seemed +incredible, and the reiterated questions of his Chief, who was a prudent +man, might have shaken a less convincing witness. But Renwick had +dreamed no dream, and the returning ache in his arm left no room to +doubt the actuality of his experience.</p> + +<p>"You have done England a service, Renwick," said the Ambassador at last, +magnanimously. "It isn't often that such crumbs of information are +offered us—in such a way. But we will take them—and digest them +overnight. I want to sleep on this matter. And you—you will stay here +tonight, Renwick. It will be safer. Until tomorrow, gentlemen——"</p> + +<p>And so he dismissed them.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>SECRET INFORMATION</h3> + + +<p>An ambassador has been wittily described as an honest man sent to "lie" +abroad for the commonwealth. He is supposed to be familiar with all the +scandal and intrigue of the court to which he is accredited, to be +possessed of countless incriminating secrets, and to steer his way amid +the maze, disturbing no ghost or skeleton of family or government, +preserving the while a calm punctilio and an exterior of fathomless +simplicity. The ambassador of modern Europe is at once a Chesterfield, a +Machiavelli, and a Vidocq. He must be a lamb, a lion, and a ferret. He +must fly upon the wing of occasion, he must condescend to act as +messenger boy to his Prime Minister, he must conduct a business office +and a fashionable restaurant and successfully run a detective bureau.</p> + +<p>Something of the ambitions of Franz Ferdinand and his wife had been +known to the Right Honorable Sir Herbert Southgate; the Archduke's visit +with his wife to the court of St. James was significant, and their stay +at Potsdam dutifully recorded at Berlin, had shown something of the +nature of the <i>rapprochement</i> between Archduke and Kaiser. The visit of +the Kaiser to the Archduke's hunting lodge at Eckartzau on the Danube, +had set tongues wagging, and private information had served to warn Sir +Herbert that an understanding had been brought about. The visit to the +roses of Konopisht had not deceived the Ambassador, for it was known +that a pact of some sort had been made, but the revelations of Mr. +Renwick had been of a nature to appall.</p> + +<p>A night of deliberation had done little to obliterate the Ambassador's +grave fears for the future, and he communicated at once in code and in +full with the Home Government. He lost little time upon the following +day in setting in motion all the devices he possessed for obtaining +secret information as to the effect of Countess Strahni's startling +disclosures.</p> + +<p>For several months the surface of the diplomatic pool had been ominously +placid. Few ripples had disturbed its surface, save those occasional +ones from the direction of unquiet Serbia. But the waters were seething +now, stirred to their very lees by plot and counterplot. The advices +received by the Ambassador were alarming. Had the attack upon Hugh +Renwick failed to advise him that the military party possessed full +knowledge of the Countess Strahni's disclosures, he should soon have +discovered it. There was an undercurrent of intrigue in various high +offices which advised him that communications of the greatest importance +were passing. His own interests, of course, were best served by a +studied innocence and unconcern, and his public appearances, both social +and official, gave no sign of his intimate knowledge of approaching +calamity.</p> + +<p>The first surface indication of the turmoil was a polite note from the +ministry, stating that his second secretary, Hugh Renwick, was <i>persona +non grata</i> to the Austrian government, and requesting his recall. This +indicated a definite purpose neither to ignore nor condone, and in +itself was a surprising admission of the facts. The Ambassador by note +expressed his high opinion of the abilities of his secretary and +requested the Ministry's reasons for their decision. They merely +repeated their former request without explanations. And so the +Ambassador, with a smile, which had a world of meaning, offered Renwick +his passports.</p> + +<p>But Renwick had no desire or intention to leave Vienna. He merely +removed his personal belongings to his apartment and stayed. That he had +ventured into deep political currents he was now sure, for though he +moved with great care, he was aware of being followed and once he was +shot at in a quiet street in broad daylight. He made no complaint to the +authorities, but only moved with greater discretion, sure that the +interests that desired his elimination were not among the Austrians. +From the point of view of the Austrian government he was merely a +discredited Englishman, and therefore a person of no importance. That +the Countess Marishka had apparently also reached the same conclusion +was evident, for though he called several times at the apartment of the +Baroness Racowitz, he was not admitted.</p> + +<p>With theories of his own as to the probable effect of the Countess +Strahni's bombshell, Renwick began some investigations which he +conducted with great tact and secrecy. The forthcoming visit of the +Archduke Franz to Sarajevo had assumed suddenly a vital importance. One +morning after a night conference with Sir Herbert he took the train for +Belgrade. When he returned a few days later he was again closeted with +the British Ambassador, and when night fell, he went direct to the +apartment of the Baroness Racowitz, succeeding by a handsome bribe to +the servant at the door in sending a note to the Countess Marishka, +which read as follows—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Countess Marishka Strahni</span>,</p> + +<p>A friend of yours is in grave danger, chiefly through your agency. +I pray that you will see me, if only for a moment. In doing so you +will secure for yourself an opportunity of doing a service which +you can never regret.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hugh Renwick</span>.</p></div> + +<p>When the servant returned, some moments later, Renwick was shown into +the drawing room, with the word that the Countess Strahni would see him. +She appeared almost immediately, her face a little pallid, her manner +restrained, her accents frigidly polite. But the dark eyes were +luminous, the brows were drawn inward, and her voice trembled slightly +as she spoke his name.</p> + +<p>"Herr Renwick, I can hardly believe that you would impose so difficult a +situation were it not that something of importance has occurred——"</p> + +<p>"It has, Countess Strahni," he said gravely, then paused. "I beg that +you will believe me."</p> + +<p>She sank into a chair and motioned for him to be seated, but he remained +standing, his eyes studying the fine line of her neck and shoulder as +she bent forward, her gaze upon the rug. There was something almost +childish in her imperiousness. He wanted to take her in his arms and +hold her there as he would have done a spoiled child, and trust the +issue to his strength and her weakness, but the quick tap of her +slippered toe upon the carpet warned him that his mission was delicate.</p> + +<p>"Proceed, if you please," she said after a moment.</p> + +<p>"You may not know, but a few days after my return from Konopisht, my +connection with the British Embassy ceased——"</p> + +<p>"I have heard," she broke in quickly, in a suppressed tone; "I am +sorry."</p> + +<p>"But my interests in the political aspect of affairs were so great that +I could not leave Vienna."</p> + +<p>"At least I am not to blame for the actions of the ministry."</p> + +<p>"Naturally. I suppose I might attribute all my misfortunes to the roses +of Konopisht," he said.</p> + +<p>She glanced up at him quickly and a little scornfully, but she swallowed +nervously and her toe accelerated its tapping upon the rug.</p> + +<p>"I beg that you will come to the point of your visit," she said quickly.</p> + +<p>"I will," he went on easily. "The possession of State secrets has given +me an interest in Austrian affairs which has created a pardonable +curiosity. Fortune has favored my investigations and I have learned much +here in Vienna. I have learned more in Belgrade—and in Sarajevo."</p> + +<p>She glanced up quickly.</p> + +<p>"Sarajevo! Why?"</p> + +<p>"You will remember that the Archduke spoke of going there to see the +maneuvers of his troops on the twenty-eighth of this month."</p> + +<p>"Yes." Her eyes stared at him widely now. "But what——?"</p> + +<p>She paused uncertainly, expecting him to go on. Instead he waited a +moment as though seeking his words carefully.</p> + +<p>"The Archduke plans to take the Duchess of Hohenberg to Sarajevo with +him. I came here to tell you that if she goes she will be in great +danger——"</p> + +<p>"Danger!"</p> + +<p>"Yes. There is a plot against the life of the Archduke. I thought that +as a lifelong friend, you would like to know——"</p> + +<p>"Assassination! Holy Virgin! Not that!"</p> + +<p>She had started up from her chair and faced him, trembling violently.</p> + +<p>"I swear to you," he said soberly, "that I have every reason for +believing that in Sarajevo the lives of both will hang by a hair."</p> + +<p>"But who——?" she stammered, her eyes wide with consternation.</p> + +<p>She paused, the thoughts that had come first into her mind, stifled in +horror.</p> + +<p>"It is not necessary for me to say. I am merely giving my belief based +on the closest study of political conditions."</p> + +<p>A slight color had come into her cheeks.</p> + +<p>"I am sure that you must be unduly alarmed," she said coolly. "The +Archduke will be in the midst of his friends—his whole army at +maneuvers!" Her lips found courage in a smile. "Why, the thing is +impossible!"</p> + +<p>Renwick leaned against the mantel, his arms folded, and went on +steadily.</p> + +<p>"The thing is not impossible, Countess Strahni. The danger to Franz +Ferdinand is very real—a danger that no army of Austrian soldiers can +minimize. He goes to a hostile neighborhood. He is not loved in +Sarajevo. Should not this be sufficient?"</p> + +<p>"You trouble me," she muttered, passing a hand before her eyes. "But I +must know more. An Archduke must have enemies——"</p> + +<p>"But this Archduke! Can you conceive of no reason why Franz Ferdinand +should be in danger?" he asked meaningly.</p> + +<p>She searched his face quickly, in her eyes the truth dawning.</p> + +<p>"You mean——?"</p> + +<p>He shrugged.</p> + +<p>"You should know what I mean."</p> + +<p>"I cannot believe——" she halted again.</p> + +<p>"Countess Strahni," he went on quickly, "were I still a member of the +staff of the British Embassy, I should not speak. I do not even now +accuse any group or political party of participation in this plot. The +Emperor at least is guiltless. Death has already done its worst to him. +The matter is out of his hands. But I do know that such a plot exists. +Franz Ferdinand will not return alive from Sarajevo and if the Duchess +of Hohenberg accompanies him, she, too——"</p> + +<p>"It is horrible—and I—I will have been the cause——"</p> + +<p>She sank into her chair and buried her face in her hands.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps now you will understand my motive in coming to you," he said +softly. "I have no desire but to serve you. England has no further +concern for Archduke Ferdinand. Forewarned is forearmed. His sting is +already drawn. But death, like this—sudden, violent, without a +chance—England has never looked with kindness upon the killing of +women, Countess Strahni."</p> + +<p>"It is horrible," she whispered. "Horrible! I cannot believe——"</p> + +<p>"Unfortunately I can give you none of the sources of my information. But +whatever my sins in your eyes, at least you will admit that I am not +given to exaggeration. You may still believe that I have taken a liberty +in coming to you; but the situation admits of no delay. The telegraph +lines are in the hands of the Archduke's enemies. The Archduke and +Duchess leave Konopisht in the morning by special train, but there is +still time to reach them."</p> + +<p>Marishka had risen, and was now pacing the floor, her hands nervously +clasped before her.</p> + +<p>"I see. I—I—understand. I—I should be grateful that you have told me. +But it is all so sudden. So terrible!"</p> + +<p>She paused before him.</p> + +<p>"I have betrayed her," she stammered through pallid lips.</p> + +<p>"You could do nothing else. His fortunes are hers——"</p> + +<p>"But not this——" she whispered. "It is too ghastly!"</p> + +<p>There was a long pause, and then, "Will you make the effort?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"You must leave in an hour."</p> + +<p>"But how——?"</p> + +<p>She looked at Renwick and their glances met.</p> + +<p>"I will go with you," he said coolly.</p> + +<p>His gaze was on the dial of his watch which he had taken from his pocket +and was regarding judicially. His calmness, his impudence, enraged her. +She had sworn, because of his falseness, that she would never see this +man again, and here he was calmly proposing a night journey into +Bohemia, and she was actually listening to him.</p> + +<p>She turned quickly toward the door and stood, one hand grasping the +portière, while she turned a white face toward him.</p> + +<p>"Thanks, Herr Renwick," she said icily, "but I go alone——"</p> + +<p>"That is impossible. There is danger. A night journey in a train of +uncertain quality——"</p> + +<p>"I hope that you will not waste words. I thank you for what you have +done, but I—I must go at once——"</p> + +<p>Renwick took a pace toward her.</p> + +<p>"Countess Strahni, if you will listen to me——"</p> + +<p>But he got no farther, for he knew that her will was as strong as his +own, and that forgiveness was not to be read in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"I beg that you will excuse me, Herr Renwick. The time is short——"</p> + +<p>He bowed gravely.</p> + +<p>"At least, you will permit me to order you a <i>fiacre</i>——"</p> + +<p>She nodded in assent as though to be rid of him and then turned and went +up the stairs leaving Renwick to find his way out into the darkness of +the street.</p> + +<p>Marishka hurried to her room and rang for her maid. In spite of the +turbulence of her thoughts, she gave her orders calmly and then prepared +for the journey. The imminence of the danger to Sophie Chotek should +have obsessed her to the exclusion of all personal considerations, but +while she dressed she could not help thinking of the imperturbable +impudence of her visitor. His kindness, his thoughtfulness, the fact +that he had done her a service, and was at this very moment doing her +another, gave her a sense of being in a false position, which made her +most uncomfortable. And yet one could not treat with contumely a person +who acted in one's interests. His calmness, his assurance enraged her. +She would never see him again, of course, but she seemed to feel the +need of some final words to convince him of the depth of her disdain. He +was so calm, so gravely cheerful, so assured, so maddeningly +considerate! She wondered now why she had not led him on to a renewed +plea for forgiveness, that she might the more effectually have crushed +him.</p> + +<p>But her duty to Sophie Chotek soon drove these speculations as to the +unfortunate Herr Renwick from her mind. Suppose that Sophie Chotek +questioned closely as to the reasons for Marishka's sudden departure. +What should she say? The Duchess was not one who could easily forgive a +wrong. Her placid exterior served well to conceal a strength of purpose +which had already brought her many enemies in the Royal House. That she +was capable of tenderness was shown in her adoration of her children and +in the many kindnesses she had shown Marishka herself, but there was, +too, a strain of the Czech in her nature, which harbored grievances and +was not above retaliation. Marishka's cause, as a loyal Austrian's, was +just, and she had not faltered in doing what she knew to be her duty, +but the thought of seeking the Duchess now that she had betrayed her, +required all of her courage. She had balked an ambitious woman, +stultified all her efforts to advance the fortunes of her children, and +had written her husband before the House of Habsburg a traitor to his +Emperor and his country. What if she had heard something and suspected? +Would the Duchess even listen to a plea for her own life and safety from +the lips of one who had proven an enemy, a bread and salt traitor to the +Houses of Austria-Este and Chotek and Wognin?</p> + +<p>But Marishka did not falter, and when the <i>fiacre</i> came to the door she +descended quickly. The Baroness fortunately had gone upon a visit to +friends in the country, but Marishka left a note with her maid which +explained her absence, and departed alone for the railroad station, +feeling very helpless and forlorn, but none the less determined to see +her venture through to its end.</p> + +<p>She wore a gray traveling dress and was heavily veiled, and when she +reached the station, the guard showed her immediately into an unoccupied +compartment. This, it seemed, was unusual, as her watch indicated that +only a few moments remained before the train should leave. But she +settled herself comfortably, grateful for her seclusion, whatever its +cause, and closed her eyes in an effort to sleep.</p> + +<p>The last warning words of the guards had been given and the train was +already in motion when she heard a warning "Sh——" at the open window, +where a head and a pair of shoulders appeared, followed immediately by +an entire body which was suddenly projected through the opening and +landed head first upon the floor. Marishka had risen, a scream on her +lips, but something familiar in the conformation of the figure +restrained her. The tangle of legs and arms took form, and a head +appeared, wearing a monocle and a smile. It was the imperturbable but +persistent Herr Renwick.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>TWO INTRUDERS</h3> + + +<p>Marishka was too dismayed for a moment to trust her tongue to speech. +That she was angry she knew, for she felt the blood rising to her +temples, and the words that hung on her lips were bitter, cruel and +unreasoning.</p> + +<p>"It is a pity, Herr Renwick," she began quite distinctly in English, +"that you have neither the good taste nor the intelligence to leave me +to my own devices."</p> + +<p>Renwick gathered up his stick and straw hat, bowed politely and seated +himself opposite her. Indeed, as the train was now moving rapidly, no +other course was open to him. But he wore no look of recantation. His +calmness was more impudent than ever, and he even took out and reset his +monocle.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I say, Countess Strahni," he said, "that's rather rough on a chap. +I had to come. It was wiser, you know."</p> + +<p>"I care nothing for your wisdom," she said scornfully. "If it is no more +firmly seated than your sense of honor, it can be of little value to you +or to me."</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry. I will try not to interfere with your comfort——"</p> + +<p>"You—you arranged this"—as the thought came to her—"this opportunity +for a tête-à-tête?"</p> + +<p>"The Countess Strahni's conception of a tête-à-tête may differ from +mine," he said with a smile.</p> + +<p>But his coolness only inflamed her the more.</p> + +<p>"You have taken an unpardonable liberty," she said wildly. "You have +already passed the bounds of decency or consideration. You have been not +only impudent but ridiculous. One service you have done me tonight. I +thank you. You may do me another—by getting out at the first station."</p> + +<p>He folded his arms and regarded her gravely.</p> + +<p>"I regret that that is impossible."</p> + +<p>"Why, please?"</p> + +<p>"Because I propose to go with you to Konopisht, and to accompany you +upon your return."</p> + +<p>"You—you——!"</p> + +<p>"One moment, please," he said quietly and with some show of spirit. "It +is not necessary that you should have a further misconception of my +motives or of my agility. I did not seek this—er—tête-à-tête. My +servant engaged this carriage. I had not hoped to have the honor of +accompanying you. Unfortunately, circumstances forced a change of plan."</p> + +<p>"Circumstances!" she said contemptuously.</p> + +<p>He bowed slightly. "As a discredited Englishman, I still possess, it +seems, some interest for certain citizens of Austria. I only discovered +the fact this evening when leaving the apartment of the Baroness."</p> + +<p>"You were followed again?" she asked quickly, her interest in the fact +mastering her animosity.</p> + +<p>"The object of my visit to you has been guessed. I was followed—but you +were followed also."</p> + +<p>"I——?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—to the station."</p> + +<p>"And where——"</p> + +<p>"Booked through to Konopisht not a foot from the back of your head in +the adjoining compartment——"</p> + +<p>And then as she straightened in alarm and regarded the cushioned seat +behind her in sudden terror, "But I do not think you need be unduly +alarmed. We can——"</p> + +<p>"They are following <i>me</i>!" she whispered. "But why? Why?"</p> + +<p>"Because of your friendship with the Duchess. Those who plan the death +of the Archduke are in no humor to fail."</p> + +<p>"Incredible! And they——" she halted again, breathless with +apprehension.</p> + +<p>"I fear, Countess Strahni, that your mission to Konopisht has now become +a difficult one. That is why I thought it better to go with you. The men +who are following you are moving with considerable insolence and +confidence. They will carry out their orders unless circumvented."</p> + +<p>"But how?" she whispered, her anger of a moment ago magically +transmuted. "What can I do?"</p> + +<p>He gazed out of the window at the blur of night and smiled.</p> + +<p>"To begin with," he said politely, "they think you are alone. You see, I +might help you, Countess Strahni, if you could manage to endure my +presence for a few hours."</p> + +<p>It was Renwick's innings and he made the most of them. Indeed, +Marishka sat leaning forward looking at him appealingly, aware that +after all here was the only prop she had to lean upon in this extremity. +She did not speak. The wrong he had done her and Austria was +great—unforgivable, but the merit of his service in this situation was +unmistakable. Inimical as he might be to the sentiments in her heart, +there was no disguising the relief his presence gave her or the +confidence that radiated from his calm assurance.</p> + +<p>"One of the men I have seen before," he said. "He has gained some +celebrity in the Secret Service. You see, we must give them the slip +before we get to Budweis. This train makes several stops. It ought not +to be difficult."</p> + +<p>The plural pronoun seemed quite inoffensive now, and she even uttered +it—herself.</p> + +<p>"Yes," breathlessly; "but suppose they tried to stop us?"</p> + +<p>"Er—that would be most unfortunate," he muttered, as though to himself.</p> + +<p>"You don't think they will, do you?" she appealed.</p> + +<p>"I'm sure I don't know," he said thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>For some moments he said nothing and Marishka, whose pride had come +again to her rescue, gazed steadily out of the window away from him, +trying to forget her dependence upon her companion, whose initiative and +devotion were hourly growing more in importance. Whatever his private +purposes in aiding her, and she had no reason to doubt his +disinterestedness, for the present at least they had a common duty to +humanity which must be performed at any costs to prejudice or pride.</p> + +<p>At the next station a surprise awaited them. The door of their +compartment was opened, a man entered and bowing most politely, quickly +closed the door behind him. Marishka examined him with apprehension, +noticing that he seemed more interested in the Englishman than in +herself, for in the brief glance he gave Renwick, the suavity of his +demeanor seemed for a brief moment to have changed.</p> + +<p>He was a person of middle age, tall, stockily built, but withal rather +jaunty in appearance, and when he smiled again he disclosed a gold tooth +which seemed to Marishka for some reason inexpressibly reassuring. He +rubbed his hands together and looked a great deal like a successful +head-waiter in mufti. But he glanced from one to the other quickly and +settled himself in a corner with an air of being very much at home, +which removed the earlier impression. Renwick took the initiative at +once.</p> + +<p>"A pleasant evening," he said to the newcomer, in German.</p> + +<p>"One might say so," replied the other, bowing calmly.</p> + +<p>"But one doesn't?" asked Renwick. "The conditions are not so propitious +as they were a while ago. A storm is brewing perhaps?"</p> + +<p>The man examined him steadily, aware of the double meaning, but only +smiled again. Renwick got up and with great deliberateness, moved the +length of the aisle, and, while Marishka followed him with her gaze, +seated himself directly opposite the intruder. The man made a movement +with his right hand which he put into the side pocket of his coat, but +as Renwick sat, he smiled again and shrugged.</p> + +<p>"You are traveling to Budweis and beyond?" asked the Englishman.</p> + +<p>"To Budweis and beyond," said the other coolly. "And I would advise Herr +Renwick," he went on quickly, "that the hotels of Budweis are +excellent."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" That he had come out into the open suited Renwick's plans +excellently. He removed his monocle and slipped it into a waistcoat +pocket. "To be sure. Budweis. Unfortunately the lady whom I have the +honor to accompany, visits friends at some distance in the country."</p> + +<p>"The Countess Strahni must go to the Kaiser von Oesterreich Hotel at +Budweis tonight," he said with precision. "It is near the station." And +then quickly "I would also advise Herr Renwick to move at once to the +other end of the compartment."</p> + +<p>Renwick stared at him for a moment as though he had not understood his +meaning and then shrugged and rose. Polite amenities had ceased. He +turned half toward Marishka and then, without warning, threw himself +furiously at the man.</p> + +<p>There was a muffled discharge as the stranger attempted to draw the +weapon from his pocket, but the bullet did no damage, and the +Englishman's blow, fiercely struck, sent the other reeling sideways. He +smiled no longer, but struggled upward gamely. Renwick had caught his +pistol hand and forced him down to the floor, where he pinioned him with +his weight.</p> + +<p>The whole affair had happened so quickly that after one gasp of terror, +Marishka had sat stupefied with horror. But as the struggle continued, +the man on the floor began to shout lustily for help, and she sprang to +the aid of the Englishman, who was choking the man by twisting his +cravat.</p> + +<p>"Your veil—quick," he stammered breathlessly. And after she had given +it to him, "Now, take the revolver from his coat pocket."</p> + +<p>She obeyed. Most of the fight was out of their antagonist, and the +muzzle of the automatic, thrust beneath his nose, completed his +subjugation. After they had gagged him, they bound his wrists and ankles +with handkerchiefs, and then straightened and looked at each other, +listening. Marishka's eyes were sparkling and the color was coming back +into her cheeks.</p> + +<p>"He—he might have killed you," she stammered in English.</p> + +<p>"Or I him," said Renwick. "Thank the Lord, I didn't have to. Do you +think they heard?"</p> + +<p>They listened again, but there was no sound above the roar of the train.</p> + +<p>"We'll have to get out of this—at the first stop—and run for it. I +don't know where we are, but Budweis can't be far off. You still want to +go on?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I must," she cried resolutely. "I must. Oh, God, if I failed now, +I could never forgive myself."</p> + +<p>"You see—they're determined——"</p> + +<p>He paused, staring at the mummy upon the floor, who had raised his head. +One eye was badly damaged, but the other was frowning at them comically. +But neither Renwick nor Marishka felt like laughing. Renwick started +suddenly toward the window and peered out, for the train was coasting +and ahead of them in the distance he saw the lights of a station.</p> + +<p>"Quickly!" he said to the girl. "There's nothing for it but to go out on +the opposite side. The door is locked." He glanced at the prostrate +figure. And then to Marishka, "You must follow me."</p> + +<p>He did not wait for her answer, but opening the closed window he swung +himself from the floor by a grip on the door jamb, put his feet out and +lowered himself to the running board. The brakes were on now as the +train approached the station, but still Marishka hesitated.</p> + +<p>Renwick's face appeared in the aperture. "All clear," he whispered, "the +tracks on this side are empty. Wait until the train stops and then step +out—quickly, please."</p> + +<p>There was no denying his command of her and of the situation, and, +difficult as the feat appeared, in a moment she was sitting on the sill, +her feet depending outside into the darkness, where Renwick without +another word seized her in his arms and lowered her to the step beside +them, thrilled by the danger of her flight, but ready to follow wherever +he led.</p> + +<p>With a grinding of brakes the train stopped, but they got down quickly, +and in a moment had dodged behind a building, and listening for sounds +of pursuit, made their way up the dimly lighted street of a small town. +It was not yet midnight and there were signs of activity here and there. +She hurried beside Renwick blindly, content as he was for the present to +put as much distance as possible between themselves and the railroad +station. They listened anxiously for the train to move, but there was no +sound of bell or exhaust. The distant shouts seemed more ominous. +Renwick only glanced behind them and hurried the pace. He led her around +a corner, into a well-lighted street where an automobile, its engine +running, was standing before a rather pretentious house. He ran up to it +and examined it quickly.</p> + +<p>"It's really too bad," he muttered, with a quick glance toward the +house, "but our need is great," and got in, Marishka following without a +word. "It's a Mercedes, thank God," he whispered. "I hope it will go."</p> + +<p>It did, with a sputter and roar which brought a shouting figure to the +door of the house, but Renwick was beyond stopping and turned blindly at +the next turning and followed the street through the sleeping town into +a well-traveled country road, which led straight onward toward the +setting moon.</p> + +<p>"I haven't the slightest notion where we're going," he said presently, +"but we seem to be on our way."</p> + +<p>Marishka found herself laughing nervously. She wasn't in the least +amused, but the strain was telling on her.</p> + +<p>"Nice chap—the owner of this car, to put it just there. I'll have to +buy it, I suppose. No end of a good machine. I wonder if he thought to +fill the tank."</p> + +<p>Renwick ran the car up a long hill which it took with ease, and at the +summit the moonlit summer landscape was visible for miles in all +directions. There at a crossroad the Englishman stopped the stolen car +in the shadow of a tree, got quickly out and investigated the tank.</p> + +<p>"Plenty of petrol—enough for all night, I should say," he reported. +"And now"—as he looked around him in all directions—"which way? Hanged +if I know."</p> + +<p>Marishka was scanning the valley below them eagerly. In the distance to +their right a row of lights moved slowly into the night. "The train!" +she said, "Budweis lies in that direction. I've often been over the road +from Konopisht. If we can reach it——"</p> + +<p>"That ought not to be difficult. Here goes." And he took the crossroad +to the right.</p> + +<p>So far all was well, but the stolen motor car was a dead weight on +Renwick's conscience, and the danger of detection was still most +unpleasant. If an excuse were needed for his arrest, a pretext which +would hide the real secret of the mission of his pursuers, the larceny +of the machine would now furnish it. He had no humor to see the inside +of a village jail from which communication with the Ambassador would be +difficult if not impossible. There were processes of law in Austria +which suddenly became formidable to one in his position. But he drove +on, keeping a lookout for sign posts, aware that the girl beside him, +now that their danger was passed, had again assumed an uncompromising +silence which was not too favorable an indication of the state of her +mind and feelings toward him. He smiled inwardly. At least she could not +rob him of the moment when on the steps of the train he had held her in +his arms. He did not doubt that she was thinking of that moment also, +hating him the more cordially because she was so dependent on him. Did +she hate him? He stole a glance at her. She sat stiffly staring before +her into the night, a frown at her brows, her lips closed in a thin +line. Pride?</p> + +<p>"Marishka," he ventured softly, "will you forgive me?"</p> + +<p>Her figure grew more rigid.</p> + +<p>"Herr Renwick——!" she gasped.</p> + +<p>"I love you," he broke in. "You must know how much——"</p> + +<p>"It is a pity that I have already gauged your capacity for devotion," +she said bitterly.</p> + +<p>"I <i>had</i> to tell, Marishka——"</p> + +<p>"Herr Renwick, I am already much in your debt. Add to my burden, if you +will, by keeping silence on a matter so painful——"</p> + +<p>"Forgive me——"</p> + +<p>"Never. You have betrayed me."</p> + +<p>"I'll never give you up."</p> + +<p>"You must. Circumstances have placed me in this false position. I am at +your mercy. I beg you to be silent."</p> + +<p>"You will marry me, some day, Marishka," he asserted cheerfully.</p> + +<p>"Never," scornfully. "Never. The House of Strahni, Herr Renwick, holds +honor high and loyalty even higher than honor——"</p> + +<p>"There is another precept of the House of Strahni," he broke in calmly. +"Their women—where they give their lips——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, you are intolerable! I abominate you!"</p> + +<p>"And I—I still adore you," he whispered. "I shall always adore—and +serve."</p> + +<p>"Thank God, the hour of your service nears its end," she said chokingly.</p> + +<p>"Who knows?" he muttered.</p> + +<p>But he made no further attempt to break through her reserve. She was too +greatly in his power. And so he drove in silence, passing through the +silent streets of Budweis without challenge and soon found himself upon +the main highroad to Prague, over which the two had traveled less than a +week ago in their hurried flight to Vienna. The moon had long since set, +but when they climbed the hills along the Moldau faint gray streaks upon +their right hand proclaimed the coming of the dawn. If Marishka was +weary she gave no sign of it, for she sat bolt upright in her seat, her +eyes wide open, staring along the thin yellow ribbon which marked their +road. To the few questions as to her comfort she answered in +monosyllables, and at last he made no further effort to engage her in a +conversation. He felt no anger at her rebuffs—only tenderness—for in +his heart he could not altogether blame her for her repudiation of him.</p> + +<p>Broad daylight found them on the Prague highroad, not three miles from +Konopisht Schloss. Here Renwick decided to desert the car and go afoot +through the forest to the castle. He hid the machine in a thicket and +led the way, Marishka following silently, content to trust herself to a +judgment which until the present moment had seemed unerring. He glanced +at her from time to time, aware of the pallor of her face and the +fatigue of her movements. Once when he turned he fancied that her lips +were smiling, but when he spoke to her she answered him shortly. The +wounds to her pride were deep, it seemed, but he armed himself with +patience and smiled at her reassuringly as they paused at the edge of +the wood.</p> + +<p>"The Schloss is just beyond these woods, I think. Some smoke is rising +yonder. We must avoid the village. I think we may reach the garden by +the lower gate. And there I will await you, Countess Strahni," he +finished quietly.</p> + +<p>It seemed as though in giving her her title, that he was accepting +without further plea any conditions of formality in their relations +which she might impose.</p> + +<p>She waited a long moment without moving or replying. And then she turned +toward him with a smile.</p> + +<p>"Herr Renwick," she said gently, "whatever the personal differences +between us, I owe you at least a word of gratitude for all that you have +done. I thank you again. But I do not wish you to wait for me. I shall +not trouble you longer."</p> + +<p>"I will wait for you," he repeated.</p> + +<p>"It is not necessary. I shall not return."</p> + +<p>"You might, you know," he smiled. "I don't mind waiting at all. I shall +breakfast upon a cigarette."</p> + +<p>"Oh," she cried, her temper rising again, "you are——you are +impossible."</p> + +<p>With that she turned and strode ahead, reaching the gate before him and +entering.</p> + +<p>"<i>Au revoir</i>, Countess Strahni," he called after her.</p> + +<p>But she walked rapidly toward the rose garden without turning her head, +while Renwick, after lighting his cigarette, strolled slowly after her, +sure that the world was very beautiful, but that his path of love even +amid the roses did not run smoothly.</p> + +<p>He reached the hedge just in time to see a man, one of the gardeners he +seemed to be, come forward along the path from the direction of the +castle and stand before Marishka bowing. He saw the girl turn a glance +over her shoulder, an appealing glance, and Renwick had just started to +run forward when from each tree and hedge near him figures appeared +which seemed to envelop him. He struck out to right and left, but they +were too many. He felt a stinging blow at the back of his head, and had +the curious sensation of seeing the garden path suddenly rise and smite +him tremendously.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>HERR WINDT</h3> + + +<p>When Renwick managed again to summon his wits, he found himself lying in +the dark where somebody was bathing his brows with a damp cloth. His +head ached a great deal and he lay for a moment without opening his +eyes, aware of soft fingers, the touch of which seemed to soothe the +pain immeasurably. He opened his eyes to the semi-obscurity of a small +room furnished with the cot on which he lay, a table and two chairs. It +was all very comfortable and cozy, but the most agreeable object was the +face of Marishka Strahni, not a foot from his own. Through eyes dimmed +by pain he thought he read in her expression a divine compassion and +tenderness, and quickly closed them again for fear that his eyes might +have deceived him. When he opened them again he murmured her name.</p> + +<p>"Marishka," he said gently, "you—you have forgiven me?"</p> + +<p>But she had moved slightly away from him and was now regarding him +impassively. It was too bad for his vision to have played him such a +trick. It was so much pleasanter to sleep with Marishka looking at him +like that.</p> + +<p>"You have had a blow upon the head, Herr Renwick," her voice came as +from a distance. "I hope you are feeling better. It was necessary for me +to bathe your head with cold compresses."</p> + +<p>Necessary! Of course. But it would have been so much pleasanter to know +that she had done it because she wanted to.</p> + +<p>"So it was <i>au revoir</i>, after all?" he smiled, struggling to a sitting +posture.</p> + +<p>"You had better lie still for a while," she said briefly.</p> + +<p>His head was throbbing painfully, but he managed to make light of it.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm quite all right, I think," he said looking around the room +curiously. "Would you mind telling me what happened and where we are?"</p> + +<p>"They struck you down and brought us here. It's one of the gardener's +cottages on the estate."</p> + +<p>"And you?"</p> + +<p>"They were very polite but we are prisoners—for how long I don't know. +I've failed, Herr Renwick——" she finished miserably.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps it isn't too late——"</p> + +<p>"There are men outside. They intend to keep us here for the present."</p> + +<p>"There ought to be a way——" said Renwick, putting his feet to the +ground. "I could——" He stopped abruptly, for at that moment he +discovered that the captured weapon had been removed from his pocket.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid it's hopeless," said Marishka bitterly.</p> + +<p>Renwick glanced at his watch. "Only eight o'clock. Even now we +could——"</p> + +<p>He rose and walked to the window, peering through a crack in the +shutter, but an attack of vertigo caused him to sink into a chair. She +regarded him dubiously, pride and compassion struggling, but she said +nothing.</p> + +<p>"Beastly stupid of me," he groaned. "I might have known they'd spare no +detail——"</p> + +<p>There was a knock upon the door, and at Marishka's response, a turning +of the key, and a man entered. In spite of a discolored eye and a +wrinkled neckband, he was not difficult to identify as their friend of +the railroad train. His manner, however, was far from forbidding, for he +clicked his heels, swept off his cap and smiled slowly, his gold tooth +gleaming pleasantly.</p> + +<p>"Herr Renwick is, I trust, feeling better," he said politely.</p> + +<p>Renwick grinned up at him sheepishly.</p> + +<p>"I congratulate Herr Windt upon his adroitness," he said. "I fear I made +the mistake of underestimating his skill in divination."</p> + +<p>"It was not inspired enough to guess that you were in the Countess +Strahni's carriage," he replied. "You have quick fingers, Herr Renwick. +Fortunately I was aware of your destination and knew that we should +meet. All is well that ends well."</p> + +<p>"That depends upon the point of view, Herr Windt. But I might have +killed you in the railway carriage."</p> + +<p>"That would have been an error in judgment, which would have been most +unfortunate for both of us. I, too, might have shot you through my +pocket, but I refrained, at some hazard to myself. I try never to exceed +the necessities of a situation. Having performed my mission successfully +I can now afford to be generous."</p> + +<p>"Meaning—what, Herr Windt?"</p> + +<p>"That I shall keep you here only so long as is absolutely necessary." He +glanced at his watch and said significantly, "The Archduke's private +train will leave here in half an hour."</p> + +<p>Marishka had listened in some amazement to this conversation, but the +politeness of her jailer only angered her.</p> + +<p>"I would like to know by what authority you imprison a loyal citizen of +Austria," she stormed. "Your identity seems to have made some impression +upon Herr Renwick, but I would inform you that I at least am not without +friends to whom you will answer for this outrage."</p> + +<p>Herr Windt bowed low.</p> + +<p>"I beg that Countess Strahni will reconsider that word. I have intended +to act with great discretion. Herr Renwick unfortunately underestimated +the forces to which he was opposed. I am sorry he has suffered injury. +As for you, Countess, I beg leave to recall that those who have +restrained you have treated you with every consideration."</p> + +<p>"Who are you?" she asked angrily.</p> + +<p>"Herr Renwick has spoken my name."</p> + +<p>"You are a member of the secret service of the Austrian government?"</p> + +<p>He smiled again and bowed low.</p> + +<p>"It is the custom of those in my trade to ask questions—not to answer +them. In this service, however, it will please you perhaps to know that +I am not acting for the Austrian government."</p> + +<p>"Who then?"</p> + +<p>"I cannot reply."</p> + +<p>"You dare not."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps. But I am willing to admit, Countess Strahni, that the same +motive which impelled you to Schönbrunn," he said significantly, "has +actuated both myself and my employers."</p> + +<p>"And that motive?"</p> + +<p>"The safety of the Empire."</p> + +<p>"Austria! But not complicity in this dastardly——"</p> + +<p>At a warning sound from Renwick she paused. Herr Windt was regarding her +gravely.</p> + +<p>"I regret that I do not comprehend the Countess Strahni's meaning," he +said with a bow. "It would be a source of great unhappiness to me, if in +doing my duty, I had done you a harm. I am not an enemy, Countess, but a +loyal compatriot. I may add that I am prepared to do what I can to +protect you from the results of your unfortunate connection with a +dangerous political situation."</p> + +<p>"Protect! You!" Marishka smiled bitterly and glanced ironically around +the walls of the cabin.</p> + +<p>"I beg to assure you that I am not jesting. Herr Renwick will recall +that he was attacked one night upon the streets of Vienna. He was also +shot at by some person unknown. The inspiration for those assaults did +not emanate from my employers."</p> + +<p>"I suspected as much," muttered Renwick.</p> + +<p>Marishka was examining Renwick wide-eyed.</p> + +<p>"Shot at!" she murmured.</p> + +<p>"The information in Herr Renwick's possession," Herr Windt went on +suavely, "was more damaging to other interests than to theirs. Herr +Renwick's connection with the British Embassy has terminated. He has +merely the status in Austria of a traveling Englishman. But his +activities are dangerous where they concern the movements of the +Countess Strahni. I am performing an act of friendship to a loyal +Austrian in offering her escort back to Vienna, where if she is wise she +will remain quietly under my surveillance."</p> + +<p>During this speech, of which Herr Windt delivered himself with much +bowing and rubbing of his hands, Marishka remained silent, a wonder +growing in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"I fail to see how my presence here or elsewhere can interest you or +others," she said as she sank upon the cot. Weariness was telling on her +and the disappointment of her mission's failure. And the threat of +danger that hung in his words was hardly reassuring.</p> + +<p>"Countess Strahni may doubt my good intentions. That is her privilege. +In a short time"—here he looked at his watch again—"she will be at +liberty to come and go as she chooses. In the meanwhile I beg that she +will listen to me and heed my warning."</p> + +<p>He looked at her until she raised her head and signified for him to +continue. "The agencies which attempted to prevent the delivery of Herr +Renwick's information to the British Embassy are again at work. Herr +Renwick having been"—he paused and bowed to Renwick—"if I may be +permitted to say so—having been repudiated by his Ambassador and by the +British government, he is politically a person of no importance—at +least as far as my relations with him are concerned. Whatever he may do +privately, unless it proves valuable to the interests of Austria's +enemies, will pass as it has already passed—unnoticed in Austria. The +case of the Countess Strahni is different——"</p> + +<p>He paused a moment to rub his hands together thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"I can not understand——"</p> + +<p>"Within the past twenty-four hours the apartments of the Baroness +Racowitz have been observed by persons not in my service. The Countess +perhaps has had no unusual communications?"</p> + +<p>Marishka started up in her chair, while Windt, watching her, smiled +slowly.</p> + +<p>"Ah, I was not mistaken——" he said.</p> + +<p>"A request to go to the Hofburg tonight—before Herr Renwick came," she +whispered, now thoroughly aroused. "I did not go. The signature was +unfamiliar to me."</p> + +<p>Herr Windt took a pace toward the window and peered forth through the +slats of the blind.</p> + +<p>"The Countess Strahni would not have reached the Hofburg," he said +quietly. "She would have gone—er—elsewhere!"</p> + +<p>"The man in the green limousine!" came suddenly in cryptic tones from +the silent Renwick.</p> + +<p>"Exactly. He followed the Countess Strahni's fiacre in motor car to the +Nordwest Bahnhof."</p> + +<p>"And you?"</p> + +<p>"We forestalled him—that's all," he said, showing his gold tooth in a +most ingratiating smile, but there was a flash in the deep set eyes +which explained much to Renwick.</p> + +<p>"There was a commotion near the booking-stall," said Renwick.</p> + +<p>"Ah, you witnessed?"</p> + +<p>"From a distance. I had other affairs."</p> + +<p>"Yes. That will perhaps make my laxity with regard to Herr Renwick's +sudden appearance the more pardonable," said Windt, with a professional +air.</p> + +<p>Marishka, who had listened with growing inquietude to these revelations +of her danger, had risen and paced nervously the length of the room.</p> + +<p>"But why?" she pleaded. "Who can dare to molest me in my own home or in +the streets of Vienna?"</p> + +<p>Herr Windt rubbed his injured eye gravely.</p> + +<p>"The Countess Strahni has unfortunately become a political document, the +possession of which, I may even say the suppression of which, is highly +important."</p> + +<p>Marishka sank upon the couch, and for a moment buried her face in her +hands.</p> + +<p>"But what would be gained by getting me out of the way? I have already +told what I know."</p> + +<p>Herr Windt smiled.</p> + +<p>"As Herr Renwick would perhaps inform you, the place for an important +document is the safe. If the document is harmless a desk may do. If it +is incriminating, like you, Countess"—he said with a dramatic +gesture—"the fire!"</p> + +<p>Renwick by this time had risen and stood fitting his monocle into his +eye.</p> + +<p>"Astounding!" he muttered. "And yet I quite believe you."</p> + +<p>"There seems little room to doubt." Herr Windt walked to the window and +peered out again. "My men are all about this place, Herr Renwick, and +yet even now I am not certain that you have not been followed."</p> + +<p>He turned and faced Marishka with his usual bland composure. "Herr +Renwick should, I think, be able to take care of himself. I beg, +however, that Countess Strahni will not be unduly anxious. I shall +myself go outside and take every precaution." He turned at the door and +bowed. "I beg that in the meanwhile, you will come to some decision as +to your immediate plans, counting upon my efforts to aid you. There is +no train for Vienna until this afternoon," he said significantly. "I may +add that the machine in which you came from Altensteig will be returned +to its owner by one of my young men, who will explain the circumstances, +and arrange a proper compensation."</p> + +<p>With this parting shot delivered in his best professional manner, Herr +Windt left the room with an air of triumphant urbanity which added not a +little to the respect with which Renwick now regarded him.</p> + +<p>Marishka sat upright on the bed staring straight before her while +Renwick paced the floor frowning.</p> + +<p>"If I could only have reached her—for a moment," said Marishka +brokenly, as though thinking aloud. "She would have listened to me—she +would have believed me. I would have thrown myself upon her mercy—told +her all. It is horrible—a death like that—when a word might save them +now—and it will be I—I who have killed them——" She started up +staring at Renwick. "And you! Why do you stand there, doing nothing?" +she flung at him wildly. "You learned of this thing—at Belgrade. Why +couldn't you have prevented it? Given it publicity? Why don't you do +something now? England has power. Why doesn't your Ambassador speak? Is +he frightened? Dumb? Will he stand idly by and see this——"</p> + +<p>"It is none of England's affair, Countess Strahni," Renwick broke in +soothingly.</p> + +<p>"Then it is of Germany's?" She halted as the new idea came to her, and +walked to the small table where she sank into a chair and buried her +head in her hands, trying to think.</p> + +<p>After a while she raised her head suddenly and looked at Renwick.</p> + +<p>"Do you believe that this man tells the truth?"</p> + +<p>"I do. He stands high among those of his profession."</p> + +<p>"Do you believe that agents of the German government were trying to take +me prisoner—and you?"</p> + +<p>"Herr Windt is surprisingly well informed. I am quite sure that someone +is trying to shoot me," he laughed. "I believe that you were +followed—by whom I don't know."</p> + +<p>"Then how do you explain the efforts of German agents to take me, when I +am acting in the interests of the Kaiser's friend and ally, the Archduke +Franz?"</p> + +<p>"You forget that this plot is a secret one. The Archduke may fear the +Serbians and the Bosnians, not his own countrymen."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Yes—of course." She was silent again, but moved her hands +nervously along the table top and in a moment got up and peered through +the window-blind.</p> + +<p>"I beg that you will submit yourself to Herr Windt if not to +me——" pleaded Renwick earnestly. "At least in his company you will be +in no danger. I have done what I can to help you reach the Duchess, +because the secret we shared brought about this calamity. But the matter +has been taken out of my hands and yours. I advise you to return this +afternoon to Vienna."</p> + +<p>She did not reply and only stood by the window, tapping at the sash with +unquiet fingers.</p> + +<p>"You are tired," he said gently. "Lie down on this bed for awhile and I +will see what can be done about breakfast."</p> + +<p>"I'm not hungry."</p> + +<p>"You can't go without food."</p> + +<p>"I'm not hungry," she repeated.</p> + +<p>Renwick shrugged and walked to the other window, where he presently +observed Herr Windt coming around the corner of the building. That +remarkable person had thought of everything, for he carried in his hands +a coffeepot and cups, while another man followed with plates and a +saucepan.</p> + +<p>He turned the key in the lock and entered, putting the coffee upon the +table and rubbing his hands with a more than usual gusto.</p> + +<p>"I am delighted to be able to inform you that the occasion for your +detention has passed. Within certain bounds you are now at liberty. The +train of the Archduke has just passed down the valley."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" gasped Marishka.</p> + +<p>"I would advise you, however, to keep within call. If Herr Renwick will +give me his word of honor not to try to escape——"</p> + +<p>"I don't quite know where I should go——"</p> + +<p>"Very good. The wires, of course, Herr Renwick, are in the hands of +Austrian officials."</p> + +<p>Renwick nodded.</p> + +<p>"You have won, Herr Windt. I have no plans which conflict with yours." +He turned a glance toward Marishka. "Countess Strahni is very tired. I +think if we were to leave her for a few hours, she would probably eat +and rest——"</p> + +<p>"By all means," said Windt with alacrity, moving toward the door. "And +if Herr Renwick will follow me I think I can find another coffeepot."</p> + +<p>Marishka did not turn from the window as they went out of the door. Her +heart was heavy within her, and through the glaring summer sunlight +which came in at the window and beat upon her face, she saw—Sarajevo! +Sophie Chotek alighting from her train, the pomp and circumstance, the +glitter of uniforms, the crowded streets through which she must pass and +the crowd which seethed with unrest, along the street through which +Sophie Chotek must pass...! It was too horrible. She wanted to +shriek—to cry out against the infamy that was to be done, but she could +only close her eyes to try and shut the vision out.</p> + +<p>After awhile she grew calmer, and tried to think clearly. There was a +pitcher and basin in the corner of the room, and so she bathed her face +and hands and refreshed herself. The coffee still steamed upon the +table. There was rye bread, and there were eggs in the water of the +saucepan. She felt weak and dispirited, but it would not do to fail for +lack of strength, and so she sat and ate and drank. The plan born of her +talk with Hugh Renwick still turned over and over in her mind. Would +Renwick still be able to do something to help her? Which way should she +turn? If her own efforts to warn Sophie Chotek had been futile, if Hugh +Renwick could not do something, and England selfishly held aloof while +this horrible conspiracy which seemed to have its very tendrils hidden +in the hearts of those who should have been her friends, was under way, +what must she do? She felt dreadfully; alone, and fearfully guilty. Her +own death or the threatened imprisonment of which Herr Windt spoke +seemed slight atonements for the wrong that she had done Sophie Chotek. +If she could still succeed, by using the agents of the Archduke's +imperial friend and ally, in sending a warning through the German +ambassador at Vienna, to Budapest or Sarajevo, the consequences to +herself were immaterial. They might have her to do with as they chose; +for by this sacrifice only could she atone. She did not fear death, for +death to youth and health is inconceivable. She smiled incredulously as +she thought again of the ominous surmises of the impossible Herr Windt. +There was something of the opera bouffe about his methods which +abstracted from the brilliancy of his success. To Marishka he was still +the head waiter. This was the twentieth century. No political secret +could justify the imprisonment or death of a woman!... She shuddered a +little, as she thought of the very death that had been planned by the +employers of Herr Windt—Austrians—loyal Austrians he called them, of +the same blood and lineage perhaps as herself. She had not yet succeeded +in wholly believing it. There was some missing reason for the actions of +this secret service agent, some motive which neither she nor Hugh +Renwick had yet fathomed, which would explain her detention and his. It +was unbelievable that——</p> + +<p>Marishka started at a small sound from the direction of the fireplace. +It was a curious sound, a subdued metallic clink which nevertheless +differentiated itself with startling clearness from among the already +familiar sounds of the quiet summer morning. She started up and peered +into the shadows of the hearth. There was something there, a small +object—round, wrapped in paper. She reached forward quickly, picked it +up and examined it curiously then took off its covering, disclosing an +Austrian coin—a <i>kroner</i>—nothing more. It was most mysterious. The +thing could obviously have not come from the sky. Who?</p> + +<p>She examined the paper closely. It seemed like a leaf torn from a note +book. There was writing on it, and moving to the window she made out the +script without difficulty. It was written in evident haste with a blunt +pencil.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>I have found a way to escape in a machine from Herr Wendt, if you +will come at once. Only one man watches the cabin by the door. +There is another in the orchard. Go quietly out by the window and +follow the hedge to the garden wall. I will be at the gate beyond +the arbor. Destroy this note.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hugh Renwick.</span></p></div> + +<p>Marishka read the note twice to be sure that there was no mistake. She +quickly peered through the window by the door. Yes, the man was there, +smoking his pipe in the sunshine, his back against a tree, dozing. +Anything were better than this interminable suspense—this horrible +oppression of acknowledged failure. To be under further obligations to +Herr Renwick was an added bitterness to her wounded pride, but hope had +already beggared her and she could not choose. She got into coat and +hat, and after another careful scrutiny of her somnolent guardian, +quietly opened the shutters of the side window, stepped out into the +shadow of the hedge, and made her way toward the distant garden wall.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>THE GREEN LIMOUSINE</h3> + + +<p>Herr Windt started up from the bench on which he had thrown himself. It +was a pity there was no earlier train for Vienna. He stretched himself +and yawned, for he confessed himself a trifle disappointed that there +was to be, after all, no test of wits between himself and the agent of +the Wilhelmstrasse who had followed the Countess Strahni to the Nordwest +station in Vienna. His men had done the fellow in the motor cap no great +damage, for his own instructions had been limited but definite: to save +Marishka Strahni in all secrecy from coming to harm, but to prevent her +at all hazards from reaching Konopisht before the Archduke and Duchess +left for Sarajevo. This simple task had been accomplished with little +difficulty. The agent of the Wilhelmstrasse, undoubtedly a person of +small caliber, had given up his efforts, or would seek a more propitious +moment, to carry it out later in Vienna. Herr Windt yawned again. His +visit to Bohemia would have been indeed a delight if a secret agent of +the caliber of Herr Hauptman Leo Goritz, or Ober Lieutenant Franz +Scheib, could have been sent upon this delicate mission to oppose him. +But there was no such luck. Herr Windt had made a careful round of +village and garden while Herr Renwick remained under the eye of his men, +and there had been no sign of anything suspicious to disturb the +monotonous peacefulness of the quiet garden. The reaction which always +followed upon success, had set in, and the famous man was now frankly +bored and somewhat fidgety. He got up and paced the stone walk a few +times and then gazed out to where his most trusted man, Spivak, was +dozing in the sun. Everything was too quiet, too peaceful. The serenity +of the landscape annoyed him. He glanced at his watch—still four hours +of this infernal quiet before their train left for Vienna. He went to +the door of the room into which Herr Renwick had gone to lie down and +looked in. The room was empty. This was not surprising, for Herr Renwick +was under parole and would have the freedom of the garden in the +immediate vicinity of the two cabins. As the morning was hot he had +perhaps gone out to enjoy the shade of the trees. But Herr Windt now +moved with alacrity and crossed the small plot of vegetable garden which +separated the two cabins, and in some haste turned the corner of the +small building which sheltered the Countess Strahni.</p> + +<p>Before the door, listening, a puzzled look upon his face was Herr +Renwick.</p> + +<p>"I have called her three times," said the Englishman quickly. "She +sleeps very soundly—or else——"</p> + +<p>But Herr Windt did not stand upon ceremony, for he thrust past the +Englishman, threw open the inner door, then returned bellowing lustily.</p> + +<p>"Gone! The room is empty——"</p> + +<p>"Gone!" cried Renwick.</p> + +<p>Windt eyed him keenly.</p> + +<p>"I have been yonder, by the trees, near your man——" protested Renwick +and there seemed no doubt as to his innocence.</p> + +<p>"Hi! Spivak! Linder! Hadwiger!" cried Windt. And as the men came running +from all directions, "She is gone. What have you been at?"</p> + +<p>"Gone?"</p> + +<p>"By the window, idiots; did none of you see her?"</p> + +<p>"No, Herr Windt——"</p> + +<p>"But she could not have flown up the chimney——"</p> + +<p>He halted abruptly, then dashed into the room again, peering into the +fire place and examining the furniture, all his professional instincts +keenly aroused. As he shook the bed clothing, there was a tinkle upon +the floor, and a coin rolled into the farthest corner of the room. This +he pounced upon like a dog upon a rat and brought it forth into the +light of the window.</p> + +<p>"A <i>kroner</i>!" he muttered. "Curious! Could she have dropped it do you +suppose?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps. Her money was in a handbag," cried Renwick with his legs out +of the window. He had already espied a possible mode of escape, and +started running along in the shadow of the hedge.</p> + +<p>"Your parole, Herr Renwick!" shouted Windt, scrambling after him.</p> + +<p>"Come on then," cried the Englishman over his shoulder while the +Austrian followed swiftly shouting orders to his assistants. "Follow me, +Spivak! The Park gates, Hadwiger! Let no vehicle get out! Linder, notify +Lengelbach—the telegraph!"</p> + +<p>Renwick went fast but Herr Windt and the puffing Spivak kept at his +heels as they reached the garden, crossing it at full speed toward the +arbor, whither Renwick led them as though by an inspiration, through the +bushes and toward the small gate beyond, which led to the door in the +wall, over which a week ago he had climbed in his hurried flight with +Marishka to Vienna.</p> + +<p>Renwick was thinking rapidly. Had Marishka escaped alone—perhaps +devised a plan of her own to reach Vienna from Budweis in time to come +up with the party of the Archduke? Or had someone——He doubled his +pace, cursing his throbbing head and his own simplicity and impotence. A +trap?</p> + +<p>"There is a door?" stammered Windt.</p> + +<p>"In the bushes just beyond—a private one—usually locked——"</p> + +<p>"Spivak! You hear?"</p> + +<p>"I could not know——" panted the other.</p> + +<p>"You should have known——"</p> + +<p>They reached the small flight of steps that led down, and dashed along +the path among the bushes toward an open gate, emerging upon the road +which marked the beginnings of the village street. There were a few +people in sight, an old man hobbling upon a stick, a child with a dog, +two peasants in the shade of a tree eating their midday meal—and down +the road to the west—a cloud of dust!</p> + +<p>The peasants rose in alarm at the rapid approach of the three excited +men, and turned as though to flee into the safety of the adjoining +field, but Renwick overtook them.</p> + +<p>"You saw a lady come out of the gate yonder?" he questioned.</p> + +<p>"A lady, Excellency?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes. A lady and perhaps a gentlemen."</p> + +<p>"We are merely eating our dinner, Excellency. We—we have no wish to do +harm to anyone."</p> + +<p>"Idiots!" cried Windt. "A motor-car? An automobile? Did you see it? +Answer—or——"</p> + +<p>"A motor-car—Excellency?" the fellow stammered. "Yes—a motor-car."</p> + +<p>"How long since?" snapped Windt.</p> + +<p>"A moment only—it was here—just here—and now it is gone——"</p> + +<p>"Where?"</p> + +<p>"Y-yonder——" and he pointed down the road.</p> + +<p>The three men exchanged frowning glances, but Herr Windt's were the most +terrible of the three.</p> + +<p>"You saw? Speak—What color was this car?"</p> + +<p>"H—how should I know, Excellency? I was peacefully eating my dinner. +See! It is but half finished——"</p> + +<p>"You will never eat what remains unless you speak the truth——" he +roared.</p> + +<p>"I—I am speaking the truth——"</p> + +<p>"What color had this car?"</p> + +<p>"I don't understand——"</p> + +<p>"Its color, man—the paint?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! The paint——"</p> + +<p>"Speak! Blockhead——"</p> + +<p>"Excellency, I think——" he stammered in terror, "I think——"</p> + +<p>"What—quickly——"</p> + +<p>"I think, Excellency, that it was green."</p> + +<p>Renwick gasped. The face of Herr Windt wore a blank look as though he +had suddenly received a glacial douche.</p> + +<p>"<i>Herr Gott!</i>" he muttered, wiping the sweat from his brow with an +eloquent forefinger.</p> + +<p>"The green limousine!" muttered Renwick.</p> + +<p>For a moment all three men stood helplessly staring down the road toward +the west, where the dustcloud was slowly settling on leaf and hedgerow, +but there was a turn in the road which hid all objects beyond. Herr +Windt was the first to recover his initiative.</p> + +<p>"Clever!" he muttered. "A message! Linder should have observed——But +they will not get far. Come——" And he led the way at a quick trot in +the direction of the village, where they reached the telegraph office at +the railway station.</p> + +<p>While Herr Windt went inside to give his orders, Renwick sank upon a +bench outside and tried to think of what had happened and what it might +mean to Marishka and to him. The green limousine—a German secret +agent—there could be no doubt, and he, Renwick, already warned of this +possible danger to Marishka had permitted her to fall into this trap, +while he had come off unscathed. His conscience assailed him bitterly. +Trusting to the efficiency of Herr Windt's men he had slept—slept while +Marishka was being carried off to danger—to imprisonment—or +perhaps—he did not dare to think of anything worse. And Marishka must +have connived at the plan for her escape! How had the message passed? +And what was the lure?</p> + +<p>As the new idea came to him he rose quickly and moved toward the door of +the telegraph office. He paused for a moment to adjust his monocle and +it was fortunate that he did so, for there was a crash of glass at the +window just by his head, followed by a cry of alarm within the room. +Renwick dodged behind a projection of the building, and peered out while +Windt and Linder came rushing from the office.</p> + +<p>"A shot?"</p> + +<p>"Who?"</p> + +<p>"I can't imagine. He can't have gone far."</p> + +<p>The four men raced out, Herr Windt with automatic drawn, but when they +reached the freight station which seemed to be in the direction from +which the shot had come there was no one in sight. Across the railroad +was a patch of dense woods.</p> + +<p>Here Herr Windt paused.</p> + +<p>"He was shooting at <i>you</i>, Herr Renwick," he said calmly.</p> + +<p>"I haven't a doubt of it."</p> + +<p>"Go forward, Linder and Spivak—search the woods—but do no shooting +unless attacked." Here Windt pocketed his weapon. "I regret, Herr +Renwick, that my other business is of the utmost importance. You will +come with me to the telegraph office, please."</p> + +<p>Renwick obeyed rather willingly. He was unarmed and saw no possible +utility to his own cause or Marishka's in dodging around in woods which +contained a person bent upon assassinating him.</p> + +<p>"You see, Herr Renwick, the matter is not ended."</p> + +<p>"I'm much more comfortable that it is not," replied Renwick grimly. "He +shoots well."</p> + +<p>"You must be careful," said his companion casually. "Come inside. +Hadwiger will watch." And he calmly took up his interrupted duty with +the telegraph officer, with an air of impassivity, which of course, was +part of his professional mien, but Renwick somehow gained the idea that +his own death whether by shooting, poison, or other sudden device was a +matter with which Herr Windt could have the least possible concern. +Renwick sank into a chair and smoked a pipe, trying to think what he +could do, listening dully meanwhile to the Austrian's dictated messages +to the wire, delivered rapidly and with a certain military precision.</p> + +<p>"Stop all green motor cars traveling north on the Prague highroad—and +all roads leading north. Report at once here by telegraph description of +those arrested. Confirm this message by name of station." And then in +quicker tones, "Send that to all telegraph stations in this district +north and west of here—and quick, you understand—lose no time. When +that message is sent I will give you another—for the Chief of Police at +Prague." Then turning to the door as a new thought came to him he spoke +to Hadwiger.</p> + +<p>"Go to the wood on the Prague highroad where the machine is concealed +and bring it here. Quick. We may need it. You see, Herr Renwick, in ten +minutes all the roads into Prague will be closed to them. Even if they +reach the city they will be detained."</p> + +<p>Renwick did not reply. He was weighing the probabilities in his own +thorough English way. His head still ached, but the pipe of tobacco +aided his faculties. The thought that persisted in his mind was that +Marishka had escaped from Herr Windt with the sole purpose of carrying +out the object of her visit to Konopisht. He remembered the sudden +interest she had displayed at the mention of the possibility of her +having been followed to Konopisht by an agent of the Wilhelmstrasse. +England could do nothing for her, Austria her own country stood +helpless, while the Military Party, which alone possibly had the power +to help her, still remained in ignorance of the plot. Germany! He +remembered the look that had come into her eyes as he had confirmed the +opinions of Herr Windt—an opinion borne out by the attempts upon his +life and her safety in Vienna. But what of the man in the green +limousine? She was a human document, as Herr Windt had said, which was +destined for the safe, or possibly for destruction. By what means had +the man in the green car lured her from the security of the cabin? +Renwick could not believe, after all that he had done for her, that she +would throw herself into the hands of a stranger on the barest chance of +success without at least confiding in him. A shadow had fallen between +them, a shadow and an abyss which had grown darker and deeper with the +hours, but that he was her enemy—political, personal—he could hardly +believe she could think him that; for he had done what he could—striven +earnestly to help her reach the Duchess in safety. That he had failed +was through no fault of his own. He could not understand her flight—not +from Windt, but from him—without a word or a sign. It was not like +her—not even like the Marishka who had chosen to call him dishonorable. +However much she could repudiate his political actions, there still +remained between them the ties of social consanguinity, the memory of +things which might have been, that no wounded pride could ever quite +destroy. But to repudiate him without a word—that was not like +Marishka—not even the Marishka of today and yesterday. And while he +tried to solve the problem in his own way, the telegraph instrument +ticked busily on. Herr Windt leaned over the desk reading the messages, +repeating the names of the towns which replied.</p> + +<p>"Beneschau—Pribram—Wrshowitz—that district is covered, Lengelbach?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Ah, here is something."</p> + +<p>Windt bent forward again repeating the message aloud.</p> + +<p>"From Beraun—Franz—Schweppenheiser—and—a—woman—says—she—is—his—wife. Small—four—cylinder—car—American—make—black—in—color +—with—brass—band—on—hood. Both—man—and—woman—have—grey—hair +—age—seventy-two—and——" Herr Windt broke off with an oath, +"<i>Schafsköpfen!</i>" he cried. "Enough of that——" And paced the floor of +the room before Renwick, glaring impatiently out of the window.</p> + +<p>"Another," said Lengelbach, "from Bresnitz. Man—and—girl—much +frightened——"</p> + +<p>"Ah!"</p> + +<p>"Say—they—are—running—away—to—be—married."</p> + +<p>"Yes—the description——"</p> + +<p>"Man—dark—age—twenty-five—girl—yellow—hair——"</p> + +<p>"Bah!" furiously. "Enough—the next."</p> + +<p>For an hour or more, Renwick sat helplessly and listened while the +different towns including the city of Prague responded. There was no +green limousine in all Bohemia. At last, his patience exhausted, he rose +and knocked his pipe out.</p> + +<p>"Herr Windt," he inquired calmly, "what reason have you for believing +that they will go to Prague?"</p> + +<p>"The roads are good. The German border lies beyond," said Windt shortly, +turning away.</p> + +<p>"Wait!" Renwick's hand clutched his arm firmly. "Is there a road running +south and parallel to the highroad?"</p> + +<p>Windt regarded him in silence for a moment and then—</p> + +<p>"Yes, many—but most of them mere cow paths."</p> + +<p>"An automobile could pass over them, Herr Lengelbach?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, the roads to Brünn are not bad," said the man.</p> + +<p>Renwick smiled grimly. "It is my belief, Herr Windt, that they have +slipped through your fingers."</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"You have exhausted almost every means——"</p> + +<p>"There are other stations——"</p> + +<p>"I would suggest that you try the country to the southward."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"Because that is the way that they have gone——"</p> + +<p>"Impossible!"</p> + +<p>"I think you forget the Countess Strahni's mission—and yours."</p> + +<p>"She will not succeed."</p> + +<p>His stubbornness angered Renwick, and he caught him by the arm again, +and whispered a few words in his ear.</p> + +<p>Herr Windt turned a startled glance at the Englishman. His mind had been +bent upon mere machinery. When he spoke there was in his voice a note of +respect.</p> + +<p>"Ah—it is worth considering. But how? The telegraph wires are now in my +possession—here in this district to Budweis—to Vienna——"</p> + +<p>"Then why don't you use them?" asked Renwick bluntly.</p> + +<p>Windt stood stock still a moment and then went quickly to the desk.</p> + +<p>"Repeat that message to Budweis, to Gmund, to Altensteig and Absdorf. +Also cover the Brünn road. It can do no harm," he said turning urbanely +to Renwick.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps not," said Renwick dryly, "if the harm is not already done."</p> + +<p>Together they listened to the clicking of the telegraph instrument. Half +an hour passed. Hadwiger returned with the machine. Spivak and Linder +came in from their fruitless search of the woods. The suspense was +unendurable. Renwick, forgetting his danger, paced the road outside +until a cry from Windt brought him into the office. The others were +leaning over the instrument while Windt spelled out the words, +"I-g-l-a-u t-w-o s-e-v-e-n-t-e-e-n G-e-r-m-a-n o-f-f-i-c-e-r a-n-d +w-i-f-e. G-r-e-e-n l-i-m-o-u-s-i-n-e p-a-s-s-e-d h-e-r-e t-e-n +m-i-n-u-t-e-s a-g-o f-o-r V-i-e-n-n-a."</p> + +<p>"<i>Kollosaler Halunke!</i>" thundered Windt, his urbanity shattered to +shreds. "They have taken the other road. Here, Lengelbach, take this +quick. "Hold green motor-car man and woman." Send that to every +telegraph station between Brünn and Danube. Relay all messages to +Budweis. I'm going there."</p> + +<p>And turning quickly he went toward the automobile, with a sign to the +others to follow. Very politely he stood aside while Renwick entered, +and with one of the men climbed into the rear seat while the other two +got in front, Hadwiger driving at a furious pace. For a long time they +went in silence, Herr Windt sitting with folded arms, his brows tangled +in thought. To acknowledge that he had been outwitted had been galling, +but to let this English creature of pipe and monocle indicate, in the +presence of his own underlings, the precise means of his discomfiture +was bitter indeed. At last his lips mumbled vaguely.</p> + +<p>"Still I do not understand," they said.</p> + +<p>"A note wrapped around the coin," suggested Renwick.</p> + +<p>"<i>Ach, so.</i> It is very probable. The simplest expedients are often the +most effective. Still it is remarkable that they have slipped through."</p> + +<p>"The green limousine goes to Vienna," said Renwick.</p> + +<p>Herr Windt had self-respect enough for a rather cynical smile.</p> + +<p>"And after Vienna?" he asked.</p> + +<p>Renwick shrugged.</p> + +<p>"That will depend upon the efficiency of the Austrian Secret Police."</p> + +<p>"Meaning, precisely what, Herr Renwick?"</p> + +<p>"Merely that the Wilhelmstrasse is skillful, Herr Windt," he replied.</p> + +<p>"You mean that they will escape—here in Austria! Impossible!"</p> + +<p>"You will need all your wits," said Renwick dryly.</p> + +<p>The truth of the remark was soon apparent for when Herr Windt's party +reached the telegraph station at Budweis, there were no reassuring +messages. The green limousine had vanished into the earth.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>AN ESCAPE AND A CAPTURE</h3> + + +<p>In her flight from the cabin in the Archduke's woods, the Countess +Strahni crept along in the shadow of the hedge which bordered the +orchard, and reached the gate of the garden. She had seen the watcher in +the orchard pacing to and fro, and, awaiting the moment when his back +should be turned, she hurried swiftly on to the shelter of the garden +wall, once within which, she thought that she would be safe from +detection by the men of Herr Windt. She waited for a moment at the gate +to be sure that the man near the cabin had not observed her, and noted, +through the foliage, that he had not moved. Then summoning her courage, +she crossed the garden boldly in the direction of the arbor—the fateful +arbor of Austria's betrayal—and her own. In the path beyond it Hugh +Renwick would be awaiting her—Renwick, the imperturbable, the +persistent, the—the despicable. Yes, she was quite sure that she +despised him, in spite of all his efforts on her behalf, so the thought +that she was once more to be beholden to him in this hapless quest gave +her a long moment of uncertainty as she reached the arbor. She paused +within the structure, wondering whether, now that she had succeeded in +eluding Herr Windt, it would not be better to flee into the castle, and +enlist the aid of the servants in behalf of their master and mistress. +She had even taken a few steps toward the tennis court, when she +remembered—the telegraph in the hands of Austrian officials who had +their instructions! That way was hopeless. The Archduke's chamberlain +had, of course, gone south, and in the castle, beside the +house-servants, there would have remained only the English governess, +the children, and the housekeeper. There could be little help expected +from them—only bewilderment, horror, or perhaps incredulity. She must +go on to Herr Renwick, continue the impossible situation between them, +hide her exasperation in a studied politeness, and trust implicitly, as +she had done before, to his undoubted desire to retrieve his lost +standing.</p> + +<p>She turned into the path which led from the arbor, and hurried through +into the narrow path which led to the hidden gate beyond. Just here +where the foliage was thickest, and not twenty yards from the spot where +she and Hugh Renwick had listened to the pact of Konopisht, a figure +stood bowing. She had been so intent upon seeing the Englishman that it +was a full moment before she recovered from the shock of her surprise. +The man before her was tall, with good shoulders, and wore a brown +Norfolk jacket and a soft hat. His eyes were dark and as he smiled they +wrinkled very pleasantly at the corners.</p> + +<p>Marishka halted and stared at him uncertainly.</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon," she said. "I came here to meet——" She paused, for +the thought suddenly entered her head that this perhaps might be another +of the men sent to detain her. But in a moment she realized her mistake. +The air with which the man swept off his hat and bowed convinced her +that he was a gentleman and his manner put her at once at her ease.</p> + +<p>"Herr Renwick," he said, with a smile, "has gone on to make some +arrangements for your comfort. He has asked me to conduct you to the +automobile, and will join us beyond the village."</p> + +<p>An automobile! There would still be time, perhaps, to reach Vienna +before the archducal party should leave for Bosnia.</p> + +<p>"Oh, of course," gasped Marishka thankfully.</p> + +<p>"If you will come this way, Countess——" he said, with something of an +air. He bowed, but kept his gaze fixed upon hers. There was something +very remarkable about this man's eyes—she could not tell just what it +was—but they held her for a second, held her motionless until the hand +which held his hat gestured for her to pass on. She took the walk before +him, descended the steps which led to the lower path where he hurried +forward and opened the door in the wall.</p> + +<p>Even now, no notion entered her head that this polite person was other +than he represented himself to be. And the well equipped machine which +stood in the road outside the wall only caused her a momentary thrill of +joy at the opportunity which placed the means of their escape so readily +at the hand of the now really admirable Herr Renwick. As she paused +again for a moment, her companion threw open the door of the limousine, +and lightly touched her elbow.</p> + +<p>"If the Countess Strahni will enter——" he said quietly. "There is +little time to lose."</p> + +<p>Marishka obeyed and in a moment the man in the Norfolk jacket was seated +beside her, the chauffeur had thrown in the gears, and the machine was +moving swiftly upon its way. She sank back into the comfortable cushions +with a sigh of satisfaction which did not escape her companion.</p> + +<p>"It was fortunate that I should have been in this neighborhood," he said +with a strange smile. It was not until then that she noticed the +slightly thick accents with which he spoke and she glanced at his +profile hurriedly. His nose was aquiline and well cut, but the +suggestion of his nationality was elusive. In spite of his evident +gentility, his good looks, his courtesy and his friendship with Hugh +Renwick, Marishka now had her first belated instinct that all was not as +it should be. The man beside her looked past the chauffeur down the road +ahead, turning one or two glances over his shoulder into the cloud of +dust behind them. She noticed now that the car had not gone in the +direction of the village, but had reached the country road which led to +the west and was moving at a high speed which seemed to take the waiting +Renwick little into consideration. All the windows of the car were +closed, and she had a sense of being restrained—suffocated. For a while +she did not dare to give her thoughts utterance, but as the car reached +the Prague highroad and turned to the right, she started and turned in +alarm to the man beside her.</p> + +<p>"You told me that Herr Renwick was waiting for us just beyond the +village. Where is——?"</p> + +<p>The question trembled and died on her lips for the eyes of the man +beside her answered before it was asked.</p> + +<p>"I regret," he said evenly, "that there is no time to wait for Herr +Renwick."</p> + +<p>"You—you have——" she stammered helplessly.</p> + +<p>"I beg that the Countess Strahni will not be unduly disturbed."</p> + +<p>"Where are we going? This is the road to Prague. Tell me where you are +taking me. I insist——"</p> + +<p>He smiled at her again, but did not reply.</p> + +<p>Marishka was now really alarmed and looked out of the closed windows at +the flying hedgerows in desperation, wondering what she must do and +trying to think how this dreadful mishap had befallen her. Hugh +Renwick—his note to her—this stranger with the remarkable eyes who +always smiled! Where was the missing link—what the deduction? But it +was no time in which to lose one's courage. She turned toward the man +beside her who was regarding her calmly.</p> + +<p>"Who are you?" she asked.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="secret3" id="secret3"></a> +<img src="images/secret3.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>"Who are you?" she asked.</h3> +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>His eyes narrowed slightly as he looked past her out of the window. Then +he said politely:</p> + +<p>"The Countess Strahni is well within her rights in asking that question. +I am Captain Leo Goritz."</p> + +<p>That meant nothing to her and she found herself repeating her question.</p> + +<p>He deliberated a moment.</p> + +<p>"I see no reason why I should not tell you," he said at last. "I do not +desire a misconception of my personal motives—which I beg you to +understand are of the highest. I am merely carrying out my orders to +bring the Countess Strahni with all dispatch within the borders of the +German Empire."</p> + +<p>"You—you are——" she paused in dismay.</p> + +<p>"Of the German Imperial Secret Service," he said quickly.</p> + +<p>Marishka sank back into her seat breathless with apprehension, the +warnings of the hated Herr Windt dinning in her ears.</p> + +<p>"Then you sent——" She fingered the scribbled note which had not left +her fingers.</p> + +<p>"I regret, Countess, that the situation made deception necessary. One of +my men in the tree above the chimney. My orders were urgent."</p> + +<p>Marishka glanced about the machine helplessly, her thoughts, in spite of +herself, recurring to Hugh Renwick, who must before long discover her +absence and guess its cause. But there seemed no chance of escape. To +open the door and leap forth into the road at this speed was only +courting injury, and the calm appearance of Captain Leo Goritz seemed +only the mask for a resoluteness of purpose with which she could not +dare to cope. To cry out seemed equally futile for the road was deserted +except for a few market wagons, the occupants of which were country +louts who only stared dully as they passed. But in a flash the +inspiration came to her. Germany! Germany could help her carry out her +purpose to warn the Duchess before she reached Sarajevo. She glanced at +her companion and found that his brown eyes had turned as though by +prescience to hers.</p> + +<p>"Captain Goritz," she stammered, "I—I seem to be in your power. +Whatever your authority for this—this restraint of my liberty—I submit +myself——"</p> + +<p>He showed his fine teeth in a smile.</p> + +<p>"I regret that the Countess Strahni should have been put to this +inconvenience."</p> + +<p>She made a motion of deprecation.</p> + +<p>"I beg that you will spare yourself meaningless civilities. I do not +know the meaning of this outrage."</p> + +<p>"The Countess Strahni is far too clever to suppose that I can believe +her——" he put in quickly.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Merely that an intelligence which can throw central Europe into a +turmoil," and he laughed pleasantly, "does itself and me too little +credit."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you know——" she gasped.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know."</p> + +<p>She examined Captain Goritz with a new interest.</p> + +<p>"But you did not know the object of my visit to Konopisht," she went on +desperately.</p> + +<p>"I confess," he said slowly, "that your sudden departure from Vienna was +most mystifying——"</p> + +<p>"I will tell you," she went on excitedly. "I came to Konopisht to warn +the Archduke Franz of a plot to assassinate him when he reaches +Sarajevo——"</p> + +<p>"Ah! So that——" Captain Goritz started suddenly forward in his seat +and faced her eagerly in an attitude of sudden alertness.</p> + +<p>"A plot! Serbian?" he asked sharply.</p> + +<p>"No—I——" Loyalty stifled her lips.</p> + +<p>"I see." And then keenly, "Austrian—as a result of your disclosures to +the Emperor?"</p> + +<p>She eyed the man in amazement. He was omniscient.</p> + +<p>"A plot——" she stammered. "I do not know—I came to warn them—the +Archduke and Duchess, but I was prevented from doing so. They——" she +gasped again—"those who plan this dastardly thing are powerful—they +control the telegraph. There was no way to reach them and so I came——"</p> + +<p>"Herr Windt——?"</p> + +<p>She nodded. "You know—he acts for them. He kept me in the cabin until +it was too late."</p> + +<p>"I understand——" He nodded, his brows tangled in thought. "There can +be no other explanation."</p> + +<p>"I heard. I saw—back there in the garden—Emperor and +Archduke—friends. Oh, don't you understand? <i>He</i> would do +something——"</p> + +<p>Captain Goritz had sunk lower into his seat and with folded arms was +gazing at the back of the man in front of them, but under his frowning +brows his eyes glowed with initiative.</p> + +<p>"What you tell me is serious, Countess——" he muttered.</p> + +<p>"So serious that I beg you will listen to me," she went on almost +hysterically. "The Duchess was my friend—I heard and I told what I +heard——"</p> + +<p>"Yes. It is a pity, Countess Strahni."</p> + +<p>"But I did not know," she went on breathlessly, conscious only of the +imminence of Sarajevo and of the power of the man beside her perhaps to +aid her. "I could not know that I should be betraying her—the friend of +a lifetime—to this—I did my duty as I saw it—to Austria. I am telling +you this—a stranger—an enemy perhaps—because it is in your power to +help—to prevent this terrible thing. Think! Think! It is your duty as +well as mine—your duty to the one who shares with Franz Ferdinand the +secret of the rose garden—his friend, and if God so wills—his ally. It +is all so terrible—so bewildering. But you must see that I am in +earnest—that I am speaking the truth."</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes," he said abstractedly, nodding, and then was silent, while +the machine went thundering northward, every moment taking them further +from Marishka's goal. She watched his face anxiously for a sign. His +eyes glowed somberly but he did not more or glance aside. His problem, +it appeared, was as deep as hers. For an age, he sat there like a stone +figure, but she had the instinct not to speak, and after a while he +straightened, leaned quickly forward and threw down the window in front +of them.</p> + +<p>"What is the village before us, Karl?" he asked in quick tones.</p> + +<p>"Beneschau, Herr Hauptmann."</p> + +<p>"There is a road to Brünn?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, a fair one, Herr Hauptmann."</p> + +<p>"Take it—and faster."</p> + +<p>That was all. Marishka knew that she had won. Captain Goritz was +frowning at the dial of his watch.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps we are too late—but we can at least try," he muttered.</p> + +<p>"Whatever your mission with regard to me—that is unimportant—beside +this other duty——"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes. We shall need you. If you could reach the Duchess +personally——"</p> + +<p>"She will listen. I have known her all my life."</p> + +<p>"Good. We must succeed." And then, figuring to himself. "Brünn—one +hundred kilometers—Vienna seventy more—five hours—six perhaps. They +may not leave Vienna at once——"</p> + +<p>"The German Ambassador——" she suggested.</p> + +<p>"Of course." And then, turning suddenly toward her, his eyes intent, he +said, with great seriousness: "Countess Strahni, for the moment your +interests and mine are identical. The success of this project depends +upon your silence——"</p> + +<p>"Anything——!"</p> + +<p>"One moment, please," he put in quickly. "I wish you to understand the +seriousness of your position. Your security, your safety now and later, +will depend upon your own actions. You have proved yourself politically +dangerous to the peace—to the welfare of Europe. My mission was to +bring you safely into Germany. Failing in that, I must exact absolute +silence and obedience——"</p> + +<p>"Yes——"</p> + +<p>"You travel as my wife, the wife of a German officer going to Vienna for +medical advice——"</p> + +<p>She flinched a little, but his air of abstraction reassured her.</p> + +<p>"Do you agree?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"You have friends in Vienna. You must not see them. Have I your word?"</p> + +<p>"I have no wish but to help you."</p> + +<p>He examined her keenly.</p> + +<p>"I regret that the terms of our contract must be more explicit."</p> + +<p>"In what?"</p> + +<p>"I exact your word of honor to remain under my orders, to make no +attempt to escape, to speak no word as to my identity or your own——"</p> + +<p>"Have I not told you that my own fate is unimportant if I succeed in +reaching the Duchess of Hohenberg?"</p> + +<p>"And after that?" he asked keenly.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Merely that the same conditions as to yourself shall continue to +exist."</p> + +<p>Marishka hesitated. What lay before her? It was incredible that harm +could come to one of her condition at the hands of the servants of a +great and Christian nation like Germany. She glanced at Captain Goritz. +He was still examining her gravely, impersonally. There seemed little +doubt as to the genuineness of his intentions.</p> + +<p>"And the alternative?" she asked.</p> + +<p>His expression changed and he looked slowly away from her at the flying +landscape. "I regret that you are still oblivious to your danger. You +and one other person in Europe were the witnesses to the meeting at +Konopisht. His Majesty's government does not deem it expedient at this +time that you should be at liberty to discuss the matter——"</p> + +<p>"But I have already spoken——"</p> + +<p>"That matters nothing if the witnesses are eliminated."</p> + +<p>His tones were quiet, but there was no doubt as to his meaning and she +started back from him in dismay.</p> + +<p>"You mean that you would——"</p> + +<p>She halted again, wordless.</p> + +<p>"Political secrets are dangerous—their possessors a menace."</p> + +<p>"You—you would destroy——?" she gasped.</p> + +<p>"The evidence!" he finished.</p> + +<p>His voice was firm, his lips compressed, and he would not look at her. +But she was still incredulous. Civility such as his and violence such as +he suggested were incongruous. She took refuge from her terror in a +laugh.</p> + +<p>"You are trying to—to frighten me," she stammered.</p> + +<p>"If you are frightened, I am sorry. You are in no danger, if you will do +what I ask. I shall spare no courtesy, neglect no pains for your +comfort."</p> + +<p>"Thanks. That is kind of you. You will gorge the goose that it may be +the more palatable."</p> + +<p>He gave a slight shrug.</p> + +<p>"I am but doing my duty. In my position, Countess, one is but a piece of +thinking machinery."</p> + +<p>"Yet it has been said that even machinery has a soul."</p> + +<p>He glanced around at her quickly, but she was looking straight before +her at the narrow ribbon of road which whirled toward them. She was very +handsome, this dark-haired prisoner of his, and the personal note that +had fallen into her speech made their relations at once more easy and +more difficult.</p> + +<p>"I regret," he said coolly, "that my orders have been explicit. I still +demand that you comply with the conditions I have imposed. Your word of +honor—it is enough."</p> + +<p>She paused for a long moment—debating her chances. She was selling her +liberty—bartering it with a word—for Sophie Chotek. This was her +atonement, and if she failed, her sacrifice would be in vain.</p> + +<p>She took a surreptitious glance at the profile of Captain Goritz. A part +of the great machine that the world calling Germany he might be, but she +read something in his looks which gave her an idea that he might be +something more than a cog between the wheels.</p> + +<p>Some feminine instinct in her, aroused by his impassive performance of +his duty, gave her new courage. Since they were at war, she would play +the game using women's weapons. After all, he was a man, a mere man.</p> + +<p>When she spoke, it was with the air of calm resolution with which one +faces heavy odds.</p> + +<p>"I am in your power," she said quietly. "I give my word of honor to do +as you wish."</p> + +<p>And as his gaze dwelt for a moment upon her face—</p> + +<p>"I shall not break it, Captain Goritz."</p> + +<p>"Good!" he said, with an air of satisfaction. "Now we understand each +other."</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the machine went thundering on, the man at the wheel driving +with a skill which excited admiration. At times the speed of the car +seemed frightful, for it swerved dangerously at the frequent turns in +the road, but Marishka clung desperately to the arm-rest to save herself +from being thrown into the arms of Captain Goritz, aware of her +impotence, but conscious, too, of a sense of exhilaration in the +wildness of their pace, which seemed at any moment likely to throw both +the car and its occupants into the ditch. Her companion made no effort +to resume the conversation and only sat staring forth watching the +villages through which they passed, his brows deeply thoughtful.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>CAPTAIN GORITZ</h3> + + +<p>At Iglau, a town, as Marishka afterwards learned, inhabited largely by +Germans, they stopped to replenish the petrol tank. But Captain Goritz +wore a deep frown when he got into the seat with the chauffeur, who +immediately started the car. They were off again.</p> + +<p>What this action portended Marishka could not know, nor could she +understand the meaning of the conversation which immediately took place +between the two men. But the car still moved forward as rapidly as +before, and in a moment when they skidded around a passing vehicle and +dangerously near a stone wall, she found herself wishing that Captain +Goritz had chosen to enter the limousine, leaving all the wits of their +astonishing chauffeur for the exigencies of the road.</p> + +<p>But as the front window was down, a tribute to the confidence her jailer +now reposed in her, fragments of their conversation reached her.</p> + +<p>"A road—away from trunk-lines. Jarmeritz, perhaps.... It should not be +difficult—a Peugeot if possible, or a Mercedes—its age would tell. At +any time now.... A détour here, I think—there is a telegraph line along +the hill yonder.... It would be better in a more desolate place, in the +foothills of the Mährische-Höhe. It is a matter of luck, Karl. We must +chance it."</p> + +<p>She saw the chauffeur nodding and putting in here and there a +suggestion, while every little while she caught an allusion to herself. +She had no inkling of the meaning of this extraordinary conversation nor +of the way the man called Karl now slowed down as they passed other +machines either going or coming, and gazed at them with a critical air, +shaking his head as he passed on at redoubled speed. But the mystery was +soon to be revealed to her, for on a long piece of level road which went +straight through a strip of pine woods, she felt the machine leap +suddenly forward and heard the comments of the men in front.</p> + +<p>"I cannot tell at this distance. A good one, I should say, and new." And +gazing through the dust before her she made out the lines of a +touring-car traveling rapidly in the same direction as their own. Karl's +motor horn sent a deep blast, but the fellow in front was in no mood to +give him the road. He repeated it loudly, warningly, encroaching upon +the rear wheels of the touring car, and at last the other car slowed +down, and as the road was narrow, drew aside into a shallow ditch. But +instead of putting on speed in passing, as he had done before, the +chauffeur Karl merely drew up a little ahead of the other car and held +out his hand as a signal to stop while Captain Goritz quickly clambered +down into the road and stood just below Marishka where she could quite +easily hear the conversation which followed. The people in the touring +car were a chauffeur, a stout man and a small boy. Captain Goritz was +bowing politely.</p> + +<p>"Very sorry," he said, "but we are almost out of petrol."</p> + +<p>"There is a garage a few miles beyond," said the chauffeur of the +touring car.</p> + +<p>But Goritz shook his head.</p> + +<p>"I wish to exchange cars with you—at once, please."</p> + +<p>The chauffeur and the stout man, who looked like a small magistrate, sat +staring at Goritz as though they thought that he or they had suddenly +been bereft of their senses. But Karl, who seemed to know precisely what +to do, got down beside them and produced from his pocket a pistol, which +he brandished in their direction. The meaning of the situation was now +obvious, and the Austrians scrambled down in great alarm.</p> + +<p>Captain Goritz smiled at their precipitous movements and his voice was +reassuring as he addressed the fat man.</p> + +<p>"I regret that we have no time to lose. I only ask you to exchange cars +with me. Mine, I think, is the more valuable."</p> + +<p>But the others seemed stricken dumb and continued to stare wide-eyed, +their mouths gaping open.</p> + +<p>"Would you mind telling me how you are equipped with oil and petrol?" +asked Goritz coolly.</p> + +<p>"The tank is full," stammered the frightened chauffeur, still eyeing +Karl's weapon dubiously. But by this time the fat man had regained some +of his courage.</p> + +<p>"What is the meaning of this outrage?" he blustered.</p> + +<p>"We go upon a matter of life and death," said Goritz sharply.</p> + +<p>"And I——"</p> + +<p>His remark was cut short, for at that moment a bullet from Karl's pistol +went off somewhere in his general direction, and leaving the boy and the +chauffeur to their fate, he fled, a frightened behemoth, into the woods.</p> + +<p>Captain Goritz now opened the door of the limousine.</p> + +<p>"You will get down at once, please," he said quietly to Marishka. "We +will go on in the other car." And while Karl transferred a suitcase and +other personal belongings, Captain Goritz scribbled something upon a +card which he handed to the astonished chauffeur. "If your master ever +comes back and is not satisfied with his bargain, he should present +himself at this address in Vienna and the matter will be satisfactorily +arranged." And then as he got into the tonneau of the car beside +Marishka, "I would warn you not to follow us too closely. It would be +dangerous."</p> + +<p>Karl put in the gears and they started at once. "It would also be +difficult, Herr Hauptmann," he said with a laugh, "for I have locked the +switch."</p> + +<p>"Ah, it is better so," said Goritz calmly. "And now, by Jarmeritz, I +should think."</p> + +<p>Karl nodded and, increasing the speed of the touring car, soon left the +green limousine and its new owners far behind.</p> + +<p>The precision and speed with which the exchange of automobiles had been +accomplished and the unruffled impudence of the demeanor of Captain +Goritz gave Marishka a new idea of the caliber of the man upon whose +mercies she had been thrown, a new idea of the lengths to which he was +prepared to go in the performance of his duty. Success, the gaining of +which might easily have been tragic, was by his command of the situation +turned into something which seemed comically near opera-bouffe. She +could not understand what it all meant and timidly she asked him.</p> + +<p>He smiled gravely.</p> + +<p>"Your friend, Herr Windt, will be trying to make our journey difficult +for us. The green limousine was conspicuous. It was observed in Vienna. +We shall be more dusty, but I hope otherwise quite as comfortable."</p> + +<p>"You think that we may be detained?" she asked anxiously.</p> + +<p>"We shall do our best to prevent that from happening," he replied. "The +way is long and our paths must be devious, but I think we shall succeed. +There are many roads to Vienna, Countess." And then, with an air of +consideration, "I hope that loss of sleep is not wearing on you. +Presently we shall get out and have something to eat."</p> + +<p>"Thank you," said Marishka with a grateful glance.</p> + +<p>She felt Captain Goritz's look upon her for a long moment after she had +turned away. Marishka sighed gently. Her companion's gaze left her and +he peered straight before him, frowning. All this she knew by her +woman's sixth sense without even looking at him. Even a thinking machine +must have its moments of aberration. In a little while, the choice of +roads having been decided, he turned to her again and Marishka's eyes +met his fairly.</p> + +<p>"You have not already regretted your bargain?" he asked quietly.</p> + +<p>"No," she replied, smiling at him. "If you succeed, I shall regret +nothing. A pawn has small chance, when the fate of kings is in +question."</p> + +<p>He was silent for a moment.</p> + +<p>"I hope that you will understand my position, Countess. It is not my +wish to make war upon women——"</p> + +<p>"But one's duty is paramount, of course," she put in quickly. "I am not +squeamish, Captain Goritz, but if my—my—er—elimination is necessary +to your plans, it is only fair that I should be advised of the fact in +time to say my prayers."</p> + +<p>He regarded her soberly. Was she laughing at him? Her mien was quite +serious, but her tone was sprightly—even flippant.</p> + +<p>"It would be a matter of profound regret to me, Countess Strahni," he +said, with some dignity, "if any misfortune should happen to you while +under my charge."</p> + +<p>"It is so nice of you to put it that way," she smiled at him. "Under +other conditions, you know, we might even have been friends."</p> + +<p>"I would be deeply pained if you should consider me an enemy," he +replied.</p> + +<p>"<i>Ach! leider!</i>" she sighed. "A prisoner can have no choice."</p> + +<p>He made no reply to that and sank back into his favorite position with +arms folded, staring straight before him. This girl was too handsome to +quibble with. Her newly discovered cheerfulness disturbed him. He had +known in abundance women of courage, women of skill in dissimulation, +but he remembered that when they were both beautiful and clever it was +the part of wisdom to be upon one's guard.</p> + +<p>Marishka glanced at Captain Goritz's well-shaped head in the seat beside +her. It was to be war between them—war! A thinking machine! Was he? She +smiled to herself. She knew that she had power. What handsome clever +woman does not know it? Men had desired her—a Russian duke, an Italian +prince. And an Austrian archduke even, braving the parental ire, had +wished to marry her, willing even to sacrifice his princely prerogatives +if she would have said the word. Hugh Renwick——She swallowed +bravely.... But the sense of her power over men gave her a new courage +to meet Captain Goritz with a smile upon her lips while she summoned in +secret all her feminine instinct to aid her in the unequal struggle, a +game needing both caution and daring, a game for high stakes—in which +perhaps no quarter would be given.</p> + +<p>As they approached the environs of Vienna, the car now moved at a +reduced speed and boldly chose the main highroads. Twice they were +stopped and examined. This showed that all the machinery of the +telegraph was now in operation, but the touring car did not answer to +the given description and Captain Goritz's air of surprise and annoyance +was so genuine that there was little delay.</p> + +<p>"Our friends of the Mährische-Höhe are fortunately still frightened or +else quite satisfied with the green limousine," he laughed. "We shall go +through, I think."</p> + +<p>"Shall we be in time?" asked Marishka.</p> + +<p>The German shrugged and looked at his watch. "We shall be in Vienna in +twenty minutes."</p> + +<p>Marishka made no comment. As their journey neared its ending she +realized that she was very tired, but the incentive that, had spurred +her last night and all day still gave her strength to cope with whatever +was to come.</p> + +<p>"To the Embassy," Goritz whispered, "and fast!"</p> + +<p>He had mounted again into the seat beside the chauffeur, and so Marishka +did not question him, but his back was eloquent of determination. They +drove boldly into the Ringstrasse and turned rapidly into a side street. +Here the machine stopped again and Captain Goritz stood at the door of +the tonneau waiting for her to descend. He led the way, walking rapidly, +while Marishka struggled beside him as fast as her stiffened limbs +permitted.</p> + +<p>"The Ambassador can succeed where we should fail. He must procure an +interview for you. I think it may be managed unless——" He paused. "But +we shall see."</p> + +<p>Silently Marishka followed into the Metternichgasse and up the steps of +the Embassy and into a lofty salon where Captain Goritz bade her wait, +and disappeared. A gloomy room with dingy frescoes of impossible cupids +and still more impossible roses. Roses—the <i>leit motif</i> of her tragedy! +There were mirrors—many mirrors, all of which seemed to be reflecting +her pallid face. She was weary and covered with dust, but not so weary +as she was desperate. Why should she wait again, while Sophie Chotek was +here—here in Vienna. Unable to remain seated, she rose and walked about +the room, the eternal feminine impelling a rearrangement of her hat and +veil at the long mirror near the upper end of the room. Beside her was a +window which opened upon a small court. Opposite this window was another +window from which came sound of voices. She listened. It was her +privilege, for they were speaking of her.</p> + +<p>"...I acted upon my own judgment, Excellency. There seemed nothing else +to do. The Countess Strahni has given me her word of honor. She will +keep it."</p> + +<p>"But the telegraph——"</p> + +<p>"Sealed——"</p> + +<p>"Impossible!"</p> + +<p>"I beg you to try it—at once."</p> + +<p>"Ah—the telephone!"</p> + +<p>Marishka heard the clicking of the instrument and the voice again asking +for a number. Silence. And then,—"I do not understand...." A pause. +"<i>Ach—so!</i>" Another click and tinkle of the bell. "<i>Donnerwetter</i>, Herr +Hauptmann! You are right. They say there is a temporary derangement of +the system."</p> + +<p>Another bell sounded. A door opened and shut. Then a question in the +same voice.</p> + +<p>"Graf von Mendel, the Archduke Franz reached Vienna this afternoon with +the Duchess on the way to Sarajevo. Where are they now?"</p> + +<p>Another voice replied, "I do not know, Excellency. They were at prayers +in the Capuchin Church."</p> + +<p>"When does their train leave Vienna?"</p> + +<p>"At six—from the Staats Bahnhof—Excellency."</p> + +<p>"It is six o'clock now," cried the other voice in dismay. "We are too +late——"</p> + +<p>Marishka heard no more. It was enough. Too late! She had failed. Her +sacrifice, her atonement,—fruitless. She sank into a chair and buried +her face in her hands, trying to think. But in her head was a dull chaos +of sounds, echoes of her wild ride, and her body swayed as she sat. She +had never fainted, but for a moment it seemed that she lost +consciousness. She found herself presently staring through her fingers +at the pattern in the gray aubusson carpet—and wondering where she was. +Then she heard the voices again and remembered that she must listen.</p> + +<p>The voice of the one they called Excellency was speaking.</p> + +<p>"<i>Herr Gott</i>, Goritz! Austria's mad archdukes! The telegraph also +closed! It is unbelievable. I must send a message in code to Berlin."</p> + +<p>"It would be delayed," said Goritz dryly.</p> + +<p>"But something must be done——"</p> + +<p>"If you will permit——"</p> + +<p>"Speak."</p> + +<p>"Excellency, this is a desperate game. I thought perhaps we should +arrive in time to get a message through. But Herr Windt has wasted no +time. We must suit our actions to the emergency——"</p> + +<p>"Of course. But how?"</p> + +<p>"Go to Sarajevo—at once."</p> + +<p>"But I——"</p> + +<p>"Not you, Excellency. I shall go. A railroad book, Graf Mendel, if you +please. Today is the twenty-sixth. The Archduke goes by way of Budapest. +We can save several hours, I think, by way of Gratz and Agram—if there +is a train tonight."</p> + +<p>"And the Countess Strahni?"</p> + +<p>"Your Excellency may well see her usefulness merely in telling what has +happened in her efforts to reach the ear of the Duchess of Hohenberg. No +word from you to Archduke Franz could be more convincing——"</p> + +<p>"<i>Ja wohl</i>, even if I could send it——"</p> + +<p>"And you cannot—of that I am convinced."</p> + +<p>Another voice broke in.</p> + +<p>"A train at eight—Excellency—by way of Oedenburg and Brück—reaching +Marburg in the morning——"</p> + +<p>"Good!"</p> + +<p>"And from there," added Goritz, "by automobile along the new military +road through Brod. We might reach Sarajevo tomorrow night—surely by +Sunday morning."</p> + +<p>"If that would not be too late."</p> + +<p>"It is the only thing to do."</p> + +<p>A silence. And then—</p> + +<p>"The Countess Strahni is here?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Excellency."</p> + +<p>"You will make proper preparations to leave at once—secretly—you +understand. I will secure the necessary papers."</p> + +<p>"<i>Zu befehl</i>, Excellency——"</p> + +<p>Without waiting to hear the conclusion of the interview Marishka moved +away from the window to the further end of the room, and when Goritz +came some moments later she stood looking out upon the traffic of the +street. Fortunately dissimulation was not difficult, as the growing +darkness of the room hid her face.</p> + +<p>"We are too late," said Captain Goritz. "The Archduke's train has gone."</p> + +<p>"How terrible!" muttered Marishka.</p> + +<p>"Are you prepared to go on, Countess Strahni?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—yes, if——" she paused.</p> + +<p>"To Sarajevo—tonight—at once?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—at once."</p> + +<p>She realized that she was repeating his words like a parrot, but she +seemed to be speaking, moving as in a dream. Captain Goritz came closer +and examined her face in the dim light of the window.</p> + +<p>"You are tired?"</p> + +<p>"A little——"</p> + +<p>"I am sorry. I wish I could spare you further trouble."</p> + +<p>"It does not matter."</p> + +<p>Her voice was very close to tears.</p> + +<p>He paused uncertainly for a moment.</p> + +<p>"Countess Strahni, we leave at eight by the night train. I shall make +arrangements for your comfort, a sleeping compartment. In the meanwhile +you may go upstairs to a guest room of the Embassy and rest. If you will +write a note asking for a valise with necessary articles of apparel, I +will see that it is brought to you. A dark suit and heavy veil."</p> + +<p>He walked to the side of the room and touched a button. "You see," he +said with a smile, "I am trusting you."</p> + +<p>"You are very kind."</p> + +<p>"<i>Bitte</i>. You will not mention the Embassy."</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>A man-servant appeared.</p> + +<p>"His Excellency wishes the Countess Strahni to occupy a room upstairs. +You will inform one of the upstairs maids that everything is to be done +for her comfort. You will also bring to his Excellency's office a note +which Countess Strahni will write."</p> + +<p>The man bowed, then stood aside while Marishka went out.</p> + +<p>"At half-past seven, Countess——"</p> + +<p>She nodded over her shoulder to where the German stood with bowed head +looking after her.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>DIAMOND CUTS DIAMOND</h3> + + +<p>Captain Leo Goritz made it a habit to neglect no detail. There was but a +little more than an hour of time, but he acted swiftly. At his request +the Ambassador procured money, and from the War Ministry the necessary +papers, a safe conduct for an officer of the Fifteenth Army Corps, +returning to his regiment at Sarajevo with his wife. Graf von Mendel +attended to the secret arrangements for their departure from the Embassy +and booked the passage. Captain Goritz sat at a desk in a private +office, upon which was a small copper teapot above a spirit lamp. The +water in the pot was steaming. A servant knocked at the door and brought +him a letter.</p> + +<p>"Ah! You followed my directions about the paper and ink?"</p> + +<p>"As you ordered, Herr Hauptmann. And a maid is with the Countess +Strahni."</p> + +<p>"Very good. Wait outside and be prepared to take a message in an +automobile."</p> + +<p>"<i>Zu befehl</i>, Herr Hauptmann."</p> + +<p>As the servant reached the door Goritz halted him.</p> + +<p>"The room which the Countess Strahni has is not on the side toward the +British Embassy?"</p> + +<p>"No, Herr Hauptmann."</p> + +<p>"Very good. You may go."</p> + +<p>The man withdrew, closing the door gently. And Captain Goritz took the +note of the Countess Strahni and held it in front of the copper teapot, +moving it to and fro, the back of the envelope in the jet of steam. In a +moment the flap of the envelope curled back and opened. The thing was +simplicity itself. He took two slips of paper out of the envelope and +read them through attentively, smiling amusedly as he did so. Then +without waste of time, he put one of the notes before him, and drawing +some writing paper nearer wrote steadily for ten minutes, tearing up +sheet after sheet and burning each in turn. At last apparently satisfied +with what he had written he put the sheet aside and burned the original +note in which he had been so interested. Then he addressed several small +envelopes, glancing from time to time at the other note of the Countess +Strahni upon the desk in front of him. The envelopes all bore the words,</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Herr Hugh Renwick</span> Strohgasse No. 26 Wien.</p></div> + +<p>At last, critically selecting one of those he had written, he burned the +others, and folding the note enclosed it in the smaller envelope, which +he sealed carefully, putting it with the Countess Strahni's letter into +the original and larger envelope, which he pasted anew and carefully +closed. Then he rang the bell, and when the man appeared:</p> + +<p>"You will take this note to the given address. You will explain that the +note within is to be delivered tonight at eight o'clock. Then you will +wait twenty minutes for a suitcase or valise and bring it here. That's +all. And hasten."</p> + +<p>"<i>Zu befehl</i>, Herr Hauptmann."</p> + +<p>Goritz sat for a moment—just a moment of contemplation. It was merely a +thread of possibility, a chance, if other expedients had failed, but +thoroughly worth taking. His man Kronberg was a good shot, but he might +have missed, and if so Europe was large, and Herr Renwick clever. The +hook of Leo Goritz was baited with a delectable morsel—most +delectable—it would have been childish not to use it. Where Marishka +Strahni was, there also was the heart of Renwick—the Englishman with +the nine lives—the last of which must be taken.</p> + +<p>This duty accomplished, Goritz went to a room upstairs, bathed and +dressed in the uniform which had been provided, packing a large bag with +several objects besides clothing and necessities of the toilet, +including two automatic pistols, and went down to the Embassy office. +All this had occupied an hour. He was awaiting Marishka when, somewhat +refreshed and newly attired, she descended and entered the Embassy +office. His Excellency rose and bowed over her hand—</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="secret4" id="secret4"></a> +<img src="images/secret4.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>His Excellency rose and bowed over her hand</h3> +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + + + +<p>"Captain Goritz tells me that you have consented to help us in this +extraordinary affair. I wish you Godspeed, Countess Strahni, and a safe +return," he added with some deliberateness.</p> + +<p>She glanced at Captain Goritz who stood in a military attitude, but he +only smiled politely and said nothing.</p> + +<p>"I thank Your Excellency for your hospitality and protection," she said +slowly. "I am sure that I shall be quite safe with Captain Goritz——"</p> + +<p>"Ober Lieutenant Carl von Arnstorf, at your service," corrected Goritz, +"of the Third Regiment, Fifteenth Army Corps."</p> + +<p>Marishka smiled.</p> + +<p>"And I?"</p> + +<p>"Frau Ober Lieutenant von Arnstorf," said Goritz shortly.</p> + +<p>"It is necessary, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>Goritz bowed, and his Excellency added, "It simplifies matters greatly, +Countess Strahni."</p> + +<p>Marishka shrugged. It was no time for quibbling.</p> + +<p>"The way is clear?" asked the Ambassador of von Mendel.</p> + +<p>"Quite, Excellency. The side street has been patrolled for ten minutes."</p> + +<p>Goritz opened a door which led to a small staircase, and he and Marishka +descended and went through the kitchens to a small street or alley where +a machine was awaiting them. A question—a reply from a man who had +brought down their bags, and they moved slowly out of the alley into a +small street.</p> + +<p>A bath, food, and a glass of wine had restored Marishka, and she now +faced the immediate future with renewed hope and courage. Apart from the +belief, fostered by the careful detail of her companions arrangements, +that she might still be successful in reaching the ear of the Duchess +before the royal train reached Sarajevo, there was an appeal in the +hazard of her venture with Captain Goritz. He was a clever man and a +dangerous one, who, to gain his ends, whatever they were, would not +hesitate to stoop to means beneath the dignity of honorable manhood—an +intriguer, a master craftsman in the secret and recondite, a perverted +gentleman, trained in a school which eliminated compassion, sentiment +and all other human attributes in the attainment of its object and the +consummation of its plans. And yet Marishka did not fear Captain Goritz. +There is a kind of feminine courage which no man can understand, that is +not physical nor even mental, born perhaps of that mysterious relation +which modern philosophy calls sex antagonism—a spiritual hardihood +which deals in the metaphysics of emotion and pays no tribute to any +form of materiality. Captain Goritz, whatever his quality, to Marishka +was merely a man. And whatever the forces at his command, her promise, +the half uttered threat as to her fate—which she had refused to take +seriously—she was aware that she was not defenseless. The elaborateness +of the Ambassador's manner, the graces of Graf von Mendel, and Captain +Goritz's now covert glances advised her that she was still armed with +her woman's weapons. Marishka was young, but her two years in the life +of the gayest court in Europe had sharpened her perceptions amazingly, +but she knew that if beauty is a woman's letter of credit worth its face +value with a man, it can also be a dangerous liability. Captain Goritz +differed from the gay idlers of the Viennese Court. The signs of +interest he had given her were slight,—a courtesy perhaps a trifle too +studied, a lingering glance of his curiously penetrating eyes which +might even have been impelled by professional curiosity, a +thoughtfulness for her comfort which might have been any woman's due, +and yet Marishka did not despair.</p> + +<p>They reached the railway station uneventfully, where she learned that +men from the Embassy had followed on bicycles as a matter of precaution, +and the travelers found their compartment and were safely installed. She +sank into her place silently and looked out of the window into the blur +of moving lights as Vienna was left behind them. Upon the seat opposite +her sat the newly created officer of the Fifteenth Army Corps, Ober +Lieutenant Carl von Arnstorf, looking rather smart in his borrowed +plumage. The intimacy of their new situation did not frighten her, for +she thought that already she had read enough of her companion's +character to know that at least so far she was on safe ground. She gave +him permission to smoke without his asking it, and this, it seemed, made +for the beginnings of a new informality in their relations.</p> + +<p>"There isn't the slightest reason," she said with a smile, "that you +should be uncomfortable. Since you are doomed for the present to share +my imprisonment——"</p> + +<p>"Doomed?" he exclaimed civilly. "You may be sure that I don't look upon +such a doom with unhappiness, Countess. Are you very tired?"</p> + +<p>"A little. I shall sleep presently."</p> + +<p>"Do you know," he said as he thoughtfully inhaled his cigarette, "for +the first time in my rather variegated career, I find myself in a false +position."</p> + +<p>"Really! How?"</p> + +<p>"I will explain. I have had much dealing to do with women—with women +of a certain sort. It is a part of my trade. Were you unscrupulous, +intriguing, you would meet your match. As it is you have me at a +disadvantage."</p> + +<p>"I?"</p> + +<p>"I have felt it—from the first. Even a secret agent has eyes, +dimensions, senses. I am a little abashed as if in the presence of +phenomena. Your helplessness and innocence, your loyalty and +unselfishness—you must be sure that I am not unaware of them."</p> + +<p>Marishka laughed easily.</p> + +<p>"You restore my faith in human kind, Captain Goritz. You'll admit that +your attitude toward me has been far from reassuring."</p> + +<p>"Countess, I beg of you——"</p> + +<p>"The alternative to disobeying your wishes—destruction—death!" she +went on, shuddering prettily.</p> + +<p>"I am merely a cog in the great wheel of efficiency. I spoke +figuratively——"</p> + +<p>"But of course you know," she broke in quickly, with another laugh, +"that I didn't believe you. I haven't really been frightened at all. How +<i>could</i> I be? You're not in the least alarming. To face the alternative +you imposed would take courage. I am easily frightened at a mouse. The +deduction is obvious——"</p> + +<p>He laughed and then said soberly, "It is far from my wish to frighten +you. That kind of brutality has its justification, but this is not the +occasion, nor you the woman."</p> + +<p>"I was sure of it. If I hadn't been I shouldn't have come with you."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" Goritz straightened and stared at her. "But—your promise——"</p> + +<p>"I should have broken that and asked the first <i>gendarme</i> in the +Ringstrasse to take me home. You admit that the plan would have been +feasible?"</p> + +<p>He shrugged.</p> + +<p>"The Countess Strahni's word of honor——"</p> + +<p>"Honor is as honor does and I am here, Captain Goritz."</p> + +<p>"I trust that you will have no reason to regret your decision."</p> + +<p>"That sounds like another threat."</p> + +<p>"It isn't. I actually mean what I say. A secret agent doesn't permit +himself such a luxury very often," he laughed.</p> + +<p>"Then you're not going to murder me offhand——"</p> + +<p>"Countess, I protest——"</p> + +<p>"You wish my last moments to be graced with courtesy. I shall at least +die like a rose—in aromatic pain."</p> + +<p>Her irony was not lost on him. He was silent a moment, regarding her +soberly.</p> + +<p>"Countess, you are too clever to be unkind—your lips too lovely to +utter words so painful. I could not do you harm—it is impossible. I +pray that you will believe me."</p> + +<p>"I am merely taking you at face value, Herr Hauptmann," she returned +coolly. "You have told me that you are merely a thinking machine, or a +cog in the wheel of efficiency, which plans my elimination——"</p> + +<p>"A figure of speech. Your silence was what I meant."</p> + +<p>"Ah, silence! Perhaps. It seems that I have already said enough."</p> + +<p>"Quite," he smiled. "You have set Europe in a turmoil—another +Helen——"</p> + +<p>"With another Paris in your background?" she shot at him.</p> + +<p>He smiled, lowering his gaze to the ash of his cigarette.</p> + +<p>"You speak in riddles."</p> + +<p>"It's your trade to solve them."</p> + +<p>"Do not underestimate my intelligence, I understand you," he laughed. +"It is a fortunate thing for me that you are not a secret agent. My +occupation would be gone."</p> + +<p>"It is a villainous occupation."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"Because no secret agent can be himself. It's rather a pity, because I'd +like to like you."</p> + +<p>"And don't you—a little?"</p> + +<p>"I might if I thought that I could believe in you. If a man is not true +to himself, he cannot be true to those that wish to be his friends."</p> + +<p>He was silent for a moment.</p> + +<p>"I think perhaps," he said quietly at last, "that you do me an +injustice. I am merely the servant of my government——"</p> + +<p>"Which, stops at no means—even death."</p> + +<p>"I too look death in the face, Countess," he said with a slow smile. "It +lurks in every byway—hangs in every bush."</p> + +<p>"It is frightful," she sighed, "to live like that, preying upon others, +and being preyed upon—when the world is so beautiful."</p> + +<p>"The world is just what men have made it. I, too, once dreamed——" His +words trailed off into silence, and he looked out of the window into the +night.</p> + +<p>"And now?" she asked.</p> + +<p>Something in the tone of her voice made him straighten and glance at +her. He had seen the same look in other women's eyes.</p> + +<p>"And now, I dream no more, Countess Strahni," he said abruptly.</p> + +<p>Marishka's gaze fell before his.</p> + +<p>"I am sorry," she said.</p> + +<p>There was another silence in which Captain Goritz took out another +cigarette.</p> + +<p>"I do not think that I quite—understand you, Countess Strahni——"</p> + +<p>"Naturally," she broke in. "You have known me—let us see—a little less +than twelve hours."</p> + +<p>Her smile disarmed him.</p> + +<p>"You are far from transparent, Countess," he said quizzically.</p> + +<p>"And if I were?"</p> + +<p>"It would probably be because you wished me to see something beyond," +with a laugh.</p> + +<p>"To one who deals in mystery and intrigue, sincerity must always be +bewildering."</p> + +<p>"H—m! I was once stabbed in the back by a woman who was too sincere."</p> + +<p>The smile left Marishka's face. "How terrible!"</p> + +<p>"It was. I nearly died. It was my mistake, you see."</p> + +<p>Marishka was silent for a long moment. And then,</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid, Captain Goritz, that the world has left you bitter."</p> + +<p>"To the secret agent the world is neither sweet nor bitter. He has no +sense of taste or of feeling. He is merely a pair of ears—a pair of +eyes which nothing must escape——"</p> + +<p>"Deaf to music—blind to beauty," sighed Marishka. "From the bottom of +my heart I pity you."</p> + +<p>Captain Goritz gazed at her for a long moment, in silence, then his eyes +narrowed slightly and his voice was lowered.</p> + +<p>"It is rather curious, Countess Strahni, that you should hold in such +low esteem a profession practiced by one of your most favored friends."</p> + +<p>"Mine?" she questioned, startled.</p> + +<p>"Herr Renwick," he replied dryly, "is a secret agent of the Serbian +government."</p> + +<p>A gasp escaped her, and she struggled for her composure at the mention +of Hugh Renwick's name.</p> + +<p>"That is impossible."</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon," he said politely, "I happen to know it to be the +truth."</p> + +<p>She laughed uneasily.</p> + +<p>"Until two weeks ago Herr Renwick was an attaché of the British +Embassy," she asserted.</p> + +<p>"Of course. But he has been also in the pay of the Serbian +government—Austria's enemy."</p> + +<p>"You are misinformed," she gasped.</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon. England and Serbia are on excellent terms. You will +not deny that Herr Renwick has been to Belgrade in the last two weeks?"</p> + +<p>"You—you——" she paused in consternation, aware again of this man's +omniscience.</p> + +<p>"The details had not been clear until my return to Vienna. Think for a +moment. Herr Renwick visits Belgrade and Sarajevo while a plan is +arranged to take the life of the Archduke Franz. It is well within the +bounds of possibility——"</p> + +<p>"Your skill in invention does you credit," she put in quickly, "but Herr +Renwick has no interest in the death of the Archduke. On the contrary, +he has done what he could to save him."</p> + +<p>"You will admit that it was Renwick who gave you the information of this +plot."</p> + +<p>"Yes—but——"</p> + +<p>"One moment. You'll also admit that he gave no authority for his +information."</p> + +<p>"But he did what he could to help me warn the Archduke."</p> + +<p>"H—m! You did not know perhaps that it is to Serbia's interest and to +Renwick's to warn the Archduke. Austria needs a pretext to make war on +Serbia. Every diplomat in Europe is aware of that. If the Archduke is +attacked in Sarajevo, war will be declared on Serbia within a week."</p> + +<p>He paused a moment watching Marishka's face, intent upon its changing +expressions.</p> + +<p>"Herr Renwick is no enemy of Austria," she asserted firmly.</p> + +<p>"If he is no enemy of Austria, how could he act for the Serbian +government, which follows instructions from St. Petersburg? Herr Renwick +knew of the plot against the life of the Archduke, for he told you of +it. Where did he learn of it? In Sarajevo or Belgrade, where it was +hatched. Who informed him? His friends of the Serbian Secret Service who +live among the anarchists at Sarajevo and Belgrade."</p> + +<p>"I do not believe you."</p> + +<p>"You must. Serbia has done what she can to prevent this crime. His +Excellency tells me that today the Serbian Minister in Vienna pleaded +with the Austrian Ministry to use its efforts to have the visit of the +Archduke Franz postponed. He was ignored."</p> + +<p>He paused and flecked his cigarette out of the window, while Marishka +gazed straight before her, trying to think clearly of Hugh Renwick. A +Serbian spy! It was impossible. And yet every word that this man spoke +hurt her cruelly. Renwick had been in Sarajevo and Belgrade, for he had +told her so. He alone of all persons outside the Secret Government of +Austria had been in a position to know the details of the plot and to +prepare her for them. He had sought to use her in warning the Duchess, +not as an agent of humanity and Christian charity, but as the emissary +of the cowardly and vicious government across the border, Austria's +enemy, Serbia the regicide and the degenerate, about the fate of which +hung the peace of Europe. Hugh Renwick!</p> + +<p>Her mind refused her. Fatigue and want of sleep were making her +light-headed. She would not believe. She shut her eyes and by an effort +of will managed to get control of her voice. "I find that I am very +tired, Captain Goritz," she said quietly.</p> + +<p>"Ah, it was very thoughtless—inconsiderate of me," he said, with sudden +accents of civility. "It is very painful to believe ill of those to whom +one is attached," he finished suavely.</p> + +<p>"You are mistaken," she said slowly. "There is no attachment between +Herr Renwick and me."</p> + +<p>"A friend, let us say, then," he put in keenly, "in whom one is +disappointed."</p> + +<p>"It is nothing to me, Captain Goritz," she said, meeting his eyes +bravely, "what Herr Renwick is or does."</p> + +<p>He smiled and bowed.</p> + +<p>"Still," he said with his exasperating pertinacity, "it is of course +interesting to know the truth. It would perhaps be still more +interesting to know what Herr Renwick has to say in regard to the +matter."</p> + +<p>"I do not care what Herr Renwick would have to say. I do not expect to +see Herr Renwick again, Captain Goritz, in Vienna or elsewhere."</p> + +<p>He smiled at her politely.</p> + +<p>"But you will admit, it is not within the bounds of possibility. Herr +Renwick is clever—indefatigable——"</p> + +<p>Marishka started up in her seat.</p> + +<p>"You mean?"</p> + +<p>"Merely that Herr Renwick is not easily discouraged. I would not be in +the least surprised if he followed us on to Sarajevo."</p> + +<p>Marishka stared at her companion for a moment and then sank back in her +seat.</p> + +<p>"Oh," she gasped.</p> + +<p>Her long sustained effort to keep pace with events had been too much for +her. Her faculties failed to respond, and she closed her eyes in an +attempt to obliterate all sight and sound. Dimly she heard the voice of +Captain Goritz above the grinding of the brakes of the train.</p> + +<p>"I am sorry that you are so tired, Countess Strahni. I shall now leave +you to your own devices. We have reached Brück, and I shall go to +another compartment. I shall arrange with the guard to see to your +comfort."</p> + +<p>The train stopped and the guard opened the door.</p> + +<p>"Good-night, <i>liebchen</i>," he said with a smile. And as she opened her +eyes in astonishment, she heard him say to the guard:</p> + +<p>"Frau Lieutenant von Arnstorf desires to sleep. I am going to smoke with +a friend in the adjoining carriage. She is not to be disturbed. You +understand."</p> + +<p>The man saluted and closed the door, and Marishka was alone. With an +effort she rose and mechanically made her dispositions for sleep, +thinking meanwhile of the words of Captain Goritz and feeling a dull and +unhappy sense of disappointment and defeat. There was a latent cruelty +under his air of civility which astonished and terrified her. And the +revelations with regard to Hugh Renwick, astounding though they were, +had in them just enough of a leaven of fact to make them almost if not +quite credible. Hugh Renwick, the man she had chosen—a friend, a paid +servant of atrocious Serbia! She could not—would not believe it. And +yet this man's knowledge of European politics was simply uncanny. If his +civility had disarmed her earlier in the day, if she had been able to +speak lightly of the threat of her imprisonment, the fear that had +always been in her heart was now a blind terror—not of the man's +passions but of his lack of them. He was cold, impenetrable, +impervious—a mind, a body without a soul. He haunted her. She lay on +her couch and stared wide-eyed at vacancy. The sound of his voice still +rang in her ears. She wondered now why the memory of it was so +unpleasant to her. And then she thought she knew that it was because the +magnetism of his eyes was missing. His body was a mere shell covering an +intricate piece of machinery. She tried to think what it must be like to +be actuated by a mind without a soul. She had pledged herself obedience +to this man, trusting to her implicit faith in the ultimate goodness of +every human creature to bring her through this venture safe from harm.</p> + +<p>Vaguely, as though in dreams, she remembered that this man had thought +that Hugh Renwick would follow her to Sarajevo. She had written him a +note of warning telling him to leave for England at once. Would he +disregard her message, discover where she had gone, and if so, would he +follow? Renwick's sins, whatever they were, seemed less important in +this unhappy moment of her necessity. He had failed her in a crucial +hour——</p> + +<p>She started up from her couch a smile upon her lips. Hugh Renwick was no +Serbian spy. The man, Goritz, lied. Hugh Renwick and Goritz—it was not +difficult to choose! One a man who let no personal suffering—not even +the contempt of the woman he loved interfere with his loyalty to his +country; the other, one who used a woman's loyalty as a means to an +end—cruelly, relentlessly—which was the liar? Not Hugh Renwick. Weary +and tortured, but still smiling, Marishka sank back upon her couch and +at last, mercifully, she slept.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3>THE MAN IN BLACK</h3> + + +<p>It was after dark when the train bearing Herr Windt and Renwick reached +the Franz Josef station, the stolen machine of Altensteig having been +left at Budweis with Hadwiger, who was to return it to its owner and in +the name of the state to make proper arrangements for compensation. Herr +Windt, sadder if no wiser, took a <i>fiacre</i> and drove off hastily, +leaving Renwick to his own devices.</p> + +<p>To the Englishman, Marishka's case seemed desperate, for though the +identity of the driver of the green limousine was unknown, his +cleverness in eluding the net which Herr Windt had spread for him +indicated him to be an agent of the Wilhelmstrasse, a personal emissary +of those near the Kaiser, who was moving with great skill, using every +means of a great organization to keep Marishka's mission and identity a +secret. But Renwick was not the sort of a man that gives up easily. In +the back of his head an idea persisted, and he planned to follow its +development for good or ill to its conclusion.</p> + +<p>The correctness of his surmise as to the direction of Marishka's flight +in the green limousine had convinced him that Vienna was not her final +destination. He, too, took a <i>fiacre</i> and drove at once to the apartment +of Baroness Racowitz. Marishka's guardian was away, but a fee to the +Austrian maid put him in possession of the facts.</p> + +<p>"No, Herr Renwick," she replied, "Countess Strahni did not return to the +apartment, but she was in Vienna and had sent for a suitcase and +clothing, which were delivered to a man who waited in an automobile."</p> + +<p>"What sort of a man?"</p> + +<p>"I couldn't exactly say, sir, a servant, a butler, perhaps; but there +was a note for Herr Renwick."</p> + +<p>"Ah—give it to me."</p> + +<p>"My instructions were to deliver it at eight o'clock at Herr Renwick's +residence in the Strohgasse. I have but just returned from there."</p> + +<p>Renwick started down the steps and then turned. "There was nothing +else?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing."</p> + +<p>"You do not know where Countess Strahni is?"</p> + +<p>"I know nothing more than I have told you, sir."</p> + +<p>Renwick rushed out to the waiting <i>fiacre</i>, and bade the driver go at +top speed. A note from Marishka! Under different circumstances this +would not perhaps have been surprising. The difference that the change +in their personal relations had wrought in the last few weeks, her mood +during their hurried flight to Konopisht, her desertion of him, all of +these circumstances made the fact of her writing to him the more +significant. She had accepted his services in the escape from Windt, +because he had forced them upon her, but he could not forget that she +had afterward repudiated him and fled from him without a word of +explanation of her sudden decision. His own personal danger had warned +him that Marishka, his companion eavesdropper, would also be in jeopardy +at the hands of those unseen forces which were working in the interests +of the Wilhelmstrasse. Marishka had thrown herself into their power and +was perhaps at this very moment in danger. But he was soon to know the +facts. At his apartment his servant handed him the note and hastily he +tore it open and read.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>I have gone to Sarajevo. I must do what I can, but I need you. I am +a prisoner and in great personal danger if we are stopped en route. +Therefore move secretly, telling no one. Go to the Hotel Europa, +where I will try to communicate with you.</p> + +<p>M. S.</p></div> + +<p>Renwick read the communication through twice, and then glanced at his +watch. Nine o'clock. There was no time to go to the British Embassy in +the Metternichgasse, though he would have liked to know if anything had +been seen of Marishka at the German Embassy which was just adjoining. +But he wrote a note to Sir Herbert, then called his servant, who packed +a bag while Renwick bathed and dressed. At ten he was seated in the +train for Budapest—a slow train that he had taken two weeks before on +his mission to Belgrade.</p> + +<p>He had made this move on impulse, without second thought, for Marishka's +message as to her destination again justified his surmises and +corroborated his fears as to her perilous situation. No other thoughts +save those of her danger and her need of him had entered his head, and +he had moved quickly, aware that any loss of time might be fatal to his +hope of helping her. But seated in his compartment of the railway +carriage, he had time to consider the note in all its aspects and in its +relation to the extraordinary events of the day. There were but two +other occupants of the carriage, an old gentleman with a white beard, +and a young Hungarian officer—a vacuous looking youth in +uniform—neither of them obviously of material from which secret service +agents are made. After the experience at the Konopisht railway station, +Renwick had no humor to be shot at in such close quarters, where the +range would necessarily be deadly. He settled his automatic comfortably +in his pocket, and after another and more reassuring inspection of his +travelling companions he took out Marishka's note and examined it +carefully.</p> + +<p>The knowledge he possessed as to her situation suggested caution. An +agency which could attempt to take his life would not be above forgery. +Marishka's hand? There seemed no doubt of it. It was not difficult for +Renwick to remember the peculiarities of her angular writing. The notes +he had received from her, invitations, appointments, apologies—very +often apologies, he remembered with a slow smile—dainty, faintly +scented missives on gray paper which bore her crest, differed from this +hurriedly written scrawl on a heavier paper which he had no means of +identifying. Only upon closer inspection did he discover a hesitation in +the lower curves and upward strokes of the letters which were not +characteristic of the decisive Marishka.</p> + +<p>Without being certain of its spuriousness, he came to the conclusion +that because of its contents, the note was for the present to be +regarded as an object for suspicion. Would Marishka—the Marishka who a +few hours ago had treated him with such acidulous politeness—write, "I +need you"? Could contemptuous silence be turned so quickly into urgent +appeal? Her danger made such a transition a possibility, and if she was +now ready to recant, all the more reason why he should obey. The one +thing about the message which struck a jarring note was the request for +secrecy under plea of personal danger. And if a forgery—why should his +enemies speak of her personal danger? A lure! So obvious a one that only +the veriest dolt could be deceived by it. The situation then resolved +itself into this: He was invited to go to Sarajevo—if by Marishka, to +save her from personal danger or abduction by her captor—if by the +German agent, with Marishka as a lure, to be the victim of a conspiracy +which planned either murder or imprisonment. And, however keen his own +prescience, Renwick realized that the note had so far succeeded in its +object. He was on his way.</p> + +<p>He was too tired tonight to do the situation justice, for the blow at +the back of his head had taken some of his strength, and he realized +that without sleep his utility would be impaired for the morrow. And +after a glance at his companions, he decided to chance it, and settling +himself comfortably, he was soon heavily sleeping.</p> + +<p>Renwick was awakened some while later by the young Hungarian officer's +cursing as he stumbled over the Englishman's feet. A glance at his watch +showed Renwick that he had slept four hours. It was dawn. Beside him at +the further end of the seat the old man with the white beard still +slept. Renwick glanced out of the window and found that the station was +Vacz. They were twenty or thirty miles from the Hungarian capital. The +morning was cool, and Renwick stepped down from the open door upon the +platform and stretched his limbs, sniffing the air eagerly. He felt +renewed, invigorated, and the ache at his head was gone. He had made no +plans beyond the very necessary one of getting money at the British +Consulate and taking the first train south. The difficulties in making +proper connections, the probability that somewhere he must desert the +railroad and beg, buy, or steal a motor car, and the ever present danger +of a shot from a German agent confronted him, but in his early morning +humor nothing seemed impossible. He would get through in some way and +find a means of reaching Marishka! And if Marishka were already spirited +away? He would find her and the green limousine chap with whom he would +have a reckoning.</p> + +<p>Impatient of the delay of the train, he took out his cigarette case and +was about to smoke, when the warning of the guard was shouted, and he +got into his carriage, followed by another traveler who clambered in at +the last moment and sank into the seat opposite. As the train moved, the +two men scanned each other in the light of the growing dawn which now +vied with the flickering light of the overhead lamp in their +compartment. The stranger was a very tall man in dark clothes, who gave +an instant impression of long rectangularity. He had a long nose, a long +upper lip which hung over a thin slit of a mouth which resembled a +buttonhole slightly frayed by wear. His chin was long and square and, +like his upper lip, blue, as though a stiff black beard were in constant +battle with a razor. His eyes were large and regarded Renwick with a +mild melancholy as he bowed the Englishman a good morning. Renwick +nodded curtly. He had planned another nap and hardly relished sitting +awake and staring at the sepulchral visitor. Where last night's +weariness had sealed his eyes to the ever-present sense of danger, +morning brought counsel of caution and alertness. The leanness of the +huge intruder was of the kind that suggested endurance rather than +malnutrition, a person who for all his pacific and rather gloomy +exterior, could be counted on to be extremely dangerous.</p> + +<p>In a situation where any man might prove to be his hidden enemy, Renwick +was learning to be wary. And so upon his guard for any movement of +hostility, he sat bolt upright and smoked his cigarette, puffing it +indolently into the face of his solemn companion. Beyond the first +greeting, no words passed between them, and the Englishman, more at his +ease, looked out of the window at the low marshlands along the river and +planned the business which brought him. Day came swiftly, and before the +train reached the city the sun was up in smiling splendor, melting the +pale fogbanks of the Danube valley beneath its golden glow.</p> + +<p>At the Westbahnhof, Renwick got down, and bag in hand made his way to +the railway restaurant for a cup of coffee. The keen morning air had +made him hungry, and he breakfasted like a man who does not know where +his next meal is coming from. It was not until he paid his check and got +up from the table that he noticed his gigantic companion of the train +doing likewise, but he gave the matter no thought, and getting into a +waiting <i>fiacre</i> drove to the British Consulate to make some necessary +arrangements, including the procuring of money for possible large +expenses. The Archduke and Duchess, he discovered, had slept in their +car, which had been shifted to a train that had left for the south in +the early hours of the morning. The service on the road was none too +good, except that of the Orient Express, which had gone through last +night, but by haste Renwick managed to catch the nine o'clock train for +Belgrade, planning to get off it at Ujvidek and trust to Providence for +an automobile.</p> + +<p>He was no sooner comfortably seated in his compartment and +congratulating himself upon its emptiness, which would permit of +opportunity for sleep, when the door was thrown open and his tall +companion of the early morning solemnly entered. Renwick did not know +whether to be surprised or angry, and finished by being both, glancing +at the intruder through his monocle in a manner distinctly offensive. +But the tall man if aware of the Englishman's antagonism gave no sign of +it, clasping his cotton umbrella with large bony hands and gazing +gloomily at the passing landscape.</p> + +<p>An accidental meeting of two travelers bound in the same direction? +Perhaps. But there was too much at stake for Renwick to be willing to +take chances, and yet he could not kill and throw out of the window an +entire stranger who looked like the proprietor of a small confectionery +shop, in mourning for a departed friend. Of course there was nothing to +be done, but the man's presence irritated Renwick. As the moments went +on, and the man still silently stared out of the window, Renwick's +choler diminished. The fellow was quite harmless, a person from whom +murder and secret missions were miles asunder. If the man of the green +limousine had foreseen that Renwick would take the nine o'clock train +for Budapest and had set this behemoth upon him, the man would have made +an attempt upon his life this morning in the ride between Vacz and the +capital. And how, since the telegraph lines were closed to the German +agent, could this person have been put upon the scent? It hardly seemed +possible that this was an agent of Germany. And yet as the miles flew +by, the stranger's silence, immobility and unchanging expression got on +Renwick's nerves. He was in no mood to do a psychopathic duel with a +sphinx.</p> + +<p>The morning dragged slowly. At Szabadka he got down for lunch and was +not surprised to see his traveling companion at his elbow, eating with a +deliberation which gave Renwick a momentary hope that the train might +get off without him. Renwick was already in his carriage and the guard +calling when the fellow stalked majestically from the eating-room +munching at the remains of his <i>Böhmische Dalken</i> and entered the +carriage, still clinging to the cotton umbrella, and quite oblivious of +the powdered sugar with which he was liberally besmeared. Secret agent! +The man was a joke—a rectangular comedy in monosyllables.</p> + +<p>There was no connection for Brod at Szabadka until late in the afternoon +and Renwick hoped to make better time by going on to Ujvidek, a large +town, somewhat sophisticated, where the buying or hiring of a machine +would be a possibility. During the afternoon he took Marishka's letter +from his pocket and studied it again, now quite oblivious of the +creature who had curiously enough resumed the same seat opposite him. +And in his concentration upon the problem of the note the man was for +the moment forgotten. It was only when he glanced up quickly and quite +unintentionally that he saw the gaze of his neighbor eagerly watching +him. It was only a fleeting glance, but in it, it seemed, the whole +character of his fellow traveler had changed. His hands still clasped +the umbrella, the sugar was still smeared upon his sallow cheeks, but it +seemed that his eyes had glowed with a sudden intentness. A second later +when Renwick looked at him again, the man was staring dully at the +passing cornfields and vineyards and he thought he had been mistaken. He +would have liked to know more of this fellow, and was again tempted to +try to draw him out but the recollection of his former venture dismayed +him. So he relapsed into silence and lying back in his seat, one hand in +his pocket, he closed his eyes and feigned slumber, watching the man +through his eyelashes. For a long while nothing happened. Then at last +as Renwick's breathing became regular the giant's head turned, and his +eyes regarded the Englishman stealthily. Renwick did not move. But he +saw his companion lean slightly forward while one hand left the umbrella +handle, unbuttoned his coat and then moved very slowly behind him. That +was enough for Renwick, who started upright and covered the man with his +automatic. But the other had merely drawn a large and rather soiled +handkerchief from a pocket of his trousers and was in the act of blowing +his nose when he looked up and saw the impending blue muzzle of +Renwick's weapon.</p> + +<p>Then his jaw dropped and his eyes flew wide open.</p> + +<p>"<i>Herr Gott!</i>" he stammered in a husky whisper. "Don't shoot!"</p> + +<p>Whether it was the pleasure of discovering that the man had at last +found his tongue or whether the innocence of his purpose was explained, +Renwick found himself much relieved.</p> + +<p>"Are you crazy?" the other was saying. "To draw a pistol upon me like +that! What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>But Renwick still held the pistol pointed in his neighbor's direction.</p> + +<p>"I will trouble you to stand," he said quietly, "with your hands up and +back toward me."</p> + +<p>The man stared at him wide eyed but at last obeyed, lifting his huge +back to its full height, and Renwick ran an investigating hand over his +hip pockets. They were empty.</p> + +<p>"Thanks," he said at last, "you may be seated." He felt a good deal of a +fool but he managed an uncomfortable laugh as he returned the automatic +to his pocket. "You see," he explained, "I owe you an apology——"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir—such an outrage upon my dignity. I do not understand——"</p> + +<p>"Let me explain," went on Renwick, feeling more idiotic every moment; "I +have an enemy who seeks my life and when you put your hand in your +pocket I thought that you——"</p> + +<p>"It is strange that a gentleman in a railway carriage may not be +permitted to blow his nose without being threatened with a pistol," he +said hotly.</p> + +<p>"But you will admit, my friend, that your always being next to me in +trains is at least suspicious."</p> + +<p>"<i>Donnerwetter!</i> And why, for the same reason, should I not be +suspicious of <i>you</i>?"</p> + +<p>"I trust at least that you have no enemies who seek <i>your</i> life."</p> + +<p>"Who knows?" he shrugged. "Every man has enemies. I will thank you, sir, +to keep your pistol in your pocket."</p> + +<p>"Willingly. And in return I may say that you may blow your nose as often +as you please."</p> + +<p>"<i>Danke</i>," with some irony. "You are very kind. I suppose, if when +reaching Ujvidek, I should happen to be going in your direction you +would shoot me without further question."</p> + +<p>"That would depend on which direction you are taking," replied Renwick, +with a sense of abortive humor.</p> + +<p>"I go to Brod—thence to Sarajevo——"</p> + +<p>"The devil you do——!" cried Renwick in English, starting forward and +staring at the man. And then more calmly in German,</p> + +<p>"And how are you going?"</p> + +<p>The fellow paused and looked out of the window again. "As to that—I do +not know," he said slowly.</p> + +<p>He had resumed his air of settled gloom, the dignity of which was +somewhat marred by a vestige of powdered sugar upon his chin, but in +spite of the low esteem in which Renwick had held him, all his former +suspicions of the creature rushed over him in a moment.</p> + +<p>"And suppose that I, too, should be going to Brod and Sarajevo?" he +asked brusquely.</p> + +<p>The stranger turned toward him a slow bovine gaze which gradually +relaxed into the semblance of a smile.</p> + +<p>"<i>Ach so</i>," he replied blandly, "then it is just possible that we may go +together."</p> + +<p>His manner was sphinxlike again, and the Englishman eyed him curiously, +feeling a strong desire to kick him in the shins. But luckily he +refrained, saying coolly.</p> + +<p>"And what means of transportation do you propose to employ? Of course +you know there are no trains——"</p> + +<p>"<i>Natürlich.</i>"</p> + +<p>"Then how shall you travel?"</p> + +<p>"And you, Herr Shooter, how shall you go?"</p> + +<p>Renwick smiled indulgently.</p> + +<p>"If I took an automobile——"</p> + +<p>"I should be constrained to go with you."</p> + +<p>"Constrained?"</p> + +<p>"If you would invite me—or condescend to permit me to pay my share of +the expenses."</p> + +<p>The man's personality was slowly expanding. Second class confectioners +who venture on wild goose chases were rare in Renwick's acquaintance. He +was becoming interesting as well as elusive, but Renwick was in no humor +for further quibbling.</p> + +<p>"I regret that that is impossible. I go on alone," he said decisively.</p> + +<p>"<i>Ach, so</i>," said the other sadly. "That is too bad——" His words +trailed off into a melancholy silence and he resumed his occupation of +looking out of the window. The incident in so far as Renwick was +concerned, was concluded.</p> + +<p>At least he thought that. At Ujvidek, when Renwick, bag in hand, got +down upon the station platform, the stranger stood beside him, fingering +his cotton umbrella foolishly and looking this way and that. But when +the Englishman after an inquiry of a loiterer, started in search of a +garage, he found his fellow traveler at his heels, and the frown which +Renwick threw over his shoulder failed utterly to deter him from his +purpose—which clearly seemed to be that of continuing his journey in +the Englishman's company.</p> + +<p>When Renwick reached the garage and talked with the proprietor, a +Hungarian whose German was almost negligible, the man of the cotton +umbrella abandoned the doorway which he had been darkening with his +shadow, and shuffled forward awkwardly.</p> + +<p>"If you will permit me," he said solemnly. "I speak the Hungarian quite +well. I should be glad to interpret your wishes."</p> + +<p>The man's impertinence was really admirable. Renwick's desire to get +forward on his long journey made him impatient of obstacles. He +shrugged.</p> + +<p>"Very well, then. Tell him I must have a machine and chauffeur to take +me to Sarajevo by way of Brod. I will pay him handsomely and in advance. +I must travel today and all night. I must reach Sarajevo in the +morning."</p> + +<p>"<i>Ach, so</i>," said the stranger, and Renwick listened to the conversation +that ensued, endeavoring by the light of his small knowledge of the +language to make out what was said. But he was lost in the maze of +consonants.</p> + +<p>In a moment the interpreter turned with a smile.</p> + +<p>"It is good. There is a machine. This man will drive himself. The price +is two hundred <i>kroner</i> and the petrol."</p> + +<p>"Thank you. That is very good. I must leave within half an hour."</p> + +<p>Renwick produced money, the sight of which brought about an amazing +activity on the part of the garage man. Renwick strolled to and fro +outside, alternately smoking and watching the preparations for +departure, while the melancholy giant stood leaning upon his umbrella in +the doorway. What was he waiting for? Renwick thought that he had made +his intentions sufficiently explicit. At last, his impatience getting +the better of him, he stopped before the man with the umbrella.</p> + +<p>"I am greatly obliged to you for your kindness. But you understand? I go +on alone."</p> + +<p>The man in black regarded him blandly.</p> + +<p>"That is not a part of the arrangement," he said.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"That I am to go with you."</p> + +<p>"I asked you to make no such arrangement."</p> + +<p>"It is a pity that perhaps I misunderstood."</p> + +<p>Renwick angrily approached the garage owner and tried to make him +understand, but he only proceeded with his work with greater alacrity, +bowing and pointing to the man in the doorway.</p> + +<p>"You observe," said the tall man, "that you will only complicate +matters?"</p> + +<p>Renwick glared at the other, but he returned the look with an impudent +composure, and Renwick, in fear of losing his self-control, at last +turned away. Nothing was to be gained by this controversy. After all, +what difference did the fellow's presence make? As a source of danger he +had already proved himself a negligible quantity. So Renwick with an ill +grace at last acquiesced, and within an hour they were on their way, +crossing the Danube and turning to their right along a rough road by the +Fruska mountains.</p> + +<p>The first accident happened before the machine reached Sarengrad, a +blowout which made another tire a necessity. The second, a broken leaf +of a spring, which made rapid travel hazardous. But it was not until +nightfall, in the midst of a desolation of plains, that carburetor +trouble of a most disturbing character developed. Renwick paced up and +down, offering advice and suggestion and then swearing in all the +languages he knew, but the chauffeur only shrugged and sputtered, while +the tall man gurgled soothingly. An hour they remained there when +Renwick's patience became exhausted, and he gave way to the suspicion +which had for some time obsessed him, that the pair of them were +conspiring to delay him upon his way.</p> + +<p>He came up behind the tall man who was bending over the open hood of the +car, and catching him roughly by the elbow, swung him around and faced +him angrily.</p> + +<p>"I've had about enough of this," he said. "Either that car moves in five +minutes or one of you will be hurt."</p> + +<p>He moved his hand toward his pocket to draw his weapon but his wrist was +caught in midair by a grip of steel that held Renwick powerless. The +Englishman was stronger than most men of his weight and made a sharp +struggle to get loose, but the man in black disarmed him as he would +have disarmed a child, and calmly put the pistol into his own pocket. It +was not until then that his bulk had seemed so significant, and the real +purpose of his presence been so apparent. There was no use in battling +with this melancholy Colossus who might, if he wished, break every bone +in Renwick's body.</p> + +<p>"Herr Renwick, if it will please you to be reasonable," he said, +releasing the Englishman and speaking as if soothing a spoiled child.</p> + +<p>At the mention of his name, Renwick drew back in growing wonder.</p> + +<p>"Who—who are you?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"My name is Gustav Linke," he said suavely. "I have been sent to keep +you from coming to harm. You see"——and he patted the pocket which +contained Renwick's pistol, "it is not difficult to run into danger when +one is always pulling one's pistol out."</p> + +<p>"Who sent you?" demanded Renwick furiously.</p> + +<p>The man in black coolly picked up his cotton umbrella which in the +struggle had fallen to the ground.</p> + +<p>"That is not a matter which need concern you."</p> + +<p>"I insist upon knowing and in going on to Brod without delay."</p> + +<p>The other merely shrugged.</p> + +<p>"I regret to say that that is impossible."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"Because my instructions were to keep you from reaching the Bosnian +border until tomorrow morning."</p> + +<p>"You are——?"</p> + +<p>"Herr Gustav Linke—that is all, Herr Renwick."</p> + +<p>"An agent of——"</p> + +<p>"The agent of Providence—let us say. Come. Be reasonable. I am sure +that the trifling disorder in the carburetor may be corrected. We shall +go on presently. The night is young. We shall reach Brod perhaps by +daylight. What do you say? Shall we be friends?"</p> + +<p>There was nothing else to be done. The disgusted Renwick shrugged and +got into the tonneau of the machine, awaiting the pleasure of his +captor. Out of the chaos of his disappointment came the one consoling +thought, that whatever Linke was, he was not a German.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h3>FLIGHT</h3> + + +<p>The visions which disturbed Marishka Strahni in that dim borderland +between sleep and waking persisted in her dreams. And always Goritz +predominated—sometimes smiling, sometimes frowning but always cold, +sinister and calculating. He made love to her and spurned her by turns, +threatened her with the fate of the Duchess, whom she saw dead before +her eyes, the victim of a shot in the back. There was a smoking pistol +in Marishka's hand, and another figure lying near, which wore the +uniform of an Austrian general—the Archduke Franz it seemed, until she +moved to one side and saw that the figure had the face of Hugh Renwick. +She started up from her couch, a scream on her lips—calling to +Hugh——! Was she awake or was this another dream, more dreadful than +the last? There followed a conflict of bewildering noises, as though +night had mercifully fallen upon a chaos of disaster. She sat up and +looked around her. A train.</p> + +<p>She gasped a sigh of relief as her gaze pierced the dimness of the +elusive shadows. She remembered now. Captain Goritz. But she was still +alone. She lay down again, trying to keep awake in dread of the visions, +but exhaustion conquered again and she slept, dreaming now of another +Hugh, a tender and chivalrous lover who held her in his arms and +whispered of roses.</p> + +<p>It was daylight when she awoke. Captain Goritz was now sitting by the +window smiling at her. She started up drowsily, fingering at her hair.</p> + +<p>"You have slept well, Countess?" he asked cheerfully and without waiting +for her reply. "It is well. You have probably a trying day before you."</p> + +<p>Marishka straightened and looked out of the window past him at the +sunlit morning. Could it be possible that this alert pleasant person was +the Nemesis of her dreams? The world had taken on a new complexion, +washed clean of terrors by the pure dews of the night.</p> + +<p>"Thanks, Herr Hauptmann," she smiled at him. "I am quite myself again."</p> + +<p>"That is fortunate," he said. "We are nearly at our journey's end—at +least this part of it. Our train goes no further than Marburg."</p> + +<p>"And then?"</p> + +<p>"An automobile—a long journey."</p> + +<p>"I am quite ready."</p> + +<p>At Marburg they got down, and after Marishka had made a hurried toilet, +they breakfasted in comfort at the Bahnhof restaurant. If Captain Goritz +nourished any suspicion that they were being followed he gave no sign of +it, and after breakfast, to Marishka's surprise, Karl the chauffeur +appeared miraculously and announced that their car was awaiting them.</p> + +<p>"If I were not sure that you were Herr Lieutenant von Arnstorf," laughed +Marishka, "I should say you were the fairy of the magic carpet."</p> + +<p>"The magic carpet—<i>ach</i>, yes—if we but had one!" he said genuinely.</p> + +<p>The motion of the automobile soothed and satisfied her. At least she was +doing what she could to reach Sarajevo before the archducal party +arrived, and as her companion hopefully assured her, with a fair chance +of success. If Marishka could see Sophie Chotek, all her troubles would +be over, for then the Wilhelmstrasse would not care to oppose the dictum +of the Duchess in favor of one who whatever her political sins in +Germany's eyes, had made endless sacrifices to atone.</p> + +<p>If Marishka succeeded! But if she failed?</p> + +<p>The morning was too wonderful for thoughts of grim deeds or the authors +of them. The poisons distilled in her mind the night before were +dispelled into the clear air of the mountainside, over which singing +streams gushed joyously down. Birds were calling—mating; wild creatures +scampered playfully in thicket and hedge; and the peaceful valleys were +redolent of sweet odors.</p> + +<p>In the long hours of the afternoon Marishka's thoughts were of Hugh +Renwick. Perspective had given him a finer contour, for she had Goritz +to compare him with. She loved Hugh. She knew now how much. Her +happiness had been too sweet to have had such a sudden ending. She had +been unkind—cruel—broken with him even when he was bending every +effort to aid her. He was trying to help her now for all that she +knew.... She had written him a note from the German Embassy—just a few +lines which she had enclosed with the message to her maid at the +apartment—warning him that he was in danger and praying that he leave +the country and return to England, a kindly note which by its anxiety +for his safety conveyed perhaps more of what was in her heart than she +would have cared to write had she believed that she was to see him +again.</p> + +<p>What reason had Captain Goritz for believing that Hugh would follow her +in this mad quest? How could Hugh be sure where she had gone and with +whom? There had been a quality of the miraculous in the judgment of +Captain Goritz. What if even now Hugh Renwick were near her? Her pulse +went a little faster. Pride—the pride which asks in vain—for a while +had been dashed low, and she had scorned him with her eyes, her voice, +her mien, her gestures, all, alas! but her heart. The women of the house +of Strahni——! Hugh Renwick had kissed her. And the memory of those +kisses amid the red roses of the Archduke was with her now. She felt +them on her lips—the touch of his firm strong fingers—the honest gaze +of his gray eyes—these were the tokens she had which came to her as +evidence that the readings of her heart had not been wrong. A Serbian +spy——! She smiled confidently.</p> + +<p>In a moment she stole a glance at Captain Goritz, who was bent forward +studying his road map. She waited until he gave directions to the +chauffeur and then spoke.</p> + +<p>"Captain Goritz," she said carelessly, "you manage so cleverly that I am +beginning to trust implicitly to your guidance and knowledge. But there +is one thing that puzzles me. It must be more than a whim which makes +you think that Herr Renwick will follow us to Sarajevo."</p> + +<p>"Not <i>us</i>, Countess," he smiled; "I said <i>you</i>."</p> + +<p>"But granting that he would follow me—which I doubt—how could he know +where I have gone?"</p> + +<p>Goritz laughed easily.</p> + +<p>"He will find a way."</p> + +<p>Marishka's face grew sober.</p> + +<p>"I fear Herr Renwick's friendship cannot achieve miracles. The last he +saw of me was in a hut in Bohemia. What clew could he have——? What +possible——"</p> + +<p>"Ah, Countess," Goritz broke in, "you do not realize as I have done the +cleverness of the Austrian Secret Service. We have so far eluded them. +We were very lucky but it cannot be long before the green limousine will +be discovered, and the direction of our journey."</p> + +<p>"But even that——"</p> + +<p>"To a clever man like Herr Renwick—to a man whose affections are +involved," he added slowly, "it would not be difficult to decide where +you have gone. He knows the discomforts and dangers you have passed +through to achieve your object. He will, of course, seek your apartment +and read the meaning of your sending for your clothing just as +easily"—he paused a moment and smiled at the back of Karl's head—"just +as easily," he repeated slowly, "as though you yourself had written him +a note telling him—er—exactly which train you had taken."</p> + +<p>Marishka felt the warm color flooding her neck and brows. In writing +Renwick she had broken her promise to this man not to communicate with +her friends. Goritz watched her pretty distress for a moment with +amusement which speedily turned to interest.</p> + +<p>"Of course, Countess, you did <i>not</i> write to him?" he said, with sudden +severity.</p> + +<p>"I owe you an explanation, Captain Goritz——" she said timidly.</p> + +<p>"You wrote—Countess?" evincing the most admirable surprise.</p> + +<p>"I inclosed a few words in my note to my maid—a warning of danger and a +request that Herr Renwick leave at once for England——"</p> + +<p>And as Goritz frowned at her, "Surely there is no harm in that."</p> + +<p>"Your word of honor——"</p> + +<p>"I betrayed nothing of my whereabouts or plans," she pleaded.</p> + +<p>"How can I know that you speak the truth?"</p> + +<p>"I swear it."</p> + +<p>Goritz shrugged lightly.</p> + +<p>"It is, of course, a woman's privilege to change her mind. Still, you +put me upon my guard. It is unfortunate. How can I be sure that you will +not be sending other notes without my permission to the Europa when we +reach Sarajevo?"</p> + +<p>"The Europa——? I fail to understand."</p> + +<p>"The Europa Hotel," he said with a curious distinctness, "where all +English people stop, and where of course your friend Mr. Renwick will +stop."</p> + +<p>Marishka examined him keenly.</p> + +<p>"Your prescience cannot be infallible."</p> + +<p>"No. But Herr Renwick will come to Sarajevo," he repeated confidently.</p> + +<p>He was still studying the road map and she was silent, thinking. But in +a moment he raised his head and shrugged again.</p> + +<p>"Of course it is nothing to me. As an English subject he has the +protection of his Ambassador. Even if my orders demanded his arrest I +should be without power to carry them out."</p> + +<p>"It is easier to deal with the credulity of women," she said quietly.</p> + +<p>"Countess Strahni, you make it very difficult for me—doubly difficult +since I have learned how lightly you hold your promise."</p> + +<p>"But confession absolves——"</p> + +<p>"With me, perhaps, because I could refuse you nothing, but not with +those that have sent me."</p> + +<p>"But why should you be uneasy at the possibility of Herr Renwick +following to Sarajevo?"</p> + +<p>"I do not relish the disturbance of my plans."</p> + +<p>She smiled a little at that.</p> + +<p>"I think I should be a little happier if I knew just what those plans +were."</p> + +<p>He did not reply at once. Then he went on slowly, choosing his words +with care.</p> + +<p>"My sentiments of respect must by this time have told you that no harm +can come to you. Last night His Excellency, the German Ambassador, +informed me that I shall do a great damage to the friendship between +your nation and mine, if I presume to take you across the German border +without your consent. I have been much moved by his advice. He has +already written to the Wilhelmstrasse in your behalf. I cannot yet +absolve you from your promise since my own actions in Austria have been +far from conventional. Herr Renwick, if he chooses, can make my visit to +Sarajevo most unpleasant. But I see no reason, after our purpose has +been achieved, why you should not be restored to your friends, even to +Herr Renwick, if that is your desire," and then in a lower tone, "I can +assure you, Countess Strahni, that I relinquish you to him with an ill +grace."</p> + +<p>"Herr Renwick is no Serbian spy, Captain Goritz," she said steadily.</p> + +<p>He smiled.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you do not believe me. Very well. You will discover it for +yourself."</p> + +<p>"How?" she asked timidly.</p> + +<p>He looked at her with every mark of admiration, but his reply did not +answer her question.</p> + +<p>"Herr Renwick is indeed fortunate in having so loyal a friend—even +though, as you say, there is nothing between you in common. I envy him +the possession. I hope that he may better deserve it."</p> + +<p>She smiled but did not speak for a moment and then, "Why is it that you +so dislike a man whom you do not know—whom you—you have never seen?"</p> + +<p>Goritz bent forward toward her, his voice lowered while his strange dark +eyes gazed full into hers:</p> + +<p>"Need I tell you?" he whispered. "You have thought me cruel, because I +have done my duty, heartless—cold—a mere piece of official machinery +which could balk at nothing—even the destruction of a woman's +happiness—because my allegiance to my country was greater than any +personal consideration. But I am not insensible to the appeals of +gentleness, not blind to beauty nor deaf to music, Countess Strahni, as +you have thought. Beneath the exterior which may have seemed forbidding +to you, I am only human. Last night I took advantage of your weariness +and weakness in telling you, with cruel bluntness, of Herr Renwick's +relations with the Serbian government. I learned what you have labored +to conceal—that you care for him—that you care for one who——"</p> + +<p>"It is not true," she broke in calmly. "I do not care for Herr Renwick."</p> + +<p>"It would delight me to believe you," he went on with a shake of the +head, "but I cannot. It has been very painful to me to see you suffer, +for whatever you have done in a mistaken sense of loyalty to your +country, nothing can alter the fact of your innocence, your virtue, and +your dependence upon my kindness in a most trying situation. I have told +you the facts about Herr Renwick because I have believed it my duty, to +you and to Austria. If I have hurt you, Countess Strahni," he finished +gently, "I pray that you will forgive me."</p> + +<p>Marishka was silent, now looking straight before her down the mountain +road which they were descending slowly. The voice of Captain Goritz had +a sonorous quality which could not have been unpleasant to the ears of +any woman. She listened to it soberly, trying to detect the tinkle of +the spurious, but she was forced to admit that beyond and behind the +mere phrases which might in themselves mean nothing, there was a depth +of earnestness that might have proved bewildering to one less versed in +the ways of the world than herself. His eyes, singularly clear and +luminous, dominated and held her judgment of him in abeyance. For the +moment she was able to forget her terrors of the night before, his +enmity for Hugh Renwick, and the threat he had hung over her freedom. +She did not dare to trust him. Too much still hung in the balance of her +favor or disfavor. And yet she was forced to admit the constraint of his +fervor, his kindness and courteous consideration. A woman forgives much +to those who acknowledge without question the scepter of her femininity.</p> + +<p>At last she turned toward him with a smile and gave nun her hand. Nor +did she withdraw it when bending low he pressed it gently to his lips. +This was a game that two could play at.</p> + +<p>"We are to be friends, then?" he asked quietly.</p> + +<p>"Of course," she smiled at him.</p> + +<p>Toward six of the afternoon a trifling mishap to the motor delayed them +for two hours, and it was long after midnight before they reached Brod +and learned that the train of the Archduke had left within the hour. +This was a terrible disappointment, which seemed to menace the success +of their venture. But Captain Goritz determined to go on as rapidly as +possible, trusting to reach their destination before the royal party +left its train, hoping that the sight of Countess Strahni by the Duchess +would be sufficient to let down any official barriers which might be +interposed. But an unforeseen difficulty at Brod still further delayed +them, a difficulty which required all of the ingenuity of Captain Goritz +to get them once more upon their way. It was three o'clock in the +morning, when having made some necessary repairs to the machine, they +reached the Austrian end of the great bridge across the Save. Here they +were halted by an iron chain across the bridge entrance and a police +officer who, it seemed, looked upon their night traveling with +suspicion. Captain Goritz protested indignantly and produced his papers, +which the officer inspected by the dim light of an ancient lantern held +by a subordinate.</p> + +<p>"I am sorry," he said firmly, "but no motor cars are permitted to cross +into Bosnia until tomorrow morning."</p> + +<p>"But, my friend," said Goritz with an air of outraged patience, "I am an +officer of the Third Regiment of the Fifteenth Army Corps returning to +Sarajevo from a leave of absence which expires at nine in the morning. +It is necessary that my party goes through at once."</p> + +<p>"I must obey orders, Herr Ober Lieutenant."</p> + +<p>"But my papers are correct. They are signed, you will observe, by +General von Hoetzendorf himself."</p> + +<p>"I am sorry, but you cannot go through. If you choose to take up the +matter with my superior officer, you will find the Kaserne in the main +street near the mosque. I shall pass you only upon his visé. That is +final. You will please turn your car and return to the village."</p> + +<p>Captain Goritz gazed longingly along the pale beam of the motor lamps +into the dark reaches of the bridge, and then at the shadow of the heavy +chain. At last with reluctance he gave the order to turn back. There +seemed no doubt that the restriction was unusual, and that the visit of +the Archduke had much to do with the obstruction of traffic between +Sarajevo and central Europe. The car moved slowly back through the +darkened village in the direction from which they had come, while Goritz +planned what was better to be done. The nearest other crossing at Kobas +was twenty miles away, over the road by which they had come, and they +knew that the roads upon the Bosnian side of the river were mere cow +tracks. If the officer at the bridge refused to pass them, how were they +to be certain that they would fare any better at the hands of his +superior, probably a crusty village official who would not relish being +awakened in the small hours of the morning even by a belated army +officer? At the order of Captain Goritz, the chauffeur Karl backed the +car into a meadow and put out the lights. Then Goritz lighted a +cigarette and smoked rapidly.</p> + +<p>"Brod is Serbian for ford. Is the passage above the bridge or below?"</p> + +<p>"Below, Herr Hauptmann, but dangerous at this season. I should not risk +it."</p> + +<p>"Ah, I see." He paused a moment, thinking rapidly. "Is there a chain at +the other end of the bridge?"</p> + +<p>"I have never seen one, Herr Hauptmann."</p> + +<p>"Very good. You will await me here."</p> + +<p>And without further words he got down and disappeared into the darkness. +Marishka sat trembling with uncertainty, trying to pierce the obscurity +in the direction in which her companion had gone. Silence, except for +the droning of the insects and the distant rushing of the river. +Fifteen, twenty minutes in which Marishka sat tensely waiting, hoping, +fearing she knew not what, and then silently, merely a darker shadow of +the night itself, a figure appeared and silently mounted into the seat +beside the waiting Karl.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h3>TRAGEDY</h3> + + +<p>She heard a few phrases pass between them and then, without lights, the +machine suddenly moved forward. The explosions of the engine, muffled +though they were, seemed like rifle shots to ears newly accustomed to +the silences of the night. But the speed of the motor increased rapidly, +and she felt the damp of the river fog brushing her cheek. She could see +nothing though she peered into the blackness eagerly. The car was +rushing to destruction for all that she knew, yet Karl was driving +straight and hard for the entrance of the bridge. Marishka saw the dim +gleam of a lantern, heard a hoarse shout, and then the sound of shots +lost in the crashing of the timbers of the bridge as they thundered +over, the throttle wide, past the bridge house at Bosna-Brod upon the +other side of the river, and on without pause through the village into +the open road beyond. All this in darkness, which had made the venture +the more terrible.</p> + +<p>It was with relief that she heard the light laugh and even tones of +Captain Goritz.</p> + +<p>"That is well done, Karl. Your eyes are better than mine. But I have no +humor for a bath in the Bosna, so we will have the lights, if you +please."</p> + +<p>"They will follow us?" stammered Marishka.</p> + +<p>"There is a greater danger of detention at Dervent or Duboj, but I'm +hoping the bridge-tender may keep silent. It was stupid of him not to +guard the chain."</p> + +<p>"You lowered it——?"</p> + +<p>"It made a fearful racket, but the roar of the river helped."</p> + +<p>A little further down the road, at a signal, Karl brought the car to a +stop and silenced the engine, while Goritz got down into the road and +listened intently, striking a match meanwhile and looking at the dial of +his watch. There were no sounds in the direction from which they had +come but the distant roar of the river and the whispering of the wind in +the trees.</p> + +<p>"It is half-past three, Karl. How far have we to go?"</p> + +<p>"More than two hundred kilos—two hundred and fifty perhaps."</p> + +<p>"Ah, so much?" and he frowned. "I wish to reach the capital by eight +o'clock, Karl," he said.</p> + +<p>"<i>Zu befehl</i>, Herr Hauptmann—if it is in the machine. I can at least +try."</p> + +<p>As Goritz got in beside Marishka, he started the engine, and they were +off again. As a sign that at least the chauffeur was trying to carry out +his orders, in a moment they were rushing along at a furious pace which +seemed to threaten destruction to them all. In spite of an impending +storm which had now, fortunately, passed, at Brod Karl had lowered the +top of the car in order to make better speed in the final race for their +goal, and the rush of wind seemed to make breathing difficult, but +Marishka clung to the bracket at her side, trying to keep her balance as +they swung around the curves, and silently praying. Conversation was +impossible until the road rose from the plains of the Save into the +mountains, where the speed was necessarily diminished. The car, +fortunately, seemed to be a good one, for no machine unless well proven +could long stand the strain of such work as Karl was giving it to do. +Through Dervent they went at full speed, seeing no lights or human +beings. Beyond Duboj the moon came out, and this made Karl's problems +less difficult, though the road wound dangerously along the ravines of +the Brod river, which tumbled from cleft to cleft, sometimes a silver +thread and again a ragged cataract hundreds of feet below. There were no +retaining walls, and here and there as they turned sudden and unexpected +corners it almost seemed to Marishka that the rear wheels of the machine +swirled out into space. She held her breath and closed her eyes from +time to time, expecting the car to lose its equilibrium and go whirling +over and over into the echoing gorge below them, the depth of which the +shadow of the mountains opposite mercifully hid from view. But Karl had +no time in which to consider the thoughts of his passengers. He had his +orders. If achievement were in the metal he intended to carry them out. +The feudal castles of old Bosnia passed in stately review, Maglaj, +Usora, clinging leech-like to their inaccessible peaks, grim sentinels +of the vista of years, frowning at the roaring engine of modernity which +sent its echoes mocking at their lonely dignity. Marishka could look, +but not for long, for in a moment would come the terrible down-grade and +the white, leaping road before them, which held her eyes with fearful +hypnotism. Death! What right had she to pray for her own safety, when +her own lips had condemned Sophie Chotek? There was still a chance that +she would reach Sarajevo in time. She had no thought of sleep. Weary as +she was, the imminence of disaster at first fascinated—then enthralled +her. She was drunk with excitement, crying out she knew not what in +admiration of Karl's skill, her fingers in imagination with his upon the +wheel, her gaze, like his, keen and unerring upon the road.</p> + +<p>Beside her Captain Goritz sat silently, smiling as he watched her.</p> + +<p>"It is wonderful, is it not?" he said in a lull, when the machine +coasted down a straight piece of road. "Fear is the master passion of +life. Even I, Countess, am in love with fear." And then with a laugh, +"We shall arrive in time if the tires hold. It is a good machine, a very +good machine."</p> + +<p>Dawn stole slowly across the heavens between the mountain peaks, an opal +dawn, pale and luminous. Here and there objects defined themselves +against the velvety surfaces of the hills, a hut by the river brink, a +thread of smoke rising straight in the still air, a herdsman driving his +flock in a path across the valley. But Karl, the chauffeur, drove madly +on, more madly, it seemed, as the light grew better. People appeared as +if by magic upon the road, with loaded vehicles bound to +market—awe-stricken peasants, who leaped aside and then turned +wondering.</p> + +<p>The machine climbed a mountain from which a vista of many miles of +country was spread out before them, but there was no sign of their +destination. Half-past eight—nine——! The roads became crowded again, +with vehicles, horsemen, footmen, and groups of soldiers, all traveling +in the same direction. Sarajevo was not far distant but they went at a +snail's pace, their nerves leaping in the reaction. Marishka, pallid +with fatigue, sat leaning forward in her seat, dumb with anxiety. Goritz +rubbed his chin thoughtfully. But he had not yet begun to despair. +Suddenly the car came to a turning in the road, and the Bosnian capital +was spread out at their feet. Goritz looked at his watch. It was nearly +ten. If the thing they dreaded had not yet come to pass there might +still be time. As they descended the hill into the valley of the +Miljacka, it was apparent that the town was in holiday attire. Flags +floated from many poles, and the streets and bridges were crowded with +people. At the direction of Captain Goritz, Karl drove quickly to the +railroad station, where a group of officials stood gesturing and talking +excitedly.</p> + +<p>"Has His Highness gone into the city?" asked Goritz of the man nearest +him.</p> + +<p>The fellow paused and turned at the sight of the Austrian uniform.</p> + +<p>"Ah, Herr Lieutenant—you have not heard?"</p> + +<p>"I have just come down from the hills. What is the matter?"</p> + +<p>"A bomb has been thrown into the automobile of the Archduke——"</p> + +<p>"He is killed?" asked Goritz, while Marishka leaned forward in horror.</p> + +<p>"Fortunately, no. He cast the bomb into the street, but it exploded +under the vehicle of his escort, killing several, they say."</p> + +<p>"She is safe—Her Highness is safe?" questioned Marishka.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but it was a narrow escape," said another man.</p> + +<p>"Where is the Archduke now?" asked Goritz.</p> + +<p>"At the Rathaus—where he is to receive a testimonial from the +Burgomaster, in behalf of the city. From there they go to the Governor's +palace, I think."</p> + +<p>"Thanks," said Goritz with a gasp of relief, and gave the word to Karl +to drive on toward the center of the town.</p> + +<p>"'Forewarned is forearmed,'" he muttered to Marishka. "They may not dare +to attempt it again. I think you need have no further anxiety, +Countess."</p> + +<p>"But I must reach Her Highness. I must let her know everything."</p> + +<p>"We shall try." And then to Karl, "Go as far as you can into the town, +to Franz Josef Street."</p> + +<p>But at the tobacco factory the crowd was so great that they could not go +on, and Goritz after some directions to Karl, helped Marishka down, and +they went forward through the crowd afoot, listening to its excited +comments.</p> + +<p>"Cabrinobitch——"</p> + +<p>"A Serbian, they say. The police seized him."</p> + +<p>"I was as near to him as you are. Stovan Kovacevik was hit by a piece of +the bomb. They have taken him to the hospital."</p> + +<p>"Colonel Merizzi—they say he is dead. And Count von Waldeck badly +wounded."</p> + +<p>Marishka shuddered. She had known them both at Konopisht. She caught +Captain Goritz by the arm and forced her way to the Stadt Park, +following the crowd of people and at last reaching Franz Josef Street, +which was filled almost solidly with an excited, gesticulating mass of +humanity.</p> + +<p>"A Serbian plot!" they heard a man in a turban say in polyglot German. +"Not Serbian nor Bosnian. We have no murderers here."</p> + +<p>"So say I," cried another. "They will blame it upon us. Where are the +police, that the streets are not even cleared."</p> + +<p>"Why does he come here to make trouble? We do not love him, but we are +an orderly people. Let him be gone."</p> + +<p>"He was at least brave. They say after the bomb was thrown into his +machine he threw it into the street."</p> + +<p>"Brave! Yes. But he is a soldier. Why shouldn't he be brave?"</p> + +<p>"Courage may not save him. There is something back of this. A man told +me there was a bomb thrower on every street corner."</p> + +<p>Marishka pushed forward shuddering, with Captain Goritz close behind +her.</p> + +<p>"I cannot believe it," she whispered.</p> + +<p>"The ravings of a crowd," he muttered. "It matters nothing."</p> + +<p>But as they neared the corner of Rudolfstrasse, there was a stir and a +murmur as all heads turned to look up the street in the direction of the +Carsija.</p> + +<p>"He comes again." "The machine is returning from the Rathaus." The word +flew from lip to lip with the speed of the wind. A few Austrian soldiers +were riding down the street clearing the way. They were all. No police, +no other soldiers. It was horrible. The sides of the machine were +utterly unprotected from the people, who closed in upon it, almost +brushing its wheels. Marishka pressed forward again, jostled this way +and that, until she stood upon the very fringe of the crowd at the +corner of the street. Captain Goritz held her by the elbow. What purpose +was in her mind he could not know. But every nerve in her—every impulse +urged her to go forward to the very doors of the machine and protect +Sophie Chotek, if necessary with her own body, against the dangers +which, as the people about her said, lurked on every corner. The machine +approached very slowly. There was no cheering, and it seemed strange to +Marishka that there could be no joy in the hearts of these people at the +courage of their Heir Presumptive, who had faced death bravely, and now +with more hardihood than prudence was facing it again. The car was open, +and she could see the figures of the royal pair quite clearly, their +faces very pale, the Archduke leaning forward talking with a man in +uniform in the front seat opposite him, the Duchess scanning the crowd +anxiously. As the machine stopped again at the street corner, Marishka +rushed forward until she stood just at its front wheels, waving a hand +and speaking the Duchess's name. She saw the gaze of Sophie Chotek meet +hers, waver and then become fixed again in wonder, in sudden +recognition, and incomprehension. Words formed on the girl's lips and +she called,</p> + +<p>"It is I—Marishka Strahni, Duchess—I must speak——"</p> + +<p>She got no further. Out of the mass of people just at her elbow the +figure of a man emerging, sprang upon the running board of the machine. +He seemed to wave his hand, and then there were sounds of shots. The +Archduke started up, holding a protecting arm before the body of the +Duchess, who had sunk back into her seat, her hand to her breast. The +Archduke wavered a moment and then fell forward across the knees of the +Duchess.</p> + +<p>Of the mad moments which followed, Marishka was barely conscious. She +was pushed roughly back into the turgid crowd and would have fallen had +not an arm sustained her. Men seized the assassin and hurried him away. +There were hoarse shouts, glimpses of soldiers, as the machine of death +pushed its way through the mass of people, and always the strong arm +sustained her, pushing her, leading her away into a street where there +were fewer people and less noise.</p> + +<p>"Come, Countess, he brave," Goritz was saying. "God knows you have done +what you could."</p> + +<p>"It is horrible," she gasped brokenly. "A moment sooner, perhaps, and I +should have succeeded. She recognized me—you saw?"</p> + +<p>He nodded. "Kismet! It was written," he said grimly.</p> + +<p>"But someone must pay—someone—who was——?"</p> + +<p>"A Bosnian student—named Prinzep—a man said."</p> + +<p>"He was but a boy—a frail boy——"</p> + +<p>"He has been well taught to shoot," muttered Goritz.</p> + +<p>"Death!" she cried hysterically. "And I——"</p> + +<p>"Be quiet. People are watching you," said Goritz sternly. "Lean on my +arm and go where I shall lead. It is not far."</p> + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="secret5" id="secret5"></a> +<img src="images/secret5.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>"Be quiet. People are watching you," said Goritz sternly.</h3> +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The sight of strange, distorted faces regarding her gave Marishka the +strength to obey. Mechanically her feet moved, but the sunlight blinded +her. She passed through a maze of small streets lined with market stalls +where groups of people shouted excitedly; and dimly as in a dream she +heard their comments.</p> + +<p>"The police—we have police—where were they? The Government will be +blaming us. We are not murderers! No. It is a shame!"</p> + +<p>Marishka shuddered and leaned more heavily upon the arm of her +companion. She was weary unto death, body and spirit—but still her feet +moved on, out of the maze of small alleys into a larger alley, where her +companion stopped before a blue wooden gate let into a stone wall. He +put his hand upon the latch, the gate yielded, and they entered a small +garden with well ordered walks and a fountain, beside which was a stone +bench. Upon this bench at the bidding of Captain Goritz she sank, +burying her face in her hands, while he went toward the house, which had +its length at one side of the garden. She put her fingers before her +eyes trying to shut out the horrors she had witnessed, but they +persisted, ugly and sinister. Over and over in her mind dinned the +hoarse murmur of the crowd, "We are not murderers! No!" Who then——? +Not the frail student with the smoking pistol ... the agent of +others.... The eyes of Sophie Chotek haunted her—eyes that had looked +so often into her own with kindness. She had seen terror in them, and +then—the mad turmoil, the dust, the acrid smell of powder fumes, and +the silent group of huddled figures in the machine!...</p> + +<p>There were sounds of voices and of footsteps approaching, but Marishka +could not move. She was prone, inert, helpless.</p> + +<p>"She is very tired," someone said.</p> + +<p>"<i>Ach</i>—she must come within and sleep."</p> + +<p>A woman's voice, it seemed, deep but not unsympathetic.</p> + +<p>"A glass of wine perhaps—and food."</p> + +<p>"It shall be as you desire, Excellency. I know what she needs."</p> + +<p>Arms raised her, and she felt herself half led, half carried, into the +house and laid upon a bed in a room upstairs. It was dark within and +there was a strange odor of spices. Presently someone, the woman, it +seemed, gave her something to drink, and after awhile the turmoil in her +head grew less—and she slept.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h3>THE HARIM</h3> + + +<p>Dreams, colorful and strangely vivid, but not unpleasant. It seemed that +Marishka lay upon a couch so soft that she sank deliciously without end +to perfect rest. Above, about, below her, perfumed darkness, spangled +with soft spots of light, which came and went curiously. She tried to +fix her gaze upon one of them, but it was extinguished immediately and +appeared elsewhere. She found another—and another, but they fled from +her like <i>ignes fatui</i>. She heard the whir of a machine, fast and then +slow again, near and then at a distance. Was it an automobile or an +aeroplane? The notion of an automobile speeding in space was +incongruous, the milky way—a queer concept! She smiled in her +dreams.... Then suddenly a bright sunlight peopled with strange figures +in fez and turban, faces that leered at her, lips that howled in +excitement, arms that moved threateningly, dust, noise, commotion, from +which she was trying in vain to escape.... And then darkness again and +the subdued murmur of voices, one voice familiar, one gruff and +unfamiliar.</p> + +<p>"Ten thousand <i>kroner</i>—that is a large sum," said the gruff voice.</p> + +<p>"Yours, Effendi, if the thing is accomplished."</p> + +<p>"It should not be difficult. You may reply upon me."</p> + +<p>"And you are to show the lady every attention—every comfort——"</p> + +<p>"<i>Zu befehl</i>——"</p> + +<p>There was a recurrence of the changing lights and the voices receded. +Presently she seemed to hear them again.</p> + +<p>"She is to be kept in seclusion of course, but otherwise you will accede +to all her requests—all, you understand——Should she care to +write—you will send a message. There are more ways than one to kill a +goose. And this one lays the golden egg, Effendi——"</p> + +<p>"I understands—a golden egg."</p> + +<p>"Very good—perhaps tonight——We shall see."</p> + +<p>"I shall be prepared, Excellency."</p> + +<p>The voices died away and melted into the murmur of a crowd, which merged +curiously into the whir of an automobile. But it was dark again and the +spots of light in the darkness reappeared. One, two, three, a dozen she +counted and then they vanished. She was alone, an atom in the expanse of +infinity, but the darkness and the perfume now oppressed, suffocated +her, and she tried to escape. But she moved her limbs with difficulty, +and a weight sealed her eyelids. She struggled up against it and managed +to rise upon one elbow and look about her.</p> + +<p>She was awake. Slowly memory returned, the memory of things which seemed +to have happened a long while before, and time and distance seemed to +have robbed them of their sting. She was awake and alone in a dark room, +lying on a low couch, upon which were spread a number of pillows of +strange design. A latticed window was near, and outside, the shadows of +a tree branch fell across the barred rectangle, cutting the lines of +light into broken lozenges of shadow. The room was furnished somberly +but richly with heavy hangings and teakwood furniture decorated with +mother-of-pearl. A lantern of curious design depended from the ceiling. +There was a figure standing in the corner. She raised herself upon one +elbow and examined the figure attentively, not frightened yet, but +merely curious.</p> + +<p>It was a suit of ancient armor of a period with which she was +unfamiliar. She moved her limbs painfully and sat up. Her head throbbed +for a few moments but she found that she was able to think clearly +again. Slowly she realized where she was and what had happened. The blue +door in the wall—this the house that adjoined the garden. She had +slept—how long she did not know, but the beams of sunlight were orange +in color and made a brilliant arabesque upon an embroidered hanging on +the opposite wall. She must have slept long. Her dreams returned to her, +fleeting and elusive, like the <i>ignes fatui</i> which had been a part of +them. The whir of wheels, the vision of the vari-colored crowd, the +murmur of voices speaking—these too had been a dream. She tried to +recall what the voices had murmured. Phrases came to her. "Ten thousand +<i>kroner</i>—the goose that lays the golden egg——" It was all like a +story from a fairy tale. She looked about her—a dream—of course. Who +could have been speaking of <i>kroners</i> and golden eggs here?</p> + +<p>There were two doors to the apartment in which she lay, one, ornate with +Turkish fretwork, which had in its center panel what seemed to be a +small window, covered by a black grille. At the other end of the room +another door, open, from which came a flicker of cool light, the soft +pad of footsteps and the sound of a voice humming some curious Oriental +air. Marishka did not get up at once, but sat among the pillows, her +fingers at her temples as she tried to collect her thoughts. She knew +that she must think. Everything seemed to depend upon the clearness with +which her mind emerged from the fog of dreams. Slowly, the happenings of +the last few days recurred—the flight, the wild ride down the ravines +of the Brod, Sarajevo, the tragedy, the car of Death! She put her +fingers before her eyes and then straightened bravely. And what now? +Goritz! What was he going to do with her? She tried to judge the future +by the past. She had given herself unreservedly into his hands in the +hope of reaching Sophie Chotek before—before what had happened. Their +interests had been identical—the saving of life—and if they had +succeeded, there would have been no need for anxiety as to her own +future. But now the situation seemed to have changed. Failure had marked +her for its own, an unbidden guest in a strange country in which she was +for the present at the mercy of her captor. She could not forget that +she was his prisoner, and the terms of her promise to him came to her +with startling clearness. His recantation, his courtesy, his ardent +looks had allayed suspicion, but had not quite removed the earlier +impression. In this hour of awakening and depression there seemed to be +room for any dreadful possibility.</p> + +<p>Was she a prisoner? If so, the window was not barred, and she saw that +it let upon the tiny garden fifteen feet below. If she could gather the +strength, it might not be difficult to lower herself from the window +sill—drop to the garden and flee. But where? To whom? She turned +quickly, listening for the sounds of the footsteps in the adjoining +room, her hand at her breast, where her heart was throbbing with a new +hope. Hugh! Hugh in Sarajevo! And yet why not? It came to her in a throb +of joyous pride that in spite of all that she had done to deter him, he +had persisted in helping and protecting her, oblivious of her denial of +him and of her cutting disdain. But would the frail clew of her flight +through Vienna be enough to point her object and destination? The memory +of his cleverness and initiative in their night ride to Konopisht gave +her new hope. Why should he not come to Sarajevo? Between the lines of +the note she had written him he must have read the tenderness that had +always been in her heart. He was no coward, and the idea of fleeing to +England when danger threatened her would, of course, be the last that +would come into his mind. It was curious that she had not thought of +this before. He would come to Sarajevo if he could—perhaps he was here +now——</p> + +<p>A heavy figure stood in the doorway regarding her. She could not at +first decide whether it was a man or a woman for the wide, baggy +trousers resembled a skirt, and the short, sleeveless jacket was similar +to that worn by the male Moslems she had seen in the Carsija. But in a +moment, a voice of rather low pitch spoke kindly, in atrocious German.</p> + +<p>"The Fräulein is at last awake. Does she feel better?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, thanks, yes," said Marishka, at last deciding that it was a woman. +"I have slept long."</p> + +<p>"Seven hours at least, and like the dead. But you must be hungry. I will +prepare something at once."</p> + +<p>"Thank you. And if I could wash my face and hands."</p> + +<p>"It shall be as you wish. If you will but come with me——"</p> + +<p>Marishka rose, and as she did so, the door with the black grille opened +from within, and a girl came into the room. Like the older woman she +wore baggy trousers and slippers, but above the waist, typifying the +meeting of East and West, a somewhat soiled satin blouse which might +have been made either in Paris or Vienna. The face was very pretty, +regular of feature and oval in contour, but the effect of its beauty was +marred by the hair above it, which was dyed with henna a saffron red. +But she wore a flower at her breast, and in spite of her artificialities +exhaled the gayety of youth. She smiled very prettily and came forward +with a confiding air, giving Marishka her hand.</p> + +<p>"I have been waiting for you to wake up," she said in a soft voice. "I +have never known anyone to sleep so soundly."</p> + +<p>She laughed like a child who is very much pleased with a new toy, and +holding Marishka's hand, looked at her curiously from head to foot. +There was something very genuine in her interest and kindliness, and +Marishka found herself smiling.</p> + +<p>"I must have been very tired," she said.</p> + +<p>"I am sorry. You are feeling better now?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, but very dirty——"</p> + +<p>"Come with me. Zubeydeh will bring food."</p> + +<p>She led the way through the door of the black grille, down a short +passage into a large room at the end of the house. The apartment was +strewn with rugs, and its furniture was a curious mixture of the color +of the East and the utility of the West—a French dressing stand beside +a stove of American make, a Bosnian marriage chest, a table which might +have come out of the Ringstrasse, a brass tray for burning charcoal, a +carved teakwood stand upon which stood a nargileh, a box of cigars, some +cigarettes, and two coffee cups still containing the residue of the last +draught. There were latticed windows in <i>meshrebiya</i>, which overlooked +the garden and street, and piled beside them were a number of pillows +and cushions. The room was none too clean, but there were evidences here +and there of desultory attempts at rehabilitation.</p> + +<p>The girl with the red hair led Marishka to one of the window recesses, +where she bade her sit upon a pile of pillows, bringing a basin and an +ewer of water which she put upon the rug beside her.</p> + +<p>"Ah, I was forgetting," said the girl, and going to the corner of the +room produced with much pride Marishka's suitcase. "His Excellency left +it for you this afternoon."</p> + +<p>The sight of water and a change of clothing did much to restore +Marishka's confidence and self-respect, and she opened the bag with +alacrity, bringing forth from its recesses soap, clean linen and a +washcloth.</p> + +<p>While Marishka ate and drank, the girl with the red hair crouched upon +her knees beside the suitcase, sniffed at its contents eagerly, and with +little cries of delight touched with her fingers the delicate articles +which it contained.</p> + +<p>"How pretty! How soft to the touch!" And then rather wistfully, "It is a +pity that one cannot get such things in Bosna-Seraj."</p> + +<p>"You like them?" asked Marishka, reveling in the delight of being free +from the dust of her journey.</p> + +<p>"Oh, they are so beautiful!"</p> + +<p>For all her years, and she must have been at least as old as Marishka, +she had the undeveloped mind of a child.</p> + +<p>"You, too, are beautiful," she sighed enviously, "so white, your skin is +so clear. Your hair is so soft." And then as an afterthought, "But I +think it would look just as pretty if it were red."</p> + +<p>Marishka laughed.</p> + +<p>"What is your name, my dear?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"I am called Yeva—they say after the first woman who was born."</p> + +<p>"Eve—of course. It becomes you well."</p> + +<p>"You think so. Was she very beautiful?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—the mother of all women."</p> + +<p>"The ugly ones?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. We cannot all be beautiful."</p> + +<p>"It must be dreadful to be old and ugly like Zubeydeh."</p> + +<p>As Marishka brought out brush and comb and a towel, Yeva ran quickly and +procured a mirror—a small cheap affair with tawdry tinsel ornaments.</p> + +<p>"You will let me brush your hair, Fräulein. It will be a great +privilege."</p> + +<p>"Of course, child—if you care to."</p> + +<p>And while Yeva combed and brushed, Marishka questioned and she answered. +The house in which she lived was near the Sirokac Tor. Her lord and +master was of the Begs of Rataj, once the rulers of a province in +Bosnia, where his father's fathers had lived, but now shorn of his +tithes and a dealer in rugs. He was an old man, yes, but he was good to +her, giving her much to eat and drink, and many clothes. She must ask +him to get some of these pretty soft undergarments from Vienna. And the +Excellency. She had seen him twice, some months before through the +<i>dutap</i>, when he had conversed with the Effendi in the adjoining room. +And was the beautiful Fräulein in love with the Excellency?</p> + +<p>Marishka answered her in some sort, listening to the girl's chatter, +meanwhile thinking deeply of the plan that had come into her mind. +Scraps of suggestion that she had gleaned from her talks with Goritz +gave her at least a hope that she might be successful in reaching Hugh +Renwick by messenger. "The English always go to the Europa," he had +said. There, if Hugh Renwick had come to Sarajevo, was the place where a +note would find him. And so, the hair brushing having been successfully +accomplished, she asked the girl if there was someone by whom she could +secretly send a note.</p> + +<p>A message! To an Excellency—a Herr Hauptmann—or perhaps a +General—yes. She was sure that it could be managed. She herself perhaps +could take it. Had not the Effendi told her that the Fräulein was to +want for nothing? And greatly excited at the thought of intrigue, +brought a tabourette which she placed before Marishka, then found paper, +ink and envelopes and squatted upon a pillow, watching eagerly over +Marishka's shoulder. But the girl's scrutiny troubled Marishka. Was she +in the confidence of Captain Goritz? And if not, could she be persuaded +to hold her tongue? Instead of writing at once, Marishka relinquished +the pen and took Yeva's hand.</p> + +<p>"It is very necessary for my peace and happiness that the contents of +this note should be only seen by the person to whom it is delivered——"</p> + +<p>"Ah, Fräulein, it shall be as you say. By Allah, I swear——"</p> + +<p>"Do you care enough? I will give you anything I possess if you will keep +my secret."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" her eyes were downcast and her tone was pained. "That the Fräulein +should not believe in my friendship——"</p> + +<p>"But I <i>do</i> believe in it——"</p> + +<p>"Still," broke in Yeva smiling craftily, "I should very much like to +have something by which to remember the Fräulein—the pink sleeping +garment which is so sweetly smelling and soft to the touch."</p> + +<p>"It is yours, Yeva. See," and Marishka took it from the valise, "I give +it to you."</p> + +<p>The girl gurgled delightedly, and crooned and kissed the garment like a +child with a new doll. She was for trying it on at once and, thus for +the moment relieved of Yeva's scrutiny, Marishka bent over the +tabourette, pen in hand. But before she wrote she called Yeva again.</p> + +<p>"There is no entrance to this house except by the garden, Yeva?" she +asked.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, to the <i>selamlik</i>, the <i>mabein</i> door and this——"</p> + +<p>She walked to the side of the room and thrusting aside a heavy +Kis-Kelim, showed Marishka a door cunningly concealed in an angle of the +wall.</p> + +<p>"That leads—where?" Marishka asked.</p> + +<p>"To a small court of the next house."</p> + +<p>"And the street below?"</p> + +<p>Yeva nodded and renewed the inspection of her new present in the mirror, +so Marishka wrote:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Hugh</span>,</p> + +<p>I am a prisoner in a house near the Sirokac Tor beyond the +Carsija—a house with a small garden the gate of which has a blue +door. I am treated with every courtesy, but I am frightened. Come +tonight at twelve to the small court at the left of the house and +knock twice upon the door. I will come to you. Forgive me.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Marishka</span>.</p></div> + +<p>While Yeva was scrutinizing her new adornment in the small mirror +Marishka reread the note. She did not wish to alarm her lover unduly, +for perhaps after all there were no need for grave alarm.</p> + +<p>The intentions of Captain Goritz were perhaps of the best, his given +word to liberate her, to free her from her promise and return her to her +friends, had been spoken with an air of sincerity, which under other +conditions might have been impressive. But some feminine instinct in her +still doubted—still doubted and feared him. And in spite of his many +kindnesses, his few moments of insensibility to her weariness and +distress there in the motor in the flight from Konopisht, and in the +railway carriage when he had spoken of Hugh Renwick's connection with +hated Serbia—these memories of their association lingered and +persisted. She feared him. The failure of their mission would perhaps +have made a difference; and the promise of a man whose whole existence +was a living lie, was but a slender reed to hang upon.</p> + +<p>She straightened abruptly and gazed before her in sudden dismay. Her +word of honor—as a Strahni! She was breaking her promise—had already +broken it. For she had pledged herself to Goritz—to go with him whither +he pleased, if he would enable her to save the life of Sophie Chotek.</p> + +<p>But he had failed! <i>But he had failed!</i> She clutched at the sophistry +desperately. Goritz had failed. Under such conditions should she +consider her promise binding? It had been conditional. Liberty, there in +the street below, just at her elbow, and Hugh Renwick within reach! She +came to this conclusion with desperate speed, and quickly addressed and +sealed the envelope.</p> + +<p>Yeva, before the mirror, was wrapped in admiration of her new +possession.</p> + +<p>"Am I not beautiful in it, Fräulein?" she was asking as she twisted and +turned, examining herself at every angle.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Yeva," said Marishka quietly, "but it is not a garment in which +one goes out upon the street."</p> + +<p>"The street!" Yeva laughed deliciously. "I would make a sensation in +Bosna-Seraj, I can tell you, attired only in this and a <i>yashmak</i>."</p> + +<p>And then seeing the note lying upon the tabourette, she came running +with little childish footsteps. "Ah, you have sealed it! And you are not +going to let me see?"</p> + +<p>"It is nothing, Yeva."</p> + +<p>"But I thought——" peevishly.</p> + +<p>"How can you be interested in my little affairs?"</p> + +<p>"I hoped that he might come and I should see him through the <i>dutap</i>."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps he may!" said Marishka with an inspiration. "Could you be +trusted to keep this message a secret? To tell no one?"</p> + +<p>"I have already promised——"</p> + +<p>"Not even to Zubeydeh——?"</p> + +<p>"Of course not. Zubeydeh is old and ugly. She would not understand what +a young girl thinks about."</p> + +<p>"And can you go out without her knowing?"</p> + +<p>"By the private stairway. Of course. There is another door below, +locked, but I can procure a key."</p> + +<p>"Then I too——" Marishka paused and Yeva turned, reading her thoughts.</p> + +<p>"Ah, I understand. You wish to go to him. It is a pity, but it is +impossible."</p> + +<p>"Impossible! Why?"</p> + +<p>"I can do the Fräulein a favor, since she has been kind to me, but to +disobey the commands of my lord and master—I would call upon myself the +curses of Allah."</p> + +<p>Marishka pondered for a moment. "The Effendi desires that I remain +here?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"That is his command, Fräulein."</p> + +<p>"I see."</p> + +<p>If Marishka had had any doubts as to the intentions of Captain Goritz, +the Beg of Rataj had now removed them. How much or how little of what +the girl revealed had been born of innocence or how much of design, +Marishka could not know, but it hardly seemed possible that the child +could be meshed so deeply in this intrigue. Marishka felt sure that Yeva +had promised to deliver her note, because the situation amused and +interested her, as did her visitor, and because of the pink garment Yeva +was now so reluctantly laying aside.</p> + +<p>Marishka took another garment from the valise, a dainty drapery of silk +edged with fine lace, and held it up temptingly.</p> + +<p>"Yeva," she said.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Fräulein."</p> + +<p>"This, too, is very beautiful, do you not think so?"</p> + +<p>Yeva sighed wistfully.</p> + +<p>"Yes. It is very beautiful."</p> + +<p>"And would you care to have this too?"</p> + +<p>"Would I——? Oh, Fräulein! I cannot believe——"</p> + +<p>Yeva came forward with arms outstretched, brown fingers curling, but as +she was about to touch the garment Marishka swept it away and put it +behind her back.</p> + +<p>"I will give it to you——"</p> + +<p>"Yes——"</p> + +<p>"If you will take me out with you by the secret door to the Europa +Hotel."</p> + +<p>"Fräulein!" The girl stopped aghast and then slowly turned away.</p> + +<p>"You would have me disobey the commands of my lord and master?" she said +in an awed whisper.</p> + +<p>"I am asking only my rights," urged Marishka desperately. "I am an +Austrian with many friends. I have believed that I was a guest in this +house, welcome to come and to go as I choose. If the Effendi desires to +keep me against my will he runs a great risk of offending the government +of Austria and my friends."</p> + +<p>"As to that I do not know——" said Yeva plaintively.</p> + +<p>"It will do you no harm to be my friend."</p> + +<p>"I am your friend. But to disobey the command of one's lord and +master——"</p> + +<p>"It is worse to disobey the laws of Bosnia."</p> + +<p>"But what can I do?" asked the girl, helplessly weaving her fingers to +and fro.</p> + +<p>"You need do nothing but go out to deliver my message. Then you shall +appear to lock the door below, but the bolt shall not catch. That is +all. When you are gone I shall follow into the street."</p> + +<p>"And I shall not see you—and your lover through the <i>dutap</i>?"</p> + +<p>"You shall see us there—yonder. I promise you."</p> + +<p>"It is a terrible thing that you ask."</p> + +<p>"Yeva!" Marishka held the silk garment up before the childish gaze of +the girl. "Look, Yeva."</p> + +<p>It was enough. With a cry, Yeva seized the garment in both hands and +carried it to her lips, kissing it excitedly.</p> + +<p>"And if I do what you ask—you will never tell?"</p> + +<p>"Never."</p> + +<p>Marishka had won. It was with difficulty that she restrained her +companion from disrobing again and putting on the new garment, but at +last by dint of much persuasion she succeeded in getting Yeva to put on +her own garments, her head dress, veil and <i>yashmak</i>, and in a short +while they were both attired for the street. With a last look around the +room, a short vigil at the <i>dutap</i> for sounds of watchful Zubeydeh, Yeva +timorously found the key of the lower door, pushed the hanging aside, +and with a last rapturous look at the draperies upon the dressing stand, +vanished into the darkness of the door.</p> + +<p>Marishka, her heart beating high with hope, quickly packed a few of her +belongings into a small package and followed. It was very dark upon the +narrow stair, but with a hand upon the wall to steady herself, she +slowly descended. Feeling for the steps with her feet, at last she +reached the floor below, and stepping cautiously forward came upon a +blank wall. She turned to the left and found her egress stopped—to the +right—yes, there was a door. She fingered for the latch and found it, +opening the door, which let in the daylight. But just as she was about +to step out, she started back in sudden consternation. Upon the step, +grim and forbidding, dressed in fez, white shirt, and wide breeches, +stood a man with folded arms facing her. He made no sign of greeting, +nor did he change his posture by so much as a millimeter, but she heard +his voice quite distinctly, though he spoke in a low tone.</p> + +<p>"You will be pleased to return at once."</p> + +<p>"But I——" It was the courage of desperation—short-lived, alas!</p> + +<p>"At once," the man repeated, unfolding his arms. "At once—or shall +I——"</p> + +<p>Marishka waited no more upon the order of her going but went at once, +finding her way up the dusty stairs, terrified, again a prey to the most +agonizing fears.</p> + +<p>Would Yeva find Hugh at the Hotel Europa?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h3>THE LIGHTED WINDOWS</h3> + + +<p>The night journey of Mr. Renwick to the Bosnian border with the man in +black was one long chapter of accidents and delays. But Herr Linke +commanded the situation. He had taken care not to return the +Englishman's weapon, and there was nothing for Renwick to do but sit in +silence by the side of the melancholy Colossus, and pray for an +opportunity which never came, for Linke had a watchful eye and sat in +the tonneau of the machine. Toward midnight they reached Vinkovcze, +where they had supper, and resumed their leisurely journey with a new +supply of petrol, which only seemed to increase the trouble in the +carburetor. It was at this time that an uncontrollable drowsiness fell +upon Renwick. He struggled against it but at last realized that in spite +of himself sleep was slowly overpowering him. As in a haze he saw the +huge figure of Linke beside him lean over, smiling, while a deep voice +which seemed to come from a distance rumbled calmly,</p> + +<p>"You are very sleepy, Herr Renwick?"</p> + +<p>Renwick dimly remembered muttering a curse.</p> + +<p>"You've drugged—cof——"</p> + +<p>Then Renwick slept.</p> + +<p>When he awoke it was broad daylight. The car was moving smoothly enough +along a good road between two mountains, and at the side of the road a +river flowed in the direction from which the machine had come.</p> + +<p>Renwick felt light-headed and rather ill, and it was some moments before +he became conscious of the figure beside him, while he struggled upright +and found his speech.</p> + +<p>"Where are we?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Near Duboj, Herr Renwick, where we shall presently eat our supper——"</p> + +<p>"Supper!"</p> + +<p>"Yes. You have slept the clock around——"</p> + +<p>"Ah, I remember," and he turned upon the man with a renewed and quite +futile anger. "You drugged me, you——"</p> + +<p>"Softly, my friend," the big man broke in soothingly. "You can do no +good by defaming me."</p> + +<p>Renwick shrugged. "You'll pay the score at settling time, nevertheless."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps. In the meanwhile I beg you to consider that you are but fifty +kilometers from your destination. Since we passed the Save we have +proceeded with greater rapidity."</p> + +<p>But Renwick had sunk into a sullen silence. The huge creature, whom he +had held in such light esteem, had made a fool of him, had reduced him +to the impotence of a child. As his mind cleared, the object of the +man's actions became more involved. Whatever he was, he had succeeded in +preventing Renwick from reaching Sarajevo before the Archduke's party +should arrive, but why he should wish to drug a man who was meeting his +wishes and giving no trouble was more than Renwick could answer. Still +puzzled, he glanced at his watch. It was now five o'clock. The sight of +the dial startled him. Had Marishka succeeded in reaching the Duchess or +had——? Forgetting his quarrel with Linke in the new interest in +portending events, he questioned,</p> + +<p>"You have heard from Sarajevo?"</p> + +<p>"By wire at Yranduk," said Linke, nodding gravely. "The Archduke Franz +and the Duchess of Hohenburg were assassinated this morning in the +streets of Sarajevo."</p> + +<p>Renwick's knowledge of the plot and the difficulties which surrounded +his and Marishka's efforts to prevent its consummation had convinced him +that the attempt would at least be made, but Herr Linke's bold statement +of the fact shocked him none the less.</p> + +<p>"They are dead?"</p> + +<p>"Both," said Linke. "They died before reaching the Landes hospital."</p> + +<p>"Who——" Renwick paused, aware that names meant nothing.</p> + +<p>"A Serbian student, named Prinzep."</p> + +<p>The Englishman said nothing more, for he was again thinking of Marishka. +She had failed! Had she arrived too late or had her visit to Sarajevo +been prevented? And if so where was she now? There was nothing for it +but to go on to the Europa Hotel and inquire for the note that she would +leave there. In a somewhat desperate mood, he followed Herr Linke into +the small hotel at Duboj, for he knew that he could not go on without +food, having eaten nothing since the day before. As he hesitated, the +<i>goulash</i> upon the dish before him, Linke smiled.</p> + +<p>"You need have no further fear, Herr Renwick," he said calmly. "We are +now friends, engaged upon precisely the same service."</p> + +<p>"Indeed! And that——?"</p> + +<p>"To find the Countess Stranhni at the earliest possible moment."</p> + +<p>"And after that?"</p> + +<p>"To restore her to her friends."</p> + +<p>"You know where she is?"</p> + +<p>"No. But I can find her."</p> + +<p>It entered Renwick's head at the moment to tell the fellow of the note +in his pocket, but the events of the night had made him careful.</p> + +<p>"Who are you?" he asked again.</p> + +<p>But the man evaded.</p> + +<p>"I beg that you will eat, Herr Renwick," he said coolly. "We have no +time to spare."</p> + +<p>And so at last, when Herr Linke ponderously helped himself and the +Hungarian chauffeur from the dish, Renwick followed his lead and ate.</p> + +<p>In less than half an hour they were again upon their way, reaching the +hills above the Bosnian capital just before nightfall. Here, for some +reason, the machine again halted with a loud explosion of back-fire and +a prodigious amount of smoke. The chauffeur got out, looked into the +hood and straightened, gesticulating wildly. Herr Linke followed, and a +conversation ensued, the import of which was lost upon the Englishman. +But when it was finished, Linke turned to Renwick and explained that the +machinery was injured beyond repair and that the car could go no +further. Two Bosnian policemen who had appeared in the road before them, +now rode up and made inquiries. Renwick shrugged and was about to walk +away with the intention of finishing his journey afoot, when the +chauffeur came forward and caught him by the arm, shouting something in +an excited and angry voice, appealing to the men on horseback and +pointing alternately at the Englishman and at the injured machine. The +Bosnians got down and listened while one of them, who seemed to +understand, addressed Renwick in German.</p> + +<p>"This man says that you engaged to pay for any breakages to the machine, +and that you have not paid him all that you owe."</p> + +<p>"He lies. I paid him at Ujvidek. Herr Linke here will bear me +witness——" As he turned to address his traveling companion, he paused +in amazement, for without a word, or a sound, Herr Linke had suddenly +vanished into space.</p> + +<p>But the Hungarian was screaming again, and what he said must have +impressed the policeman who had spoken to him, for he turned to Renwick, +scratching his head dubiously, and suggested that the matter be further +discussed before a magistrate in the city below. Renwick agreed, gave +the policeman his card with the word that he would find him at the +Europa Hotel and leaving his suitcase in the car as security for his +appearance when summoned went hurriedly down the hills toward the city. +The colloquy had occupied some moments, but when Renwick came to a +straight reach of road which led toward the tobacco factory buildings he +was surprised to find that Herr Linke was nowhere in sight. The man was +an enigma, a curious mixture of desperado and buffoon, but his sudden +disappearance without a word of thanks, apology or explanation, gave +Renwick something to puzzle over as he made his way to the bridge. Its +possible significance escaped him until he had reached the river, when, +a thought suddenly occurring to him, he put his hand into the breast +pocket of his coat, feeling for the note from Marishka. It was gone! He +hunted, feverishly, one pocket after another, and was on the point of +going back for a search of the machine when the truth suddenly dawned. +Herr Linke had taken it from him, last night when he slept—had drugged +him that he might get it without commotion! In an illuminating flash he +remembered the sharp look in the man's eyes yesterday morning in the +train from Budapest when Renwick had taken the note from his pocket. +Linke! He hurried his footsteps, bewailing his own simplicity and +wondering what this new phase of Herr Linke's activities might signify. +Renwick had assumed that the Austrian was an agent of Herr Windt, who +unable to follow him on to Sarajevo had guessed the train upon which he +had left and had sent this man up from Budapest to get into his +carriage. But his most recent accomplishment seemed to leave this +presumption open to doubt. If Herr Linke had stolen the letter in the +belief that it contained secret information which would be of value to +Austrian secret service officials, the mere reading of it would have +convinced him of its innocence in so far as Marishka was concerned. And +if a forgery! Perhaps something in the message which Renwick had +overlooked would put him upon the track of the fellow of the green +limousine. He went along the river bank from the bridge toward the +hotel, the location of which was familiar to him, hurrying his pace. At +any rate the note was gone and with it the mysterious Linke, facts which +clearly indicated one purpose. Herr Linke was bent upon intercepting any +message which might come to the Hotel Europa for the Englishman. And +given that to be his purpose, what was his intention with regard to the +Countess Strahni?</p> + +<p>Still puzzling over the mysteries, which gained in elusiveness as he +hurried into Franz Josef Street, he reached the hotel, which was near +the Carsija, and made hurried inquiries of the Turkish porter, who +smiled and professed ignorance, but said to the Excellency that he would +diligently inquire, bringing Renwick at last to the major-domo, who +informed him that a note bearing the name of Herr Renwick had been left +at the hotel an hour before, but that not twenty minutes ago, Herr +Renwick had called and claimed it.</p> + +<p>"That is not possible," said Renwick hotly, "since I am Herr Renwick."</p> + +<p>The major-domo shrugged and bowed obsequiously. It was most unfortunate, +he said, but of course as Excellency must know, the Hotel Europa was not +a postoffice and could not be held responsible for the proper delivery +of letters when it knew nothing of the identity of those to whom they +were addressed.</p> + +<p>Renwick paused a moment, and then said quickly, "To whom was the note +delivered? You saw?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Excellency. The person who said he was Herr Renwick was tall, +attired in black clothing, and carried an umbrella."</p> + +<p>"Who brought the note?"</p> + +<p>"As to that—I do not know."</p> + +<p>The major-domo moved majestically away, but the Turkish porter who stood +listening, broke in.</p> + +<p>"If your Excellency will permit. It was I who received the note, late +this afternoon. It was brought by a woman in a <i>yashmak</i>—a Turkish +woman. Of course I could not know her, since one looks with averted eyes +upon the women of Islam, but she would have come from the Turkish +quarter of the town—from beyond the Carsija—perhaps. I do not know. I +can say no more."</p> + +<p>Renwick paused irresolutely and giving the man a fee, went out of the +hotel into the street, mingling with the crowds upon Franz Josef Street, +where but a few hours before on a nearby corner, the Archduke and +Duchess had met their deaths. Deciding that at all hazards he must +remain inconspicuous while he thought out a plan, he crossed the river +and went into a small park, where he sank wearily into a bench and +buried himself in new speculations.</p> + +<p>A pipe and tobacco soothed, if they failed to stimulate his faculties. +He had reached an <i>impasse</i>. What if the Enigma in black were playing +some deep game of his own with regard to Marishka? What if, after all, +he was no agent of Herr Windt, but represented perhaps the military +party of Austria, which had as deep an interest in Marishka's silence as +had the Wilhelmstrasse? And yet such a theory was hardly plausible, for +if Linke were interested in Marishka's silence he would also be +interested in Renwick's, and this being the case, the easiest way out of +the business would have been to have dropped Renwick into some deep pool +of the Save or the Bosna while he slept. Herr Linke puzzled Renwick, but +reason informed him that the unknown limousine chap was the greater +menace both to Marishka and himself. That he held Renwick's life cheaply +was indicated by the frequent attempts upon it in Vienna and in Bohemia +and the mere fact that he had twice failed was no sign that a third +attempt might not be successful. The most unfavorable phase of the +situation was that the German agent knew Renwick by sight, and would +have every opportunity of following him to some secluded spot—shooting +him in the back and escaping into a nearby street before the excitement +subsided. What did the German agent look like? He might pass the fellow, +elbow to elbow, and the Englishman would not know him. Renwick had no +fear of meeting the man on even terms, but the thought of being stabbed +in the back or shot at by any casual passer-by was disturbing to his +morale. Every innocent bush, every tree was an enemy. What did the green +limousine chap look like? A Prussian? With a bulky nose, small mustache, +and no back to his head? Or was he small, clean shaven, and ferret-like? +How would he be dressed? In mufti? Or in some favoring disguise which +might better lend itself to his purposes?</p> + +<p>Renwick rose suddenly and, with a careful glance about him, made slowly +for the Lateimer Bridge, sure at least, that he had not been followed, +and convinced that he must equalize the hazards between this German and +himself by playing the game according to the standards of the +Wilhelmstrasse. So he found his way carefully into the Carsija, and +found a stall where he managed to buy a native Bosnian costume,—fez, +white shirt, short jacket, wide trousers fitting close below the knee, +sash and slippers. His automatic having been taken by the prudent Linke, +he was unarmed, but managed to find a revolver of American make and +cartridges which fitted it. With his newly acquired purchases he +returned in the darkness to the other bank of the river, where he found +a small inn in the Bistrick quarter.</p> + +<p>He concealed ten one hundred <i>kroner</i> notes in the lining at the belt of +the trousers, and pinned it securely. The remainder of his money, a few +fifty crown notes and coins, he put in his pockets with his watch and +other valuables, and changed his clothing. When he had finished dressing +he examined himself in a mirror. His face was tanned by exposure, and +the dust of the journey which he retained gave him a soiled appearance +sufficiently Oriental. He was now Stefan Thomasevic, a seller of sheep +and goats, which he had brought to the market. He left his English +clothing in a bundle in the care of the innkeeper and advising the man +that he would return later in the night or at least upon the morrow, +went forth across the river again, with a sense of greater security from +the observations of any who meant mischief to Hugh Renwick. If he did +not know what the green limousine chap looked like, the limousine chap +at least could not know him.</p> + +<p>As he slouched through the alleys of the Carsija, reassured as to the +completeness of his disguise, he smoked a native cigarette, and asked +many questions among the keepers of the stalls, squatting cross-legged +with them upon the ground and learning much of all matters save of the +one with which he was most concerned.</p> + +<p>"Few but Moslem people had passed through the Carsija upon this day," +they said, "for the terrible happenings of the morning had kept the +Austrian Excellencies in their own part of the town and Islam—Islam in +time of trouble was always wise to find its company among its own +people."</p> + +<p>Renwick's task seemed hopeless, but he did not despair, leaving the +bazaar at last, and climbing the hill to the old town beyond the +Bastion. Here he again questioned every passer-by. "Had the Effendi seen +a tall Excellency dressed in black who carried an umbrella? He, Stefan +Thomasevic, had sold the Excellency some sheep and goats, but the +Excellency had not yet paid all of that which he owed. It was not a +matter about which to laugh. If the Excellency did not soon appear in +the Carsija, it was a matter for the police."</p> + +<p>But no one could help him. Herr Linke was moving with discretion, for it +was probable that if such a creature had strolled through the Carsija, +there would be a dozen idlers who would have observed and noted the +fact. Renwick's chief hopes were crumbling. And yet, if Linke suspected +that the note which had been sent to the Hotel Europa was a bait, he +would of course act with great caution. It was nearly midnight when, +weary and disappointed, Renwick returned from the Kastele quarter in the +direction of the Carsija. The houses were dark save for a glimmer of +light in an upper window here and there, but the moon had come out, and +Renwick, moving silently along in the shadow of walls and houses, gazed +about him with the eagerness of despair. For a while he stopped in the +angle of a wall, and listened to the sounds of the city below him, the +rush of the river below the Bastion, the motor and bell of the electric +tram-car, the whistle of a freight locomotive at the further end of the +town—strident noises brought from the West to break the drowsy murmur +of the Orient, but not a sight nor a sound which could give him a clew +as to the whereabouts of Linke or Countess Marishka. The inaction was +maddening. In his belt the American revolver hung its futile weight. Had +it not been for Linke, he might have had a chance at least to follow the +instructions of the note of the Hotel Europa to some conclusion whether +for good or ill—it did not matter. If Marishka herself had written +it!... She would be awaiting him now—and he could not come to +her.... In his stead—Linke the gigantic, the mellifluous....</p> + +<p>Renwick turned slowly into a side street, and crouched in the dark angle +of a wall, for a motor car was coming toward him. Motors in the region +of Franz Josef Street and the river were not uncommon, but as a rule +they were seldom to be seen in the hilly region near the Bastion. From +his dark vantage point, Renwick saw the car approach and pass him, +quietly coasting, and stop a short distance below the angle of the +street from which he had emerged. He caught a glimpse of the profile of +the chauffeur, and noted the condition of the car. He judged that it had +come a long journey, for Sarajevo and the part of Bosnia through which +his own machine had traveled, had suffered much from the drought. This +machine was covered with dust, of course, but it was also literally +spattered with mud. The Englishman watched the machine for a while, but +the chauffeur having silenced the engine, remained motionless, in deep +shadow, waiting. Of course belated visitors from the European section of +the city to the Kastele were a possibility, but the quietness with which +the chauffeur had approached, and the eager way in which he now leaned +forward in his seat watching the <i>meshrebiya</i> windows of a house at some +distance, excited Renwick's curiosity. Why was the man there? Who was he +watching in the house of the lighted window? Had this mystery anything +in common with his own? Renwick watched the windows too. A light burned +dimly within, and once he thought a shadow passed. The window and the +chauffeur interested him, but he was too far away to distinguish the +house clearly, and so, moving stealthily, he stole quietly up the hill +to a cross street, and turning to the left, in the shadow of a wall, +walked rapidly down to a small alley which he took at random, at the end +of which he paused for observation. The house with the <i>meshrebiya</i> +windows was now just below where he stood, but opposite him was an +ancient stone wall, and in its center was a blue door. There were trees +within the enclosure, and he heard the sound of falling water. He found +a dark doorway and crouched silently, watching.</p> + +<p>A <i>cul-de-sac</i>? Perhaps. Disappointment and chagrin had done their worst +to him. He would wait see what was to happen, and if nothing came of the +venture he would merely have his labor for his pains. He noted above the +wall that there were windows of the house which overlooked the garden. +In one of them, in the room which the chauffeur had been observing, the +light still dimly burned, but he saw no shadows. Peering out from the +angle of the alleyway, he thought he had discovered a doorway or court +between the house he was watching and the one below it toward the +Carsija, and in a moment fancied that he could distinguish the sound of +whispering voices, from that direction; but the shadow of a mosque +nearby threw its shadow upon this part of the street, and he could see +nothing clearly. If there were men there, they were keeping in the +shadow of the wall around the turn of the street, beyond the range of +Renwick's vision, but the night breeze which carried the sound of the +whispers also wafted the odor of a native cigarette. The smell of it +made Renwick wish to smoke, for the suspense and inaction were telling +upon him, but he resisted the impulse, sinking lower into the shadow, +and awaiting events.</p> + +<p>Minutes passed—hours they seemed to the waiting Renwick—and then came +the deep boom of a bell, which echoing down the silent streets, seemed +just at Renwick's elbow—another—another—until he counted twelve, of +the belfry of the cathedral announcing midnight.</p> + +<p>He waited, thinking deeply. The machine which had come a long journey? +The lighted windows which the chauffeur watched? The whisper of voices +from the street below him? There was mystery here. He crouched lower and +watched the dark shadow of the arch below the house.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<h3>THE BEG OF RATAJ</h3> + + +<p>When Marishka reached the top of the stairs, entered the Harim, gazing +terrified into the darkness from which she had emerged, she pushed aside +the Kis-Kelim and listening fearfully for sounds of footsteps below, +then closed the door, turned the key, and put her back against it, +viewing with a new vision the interior which a while ago had seemed so +friendly. Without Yeva who had given its disorder a personality, the +room seemed alien, hostile and madly chaotic. For the first time since +the reassurances of Captain Goritz in the green limousine as to her +safety, she had a definite sense of personal danger. She was not +timorous by nature, and the hope of success in her mission of atonement +had given her the courage for the venture. She realized now that the +will which had kept her buoyant through two arduous days and nights had +suddenly forsaken her and left her supine, without hope or initiative. +The actions of the man at the doorway below had frightened her. He had +been so uncompromising in his ugliness. The shock of her awakening had +been rudely unexpected, and had bewildered her with its brutal +significance. She was a prisoner in this Turkish house, in an obscure +quarter of a half Oriental town, and night was imminent, a night which +seemed to possess untold possibilities for evil. What was to happen? Why +had not Captain Goritz returned? Enemy though she now knew him to be, +even Goritz was a refuge in this perilous situation. And yet it seemed +certain that the man at the foot of the stairs was acting under his +orders or under the orders of another who was accountable to him.</p> + +<p>Weakness overpowered her and she threw herself on the pile of cushions +in the window and buried her face in her hands, as if by blinding +herself to the imminent facts of her surroundings she could free her +spirit of the terrors which were overtaking it. As in her dream, her +faculties were elusive, thoughts and half-thoughts conflicting and +interchangeable. The rush and the roar of the hurrying motor car, the +kaleidoscope of the maddened crowd, the shots, the sunlight and then the +spangled darkness with the sound of voices. She started upright in her +cushions, her face pallid and drawn, her thoughts now focusing with +sudden definiteness. The voices! They were no dream—no more a dream +than the other horrors that encompassed her. She tried to remember what +they had said. "Ten thousand <i>kroner</i>—the goose that lays the golden +egg——" What did the phrases mean? Another—"To be kept in seclusion, +of course, but you will accede to all her wishes." The meaning of the +voices became clearer, at every moment. "Should she care to write, you +will send a message!" Marishka put her hand to her lips as though to +stifle a cry, and then sank back with a gasp of comprehension. Goritz! +He had expected her to send a message, and had prepared for its +delivery. But why? How could he have known!... Slowly the meaning of it +all came to her. His certainty and insistence as to Hugh Renwick's +pursuit—the belief that Renwick would go at once to the Hotel Europa! +The power of suggestion! And she had followed it blindly—unawares, +leading Hugh Renwick into this deadly trap which Goritz had laid. She +read the plan now in all its insidious perfection. There was something +malign—hypnotic—in an influence which could so easily compel +compliance. And Hugh? She had written him to come here—to the door in +the court below, where men would be waiting—perhaps to take his life. +It was too horrible!</p> + +<p>Nature mercifully intervened. The strain of long days and nights of +anguish had reached the limit of her endurance, and her nerves, too, +long under tension, suddenly rebelled. She sank helplessly upon the +floor, sobs racking her body from head to foot. She did not know how +long she lay there, but when she raised her head it was already growing +dark in the room, like the shadows that were stealing about her heart. +Whichever way she turned, groping mentally for a thought which would +lead her toward a light, disorder reigned, danger threatened. If there +was a man at the foot of the stairs to prevent her escape, there would +be others beneath the windows and at the door into the garden.</p> + +<p>Yeva! She clung to the hope of Yeva's sincerity—the last thing left to +her. It was difficult for her to believe that this child with the body +of a woman could be guilty of complicity in any plot. She might have +obeyed instructions to be the bearer of any note that Marishka might +write—indeed her childish prattle as to the wishes of her lord and +master verified the voices of Marishka's dream, and suggested that +Marishka should be permitted to do as she chose—so that Yeva had +offered, without fear of consequences, to deliver Marishka's note at the +hotel. She had even consented to leave the lower door open that Marishka +might escape and follow her. No woman of the world could have acted a +part as Yeva had played it. If the girl had known of the guardian of the +lower door, her skill in dissimulation was consummate—so much out of +keeping with the simplicity of her mind as to be entirely incredible. +Yeva was innocent, a mere tool in the hands of Captain Goritz, who +disposed all the pawns in his command to play his game. Yeva had been +permitted to depart without hindrance. Would Marishka's note reach its +destination? Or would it be intercepted and its message read by Captain +Goritz? His cunning had amazed her but it frightened her now. A ruse so +carefully planned could have for its object nothing less than the +obliteration of Hugh Renwick, as a prisoner or something worse—perhaps +Death! She shuddered. She, Marishka, would unwittingly have caused it! +She had asked him to come at midnight and knock upon the door in the +court below and she knew enough of Hugh to be sure that if he received +the message, no matter how great the danger to himself, he would come. +The note! If she could recall it! She would suffer whatever Goritz had +in store for her, if Hugh could only be spared. She had already done him +hurt enough—without the chance of this last most dreadful sacrifice in +her behalf—in vain. He would come to her and she must wait—without the +power to warn him, and perhaps see him killed before her very eyes.</p> + +<p>Her thoughts made her desperate—and the idea of another attempt to +escape came into her head. If she could only reach the street, she could +run—and it would be a better race with her pursuer than she had given +Hugh in the rose gardens of the Archduke! She made the attempt, quietly +opening the door by which she had entered the room and passing on +tip-toe down the corridor to the door with the <i>dutap</i>. She drew aside +the curtain which covered it and noiselessly turned the knob. As she +peered out she found herself staring straight into the eyes of Zubeydeh. +The woman's look was cold but full of understanding.</p> + +<p>"Does the Fräulein wish anything?" she asked without the slightest +change of expression. Her voice was colorless, like the speech which +might be expected from a graven image.</p> + +<p>"I—I was hungry," stammered Marishka helplessly. "I—I am sorry to +bother you."</p> + +<p>"If you will return to the room within, I will bring food at once," she +said stolidly. And so Marishka, once more balked in her enterprise, went +back to the Harim. Strong as she was, armed anew with the sudden +strength of desperation, she knew that even if she could use her +strength she was no match for this massive creature who, in the +<i>selamlik</i> nearby, perhaps had men within call. She went to the windows +and peered out into the street. There was no one in sight, except a tall +man in black who carried an umbrella. She watched him a moment through +the carved screen, but he went up the street and disappeared around a +corner. The garden seemed to be deserted. Would the gate to the street +be locked? She made an effort to move the lattice of <i>meshrebiya</i>, but +it was nailed fast to the main wood work of the house. Her case was +hopeless. There was nothing to do but wait upon the clemency—the mercy +of Captain Goritz. A new idea of her captor was being born in her, of a +creature who differed from the courteous German official of Vienna and +Agram. His eyes haunted her, the dark eyes set just a little obliquely +in his head, a racial peculiarity which she had not been able to +identify. She knew now. They were Oriental, like Zubeydeh's, like those +of the man at the door below, alien, hostile and cruel. And yet it was +curious how the smile in them had disarmed her and she remembered, with +a futile glow of returning hope, that she had not feared him, that she +had even had the temerity to defy him. But her courage had ebbed—she +could not have defied him now and in the darkness while she waited for +Yeva she feared him—feared him.</p> + +<p>It seemed strange that Yeva had not returned. She had been gone an hour +or more and the Hotel Europa could not be a great distance away. As the +moments passed she gave up the other hope of persuading the girl, when +she returned, to go back at once to the hotel and reclaim the note, +before Hugh could get it. Could anything have happened to her? Marishka +wanted her—the sound of a voice, the touch of a feminine hand, her airs +and graces—the foibles of a child perhaps, but intensely virile in +their childishness and intensely human. It seemed that even Yeva was to +be denied to her.</p> + +<p>For when Zubeydeh brought lights and food the woman made no comment upon +the absence of the girl—a confirmation of Marishka's suspicions that +Zubeydeh was aware of the conspiracy and what was to come of it. But as +Marishka made a pretense of eating what the woman had brought, she +summoned courage to inquire.</p> + +<p>"Yeva went out into the city by the passage to the street. She has not +yet returned?"</p> + +<p>"I do not know," she said in her heavy colorless voice.</p> + +<p>The woman lied. Marishka knew it by the shifting glance of her eye.</p> + +<p>"Will you kindly inform His Excellency—I need mention no names—that I +should be very glad if he would meet me at his convenience——"</p> + +<p>"Excellency is not here," said the woman.</p> + +<p>"Well, when he comes, I should be grateful if you will deliver my +message."</p> + +<p>"I will tell him."</p> + +<p>Nothing more. Her manner was not discourteous, but her voice was +forbidding. She had been given instructions to keep silence. And just +before leaving the room, a further confirmation of Marishka's conviction +that Yeva was at that very moment in another part of the house, Zubeydeh +gathered up the two pieces of drapery which Marishka had given the girl, +and carried them out of the room.</p> + +<p>The hours lengthened while Marishka sat trying to gather the remnants of +her courage to face Captain Goritz when he should come to her. The +Turkish lamp which hung from the ceiling burned dimly, casting grotesque +shadows about the room, flickering in patches of tawdry light upon the +gilt of the embroidered hangings, and touching the blades of the ancient +weapons which decorated the wall about the couch, scimitars, swords, +daggers and spears! Marishka got up and examined them more closely, +curiously, as though she had not seen them before. She shuddered a +little as she plucked from its sheath a small dagger with a bronzed +handle, and found that its blade was very sharp and bright. She reached +up to put it back, but as she did so there was a sound from the room +beyond the passage, and a knock upon the door. So she slipped the weapon +into the waistband of her skirt, beneath her blouse, and went to her +seat among the pillows. In a moment the knock was repeated, and in reply +to her call, the door opened and she heard footsteps along the corridor.</p> + +<p>The man who entered was tall and slender, with a hooked nose, heavy +brows, and a beard streaked with white. He wore the turban and bright +green belt which denoted the Moslem, and the fingers with which he +touched brow, lips, and heart in salutation were covered with rings.</p> + +<p>"<i>Saläm 'alaikum</i>," he muttered, bowing.</p> + +<p>Marishka knew no reply to this and made none, waiting in some +trepidation for him to proceed. He was a villainous looking creature, +but comported himself with an air of some dignity. In a moment he spoke +again in excellent German.</p> + +<p>"I hope that Excellency has been able to make herself quite comfortable +in my poor house."</p> + +<p>As he spoke, Marishka remembered that this was one of the voices of her +dreams, the gruff voice which talked with Goritz.</p> + +<p>Something was required of her in reply, and so, with an effort,</p> + +<p>"Yeva has been very kind, Effendi," she managed.</p> + +<p>"Yes. Allah has been good to me. Yeva has a heart of gold."</p> + +<p>"You are the Beg of Rataj?" Marishka asked.</p> + +<p>He salaamed again.</p> + +<p>"Will you tell me, then, what has become of Herr Hauptmann Goritz?"</p> + +<p>The man's face wore a sudden crafty look of incomprehension.</p> + +<p>"Goritz, Excellency?" he asked coolly. "There is no one of that name in +my acquaintance."</p> + +<p>Marishka accepted the rebuke and ventured timidly, "I mean, the—the +Excellency—who brought me here——"</p> + +<p>"Ah! Lieutenant von Arnstorf! He has gone, I think, upon a journey," +said the Beg.</p> + +<p>Marishka was silent a moment, thinking.</p> + +<p>"That is strange. It is very necessary that I should see him."</p> + +<p>The man smiled up at the lamp above his head, revealing a void where +teeth should have been.</p> + +<p>"I need not say that he has directed that everything possible shall be +done for your comfort—and it is my pleasure to obey Excellency's +orders, in so far as my poor house can afford. And even were these not +Excellency's instructions," he added with a grin, "it is an honor for +the house of Rataj to have beneath its roof one so noble and so +beautiful."</p> + +<p>A wave of nerves swept over Marishka for the admiration in his glance +was unmistakable, but she knew that any possible chance of safety for +Hugh—for herself—lay in the favor of this man. And so with a shudder +of repugnance which she concealed with difficulty, she motioned to him +to be seated. His small eyes appraised her eagerly for a moment, and +then he sank upon a cushion near her, and without asking permission, +took out a cigarette.</p> + +<p>"I—I shall not forget your kindness, Effendi," said Marishka, +struggling for her composure. "Already Yeva and I are good friends."</p> + +<p>"Ah, that is fortunate, for it was upon the question of the future of +Yeva that I have come to talk with you."</p> + +<p>"In what may I serve you, Effendi?"</p> + +<p>He sighed deeply.</p> + +<p>"Times change, Excellency. In the days gone by, the Begs of Rataj were +reckoned among the rulers of Bosnia, high in the counsels of the +Janissaries, feudal lords of great domains. But I, alas! the last of the +Begs of Rataj, whose father even held the sway of a king, have been +deprived of my tithes, and reduced to the low condition of a merchant in +rugs, a dealer in antiquities, dependent upon the good will of tourists +from the West, reduced perhaps one day to sit in a stall in the Carsija. +It is not so much that I am no longer rich, but it is my pride, the +pride of race which suffers under misfortune."</p> + +<p>Whither was the man leading? Much as she distrusted him, her curiosity +was aroused, and she listened, watching him intently.</p> + +<p>"You will perhaps understand," he continued gravely, "that all this is +very hard upon Yeva, the star of my heart, with whom Allah has blessed +me. The West has flowed in upon the East at Bosna-Seraj, and engulfed +it. We are no more a simple Moslem city with the tastes of our fathers; +and our women are no more satisfied to remain as they were, childish, +ignorant, and unlettered. The spell of the Occident is upon the land. +Vienna, Berlin, Paris, have come to Bosna-Seraj. Our women sigh for the +things which are beyond the mountains. The peace of the home is invaded +and our women are unhappy, because their lords and masters have no money +to procure for them the things that they wish."</p> + +<p>Money! Thank God! This man could be bought!</p> + +<p>"And Yeva?" Marishka asked, trembling in fear for the new hope that had +risen.</p> + +<p>"It is the same with her as with the others, Excellency," he shrugged +despairingly. "She is but a child. I have been foolishly liberal with +her—as liberal as my poor means allowed, and she has come to know the +value of money—the dross for which men perjure their souls, and die if +need be. Yeva, alas! wishes jewels, the pretty clothing of the women of +fashion. And I, as I have related, being a mere dealer in rugs, +Excellency, have not been able to give them to her. It has made +unhappiness come into my household; it has made me, the Beg of Rataj, +hereditary ruler of thousands, ashamed to raise my head or my voice in +her presence—I, Excellency, her lord and master!"</p> + +<p>He wagged his head to and fro with an air which might have been comical, +had not Marishka's need been so desperate. But she read him easily, a +vile, blackmailing rogue who held no allegiance higher than what he got +from it—a man who, for all his fine flow of talk, could be dangerous as +well as unscrupulous. But Marishka met him fairly.</p> + +<p>"I have taken a fancy to Yeva, Effendi," she said quietly. "She will +tell you perhaps that I have already given her several trifles which she +fancied. Perhaps I can do something to solve your problems. In my own +country I am considered wealthy and I can be generous with those who +treat me with kindness."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" The Effendi's eyes sparkled hungrily. The Austrian countess was no +fool. She had already begun to understand him.</p> + +<p>"To treat Her Excellency with kindness! And could I do anything else? My +house, poor as it is——"</p> + +<p>"Effendi," Marishka cut in boldly, "let us waste no words. I am a +prisoner in your house, at the instance of Captain—of Herr Lieutenant +von Arnstorf——"</p> + +<p>"A prisoner? Has not the Excellency——?"</p> + +<p>"One moment. I am not aware how much you know of the political situation +which has brought me to Bosna-Seraj, but I do know that I am confined +here against my will—a prisoner in a house within the realms of my own +country. Of course you know that I have sought to escape, that I have +written to a friend who will do what he can to liberate me."</p> + +<p>"Excellency, I beg of you——"</p> + +<p>"Please let me finish. For political reasons, the fact of my presence +here and my mission should be kept a secret. My friends, therefore, +would not wish to call upon General Potiorek, the governor, for soldiers +or police, if my liberty can be secured quietly—without commotion. I am +willing to meet you upon any reasonable grounds."</p> + +<p>Marishka paused, for the man had risen and was pacing the floor slowly.</p> + +<p>"Ah, Excellency, I, too, will waste no further speech, for I see that +you are a woman of the world, and I, Beg of Rataj, am only a seller of +rugs. But I am placed in a difficult position. It has pained me deeply +to see you constrained to stay in my poor house against your will. And +yet, what would you? His Excellency has done me many favors, and +gratitude is one of the strongest traits in a nature which suffers much +misuse. I do not know anything of politics, or of the controversy +between you, and I have simply obeyed the dictates of my heart in giving +his Excellency some proof—some return of his kindnesses to me. But +since I have seen you, heard your voice, felt the distinction of your +presence in my poor house, I am torn between my emotions—of gratitude +and of pity."</p> + +<p>"How much do you want?" said Marishka quietly.</p> + +<p>"Excellency, the brutality of the words!"</p> + +<p>"I mean them. How much?"</p> + +<p>The man's keen eyes appraised her quickly and then looked away, but he +sank upon his cushion again, wagging his head and breathing a deep sigh +to measure his humiliation.</p> + +<p>"I am but a poor man, Excellency," he sighed again.</p> + +<p>Upon Marishka's wrist was a bracelet set with diamonds. She slipped it +off quickly and handed it to him.</p> + +<p>"You are a poor man," she said. "I give you this—for Yeva."</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes. For Yeva." But his eyes were regarding the bracelet, which he +was weighing in his hand.</p> + +<p>"And if you do what I wish, I shall give you fifteen thousand <i>kroner</i> +more."</p> + +<p>"Fifteen thou——!" he whispered. "Excellency, a fortune——"</p> + +<p>"If you do what I wish——"</p> + +<p>"Anything—Excellency has but to speak."</p> + +<p>Marishka deliberated a moment and then, "You will first remove the guard +at the foot of the private stairway to this——"</p> + +<p>"Excellency, the hour is late. If you can be comfortable in my house +until the morning, all shall be arranged. For tonight I have +planned——"</p> + +<p>"No. It must be as I wish. You will also take a message addressed to Mr. +Hugh Renwick at the Hotel Europa, and find him——"</p> + +<p>"And he will give me money?" the man broke in quickly, his bony fingers +clutching like talons at the bracelet. "He will give me fifteen thousand +<i>kroner</i>?"</p> + +<p>Marishka hesitated. The price she had mentioned was cheap for her +liberty—for freedom from the fear that had all day obsessed her, but it +was a large sum, and one which it might be impossible to procure at this +time of night.</p> + +<p>"He will give you such assurances as you may require. At least he will +give you something. I shall write that I need this sum of money, and he +will surely do what he can."</p> + +<p>"Something—yes," he mused. "Something is, of course, better than +nothing at all. But how can I be certain that I shall see him?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, but you must, Effendi. It is necessary for you, to find him—and at +once."</p> + +<p>"But if he should refuse?"</p> + +<p>"He will not. Do you consent?"</p> + +<p>He salaamed deeply.</p> + +<p>"Excellency's wish is my law."</p> + +<p>So Marishka sat before the tabourette and wrote:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>I have promised the bearer of this note fifteen thousand <i>kroner</i>, +as the condition of my liberation. Give him what you can, and +arrange for the payment of the balance tomorrow. This is the cry of +desperation. <i>Do not come here or attempt to see me.</i> It is +dangerous. I will come to you.</p> + +<p>M.</p></div> + +<p>She sealed the note and handed it to him. He turned it over and over in +his fingers, his gaze aslant.</p> + +<p>"But suppose," he repeated slowly, "that I should not be able to find +him."</p> + +<p>"You must," she said with desperate hardihood. "If the note should not +reach him, the conditions of our agreement change. And be sure of this, +Effendi—if harm comes to Hugh Renwick, payment will be exacted from you +to the tenth part of a hair. His safety and my freedom——"</p> + +<p>"I do not comprehend," said the man, his brows raised in a +well-simulated surprise. "What have I to do with the safety of this +Excellency? He can be in no danger, here in Bosna-Seraj. We are a +peaceable people——"</p> + +<p>"Still—" she said distinctly, "you will remember."</p> + +<p>He shrugged and took a pace away from her, still fingering the note.</p> + +<p>"I do not comprehend," he repeated. "But I will do as you request. I +shall go at once," and he moved toward the door, then paused. "As to the +guard at the door below, that will not be necessary, since you will +await me in the <i>mabein</i>." He went quickly down the corridor, opened the +door of the <i>dutap</i>, and called Zubeydeh, who entered at once. "The +Countess will wait in the outer room. When I return I shall conduct her +to the Hotel Europa, where she will spend the night. You will wait upon +her in the meanwhile, as becomes a distinguished guest of the house of +Rataj."</p> + +<p>Then followed a phrase or two of Turkish, and the woman bowed stolidly.</p> + +<p>"It shall be as you wish, Effendi."</p> + +<p>And he passed the woman with another phrase, and was gone.</p> + +<p>Zubeydeh and Marishka stood facing each other, the elder woman in sullen +antipathy, illy concealed by the habitual mask of imperturbability. +Marishka had disliked her from the first, actuated by that rare instinct +which only women can employ, and now there seemed something ominous in +her stolid ugliness. Marishka had not fully understood the instructions +of the Beg, and not until Zubeydeh picked up her suitcase and carried it +down the corridor, did she realize that she was merely carrying out the +orders of her master. But Marishka did not move. Before her eyes danced +the words of her earlier note to Hugh, which asked him to come to her by +the private passage to the court below. If the Effendi did not succeed +in finding him, he would come; and she would not be there to meet him. +Instead of following Zubeydeh, who had returned and stood staring at +her, her feet refused to obey.</p> + +<p>"But I should prefer to remain here——" she said firmly.</p> + +<p>A vestige of a smile—slight, but none the less disagreeable—came into +the woman's yellow face.</p> + +<p>"The Harim," she said dryly, "is intended for the daughters of the +faithful. You cannot stay tonight."</p> + +<p>And as Marishka still stood irresolutely, she caught her by the arm with +a grip which was none too gentle, and pushed her down the corridor and +out into the <i>mabein</i>.</p> + +<p>Marishka sat upon the couch in the room into which she had first been +conducted, her head near the latticed window, through which the pale +green moonlight vied with the glow from the lantern over her head. +Though it could not yet be time for him to return, she listened intently +for the sound of the footsteps of the Beg. Had she succeeded? In spite +of the danger which threatened Hugh Renwick, and the ominous absence of +Captain Goritz, she felt that there was a chance that all might still be +well. Where was Captain Goritz? The tale that he had gone upon a journey +was an invention, of course. He was here in Sarajevo if not in the house +where she was held a prisoner, at least somewhere near, where he could +be sure of the culmination of the plot to remove Hugh Renwick, without +himself being involved in any unpleasant issues. From the appearance of +the Beg of Rataj and of the man she had met at the foot of the stairs, +she knew that any dreadful deed was possible in the darkness of the +secluded streets outside the house, in the garden below, or in the house +itself. But she did not despair. It was easier to win money by keeping +within the law than by breaking it. The Beg was a rogue, but money was +his fetish, and Marishka's bribe was the larger.</p> + +<p>As the moments lengthened and the man did not return, hope ebbed, and +she grew anxious. The small metal clock on the table in the corner +indicated the hour. It was half-past eleven. In half an hour, if the Beg +had not delivered her note, Hugh Renwick would come to find her, unless! +She breathed a silent prayer—unless he had not yet reached Sarajevo! +For hours she had prayed that he had followed her, for that was the +proof of his devotion that her heart required of him; but now she prayed +just as fervently that he had not come. The notion of another attempt to +escape occurred to her, but when she got up and peered down into the +darkness of the stairway which led below, her courage failed her, and +she remembered the man at the foot of the other stair. Zubeydeh, too, +was near, and while she was planning, the woman passed into the Harim +and closed the door behind her.</p> + +<p>She peered out of the window into the garden, searching its shadows for +signs of a guard, but all was quiet, except for the sound of whispering +voices, which might have come from the street or from the house +adjoining. In the dim light she watched the hour hand of the clock as it +slowly moved around the dial. Ten, fifteen minutes passed, and still she +heard no sound of footsteps. What if Hugh came while the Beg was absent +searching for him? She knew that there must be other men besides the +villain she had met at the foot of the stairs. What orders had the Beg +given his men? And what orders had he countermanded? The silence was +closing in upon her like a fog. She could not bear it. What if Hugh were +already at the foot of the stairs, waiting to knock upon the door of the +Harim as she had directed? The suspense was killing her. She rose +quietly and tried the door of the <i>dutap</i> into the corridor which led to +the Harim. It was locked.</p> + +<p>She staggered and clung to the wall to keep from falling. She saw it all +now. Goritz had intercepted the note she had sent by Yeva. <i>They</i> were +in there—Zubeydeh, the Beg and his men, and perhaps Goritz, too, +waiting—waiting for the two knocks at the steps below. And then the +door would be opened, and Hugh——</p> + +<p>The bell of the cathedral tolled, and fearfully she counted its strokes. +It was twelve o'clock.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<h3>THE MAN IN ARMOR</h3> + + +<p>Renwick waited in his place of concealment near the blue door, listening +and watching eagerly. Something was happening in the house with the +<i>meshrebiya</i> windows, for it was after midnight, and all Islam was +asleep. There were sounds of whispering again, but when he peered out +there was no one in sight. Then he thought he heard footsteps; but +whether they came from the direction of the house of the lighted window, +or whether from up the street he could not yet decide. Now he was sure +of them. Someone was approaching over the rough cobbles—from the alley +behind him! He crouched into a place of concealment behind a broken +lattice, flattening himself against the door, and waited—breathless. He +did not dare to look out, for the figure was almost upon him, but the +footsteps now silent, now moving rapidly forward, indicated the stealth +of a man who evades pursuit or fears detection. Presently a shadow +loomed beside him as a man paused for a moment beside the doorway where +Renwick stood, so close that the Englishman could hear his breathing, +and then moved on to the corner of the wider street a few feet away. +Even yet, Renwick feared to move, but at last, as the man went on toward +the wall of the blue door, Renwick risked detection, and peered out.</p> + +<p>The figure glanced at the blue door, and then turning quickly, went with +long strides down the street toward the house with the <i>meshrebiya</i> +windows. Renwick's glance had been but a momentary one, but in it he had +marked a huge figure, in a squarish hat and ill-fitting clothes. Gustav +Linke! In his hand, clutched like a weapon, he still carried his +atrocious umbrella. A grotesque outlandish figure, an ink-blot on the +velvet night! What was he doing here near the house of the lighted +windows? Renwick sprang from his place of concealment, whispering +Linke's name; but when he reached the corner of the alley the man was +twenty paces away, and so bent upon his mission that he heard nothing. +Renwick halted instinctively, and in the moment of hesitation, his +opportunity was lost. As wisdom had urged caution while Renwick had +waited, so doubly it urged it now. Linke moved like a man with a +mission, and Renwick peered forth from the angle of the wall watching +eagerly, sure now of what that mission was—the pursuit of Marishka +Strahni!</p> + +<p>He saw the man stop beneath the lighted windows, look up, and then with +a glance to right and left, enter the shadow of the mosque and disappear +within the small court beside the house. Renwick thought rapidly and +clearly. In the court where Linke had disappeared there must be another +entrance to the house. For a fleeting second, the idea entered Renwick's +head to follow the man, and trust to fortune; but the wall and blue door +opposite tempted him. Inside the garden, at least there would be a +chance for concealment, and a vantage point from which he could watch +and hear what went on within the house. He waited a moment, trying to +decide whether or not he had better risk detection in the narrow strip +of moonlight, or wait and see if anyone moved in the street below. He +was on the point of taking the chance when from the door of a house just +below him, several men emerged. It was difficult to determine how many +there were, but Renwick thought that there were at least four—perhaps +five; but whether Bosnians or Turks he could not decide. And from their +stealth and silence, and the rapidity with which they followed the tall +figure of Linke into the dark passage, the obvious inference was that +they were bent upon mischief.</p> + +<p>There was no further time to plan, so Renwick, with a quick look to +right and left, darted furtively across to the gate of the blue door and +tried the latch. It was unlocked, and quickly he entered the garden; +with his hand upon the revolver in his belt he waited, listening, but +there was no sound within but the plashing of the water of the fountain. +His eyes had grown accustomed to the darkness, and he searched the +shadows of the bushes by the reflected moonlight which silvered the +upper stories of the building. He saw that there was a door near the +center of the house facing the fountain, and upstairs in the windows +over it was the dull glow of a lamp or lantern. The windows of the other +room, which he had observed from across the street, were now darkened. +This was curious, but there was no time to debate upon it. He must act +quickly. He was sure now that Marishka was somewhere in this house, a +prisoner. She had sent for him, or why should Linke be here? He drew the +revolver from the folds of his sash, and with a keen glance to right and +left, crouching below the level of the shrubbery, he reached the door of +the house and tried it.</p> + +<p>It was locked. He hesitated for a moment, looking over his shoulder, and +then slipping his weapon into his belt again, he put a foot into the +trellis beside the doorway and began climbing. It was a dangerous thing +to attempt, for as he emerged from the shadows below, his figure would +be clearly outlined against the moonlit wall, and a well directed shot +from the garden would send him clattering down like a maimed squirrel +from a tree. But the game was worth the candle, for he had seen that the +window in the room above the door was open, and as he had decided to +enter the house at any cost, this was the only way. But it was slow +work, for the trellis was old, and creaked beneath his weight, and once, +when his foot slipped, he thought he must surely be discovered. Then he +waited, with his fingers almost at the window ledge, listening. He heard +the low murmur of voices, but they seemed to come from another part of +the building, and so risking the whole venture in one effort, he quickly +raised his head above the level of the window-ledge, and peered in. At +first he saw only the flickering shadows of a lamp hanging from the +ceiling, and then a figure in the corner opposite, which startled him +until he saw that it was immovable—a suit of armor upright against the +wall. The room appeared to be empty, and so he grasped the inside of the +sill, and hauled himself up until his shoulders were within the window +opening.</p> + +<p>It was then that a female figure started up from a couch just beside +him, stifling a cry. The light from the lantern above fell full upon her +face, and her eyes were staring at him in terror. It was Marishka. He +whispered her name, but still she stared at him wildly, and it was not +until then that he remembered his disguise. He took off his fez, and +spoke to her again.</p> + +<p>"Marishka, it is I, Hugh!"</p> + +<p>He saw her stare and then take a pace toward him as he clambered into +the room, and in a moment she was in his arms.</p> + +<p>"Hugh—belovèd!" she murmured brokenly, as she leaned heavily against +him. "I have been so frightened——"</p> + +<p>"Marishka! Your hands are ice cold. They have kept you here—against +your will?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. And you—Hugh—they've tried——"</p> + +<p>"Don't fear," he smiled. "I've as many lives as a cat. Didn't you hear +me scratching my way up the wall? Sh——"</p> + +<p>He left her for a moment, and peered out into the darkness of the +garden. All was silent as before, and so he returned and took her in his +arms again.</p> + +<p>"You've forgiven me?" he whispered.</p> + +<p>"Need you ask? Oh, Hugh, I've wanted you so!"</p> + +<p>"Thank God for that." Their lips met and she clung to him, all the +pitiful longings of her days and nights of misery in her caress, the +dependence of helpless womanhood, but greater than that, the fear for +his safety, which took precedence over her own.</p> + +<p>He kissed her tenderly, the joy of possession the greater for the +dangers that they ran.</p> + +<p>"You're trembling, Marishka. Don't worry."</p> + +<p>But she clung to him anew.</p> + +<p>"If anything should happen now—that I have you again."</p> + +<p>"Dearest! I, too, have suffered with you—but I haven't despaired. I +would never have given you up, you know," he said with a smile.</p> + +<p>"I've never wanted you to give me up, Hugh. I've tested you +cruelly—because—because—my pride was hurt——"</p> + +<p>"It had to be, Marishka. But you've survived it——"</p> + +<p>"My love is greater—greater than anything in the world to me," she +murmured. "Danger has proved it—and yours——"</p> + +<p>"It needed nothing. I love you—now and always."</p> + +<p>"You forgive?"</p> + +<p>He kissed her again and again, and for a long moment they clasped each +other in silence, their lips together, questioning, replying in broken +syllables. To the woman, nothing else mattered. If death came now, she +knew that it would be sweet. And it was Renwick who found his reason +first. Her hands still in his, he led her to the window, where he +scanned the garden anxiously. But there was still no sign of anything +suspicious, nor, in the house, any sound. But Renwick now questioned her +quickly.</p> + +<p>"You sent me a note in Vienna?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. A warning. I was afraid. I urged you to return to England, but I +hoped——"</p> + +<p>"Ah! The note—a forgery!"</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Your note told me to come to Sarajevo—to the Hotel Europa, where you +would communicate with me."</p> + +<p>"A forgery! Goritz! Now I understand. He said that you would follow."</p> + +<p>"Goritz—the limousine chap! He is here?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. I haven't seen him since this morning. Hugh! He has laid +plans to kill you—a trap——"</p> + +<p>"We shall outwit him——"</p> + +<p>"But I am frightened, even now with you here beside me, Hugh. He +is clever—I am no match for him—I wrote you to come—tonight. It +was what he wished. Don't you understand? A trap! You are in +danger—here—now——"</p> + +<p>But Renwick did not seem to be greatly disturbed. His mind had cleared +amazingly.</p> + +<p>"We shall fight him with his own weapons——"</p> + +<p>"I am frightened. Are you sure that no one saw you enter the garden?"</p> + +<p>"Positive." And then pursuing his thought, "You sent a note to the Hotel +Europa?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—" she stammered, "this afternoon. I asked you to come +here—tonight at twelve. You received it?"</p> + +<p>"No. It was intercepted."</p> + +<p>"I don't understand."</p> + +<p>He laughed. "I don't wonder. It's the luckiest thing in the world that +I've found you."</p> + +<p>He kissed her again, and then quickly, "The Harim is—where?"</p> + +<p>She pointed to the door with the grille, and he regarded it with a new +interest. In the silence that followed, they heard again the murmur of +voices, a woman's and a man's.</p> + +<p>"Zubeydeh!" she whispered. "The woman here and—a man's voice."</p> + +<p>"We must find a way out quickly. They may come around this way."</p> + +<p>He noticed the door upon the other side of the room.</p> + +<p>"Where does that lead?"</p> + +<p>"To the <i>selamlik</i>, I think. But it is better to go by the window. I can +climb. Let us go."</p> + +<p>He shook his head.</p> + +<p>"It's dangerous. The stairs——"</p> + +<p>"It is dark below. I don't know where they lead."</p> + +<p>"To the garden. They must. The door is locked on the inside, but perhaps +there's another exit at the rear. Come."</p> + +<p>He drew his revolver from his belt, and taking her by the hand, led her +to the stair, and there they stopped, for Marishka clutched his arm in +sudden consternation. From the Harim came a sudden muffled noise—as +though some one were beating upon a carpet.</p> + +<p>"Shots!" whispered Renwick. "We must hurry."</p> + +<p>"Shots! What does it mean?"</p> + +<p>"I'll explain later. Hurry!"</p> + +<p>There were cries now—the shriek of a woman, and above all, a hoarse +bellow as of some enraged animal. Renwick had already descended a few +steps, Marishka following him, when the door to the <i>selamlik</i> opened, +and a female figure clad in Marishka's silk drapery rushed forth. It was +Yeva.</p> + +<p>"Fräulein——" she whispered in awed tones to Marishka. "Forgive me!" +she pleaded. "I have seen. It was beautiful. I could not see harm come +to you. His Excellency has been in the street at the back of the house, +but when the fighting began came up the rear stairway of the +<i>selamlik</i>——"</p> + +<p>"Goritz!" stammered Marishka in terror.</p> + +<p>"But I have locked the upper door."</p> + +<p>"He will come here, Yeva!"</p> + +<p>"Excellency must go—if there is yet time."</p> + +<p>"The garden!"</p> + +<p>"No," said Renwick, looking about for a place of concealment. "I shall +stay."</p> + +<p>"It is death——" whispered Marishka.</p> + +<p>But Yeva was resourceful. "The armor!" she whispered. "I have often +hidden in it from Zubeydeh. Quickly, Excellency! It stands upon brackets +in the wall."</p> + +<p>And while Marishka watched the stairhead in terror, Yeva helped the +Englishman into this strange place of concealment. Excited as Yeva was +at her share in the affair, her fingers were nimble, and she buckled the +straps quickly, then turning fled into the <i>selamlik</i> and unlocked the +door. But Goritz by this time had managed to find a way to the stairs to +the <i>mabein</i>, and came up stealthily, listening eagerly to the +increasing commotion in the Harim. He found Marishka and Yeva hand in +hand at the door to the <i>selamlik</i> staring in consternation at the door +of the black grille. There were no more shots, but more ominous even +than shots were the sounds of voices, strained, subdued, tense with +effort—the heavy breathing of men, the crashing of furniture, and then +at last the jar of heavy bodies falling—a cry of triumph—and silence.</p> + +<p>Captain Goritz had folded his arms and waited expectant.</p> + +<p>"It is very strange," he said coolly to Yeva. "Someone has broken into +the Harim?"</p> + +<p>"Excellency, I do not know. I was at the other end of the house. The +Fräulein was frightened and called to me," she lied glibly.</p> + +<p>"It is not to be wondered at——" he said with a strange smile. "They +have made enough noise to raise the dead. I have a pardonable curiosity +as to what has happened." But as he strode toward the door and laid a +hand upon the knob, Yeva rushed forward.</p> + +<p>"Excellency!" she whispered. "You dare not! The law!"</p> + +<p>He looked at her for a moment, then shrugged and turned to Marishka.</p> + +<p>"I would suggest, Countess Strahni, that you go with this girl at once +into the <i>selamlik</i>. I have no idea of what has happened, but it must be +something quite disagreeable—an intruder within the Harim—the penalty +is severe——"</p> + +<p>Marishka was leaning against the rail of the stairway near the suit of +armor, and Goritz watched her curiously.</p> + +<p>"I—shall not go," she stammered faintly, wondering at the growing +mystery.</p> + +<p>He shrugged. "As you please," he muttered, "but I warn you that the +situation may be—unpleasant——"</p> + +<p>"I shall remain—" she said again.</p> + +<p>There were sounds of heavy footsteps, and the door of the <i>dutap</i> swung +open, revealing the Beg of Rataj, torn and dishevelled, his face +distorted with passion. He paused in the doorway, and looked from Goritz +to Marishka, breathing rapidly.</p> + +<p>"Ah, Excellency," he gasped. "I call you all to witness. A man has +entered the Harim—a Christian. Yeva, I knew, was not there, but I saw +him and followed from the street with my friends—my son, my +brother-in-law, my cousins. He is here. We have killed him."</p> + +<p>Goritz glanced at Marishka, but she stared past the dreadful apparition +into the corridor, behind him, incapable of speech or thought.</p> + +<p>"A Christian!" said Goritz. "Incredible!"</p> + +<p>"You shall see," said the Effendi. And turning to those within he +uttered a phrase in Turkish, and presently Zubeydeh and a man came +forward dragging something behind them. Marishka hid her face in her +hands, and crouched nearer the corner where the armor was.</p> + +<p>She saw Goritz suddenly start forward, his gaze upon the prostrate +figure in black, which its bearers had deposited none too gently in the +middle of the rug. Then he peered into the upturned face, starting +upright and glaring at the Effendi.</p> + +<p>"<i>Vermalerdeiter Hällen</i>——" he cried. "<i>It's not the man!</i>"</p> + +<p>"What do you mean, Excellency?" cried the Beg.</p> + +<p>"What I say—Idiots!"</p> + +<p>"A Christian—in my Harim!" wailed the old ruffian. "He has ruined my +furniture and killed my brother-in-law and my cousin."</p> + +<p>"What do I care?" cried Goritz furiously. "You've got us all into +trouble with your bungling. Do you know who this man is?" he stormed.</p> + +<p>"Who, Excellency?" cried the Effendi.</p> + +<p>"Nicholas Szarvas—the most famous secret service agent in Hungary."</p> + +<p>"What say you, Excellency?" the Effendi asked bewildered.</p> + +<p>"You have heard."</p> + +<p>"It is impossible. This was the man——"</p> + +<p>"Bah! You are a sheep's head."</p> + +<p>"Sheep's head I am not——"</p> + +<p>"Then you are a fool!"</p> + +<p>"By the beard of the Prophet—he was in my Harim," muttered the Effendi. +"I call you all to witness——"</p> + +<p>"I wash my hands of the matter," said Goritz furiously.</p> + +<p>"I am within my rights—the Harim——"</p> + +<p>"Bah—You have killed a police officer of the Empire!"</p> + +<p>"And you?" The Effendi's face was the color of that of the man upon the +floor, but his eyes glowed with fear and desperation.</p> + +<p>"I know nothing of the matter," continued Goritz. "A Christian comes +into your Harim and you kill him. If he turns out to be an officer of +the law, what is it to me?"</p> + +<p>"You will pay me that which you owe," shrieked the Effendi. "The man has +broken my furniture."</p> + +<p>"It is a pity he didn't break your head. I pay you nothing."</p> + +<p>And then to Marishka, "Come, Countess, we must be upon our way."</p> + +<p>Marishka stood staring at Goritz, a new horror in her eyes. She now +understood. The Effendi thrust himself between them.</p> + +<p>"You will pay me that which you owe," he stormed again.</p> + +<p>"Stand aside!" said the German, and then to Marishka,</p> + +<p>"If the Countess Strahni will be good enough to accompany me?" he said, +civilly.</p> + +<p>But Marishka stood fixed, staring at him with alien eyes, as the Effendi +rushed forward toward her, his arms extended.</p> + +<p>"She shall not go. She will see what has been done. He is <i>not the man</i>. +She will remain here in my house until——"</p> + +<p>"Stand aside, Effendi!" cried Goritz furiously, and as the man did not +move, he caught him by the shoulder and thrust him roughly aside. He +scorned to use a weapon, and the other man and the woman seemed +completely dominated by his air of command.</p> + +<p>"You will please come at once, Countess Strahni. There is no telling how +soon the police will be coming."</p> + +<p>And as Marishka did not move—</p> + +<p>"You heard?"</p> + +<p>"I will not go," stammered Marishka.</p> + +<p>Goritz paused, examining her keenly, as though he had not quite +understood.</p> + +<p>"I have asked you quite courteously, Countess——"</p> + +<p>"I will not go," repeated Marishka. Her voice was ice-cold, like her +body, which seemed to be frozen into immobility.</p> + +<p>"I beg to remind you of your promise—to go with me——"</p> + +<p>"I will not go," she said again.</p> + +<p>"Then I must take you," he said, striding toward her furiously, and +reaching out a hand to seize her by the wrist.</p> + +<p>Then a strange thing happened. The man in armor, in the corner behind +Marishka, strode clanking forth into the room, while a voice +reverberated in the iron helmet. What it said no one understood. The +Effendi gazed at the moving thing in terror, and then with a shriek fled +down the stairs, Zubeydeh and her companion, <i>calling in loud tones upon +Allah</i>, at his heels. Goritz glanced at the thing and then stood +irresolute a moment, as the man in the armor slowly raised an arm, for +at the end of the arm Goritz saw a revolver pointed directly at him.</p> + +<p>"Hold up your hands, Captain Goritz," rang the voice from the depths of +the helmet. "Quickly, or I'll shoot."</p> + +<p>Goritz bit his lips.</p> + +<p>"Clever—Herr Renwick," he said coolly in English. "You've taken the +trick."</p> + +<p>"Hold up your hands——"</p> + +<p>But Goritz with a sudden leap had sprung behind Marishka. Renwick fired +once as he jumped, and missed. And now Goritz, shielding himself behind +Marishka's body, drew his automatic and fired again and again, riddling +the ancient armor like a sieve. Marishka struggled wildly in the arms of +the German, and managed to draw the dagger concealed in her waist, but +he caught her wrist and held her in front of him, taking careful aim at +the man in the armor and firing deliberately. Renwick tottered forward +silently and came crashing to the floor in the corner, where after a +moment of struggle, he relaxed and lay motionless.</p> + +<p>Goritz caught Marishka around the waist and disarmed her. But this act +of precaution was unnecessary, for after one fleeting glance at the +tangled heap of iron in the corner, she sank a dead weight in his arms.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + +<h3>NUMBER 28</h3> + + +<p>For a month the Landes Hospital had been greatly interested in the +mystery of patient Number 28. In spite of the imminence of war, and the +preparations which were being made to care for the wounded along the +border, the physicians, the nurses, and the other patients had all +formed theories as to the man's history and the possible causes of his +injuries. And during the long period in which he lay unconscious, +hovering in the dim realm between life and death, not a day passed in +which his temperature, respiration, and other symptoms were not +discussed from one end of the hospital to the other. The Head Surgeon, +Colonel Bohratt, inclined to the opinion that if the man continued for a +few days longer without change he would recover. But the Head Nurse +shook her head sagely. The wound in the head had been difficult, as the +operation was an unusual one, the wound in the shoulder was nothing, but +the one in the stomach! If the operation of Colonel Bohratt proved +successful, then a miracle had been performed.</p> + +<p>The interest in the case, both from the sentimental as well as the +professional point of view, was so great that the man's bed had been +carefully wheeled from a ward where he had been taken from the operating +table, into a private room, where every chance would be given him to +recover.</p> + +<p>On the twenty-seventh of July, Fräulein Roth, the nurse on duty at the +bedside of the man of mystery, noted a slight change in his breathing, +and saw that he had opened his eyes, which were regarding her calmly, +but with the puzzled expression of one who has come a great distance +into a strange country. She knew then that what the Head Surgeon had +said was true, and that the man of mystery had turned the corner which +led away from the land of the Great Beyond. But being a prudent person, +she gave no sign of her delight, merely moving softly closer to the +bedside, and in German quietly asked him if he felt better.</p> + +<p>The man did not or could not reply at once, but she saw that his gaze +slowly passed beyond her to the bare walls of the room and to the open +window, beyond which were clouds, sunshine, and the distant drowsy +murmur of the city.</p> + +<p>"You are feeling more comfortable?" she asked again, in German.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he <i>muttered</i>.</p> + +<p>"You have been sick," she whispered softly, smoothing his pillow.</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes, sick," the man muttered, and closing his eyes, slept again.</p> + +<p>It was not long before the news of the awakening of Number 28 had +reached the nurses and attending physicians. Colonel Bohratt, greatly +pleased at the correctness of his prophecy and the end of the period of +coma, at once a tribute to his wisdom as well as to his professional +skill, came himself and viewed the patient, gave directions for +treatment and predicted speedy recovery.</p> + +<p>That night, the man of mystery awoke again, exchanged a few words with +Fräulein Roth as before, and again slept. And on the morrow, a sure sign +that all was going well with him, he had gained so much strength that he +moved freely in his bed, and took more than the casual interest of the +desperately sick in his situation and surroundings. Fräulein Roth had +been given instructions to keep him quiet, but she smiled at him when +quite rationally he questioned her.</p> + +<p>"Is this a hospital?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes—the Landes Hospital."</p> + +<p>"Where?"</p> + +<p>"Sarajevo."</p> + +<p>"Ah,—Sarajevo."</p> + +<p>He remained silent for a long moment.</p> + +<p>"I have been here long?" he asked again.</p> + +<p>"A month."</p> + +<p>"A month! And the date?"</p> + +<p>"The twenty-eighth of July——"</p> + +<p>"Yes. I understand."</p> + +<p>Fräulein Roth wished him to be quiet, but after a long moment of +contemplation of the ceiling, in which his brows puckered in a puzzled +way, he spoke again.</p> + +<p>And when Fräulein Roth anxiously desired him to be quiet, she discovered +that Number 28 had a will of his own and only smiled at her earnestness.</p> + +<p>"I am feeling quite strong," he said weakly. "It will do me no harm to +talk, for some things puzzle me. I was brought here. Won't you tell me +how?"</p> + +<p>She debated with herself for a moment, but after an inspection of her +patient she decided to tell him the facts.</p> + +<p>"A peasant had discovered two men lying in a strip of woods near the road +to Gradina. At first he had thought that both were dead, but upon closer +examination he found that one of the men, although desperately wounded, +still breathed, and notified the police, who summoned the ambulance."</p> + +<p>"I?" asked the sick man.</p> + +<p>She nodded. "You were brought here—to the Landes Hospital in a bad +condition. The other man was dead."</p> + +<p>"The other man—dead?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said the nurse, "with stab wounds in the back, and one in the +heart." She regarded her patient keenly a moment, and then went on. +"There were no marks of identification upon either of you. You were +without clothing. Following so closely upon the assassination of the +Archduke Franz and his wife, the circumstances were suspicious, and the +police of Sarajevo and the secret service officials have done all they +could to find some clew to the murderers. You see," she concluded with a +smile, "you are a man of mystery and all Sarajevo awaits your recovery."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I see. They are waiting for me to speak?"</p> + +<p>Number 28 lay silent, regarding the ceiling intently, frowning a little. +His mind worked slowly and Fräulein Roth saw that he found some +difficulty in mental concentration.</p> + +<p>"We will talk no more at present," she said firmly. "If you are no +worse—perhaps again tomorrow."</p> + +<p>But on the following day and the next the condition of the patient was +not so favorable, for he lay in a drowsy condition and showed no +interest in anything. It seemed that the pallid fingers of Death were +still stretched over him. There were whispered consultations at the +bedside, and a magistrate came to take a deposition, but the Head +Surgeon advised delay. He had a reputation at stake.</p> + +<p>The wisdom of his advice was soon proved, for at the end of three days +Number 28 rallied, his fever subsided, and he smiled again at Nurse +Roth. But she had learned wisdom and refused to talk.</p> + +<p>Number 28 straightened in bed and ran his thin fingers through the beard +with which his face was now covered. He ate of his food with a relish +and then eagerly questioned.</p> + +<p>"I am quite strong again, Fräulein. See—my hand does not even tremble. +Will you not talk with me?"</p> + +<p>"My orders are to keep you quiet."</p> + +<p>"I have been quiet long enough—a month!" he sighed. "The world does not +stand still for a month."</p> + +<p>The nurse smiled. "I see that you are used to having your own way," she +said.</p> + +<p>"Is it not natural that I should wish to know what has happened in the +world? Tell me. The Archduke Franz was killed. Did they discover a +plot?"</p> + +<p>"A plot? Yes. The boy Prinzep was employed by the Serbians."</p> + +<p>"He confessed?"</p> + +<p>"Not to that—but it is obvious."</p> + +<p>"And what has happened?"</p> + +<p>She examined him intently, aware now of what she herself had long +suspected, that this patient was no ordinary kind of man. His German had +a slight accent, but whether he came from central Europe or elsewhere +she could not decide.</p> + +<p>"Austria Hungary is on the eve of great events. A week or more ago +Austria Hungary sent an ultimatum to the Serbian government, to which an +unsatisfactory reply was received. The Austro-Hungarian minister has +left Belgrade, and war has been declared upon Serbia."</p> + +<p>"War! and Russia?"</p> + +<p>"Russia, France and Germany have mobilized."</p> + +<p>"And England?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing is known of what England will do. But it is feared that she may +join the cause of Russia and France."</p> + +<p>Number 28 lay silent for a moment thinking deeply, and then—</p> + +<p>"It has come at last. War. All of Europe——"</p> + +<p>"It is frightful. There has already been fighting on the Serbian border. +We are preparing here to receive the wounded."</p> + +<p>He remained silent a moment, his eyes sparkling as he thought of what +she had told him and then quietly, "War!" he muttered. "I must get well +very quickly, Nurse, I must——"</p> + +<p><i>She waited for him to go on, for, being a woman,</i> curiosity as to his +history obsessed her, but he said no more. And in spite of her interest +in this man whom she had faithfully watched and served for more than a +month, some delicacy restrained the questions on her tongue.</p> + +<p>"You will not get well for a long while, Herr Twenty-Eight, if you do +not keep quiet," she said quickly.</p> + +<p>"You are very good to me," he replied. "I shall do as you wish."</p> + +<p>Several days after this, the patient having gained strength rapidly, he +was permitted solid food. He slept much, and in his waking hours seemed +to be thinking deeply. He was very obedient, as though concentrating all +his mind upon an effort toward speedy recovery, but he did not talk of +himself. His strength now permitting more frequent conversation, the +nurse brought him the news of the world outside, which included the +declaration of war by Great Britain against Germany—and the certainty +of a declaration against Austria Hungary.</p> + +<p>"It is as I suspected," he muttered. "England——"</p> + +<p>Again her patient was silent, and Nurse Roth glanced at him quickly. +English!</p> + +<p>She did not speak her thought, for the import of her news had sent her +patient into one of his deep spells of concentration. No Englishman that +she had ever met had spoken the German language so fluently. But +concealing her interest and curiosity when he turned toward her again, +she smiled at him brightly.</p> + +<p>"You are now getting much stronger, Herr Twenty-Eight," she said. "The +Head Surgeon has given permission for your examination."</p> + +<p>"Examination?"</p> + +<p>"A magistrate will come tomorrow to take your deposition."</p> + +<p>"I don't understand."</p> + +<p>"About all the facts connected with your injuries."</p> + +<p>"They have learned nothing?"</p> + +<p>"A little. The man who was found with you has been identified."</p> + +<p>"Ah!"</p> + +<p>"As Nicholas Szarvas, a Hungarian police officer——"</p> + +<p>"Szarvas!"</p> + +<p>"You knew him?"</p> + +<p>The patient was silent again. She had come suddenly upon the stone wall +which had balked all her efforts. Her hand was near him upon the bed. He +took it and pressed it to his lips.</p> + +<p>"Do not think me ungrateful for all your kindnesses, Fräulein. Some day +perhaps I can repay you. But there are reasons why I cannot speak."</p> + +<p>She drew her hand away from him slowly.</p> + +<p>"But you must speak when the magistrate questions," she said gently.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps!" And he was silent again.</p> + +<p>With his growing strength had come wariness. If England declared war, +he, Hugh Renwick, at present unknown, would be interned, a prisoner; and +all hope of finding Marishka and the German, Goritz, would be lost. In +the first few days of his awakening, he had thought of sending for +Warwick, the British Consul, and putting the matter entirely in his +hands. But before he had had the strength to decide what it was best to +do, had come the declarations of war, and he had determined to remain +silent and act upon his own initiative. Unless he had muttered something +of his past in his fever, and this he doubted, or some sign of it would +have come from Fräulein Roth, there would he no means of identifying him +as an Englishman, and when he recovered, they would let him go. As it +was, he was a man of mystery, and as such he intended to remain. He had +noted the marks of interest in the face of the nurse, and in her +questions, and his gratitude to her was very genuine, but he was sure +now that he was in no position to take chances. War being declared, +Warwick would have been given his passports, and would have left the +country. No one in Sarajevo knew the Englishman, Renwick—at least no +one who would be likely to connect the man of mystery of the Landes +Hospital with the former secretary of the British Embassy in Vienna.</p> + +<p>As his mind had grown clearer, the wisdom of his decision became more +apparent. If a magistrate came, he would be obliged to see him, but he +knew that his period of illness could cover a multitude of remembrances.</p> + +<p>The magistrate came with a clerk, and questioned with an air of +importance. Renwick realized that if he refused to answer, he might make +himself an object of suspicion, and endanger the chances of his release +upon recovery, and so, as he was not under oath, he invented skillfully.</p> + +<p>"What is your name?"</p> + +<p>"Peter Langer."</p> + +<p>"What nationality?"</p> + +<p>"Austrian, if you like. I am a citizen of the world."</p> + +<p>The magistrate examined him over his glasses.</p> + +<p>"The world is large. From what part of Austria did you come?"</p> + +<p>"Vienna."</p> + +<p>"Your parents are Viennese?"</p> + +<p>"They were in Vienna when I was young."</p> + +<p>"Were they born there?"</p> + +<p>"I do not know."</p> + +<p>"It is necessary that you should."</p> + +<p>"I am sorry if it is necessary. I do not know."</p> + +<p>"What brought you to Sarajevo?"</p> + +<p>"I am a wanderer. I wished to see the world."</p> + +<p>"A wish that has almost proved fatal. You have no business?"</p> + +<p>"Merely the business of wandering."</p> + +<p>The magistrate frowned.</p> + +<p>"I beg that you will take this matter seriously, Herr Langer."</p> + +<p>"I do. It is not in the least amusing."</p> + +<p>The man consulted his notes for a moment.</p> + +<p>"Where were you on the night of June twenty-eight?"</p> + +<p>"I have been ill for a month. Dates mean nothing to me. My memory is +bad."</p> + +<p>"Ah! Well, then, where were you on the night of the assassination?"</p> + +<p>"What assassination——?"</p> + +<p>"The assassination of the Archduke," replied the magistrate sternly.</p> + +<p>"In Sarajevo, I should say."</p> + +<p>"<i>Natürlich.</i> But in what place?"</p> + +<p>"In the street, perhaps—or in a house. I don't remember."</p> + +<p>"I beg that you make the effort to remember."</p> + +<p>"I cannot," said Renwick after a pause.</p> + +<p>"You must."</p> + +<p>"My mind is clouded."</p> + +<p>The magistrate exchanged a glance with the nurse, who stood at the head +of the bed, and spoke to her. "This man talks to you quite rationally?"</p> + +<p>Fräulein Roth hesitated and then said: "Yes. But he has been very ill. I +should suggest that you excuse him where possible."</p> + +<p>"H—m! This is a matter of great seriousness. A police officer has been +murdered by a person or persons unknown. This man was found near his +body, both of them left for dead. It is not possible that he can have +forgotten the circumstances—the fight, the shooting which preceded his +unconsciousness." And then to Renwick—"You knew Nicholas Szarvas?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"I would remind you that this is the man who was found dead beside you."</p> + +<p>"I did not know him."</p> + +<p>"What are your recollections of the evening I have mentioned?"</p> + +<p>"I have no recollections."</p> + +<p>"You said that you were in a house."</p> + +<p>"Or the street—I forget."</p> + +<p>"You remember having an altercation with someone?"</p> + +<p>"In my dreams—yes. Many."</p> + +<p>"But before your dreams, when you were conscious?"</p> + +<p>"None."</p> + +<p>"Szarvas was stabbed. Did you see him attacked?"</p> + +<p>"I did not."</p> + +<p>"Have you any idea who shot you?"</p> + +<p>"A man who was my enemy, I should say."</p> + +<p>"Ah—you had an enemy?"</p> + +<p>"What man has not?"</p> + +<p>"What was his name?"</p> + +<p>"I don't remember."</p> + +<p>The magistrate got up frowning, and paced up and down the room, his +hands behind his back.</p> + +<p>"I should advise you, Herr Langer, that it is my opinion that you are +willfully endeavoring to impede the steps of this investigation. I would +remind you also that those who try to thwart the officers of the law in +the performance of their duty, are alike amenable to it. Your +reticence—I can call it by a less pleasant word—is aiding and +abetting a criminal, who must be brought to justice."</p> + +<p>"It is not likely——" He paused.</p> + +<p>"What?"</p> + +<p>"That I should wish to save a man who had tried to murder me."</p> + +<p>"But this is precisely what you are doing."</p> + +<p>Renwick smiled.</p> + +<p>"What would you? Have me invent a story for your record? I can say no +more than I remember. I remember nothing."</p> + +<p>The magistrate took off his glasses and rubbed them rigorously, as if by +so doing he could clear his own mind as to what had best be done. Then +he put them upon his nose and took up his hat and papers. It was certain +that the patient's brain was still far from strong.</p> + +<p>"I shall not pursue this investigation now," he said to Nurse Roth. "I +shall wait a few days in which Herr Langer may have time to reflect. He +is still very weak. In the meanwhile, Herr Langer, I would tell you that +it would be wise for you to recover your memory."</p> + +<p>"A desire which I sincerely share," said Renwick with a smile.</p> + +<p>"If not," continued the magistrate with his most magisterial manner, +"you will be detained, as a material witness, in Sarajevo."</p> + +<p>"I have no intention of leaving Sarajevo unless someone should happen to +pay my railroad fare," replied Renwick wearily.</p> + +<p>The man left, followed by his clerk, and Nurse Roth closed the door +behind them. When the sounds of their footsteps had faded away along the +corridor, she turned to the table where she rearranged some roses in a +vase.</p> + +<p>"You lie very ingeniously, Herr Twenty-eight," she said with a smile.</p> + +<p>Renwick regarded her calmly.</p> + +<p>"It is not my nature, Nurse Roth. But a cracked skull doesn't improve +the brains beneath."</p> + +<p>She came over to him quickly, and stood beside the bed.</p> + +<p>"You have some reason for concealing your identity. I know that you +remember what happened. But I will protect you as far as I can, upon one +condition."</p> + +<p>"And that?" he asked anxiously.</p> + +<p>"That you will give me your word of honor that it was not you who killed +Nicholas Szarvas."</p> + +<p>He caught her by the hand and smiled up at her with a look so genuine +that there was no question as to his sincerity.</p> + +<p>"I give it. I did not kill Nicholas Szarvas."</p> + +<p>"Thank you," she said simply. "I believe you."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="secret6" id="secret6"></a> +<img src="images/secret6.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>"Thank you," she said simply. "I believe you."</h3> +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + + + +<p>"I wish I could tell you," he whispered earnestly, "for I know that you +are my friend, but"—and he relinquished her hand—"but I <i>must</i> keep +silent."</p> + +<p>She touched him gently upon the shoulder in token of understanding, and +from that moment said no more.</p> + +<p>The days passed slowly, but it was evident to those who were interested +in the case that Number 28 gained strength very rapidly. His wounds had +healed, and he was soon permitted to get up and sit in an armchair near +the window, where he could look out over the minarets of the city below +the hill. But to all except Nurse Roth, it seemed that the injury to his +head had done something to retard the recovery of his memory. He spoke +quite rationally to Colonel Bohratt upon matters regarding his physical +condition, but sometimes even when the Head Surgeon was talking with +him, he relapsed into a state of mental apathy which caused that worthy +man to remove his bandage and examine the wound in his head. After which +the Colonel would leave the room with a puzzled expression. And in +consequence of this curious mental condition, it was thought wise to +defer the visit of the officer of the law until the patient's mind +should show a change for the better. There was even a consultation upon +the advisability of another operation upon the head, but the patient +showed such encouraging marks of growing lucidity that the operation was +deferred.</p> + +<p>It was a dangerous game that he was playing, and Renwick knew it, for +the time would come when he must tell who he was, or find a chance to +escape from the hospital. Escape was his hope and each day as he gained +new strength, he thought of a hundred expedients by which it might be +accomplished. He knew that even now he was under surveillance, and +virtually a prisoner of the Austrian government, until he could give +some account of himself, and of the events of the night of the +twenty-eighth of June. And so he conserved his energies carefully, +gaining courage and weight with each new day, playing the game of delay +until he was assured of his strength and the moment was propitious. The +chief difficulty which confronted him was a means to procure clothing. +He was allowed the privileges of the hospital, permitted to walk upon +the terrace, but he had no clothing except the sleeping suit of cotton +and a wrapper-like affair which he wore when out of his room. Whether +his restriction to this costume was by neglect or by design, he did not +know, for all the other convalescents whom he met out in the air wore +the clothes in which they had come to the hospital. The fact that he had +been brought here unclothed was of little comfort to him, and he feared +to request a change of garments for this might excite suspicion. There +was nothing for it but to wait, and when strength enough came, seize the +first opportunity presented to slip quietly away.</p> + +<p>He had been studying his chances with a discriminating eye. His room was +upon the second floor, but there was a rain-spout which passed just +beside it, and given the strength of hand and wrist to accomplish the +descent, the matter would be simple. There was a row of shrubbery just +below the terrace, which led to a path over the hills, where he might be +lost under cover of the night. But even at night he could not go into +Sarajevo without clothing. For a while the idea of appealing to Nurse +Roth occurred to him, but he at last rejected it, aware that she had +already done much that could not be repaid, and unwilling to subject her +to the alternatives of refusal or acquiescence—one of which might be +hazardous to his own chances, the other surely fruitful of +unpleasantness to herself. He had no right to ask this of her. He wished +to incur no new obligations, for when the time came, he intended to go, +and he could not repay her kindness with deceit. And so he waited, +simulating weakness, exercising in secret, and gaining in strength for +the hopeless task before him.</p> + +<p>He had made no plans. What plans could he make when he had no means of +making inquiries? Goritz was gone with Marishka,—by this time perhaps +far beyond the German border, the girl a prisoner—or——? For a moment +he paused as the new thought came to him. What would be the status of +the Countess Strahni since the outbreak of war? The conditions which +existed before the pact of Konopisht were no more. Germany's ambitions +stultified—Austria forgiving—both nations involved in a great +undertaking the prosecution of which must make them careless of all less +vital issues! Had Goritz been recalled from this secret mission to +another more important? And if so, where was Marishka? Could she have +been released? There was a chance of it, but it seemed a slender one. +Goritz! Something—some deeply hidden instinct, some suspicion harbored +perhaps in the long days and nights of his unconsciousness, some pang of +fear born of pain and unrest, advised him that, behind the secret duty +which had first brought Goritz to Vienna, he was now playing a game of +his own. The brief glimpse he had had of the man, short but fearfully +significant, had made an unpleasant impression. He had seen the look in +the eyes of the German as he had asked Marishka to go with him from the +house of the garden, a look courteous and considerate, that had in it, +too, something more than mere admiration. If the man were in love with +her! And what man of any vision, learning to know Marishka could help +caring for her! Not love, surely! Not love from a man who sheltered +himself from danger by using her as a shield. He had been safe then. +Renwick could not have fired then. And Goritz was clever enough to know +it. But the dastardliness of such a trick! There was a long score to pay +between Renwick and Goritz, a score the items of which had begun with +the attempts upon the Englishman's life in Vienna and Konopisht, the +imprisonment of Marishka, and the shooting in Sarajevo which had +nothing to do with politics. They were enemies. Their countries were +enemies. It was written.</p> + +<p>Absorbed in these unpleasant meditations, Renwick sat upon the terrace +of the hospital after supper, idly manicuring his nails with Nurse +Roth's scissors. As it grew dark, he got up, slowly pacing up and down +the length of the terrace. The moment was approaching when he would be +called in to go to his room, but he grudgingly relinquished the moments +in the soft evening air. It was curious how much latitude they gave +him—curious, also, that the magistrate, after his second fruitless +visit a few days ago, had not returned. As Renwick had continued evasive +the magistrate had grown angry and at last had threatened him with the +visit of one who would make him speak. Who was this new inquisitor to +be? Someone in higher authority? Or perhaps some secret service agent +who had finally succeeded in getting some clews as to the murder of the +colossal Szarvas?</p> + +<p>Of one thing Renwick was sure—that soon he must make a break for +liberty. Tonight—now—into the dusk beyond the hills. He was not very +strong yet, but it might be——</p> + +<p>"Herr Twenty-Eight," said the voice of Nurse Roth at his elbow, "you are +to go at once to your room for examination."</p> + +<p>"Thanks, Fräulein. I shall go. It is the magistrate?"</p> + +<p>She nodded soberly.</p> + +<p>"The magistrate and another whom I have never seen. They are now in the +office consulting the Head Surgeon."</p> + +<p>Renwick smiled at her as he whispered, "I am to be <i>grilled</i>?"</p> + +<p>"I fear so."</p> + +<p>He shrugged. "The time for subterfuge is past." And then, taking her +hand again, "I shall go at once. But whatever happens I want you to know +that I shall never forget what you have done for me."</p> + +<p>"It is nothing. Now go, please."</p> + +<p>He bowed and preceded her into the hallway. As they passed the office +the door was open and Renwick glanced in. The magistrate was there and +another man, talking to Colonel Bohratt, all of them unaware of the +patient in the darker hallway looking at them. Renwick started, and then +gazed again at the third man leaning over the table facing him. His +figure seemed familiar, his bowing and gestures more so, and yet for a +second Renwick could not place him. And then the man smiled, showing a +gold tooth which caught the reflection of the electric light upon the +table. A gold tooth——</p> + +<p>Nurse Roth was regarding Renwick who glanced at the open door behind him +and then at Nurse Roth. The pause was momentous. Renwick quickly +recovered his poise and went on a few steps.</p> + +<p>"They wish to see me—in the office?" he asked in a whisper.</p> + +<p>"In your room, please. I shall tell them that you are waiting."</p> + +<p>"Thanks, again," said Renwick abruptly, with outstretched hand, "and +good-by."</p> + +<p>"Good-by?" she asked in alarm.</p> + +<p>He smiled over the shoulder as he went up the stairs.</p> + +<p>"I think I shall exchange the hospital—for the jail."</p> + +<p>He left her standing there looking up at him in wonder or pity, and then +turning the stairhead went on down the upper corridor. There were nurses +conversing here, and a patient or two, so Renwick went slowly until he +reached his room. But once within the door he acted with speed and +resolution. First he turned the key in the lock and softly shot the +bolt, then crossed the room quickly, his heart beating rapidly. He was +not strong and his nerves already were warning him, but they did not +fail him. He peered out of the window upon the terrace. It was not yet +dark and there was a nurse below standing beside a man in a wheel chair. +He could not go now for they would see him and surely give the alarm, +and so he waited, going back to the door and listening for the sound of +approaching male footsteps. As yet no sound. He peered down upon the +head of the luckless nurse, mutely imprecating. The moments were +precious. Would they never go in? It was past the hour for loitering on +the terrace. For a moment the idiotic notion came to him to go out into +the corridor and call the attention of the nurse in charge of the floor +to the infraction of rules, but he turned again to the window. The nurse +was moving now, slowly pushing the wheel chair toward the door. It was +barely a hundred feet away, but to Renwick it seemed an eternity before +the pair vanished within. Then taking off his slippers he put them in +the pocket of his wrapper, and rolling it into a bundle, dropped it +noiselessly upon the terrace below. His nerves quivered as he sat +astride the window-sill but he set his jaw and lowered himself from the +window, catching the iron gutter-pipe with bare fingers and toes. The +spout seemed to creak horribly, and for a moment he thought that it was +swaying outward with him. But the sensation was born of his own +weakness. The pipe held and slowly he descended, reaching the ground, +his knuckles bruised and torn, but so far, safe.</p> + +<p>He paused for a moment to slip into his wrapper and then crossed the +terrace quietly, reached the lawn and the shelter of the bushes below.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2> + +<h3>DISGUISE</h3> + + +<p>Long ago he had planned the direction in which he should go when the +time came for him to escape. And so without pausing to look behind him +he hurried down the hill in the shelter of the hedge until he reached +its end. A hundred yards away was a hillock. By going forward in a line +which he had already marked he would have the partial protection of +rocks and bushes. He paused just a moment to be sure that no one was +coming after him. All was as before and the dark group of buildings, his +home for nearly two months, loomed in silent dignity behind him. But +Renwick knew that it would not be long before the whole countryside +would be buzzing like a hornet's nest. In his enfeebled condition, he +could hardly hope to cope with his pursuers in the matter of speed and +so as he went on across the stream at the base of the hill, he tried to +plan something that would outwit them. The nearest outlying houses of +the town were but a few hundred yards distant, but instead of taking the +road down the hill, he turned sharply to his left after crossing the +road and entered the Moslem cemetery, laid according to the custom in a +cypress grove. He now moved slowly and leaning against the bole of a +tree regained his breath while he listened for the expected sounds of +pursuit. The cemetery seemed to be deserted, but he decided to take no +chances, so he found a tree with thick foliage, and climbed from one +bough to another until he found a crotch of a limb where he disposed +himself as comfortably as possible to wait until the pursuit had passed +him by.</p> + +<p>His pulses were still pounding furiously from the sudden effort of +muscles long unused, and his nerves were tingling strangely, but he +clung to his perch until the period of weakness passed and then planned +what he had better do. Inside of an hour every policeman in Sarajevo +would be warned by Herr Windt to look out for a man with a beard, +wearing a sleeping suit and a blue woolen wrapper. The obvious thing +therefore was to avoid Sarajevo or else find a means to change his +costume. But if he begged, borrowed, or stole an outfit of native +clothing—what then? Where should he turn? He had no money, for that, of +course, had been taken by the ruffians who had carried his body into the +woods and stripped him of his clothing. To all intents and purposes he +had been born again—had come into the world anew, naked save for the +unsightly flapping things in which he was wrapped. His English clothes +were at the inn in the Bistrick quarter where he had left them, but to +seek them now meant immediate capture. And if he wore English clothes in +the streets of a town full of men in uniform he would be as conspicuous +as though in sleeping suit and wrapper. A native costume was the +thing—and a fez which would hide the plaster on his head. But how to +get it? He heard voices, and two men passed below him weaving in and out +among the trees; he blessed the inspiration which had bidden him climb. +He would have known Windt. He was not one of them. They were men from +the hospital, out of breath with running, and the phrases they exchanged +gave Renwick comforting notion that they were already wearily impressed +with the hopelessness of their task. A while they waited, and then he +saw them go out on the further side of the copse as though glad to be +well away from so melancholy a spot. Indeed the gray turban-carved +tombstones were eloquent to Renwick and a newly made grave not far away +was unpleasantly suggestive of the fate that had so nearly been his. It +was starlight now, but dark, and the owls were already hooting +mournfully as though the souls of those who lay in the sod beneath had +come again to visit by night their last resting places. It was not the +most cheerful spot for a man who had just come out of a bout with death, +and Renwick had no mind to stay there. So when the men who had been +searching for him had gone their ways, he clambered stiffly down. He +lingered by the newly made grave, obsessed by the rather morbid notion +of digging up the estimable Moslem who reposed there and exchanging his +own hospital wrapper for the much to be desired native costume, but +desperate as was his need the idea was too unpleasant. He would rob, if +necessary, but not the dead.</p> + +<p>As he wandered among the trees in the direction of the nearest lights, +he felt a pair of scissors in the pocket of his wrapper—Fräulein +Roth's. His fingers closed upon them now. A weapon? Better than that. A +plan had come to him which he proceeded immediately to put into +practice. Taking off his wrapper he seated himself upon a tombstone and +began cutting it into pieces, shaping a short sleeveless jacket. He cut +the sleeves of the wrapper lengthwise and made a turban.</p> + +<p>Its skirt made him a belt with something left over. He puzzled for +awhile over the remnant of cloth left to him, thinking of his legs, but +at last discarded it as useless, and hid it among the bushes. Then, +laboriously, he trimmed his mustache and beard. It was low work without +light or mirror, but he persevered until to the touch of his fingers the +merest bristle remained, a stubble such as a man would have who had gone +a few days without shaving. Then, satisfied that under cover of the +darkness he might pass in a crowd of people unnoticed, he slipped the +scissors into the coat of his sleeping suit and sallied forth.</p> + +<p>At least he was rid of the flowing robe which would have made of him a +marked man. Fortunately the night was hot and sultry, and so far he +suffered no inconveniences, but he knew that this disguise was only a +makeshift and that by fair means or foul, he must come into the +possession of some sort of costume in which he could face the light of +day. In the road, he passed a farmer returning from the bazaar, and the +careless greeting of the man reassured him. A polyglot costume +surely—but this was a city of polyglots. The disguise would do—at +least for this night. But the appearance of Windt had seriously alarmed +him. It meant, if he was taken, that he would surely be interned, or +worse, perhaps that he might be accused of complicity in the murder of +Szarvas, Windt's own man. In the back of his head a plan had been +forming, which meant if not active help in escaping from the city, at +least a short refuge from pursuit, and perhaps something more. He meant +to go to the house where Marishka had been—and speak to the girl, Yeva. +It was the only hope he had of a clew to Marishka's whereabouts—the +only hope of help in this city of enemies. He was quite sure that he +would not be a welcome visitor, for it was the old ruffian in the +turban, of course, who had taken the clothing from Renwick's body and +left him for dead upon the hillside. The theory in the hospital had been +that those who had carried Renwick into the woods had intended burying +the bodies—for a spade had been found later near the place—but that +the murderers had been frightened away before being able to carry out +their plan. And lacking information upon the subject, Renwick had come +to the same conclusion. He might not be welcome at the house of the blue +door, but he knew the old man's secret and decided to risk danger by +playing the game with an open hand.</p> + +<p>Instead of going into the city by the nearest way, which would have led +him in a few moments into the European part of the town, he bore to the +left again, climbing the hill behind the Tekija mosque, until he reached +an eminence back of the fortress above the Golden Bastion, and then +slowly descended into the Turkish quarter of the town where the streets +were narrow and dark and the danger of detection minimized. He had +already passed many people who had merely glanced at him and gone their +ways, and the success of his disguise gave him confidence; but as he +approached the Sirocac Tor he was badly frightened, for on turning the +corner of a street he ran directly into the arms of a stout Bosnian +policeman who was looking for him. The man swore at him in bad German +and Renwick drew back against the wall, sure that the game was up, until +he realized that the fellow was only cursing because he was almost, if +not quite as much startled as Renwick. So the Englishman, regaining his +composure, bowed politely and would have gone on, but the policeman +spoke.</p> + +<p>"Which way have you come?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"From the Kastele."</p> + +<p>"You have seen no bareheaded man with a beard, wearing a long blue +coat?"</p> + +<p>"A long blue coat? There are none with long blue coats in the Kastele in +the month of August."</p> + +<p>"Pfui—! I do not wonder!" said the fat Bosnian, and hurried on.</p> + +<p>But the venture made Renwick more cautious, and he avoided the +street-lights, moving under the shadows of walls and houses, at last +reaching the tortuous alleyway down which he had once come to inspect +the house with the <i>meshrebiya</i> windows. Almost two months had passed +since he had stood in this spot, watching these same lighted windows, +unaware of the success that had been almost within his grasp. Outwardly +nothing was changed. The blue door faced him, and gathering courage, he +crossed the street and entered the garden. It was very dark under the +trees and he went quietly forward, stopping by the fountain to listen +for sounds within the house. He realized that it was growing late, and +that while the garden offered him a refuge from those who were seeking +him in the city, daylight would make his tenure precarious even here. If +the girl Yeva would only come down into the garden! He waited by the +bench listening, and presently was rewarded by hearing a light rippling +laugh from the room above the door. She was there—the girl—but not +alone—with the old woman perhaps, or the man with the beard. Renwick +listened again and watched the window, but heard nothing more. There +was nothing for it but to put on a bold front, so summoning his courage, +he walked to the door of the house and loudly knocked.</p> + +<p>There was an exclamation, a sound of footsteps upon the stair, and at +last the bolt of the door was shot and the door opened. Zubeydeh stood, +a lantern in her hand, scrutinizing him.</p> + +<p>He spoke in German at once. "I come upon an urgent matter," he said +coolly. "Upon a matter very important to the owner of this house——"</p> + +<p>"Speak—what do you want?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"I bear a message."</p> + +<p>"The Effendi is not at home——"</p> + +<p>"Ah—then Yeva may receive it."</p> + +<p>"Yeva! Who are you?"</p> + +<p>He smiled. "For the present that need not matter."</p> + +<p>Zubeydeh blocked the door more formidably with her body.</p> + +<p>"No one enters this house in the Effendi's absence."</p> + +<p>"I do not desire to enter the house. I merely wish to talk with Yeva, +here——"</p> + +<p>"That is not possible." The woman moved back and made a motion to close +the door, but Renwick took a pace forward and blocked her effort with +his foot.</p> + +<p>"Wait," he said.</p> + +<p>Something in the tone of his voice arrested her, and the hand which held +the door relaxed. She regarded Renwick with a new curiosity. Her eyes +narrowed as she peered into his face. She had seen someone who looked +like this tall beggar, but where——?</p> + +<p>"Who are you?" she asked again, this time with a note of anxiety, +scarcely concealed.</p> + +<p>Renwick smiled, but he had not yet removed his foot from the sill of the +door.</p> + +<p>"You do not remember me?"</p> + +<p>"No—and yet——" She paused in bewilderment, and Renwick quickly +followed his advantage.</p> + +<p>"I am one who can save this house from a danger."</p> + +<p>"Speak!"</p> + +<p>"I have but to speak yonder," and he gestured eloquently toward the city +below them, "and the danger will fall." He leaned forward, whispering +tensely, "The secret police of the Austrian government wish to know more +about the death of Nicholas Szarvas and——"</p> + +<p>Zubeydeh dropped the handle of the door and seized Renwick's arm, while +her narrow eyes glittered terrified close to his own.</p> + +<p>"And you——?"</p> + +<p>"It is merely that I did not die," he said coolly.</p> + +<p>"You are——?"</p> + +<p>"I am the man in the armor, Zubeydeh," he said solemnly.</p> + +<p>She started back from him in affright, her hands before her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Allah!" she whispered, and then leaned forward again touching his arm +lightly, imploringly, while she looked past him into the dark recesses +of the garden.</p> + +<p>"Then they are there—the police are coming——?"</p> + +<p>He quickly reassured her.</p> + +<p>"No. I mean you no harm. Do you understand? I have said nothing—nor +shall I speak unless——" he paused significantly.</p> + +<p>"Unless——?"</p> + +<p>"Unless you refuse to permit me to speak with Yeva. That is all. Listen, +Zubeydeh; since that night I have been in the hospital. They would keep +me here a prisoner. I have escaped—in this disguise. I make a bargain +with you. You help me—I will be silent. If you refuse, I shall tell the +police."</p> + +<p>"What do you want?" she asked breathlessly.</p> + +<p>"A disguise, a weapon, and some money—not much."</p> + +<p>"Money! The Effendi has gone upon a journey."</p> + +<p>"A few <i>kroner</i> only—enough to get me out of town."</p> + +<p>"And you will keep silent?"</p> + +<p>"As the grave. Don't you understand? I wish to go away from +here—quickly, and then you will not see me again."</p> + +<p>"How can I believe you?" she said suspiciously.</p> + +<p>"Bah! Don't be stupid! If I had desired to betray you, I should have +told the truth long ago."</p> + +<p>Zubeydeh hesitated.</p> + +<p>"You will go away?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. I shall go——"</p> + +<p>There was a sound upon the stairs behind Zubeydeh and Yeva thrust +herself forward.</p> + +<p>"I was at the window above. I heard. Allah be praised! You are alive?"</p> + +<p>"Yeva! You know anything—of <i>her</i>?"</p> + +<p>"No, nothing," sadly. And then as she examined him closely, "But you +must come into the house. I will do what you wish."</p> + +<p>The matter was now out of Zubeydeh's hands, for whatever her doubts, +Yeva's swift confidence had swept them away. She stood aside and +motioned for him to go up the stairs.</p> + +<p>"You will not remain long?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Only long enough to change my clothing—you will provide?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. There are garments."</p> + +<p>"A fez, jacket, breeches, stout <i>opankas</i>."</p> + +<p>"It shall be as you desire."</p> + +<p>Renwick went up the stairs into the room where he and Goritz had met, +recapitulating briefly in his mind the sequence of events which had led +to his own downfall. If he had only shot the man when he had stood there +a fair mark, defenseless! It had not been the sporting thing, but if he +had known what was to follow, he would have done it nevertheless. At +least he thought so now. The fateful armor had been restored to its +place in the corner, and while he anxiously awaited Yeva's return he +examined it casually with the rather morbid interest which one might +display in the inspection of one's coffin. It was dented upon the sides +with the marks of bullets which had glanced aside, but three neatly +drilled holes, two in the breastplate and one in the helmet, reminded +him again how narrow had been his escape from death. "Close shooting, +that," he muttered to himself. "Emptied clip and not one miss."</p> + +<p>Yeva, who had gone with Zubeydeh into the Harim, now returned +(discreetly veiled) and with an air of restraint made a sign to the +Englishman to be seated while Zubeydeh brought refreshments.</p> + +<p>He heard Yeva speaking gently at his ear.</p> + +<p>"Allah is good. Excellency, they told me that you were dead—that they +would bury you. They took your body and that of the other man in a cart +to the hills above the city. But someone came, and they were forced to +go away."</p> + +<p>"You saw her go with him?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. She had fainted. I helped to carry her down through the +<i>selamlik</i> to the street at the back of the house. Then an automobile +came, and they took her away."</p> + +<p>"There have been no inquiries here?"</p> + +<p>"None. And you will say nothing?" she asked anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Not a word. Would you have me deliver myself into the hands of my +enemies?"</p> + +<p>"I shall help you, Excellency, if you will try to find her."</p> + +<p>"Yes. I shall try. I will follow, if you will provide me with clothing."</p> + +<p>"It shall be done. But first you must eat and drink and then we shall +plan."</p> + +<p>Zubeydeh, now completely disarmed, brought cakes and sherbet, and when +Renwick had eaten and drunk, gave him cigarettes and the clothing, +showing him into a room where he quickly divested himself of his rags of +wrapper and put on the garments which she had brought. They were +curiously familiar. His own disguise—that which he had bought in the +bazaar and had worn when he had first come to this house. He felt in the +pockets of his trousers but the money was gone. And when he was dressed, +Zubeydeh colored his face with some liquid which she brought from the +kitchen.</p> + +<p>The clock on the mantle indicated the hour of eleven when Renwick +prepared to take his departure. It had been a market day in the Turkish +quarter, and late at night the farmers would be returning to their +homes. Aware of the difficulties which might lie in the way of his +leaving the city, Yeva proposed that Renwick should leave the Carsija in +the cart of a cousin of Zubeydeh's, a farmer who lived on the Romanja +Plain; and Renwick, quick to see the advantages of the plan, readily +agreed, for it was toward the Visegrader Gate, he had learned, that the +automobile of Captain Goritz had departed.</p> + +<p>As he left the lower door with Zubeydeh, who was to accompany him as far +as the Carsija, Renwick caught Yeva by the hand.</p> + +<p>"I cannot thank you, girl. But some day I shall pay. You will remember. +I promise."</p> + +<p>"It is nothing," she said; and then with a laugh: "But if in Vienna or +Paris or London, you should see a silk dress of blue——"</p> + +<p>"You shall have two of them—and two of pink——"</p> + +<p>"Excellency——!" she cried, clapping her hand childishly.</p> + +<p>"And if I find her—jewels——!"</p> + +<p>"It is too much——" she cried. And then eagerly, as though she feared +he might misinterpret, "Still, I should like them——"</p> + +<p>"You shall have them—some day."</p> + +<p>"I shall pray to Allah that you may find her. Go, Excellency. Go to her +and tell her that I have done what I can."</p> + +<p>"Allah will bless you."</p> + +<p>"May Allah bless you both," she sighed, "for it is all so very +beautiful."</p> + +<p>The last glimpse that Renwick had of her was from the gate of the +garden, where he turned to wave his hand as she stood, leaning wistfully +against the doorpost of the house, looking after him.</p> + +<p>The arrangements for his journey were readily made and the business of +the night being concluded, in half an hour Renwick, passing again as +Stefan Thomasevics on his way to Rogatica to help in gathering the +harvest, was seated beside Selim Ali, Zubeydeh's cousin, driving in a +cart through the silent Kastele. Renwick saw several Bosnian police +officers in uniform, who inspected the empty vehicle, but merely glanced +at the slouching figures on the seat. At the Visegrader Gate they were +detained and questioned, but Selim had a clever tongue and told a +straight story which Renwick corroborated with nods and gestures. It +would have been dangerous to risk his too fluent German on the officer +of the guard. No, they had seen no bearded man in a blue coat. It had +been a hot day in the bazaar. One didn't like to think of blue coats on +such a day. Even tonight it was still sultry, but soon the harvest time +would be here, and after that the snows. Would the Excellency like a +fine melon, for forty <i>hellers</i>—the only one left in all the day? No? +Then we will give it to the Excellency for nothing.</p> + +<p>The officer grinned and let them pass, but he took the melon. It was +after midnight for in the distance behind them they had heard the bell +of the cathedral tolling the hour. Safely past all military barriers, +Selim, who had had a long day, yawned and clambered into the tail of the +cart to sleep, leaving the horse to its own devices. But sleep was not +for Renwick. His escape had been accomplished without much trouble, and +given a little luck and some skill he thought he could manage to lose +himself quickly in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. But the magnitude of his +undertaking in finding Marishka was formidable. Most of Bosnia and all +of Austria Hungary lay between Sarajevo and the German border—five +hundred miles of enemy's country to be traversed without other resources +than eighteen <i>kroner</i> pieces and a pair of somewhat worn <i>opankas</i>! And +after that—the heart of the enemy's country!</p> + +<p>Eighteen <i>kroner</i>! His own, probably, filched from the pockets of the +clothing he had worn when he had entered the house in search of +Marishka. His own clothing, the disguise he had bought in the bazaar. +Then perhaps——! Feverishly he felt along the upper lining, where he +had pinned the larger sum of money he had taken from his purse when he +had changed from mufti at the inn over in the Bistrick quarter of the +town. They had found it? Something crinkled under the pressure of his +fingers, and a pin pricked his thumb. It was there—his money. They had +not searched for it, thinking of course that the money they had found in +the pockets was all that he had possessed. He found the head of the pin +and opened the lining, counting the notes—ten of them in all—of one +hundred <i>kroners</i> each.</p> + +<p>A thousand <i>kroners</i>! He could have shouted for glee. But caution came +to him in time. He looked around to find that Selim had awakened and was +sitting up rubbing his eyes.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX</h2> + +<h3>RENWICK QUESTIONS</h3> + + +<p>Had the man observed him when he was counting his money? The hazard of +his position made Renwick suspicious. Selim was a crafty rogue as his +conversation with the officer at the Visegrader Gate had shown, and one +of Zubeydeh's breed needed watching. But the man yawned and stretched +his arms, then got up and looked about with so genuine an air of +drowsiness and fatigue that Renwick concluded that he had been mistaken. +How much or how little Selim had been told of Renwick's affair the +Englishman did not know. But the man had already done him a service and +might be in a position to help him further. So he decided upon an +attitude of friendliness and gratitude which might perhaps be measured +by a few of his eighteen <i>kroners</i> but no more.</p> + +<p>It was about three o'clock, when having met no adventures upon the way, +they reached the farm of Selim Ali upon the border of the Romanja Plain. +Twenty hours at a stretch, nine of which had been spent in the tension +of his escape, were more than Renwick's strength permitted, and he sank +upon the straw pallet to which Selim assigned him, weary and shaken, and +with a hand which instinctively clutched the lining of his trousers +where his money was pinned, he fell into a deep sleep, from which he +did not awaken until the sun was high in the heavens.</p> + +<p>He did not rise at once, but lay on his cot, gazing at the ceiling, his +mind adjusting itself slowly to his situation. He felt for the money in +the lining of his trousers. It had not been touched. If Selim had +discovered the notes in Renwick's possession he was either without +design upon them or had concluded to postpone its consummation until +some later hour. Where was the man? Renwick wanted to talk to him. He +heard the sound of a voice in another part of the house, and getting up +went outside and walked around to the rear of the building. A young +woman in Turkish costume was washing some clothing in a tub by the door.</p> + +<p>Renwick greeted her with a bow and a smile, and asked for Selim. She +pointed toward a distant field, and then asked if he desired food. +Renwick thanked her and replied that he would wait until Selim returned, +and went back to bed. There, some moments later the woman brought him +coffee, bread, and excellent soup, which the Englishman devoured +hungrily, not aware until the moment that it was precisely food he +required. When he had finished eating, he smoked a cigarette and planned +his pilgrimage.</p> + +<p>He had but two known facts with regard to the flight of Captain Goritz +with his prisoner; first, the automobile had gone through the Kastele in +the direction of the Visegrader Gate, over the very road by which +Renwick had come with Selim; second, the object of Captain Goritz was to +reach the German border as speedily as possible.</p> + +<p>The fact that Goritz had left town by this road to the north and east +indicated one of two things: that Goritz, seeking the more quietly to +escape from the town, had chosen the road through the Kastele quarter, +intending to make a détour over the mountains and reach the Bosna road, +by which he would go straight through Hungary and Austria to his +destination; the other inference was that Goritz had chosen the more +easterly road to the north in order to avoid passing through Austria, +seeking the shortest road into Silesia, through central Hungary and +Galicia by way of Cracow. It seemed probable that Goritz had already +reached Germany, and yet even this was no assured fact. If Goritz had +chosen to return through Austria by the main traveled roads, by Bosna, +by Agram, or by Budapest, there was scarcely a chance that he could have +eluded the agents of the watchful Windt. The plot against the life of +the Archduke had consummated in his death. Marishka had failed, but with +her failure had come a restitution of her complete rights as an Austrian +citizen. Herr Windt, no longer seeking to restrain her actions, would +wish to save her from the results of her own imprudences, redoubling his +efforts to come between Goritz and the German border.</p> + +<p>Renwick tried to think as Goritz would think. Why had Goritz come by the +circuitous road over the Romanja Plain? Surely not to go north by way of +Serbian territory. Goritz had a reason. The shortest road—the least +traveled road, the road which avoided Brod, the main gateway into +Bosnia, was the road by which he would pass through the rural districts +of eastern Hungary, proceeding all the while along the level country of +the Danube or the Thiess, reaching Silesia—the long tail of the German +Empire which thrust out between Poland and Galicia.</p> + +<p>Renwick paced the room with quick strides. The theory hung together. And +given this to be the plan of Goritz, had he succeeded in carrying it +out? Possibly. But Hungary was wide. It was five hundred miles at least +from Sarajevo to the Carpathians, and much may happen to an automobile +in five hundred miles. Marishka, Yeva told him, had fainted. It would +have been inhuman for Goritz to have taken her such a distance without a +chance for rest or recuperation. Goritz! Every theory that Renwick +devised seemed to fall to the ground when he thought of him. The +cleverness of the man was amazing. And what lay behind his cleverness? +What of decency or what of deviltry lay behind the mask that Renwick had +seen? The man had treated her with consideration—for Marishka had not +complained of his attitude toward her—until there in the Turkish house, +when he had seized her by the arm....</p> + +<p>Deliberation had gained something—only a theory as yet, but if a +theory, one which stood the acid of inspection from every angle.</p> + +<p>Renwick's task seemed hopeless, but that spirit of persistence, of which +Marishka had once spoken, was one of the dominating characteristics of +his nature. Given a sound purpose, a worthy desire, he was not easily +dismayed, and desperate as his chances of finding Marishka now seemed, +it did not enter his head to give up and seek his way—as he might +easily have done—to the Serbian border and so to safety. Marishka had +forgiven him! During the long days of his convalescence the memory of +their brief joyous moments in the Turkish house had renewed and +invigorated him. He had heard her calling to him across the +distances—despairingly, but hoping against hope that the man she loved +was still alive. It thrilled him to think that he could still come to +her—if she would wait—come even from the grave and answer her call to +him—the call of one brave spirit to another, which needed no material +fact of physical utterance to make itself heard. He would find her—not +soon perhaps, but all in good time. Providence had not saved him +miraculously for failure, and it was written that he should succeed. The +gods would be with him now and arm him against disaster. He rejoiced to +find how strong he felt today. All the tremors had gone out of his +nerves, and he was ready to begin his journey whenever it should be +time. But first he wanted to question Selim—Goritz had passed this +house—there was a chance ...</p> + +<p>Selim Ali returned from the fields at supper time, greeted Renwick with +bluff heartiness, and together they sat at a substantial meal of +<i>Jungfern-Braten</i>, over which Selim's wife Zaidee presided. In the light +of events, Renwick willingly reconstructed his estimate of Selim. Last +night Renwick would have been suspicious of the angel Gabriel, but with +the courage of the sunlight had come confidence in himself, and faith in +his star. It seemed that Zubeydeh had told her cousin nothing of +Renwick's nationality or predicament, but that he was a friend who had +gotten into a trouble, and that the police of Sarajevo were looking for +him. Selim was to shelter him and speed him upon his way. Selim asked +many questions which Renwick answered as he chose, biding his own time. +Yes, <i>he</i>, Stefan Thomasevics, had gotten into trouble in Sarajevo, all +because of a woman (and this Renwick knew to be true), and desired to +leave the country. He did not wish to go to the war and he would not +fight against the Serbians who were not in the wrong. He, Thomasevics, +wished to go north to Budapest where he would work in the factories and +amass a fortune. Selim wagged his head wisely and laughed.</p> + +<p>"You must work long, my young friend, and spend nothing," he said. +"Come. You're a strong fellow—a little weak just now from smoking too +many cigarettes and staying up too late at night. But I will give you +work here upon my farm and pay you well."</p> + +<p>But Thomasevics shook his head.</p> + +<p>"Thank you. You are kind, but I have already made up my mind."</p> + +<p>Selim shrugged and lighted his long pipe.</p> + +<p>"As you will, but I have made you a good offer."</p> + +<p>"A good offer. Yes. Which I would accept were my mind not set upon other +matters." He paused and then, "Selim, you are a good fellow. I will tell +you the truth. I would like to stay with you, but I am searching for +something which may take me to the ends of the earth."</p> + +<p>"That is a long way, my friend."</p> + +<p>"Yes, a long way, when one doesn't know which way to go."</p> + +<p>"Ah, that is even longer. There are but two things which will take a man +like you so far as that—vengeance, or a woman."</p> + +<p>Renwick smiled.</p> + +<p>"I see that you are wise as well as clever. I go for both, Selim."</p> + +<p>"A woman? Young?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Beautiful?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"And the vengeance——"</p> + +<p>"That shall be beautiful also."</p> + +<p>Selim smoked his pipe solemnly and as Renwick hesitated,</p> + +<p>"Will it please you to tell me more?" he asked.</p> + +<p>Renwick deliberated.</p> + +<p>"Yes. I am groping in the dark. And the darkness begins at Sarajevo. She +left there in the night—with <i>him</i>."</p> + +<p>"Ah, a man! Of course."</p> + +<p>"They fled by the Visegrader Gate and they came upon this road, past +this very house."</p> + +<p>Selim shrugged.</p> + +<p>"At night! It is a pity. I might have seen them but I sleep soundly."</p> + +<p>"There are no other houses for a long distance in either direction. They +might have stopped here."</p> + +<p>"But they did not!" And as Renwick gave up despairingly, "You see, I +worked very hard all last week and slept like a dead man."</p> + +<p>"It was not last week," said Renwick gloomily, "almost two months +ago——"</p> + +<p>"Ah, as to that——" and Selim shrugged again. "One has no recollection +of things that happened before the Hegira."</p> + +<p>Of course it was hopeless. Renwick had only unraveled the thread to see +how far it would lead. Here it broke off, and so he relinquished it. +Rather wearily he sank back into his chair and gazed out of the window +into the sunset.</p> + +<p>Selim's wife entered with a tray to take away the dishes. She wore no +<i>yashmak</i>, for Selim, though professing the Moslem faith, was somewhat +lax in carrying out its articles. He did not believe in running a good +thing into the ground, he said. So Zaidee came and went as she chose.</p> + +<p>"I have been listening from the kitchen," she said with a smile. "It is +always a woman that makes the trouble, <i>nicht wahr</i>?"</p> + +<p>"Then how can Paradise be Paradise?" grunted Selim.</p> + +<p>"Thou wouldst get on poorly without us, just the same," said Zaidee +demurely.</p> + +<p>"But I should not go to the ends of the earth, like Stefan, here."</p> + +<p>"Thou! Thou dost not know the meaning of love. I wish I could help him."</p> + +<p>"It is impossible," sneered Selim.</p> + +<p>"But it is interesting," sighed Zaidee. "She went away with another +man—that is cruel!"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps Stefan is better off than he knows," said Selim.</p> + +<p>"Selim," said Zaidee with great solemnity, "thou art a pig!"</p> + +<p>"Pig I am not."</p> + +<p>"Pig!" she repeated with more acerbity.</p> + +<p>Renwick was in no mind to take a part in their quarrel and was moving +toward the door of the adjoining room when a phrase caught his ear.</p> + +<p>"And thou art a magpie, Zaidee, always croaking. It will get us into +trouble, thy talking. I have but to set my foot outside the house and +thy tongue wags like the clothing of a scarecrow."</p> + +<p>"I have done no harm," she said angrily.</p> + +<p>"It is no affair of thine—they will come again asking questions. I have +no humor to talk with any of that accursed breed."</p> + +<p>"What harm can come—if we tell the truth——?"</p> + +<p>"Bah—what do the police care about the truth?"</p> + +<p>Renwick turned and reëntered the room.</p> + +<p>"The police!" he said quickly.</p> + +<p>"Zaidee talks too much. A month ago in my absence they came inquiring."</p> + +<p>"And what wouldst <i>thou</i> have said?" cried Zaidee angrily. "To shelter a +sick woman is no crime——"</p> + +<p>"I should have said nothing."</p> + +<p>"And what happened?" asked Renwick eagerly, now aware of the bone that +chance had thrown in the way of a starving man.</p> + +<p>"In the middle of the night which followed the day upon which the +Archduke was assassinated——"</p> + +<p>"And whose tongue is wagging now—thou magpie?" put in Zaidee +spitefully.</p> + +<p>"Be quiet——" said Selim.</p> + +<p>Renwick glared at the woman as though he would have liked to choke her, +and she subsided.</p> + +<p>"An automobile stopped at my door. There were three people, an Austrian +officer, a lady who was sick, and a man who drove the car. They asked +admittance on account of the Excellency who was sick. I could not +refuse, for they said that they would pay me well."</p> + +<p>Selim paused, hunting in his pockets for a match to light his pipe, and +Renwick, containing his patience with difficulty, stood, his hands +clenched behind him, waiting. They had stopped here—at this very house.</p> + +<p>"And then——?" he asked calmly.</p> + +<p>"We put the Excellency to bed——"</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> did," said Zaidee.</p> + +<p>"Bah! What matter? They were bound upon a journey over the mountains to +Vlasenica, where the Excellency was taking his wife for the waters."</p> + +<p>"His wife," mumbled Renwick.</p> + +<p>"They traveled at night to avoid the heat of midday, but the sudden +sickness of the Excellency made further travel impossible."</p> + +<p>"The officer Excellency lied——!" said Zaidee.</p> + +<p>"Be quiet, thou——!" roared Selim.</p> + +<p>"Let Zaidee speak. I am no policeman," said Renwick.</p> + +<p>"What interest is it of yours?"</p> + +<p>Renwick caught the man by the shoulders with both hands and glared at +him.</p> + +<p>"Merely because this is the woman I seek."</p> + +<p>"An Excellency like—and you?"</p> + +<p>"What I am does not matter. A hundred <i>kroner</i> if you tell the +truth——"</p> + +<p>"A hundred <i>kroner</i>——!"</p> + +<p>His eyes searched Renwick eagerly, and then, "There is little I would +not tell for a hundred <i>kroner</i>, but——"</p> + +<p>"I am not of the police, I tell you. This lady is an Austrian noblewoman +in danger."</p> + +<p>"And the Austrian officer——"</p> + +<p>"Is no Austrian, but an enemy of Austria——"</p> + +<p>"A Serb——?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"Who are you?"</p> + +<p>"What does that matter?"</p> + +<p>Selim shrugged. "Nothing perhaps—still——"</p> + +<p>"And if I tell you, you will keep silent?"</p> + +<p>"A hundred <i>kroner</i> will make me dumb."</p> + +<p>"I am an Englishman," said Renwick after a moment.</p> + +<p>"Ah—a spy!"</p> + +<p>"No. A prisoner who has escaped."</p> + +<p>"That is better."</p> + +<p>"Speak!"</p> + +<p>And as the man still hesitated Renwick unpinned the notes in his pocket +and tossed one of them upon the table, in front of him. Selim took it +eagerly.</p> + +<p>"I am quite ready to believe anything you say——"</p> + +<p>But Renwick seized his wrist in a strong grip. "You have not spoken +yet."</p> + +<p>"I will speak, then," said Zaidee. "Selim is a fool to hesitate. I +nursed the Excellency for two nights and a day. I cooked her eggs and +chicken and soup, but she would not eat. She was very much frightened."</p> + +<p>"The man—he treated her badly?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no. Very politely, and paid us for our service, but the Excellency +was frightened. I was kind to her, and she was grateful, but she spoke +nothing of where she was going. Perhaps she did not know. But it was not +to take the waters."</p> + +<p>"You, Selim," broke in Renwick, "you heard the men speaking? What did +they say?"</p> + +<p>He shrugged.</p> + +<p>"How can I remember? They planned their journey with a map, but I had no +interest——"</p> + +<p>"What map——?"</p> + +<p>"A map—how should I know——"</p> + +<p>"Of Hungary——"</p> + +<p>"Hungary!" And then scratching his head, "Yes, it must have been of +Hungary, for they spoke of Budapest——"</p> + +<p>"And what else? The Danube—the Thiess?"</p> + +<p>"I do not remember?"</p> + +<p>"You must——!" Renwick's fingers closed again upon the hundred <i>kroner</i> +note which Selim had put back on the table.</p> + +<p>"What good would it do if I lied to you?"</p> + +<p>"Think, man, think! They made marks upon the map?"</p> + +<p>"Marks? Oh, yes—marks."</p> + +<p>"Up and down, the way they were sitting?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. I think so. By the beard of the Prophet! You can't expect a fellow +to remember such things as this for two months."</p> + +<p>"Did they speak of mountains?"</p> + +<p>"Mountains——!" Selim scratched his head again. "How should I know?"</p> + +<p>"The Carpathians?"</p> + +<p>"The Carpathians. Perhaps. Ah——"</p> + +<p>Selim tapped his brow with a stubby forefinger.</p> + +<p>"There was a name they spoke many times. It was a strange name."</p> + +<p>"What?"</p> + +<p>"I can't think."</p> + +<p>"Zaidee, you heard?" Renwick asked.</p> + +<p>"I was listening, but I could not understand."</p> + +<p>"Was it a city?"</p> + +<p>"I do not know."</p> + +<p>"Was it Cracow? Kaschau? Agram? Was it Brünn?"</p> + +<p>But they made no sign.</p> + +<p>"Think!" said Renwick. "At the top of the map—away from them—near the +edge?"</p> + +<p>Selim shrugged hopelessly. "I can't remember," he said.</p> + +<p>Renwick despaired.</p> + +<p>"Was the map large?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. I remember that. It covered this table——"</p> + +<p>"Ah—then you can tell me how they stood?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. I can tell you that."</p> + +<p>He got up and placed himself at the side of the table. "The Excellency +was here—the map spread out——"</p> + +<p>"Did he lean to the left or to the right?"</p> + +<p>"He leaned well forward with both elbows upon the table—straight +forward—yes—almost across—a pencil in his hand—the other was +pointing. The lamp was just there——" pointing to the left center of +the table.</p> + +<p>"The lamp was on the map?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—to keep it in position——"</p> + +<p>"On the left-hand side?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"And they didn't move the lamp?"</p> + +<p>"No. It remained there until they raised it to take the map away."</p> + +<p>"I understand. And they made marks up and down with a pencil?"</p> + +<p>Selim shrugged.</p> + +<p>"It is what I think, merely."</p> + +<p>"And the name was——?"</p> + +<p>"How can one be sure of a name? It is a wonder just now that I can +remember my own. Had I known what was to happen——" And he shrugged and +dropped wearily again into his chair.</p> + +<p>"And the police—? What has Zaidee said to the police?"</p> + +<p>"Merely that the Excellencies were here—in this house."</p> + +<p>"The police are coming again?"</p> + +<p>"I do not know. It would seem that they have forgotten."</p> + +<p>"And if they come, you will speak?"</p> + +<p>"The hundred <i>kroner</i> will make me dumb."</p> + +<p>"And Zaidee?"</p> + +<p>"I will not speak."</p> + +<p>"Nothing of me, you understand. I am but Stefan Thomasevics——"</p> + +<p>"It is understood."</p> + +<p>"And you remember nothing more?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing."</p> + +<p>"You are sure. The Excellency left no message—no note——?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing."</p> + +<p>Renwick pushed the hundred <i>kroner</i> note toward Selim and straightened.</p> + +<p>"You have done me a service, Selim. They have gone to the east of the +Tatra——"</p> + +<p>"Tatra!" suddenly shouted Selim triumphantly. "It is the name!"</p> + +<p>"Are you sure?" asked Renwick excitedly.</p> + +<p>"Yes. Tatra—that is it. They spoke of it for half an hour. Eh—Zaidee?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. It is the name."</p> + +<p>Renwick paced the floor with long steps.</p> + +<p>"Selim," he said at last, "it is now dark. I must go at once."</p> + +<p>"Tomorrow."</p> + +<p>"Tonight. The stars are out."</p> + +<p>He moved to the door and peered out.</p> + +<p>"You will keep silent?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Have I not promised?" said Selim.</p> + +<p>He caught them both by the hand.</p> + +<p>"Allah will bless you."</p> + +<p>"A hundred <i>kroner</i>—that is blessing enough for one day, Stefan +Thomasevics," he laughed.</p> + +<p>"Adieu!" said Renwick, and walked bravely off into the starlight.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI</h2> + +<h3>AN IMPERSONATION</h3> + + +<p>At least he now had a goal—"the center of the map, near the top"—the +Tatra region by which Goritz had passed (if he had not been intercepted) +into Galicia and so into Germany. Aside from the value of Selim's +information, one other fact stood out. The secret service men who had +visited Selim a month ago had not returned. Did this mean that Herr +Windt had already succeeded in closing the door of escape? The passes +through the Carpathians could of course be easily guarded and closed, +for there were few of them accessible to traffic by automobile. Was +Renwick's goal, after all, to be there and not beyond? He had put in one +summer in the Tatra region with Captain Otway of the Embassy, and he +knew the district well,—a country of mountain villages, feudal castles, +and rugged roads. Otway had been interested in the military problems of +the Austro-Hungarian empire, and Renwick remembered the importance of +the Tatra as a natural barrier to Russian ambitions. The shortest +automobile road into Silesia lay to the <i>east</i> of the Tatra range—and +the passes through the Carpathians at this point were few and well +known. By process of elimination, Renwick had at last assured himself +that his first theory was tenable, for Selim had confirmed it. A hundred +conjectures flashed into the Englishman's mind as he trudged onward, to +be one by one dismissed and relegated to the limbo of uncertainty. But +assuming that Selim had told the truth, Renwick had found the trail, and +would follow wherever it might lead him, to its end.</p> + +<p>His idea of traveling afoot by night and of hiding by day, at least for +the first part of his journey, was born of the desire to leave nothing +to chance. His own capture meant internment until the end of the war, or +possibly an exchange for some Austrian in England. But they should not +catch him! Concealed in his belt he wore the American revolver, and +carried some cartridges which Zubeydeh had restored to him.</p> + +<p>The weather fortunately had been fine, and the days and nights in the +open were rapidly restoring him to strength. The discomfort at the wound +in his body which had bothered him for a few days had disappeared. He +was well. And with health came hope, faith even, in the star of his +fortunes. It took him two weeks to reach Polishka, below which he +crossed the Save at night in a boat which he found moored to the bank, +and daylight found him at a small village through which a railroad ran +north towards the plains of the Danube. Here he paused dead-tired for +food and rest.</p> + +<p>The innkeeper, who spoke German fairly well, swallowed Renwick's story, +his taste somewhat stimulated by the sight of the ten-<i>kroner</i> piece +which the Englishman used in paying for his breakfast.</p> + +<p>But the time had now come for the execution of a bold plan which for +some days and nights Renwick had been turning over and over in his mind. +It was a good plan, he thought, a brave plan which stood the test of +argument pro and con. The British Embassy in many of its investigations +during times of peace,—investigations of a purely personal or financial +nature,—had been in the habit of calling in the services of one Carl +Moyer, an Austrian who ran a private inquiry bureau in Vienna. He was an +able man, not directly connected with the secret service department of +the Empire, but frequently brought into consultation upon matters +outside the pale of politics. Renwick's interest in Moyer had been +limited to the share they had both taken in some inquiries as to the +standing of a Russian nobleman who had approached the Ambassador with a +scheme of a rather dubious character. But a physical resemblance to +Moyer, which had been the subject of frequent jokes with Otway, had now +given Renwick a new and very vital interest in the personality of the +man which had nothing to do with their business relations. Moyer was +thinner than Renwick, and not so tall, but their features were much +alike. When at first the idea of an impersonation had come to Renwick, +he had rejected it as dangerous, but the notion obsessed him. The very +boldness of the project was in its favor. He could now move freely along +the railroads and if one ignored the hazard of meeting the man himself +or someone who knew him intimately, he could pursue his object of +following the trail of Captain Goritz with a brave front which would +defy suspicion. True, he would have no papers and no credentials, but +this, too, was a part of the guise of a man who might be moving upon a +secret mission. Carl Moyer, disguised as an Austrian of the laboring +class, moving from Bosnia to the Carpathians—what could be more +natural?</p> + +<p>As Renwick ate his breakfast in the small inn at Otok, he came to a +sudden decision to put this bold plan into practice. And so, exhibiting +another ten-<i>kroner</i> piece, he made known his wishes to the innkeeper. +He was a Bosnian, he said, but in Hungary he did not wish to attract +attention by wearing his native costume. In parts of Hungary there was a +feeling that the Bosnians who lived near the Serbian border were not +loyal to the Emperor and this, it had been said, might make it difficult +for him to obtain employment. His purse was not large but if his host +would procure for him a suit of western clothing, a coat, a pair of +trousers, a shirt, a cravat, and a soft hat, he, Thomasevics, would +offer his Bosnian clothing in exchange and do what was fair in the +matter of money. The train from Britzka did not go north for an hour. +Would it be possible to find these things in so short a time? The +innkeeper regarded the worn and mud-stained garments of his guest rather +dubiously, but the terms of the offer in the matter of money having been +made clear, the transformation was accomplished without difficulty and +Renwick boarded the train rather jubilant at the celerity and speed of +his journey. By nightfall, with luck, he would be across the Danube and +well within the borders of Hungary, mingling in crowds where all trace +of his identity would be lost. He spent most of his afternoon on the +train trying to recall the mannerisms of the man Moyer, a trick of +gesture, a drawl and a shrug which he thought he could manage. Carl +Moyer he now was, on a mission from Bosnia to the North, in which the +better to disguise himself he was permitting his hair and beard to grow.</p> + +<p>Hut success had made him over-confident, for at the Bahnhof at Zombor +where he had to change into a train for Budapest, something happened +which drove all thought from his head save that of escape from the +predicament into which his imprudence had plunged him.</p> + +<p>He was sitting upon a bench on the platform waiting for his train when a +man approached and sat beside him. Renwick needed no second glance to +reassure himself as to the fellow's identity. He was Spivak, Windt's +man, the fellow who had kept guard on the cabin at Konopisht. The +Englishman feared to get up and walk away, for that might attract +attention. So he sat, slouched carelessly, his hat pulled well down over +his eyes, awaiting what seemed to be the inevitable. Spivak—one of +Windt's men sent of course to Zombor, one of the important railway +junctions, to watch all arrivals from the south. Renwick had been ready +with his story when he debarked from the train but there had been a +crowd and he had been in the last carriage. Renwick's mind worked +rapidly, and to an imagination already prescient of disaster, the man +seemed to be inspecting him. As Spivak's chin lifted, Renwick faced him +squarely. Their glances met—and passed. Renwick calmly took out a +cigarette and bending his head forward lighted it coolly, aware that the +man was saying something in Hungarian.</p> + +<p>Renwick made a gesture of incomprehension, wondering meanwhile how he +could kill the man on the crowded platform without attracting +observation.</p> + +<p>"The train from the south was crowded today," said Spivak in German.</p> + +<p>"Crowded? Yes."</p> + +<p>"Do you come from Brod or Britzka?"</p> + +<p>"From Britzka," said Renwick without hesitation, and then with the +courage of desperation—</p> + +<p>"I have seen you before," he went on, calmly puffing at his cigarette.</p> + +<p>"I have, I think, the same impression."</p> + +<p>"Your name is Spivak—of the Secret Service——"</p> + +<p>"You——"</p> + +<p>"My name is Carl Moyer."</p> + +<p>It was a gambler's chance that Renwick took. If Spivak intimately knew +the man—but he did not and the effrontery disarmed him.</p> + +<p>"You are Carl Moyer? I must have seen you," he muttered. "I have been in +Vienna a little—with Herr Windt, but I am of the Hungarian branch. You +have been in Sarajevo?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Renwick easily following out a wild plan that had come into +his mind. "I have been employed by the Baroness Racowitz to find the +Countess Marishka Strahni."</p> + +<p>"Ah, I see. It has come to that!" And then, regarding his companion with +a new interest, "When did you come from Sarajevo?"</p> + +<p>"Last night. It is a strange case."</p> + +<p>"And you have found a lead?"</p> + +<p>"Several——"</p> + +<p>"You can do nothing against such a man as Goritz."</p> + +<p>"It is Goritz—yes—but I will find her if I have to go through Germany +with a harrow."</p> + +<p>"They have not gone to Germany, my friend. Every gate out of Hungary has +been closed to them since the assassination."</p> + +<p>Renwick smiled. The thing had worked. The spirit of the venture glowed +in him—its very impudence fascinated.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps!" he replied. "Still, a man who could outwit Nicholas +Szarvas——"</p> + +<p>Spivak caught him so suddenly by the arm that Renwick trembled.</p> + +<p>"You think he killed Szarvas——?" whispered Spivak eagerly.</p> + +<p>"If not himself, it was by his orders. And the Englishman—Renck——"</p> + +<p>"Renwick."</p> + +<p>"I've found the evidence that Renck was lured to Sarajevo. He possessed +a secret dangerous to Germany and so Goritz killed him."</p> + +<p>"And this Peter Langer—who escaped from the hospital——?" asked Spivak +cynically.</p> + +<p>"The chauffeur of Goritz, left for dead in the fight with Szarvas and +stripped of his clothing to hide all marks of identity. It is no wonder +that he wished to escape——" The Englishman broke off with a rough +laugh and rose. "But this won't do, I'm giving you all my thunder. Herr +Windt does not relish my employment in this service, but since he has +accomplished nothing you cannot blame my clients. I am on my way to +Germany. The surest way to catch a fox is to smoke him out of his hole."</p> + +<p>Spivak took a few paces away, and then slowly returned.</p> + +<p>"What you say is interesting, Herr Moyer, and the theory hangs together, +but you will waste your time in Germany."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"Because Captain Goritz is still in Hungary."</p> + +<p>"What further reason have you for believing that he is here?"</p> + +<p>Spivak smiled and hesitated a moment. And then, "You have talked freely. +One good turn deserves another. I will tell you. We know that Captain +Goritz is still in Hungary because within the past week the +Wilhelmstrasse has sent urgent messages to Vienna inquiring for him."</p> + +<p>"Ah—that is interesting," said Renwick slowly, trying to hide the throb +of triumph in his throat. "Then you think——?"</p> + +<p>"Merely that he is in hiding—with the lady," said Spivak with a leer. +"It is no new thing for a man to go in hiding with a lady."</p> + +<p>Renwick's laugh was admirably managed, for fury was in his heart. "This +information is helpful," he said. "You believe that it is true?"</p> + +<p>"I am sure. Berlin is anxious because he has not returned. I do not know +what they suspect over there, but the situation is changed. The war has +made a difference. We have no idea where he has gone. All that we know +is that it will be very difficult for him to get out."</p> + +<p>In the distance the train was rumbling up the track, and Renwick was +thankful. But he caught the fellow by the hand.</p> + +<p>"You are a good fellow, Spivak. If at any time you wish to leave the +government service and take a good place at a fair payment, you will +come to see me in Vienna."</p> + +<p>"Thanks, Herr Moyer. I shall remember. You are going on to Budapest?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. And you?"</p> + +<p>"I am detained here to watch for a Russian spy who is trying to get +through to the Galician border." He laughed. "You're sure you're +not——?"</p> + +<p>"That's a good joke, Spivak," he smiled. "A Russian! I'd have precious +little chance——" And then as the train rolled in—</p> + +<p>"Don't forget—Ferdinand Strasse, Number 83——"</p> + +<p>"I will not. Adieu!"</p> + +<p>"Adieu, my friend."</p> + +<p>And with a final wave of the hand Renwick turned and slowly mounted into +his third class carriage. The plan had worked and the man, it seemed, +had not the slightest suspicion. He was, as Renwick remembered from +Konopisht, not infallible, and the ease with which Renwick had +accomplished his object and the remarkable nature of his newly acquired +information could only be explained by the fact that Spivak was seeking +the Russian and not himself, and by the boldness of his impersonation, +which had immediately pierced the crust of Spivak's professional +reserve. All had gone well, but it seemed an age before the train drew +out of the station. Renwick did not dare to look out of the window to +learn if the man were still there, and until the bell of the locomotive +rang announcing the departure of the train, he was unpleasantly nervous, +for fear that a suspicion might dawn in the man's mind which would lead +him to pursue the conversation.</p> + +<p>Renwick never learned whether Spivak's second thoughts had warned him +that all was not as it should be, for instead of taking any chances, the +Englishman got down from the train at the first stop and disappeared +into the darkness.</p> + +<p>It was with a feeling of elation mingled with apprehension that Renwick +made his way forward. Elation because of the new crumbs of information, +apprehension because of the definite assurance that Goritz still held +Marishka a prisoner somewhere within the borders of Hungary. Definite it +seemed, for Spivak had spoken with the utmost confidence of things with +which he was intimately concerned. The trail narrowed. It seemed as +though Providence, aware of past impositions, was bent on making amends +to one who had suffered much from her disfavor. The sudden appearance of +Spivak, which had seemed to threaten disaster, had been turned by a bold +stroke from calamity to good fortune. But Renwick determined to avoid +further such encounters if possible. And so, resuming the mode of +progress which had been so effective on the way to Tuzla, he walked at +night, and slept under cover by day, reaching a town upon the banks of +the Danube, where he bought new clothing, a straw hat, a change of +linen, and a hand bag with which (representing himself as a grain +merchant of Ujvidek), he boldly boarded a steamer upon the river, +reaching Budapest without further incident.</p> + +<p>It was not until he had passed the Quai and was safely in the Karoly +Korut that Renwick breathed easily. He was now safe, finding his way to +his immediate destination, the house of a person connected with the +English Secret Service, into whose care he confidently entrusted +himself.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII</h2> + +<h3>THE NEEDLE IN THE HAYSTACK</h3> + + +<p>Herr Koulas was by birth a Greek, by citizenship, an Austrian, and by +occupation, a chemist; but his real métier, concealed under a most +docile and law abiding exterior, was secret inquiry in behalf of the +British government into all matters pertaining to its interests, either +social, political, or military. He knew his Hungary from Odenburg to +Kronstadt, from the Save to the Carpathians, and Renwick, while somewhat +dubious as to the wisdom of his visit under the circumstances, found +himself received at this excellent man's home with a warmth of welcome +which left no doubt in his own mind as to the unselfishness of his host. +Even before the war Renwick and Constantine Koulas had met in secret, so +that if trouble came no plan should mar the man's impeccable character +in Austrian eyes. And Renwick would not have come to him now, had not +his own need been great. But Herr Koulas, having heard the tale of his +adventures and reassured as to the present danger of pursuit, gave +willingly of his hospitality and counsel, and when he learned the +character of Renwick's mission, volunteered to procure him a set of +papers which would rob his pilgrimage to the north, at least, of its +most obvious dangers. He was ready with information, too, and offered a +mind with a peculiar genius for the kind of problem that Renwick +presented. The fact that the great Prussian secret agent, Leo Goritz, +was involved in the affair lent it an individuality which detracted +nothing from its other interest. Leo Goritz! Only last year there had +been a contest of wits between them, both under cover, and Koulas had +managed to get what he wanted, not, however, without narrowly escaping +the revelation of his own part in the investigation. Goritz was a clever +man and a dangerous one, young, brilliant, handsome, unscrupulous, who +wore an armor of impenetrability which had not yet revealed a single +weak link. And yet, Herr Koulas reasoned, broodingly, that there must be +one. A weak link! Where was the man without one? The messages from the +Wilhelmstrasse! Why had Goritz not returned to Berlin upon the outbreak +of the war? What was keeping him in Hungary? He was in the Tatra region? +Possibly. Which were the passes by which he might try to go? Uzoker, +Dukla, or perhaps even Jablunka. The Russians were already battering at +Przemysl—Uzoker Pass was out of the question. Jablunka—that was nearer +the German border, but eagerly watched even in times of peace. Goritz +would not have dared to try to abduct the Countess Strahni by way of +Jablunka! The railroad went through Jablunka, a narrow highway with no +outlet for many miles. It was not the kind of <i>cul-de-sac</i> that Goritz +would have chosen. Dukla? Perhaps. A little farther to the east, of +course, but not yet menaced by the Russian advance.</p> + +<p>The thing was puzzling, but interesting—very. The abduction of a loyal +citizen of Austria—a lady of noble birth—a hurried flight by +unfrequented roads and then an <i>impasse</i>! Had Herr Windt blocked the +way? Was the lady ill? Or had something else detained them?</p> + +<p>Renwick sat in the back room of the small laboratory, his arms folded, +his brows tangled in thought, as Herr Koulas, puffing great clouds of +smoke from his long pipe, thus analyzed the situation.</p> + +<p>"I have thought of all of these things, Herr Koulas," Renwick muttered, +"and my mind always comes back to the same point. If I know that Goritz +has come to this region, if I know that he has not gone out of it, I +also know that he remains. I do not care <i>why</i>—my question is +<i>where—where</i>?"</p> + +<p>Koulas ran his long forefinger over the map upon the table.</p> + +<p>"It is the map Goritz might use—a road map of the government," he +grumbled.</p> + +<p>"The center near the top—Poprad—he would get through there with +difficulty——"</p> + +<p>Renwick had risen and paced the floor slowly.</p> + +<p>"I have not been through Dukla. It is accessible?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Svidnik to Przemysl. Rocks—a <i>schloss</i> or two——" He turned. "It +was there that the Baron Neudeck was killed—you remember—three years +ago?"</p> + +<p>"I have forgotten—Neudeck—an Austrian?"</p> + +<p>"A German—Neudeck was selling military plans to the Russians—Goritz!"</p> + +<p>Koulas sprang to his feet triumphantly—"Goritz! It was Goritz who +discovered him——"</p> + +<p>Renwick was listening eagerly, and Koulas turned with a shrug. "Nothing +much, my friend. And yet—a coincidence perhaps—Goritz, Neudeck, Dukla. +Goritz—Strahni—'the center of the map—at the top.' It might be worth +trying."</p> + +<p>"I shall try it. There is nothing else for me to do. The Pass is used +for transport?"</p> + +<p>"No. The line of communication is through Mezo Laborcz."</p> + +<p>"It will be risky——"</p> + +<p>"Not unless you make it so. With luck you shall bear a letter to General +Lechnitz (which you need never deliver) as a writer for a newspaper."</p> + +<p>"That can be managed?"</p> + +<p>"I hope—I believe—I am confident."</p> + +<p>Renwick smiled. Herr Koulas was something of a humorist.</p> + +<p>"Tell me more of this Neudeck case," asked the Englishman.</p> + +<p>"There is unfortunately little more to tell. Neudeck was a German baron +with military connections, not too rich and not above dishonesty. Goritz +traced the plans to Schloss Szolnok, an ancient feudal stronghold which +an elder Baron Neudeck had bought——"</p> + +<p>"In the Dukla?"</p> + +<p>"—in the Dukla—where some Russian officers were invited for the +shooting. They did not know how little they were to enjoy it——" Koulas +chuckled and blew a cloud of smoke—"for Goritz shot Neudeck before +their very eyes, and took the plans back to Germany. This is secret +history—a nine days' wonder—but it passed and with it a clever +scoundrel who well deserved what he got."</p> + +<p>"And since his death who lives in Schloss Szolnok?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know." He laughed again. "You jump very rapidly at conclusions, +my friend."</p> + +<p>"Time passes. I must jump at something. I am going to Dukla +Pass—tomorrow if you will help me."</p> + +<p>"That goes without saying. For the present you shall go to bed and sleep +soundly. I would like to go with you, but alas—I am not so young as I +was and I can best serve all your interests here."</p> + +<p>Renwick shook Koulas by the hand and took the bedroom candle that was +offered him.</p> + +<p>"Good night," he said. "I pray that no harm may come to you from this +imprudence of mine."</p> + +<p>"Do not worry, my friend. I am well hedged about with alibis. Good +night."</p> + +<p>The next evening after dark Renwick, now Herr Max Schoff of the <i>Wiener +Zeitung</i>, supplied with a pass which Herr Koulas by means of his +underground machinery had managed to procure, took the night train for +Kaschau, which he reached in the early morning of the following day, +going on later to Bartfeld, the terminus of the railroad, a small and +ancient town under the very shadow of the mountains. Here, it being late +in the afternoon, he found the Hungaria, a hotel to which he had been +directed, where he made arrangements to stop for the night while he +leisurely pursued his inquiries.</p> + +<p>Now at last, so very near his destination, he was curiously oppressed +with the futility of his pilgrimage. He had come far, braving the danger +of detection and death, for he had no illusions regarding the status of +an Englishman approaching the battle lines under the guise of a +newspaper writer. If taken, it would be as a spy, and he would be +treated as such.</p> + +<p>Herr Koulas had warned him not to be too sanguine, for the roads out of +Hungary were many, and Dukla Pass, merely because of a bit of forgotten +secret history, a possibility not to be neglected. Herr Koulas had also +warned him that the methods in induction which had been open to him had +also been open to the Austrian secret service men who, perhaps, had +already taken measures to follow the same scent. And so it was that the +golden smile of Herr Windt still persisted in Renwick's dreams by night, +and in his thoughts by day. If Spivak had told his story of his meeting +with the spurious Moyer, his conversation about Szarvas would +immediately identify him as Renwick the Englishman. But however near the +two trails ran, Windt's men had not yet come up with him, and, until +they did, Renwick knew that he must move boldly and quickly upon his +quest. And so at last resolution armed him anew.</p> + +<p>It was now approaching dusk, and he cast about for a person to whom he +might talk without arousing suspicion, and so he turned into an inn at +the corner of the street and ordering beer sat himself upon a bench +along the wall before a long wooden table. The few men who sat drinking +and smoking gave him a curious glance, and the proprietor of the +establishment, aware of a stranger, felt it to be his duty to learn +something of his mission to this small town and of his identity. This +was what Renwick wanted, and as the man spoke in German, he told with +brief glibness his well rehearsed story, inviting his host to join him +in a glass, over which they were presently chatting as thick as thieves. +He was a newspaper writer, Renwick said, upon his way to the front, and +showed the letter to General Lechnitz. But he had never before been in +this part of the country and intended to see it, upon the way. It was an +interesting town, Bartfeld, a fine church too, St. Aegidius. Had his +host lived in Bartfeld a long time?</p> + +<p>The man was a native, and very proud of his traditions, expanding +volubly in reply to Renwick's careless questions. His father and +grandfather had kept this very inn, and indeed for all he knew their +fathers' fathers. A quiet town, but interesting to those who were fond +of historical associations. Renwick listened patiently, slowly drawing +the man nearer to the subject that was uppermost in his mind. It was a +short distance to Dukla Pass, a very picturesque spot, he had been told, +one well worth a visit, was it not?</p> + +<p>"Dukla Pass!" said the man. "A name well known in the annals of the +country in the days of John Sobieski, long before the railroad went +through beyond; a wonderful spot with cliffs and ravines. I have been +there often. In the season, before the war, one drove there—for the +view. Now alas! what with the Cossacks running over Galicia, the people +had more serious things to think about."</p> + +<p>"It is easily reached?" asked Renwick.</p> + +<p>"By the road beyond the town—a short cut—a climb over the mountains, +but not difficult at this time of the year."</p> + +<p>"There is a village there?"</p> + +<p>"A few farmhouses merely, in the valley along the streams. The glory of +the Dukla is its ruins."</p> + +<p>"Ah, of course, there are feudal castles——"</p> + +<p>"Javorina, Jägerhorn, Szolnok——"</p> + +<p>"Szolnok!" said Renwick with sudden interest. "I have heard that name +before——"</p> + +<p>He paused in a puzzled way.</p> + +<p>"It was the summer residence of Baron Neudeck——"</p> + +<p>"Ah, then it is not a ruin?"</p> + +<p>"Until three years ago he lived there—in the habitable part—when +something terrible happened. No one about here is sure—but the place +has an evil name."</p> + +<p>"That is interesting. Why?"</p> + +<p>"The facts have never been clearly explained. The story goes that Baron +Neudeck was in the midst of entertaining guests—a hunting party of +gentlemen; that there was a night of revelry and of drinking. One of the +servants, entering the dining-hall in the morning, found Baron Neudeck +lying dead upon the hearth with a bullet wound in his forehead. The +guests had disappeared—vanished as if the earth had swallowed them."</p> + +<p>"And the police?"</p> + +<p>"The police came and went. It was very strange. Nothing further was +heard of the matter. But no one about here will go within a mile of the +place after nightfall."</p> + +<p>"And the servants—what became of them?"</p> + +<p>The man shrugged. "They did not come from around here. They were +Germans, who came with the Baron. If the police are satisfied, I am."</p> + +<p>The man shrugged and drained his glass.</p> + +<p>"The other castles are ruined, you say? Then it cannot be long before +Szolnok will share their fate—since it is not occupied," suggested +Renwick.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," said the man indifferently, rising with a view to closing the +conversation.</p> + +<p>Renwick ordered another glass of beer, and sat looking out of the small +casement window at the passers-by, thinking deeply.</p> + +<p>The inspiration of Herr Koulas had at least set him upon a scent which +still held him true upon this trail. The information he had received +might mean much or little. German servants? Had Goritz used the servants +of Baron Neudeck in unraveling the secret of the stolen plans? Had they +been implicated in the affair? Did he hold them his creatures by a +knowledge of their share in the guilty transaction? Three years had +passed since the killing of Neudeck. What had happened in the meanwhile? +Had the title of the property passed to others? Had the Schloss been +occupied since the Baron's death, or was it deserted? He evolved a +theory rapidly, determining to test it at once. It would perhaps be +imprudent to question further this innkeeper, a public character, and it +seemed quite probable that he knew little more than had already been +told. A visit to the farmhouses in the valley would reveal something. He +would go——</p> + +<p>Renwick had been gazing out of the window, but his attention was +suddenly arrested by the figure of a man at the corner of the street, +who stood, smoking a cigarette. There was nothing unusual in his +clothing or demeanor, but the thing which had startled Renwick into +sudden alertness was the rather vague impression that somewhere he had +seen this man's face before. A vague impression, but definite in the +sense that to Renwick the face had been associated with something +unpleasant or disagreeable. But even as Renwick looked, the man tossed +his cigarette into the cobbles and turning on his heel walked up the +street, passing out of Renwick's range of vision. The Englishman started +up from his unfinished glass with the notion of following, but a second +thought urged caution. It was still light outside, and if the stranger's +memory for faces were better than his own, a meeting face to face would +merely court unnecessary danger. So Renwick returned to his bench and +made a pretense of finishing his beer, awaiting in safety the darkness. +Where had he seen this man before? He searched his mind with painful +thoroughness—wondering if the injury to his head had robbed his brain +of some of its clearness. He had seen this man's face before—before his +sickness—he was sure of that. Hadwiger, Lengelbach, Linder—one by one +he recalled the secret service men. The face of the stranger was that of +none of these. Someone—a shadowy someone—out of darkness—or dreams. +Could the idea have been born of some imaginary resemblance, some +fancied recollection? The thing was elusive, and so he gave it up, aware +that if his brain had played him no trick, there was here another +confirmation of his hope that he was on the true scent. Were the threads +converging?</p> + +<p>The plan that he now had in mind was to go over the mountains afoot and +make some quiet inquiries among the farmhouses in the valley below the +Pass, in regard to Schloss Szolnok. And so as the light had grown dim, +he got up and went forth into the street, pulling his soft hat well down +over his eyes, and making his way toward the road which led to Dukla +Pass. He verified the innkeeper's direction by inquiry at the end of the +main street, and as the night was clear, set forth briskly upon his walk +over the mountain road, for the idea of spending the evening in +inactivity was not to be thought of until all the facts regarding this +Schloss Szolnok were in his possession.</p> + +<p>A ruin—uninhabited? And with its crumbling, his own hope.... It was no +time for despair. Had he not come miraculously from death and traveled +safely from one border of the enemy's country almost to the other, as +though led or driven by some secret impelling force—some inspiration, +some hidden guidon or command? At each turn, at each danger, he +remembered he had acted with swiftness and decision, and had at no time +been at a loss. Fortune had favored him at each stage of his journey and +had directed his steps with rare assurance in this direction. Fortune or +a will-o'-the-wisp? Or was Marishka calling to him? He had had the +impression of her nearness often—there in the hospital—and since, at +Selim Ali's—upon the road. It seemed strange and a little mystifying +too, that he had never doubted that he would be able to find her.... And +now—if not at Schloss Szolnok—elsewhere.</p> + +<p>As the darkness of the mountain road deepened, swift vision came to him. +The possible danger of attack ... Out of the gloom of shadowy rocks, he +had a vision of men who interposed, barring his way, a man in a cap +asking the time. Vienna—the night that he had left Marishka, when the +three men had attacked him! The face of the man in the cap, and the +stranger of Bartfeld—they were the same!</p> + +<p>He could have shouted aloud in the joy of the revelation. The man who +had attacked him in the streets of Vienna—this cigarette-smoking +stranger in Bartfeld. A German? Who else? Perhaps the man who had shot +at him—in Vienna—at the Konopisht railroad station, a minion of +Goritz. Then Goritz could not be far away....</p> + +<p>Renwick strode down the mountain side toward the distant lights of the +valley, like a man in seven-league boots, searching eagerly meanwhile +the gloomy peaks above him to his left for signs of Schloss Szolnok. He +could distinguish nothing amid the deep shadows of the mountain side. +But the lights below beckoned warmly, and finding a road to his right at +the foot of the declivity, he went toward them rapidly, knocking boldly +at the door of the first house to which he came.</p> + +<p>An old man answered his summons, a tall old man with a long pipe in his +hand, who inspected the visitor narrowly.</p> + +<p>"I have lost my way," said Renwick with a smile, "and thought you might +let me have a cup of milk and some bread, for which I will pay +generously."</p> + +<p>The man in the doorway waved his hand in assent, and Renwick followed +him into the house, where his host made a motion for him to be seated. A +girl and a woman sat by the table knitting, and an old crone sat in a +large chair by the fireplace, in which some embers still glowed. Renwick +was hungry, but not nearly so hungry as impatient for the crumbs of +information that these worthy people might possess, and so he invented a +story while he ate which the girl, who spoke German more fluently than +the old man, translated to her elders. The woman at the table spoke a +little German and shyly added her share to the rather desultory +conversation. Bartfa was not far, only a few miles over the mountain—a +short distance by wagon or horseback, but something of a distance for +one who was weary and footsore. Herr Schoff had come all the way from +Mezo Laborez—and afoot? A newspaper writer? That was a dangerous +occupation in times like these.</p> + +<p>Renwick, having finished his bread and milk, deftly directed the +conversation to the possibilities of Dukla Pass from the Russian point +of view as a means of invasion of the Hungarian plain, and it was soon +quite clear that this possibility had not been absent from their minds. +Renwick praised the effectiveness of the Austrian army which he had +seen, and quickly reassured them. For Dukla Pass, as he had heard, was +but a slit in the mountains, which the Austrians could easily defend. A +few guns upon the rocks, and a million Cossacks could not break through.</p> + +<p>It was encouraging, the man put in in his patois, for they had been +greatly disturbed by rumors among the country-folk and many soldiers +already had passed through.</p> + +<p>"It is a place of historical interest," said Renwick easily, "a +<i>Schloss</i> or two perhaps."</p> + +<p>"Javorina—Jägerhorn, yes—but mere ruins, long ago the property of the +Rakoczi family. And Szolnok——" Here the man paused, glanced at the +girl and the woman, and they both made the sign of the cross with their +forefingers at their breasts.</p> + +<p>In the slight period of embarrassment which followed, Renwick regarded +them with a new interest. The old crone at the fireside, who had been +leaning forward with a hand cupped at her ear, caught the significance +of the gesture and solemnly imitated them.</p> + +<p>"Ah, I remember now," said Renwick with an air of seriousness which +matched their own. "Was it not at Szolnok that Baron Neudeck was +killed?"</p> + +<p>The old man glanced at the others before speaking.</p> + +<p>"Yes. It was there," he said quietly.</p> + +<p>"And the place is no longer occupied?" asked the Englishman.</p> + +<p>No one replied.</p> + +<p>"There is a mystery attached to Schloss Szolnok?" asked Renwick, +lighting his pipe.</p> + +<p>"He asks if there is a mystery," said the woman dully. And then followed +as before the strange ceremony of the cross.</p> + +<p>"I am a stranger in these parts," Renwick went on, "and no mischief +maker. This story interests me. I should like to know——" He paused +again as the old man leaned forward toward him, and laid his skinny +forefinger along Renwick's knee.</p> + +<p>"It is the abode of the devil," he whispered, and then crossed himself +again.</p> + +<p>"Ah—something mysterious——"</p> + +<p>"It is not a matter which we talk about in this house. We are poor, +hard-working people who fear God. But strange things are happening up +yonder night after night. Here in the valley, we no longer go near by +day—nor even look."</p> + +<p>"Ah, I see. Then the place has long been unoccupied?"</p> + +<p>The old man was silent, but the woman, gathering confidence, took up the +story.</p> + +<p>"It was always a place of mystery—even in the days of Baron Neudeck, +who was an evil man. The servants were strangers to our people and spoke +not at all. They never came into the valley."</p> + +<p>"And they did not come for food—for milk, eggs, butter?"</p> + +<p>"Szolnok farm was above the Schloss upon the mountain side. They had +what they needed."</p> + +<p>"Ah, I understand. And since the death of the Baron?"</p> + +<p>"We do not know. We do not go there. Two years ago a young man from +this village went there seeking a sheep which had gone astray. He never +came back. And the sheep skin was found some days later at the foot of +the precipice. And scarcely a month ago, a venturesome young man from +Bartfa climbed the road to the castle in the dead of night on a wager. +What he saw no one will ever know, for he came running down the road to +his companion stricken with terror, and has never spoken of the matter +from that day to this. It was a ghost he saw, they say——"</p> + +<p>"Or a devil," put in the old man.</p> + +<p>"And by day? You see no one?"</p> + +<p>"The Schloss is well within the gorge. I do not go to look, my friend."</p> + +<p>"Have there been no lights at night for three years?"</p> + +<p>"None that I remember—until now."</p> + +<p>"Then it is only for a month or more that they have been seen?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps. I do not know."</p> + +<p>The man was growing reticent and his family followed his example. The +character of the occupants of Szolnok was not a popular topic for +conversation in Dukla Valley. But this man could help Renwick, and he +determined to use him. And so as the woman bade him good night and went +upstairs, Renwick rose and went to the door, where the old man followed +him.</p> + +<p>"It is late, my friend," he said, "and a weary walk for me to Bartfa. I +will pay you well for a bed."</p> + +<p>"Willingly, if we but had the room——"</p> + +<p>"Or a pallet of straw in your stable. I am not fastidious."</p> + +<p>"Ah, as to that, of course. It can be managed." Renwick took out a +hundred-<i>kroner</i> note, and held it before the man's eyes.</p> + +<p>"If you will do as I ask I will give you this."</p> + +<p>"And what is that?"</p> + +<p>"A place in your stable tonight—breakfast at three in the morning, and +the clothing you now stand in——"</p> + +<p>"My clothing?"</p> + +<p>"No questions asked, and silence. Do you agree?"</p> + +<p>"But I do not understand."</p> + +<p>"It is not necessary that you should. I shall do you no harm."</p> + +<p>"A hundred <i>kroner</i>—it is a large sum——"</p> + +<p>"Yours—if you do what I ask——" And he thrust the note into the old +man's fingers.</p> + +<p>This bound the bargain.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII</h2> + +<h3>SCHLOSS SZOLNOK</h3> + + +<p>The night and day which followed the terrible events in the house of the +Beg of Rataj were like an evil dream to Marishka Strahni. She slept, she +awoke, always to be hurried on by her relentless captors, too ill to +offer resistance or any effort to delay them. Hugh Renwick was dead. All +the other direful assurances as to her own fate were as nothing beside +that dreadful fact. And Goritz—the man who sat beside her—Hugh's +murderer! Fear—loathing—she seemed even too weak and ill for these, +lying for the first part of their long journey, inert and helpless. The +man beside her watched her furtively from time to time, venturing +attention and solicitude for her comfort, but she did not reply to his +questions or even look at him. At the house of Selim Ali she recovered +some of her strength, and again upon the following night, at a small inn +not far from the Serbian border, she fell into a deep sleep of +exhaustion, from which she was aroused with difficulty. The machine was +stopped frequently, and its occupants were questioned, but in each case +Captain Goritz produced papers from his pocket, which let them pass. +They were now well within the borders of Hungary, and as the girl grew +stronger, courage came, and with it the thought of escape. But in spite +of her apparent helplessness she was aware that her captors were +watching her carefully, permitting no conversation with anyone, locking +the doors of the rooms in which she slept, at the houses where they +stopped, and taking turns at keeping guard outside. But their very +precautions gave her an appreciation of the risks that they ran. She was +a prisoner in her own country. All those she passed upon the road were +her friends. She had only to make her identity known, and the object of +her captors, to gain her freedom. She was somewhere in eastern Hungary, +but just where she did not know. The chauffeur spoke the language +fluently, and Marishka's ignorance of it made her task more difficult. +But one night at an inn in a small village, she found a girl who spoke +German, and in a moment when the attention of her guards was relaxed, +she managed to make the girl understand, promising her a sum of money if +she would summon the police of the town, to whom Marishka would tell her +story. The girl agreed, and in the early morning just as the machine +came around to the door Goritz found himself confronted by two men in +uniform.</p> + +<p>Marishka, who had been waiting, trembling, in her room above, came +running down the stairs and threw herself upon their mercy, telling her +story and begging their intercession.</p> + +<p>But even as she spoke she realized that the very wildness of her +narrative was against its verity in the minds of these rustic policemen.</p> + +<p>"It is an extraordinary tale," said the elder man, "and one which of +course must be investigated—an abduction!"</p> + +<p>"If you will permit me," said Goritz smiling calmly. "This lady is my +wife. I am taking her to the north for the baths. As you observe, she +is the subject of delusions——"</p> + +<p>"It is not true," cried Marishka despairingly. "I beseech you to +listen—to investigate——"</p> + +<p>"I regret," said Goritz, with a glance at his watch, "that I have no +time to delay. I am Lieutenant von Arnstorf of the Fifteenth Army Corps, +bearing a safe conduct from General von Hoetzendorf, which all police +officers of the Empire are constrained to respect. Read for yourself."</p> + +<p>And he handed them the magic paper which already had done him such +service. The men read it through with respect and not a little awe, +bestowing at the last a pitying glance upon Marishka, which too well +indicated their delicacy in interfering in the affairs of one in such +authority.</p> + +<p>"And you will not summon the mayor? What I tell is the truth. In the +name of the Holy Virgin, I swear it."</p> + +<p>One of the men crossed himself and turned away. Goritz had already laid +his fingers firmly upon her arm and guided her toward the machine.</p> + +<p>"Come, Anna," he said in a sober, soothing tone, "all will be well—all +will be well."</p> + +<p>And so Marishka, with one last despairing glance in the direction of the +two officers, permitted herself to be handed into the machine by Captain +Goritz who, before the automobile departed, handed a piece of money to +the girl who had done Marishka this service. The last glimpse that +Marishka had of the police officers showed them standing side by side, +their fingers at their caps. Her case was hopeless. She had no friend, +it seemed, in all Hungary, and she abandoned herself to the depths of +her despair. How could she have expected to cope with such a man as +this?</p> + +<p>Goritz said nothing to her of warning or of reproach, but in the same +afternoon, after drinking a cup of coffee which he urged upon her, she +became drowsy and slept.</p> + +<p>She awoke in a large room with walls of panelled wood, and a groined +ceiling. She lay upon a huge bed, raised high above the floor, over the +head of which was a faded yellow silken hanging. Her surroundings +puzzled her, but she seemed to have no desire to learn the meaning of it +all, lying as one barely alive, gazing half conscious toward the narrow +Gothic window near by, through which she had a glimpse of mountains and +blue sky. But the sunlight which fell in patches upon the Turkey rug +dazzled her aching eyes, and she closed them painfully. She felt +wretchedly ill. Her throat was parched, and her body was so weak that +even to move her hand had been an effort. She slept again, woke and +slept again, aware now, even in her stupor, of someone moving near her +in the room. At last with all the will-power left at her command, she +opened wide her eyes and raised herself upon an elbow. It was night, but +lamps upon two tables shed a generous glow.</p> + +<p>As she moved, a figure that had sat near the foot of the bed, rose and +came toward her. It was a very old woman with a wrinkled face and the +inturned lips of the toothless. But her face was kindly, and her voice +when she spoke had in it a note of commiseration.</p> + +<p>"The Excellency is feeling stronger?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"I—I do not know," said Marishka painfully struggling to make her lips +enunciate. "I—I still feel ill. What is this place?"</p> + +<p>"Schloss Szolnok, Excellency, in the Carpathians." She laid her rough +hand over Marishka's. "You have some fever. I will get medicine."</p> + +<p>"A—a glass of water——"</p> + +<p>"At once." The woman moved away into the shadows and Marishka tried to +focus her eyes upon the objects in the room—large chests of drawers, +and tables, a cheval glass, a <i>prie-dieu</i>, a carved escritoire with +ormolu mountings, a French dressing table, portraits let into the +panelling, massive oaken chairs, well upholstered—a room of some +grandeur. Schloss Szolnok? What mattered it where she was? Death at +Schloss Szolnok could be no worse than death elsewhere. Weakness +overpowered her, and she sank back into her pillow, aware of her +throbbing temples and a terrible pain that racked her breast. Death. +Hugh, too. He was calling to her. She would come. Hugh! With his name +upon her lips she sank again into unconsciousness.</p> + +<p>For weeks, the very weeks that Hugh Renwick lay in the Landes Hospital, +Marishka lay upon the tall bed in the great room at Schloss Szolnok, +struggling slowly back to life from the clutches of pneumonia. There was +a doctor brought from Mezo Laborcz, who stayed in the castle for a week +until the danger point had passed, and then came every few days until +the patient was well upon the road to recovery. Marishka did not learn +of this until much later when, convalescent, she sat by the window, +looking out over the sunlit mountains beyond the gorge, and then in +wonder and something of disappointment that Goritz had not permitted her +to die. And when the old woman, who bore the name of Ena, related that +the Herr Hauptmann had himself driven the automobile which brought the +doctor in the dead of night to Szolnok, the wonder grew. Marishka had +learned to think of Goritz as one interested only in her death or +imprisonment, and after Sarajevo she had even believed that her life +while in his keeping had hung by a hair. He had killed Hugh, brought her +into this far country against her will, had even drugged her that he +might avoid a repetition of her attempt at escape. And now he was +sparing no pains to bring her back to health, daily sending her messages +of good will and good wishes, with flowers from the garden in the +courtyard, which, as Ena had reported, he had plucked with his own hand. +It was monstrous!</p> + +<p>A few mornings ago he had written her a note saying that he awaited her +pleasure, craving the indulgence of a visit at the earliest moment that +she should care to see him. Marishka, much to Ena's chagrin, had sent no +reply. The very thought of kindness from such a man as Goritz—a +kindness which was to pay for Hugh's death and her favor, made a mockery +of all the beauties of giving—a mockery, too, of her acceptance of +them, whether tacitly or otherwise. A man who could kill without +scruple, a woman-baiter, courteous that he might be cruel, tolerant that +he might torment! By torture of her spirit and of her body he had +brought her near death that he might gain the flavor of saving her from +it.</p> + +<p>He was of a breed of being with which her experience was unfamiliar. The +note of sentiment in his notes, while it amazed, bewildered and +frightened her a little. She was completely in the man's power. What was +Schloss Szolnok? Who was its owner? Ena would not talk; she had +received instructions. Before her windows was spread a wonderful vista +of mountains and ravines, which changed hourly in color, from the +opalescent tints of the dawn, through the garish spectrum of daylight to +the deep purple shadows of the sunset, to the crepuscular opalescence +again. Under any other conditions, she would have been content to sit +and muse alone with her grief—and Hugh. He was constantly present in +her thoughts. It was as though his spirit hovered near. She seemed to +hear him speak, to feel the touch of his hand upon her brow, soothing +her anguish, praying her to wait and be patient. Sometimes the +impression of his presence beside her was so poignant that she started +up from her chair and looked around the vast room, as though expecting +him to appear in the spirit beside her. And then realizing that the +illusions were born of her weakness, she would sink back exhausted, and +resume her gaze upon the restful distance.</p> + +<p>Ena, her nurse, was very kind to her, leaving nothing undone for her +comfort, sitting most of the while beside her, and prattling of her own +youth and the Fatherland. And so, sure of the woman's growing interest +and affection, she slowly revealed the story of Konopisht Garden, her +share in it, and the events that had followed. Marishka could see that +the woman was greatly impressed by the story which lost no conviction +from the pallid lips which told it. And of her own volition, that night, +Ena promised the girl to reveal no word of her confidences, and gave +unreservedly the outward signs of her friendship for the tender creature +committed to her care. She had believed that the kindness of the Herr +Hauptmann had meant the beginnings of a romance. But she understood, +and aware of the sadness of the sick woman's thoughts, did what she +could to delay a meeting which she knew must be painful.</p> + +<p>In reply to Marishka's questions, now, she was less reticent, and told +of the long years at Schloss Szolnok under the Barons Neudeck, father +and son, of the coming of Herr Hauptmann Goritz, and of the threat which +had hung over them for three years since the dreadful night when her +young master had been killed. There had been no heirs to the estate and +no one knew to whom the half-ruined Schloss belonged, but each month +money had arrived from Germany, and so she and Wilhelm Strohmeyer, her +man, and two other servants under orders from Germany, had remained. She +had lived here almost all her life. The people in the village a mile +away were the nearest human folk, and Baron Neudeck had not endeared +himself to them, for once he had beaten a farmer who had questioned the +Excellency's right to shoot upon his land. And so the country people +passed aside and did not venture up the mountain road which indeed had +become overgrown with verdure. And for their part the servants were +contented to stay alone. It was very quiet, but as good a place to die +in as any other.</p> + +<p>Marishka listened calmly, trying to weave the complete story and Captain +Goritz's part in it. Whether Schloss Szolnok was or was not the property +of the German government—and it seemed probable that it would have been +confiscated upon the discovery of Baron Neudeck's treachery—the fact +was clear that Goritz was now its occupant and master. She had not dared +to wonder what was still in store for her at the hands of Captain +Goritz, and had lived from day to day in the hope that something might +happen which would end her imprisonment and martyrdom. She heard nothing +from the outside, and Ena, who had long ago given up the world, was in +no position to inform her.</p> + +<p>But as she gained her strength, Marishka knew that she could not longer +deny herself to Captain Goritz. The mirror showed her that her face, +while thin and wan, was still comely. Wisdom warned her that however +much she loathed the man, every hope of liberty hung upon his favor. And +so she gained courage to look about her and to plan some means of +outwitting him or some mode of escape from durance. The latter +alternative seemed hopeless, for it seemed that the castle was built +upon a lonely crag, its heavy walls, which dated from feudal times, +imbedded in the solid rock. From her bedroom window, below the +buttressed stone, were precipitous cliffs which fell sheer and straight +to the rocky bed of the stream which rushed through the ravine two +hundred meters below. But there would be other modes of egress, and so, +feeling that her strength was now equal to the task, she determined to +go forth and test the cordon which constrained her. One morning, +therefore, she called Ena's attention to her pallid face and suggested +the sunlight of the garden as a means to restoration. The woman was +delighted, and attired in a costume of soft white silk crepe, which she +had fashioned in her convalescence from some posthumous finery that Ena +had discovered, Marishka walked forth of her room down a stone stairway +into the great hall of the castle; and so into the ancient courtyard +where the flower garden was. She had expected Captain Goritz to join +her, and in this surmise she was not mistaken, for she had culled an +armful of blossoms which she sent to her room by Ena when the German +appeared. She heard his voice behind her, even before she had summoned +courage for the interview.</p> + +<p>"My compliments upon your appearance, Countess," he said soberly. "I +hope that you find yourself well upon the road to recovery."</p> + +<p>"Thanks," she replied in a stifled tone. "I am feeling much stronger."</p> + +<p>"It has been a very pitiful experience for you—one which has caused me +many qualms of conscience," he muttered, "but I have tried to atone and +would beg you to believe that all my happiness for the future depends +upon your forgiveness."</p> + +<p>"I can—never forgive—never——" said Marishka, her throat closing +painfully. "I hoped to die," she sighed, "but even that you denied me."</p> + +<p>"I have only done my duty—my duty, Countess—a sweeter duty than that +which urged me to Vienna—to undo the wrong that I have done you, to +bring again the roses into your cheeks."</p> + +<p>She waved her hand in deprecation. "For your courtesy, for the kindness +of your servants, I thank you. But for what you are yourself—only the +God that made you can understand—can forgive—that."</p> + +<p>He straightened a moment and then slowly leaned against the wall beside +her, his chin cupped in his hand.</p> + +<p>"You are cruel——"</p> + +<p>"I am truthful. Anything else from me to you would be beneath my +womanhood. I would kill you if I had the strength or if I dared." She +gave a bitter laugh. "It is at least something, that we understand each +other."</p> + +<p>He paused a long moment before replying.</p> + +<p>And then, "<i>Do</i> we understand each other? I hope that you will permit me +to speak a few words in extenuation of a person you have never known—of +Leo Goritz, the man."</p> + +<p>"A man who makes war upon a woman—who uses violence to compel +obedience——"</p> + +<p>"A woman—but an enemy to my country. Between my duty to Germany and my +own inclinations, I had no choice. I was an instrument of the State, +pitiless, exact and exacting. You have spoken the truth. So shall I. Had +my duty to Germany required it of me, I should have killed you with my +own hand—even if you had been my sister."</p> + +<p>She gazed at him with alien eyes.</p> + +<p>"It is monstrous! I would to God you had."</p> + +<p>He bowed.</p> + +<p>"That is merely my official conception of my obligation to the +Fatherland," he said quietly.</p> + +<p>She still gazed at him unbelieving, but he met her glance squarely.</p> + +<p>"You need not believe me unless you choose, but I speak the truth. My +orders were to bring you safely into Germany, or to—to eliminate you. +Perhaps you will understand now my difficulties in keeping you +unscathed."</p> + +<p>"My death would have relieved you of that responsibility. It would have +been so easy to have let me die——"</p> + +<p>"I could not!" He bent his head over his folded arms. "I could not," he +repeated. And then, after a silence, "Countess Strahni, I beg that you +will consider that I have succeeded so far in saving you from personal +danger."</p> + +<p>"And yet you used me as a shield to save yourself from the bullets of +the man you killed——" She broke off, laughing bitterly.</p> + +<p>"He would not fire. I knew it. He was a fool to give me the chance. I +took it. There was nothing else——"</p> + +<p>"It was murder. And you——"</p> + +<p>She glanced at him once and then turning away, hid her head in her arm. +"O God!" she whispered, as though to herself. "How I loathe you!"</p> + +<p>Though the words were not even meant for him to hear, he did not miss +them.</p> + +<p>"That is your privilege," he said after a moment, "and mine—to—to +adore you," he said in deep accents.</p> + +<p>Slowly she lowered her hands and gazed at him with eyes that though they +looked, seemed to see not.</p> + +<p>"You—<i>you</i>—! You care for <i>me</i>!" She dropped her hands to her sides, +and then with a voice that sought steadiness in its contempt, "What +object has the Fatherland to gain by this new hypocrisy, Herr Goritz?"</p> + +<p>He stood stock still, making no effort to approach her.</p> + +<p>"I think you do me some injustice," he said.</p> + +<p>"Injustice!" she said coldly. "<i>I</i> do <i>you</i> injustice? I think you +forget."</p> + +<p>"If you will permit—it is only fair at least that you should listen. +Even if what I say does not interest you."</p> + +<p>She waved a hand in a gesture of deprecation—but he went on rapidly in +spite of her protest, with an air of pride, which somehow robbed the +confession of its sincerity.</p> + +<p>"Your words have been cruel, Countess, but the cruelest were those in +which you attribute the highest motive of my life to the baseness of +hypocrisy. I have done many wrongs, broken many oaths, sinned many +sins—in the interests of my country—the service of which has been the +only aim of my existence. I have been entrusted by the Emperor himself +with missions which would have tested the courage of any man, and I have +not failed. That is my pride—the glory of my manhood, for the means of +accomplishment no matter how unworthy, are unimportant compared with the +great mission of the Germanic race in the betterment of humanity."</p> + +<p>"I fail to see, Herr Hauptmann, how——"</p> + +<p>He commanded her silence with an abrupt gesture.</p> + +<p>"If you will be pleased to bear with me a little longer. <i>Bitte.</i> I +shall not be very long. I merely wanted you to understand how my whole +life has been devoted to the great uses of the State, with the most +unselfish motives. I have been not a human sentient being, but a highly +specialized physical organism to which any wish, any emotion, unless of +service to the state, was forbidden. Charity, kindness, altruism, all +the gentler emotions—I foreswore them. I relinquished friendship. I +became a pariah, an outcast, save to those few beings from whom I took +my orders, and to them I was merely the piece of machinery which always +accomplished its tasks. I have had no happiness, no friendships, no +affection, but I am the most famous secret agent in Germany. A somber +picture, is it not?"</p> + +<p>He paused and shrugged expressively. And then his voice lowered a note. +"Perhaps you will believe me when I say that my whole existence is a +living lie. Ah, yes, you think that. It is a lie, Countess, because no +human being can defy the living God that is within him. He cannot +forever quell the aspirations of the spirit. The spark is always alight. +Sometimes it glows and fades, but sometimes a worthy motive sets it on +fire. It is that spark which has survived in me, Countess Strahni, in +spite of my efforts—my desires even—to deny its existence. Your +illness——"</p> + +<p>"Herr Hauptmann, I beg of you——"</p> + +<p>"No. You cannot deny me. I nursed you, there—brought you back to life. +Ah, you did not know. I brought a doctor at the hazard of the discovery +of my hiding place. Charity came, love——"</p> + +<p>"Herr Hauptmann, I forbid you," whispered Marishka chokingly, wondering +now why she had listened to him for so long. "I must go—go to my room."</p> + +<p>Goritz straightened and stood aside.</p> + +<p>"You need not fear me, Countess," he said. "You see?" he added quickly. +"I do not touch you."</p> + +<p>Marishka moved a few paces away and then turned to look at him. He stood +erect, smiling at her, his cap in his hand.</p> + +<p>"I—I must go to my room, Herr Hauptmann," she murmured haltingly. "I—I +am yet—far from strong."</p> + +<p>"I am sorry. I pray that you will feel stronger in the morning. Adieu!"</p> + +<p>"Adieu——" she murmured, and hurried through the stone portal, aware of +the gaze of those dark, slightly oblique eyes which had puzzled, then +fascinated—then frightened her.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV</h2> + +<h3>PRISONER AND CAPTIVE</h3> + + +<p>It was with mingled feelings that Marishka found the sanctuary of her +sleeping room. Her abhorrence of Goritz as the murderer of Hugh Renwick +was uppermost in her breast, her fear of him as her captor of scarcely +less import, but his tumultuous plea for her forgiveness and his strange +avowal had given her food for thought. Such a rapid <i>volte-face</i> was +beyond credence. This man had watched by her bedside, nursed her during +the week that she had lain unconscious. Her cheeks burned hot at the +thought of the situation, and quickly she questioned Ena who at last +reluctantly admitted the truth. Herr Hauptmann Goritz had sat many +nights by the bedside while she, Ena, had slept so as to be fresh for +the day to follow. He had commanded her silence, and Ena had obeyed. She +hoped that the Excellency would understand.</p> + +<p>Marishka nodded and sent her from the room, for she wanted to be alone +with her thoughts. He had watched by her sickbed, carrying out the +orders of the doctor while she had lain unconscious—Goritz, the master +craftsman of duplicity—Goritz, the insensible! What did it mean? Had +the man spoken the truth? Was he—? Love to such a man as Goritz! It was +impossible.</p> + +<p>He had always been courteous and considerate, but there was a new note +in his voice which rang strangely. Another lie—another hypocrisy? And +yet the very frankness of his admission with regard to her safety for a +moment disarmed her. He would have killed her—"eliminated" her—had the +necessities of his duty demanded it of him. And yet he had confessed his +love for her. What was the meaning of the paradox? Had he something to +gain by her favor? Had a change taken place in their situation? A chance +phrase had revealed the fact that there was now a danger of the +revelation of this hiding place. They had been pursued—what had balked +him in the continuance of their flight into Germany? Meditation only +served to enhance the mystery, and she emerged from an hour of thought +over the scene in the courtyard with no very clear idea of what the +future had in store for her, sure only of one thing—that she must not +hang importance upon the words of this man, who had already proved +himself a deadly enemy to her happiness. He had hired assassins to kill +Hugh, and when they had failed, had accomplished his purpose by a vile +expedient.</p> + +<p>Love! She knew what love was. She closed her eyes and buried her face in +her arms in wordless, silent grief for the man to whom she had given all +that was best and noblest of her—Hugh! But she could not weep. It +seemed as though, long since, the fountains of her misery were dry. For +a long while she crouched in the window, motionless, and when at last +she raised her head and gazed out down the shimmering vista of the +gorge, it was with a look of new resolution and intelligence. She must +escape. Every iota of cleverness must be given to find a way out of +Schloss Szolnok. What if, in spite of all, the things that Leo Goritz +had confessed were true! She doubted it and yet—if he loved her—! Here +was a woman's revenge, to bait, to charm, to spurn; and then to outwit +him! A test of the sincerity of his professions, and of her own feminine +art—a dangerous game which she had once before thought of playing, +until his cruelty had atrophied all impulse.</p> + +<p>But now! If he really cared—her power would grow with the venture, her +own safety the pledge of his purity—a dangerous game, indeed, here +alone upon this crag in the mountains, but if he were sincere, she was +armed with a flaming sword to defend—to destroy! If—? She would not +trust him, but she would fight him with the weapons she had. Her lips +closed in a thin line, and a glint as of polished metal came into her +eyes as the scene in the house of the Beg of Rataj shut out the lovely +landscape before her. To destroy—to fan the spark to flame that she +might extinguish it; to corrode the spirit with the biting acid of +contempt; to envenom the soul—newly born, perhaps—to the sweeter uses +of beneficence, and then escape! If he cared!</p> + +<p>And if he did not care—if, as she really believed, he lied to gain an +end....</p> + +<p>This was the thought of him that obsessed her. A liar, always. Why not +now? Men of his kind were unusual to women of hers, but even in the +midst of his confession—as near self-abasement as a man of his type +could come, the note of egotism rang clear above the graceful +phrases—too graceful to be anything but manufactured in that clear +inventive brain of his.</p> + +<p>She paced the floor, thinking deeply, and at last stopped by the window +and sought again the counsel of the eternal hills. After a while she +turned again into the room and peered into a mirror, seeking in her +face the answer to the riddle. It was pale, resolute, but it was not +ugly.</p> + +<p>She planned her campaign with the calm forethought of a general who +picks out his own battlefield, disposing his forces to the best +advantage, for attack or for repulse, for victory, or defeat. She must +mask her approach, conceal her intentions, and develop slowly the real +strength of her position. There was much that she wished to learn as to +Schloss Szolnok, and its security from those who sought to intercept +them, much in regard to the plans of her captor for the future, but she +knew that she must act with caution and skill, if she hoped to escape.</p> + +<p>Goritz had previously expressed a wish that when she grew strong enough +to leave her bedroom, she would join him at dinner, which she heard was +served in one end of the great Hall, but she decided that the first +skirmish should take place in a situation of her own choosing. And so +after dusk, the moon coming out, she went again upon the terrace where +she leaned upon the wall of the bastion and looked down with an air of +self-sought seclusion, upon the mists of the valley.</p> + +<p>Goritz was not long in joining her. She heard his footsteps as he +approached but did not give any sign or acknowledgment of his presence.</p> + +<p>"May I talk with you, Countess Strahni?" he asked easily.</p> + +<p>Her shrug, under her cloak, was hardly perceptible.</p> + +<p>"Since you have already done so it seems that my own wishes do not +matter," she said coolly.</p> + +<p>"I have no wish to intrude."</p> + +<p>Marishka laughed. "I can go in——" She drew her wrap more closely +about her throat and straightened.</p> + +<p>"I hope that you will not do that," he said.</p> + +<p>"Is there anything you wished to speak to me about—? That +is—er—anything of importance?"</p> + +<p>Goritz looked past her toward the profile of the distant mountain, and +smiled.</p> + +<p>"I thought that you might be interested to learn something of my reasons +for stopping here."</p> + +<p>"The insect in the web of the spider has little emotion left for +curiosity."</p> + +<p>"The spider! I have always admired your courage, Countess."</p> + +<p>"I can die but once."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you may care to know that you are not in the slightest danger +of death."</p> + +<p>"Thanks," she said coolly. "Your kindness is overwhelming. Or is +my—'elimination' no longer essential?"</p> + +<p>The more flippant her tone, the more somber Goritz became.</p> + +<p>"My purposes, Countess Strahni, I think, you no longer have any reason +to doubt. You are quite safe at Schloss Szolnok——"</p> + +<p>"So is the insect in the web—from all other insects but the spider." +She turned away. "You cannot blame me, Herr Hauptmann, if I judge of the +future by the past."</p> + +<p>"I would waste words to make further explanations which are so little +understood, but there are matters of interest to you."</p> + +<p>"Ah."</p> + +<p>"You have been ill. Many things have happened. You would like to hear?"</p> + +<p>"I am listening."</p> + +<p>"It is the trifles of the world which make or prevent its greatest +disasters. The man with the lantern at the bridgehead at Brod did not +know that he held the destiny of Europe in his hand. And yet, this is +the truth. Had he permitted us to pass unquestioned we should have +reached Sarajevo in time to prevent the greatest cataclysm of all the +ages."</p> + +<p>Marishka turned toward him, her interest now fully aroused.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"War, Countess Strahni—the most bloody—terrible—in the history of the +world—the event that I have striven all my life to prevent. All of +Europe is ablaze. Millions of men are marching—battles have already +been fought——"</p> + +<p>"Horrible? I cannot believe——"</p> + +<p>"It is the truth. It followed swiftly upon the assassination at +Sarajevo——"</p> + +<p>"Serbia!"</p> + +<p>"Serbia first—then Russia—Germany—Belgium—France—England, too——"</p> + +<p>"You are speaking the truth?"</p> + +<p>"I swear it."</p> + +<p>"And Austria?"</p> + +<p>"Germany and Austria—against a ring of enemies bent on exterminating +us——"</p> + +<p>"England—?"</p> + +<p>And while with eager ears she listened, he told her the history of the +long weeks, now growing into months, in which she had been hidden from +the world—including the defeat of the Austrians by the Serbians along +the Drina, and the advance of the Russians in East Prussia and Galicia.</p> + +<p>She heard him through until the end, questioning eagerly, then aware of +the dreadful significance of his news, forgetting for the moment her own +animosities, her own questionable position in the greater peril of her +country—and his. His country and hers at war against the world!</p> + +<p>"Russia has won victories against Austria—in Galicia?" she urged.</p> + +<p>"Yes—the Cossacks already are approaching Lemberg——"</p> + +<p>"Lemberg!"</p> + +<p>"They are less than two hundred kilometers from us at the present +moment."</p> + +<p>"And will they come—here?"</p> + +<p>"I hope not," he said with a slow smile. "But Schloss Szolnok is hardly +equipped to resist a siege of modern ordnance."</p> + +<p>"And you—why are you here?"</p> + +<p>The ingenuousness of her impetuous question seemed to amuse him.</p> + +<p>"I?" he said. "I am here because—well, because you—because I had no +other place to go."</p> + +<p>"Will you explain?"</p> + +<p>"I see no reason why I should not. I chose the place as a temporary +refuge from pursuit. Your illness marred my plans. The war continues to +mar them."</p> + +<p>"How?"</p> + +<p>He smiled.</p> + +<p>"The insect <i>has</i> curiosity, then? Schloss Szolnok has proved safe. I +have no desire to take unnecessary risks."</p> + +<p>"You were pursued?"</p> + +<p>He nodded. "Yes. And I managed to get away—here, but the other end of +this pass is now strongly guarded. I could have gone through when I +first came, but you were very ill. You would probably have died if I had +gone on. Now it is too late. You see," he said with a shrug, "I am quite +cheerful about it."</p> + +<p>She turned and examined him with an air of timidity.</p> + +<p>"You mean that—that to save my life you—you have sacrificed all hope +of winning through to Germany?"</p> + +<p>"With you, yes—for the present," he smiled.</p> + +<p>She turned away and leaned upon the wall.</p> + +<p>"I—I think that I—I have done you some injustice, Herr Hauptmann," she +murmured with an effort.</p> + +<p>"Thank you."</p> + +<p>"But I cannot understand. The papers which passed you through +Hungary—signed by General Von Hoetzendorf——"</p> + +<p>"Unfortunately are of no further service. An order for my arrest has +been issued in Vienna."</p> + +<p>"Your arrest? For taking me?"</p> + +<p>"For many things——" And he shrugged.</p> + +<p>"What do you propose to do?"</p> + +<p>"Remain here for the present," he said slowly. "It is doubtful if anyone +would think of seeking us here. The Schloss has an evil name along the +countryside. None of the peasants dares to come within a league of the +place."</p> + +<p>"And I—?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"It seems, Countess Strahni," he said slowly, smiling at her, "that our +positions are now reversed—you the captor—I the prisoner. And yet, as +you see," with a shrug, "I am making no effort to escape. You have led +captivity captive."</p> + +<p>His phrases were too well spoken, and the look in his eyes disturbed +her.</p> + +<p>"You—you wish me to understand that I am free to go——"</p> + +<p>"Hardly that," he interrupted with a short laugh. "Only this morning you +said that you would kill me if you dared. I do not relish the notion of +being delivered into the hands of the police."</p> + +<p>"You think that I would do that?" she questioned.</p> + +<p>"Wouldn't you?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. I——"</p> + +<p>"I am sure of it. I am no longer under any illusions with regard to your +sentiments toward myself. This morning I uncovered my heart to you—and +you plunged a dagger into it. It was too much—beyond my deserts. I am +no man for a woman to spit upon, Countess Strahni. You are still a +prisoner—as completely under my power as though you and I were the last +people left upon the earth."</p> + +<p>His tone was mild, but there was a depth of meaning under it.</p> + +<p>"I—I can scarcely be unaware of it," she murmured. "What are you going +to do with me?"</p> + +<p>"For the present we shall stay here—until an opportunity presents——"</p> + +<p>"For escape?"</p> + +<p>"I could go alone tonight—and reach Germany—without you. That is not +my purpose."</p> + +<p>"Then you propose to take me with you?"</p> + +<p>"When the coast is clear—yes."</p> + +<p>"And if the coast should not be clear?"</p> + +<p>"I shall remain."</p> + +<p>The situation was as she had supposed, but his motive—the real motive! +She drew the wrap more closely around her throat and turned away from +him again. To escape from him! That was the only thing she could think +of now. Upon the road, his attitude of firm consideration, his cool +insistence upon compliance with his wishes, had not been nearly so +ominous as the personal note which he had injected into their relations. +He frightened her now. But to escape? She was watched, she was sure, for +in the afternoon, while the drawbridge was lowered, she had made out the +figure of a man on guard at the end of the causeway. But while her +conversation with Goritz dismayed her, she studied him keenly, trying to +read him by what he did not say.</p> + +<p>She smiled at him impudently.</p> + +<p>"And suppose I attempted to escape?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"You would fail. There is but one exit from Szolnok—the drawbridge—and +that is continually guarded."</p> + +<p>"You have ordered your men to shoot me?"</p> + +<p>"No—but you will not pass."</p> + +<p>"I see. Your contrition does not go as far as that."</p> + +<p>"Not beyond the walls of Schloss Szolnok," he said coolly.</p> + +<p>"And you ask me to believe in the integrity of your motives? What was +the use, Herr Hauptmann? I could understand duplicity to me in the +performance of a duty, but to practice your machine-made emotions upon +my simplicity—! I could hardly forgive you that."</p> + +<p>He kept himself well in hand and even smiled again.</p> + +<p>"You wrong me, Countess Strahni. I have spoken the truth."</p> + +<p>"You cannot deny me the privilege of doubting you," she replied.</p> + +<p>"What further proof would you have me give you that I am honest in my +love for you?"</p> + +<p>She pointed past the drawbridge along the causeway toward the valley +below.</p> + +<p>"Permit me to go—there—alone—tonight."</p> + +<p>He laughed quietly.</p> + +<p>"Alone? I do not know what danger may lurk in the valley. The fact that +I wish to keep you here—is a better proof of my tenderness."</p> + +<p>She turned away from him and leaned upon the wall. But to him at least +she did not show fear.</p> + +<p>"We cannot remain here indefinitely," she said coolly.</p> + +<p>"Are you not comfortable? Is not everything provided for you? It has +been my pride to make your convalescence agreeable in all ways," he +said, leaning a little nearer to her. "I have tried to atone for the +discomforts of your journey. Was it not my solicitude for your health +which balked my own plans? You have questioned the truth of my +professions, but you cannot deny the evidences of your safety."</p> + +<p>Marishka was thinking quickly. Much as she abhorred the man, she +realized that, if she were to have any chance of success she must meet +him with weapons stronger than his own. And so she turned to him with a +smile which concealed her growing terror.</p> + +<p>"Herr Hauptmann, I do not wish you to think that I am ungrateful for the +many indulgences that you have shown me. Your position has been a +difficult one. But from the beginning we have been enemies——"</p> + +<p>"Before the outbreak of the war—but allies now——"</p> + +<p>"Not if you persist in your plan to carry me to Germany."</p> + +<p>He asked her permission to smoke, and when she had granted it he went on +coolly.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps something may happen to prevent the execution of my plan," he +said.</p> + +<p>"What?" she stammered.</p> + +<p>He searched her face eagerly for a moment.</p> + +<p>"You may be sure, Countess Strahni," he said in a half-whisper, "that it +is very painful to me that you should think of me as an enemy. Enemy I +am not. It is my duty to take you to Germany, but it is very painful to +me to do anything which makes you unhappy. Here, safe from detection, I +am still doing my duty. And in remaining here you, too, are safe. Will +you not try to be contented—to endure my society just for a little +while? I want to show you that I can be as other men——"</p> + +<p>She laughed to hide her fears.</p> + +<p>"All men are alike where a woman is concerned—"</p> + +<p>"Will you try? I will be your slave—your servant. Within the castle you +may come and go as you please. No one shall approach you without your +permission. You see, I am not an exacting jailer. All I ask is the hope +of your friendship, a glimpse of your returning smile, and such +companionship as you care to give me. It is not much. Do I not deserve +it? <i>Bitte</i>, think a little."</p> + +<p>Marishka gasped and fought the impulse to run from him, for his face was +very near her shoulder, his voice very close to her ear.</p> + +<p>"I—I think that—we may be friends," she murmured.</p> + +<p>"Will you give me your hand, Countess Strahni?"</p> + +<p>She extended it slowly and he bowed over it, pressing it to his lips.</p> + +<p>She found her excuse in a cough, a vestige of her illness which she +summoned to her rescue.</p> + +<p>"It—it is getting late, Herr Hauptmann," she said. "I must be going in. +The night air——"</p> + +<p>"By all means." He accompanied her to the portal of the hall and then +she left him.</p> + +<p>That night Marishka did not sleep, and the next day, pleading fatigue, +remained in her bedroom, trying to muster up the courage to go forth and +meet Goritz at this tragic game of his own choosing. That she had +stirred some sort of an emotion in the man was not to be doubted. She +read it in his eyes, in the touch of his fingers, and in the resonant +tones of his voice, but she read too, the sense of his power, the +confidence of his egotism to which all things were possible. And much as +she wished to believe the testimony of his flashes of tenderness, the +hazard of her position stared her in the face. But she knew that with +such a man she must play a game of subtlety and courage. And so she +resolved to meet him frequently, testing every feminine device to win +him to her service which would obliterate all things but her own wishes, +and present at last an opportunity for her escape.</p> + +<p>In the week that followed she walked out with him across the causeway +into the mountain road, visiting Szolnok farm and climbing the hills +adjacent to the castle, but she saw no one except the German farmers, +and it seemed indeed as though the gorge was taboo to all human beings. +Goritz made love to her, of course, but she laughed him off, gaining a +new confidence as the days of their companionship increased. Slowly, +with infinite patience, with infinite self-control, she established a +relationship which baffled him, a foil for each of his moods, a parry +for each attack. With a smile on her lips which masked the lie, she told +him that Hugh Renwick had been nothing to her.</p> + +<p>And Goritz told her of the women he had met in the performance of his +duty from London to Constantinople, women of the secret service of +England, France, Russia, who had set their wits to match his. Some of +them were ugly and clever, some were stupid and beautiful, but they had +all been dangerous. He had passed them by. No woman in the world that he +had ever known had had the nobility of spirit, the courage, the +self-abnegation of the Countess Strahni.</p> + +<p>It was in these moods of adulation and self-revelation that Marishka +found him most difficult. But she managed to keep him at arm's length by +the mere insistence of her spirituality which accepted his friendship +upon its face value, telling him that she forgave the past, and vaguely +suggesting hope for the future. With that he had to be content, though +at times he was dangerously near rebellion. She promised him many things +but denied him her lips, hoping day by day for the rescue which came +not, and praying night after night that the God who watched over her +would forgive her for her duplicity and for the hatred of him that was +in her heart.</p> + +<p>But there came a day when the walks beyond the causeway ceased, and from +the window of her bedroom she learned the reason. Far, far below her in +the valley along the road which wound through the Pass, she saw the +figures of marching men. Austrian soldiers! What did their presence +mean? They were going toward the other end of the pass—thousands of +them. Had the Russians crossed Galicia? That night there were no lights +in the side of the castle toward the gorge save the candle in her room, +which was screened by heavy hangings. And when at dinner she questioned +Goritz he gave her the briefest of replies. The Cossacks were coming? +Perhaps, but they would not take Dukla Pass. He warned her not to show +her figure at the castle windows or above the wall of the rampart, and +she obeyed.</p> + +<p>For several days Goritz disappeared, and she gained a breathing space to +think over her position. She ventured out many times into the courtyard +in the hope of finding an opportunity to elude her guard, but each time +she approached the drawbridge she saw the chauffeur Karl seated in the +shadow of the wall, smoking his pipe. And so she knew that any attempt +to pass him would be impossible.</p> + +<p>At the end of the fourth day, Captain Goritz joined her at the supper +table. He had now discarded his Austrian uniform and wore a rough suit +of working clothes, similar to the peasant costume which Ena's husband +wore. He greeted her gladly, but she asked him no questions as to his +absence, upon her guard as she always was against the unknown quality in +the man, which held her in constant anxiety. But after he had eaten, the +cloud which had hung over him seemed to pass, and he leaned forward, +smiling at her across the table.</p> + +<p>"You have been obedient?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"What else is left for me?" she smiled. "I have wondered where you +were."</p> + +<p>"Ah," he laughed, "you missed me? That is good. You wondered what would +happen to you if I did not come back." He laughed as he lighted his +cigarette. "I am not so easily to be lost, I assure you. I have been +through Dukla Pass."</p> + +<p>"Many soldiers have gone through the pass today—many this morning—many +more this afternoon."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I saw them."</p> + +<p>"And the Russians?"</p> + +<p>He was silent for a while, and then spoke very quietly. "They are +coming."</p> + +<p>She made no sound and seemed to be frozen into immobility by the import +of the information.</p> + +<p>"The Austrians have fortified the other end of the Pass, but it is said +that the Russians are in great numbers, sweeping everything before +them——"</p> + +<p>"Przemysl—! Lemberg—!"</p> + +<p>"Lemberg has fallen. The fate of Przemysl hangs in the balance." He +shrugged. "Tomorrow, perhaps, may see the Cossacks at Dukla Pass."</p> + +<p>"And then——"</p> + +<p>"I do not wish to alarm you," he said gently. "Six hundred years have +passed over Schloss Szolnok, and it still stands. I am not going to run +away."</p> + +<p>"But you can do nothing—against so many."</p> + +<p>"They will not bother us, I think. The Austrians, you see, have passed +us by. They are taking all their artillery to Javorina and Jägerhorn and +mounting them upon the old emplacements of the ruins. The defense will +be made there where the gorge is narrower."</p> + +<p>"But if they should come—here—the Cossacks—!" she whispered +fearfully.</p> + +<p>He laughed easily. "Ah, Countess, I am not a half-bad jailer, after +all?"</p> + +<p>"The Cossacks!" she repeated.</p> + +<p>"They shall not come here."</p> + +<p>"What can you do?"</p> + +<p>"The place is impregnable—sheer cliffs upon all sides—the causeway two +hundred meters long. I could pick them off one by one from the top of +the keep. With the drawbridge up, we are as safe as though we were in +Vienna."</p> + +<p>"But their artillery?"</p> + +<p>"They will not think us worth their while. In the armory there are six +repeating hunting rifles and four shotguns, ammunition plentiful——" He +broke off and, rising, came over and stood beside her. "But we will not +think of unpleasant possibilities. It has been so long since I have seen +you—too long."</p> + +<p>She let him take her hand and press it to his lips, but tonight that +condescension did not seem to be enough. He fell to one knee beside her +and would have put his arm about her waist if she had not risen and +struggled away from him.</p> + +<p>"You forget, Herr Hauptmann, the dependence of my position here—alone +with you. Whatever our personal relations, a delicacy for my feelings +must warn you——"</p> + +<p>"Marishka!" he broke in. "What does a man who loves as I do, care for +the conventions of the sham world you and I have left so far behind. I +adore you. And you flout me."</p> + +<p>"For shame! Would you care for me if I were a woman without delicacy or +dignity? I beg of you——"</p> + +<p>But he had held her by the hand and would not release her.</p> + +<p>"I adore you—and you flout me—that is all that I know. Your +indifference maddens me. Perhaps I am not as other men, and must not be +judged by other standards than my own which are sufficient for myself as +they should be sufficient for you. You know that I—I worship you—that +by staying here I have forgotten my duty to my country at a time when I +am most needed. Does that mean nothing to you? Can you be callous to a +love like mine which lives only in your happiness and hangs upon your +pleasure? I worship you, Marishka. Just one kiss, to tell me that you +care for me a little. I will be content——"</p> + +<p>She struggled in his grasp, her fear of him lending her more strength. +Her lips—? Hugh's! Never—never—as God witnessed.</p> + +<p>"One kiss, Marishka——"</p> + +<p>She struggled free and struck him with her clenched fist furiously, full +in the face, and then ran to the window, as he released her, breathing +hard, trembling, but full of defiance. The suddenness of the affair and +its culmination had driven them both dumb, Marishka with terror, Goritz +with chagrin at his mistake and anger at her temerity. He touched his +face with the fingers of one hand and stared at her with eyes that +burned with black fire in the pallor of his face.</p> + +<p>"You have struck me," he muttered. And then, with a shrug, "That was not +a love tap, Countess Strahni."</p> + +<p>She could not speak for very terror of the consequences of the +encounter, but stood watching him narrowly, one hand upon the +window-ledge beside her.</p> + +<p>"Well," he asked presently, "are you dumb?"</p> + +<p>"You—you insulted me," she gasped.</p> + +<p>"Whatever I have done, you have repaid me," he muttered.</p> + +<p>She glanced out of the window into the black void beneath.</p> + +<p>"I—I am not afraid to die, Herr Goritz," she said.</p> + +<p>He caught the meaning of her glance and her poise by the window-ledge, +and their significance sobered him instantly. He drew back from her two +or three paces and leaned heavily against an oaken chair.</p> + +<p>"Am I so repellent to you as that?" he whispered.</p> + +<p>"My lips—are mine," she said proudly. "I give them willingly or not at +all."</p> + +<p>His gaze flickered and fell before the high resolve that he read in her +face. And her courage enthralled him.</p> + +<p>"<i>Herr Gott!</i>" he muttered, "you have never been so beautiful as now, +Marishka!"</p> + +<p>She did not reply or move, but only watched him steadily.</p> + +<p>He paced the floor stiffly, his hands behind him, struggling for his +self-control. And the better instinct in him, the part of him that had +made life possible for Marishka at Schloss Szolnok, was slowly +triumphant.</p> + +<p>"A kiss means much or little," he said quietly at last. "To me, the +consecration of a love which has leaped the bounds of mere platitude. A +woman of your training perhaps cannot grasp the honesty of my +unconvention. I have meant you no harm. But that you should have +misunderstood—!"</p> + +<p>"One thing only I understand—that you have violated the hospitality of +Schloss Szolnok."</p> + +<p>"I beg of you——"</p> + +<p>"It is true. Was your kindness, your courtesy, your consideration, but +the means to this end? I can never believe in you again."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean that?"</p> + +<p>"I do——"</p> + +<p>"It is a pity."</p> + +<p>"It is the truth. Fear and affection cannot survive together."</p> + +<p>"Fear?"</p> + +<p>"I can never trust you again. Let me go—I beg that you will excuse me."</p> + +<p>He bowed. "If that is your wish——" and turned and walked to the window +opposite, while Marishka found her way up the stairs and so to her room +where she lay upon her bed fully dressed, in a high state of nervous +excitement.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV</h2> + +<h3>THE RIFT IN THE ROCK</h3> + + +<p>Hugh Renwick in his borrowed plumage, strode forth before dawn, and +reaching a spot where the valley narrowed into the gorge and marked the +grim outline of Schloss Szolnok against the lightening East, slowly +climbed the rugged slope of the mountain on his left which faced it. He +meant to spend the morning in a study of the approaches to the castle, +and if possible devise some means by which he could inspect it +unobserved at closer range. Daylight found him perched in a crevice of +rock among some trees, through the leaves of which he could clearly see +the distant mass of stone which rose in solitary dignity, an island +above the mists of the valley, a grim relic of an age when such a +situation meant isolation and impregnability.</p> + +<p>Indeed, it scarcely seemed less impregnable now, for upon two sides at +least, the cliffs rose sheer from the gorge until they were joined by +the heavy buttresses which tapered gracefully until they joined the +walls of the crenelated towers and bastions. In the center of the mass +of buildings rose the square solid mass of the keep, with its crenelated +roof and small windows commanding every portion of the space enclosed +within the gray walls. He marked the dim lines of a road which ascended +from the valley upon the further mountain, now scarcely visible because +of the vegetation which grew luxuriantly on the hillsides, and he +studied this approach to the castle most attentively—the straight reach +of wall, built to span a branch of the gorge beyond, perhaps two hundred +feet deep and six hundred wide. This was the main entrance to the +castle, a narrow causeway, that terminated at the gate where he marked a +drawbridge now raised, which hung by chains to the heavy walls above.</p> + +<p>The only means of access? Perhaps, and if the gate were guarded, +impassable by night as well as day. But Renwick was not sure that there +was no other means of ingress. To the left of the keep, and on a level +with the top of the long curtain of wall, the building fell away in +ruins, for portions of old bastions were missing, and there was a breach +in the northern wall, which had tumbled outward over the precipice into +the ravine below.</p> + +<p>As daylight came Renwick watched the windows and ramparts intently. +There was no sign of life, but remembering that here there was no need +for early rising, he waited patiently, gazing steadily through the +leaves across the valley. At last his patience was rewarded, for from a +building in the courtyard near the central mass, he made out a thin pale +blue line which ascended straight into the sky. Smoke! Breakfast was +cooking. His heart gave a leap. There were no devils in Schloss +Szolnok—but Goritz! In a short while, still watching intently, he saw a +figure pass from the gate toward the main buildings, where it +disappeared. Renwick would have given the remainder of his +hundred-<i>kroner</i> notes for a good pair of field glasses, by which it +might have been possible to distinguish the identity of any figure that +could be seen. But he realized that he had accomplished the object of +his visit, for the raised drawbridge indicated that whoever occupied the +castle, seclusion was important to him. Deciding that he knew enough to +warrant closer investigation, Renwick moved slowly along the mountain +side into the gorge, under the cover of rocks and undergrowth, slowly +descending toward the road, with the idea of crossing the stream and +climbing the rugged cliff beyond, from which he could gain a nearer view +of the northern and ruined end of the castle.</p> + +<p>But after an hour of careful progress, as he reached a projection of +rock which hung over the road below, he crouched, suddenly listening. +For he heard the sound of voices, a rumble of wheels, and the creaking +and clanking of heavy metallic objects. The sounds came nearer, swelling +in proportion, now clearly distinguishable; and so lying flat upon his +stomach, he parted the bushes at the edge of the rock and peered over. +There was a cloud of dust and the clatter of iron-shod boots against the +flints of the road, and in a moment he made out long ranks of soldiers, +marching rapidly to the northward into the Pass. Renwick knew that the +northern end of the Pass was already strongly guarded, for his host had +told him that many soldiers had gone through during the weeks before; +but the sight of these hurrying men, the shrouded guns which lumbered +amidst them, and the long line of motor trucks and wagons which +followed, gave Renwick a notion that events of military importance +were pending in the Galician plain beyond. He tried to form some +idea of the number of men that passed. A regiment—two, three, +four—artillery—three batteries at least. For an hour or more they +passed, and then at last, silence and solitude.</p> + +<p>Although adequately disguised, Renwick was in no position to be stopped +and searched, for if he wore no marks of identification, his automatic, +and the money pinned in his trousers lining, would have made him an +object of suspicion, the more so in a country where soldiers were moving +in so precarious a military situation.</p> + +<p>And so he descended slowly, hiding in a copse at the base of the rocks +where he waited for a while listening, and then peered cautiously out. +Then matching his footsteps to those of the soldiers, he crossed the +road obliquely and plunged through the bushes down over the rocks to the +bed of the Dukla, where he waited and listened again, crossing the +stream at last by a fallen tree and reaching the protection of the +undergrowth upon the farther bank.</p> + +<p>Though he had been able to learn little in Budapest of the military +situation, even from Herr Koulos, the sight of Austrian soldiers +marching toward the northern end of the Pass assured him that the +Russians must have won important victories in Galicia, thus placing all +the passes of the Carpathians in jeopardy. But whatever his interest in +conjectures regarding the possibility of victory or defeat, his own +business was too urgent to admit of other issues, and so he made his way +forward cautiously through the underbrush, which in places was almost +impenetrable. Four-footed things, startled by this unusual invasion of +their hunting ground, started up almost beside him and fled—rabbits, +squirrels, a wolf, and a brown bear, which rocked upon its four legs +dubiously for a moment, and then lumbered comically away. These +creatures and the pathless woods advised him that however frequented the +mountain road below, the inhabitants hereabout were not in the habit of +traversing the wooded mountain sides. Moving forward slowly he climbed +the hills in the general direction of the castle, the sunlit bastions of +which suddenly appeared through the foliage above him and to the right.</p> + +<p>He moved more warily now, for if Goritz were in hiding within Schloss +Szolnok, he would of course take pains that every avenue of approach +should be watched. But a careful inspection of the crag upon which the +castle was perched, and from this new angle, led Renwick to the +conclusion that Goritz might be so sure of its inaccessibility from the +north that no guard at the ruined end would be thought necessary. At +first glance, indeed, Renwick was inclined to that opinion himself, for +the rocks, though fissured and scarred as though by the blasts of +winter, though not so high, were scarcely less precipitous than upon the +southern side. At his very feet, perhaps already buried for years in the +loam and moss, were the huge blocks of stone which had fallen from the +northern towers and rolled down the steep slope of the natural +counterscarp which the conformation of the mountain provided.</p> + +<p>Renwick scrutinized the beetling wall of rock above the incline with a +dubious eye, seeking a possible path or succession of footholds by means +of which he might make his way to the breach in the stone rampart above. +The task seemed hopeless, but he knew that the most formidable +difficulties are often solved by the simplest devices, and so he studied +the wall patiently, his gaze suddenly focusing upon a fissure in the +cliff, a little to his right, which went upward at an angle, its apex +passing a projection of the rock which extended for a hundred feet or +more to the southward. Above that precarious platform, the cliff was +splintered and torn as though the agencies which had devastated the wall +above had wreaked their vengeance here too. But there were finger holds +and footholds, a desperate climb even in the daylight to a member of an +Alpine club. But Renwick from his ambush studied the face of that rock +foot by foot, and at last decided that when night came, the +possibilities of entrance having been denied him elsewhere, he would +make the effort.</p> + +<p>He did not know what he would find among the ruins above, their +connection with the habitable part of the castle having probably been +walled up by Baron Neudeck, and granting that Renwick succeeded in +making his way to the top, his chances of reaching the main buildings +might be slim indeed. And suppose after all this effort, that Marishka +were not here—that Goritz had gone on—!</p> + +<p>But how could he have gone on? Surely not by a road guarded by an army +at its other end. And it was only last night that he had seen Goritz's +fellow assassin and hireling. Marishka was within, and Renwick had not +permitted a doubt of it to enter his mind since yesterday.</p> + +<p>But to make certain of the matter he decided upon further investigation, +retracing his steps for some hundred yards down the declivity, making +sure of his landmarks as he went, until he reached the lower level of +the valley, where crossing a brook he began climbing the steeper slope +of the northern mountain. Here a greater degree of caution was required, +for the rock upon which the Schloss was built was close to the northern +slope and it was over the eastern reaches of the northern crags that +the road passed which led to the causeway. To make his investigation +more difficult of accomplishment, most of the mountain side was in +bright sunlight while the castle was in shadow. And so, it being now the +middle of the afternoon, he decided to move slowly at first, find a +secluded spot and eat of the bread and cheese which was to be both his +breakfast and supper.</p> + +<p>From his position, well up among the rocks, he had a view of the +tree-tops of the valley below with a glimpse of the road a short +distance from the spot where he had crossed it in the morning. The +ruined end of the castle he commanded, too, from a new angle. He was now +above the level of the crag and made out among the twisted mass of stone +the vestiges of what had once been a chapel, and a watchtower. There was +an arch which seemed to lead into a vaulted structure, but from his +position he could not see within it.</p> + +<p>Renwick's eyes were good and they searched the valley below him +ceaselessly. He thought he heard a rumble as of thunder in the distance, +but as the sky was clear he knew that he must have been mistaken, but +after a while along the road below him more soldiers passed, riding +rapidly and silently—into the deeper shadows of the gorge. Their +clattering wagons followed, and this, Renwick decided, was the cause of +the distant sound that he had heard. Once or twice he thought that he +saw motion among the undergrowth at some distance below him, but decided +that he had been mistaken. Again—nearer and to his right. There was no +doubt of it now. Renwick crawled deeper into his place of concealment +and peered out.</p> + +<p>Some one was climbing up over the rocks below him, mounting slowly a +little farther up the gorge. He heard the crackling of twigs and the +sound of voices in a subdued murmur. There were two of them. Venturing +his head beyond the leaves he got a glimpse through the trunks of the +pine-trees—a tall man and a shorter, stouter one. They were more than a +hundred yards away and moving up the mountain side away from him, but to +Renwick's mind, fixed only upon the men he sought and those who sought +himself, the figures, though wearing rough clothing like his own, seemed +strangely like those of Herr Windt and Spivak. Of course he might have +been mistaken, for within two miles of this spot at least two hundred +people lived, but the profusion of game in the valley confirmed the +report of his host of last night that the peasants who lived in the +vicinity of Dukla were not in the habit of venturing into the Pass. And +if not peasants and not the men he had imagined them to be, who were +they and what were they doing here? He lay quietly, listening for the +sound of their footsteps which seemed to pass toward the castle above +him and at last died away in the distance.</p> + +<p>Windt here? It seemed incredible that he had traced Renwick so quickly. +Or was it as Herr Koulos had said, that the same sources of information +which had been open to Renwick had been open to Herr Windt also? Was he +seeking Goritz or Renwick or both, trusting to the relations between +Renwick and Marishka to bring all trails to this converging point? If +the strangers among the rocks above him were Windt and Spivak, he was +indeed in danger of detection and capture, and the fate of an Englishman +taken armed in a region where Austrian troops were massing was +unpleasant to contemplate. And yet Renwick decided that before he made +the rash attempt to mount the cliff he must further investigate. And so +he lay silent until nightfall when with drawn automatic he emerged from +his hiding place and quietly made his way along the mountain side. He +searched the undergrowth eagerly, as a man only can when his life +depends upon the keenness of his senses, and without mishap reached a +point opposite the castle where he commanded both the courtyard and the +mass of buildings around the central tower. The distance across the +narrow gorge at this side of the castle was perhaps two or three hundred +yards, and Renwick from the shelter of a bush could see the windows +quite distinctly. As the night grew dark two lights appeared—both, he +noted, upon the side of the buildings toward where he sat—lights which +could not be visible from the deeper, wider valley upon the other side +or from the road below. He saw figures moving—the small bent figure of +a woman in the building upon the left which seemed to be the kitchen, a +man in the courtyard near the gate which Renwick had seen from the other +side. The room upon the right near the keep, seemed to be the Hall, for +the windows were longer than any others and denoted a high ceiling +within. There was a light here too, and Renwick watched the windows, his +heart beating high with hope. In his anxiety to see who was within the +apartment he forgot the strangers upon the mountain side, the danger of +his position, the hazardous feat before him—all but the hope that +Marishka was here.</p> + +<p>He had almost given up hope of seeing her when she appeared. He knew her +instantly, though he could not easily distinguish her features. She sat +in a chair at a table, conversing with some one whom he could not see. +A pang of jealousy shot through him. Goritz—!</p> + +<p>What if believing him dead Marishka had learned to tolerate the German +agent, even to the point of friendship. There they were, sitting face to +face at table, as they had done for two months or more. What were their +relations? Prisoner and captive? And which was which? How could he have +blamed Marishka,—Renwick, a dead man?</p> + +<p>He knew that she had grieved, that she must have hated the man who had +done him to death—perhaps still hated him as Renwick did. He peered at +the fragment of Marishka's white dress, the only part of her that was +visible to him, and upbraided himself for his unworthy thoughts of her.</p> + +<p>And when the dead came to life what would she say to him?</p> + +<p>Hedged about with difficulties and dangers as he was, the sight of the +girl so near him and yet so inaccessible was maddening. Now that he had +discovered her, every impulse urged him to the feat of scaling the wall. +And yet, as though fascinated, he still sat, his gaze fixed on the bit +of white drapery which was a part of Marishka. He tried to imagine what +Goritz was saying to her, for he seemed to know that Goritz was her +companion, seemed to hear the murmur of their voices. He waited long and +then the white drapery vanished, reappeared, and Marishka's figure stood +in the window, leaning with one hand upon the casement, in silhouette +against the light. And now quite distinctly against the velvety soft +background of the breathless night the sound of her voice, refined by +the distance between them, but fearful in its tone and significance.</p> + +<p>"<i>I—I am not afraid to die, Herr Goritz</i>," it said.</p> + +<p>Renwick started to his feet as though suddenly awaking from a dreadful +dream into a still more dreadful reality. Marishka still stood in the +window motionless, but the words that she had spoken seemed to be +ringing endlessly down the silent gorge and in his brain, which was +suddenly empty of all but its echoes. He wanted to shout to her a cry of +encouragement—and hope, but he remained silent, grimly watching and +listening.</p> + +<p>Marishka said something else and then turned into the room, while +through another window he saw the dark figure of Goritz pass away from +her toward the outward wall. Of Marishka he saw no more, but at +intervals he saw Goritz pacing to and fro....</p> + +<p>How much longer Renwick watched he did not know, but after a while he +found himself stumbling along the face of the mountain, descending by +the way that he had come, Marishka's words singing their message through +and through him. It was as though the words had been meant for him +instead of Goritz, that Renwick even in death should know of her danger +and come to her aid. He was coming now, not as an avenging spirit, but +in the flesh, armed with righteous wrath and a fearful lust for +vengeance. He understood what the message meant. Hers was not a cry of +despair but of defiance.... What had happened? He had not seen.</p> + +<p>"I am not afraid to die." Nor was Renwick—but to live were better—to +live at least for tonight. Fury gave him desperation, but for the task +before him he needed coolness, too. And realizing that haste might send +him hurtling to the bottom of the gorge, he moved more cautiously, +stepping down with infinite pains until he reached the brook, which he +crossed carefully, and then moved back up the declivity toward the +castle.</p> + +<p>The night was clear, starlit but moonless, and the cliff as he reached +it looked down upon him with majestic and sullen disdain. The ages had +passed over and left it scarred and seared but still defiant and +inaccessible. Renwick paused a moment to be sure of his ground and then +boldly crawled up over the chaos of tumbled bowlders and broken masonry, +until he reached the wall of solid rock, where he stopped again to +regain his breath and examine the fissure that he had studied earlier in +the day. It was a cleft in the rock, the result of some subterranean +upheaval which had caused the whole crag to settle into its base; a +fissure, originally a mere crack which had been widened and deepened by +the erosion of time. Upon closer inspection, it was larger than it had +appeared from below, perhaps ten feet in width at the outside, and +tapering gradually as it rose.</p> + +<p>He entered and ran his fingers along its sides, penetrating to its full +depth until there was just room enough in which to wedge his bent body. +Then rising cautiously, seated, so to speak, upon the incline which +seemed to be about thirty degrees from the vertical, he dug the +iron-shod toes of his peasant's boots into the roughnesses of the wall +before him and rose, pushing with elbows and arms where the wall was too +smooth for a foothold. It was hard work, and at the end of ten minutes, +perspiring profusely, and leg and arm weary, he stopped upon a +projecting ledge, where he found a perfect balance for his entire body, +and relaxed. But he had gained fifty feet.</p> + +<p>Above him was the long streak of pallid light shimmering against the +gloom of the rock like the blade of a naked sword, with its point far +above him among the stars. For a full five minutes he rested, and then +went upward again, feeling with his finger ends while he braced his +body, taking advantage of every foothold before and behind. At one spot +the fissure widened dangerously, but he struggled inward; at another it +went almost straight upward, requiring sheer strength of fingers; but at +last he found another ledge and braced himself with his feet for another +rest. He did not dare to look downward now, for fear of dizziness, but +he knew that he had already come high. The sword blade was shorter, +curved now more like a scimitar at its tip, which showed that the angle +was greater.</p> + +<p>But what if before he reached the rocky platform, the cleft should grow +too narrow to admit the passage of his body? It was too late now to +think of any such impediment. He struggled upward again, slipping back +at times, clawing like a cat, with toes and fingers, fighting for his +breath, but always mounting higher, his gaze upward toward a star in the +heavens near the point of the scimitar. Would he ever reach the top? +Bits of the rock crumbled, broke off and flew out into space, and once +he slipped and slid outward, only saving himself from destruction by the +aid of a jutting piece of jagged rock which caught in his clothing. A +desperate venture—but successful, for with one final effort, with +fingers torn, and knees and elbows bruised and bleeding, he hauled +himself up to the level of the flat projection of rock upon which he +dragged himself, exhausted and breathless, but so far, safe.</p> + +<p>He lay there for a long time, flat on his back, his eyes dimmed with +effort, his gaze on the stars, which now seemed to blink in a friendly +way upon his venture. To succeed so far—failure was now impossible. +Fearfully he peered over the edge of the cliff upon the velvety +tree-tops of the valley below. Three hundred feet, four perhaps, and +beyond to the left where the crag fell down to the very bed of the Dukla +itself, black void—vacancy.</p> + +<p>Above him still was the hazardous climb up the broken face of the rocks, +but he did not fear it. His nerves were iron now. There were roots +growing here, and small bushes, stunted trees, growing in the +interstices of the rocks, and he climbed steadily, always looking +upward, toward the breach in the wall now so very near, fifty feet, +forty—and then the wall seemed to hang over him smooth and bare. So he +hung there by a sturdy branch, one foot clinging, and studied the +surface, descending a few feet carefully and then rising again to the +left in a fissure, swinging himself along a narrow ledge where the +masonry of the bastion joined the rock. Over this he climbed, finding +solid footing at last, and then rest and a breathing space within the +broken walls.</p> + +<p>He lay behind a pile of rocks which had fallen from the walls of the +watchtower, recovering his breath again, and the strength of his +fingers, every bone of which was crying out in protest. He peered over +into the depths below, trying to measure the distance he had come—three +hundred feet—perhaps more. Could he find a rope of that length within +the castle—? After a while he straightened in the shadow of the wall +and peered cautiously up at the dark bulk of the keep and the tower, +beyond the ruined chapel, searching its roofs and window for a sign of +life. Silence. The ruin was deserted. For half an hour he watched and +waited, and then sure that there was no chance that he had been +observed, rose to his feet and moved forward stealthily into the shadows +of the chapel. The roof had long since fallen in and been removed, but +Renwick stumbled over a dusty tomb, toward the fragment of altar with +the reredos still showing traces of sculpture, partially protected by a +fragment of roof over the apse which had been spared by the wind and +storm. To the right of the altar was a Gothic door, which had at one +time led into the building adjoining, but upon investigation he found +that it had been built in with solid blocks of stone. The other arch of +the vaulted structure outside which he had noted from the mountain side +was also filled by a wall. So far as Renwick could see, the ruined part +of Schloss Szolnok was isolated, with no mode of egress from the +habitable part.</p> + +<p>Renwick had screened his movements as far as possible from view of the +windows in the keep and other buildings, and now discovered that the +lowest one was at least fifteen feet above the level of this rampart; +and so before planning any action, he investigated the guardhouse, a +fallen ruin upon the north bastion. He seemed to make out the forms of +what had once been the stone treads of a circular stair in a tumbled +mass. At first the appearance of the place discouraged him, for it +seemed too far away from the main mass of buildings to furnish any +communication with them, but as he peered among the fallen masonry he +thought he detected a darker spot in the obscurity, and bending forward +was aware of a heavy smell, as of mold and dampness. Upon investigation +he discovered an irregular hole under the mass of stone, a little wider +than his body.</p> + +<p>He dared not strike a match for fear the glow of it might be observed +from one of the windows of the keep, but testing the balance of the +heavy stone steps, he decided to investigate, and so lowering his legs +into the dark aperture he let himself hang from his waist and found that +his toes encountered solidity. He tested his footing with his weight, +and then let go, descending into the hole, which seemed to be a +stairway, leading from the tower into the bowels of the rock. With a +touch of fingers upon the efflorescent walls he moved cautiously down, +step by step, sure now that this was the ancient corridor by which the +men-at-arms passed from the guardhouse to the other rampart. Sixty-two +steps down he counted, and then he reached a level, where he paused a +moment to look at the vague blotch of gray which was the starlight. Even +with eyes that had now grown accustomed to the darkness he could see +nothing, and so deeming himself safe from observation, he struck a +match, which struggled a moment against the foul air and then went out. +But in the brief moment of partial illumination, Renwick made out a +corridor extending straight before him, slightly downward. He followed +it cautiously his hands stretched out, his toes feeling for pitfalls, +and at last came to a rough wall.</p> + +<p>Was this the end—a wall which shut off communication with the ruins? +Emptiness to the right. He turned and followed the wall blindly, down +its tortuous way, aware of a difficulty in breathing, and a throbbing at +his temples down which the moisture was pouring profusely. In a while +which seemed hours, the rough wall stopped, and his fingers encountered +a wooden upright—a doorway—open. And testing the stone floor carefully +he passed through it, the echoes of footfalls advising him that he was +in a larger space. He peered in all directions, seeking a sign of light +within, for it seemed that the air had now grown fresher, but he saw +nothing, and so striking a third match which burned more brightly, he +held it over his head for a moment and looked about him.</p> + +<p>It was a kind of crypt in a good state of preservation, octagonal in +shape, about twelve feet high, and the ceiling was supported by arches +which sprang from dwarf columns of stone at the angles. From the center +of the ceiling by a heavy chain hung an ancient iron lamp which still +contained the remnants of a candle. There was a heavy wooden table at +one side, and two heavy chairs, but Renwick's gaze passed these quickly +to a partition of rough boards in one of the walls opposite, and then +his match burnt his fingers and expired.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI</h2> + +<h3>THE DEATH GRIP</h3> + + +<p>He stood in the middle of the stone floor, matchbox in hand, trying to +decide what he must do next. As nearly as he could judge by his +observations during the afternoon, and the direction of the steps and +passageways, the vault was somewhere under the main group of buildings, +the keep or one end of the Hall, two or three stories below the level of +the chapel floor. Part of the corridor through which he had passed was +hewn from the solid rock, and part was built of masonry. The wooden +partition opposite him was obviously the beginning of the used part of +the castle, but admitting that he could pass it, in which direction +would it lead him? He feared to strike another match, for beyond the +door perhaps someone might be moving. It was now, as nearly as Renwick +could judge, about one o'clock in the morning. He crossed the crypt +carefully and found the partition, feeling its surface, which was made +of rough boards loosely nailed together. He put his eye to one of the +cracks and peering in, could see nothing; but a current of warmer air +which came through the slits, slightly aromatic in odor, warned him that +the space beyond was surely connected with the habitable part of the +castle—a wine cellar perhaps, or a storage room. He debated for a +moment whether it was wise to use another light and then at last decided +to take the risk, and as matches were scarce, found the ancient candle +in the iron lamp, which after sputtering feebly for a moment, consented +to burn. By its aid he examined the dust upon the floor of the crypt, +which showed the imprint of no footsteps but his own; then the walls of +the crypt, discovering immediately another door which his eyes had +missed in the earlier glow of the match,—a narrow door open to the +left, of thick wood, with heavy iron hinges, the flanges of which formed +the braces of the door itself. He blew out the candle and put it into +his pocket. Peering through the keyhole and seeing nothing, he lifted +the latch and tried to open it.</p> + +<p>His efforts proved that it had been unused for many years, for the +hinges had sagged, and some of its weight rested upon the stone floor. +But with an effort, he managed to move it an inch or so. Another effort +swung it clear of its stone sill, and at last he managed to open it wide +enough to admit the passage of his body. But with this last attempt the +rusty hinges rasped horribly; and so he waited in silence, listening +fearfully for any sounds in front or behind him which might indicate +alertness above.</p> + +<p>Another passage lay before him, a narrower one, which soon developed a +straight flight of narrow stairs leading upwards. He stood for a moment +staring, for the gloom above him seemed to lighten. He sat upon the +lower step and took off his heavy boots, then crept up the stairs +noiselessly, reaching a landing dimly lighted by a small slit of a +window which looked out upon the night. Pausing here, he was enabled +definitely to establish his position within the castle walls. Below him +was the narrower gorge, opposite him the cliff upon which he had +crouched this afternoon. He was beneath one end of the Hall, and from +all indications, in an ancient secret passageway, the existence of which +from its condition had for years been forgotten. At the landing there +was a heavy wooden door upon his left. This he examined as minutely as +possible by the dim light of the loophole, peering through the keyhole, +from which exuded a faint odor of gasoline. It must be here that Goritz +kept the car. The platform was near the level of the rampart, then. +Renwick did not pause here long for he saw that the stairs turned and +mounted again in the opposite direction.</p> + +<p>Renwick felt for his automatic, and leaving his shoes on the landing by +the window, again climbed into the darkness. Another landing—and before +his eyes, now sensitive to the slightest lessening of the gloom, a thin +thread of light crossed the narrow passage, terminating at his right in +an illuminated spot upon the wall. It did not emanate as he had at first +supposed, from a keyhole, but from a crevice between two stones, where +the joints had turned to powder. He peered through eagerly, but his +range of vision was small, covering merely a section of paneled +woodwork, a mullioned window, and a chair or two. He held his breath and +listened, for he fancied he heard the sound of footsteps. Yes, there +they were again, the slowly moving footsteps of a man pacing to and +fro—and then the footsteps halted suddenly and a voice spoke. It was +that of Leo Goritz.</p> + +<p>"Are you sure that you saw them?"</p> + +<p>"There is no mistake. My eyes are good."</p> + +<p>"Did they remain long?"</p> + +<p>"For twenty minutes or so, but they saw that the thing was impossible +and went away."</p> + +<p>"The situation becomes interesting," said Goritz.</p> + +<p>"Rather too risky, I should say," put in the other. "If the Herr +Hauptmann had only taken my advice last week——"</p> + +<p>"I never take advice. But you may have been mistaken. I can scarcely +believe that Herr Windt had the skill to trace us here—unless——"</p> + +<p>"But it was he. I was peering through the slit in the postern, not +twenty feet away. I could have killed him easily."</p> + +<p>"But twenty feet is a long distance when two hundred feet yawn beneath. +Let him come. We have food enough for a siege—ah, there it is again!"</p> + +<p>There was a significant silence between the two men, but Renwick +listened the more keenly, for he heard the deep rumble, as of thunder, +which had perplexed him in the afternoon—a reverberation, repeated and +continued, which seemed to make the very flags beneath him tremble. But +since he could hear and feel it within these solid walls, much nearer +and louder, he realized now that it meant the roar of artillery—the +defiant blasts of the Austrian guns at the end of the Pass, or the +triumphant salvos of the Russians. And the voice of Goritz confirmed +him.</p> + +<p>"The thing has come rather sooner than I expected," he growled. +"<i>Donnerwetter!</i> Why couldn't the Russians have put off the attack for a +week!"</p> + +<p>"And if they win the Pass——"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps it is just as well for us if they do. Herr Windt may neglect us +in the general scramble for safety."</p> + +<p>"He is not of that sort, Herr Hauptmann."</p> + +<p>"Then let him come. Twenty feet is a long jump even for the legs of the +Windt."</p> + +<p>Goritz laughed at his joke and then yawned sleepily.</p> + +<p>"You may go now, Karl. Is Strohmeyer at the gate?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Herr Hauptmann."</p> + +<p>"You are sure that he will not go to sleep?"</p> + +<p>"I think not."</p> + +<p>"The signal is one stroke of the postern bell. He understands?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Herr Hauptmann. Any other orders?"</p> + +<p>"None except these. That he is on no account to fire unless attacked. +But this fact is to be understood. No man is to pass into Schloss +Szolnok tonight."</p> + +<p>"<i>Zu befehl</i>, Herr Hauptmann."</p> + +<p>The chauffeur, Karl, passed across Renwick's range of vision and the +steps of Goritz resumed their pacing of the floor—more slowly now. The +Englishman had been kneeling, scarcely daring to breathe, and now he +wondered what he had better do next. Taking infinite pains to make no +sound he investigated the wall of the Hall with his finger tips. There +was a door here, a secret door, he thought, hidden from the interior of +the Hall in the paneling of the wainscoting. Did Goritz know of its +existence? The floor of the crypt, it was true, had shown no sign of +footsteps, and the door below, Renwick was sure, had not been opened for +many years. But if Goritz knew of this passage, there was a chance of +his entering and finding him. Renwick dared not strike matches now, and +determined to go on until he had mastered all the architectural details +of the passage, and then devise some plan to reach Marishka. Balked in +other directions he could return to this secret door into the Hall, and +awaiting the departure of Goritz, force an entrance and trust to luck.</p> + +<p>But there might be some other and less dangerous means of reaching +Marishka. Even if he entered the Hall, he would have no idea which way +to turn. Better to follow the passage to the upper floors, if it were +possible, and enter above, thus creating a diversion which might add to +the advantage of his surprise. But did the passage mount higher? Or +was—? His advancing toes touched something solid. Bending forward, he +found steps, and immediately began mounting them on all fours.</p> + +<p>The sleeping-rooms, he had supposed, were on the two upper floors of the +keep and in the buttressed building toward the south which was a part of +it. This was the direction in which he was going now. He reached another +landing, as nearly as he could judge by the steps he had taken, almost +over the crypt, three levels below. This was the keep, then, upon his +left. With pulse beating rapidly he felt for and found a wooden +upright—another door. He paused and listened. There was no sound nor +any light upon the other side. So he went on slowly until at a distance +above him he saw the starlight coming through another loophole, the +counterpart of that below the Hall, and mounted noiselessly, peering out +upon the wider valley to the south. He had therefore traversed the +castle from one side to the other, and was now near the top of the +buttressed wing of the keep.</p> + +<p>Breathing in deep gasps the keen night air, Renwick waited, listening, +and now heard again from outside the thunderous reverberations of the +battle at the head of the Pass. He had been so intent upon his mission +that he had forgotten it! But now the furious character of the +engagement was obvious. It was far distant, perhaps four or five miles +away, and yet the wild heavens were aglow with strange flashing fires, +the reflections of the bombs and star-shells which paled the ineffectual +lights of the firmament. Battle! Schloss Szolnok, too, should see +battle—his own with Goritz! But Renwick would take no chances this +time.</p> + +<p>The heavy reverberations rose and died away, but a fainter spatter of +sounds continued, the deadly counter-melody of machine-gun and rifle +fire which went on without intermission. Far below the Schloss, in the +direction of the road along the Dukla, he heard the clatter of +transport, and the calls of men.</p> + +<p>All of this Renwick's mind assimilated in his moment of rest and +recuperation, but beside the loophole, clearly defined by the flashes in +the heavens, his searching glances made out the uprights of another +door. Here, perhaps——He bent forward, listening at its cracks, and +then knelt, searching for a latch or keyhole. Nothing. But as he turned +his back to the loophole, shutting out the starlight, he imagined that +he saw something white upon the stone flagging. He leaned forward to +pick it up and found that his fingers were softly illuminated. The spot +was the reflection of a dim light within the room. He put his face close +to the floor and found the aperture, a small hole of irregular shape in +the baseboard of the door. A candle. Someone, then, was within? He put +his ear to the chink and listened. A muffled sound, faint, but +agonizingly definite—a woman's sobs! Renwick straightened and then +listened again. Silence. Perhaps he had been mistaken. No. There it was +again—fainter now. He ran his fingers softly along the edges of the +woodwork, seeking a latch, a handle, but could find none. If there were +a secret spring, it was so deftly hidden that he could not discover it. +But in the brief moments of his search he had decided that he must enter +this room at all costs. And so rising to his feet, he gave up trying to +find the secret of admittance and slowly put his weight against the +woodwork. It made no sound nor yielded to his pressure. He tried it +again with the same results. Then despairing, and desperate, he struck a +match and ran it quickly along the jambs. The hinges were concealed, but +he found signs of them at the right. To the left, then—another match—a +handle, a knob—where? And then just as the third match went out he +found it—a flat, iron lever which moved around a swivel, cunningly let +into the woodwork. He caught it quickly in his fingers, twisted it down, +and then, automatic in hand, he pushed upon the door which opened and +swung inward upon its hinges.</p> + +<p>Renwick waited for a moment in the doorway, pistol in hand, blinking at +the candle upon the table, like a cat emerging from a cellar, searching +the vast room for its occupant. A huge room with wainscoted walls, with +heavy hangings at the windows, massive furniture, a high canopied +bed——</p> + +<p>He took a few quick steps forward into the room, for a figure clothed in +soft white had started up from the bed and was staring at him with +startled eyes—Marishka!</p> + +<p>Renwick was hatless, tattered, covered with dust, his face streaked with +grime and sweat, and the short beard that he wore still further +transformed him. But it seemed that a look of recognition struggled +with the terror in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"You, Hugh—again!" she whispered.</p> + +<p>A pang shot through him at the pitiful sound of her voice and at the +words. Had her sufferings——</p> + +<p>"Your spirit. It has—has been—with me often, Hugh." She went on +dreamily.</p> + +<p>"Marishka!" he whispered, crossing to her swiftly. "It is I—Hugh. It is +no dream, no vision. Awake!"</p> + +<p>She brushed an arm across her eyes like one arousing from a deep sleep, +and then straightened suddenly and still uncertainly. But he caught her +by the arm and brought her face close to his own so that she might see.</p> + +<p>"I didn't die, dear. I am here in the flesh—to protect—to take you +away from this place."</p> + +<p>"Then I—I have not dreamed?"</p> + +<p>"Not now?"</p> + +<p>She clasped his wrists, his shoulders, his face with her hands to assure +herself of the truth, and he took her in his arms and kissed her +tenderly.</p> + +<p>"Marishka!" he murmured again. And then she seemed to grow heavy in his +arms, repeating his name breathlessly.</p> + +<p>He was frightened for a moment for her head drooped away from him. She +looked so piteously thin and white, and her hands were ice cold.</p> + +<p>"Marishka!" he pleaded. "Marishka."</p> + +<p>Her eyes opened again and her smile reassured him.</p> + +<p>"Forgive me, Hugh. The joy is almost more than I can bear."</p> + +<p>"You are safe now," he whispered. "Safe!" And he clasped her close, +holding her there in a breathless moment oblivious to their danger.</p> + +<p>Then while she still wondered, Renwick suddenly released her, moving +quickly to the door by which he had entered, and after examining the +mechanism carefully, quietly closed it. Then he turned to Marishka and +questioned, while still seated upon the bed, she regarded him with +bewildered eyes.</p> + +<p>"What men are there at Schloss Szolnok, Marishka?" he asked quickly.</p> + +<p>"Goritz—the chauffeur—and Ena's husband," she answered slowly, with an +effort.</p> + +<p>"Strohmeyer?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. The two men—at the farm—are not here—at night."</p> + +<p>"Ah, I see——" And then, "That other door," he whispered tensely. "Is +it locked?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. I—I locked it tonight."</p> + +<p>"You feared?"</p> + +<p>"Hugh—until tonight——"</p> + +<p>She stopped and shuddered, until he came to her and held her for a +moment in his arms.</p> + +<p>"He will not frighten you again," he muttered between set lips.</p> + +<p>"Thank God," she whispered, now starting up as though with the first +realization of their position.</p> + +<p>"Have you any plan of what you will do?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Goritz is still below in the Hall. I have a plan, but I can do +nothing until he goes to bed. Where is his room?"</p> + +<p>"In the keep, along the passageway outside."</p> + +<p>"I see," thoughtfully; and then, "Do you know where I can find a +rope—several ropes, stout ones?"</p> + +<p>"I do not know. There is a storeroom."</p> + +<p>"Do you know where it is?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I think so."</p> + +<p>"And you can find it—in the dark?"</p> + +<p>"I think so."</p> + +<p>"Is there any way of telling when Goritz goes to bed?"</p> + +<p>"I hear his steps sometimes in the corridor outside."</p> + +<p>He went noiselessly over to the door, listened a moment and then +returned.</p> + +<p>"No sounds. There isn't much sleep for anyone here tonight. The noise +and the knowledge that Herr Windt is somewhere near——"</p> + +<p>"Herr Windt!"</p> + +<p>"He has followed us here. I think he found a trace of me at +Bartfeld—the village beyond the mountain," he whispered.</p> + +<p>"But we might go down through the castle and the courtyard—if we could +pass the man at the drawbridge. Does it make a noise when it is +lowered?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, Hugh—a dreadful noise."</p> + +<p>"That's awkward." He crossed to the door into the wainscoting and +listened there, then at the other door into the corridor, and returned +to her.</p> + +<p>"For the present, at least, we're safe."</p> + +<p>He caught her in his arms and held her silently. Her arms clinging to +him, she raised her head and found his lips.</p> + +<p>"Belovèd," she whispered, "how did you——"</p> + +<p>"I followed you here—on a mere fragment of a clew—but it was enough."</p> + +<p>"But he shot you——"</p> + +<p>"I was well cared for—in a hospital."</p> + +<p>"You were wounded—dangerously?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, but I don't die easily. I'm quite well again."</p> + +<p>"Are you sure?"</p> + +<p>He laughed. "Could I be here, else? Your cliffs are steep——"</p> + +<p>"You climbed——?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, up a fissure and through the ruins. I saw you—there in the +window—from across the gorge. I heard you call, Marishka——"</p> + +<p>"Call——?"</p> + +<p>"That you were not afraid to die."</p> + +<p>"But I <i>was</i> afraid, Hugh—it was so far—so dark below." She shuddered.</p> + +<p>He pressed her closer to him. "Has he—has Goritz——"</p> + +<p>"Until tonight, Hugh—he has not been unkind," she said slowly. "I was +sick; he nursed me. But I've feared him—I fear him still——"</p> + +<p>He felt her body trembling against his own, and reassured her gently, +pausing a moment to listen tensely for sounds at either door. And +then——</p> + +<p>"Don't worry, dearest. He cannot harm you. I was not spared from death +for nothing."</p> + +<p>"I am not frightened now, but tonight has been horrible—the noise—my +terror of I know not what. It has been like the end of the world to me."</p> + +<p>"The beginning of our world, yours and mine," he said confidently.</p> + +<p>She straightened, drew away from him and put a hand before her eyes +again. "Even yet I cannot believe." She looked up at him with a wide +gaze that still held in it something of the reflection of the long days +of helplessness and misery—something more deeply spiritual than he had +ever seen. "Hugh, dear," she went on softly, "you will think it strange, +but I—I have heard you calling to me—speaking to me, like a living +presence here in this room. Not as you are now, belovèd, but +paler.... I thought that you were dead.... And so when you came—at the +door—I thought—I must have dreamed——"</p> + +<p>"You were frightened, dear."</p> + +<p>"Yes—terribly frightened, Hugh," she confessed, "by <i>him</i>—and by the +firing. It seemed at times as though the castle were rocking under me. +Listen!"</p> + +<p>A terrific cannonading began again—louder, more continuous than any +that had gone before.</p> + +<p>"Yes—they are fighting for the end of the Pass," he muttered; "the +Russians——"</p> + +<p>"And will they——?"</p> + +<p>"God knows. I pray——" he paused and scanned her face anxiously.</p> + +<p>"What, Hugh?"</p> + +<p>"That the Russians may win."</p> + +<p>She started away from him, her eyes widely inquiring.</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>He smiled slowly.</p> + +<p>"It's simple enough. Because if I am taken by the Austrians I shall be +shot as a spy."</p> + +<p>"You—a spy!"</p> + +<p>"No, not really," he said soberly. "But I'm an Englishman, an enemy of +Austria armed and in disguise. That is enough——"</p> + +<p>"They—my people would shoot you!" She whispered, horror-stricken.</p> + +<p>"I have no illusions about my fate—if taken——"</p> + +<p>"But you have come here—to help me——"</p> + +<p>"Unfortunately that does not change matters."</p> + +<p>He put her gently aside and went for a while and listened at the doors, +and then came back to her.</p> + +<p>"Silence. But we will wait a little longer," he whispered.</p> + +<p>Marishka caught him by the shoulders and looked up into his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Hugh, what you have said frightens me. You mean that you—that we are +enemies—you and I—because our nations are at war——!"</p> + +<p>She drew away and held him at arm's length while she scrutinized him in +the light of the guttering candle.</p> + +<p>"You—my enemy, Hugh? I—yours?" A wan smile came proudly to her lips. +"If I am your enemy, belovèd, then love and loyalty have perished from +the earth. And you, who have risen from the grave to come to me——!"</p> + +<p>"Sh——, dear," he whispered. "You must know the truth. Whatever +happens—here in the castle, the Austrian troops are all around us. Herr +Windt, too. There is no escape for me unless the Russians come through. +That is why I hope——"</p> + +<p>Marishka put her arms around his shoulders quickly and kissed him on the +lips.</p> + +<p>"Then I, too, pray that they may come through," she whispered fervently.</p> + +<p>"Marishka! I do not ask you to give up your allegiance——"</p> + +<p>"No, Hugh. I give without asking. Belovèd, I want you to understand," +she said solemnly. "Those that are your enemies are my enemies. You +would have died for me—and I, can I do less for you?"</p> + +<p>"Sh——, Marishka," he murmured, "there is no death——"</p> + +<p>"Death can be no worse for me than the horrible utter loneliness without +you; but whatever comes, I am yours, Hugh—in life—in death. I owe no +allegiance, no fealty, but to you, and I have kept the faith, Hugh, even +here. I can have no country that you may not share, no compatriots that +are not yours also. My kingdom is in your heart, belovèd, there to live +while you will have it so."</p> + +<p>"Marishka!" He caught her in his arms and held her long in his embrace, +and she clung close to him, her lips on his in this final test of their +plighted troth. About them the thunder of battle, ever approaching +nearer; the rumble and din of groaning wagons on the road below; the +hoarse cries of men; the whine and sputter of laboring motors trying to +pass in the narrow road—confusion, disorder, chaos; but now they heard +nothing. For them the earth stood still. Nations might totter and crash, +but their Empire was in each other....</p> + +<p>Renwick raised his head at last. "Marishka," he whispered, "it is time +that we made a move." He released her suddenly, listened at the doors, +and then moved to the table beside her.</p> + +<p>"First, we had better put out the light—then perhaps we can see if +there is anyone outside."</p> + +<p>Marishka snuffed the candle, and they went to a window overlooking the +courtyard, drew the hangings and peered out. The din in the valley below +them was increasing, a hurrying of wagons, horses and guns in the narrow +road. Were more Austrian reinforcements coming up? It seemed so. From +the mountains beyond, the rattle of small-arm fire had risen to a steady +roar, but the detonations of heavy ordnance were less frequent.</p> + +<p>"The Austrians—may be winning," he said calmly.</p> + +<p>She pressed his hand. "I am sorry," she said bravely.</p> + +<p>But there was a world of meaning for Renwick in the way she whispered +it.</p> + +<p>"Your people shall be my people," she murmured again. "And your God, my +God."</p> + +<p>He could only return her pressure in silence.</p> + +<p>He would have been little happy if he could have said how much.</p> + +<p>Together they peered through the slip of the silken hanging to the +rampart below. Flashes of reflections from the end of the Pass played +like sheet lightning, and in the fitful illuminations they could see the +figure of the old man, Strohmeyer, reclining in the shadow by the +postern gate. The drawbridge was still raised, and beyond it they could +see in the flashes, the length of the causeway stretching out into the +darkness of the mountainside beyond. Strohmeyer did not move. It almost +seemed as though he were asleep.</p> + +<p>"What makes you think that Herr Windt is here?" asked Marishka suddenly.</p> + +<p>"I saw him with Spivak yonder," and he pointed to the north beyond the +gorge.</p> + +<p>Marishka was silent, her eyes eagerly searching the shadows. Her hand +was trembling a little with the excitement of their situation, but her +voice was firm as she whispered:</p> + +<p>"Perhaps tonight my eyes are uncertain, Hugh. But do you not see +something moving in the shadow of the wall?"</p> + +<p>"Where?"</p> + +<p>"Of the causeway—there, beyond the chain of the drawbridge——"</p> + +<p>He peered eagerly in the direction she indicated.</p> + +<p>"A shadow——?" he questioned. "I can't—no—yes—it moves—there!"</p> + +<p>"Yes—another and still another. And they are carrying something."</p> + +<p>Renwick watched again for a tense moment.</p> + +<p>"Windt—and his men," he said with conviction. "They are going to try to +span the abyss."</p> + +<p>"Strohmeyer——"</p> + +<p>Here at least was a community of interest with Goritz. "They will win +their way across, unless he wakes," said Renwick tensely.</p> + +<p>"What is it that they are carrying?"</p> + +<p>"Timbers—see! There are at least four men to each. They are putting +them in the shadow of the wall. Will the man never wake up?"</p> + +<p>"What can we do?" she whispered desperately. "I could call out to him."</p> + +<p>"No——" he said, "I don't want to arouse Goritz yet. Ah! They have +slunk away again to get more timbers, I think."</p> + +<p>"And if they should succeed——?"</p> + +<p>"They must not. One man could hold the place indefinitely from the +protection of the gate. If the man would only wake!"</p> + +<p>But Strohmeyer slept on.</p> + +<p>"And Goritz?" she said anxiously. "Surely tonight he cannot be +sleeping."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps he is so sure of himself—yes—in the passage below I +heard—there was to be a signal—one stroke of the postern bell——"</p> + +<p>"But if the man sleeps——"</p> + +<p>"If they come again—no matter what happens, we must warn him," he +decided.</p> + +<p>"Sh——"</p> + +<p>Renwick felt his arm seized suddenly by Marishka's icy fingers and +turned, following her wild gaze into the room behind them listening. The +anxieties of the night had made Marishka's senses keen. "The door!" she +whispered. "The secret door by which you came!"</p> + +<p>Renwick listened. In a brief lull in the commotion outside, he heard a +slight sound, near and startlingly distinct like that of a rat in a +partition. Then in the blackness of the room, a gray streak appeared, +slowly widening. The door into the secret passage had opened, and the +starlight from the loophole beyond now showed a dusky silhouette. +Renwick felt Marishka's arm clutch his in terror, as Goritz noiselessly +stepped forward into the room. Renwick had instinctively drawn the +hanging behind him, and he and Marishka were in deep shadow while every +move that Goritz made was clearly defined. First he took a pace toward +the bed, then paused and turning struck a match and searched for the +candle.</p> + +<p>He was in shirt sleeves. Renwick had drawn his automatic and could have +shot him easily. But murder, in cold blood—even when his life and +Marishka's depended upon it! Renwick could not. He saw Goritz turn from +the lighted candle and stare toward the empty bed and then quickly +search the shadows of the room. It was a long moment before he saw the +blaze of the candle beside him reflected in Renwick's eyes which peered +down the barrel of his automatic.</p> + +<p>"What nonsense is this—Marishka——?" he began.</p> + +<p>But Renwick's voice cut the darkness like a steel blade.</p> + +<p>"Don't move—Goritz. Hands up—high!"</p> + +<p>"Who——?"</p> + +<p>"Hands up, I say——" And as he slowly obeyed, "Now turn toward the +bed——"</p> + +<p>Goritz was now staring at Renwick as though he had seen a ghost, but he +knew better than to take his hands down.</p> + +<p>"You——" he muttered. "You're——"</p> + +<p>"I'm Renwick," said the Englishman crisply. "Now do as I tell you +or——"</p> + +<p>He paused uncertainly, for at that moment, behind him through the window +came the deep boom of a bell.</p> + +<p>"The drawbridge!" cried Marishka.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" came from Goritz's throat as with an incredibly swift movement he +smothered the candle. Renwick fired twice and then threw Marishka to one +side, but there was a crash of the door in the wainscoting, and then +silence.</p> + +<p>"He has gone!" cried Marishka somewhere in the darkness.</p> + +<p>"Wait!" shouted Renwick. Some instinct warned him of the trick, and he +sprang aside just as Goritz darted at the spot where he had been. He +felt the rush of the man's body and turned, but did not dare to fire, +for fear of hitting Marishka, so he ran forward toward the window and +presently they met, body to body, clutching in primitive combat. The +man's hand went at his throat, but he wrenched it away again—again. His +arms went around the waist of his adversary low down, in the attempt to +raise him and bear him to the ground. Goritz was now striking furiously +at his head, and by this token Renwick knew that the man was unarmed. +Renwick's furious rush brought them with a thud against the wall, where +they fell, oversetting a table to the floor. Amid the broken furniture +they struggled, in the pitch blackness, with their bare hands, for +Renwick's weapon had been knocked from his fingers. In the rebound from +the wall Renwick fell beneath, Goritz with one hand upon his throat with +a grip which was slowly tightening, but Renwick managed to tear it away +and release himself, striking furiously at the man's face. Goritz was +young and strong, and Renwick's struggle up the cliff had taken away +some of his staying power, but he fought on blindly in the darkness; +grimly, like the bulldog that holds and ever tightens his jaws, no +matter what the punishment he suffers. The bulldog against the wolf. +Goritz was agile, and his arms were strong and wiry. He struck and tore, +but Renwick's arms were cracking his ribs, squeezing the breath from his +body. He struggled with an effort to one knee, and in the change of +position managed to get the fingers of one hand around Renwick's throat +again. They rolled over and over upon the floor, first one uppermost and +then the other, but the fingers on the Englishman's throat were strong. +Fires flashed before Renwick's eyes and the blood seemed to be bursting +from his temples.</p> + +<p>His grip was relaxing.... He felt his strength going. Then with his +remaining consciousness he was aware of a warm moisture upon one of his +wrists. Blood! Goritz had been struck by one of his bullets. With a +desperate effort, he let go one arm and struck. The man's grip relaxed +and he tore it away, gasping greedily for breath.</p> + +<p>Marishka in terror had at first slunk into a corner, listening to the +fearful sounds of the combat—following it with her ears from one part +of the room to another. What must she do? Gathering courage, she passed +the foot of the bed, and grasping for the table found the match box and +managed to light the candle.</p> + +<p>They were upon the floor near one of the windows over the valley, locked +in a deadly grip, breathing in terrible gasps. She must do something to +help—something—for as the glow fell upon them they seemed to struggle +upward against the wall by the window, upon the sill. She could not make +out which was which—but instinctively she seemed to realize their +deadly purpose—death for one or both on the rocks below! The hanging at +the window came crashing down and enveloped them, but they did not know. +They were drunk with the lust of killing—mad!</p> + +<p>Out of the confusion she saw Goritz rise smiling, straining with his +arms, hauling Renwick over the sill. Death! Hers, too, then! With a cry +of despair she reached them, clinging with her arms around Renwick's +waist.</p> + +<p>Goritz opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came forth. He might have +struck her down but he did not. Instead he rose with one foot upon the +sill in one supreme effort to throw Renwick over, but the Englishman, +already half out of the window, got his right arm loose, and swinging +with all the strength left to him, launched a terrible blow at his +adversary. It struck him on the point of the chin. Goritz staggered, +lost his balance, toppled for a moment in the air, his grip on the +Englishman's collar, which tore loose as he fell—out—into the black +abyss....</p> + +<p>Renwick sprawled half across the wide sill, but Marishka clung +desperately, dragging him in—to safety. He toppled in upon the floor +and lay motionless while Marishka hovered over him.</p> + +<p>"Hugh——!" she cried. "Hugh!"</p> + +<p>Renwick struggled up slowly, trying to speak, but his chest heaved +convulsively, and he could only gasp meaninglessly.</p> + +<p>"All—right," he managed to utter after a moment.</p> + +<p>She got water and he drank of it.</p> + +<p>"You're hurt—you're covered with blood."</p> + +<p>"No, no——" he gasped, "winded."</p> + +<p>"But the blood!"</p> + +<p>"His. I had shot him—through the body."</p> + +<p>Marishka peered toward the window and shuddered.</p> + +<p>"His face—Hugh—I can't forget."</p> + +<p>Renwick struggled painfully to his feet.</p> + +<p>"Nor I. He almost did for me. If it hadn't been for you——"</p> + +<p>"You'd have followed him, Hugh!" And then almost inaudibly, "Holy +Virgin!" she whispered.</p> + +<p>Renwick moved his limbs to be sure that they were sound.</p> + +<p>"Close thing, that," he muttered. "Beastly close."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII</h2> + +<h3>BESIEGED</h3> + + +<p>So desperate had been the struggle that they had forgotten the peril of +the drawbridge. Shots had already been fired in the courtyard but they +had not heard them. Now, as an awed silence fell upon them, at the +passing of Goritz and at their relief from immediate danger, they were +suddenly aware of the sounds of commotion outside near at hand, the +sharp crack of small arms, the cries of men and the booming of the +postern bell—calling Goritz—who would never come!</p> + +<p>Renwick staggered to the window over the courtyard, Marishka's hand in +his, and peered out. Somewhere a great fire was burning, for overhead +the sky was copper-colored with its reflections, and below they saw +dimly two figures crouching in the shadow of the postern gate. As they +looked, three men emerged from the wall of the causeway, carrying a +timber with which they approached the abyss, but as they neared the edge +a flash darted from the postern and the foremost man fell. The others, +with a rush, tried to cast an end of the heavy plank across the +intervening space, but it fell short and went crashing down into the +void below.</p> + +<p>"They may be able to hold out for a time," whispered Renwick, "long +enough to let us get away—come, Marishka—the ropes!"</p> + +<p>He took the candle, and she opened the door into the corridor which led +to the keep. Outside they met the old woman Ena, who was crouched upon +the floor by a window, wringing her hands, half dead with fear. But she +started up at the sight of Renwick, who led the way, and then looked in +astonishment at Marishka.</p> + +<p>"Who——?" she gasped, and paused.</p> + +<p>"A friend, Ena," said Marishka. "Do not fear."</p> + +<p>But she still regarded Renwick in terror, for his appearance, +disheveled, torn and bloody, was not one to inspire confidence.</p> + +<p>"The Herr Hauptmann——!"</p> + +<p>"He is dead," said Marishka quietly.</p> + +<p>"Dead! <i>Herr Gott!</i>" And she shrank back into her corner, her head in +her hands.</p> + +<p>But there was no time to delay. Renwick hurried Marishka down the stone +stairway to the Hall, whence they descended to a lower floor to the +storeroom.</p> + +<p>It was filled with a conglomeration of dusty odds and ends, boxes, +barrels, bottles innumerable, the relics of the hospitality of Baron +Neudeck, but at first they could see no sign of what they were seeking. +Above them shots sounded intermittently, and the roar of the distant +battle never ceased. Renwick searched feverishly while Marishka held the +candle above his head, overturning the dusty objects, and at last with a +cry of triumph found what they sought, a coil of heavy rope in a far +corner. He dragged it forth and examined it carefully. It was heavy and +long. Was it long enough? There was no way of telling except by +measuring in yard lengths, and no time to risk that.</p> + +<p>There had been a long interval of silence on the rampart above. Had +Windt succeeded in winning his way across?</p> + +<p>He raised the coil of rope from his shoulder with an effort and took the +candle from Marishka's hand, moving toward an arch to their left, +seeking a direct way to the boarded door into the crypt. It should be in +this direction—yes, the wine cellar—here it was—the boarded +partition. Marishka took the candle from his hand again while he +examined the fastenings—nails somewhat rusted, which would not resist +leverage. He found a piece of plank which he inserted in the edge of the +door and managed to pry it open a little, and then bracing a foot +against the stone wall, made an opening wide enough to admit them.</p> + +<p>So far, so well. They were within the crypt, but while Marishka waited, +Renwick pulled the partition back into place to hide their mode of +retreat if the gate above were taken. Then moving rapidly along the +tunnel they reached the steps which led to the watchtower, where Renwick +snuffed the candle; and they climbed, emerging at last among the ruins +with their precious rope. If they could get down they would crawl +through the bushes and undergrowth, making their way before daylight to +the house of the peasant who had sheltered him last night. Another sum +of money would secure their immunity—at least for the present.</p> + +<p>To the northward, the sky was vividly aglow with the reflection of the +flames of a burning house—fired perhaps by the shells of the Russians, +which still seemed to be bursting not far away. And now their acrid +fumes were poisoning the clean night-wind from the north. Below them in +the valley they still heard the sounds of passing transport, and the +hoarse calls of men. The battle for the head of the Pass was +desperate—but with such reënforcements, the Austrians would hold it. +The crackle of small arms after a slight lull rose in intensity to a +continuous roar. And while Renwick was making the end of his rope fast +around a huge granite block, there was a tremendous explosion which +seemed to tear the bloody sky to tatters.</p> + +<p>"A magazine or a mine," muttered Renwick.</p> + +<p>She smiled at him bravely, and resumed her watch of the windows of the +castle. Here in the open, hidden from the courtyard beyond the bulk of +the buildings, they could hear nothing of what was passing at the +drawbridge gate. The silence seemed ominous. Had Windt's men succeeded +in bridging the gap? As yet there were no signs of light in the castle +windows, except the lurid reflections of the northern sky. But in any +event there was no time to spare. Renwick tied a large knot and a loop +in the end of the rope and then carefully lowered it over the northern +wall, measuring its length by his arms, as it went over. Fifty yards, +sixty, seventy, eighty—when it stretched taut. Eighty yards! Sick with +anxiety, he crawled upon his stomach to the edge of the precipice and +peered over into the abyss.</p> + +<p>The rope swung like a giant pendulum from side to side. By the luminous +heavens he could just see the loop at its end—at least seventy feet +from the counterscarp. Seventy feet—or fifty or even twenty-five—for +Marishka sure death among the welter of jagged rocks below!</p> + +<p>Slowly he rose and faced her. She read the truth in his dejection.</p> + +<p>"The rope is too short," he muttered.</p> + +<p>She caught him by the hand.</p> + +<p>"I can climb down by——"</p> + +<p>"No, no," he said in sudden horror, "it is not to be thought of. You, at +least, are safe."</p> + +<p>"But you——?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps something may happen. We can at least hide in the wall. They +may not find us. Come."</p> + +<p>He descended into the hole among the broken masonry and lowered Marishka +gently beside him, and there for a moment upon the stairs he held her in +his arms while they listened again for noise of pursuit along the dark +passage. Silence.</p> + +<p>She drew his head down until their lips met.</p> + +<p>"Your fate, Hugh—whatever it is—shall be mine."</p> + +<p>He smiled in the darkness. A love like this was worth fighting for. "We +shall win—somehow," he whispered, "we must!"</p> + +<p>Together slowly they retraced their steps to the crypt, where they +lighted the candle and listened again, and now, faintly above, they +heard the sound of a shot.</p> + +<p>"They have not won through yet, Marishka," he said. "My cause is +Goritz's now. We must hold the gate."</p> + +<p>"I am not afraid," she said. "We can still fight."</p> + +<p>He looked at her pale face in admiration, for the fire of resolution +glowed in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he muttered grimly, "we can still fight." And then, "Are there +any weapons here?"</p> + +<p>"In the armory—come!" And she led the way up the stair. But as they +searched the Hall, Ena hobbled down the stone stairway from above, +shrieking, and threw herself at their feet. They could not make out +what she said, but Renwick rushed to the door and peered out toward the +postern. Upon the flagging, a figure lay motionless, and the other man +was nowhere to be seen. But worse than that, as though aware of their +advantage, in the causeway beyond, several men were advancing, bearing +another timber. Renwick's eye appraised the situation hurriedly and he +planned quickly, for delay would be fatal. As he reloaded the clip of +his automatic he ordered quickly.</p> + +<p>"Marishka, I have a plan. There are two joists at the foot of the +stair—not very heavy. You and Ena must bring them up here. Then get +what loaded weapons you can. Bring them here, too. Lose no time. I will +return."</p> + +<p>And leaving her, he dashed out of the door, and running to the right +gained the protection of the rampart, behind which he crawled toward the +gate. Where was the other man, the chauffeur, Karl?</p> + +<p>In a moment he learned. For as Renwick approached, the men upon the +other side succeeded in spanning the abyss, and one of them rushed over. +When the man was halfway across, a shot rang out from the gate and the +man on the board swayed and fell. Another followed and another shot rang +out, but the man still came on.</p> + +<p>Renwick, running forward, shouted a word of encouragement. He saw the +man Karl rise from his concealment and meet the fellow just as he +reached the gate, striking him a blow which made him lose his balance +and fall. Then he swung the end of the timber free and it fell into the +gorge as he sprang back to safety, but before he reached the protection +of the gate, several flashes darted from the causeway and the chauffeur +staggered and dropped forward upon his face just as Renwick reached him.</p> + +<p>"Your orders, Herr Hauptmann," he gasped. "But they're too many—my +cartridges—are gone——" He turned with a groan, and for the first time +saw Renwick's face. "You——" he muttered. "You're not——?"</p> + +<p>"It doesn't matter who I am. Are you badly hurt?"</p> + +<p>"<i>Donnerweiter!</i> Yes—through the breast—I'm done for."</p> + +<p>But Renwick stepped past him and found a loophole through which he could +watch what was passing upon the other side of the abyss.</p> + +<p>The last disaster had robbed the besiegers of some of their enthusiasm, +for they had withdrawn to the other end of the causeway where they were +holding council. Searching the shadows of the wall for signs of any +others concealed near at hand, Renwick took the chance of leaving the +gate unguarded, and in the shadow of the wall rushed back to the Hall. +There he found Marishka with the two joists, waiting for him.</p> + +<p>"They've withdrawn," he said, "but they'll be coming on again in a +moment. We are alone, dear, to defend the gate. Can you help?"</p> + +<p>She was deathly pale, but she smiled at him bravely. He picked up the +two joists and carried them outside while she followed him, listening.</p> + +<p>"You on one side of the gate, I on the other. If they succeed in +throwing a timber across, we must push it off. In this way neither of us +need expose ourselves."</p> + +<p>"I understand—and there are rifles and shotguns."</p> + +<p>"Good! Can you load them?"</p> + +<p>"Strohmeyer loaded them while Karl kept the gate, but Ena was afraid to +take them out."</p> + +<p>"Then bring them. You're quite safe if you keep below the wall of the +rampart. Now go, dear—and God bless you!"</p> + +<p>He reached the gate before Windt's men returned to the attack, and put +one of his new weapons of defense upon each side of it. But he feared to +leave the gate again and crouched, waiting. Below in the valley the +commotion had increased and the sounds of firing went on unceasingly. It +seemed indeed, as Marishka had said, that the end of the world had come. +Beside him, the man Karl was breathing with difficulty. From his post at +the loophole, Renwick heard him mutter, and as the road was still clear, +he listened.</p> + +<p>"You're Renwick—the Englishman?" he whispered hoarsely.</p> + +<p>"I am."</p> + +<p>"And Herr Hauptmann Goritz?"</p> + +<p>"He is dead," replied Renwick.</p> + +<p>"<i>Ach—danke</i>," said the man. "It is well then—you too—soon——"</p> + +<p>He nodded forward, toppled sideways and lay still.</p> + +<p>The situation was desperate, and yet as Renwick thought calmly, he +gained courage. With Marishka upon one side and him on the other armed +with the joists, it would be difficult for the attackers to get a +lodgment for their bridges, for the stone outside the gate was quite +smooth, and little effort would be required to push their timbers down. +Both Strohmeyer and Karl had lost their lives by exposing themselves +unnecessarily. But with the two joists, both sides of the gate could be +commanded. In a moment, creeping under the protection of the wall, +Marishka joined him, bringing two rifles.</p> + +<p>"Are they coming?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Not yet. But they will soon."</p> + +<p>He explained his plan more fully, then bade her go back for another +rifle, ammunition; and return in the protection of the opposite wall to +the post opposite.</p> + +<p>"They can do nothing unless they bring artillery," he said confidently. +"Don't expose yourself or look out, but if a plank comes over, push it +down."</p> + +<p>She smiled and slipped away into the darkness, and Renwick returned to +his loophole. The sky above was getting lighter, and a glance up the +mountain side to his left showed it already in clear profile against the +lightening east, which announced the coming of the dawn. And with the +dawn—light. Was this what the attackers were waiting for?</p> + +<p>He saw the gray figure of Marishka creep along the opposite wall, and in +a moment she was there, not ten feet away at her post, crouched in +safety and waiting.</p> + +<p>"On no account look through the loophole," he ordered. "As the light +grows, there will be men to shoot at them. Keep under cover. +Understand?"</p> + +<p>She only laughed hysterically.</p> + +<p>In a moment, as the light grew, he warned her that they were coming +again.</p> + +<p>"Keep in," he cried. "Don't try to look at the end of the——"</p> + +<p>The warning came just in time, for a fusillade of bullets swept the gate +and they heard the sounds of many men's voices as they came on the run. +Another fusillade which sent dust and fragments of stone flying all +about them! Then a timber crashed across, but before it settled into +place the two joists had pushed it off the smooth landing. At the same +time another volley was fired which would have surely found a mark if +Renwick had exposed himself, but Marishka matched her action to +Renwick's, crouching low, safe from observation, pole in hand, eagerly +watching her half of the gate.</p> + +<p>Another timber—which fell harmlessly and crashed down into the gorge, +and another volley—alike harmless to the defenders. High hopes rose in +Renwick. They could do nothing. Opposite him Marishka, forgetting all +her fears, had caught the contagion of successful resistance and +crouched, her jaws set, eyes sparkling, her slender hands grasping the +rough timber, undaunted and resolute.</p> + +<p>"Keep under cover——" he shouted, as another timber came across.</p> + +<p>This one was better cast and lodged squarely upon the stone lintel. They +both shoved at its end, but a man's weight already upon it made their +task difficult.</p> + +<p>"It is on my side. Push, Marishka!"</p> + +<p>He aimed his automatic past the edge of the gatepost and shot the +man—an Austrian soldier—just as he sprang for the landing. He fell +upon the stone, hung to the timber a moment, and fell. Renwick sprang +further out and emptied his clip at the next man, who gave a cry and +dropped. Renwick felt a stinging blow on his left arm, but before +another man began to cross Marishka managed to shove the timber clear +and it fell into the abyss below.</p> + +<p>They were safe for the moment. He looked at Marishka in the gathering +light. She was pale as death, but she did not show fear.</p> + +<p>"All right?" he asked anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Yes—yes," she gasped, "and you?"</p> + +<p>"Never better."</p> + +<p>His arm burned like a live coal, but the madness of battle was in his +blood and he did not care—so long as Marishka did not know of his +injury. The firing had ceased for the moment, as he crawled up and +peered through the loophole.</p> + +<p>"We've beaten them, Marishka," he cried triumphantly. "They've gone +back—I see no timbers. They're doing something. I can see quite plainly +now—fastening a handkerchief to the muzzle of a rifle." And as she rose +to look, "Don't expose yourself. It may be a trick. For God's sake keep +down."</p> + +<p>He picked up the magazine rifle beside him and thrust it through the +loophole, covering the two men who were advancing to the brink of the +abyss. In the pale light he marked the figure of Windt quite clearly. +The other man wore the uniform of an officer of Austrian infantry. And +now he heard the voice of the officer raised in parley.</p> + +<p>"Schloss Szolnok—a truce!"</p> + +<p>For reply Renwick thrust the muzzle of his rifle further through the +loophole.</p> + +<p>"In the name of the Emperor of Austria, I command you to deliver Herr +Hauptmann Leo Goritz."</p> + +<p>Renwick laughed madly.</p> + +<p>"I regret that that is impossible."</p> + +<p>"I beg that you will listen to reason. Austrian troops are all about +you. You cannot resist by daylight. If you will deliver the person of +Herr Hauptmann Goritz and Countess Strahni, we will leave you in peace."</p> + +<p>Renwick paused. Far below in the valley to his right, a new sound broke +the stillness of the early morning—rifle-fire close at hand, rapid +volleys, and then a scattering of shots which echoed with a new +significance up the mountain side. He peered through one of the +crenelations of the rampart beside him and could just see through the +morning mists the moving mass of rushing men,—horses—guns in mad +confusion.</p> + +<p>"Well, what is your reply?" came the voice of the Austrian officer.</p> + +<p>Renwick laughed again.</p> + +<p>"Why should you leave us in peace if you can take the drawbridge?" he +shouted.</p> + +<p>"Hauptmann Goritz is wanted on the charge of murder. I give you this +chance. Will you take it?"</p> + +<p>"I regret that it is impossible," replied Renwick.</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"Because Herr Hauptmann Goritz is dead."</p> + +<p>"Dead? What assurances can I have that this is the truth?"</p> + +<p>"You have only to look at the foot of the cliff below."</p> + +<p>The two men consulted for a moment and then Herr Windt's voice was +heard. "Is Countess Strahni there?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—and quite safe."</p> + +<p>"And who are you?"</p> + +<p>"My name is Hugh Renwick, Herr Windt——"</p> + +<p>"Renwick—the Englishman——" he heard him gasp.</p> + +<p>"Precisely. And if you're going to take this gate, you'd better be in a +hurry about it—for the Russians are approaching."</p> + +<p>"Then you refuse?"</p> + +<p>"Positively."</p> + +<p>The Austrian officer saluted, and the two men marched up the causeway. +Marishka, on the other side of the gate, had started up and was +regarding him anxiously.</p> + +<p>"What you say, Hugh—it can't be that——"</p> + +<p>"It's true, dear," he almost shouted. "The Russians. They're coming +below there in the valley. I have just seen. The Austrians are in full +retreat. The army has been retreating all night, and we thought there +were reënforcements. If we can hold out a short while longer, we will be +safe. Are you frightened?"</p> + +<p>"No. Will they come again, you think?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. They'll hardly give up so easily. But keep down, Marishka, +further—in the corner. You can see as well. Ah! I wasn't mistaken. Here +they come!"</p> + +<p>Into the squad of Austrian soldiers advancing Renwick emptied the +magazine of his repeating rifle, and took up the other. Two men fell and +the remainder paused, only to be brought on by the Austrian officer who +led them, sword in hand. Renwick could have shot him easily, but he held +his fire and as the mass of men came on he saw them raise their rifles +to their shoulders.</p> + +<p>"Keep down!" he shouted to Marishka, "they're going to——"</p> + +<p>Dust and mortar flew from the ancient gate and behind in the castle, +windows crashed.</p> + +<p>"You are safe?" he shouted.</p> + +<p>"Yes," her voice replied.</p> + +<p>"Now watch the gateway."</p> + +<p>A plank came over, but profiting by their earlier experience, they +shoved it off before it came to rest. Another, a longer one, and +another, both of which found lodgment squarely between the gate posts. +Renwick sprang to the loophole; but the volley that followed spattered +harmlessly around him.</p> + +<p>He was a good shot with a rifle, and aimed deliberately, dropping the +first man that put his foot on the hazardous bridge. Gasping with her +exertions Marishka pushed the shorter timber over, but the longer one +jammed hopelessly against the gate post.</p> + +<p>"Hugh," she cried, "we are lost."</p> + +<p>But a strange thing happened then. For as the second man approached the +bridge and had even put one foot upon it, a shrill call rang out at the +other end of the causeway.</p> + +<p>"The retreat!" the officer shouted. "To the rear——"</p> + +<p>The look of relief upon the face of the brave fellow who was venturing +death upon the precarious timber was reflected in Renwick's own heart, +for he spared the man who, with a startled glance over his shoulder, +presently caught up with the rapidly vanishing Windt. Renwick rushed out +and lifting the dangerous timber hurled it down into the gorge.</p> + +<p>Then he caught Marishka by the waist and lifted her.</p> + +<p>"We're safe, dear—they've gone——" he cried.</p> + +<p>She turned one look up at him and then, slowly closing her eyes, sank +back helpless in his arms.</p> + +<p>"Marishka! It has been too much——"</p> + +<p>The blood flowed from a slight cut upon her cheek where she had been +struck by a piece of flying stone, but he saw that it was not deep. He +laid her gently upon the flagging, and ran to the Hall for water. There +he found Ena, crouched in a corner, more dead than alive. But he +commanded her to come and bring water and brandy, and she obeyed.</p> + +<p>Marishka had only fainted and the brandy soon restored her.</p> + +<p>"They've gone?" she asked of him.</p> + +<p>"Yes, dear. We're quite safe. Listen. The Russians are driving them down +the valley."</p> + +<p>He washed the wound in her cheek tenderly.</p> + +<p>"It will not scar you, Marishka," he smiled. "But if it does—an +honorable scar such as no woman of Austria wears."</p> + +<p>She touched it with her fingers and smiled.</p> + +<p>"I did not even know——"</p> + +<p>And then she saw the blood at his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"You're hurt?"</p> + +<p>"Only a scratch. It's nothing."</p> + +<p>But weak as she was she tore away the sleeve of his shirt, and made him +bathe and bind it with linen from her skirt.</p> + +<p>"Will the Russians come here, you think?" she asked.</p> + +<p>He smiled.</p> + +<p>"If they don't come to us," he said soberly, "we will go to them."</p> + +<p>She smiled.</p> + +<p>"'And your people shall be my people ... '" she murmured softly.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Galenski, Colonel of Russian cavalry, sat on his horse on a slight +eminence beside the road which descended from Dukla Pass into the valley +beyond, watching through a pair of field glasses the ramparts of an +ancient castle perched upon a crag.</p> + +<p>Beside him his regiment streamed down the hill at a hand gallop, its +gray coats flapping, as it spread out fanwise in the meadow below, its +lances lightly poised in pursuit of the fleeing Austrians. As a company +captain passed he called out a name, and the officer, with a word to his +lieutenant, galloped up and saluted.</p> + +<p>"Is not that Schloss Szolnok, Captain Kotchukoff?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. You remember—the affair of Baron Neudeck."</p> + +<p>"Of course. I have been watching it, as we came down the road. Fighting +has been going on there for an hour or more."</p> + +<p>"Fighting?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. I don't understand. The Austrians were attacking it. I am certain +for I clearly made out the kepi of the infantry."</p> + +<p>"That is strange."</p> + +<p>"Is it possible that some of our advance posts could have occupied it?"</p> + +<p>"I should say that that was impossible."</p> + +<p>"We must investigate. Detach your company from the command and bring +your men up the road yonder. I will join you."</p> + +<p>Captain Kotchukoff saluted, wheeled his horse and galloped at full speed +down the road into the meadow, while Colonel Galenski trotted slowly +down the hill until he found a ford in the stream, and then slowly rode +up the hill beyond.</p> + +<p>"It is very strange," he muttered.</p> + +<p>As he reached the road above, the company of Captain Kotchukoff came +riding up, but he gave the command to walk their horses, and slowly, +Colonel and Captain riding in front, they approached the end of the long +causeway which led to the castle. That he had not been mistaken in his +observations was clearly to be seen, for several men lay either dead or +severely wounded in the middle of the walled road. As they neared the +drawbridge three more prostrate figures were seen, one of them hanging +almost on the lip of the abyss.</p> + +<p>The drawbridge was raised and beyond the gate another form lay beyond +the threshold. But as yet he saw no sign of life. Colonel Galenski +reined in his horse sharply, raised his hand, and behind him his captain +shouted the loud order to halt.</p> + +<p>At the sound a man suddenly appeared in the gate, and beside him a very +beautiful young woman. Colonel Galenski was a good officer, but the +fact, though of no military importance, was quite clearly to be noted—a +very beautiful woman. The man beside the girl was tall, and bore himself +well. But he was covered with grime and dust and his clothing was torn +and streaked with blood. One sleeve of his shirt was missing, and his +bare arm was bandaged just below the arm-pit with a bloodstained cloth. +And as he looked, the man smiled and saluted.</p> + +<p>Colonel Galenski returned the salute, and spoke in German.</p> + +<p>"You will lower the drawbridge if you please. I wish to enter."</p> + +<p>The man disappeared for a moment, the girl beside him, and presently, +with a loud clatter of rusty chains which made necessary some excellent +feats of horsemanship by the men of the company behind him, the +drawbridge crashed down, and Colonel Galenski rode forward through the +gate, followed by the company of horsemen, who wheeled by fours into +line and halted in the courtyard.</p> + +<p>Colonel Galenski dismounted, neglecting no detail of the signs of +combat, the bullet-scarred flagging, the broken rock, the timbers, the +two figures lying in the shadow of the wall of the gate.</p> + +<p>"From below, with my glasses, I saw the Austrians attacking your +drawbridge," he said. "There were many of them along the road. Your men +have well defended the position. Where are they?"</p> + +<p>The tall man smiled and took the beautiful young woman by the hand.</p> + +<p>"I beg to present you to my garrison," he said with a laugh. "Countess +Marishka Strahni—and—er——?"</p> + +<p>"Colonel Galenski of the Fifth Regiment—horse," said the Colonel with a +bow. "And you, sir—who are you?"</p> + +<p>The tall man extended a grimy hand to the immaculate Russian.</p> + +<p>"I will tell you that, sir, if"—and he laughed—"if you'll give me a +cigarette."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IN_REGARD_TO_THE_EVIDENCE_IN_THE_CASE" id="IN_REGARD_TO_THE_EVIDENCE_IN_THE_CASE"></a>IN REGARD TO THE EVIDENCE IN THE CASE</h2> + + +<p>If the reader of this book is not inclined to accept the <i>prima-facie</i> +evidence as presented in the newspapers from official sources with +regard to the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand and his wife, the +Duchess of Hohenberg, he is referred by the publishers to the very +interesting article by Mr. Henry Wickham Steed called "The Pact of +Konopisht," printed in the <i>Nineteenth Century</i> for February, 1916. Mr. +Steed, as is well known, was for twenty years the correspondent in +Vienna of the <i>London Times</i>, and is also the author of the latest and +presumably the most authoritative work in English on the +Austro-Hungarian government and the House of Habsburg.</p> + +<p>The facts presented in that article beginning with the open breach +between Franz Joseph and the Archduke on his marriage to Sophie Chotek; +the <i>entente</i> between Kaiser and Archduke at Eckartzau and Potsdam; the +seizure of the Archduke's papers by the Austrian government after the +assassination; the instructions to the Sarajevo police from the military +authorities of Austria-Hungary to make no special arrangements for the +Archduke's protection; the fact that no evidence has ever been adduced +proving the complicity of the Serbian government; the funeral of the +Archduke and Duchess, at which no wreaths were sent by Emperor Franz +Joseph, by the Archduke's sister, or any member of the Austro-Hungarian +Imperial Family; the inadequacy of the formal arrangements for burial +and the obvious intention of the Court authorities to pay as little +honor as possible to the dead; the exclamation of the Kaiser, during +Kiel week when the news of the assassination was brought to him, "Now I +must begin all over again":—these facts must be considered as +circumstantial evidence of the most positive sort that the relations +between Archduke and Kaiser had been looked on with disfavor and +suspicion by the Imperial Family of Austria. What actually happened at +Konopisht of course will never be known, but there is strong presumptive +evidence that a pact of the character suggested in this story was made +in the rose garden of the castle and that Von Tirpitz was a witness to +it.</p> + +<p>Whatever the police records show with regard to Cabrinovitz and Prinzep, +the former, who threw the bomb, the latter who did the killing, no +successful effort has been made to show that they were employed by the +Serbian government, nor is it probable that Serbia would have promoted a +plot which would give Austria Hungary a pretext for assailing her, a +pretext that Austria Hungary had already sought. The story of the +beginnings of the Great War has shown how she found it.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>In the light of the ascertained facts concerning the production of +anti-Serbian forgeries employed by Austria during the annexation +crises of 1908-9, and exposed during the Friedjung trial of +December, 1909, it certainly would not be beyond the power of +Austro-Hungarian Secret Service agents to cook up a plot at +Belgrade or Sarajevo, were it considered desirable, for reasons of +Imperial policy, either to "remove" obnoxious personages or to +provide a pretext for war.</p></div> + +<p>The dream of an empire from Hamburg to Saloniki is as yet a dream, but +that it was dreamed in Potsdam no one doubts.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Books_by_George_Gibbs" id="Books_by_George_Gibbs"></a>Books by George Gibbs</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The Secret Witness<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Paradise Garden<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Yellow Dove<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Flaming Sword<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Madcap<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Silent Battle<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Forbidden Way<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Bolted Door<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Tony's Wife<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Secret Witness, by George Gibbs + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SECRET WITNESS *** + +***** This file should be named 25689-h.htm or 25689-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/6/8/25689/ + +Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + +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. 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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 Secret Witness + +Author: George Gibbs + +Release Date: June 3, 2008 [EBook #25689] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SECRET WITNESS *** + + + + +Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + _The_ SECRET WITNESS + + BY GEORGE GIBBS + + AUTHOR OF "PARADISE GARDEN," "THE YELLOW DOVE," ETC. + + ILLUSTRATED BY GEORGE BREHM + + +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY +NEW YORK LONDON +1917 + +Copyright, 1917, by the Curtis Publishing Company +Published in the United States of America + +TO MY FRIEND +MAJOR R. TAIT McKENZIE, R.A.M.C. + + + + +[Illustration: "Your veil--quick," he stammered breathlessly.] + + + + +CONTENTS + + +I. JUNE 12, 1914 + +II. COURT SECRETS + +III. THE HABSBURG HAVEN + +IV. SECRET INFORMATION + +V. TWO INTRUDERS + +VI. HERR WINDT + +VII. THE GREEN LIMOUSINE + +VIII. AN ESCAPE AND A CAPTURE + +IX. CAPTAIN GORITZ + +X. DIAMOND CUTS DIAMOND + +XI. THE MAN IN BLACK + +XII. FLIGHT + +XIII. TRAGEDY + +XIV. THE HARIM + +XV. THE LIGHTED WINDOWS + +XVI. THE BEG OF RATAJ + +XVII. THE MAN IN ARMOR + +XVIII. NUMBER 28 + +XIX. DISGUISE + +XX. RENWICK QUESTIONS + +XXI. AN IMPERSONATION + +XXII. THE NEEDLE IN THE HAYSTACK + +XXIII. SCHLOSS SZOLNOK + +XXIV. PRISONER AND CAPTIVE + +XXV. THE RIFT IN THE ROCK + +XXVI. THE DEATH GRIP + +XXVII. BESIEGED + +IN REGARD TO THE EVIDENCE IN THE CASE + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +"Your veil--quick," he stammered breathlessly. + +"It is too late," she murmured. "They would see us." + +"Who are you?" she asked. + +His Excellency rose and bowed over her hand-- + +"Be quiet. People are watching you," said Goritz sternly. + +"Thank you," she said simply. "I believe you." + + + + +THE SECRET WITNESS + + + + +CHAPTER I + +JUNE 12, 1914 + + +The Countess Marishka was fleet of foot. She was straight and slender +and she set a pace for Renwick along the tortuous paths in the rose +gardens of the Archduke which soon had her pursuer gasping. She ran like +a boy, her dark hair falling about her ears, her draperies like Nike's +in the wind, her cheeks and eyes glowing, a pretty quarry indeed and +well worthy of so arduous a pursuit. For Renwick was not to be denied +and as the girl turned into the path which led to the thatched arbor, he +saw that she was breathing hard and the half-timorous laugh she threw +over her shoulder at him only spurred him on to new endeavor. He reached +the hedge as she disappeared, but his instinct was unerring and he +leaped through the swaying branches just in time to see the hem of her +skirt in the foliage on the other side and plunging through caught her +in his arms just as she sank, laughing breathlessly, to the spangled +shadows of the turf beyond. + +"Marishka," he cried joyously, "did you mean it?" + +But she wouldn't reply. + +"You said that if I caught you----" + +"The race--isn't always--to the swift--" she protested falteringly in +her pretty broken English. + +"Your promise----" + +"I made no promise." + +"You'll make it now, the one I've waited for--for weeks--Marishka. Lift +up your head." + +"No, no," she stammered. + +"Then I----" + +Renwick caught her in his arms again and turned her chin upward. Her +eyes were closed, but as their lips met her figure relaxed in his arms +and her head sank upon his shoulder. + +"You run very fast, Herr Renwick," she whispered. + +"You'll marry me, Marishka?" + +"Who shall say?" she evaded. + +"Your own lips. You've given them to me----" + +"No, no. You have taken them----" + +"It is all the same. They are mine." And Renwick took them again. + +"Oh," she gasped, "you are so persistent--you English. You always wish +to have your own way." + +He laughed happily. + +"Would you have me otherwise? My way and your way, Marishka, they go +together. You wish it so, do you not?" + +She was silent a while, the wild spirit in her slowly submissive, and at +last a smile moved her lips, her dark eyes were upturned to his and she +murmured a little proudly: + +"It is a saying among the women of the House of Strahni that where the +lips are given the heart must follow." + +"Your heart, Marishka! Mine, for many weeks. I know it. It is the lips +which have followed." + +"What matters it now, beloved," she sighed, "since you have them both?" + +Renwick smiled. + +"Nothing. I only wondered why you've kept me dangling so long." + +She was silent a moment. + +"I--I have been afraid." + +"Of what?" + +"I do not know. It is the Tzigane in my blood which reads into the +future----" + +She paused and he laughed gayly. + +"Because I am a foreigner----" + +"I have not always loved the English. I have thought them cold, +different from my people." + +He kissed her again. + +"And I could let you believe me that!" + +She laughed. "Oh, no.... But you have shown me enough." And, pushing him +gently away, "I am convinced, _mon ami_...." + +"As if you couldn't have read it in my eyes----" + +"Alas! One reads--and one runs----" + +"You couldn't escape me. It was written." + +"Yes," she said dreamily, "I believe that now." And then, "But if +anything should come between us----" + +"What, Marishka?" he smiled. + +"I don't know. I have always thought that love would not come to me +without bitterness." + +"What bitterness, _liebchen_?" + +She settled softly closer to him and shrugged lightly. "How should I +know?" + +He smiled at her proudly and caught her brown hand to his lips. + +"You are dyed in the illusions of your race,--mystery--fatalism. They +become you well. But here among the roses of Konopisht there is no room +in my heart or yours for anything but happiness. See how they nod to +each other in the sunlight, Marishka. Like us, they love and are loved. +June comes to Bohemia but once a year--or to us. Let us bloom in the +sunlight like them--happy--happy----" + +"Blood red, the roses," she said pensively. "The white ones please me +better. But they are so few. The Archduke likes the red ones best. What +is the verse? + + "I sometimes think that never blows so red + The Rose as where some buried Caesar bled." + +"What matter Caesar or Kaiser to us, Marishka? Our own kingdom----" + +"Yes, yes," she sighed. "And I am happy in it. You know it, _nicht +wahr_?" + +Silence, except for the drowsy hum of the bees and the songs of the +birds. No fatalism is long proof against the call of love and June. +Marishka was content that her flight had ended in capture and sat +dreamily gazing at the white clouds floating overhead while she listened +to the voice at her ear, replying to it in monosyllables, the language +of acquiescence and content. The moments passed. Konopisht was no longer +a garden. Enchanted their bower and even the red roses forgotten. + +Suddenly the girl started upright to her knees, and peered wide-eyed +through an opening in the foliage. + +"What is it, Marishka?" + +She put a finger to her lips in token of silence, and Renwick followed +her gaze down the graveled path which led toward the arbor. As +under-secretary of the British Embassy in Vienna, he had been trained to +guard his emotions against surprises, but the sight of the three figures +which were approaching them down the path left him bereft for the moment +of all initiative. In the center walked the Archduke, pulling +deliberately at his heavy dark mustaches while he listened to the figure +upon his right, a man of medium stature, who wore a hunting suit and a +jaeger hat with a feather in it. He carried his left hand, concealing a +defect of his arm, in the pocket of his shooting jacket, while with his +free right hand he swung an ebony cane. His mustaches were turned +straight upward from the corners of his mouth and the aggressive chin +shot outward as he glanced right and left, talking meanwhile with his +companions. The third figure was very tall, topping even the Archduke, +who was by no means small of stature, by at least six inches; his hair, +or as much of it as could be seen beneath the soft hat, was gray, and a +long beard, almost white in the patches at either side of the chin, +descended in two long points half of the way to his waist. + +Renwick recognized the visitors at once, and turned toward his startled +companion, his own mind as to the propriety of his situation at once +made up. + +"Marishka," he whispered, "we must go." + +"It is too late," she murmured. "They would see us." + +[Illustration: "It is too late," she murmured. "They would see us."] + +"And what does that matter?" + +"I forgot," she breathed helplessly. "I was told I was not to come today +into the rose garden. I wondered why. Sh----! Sit still. Crouch lower. +Perhaps they will pass on and then----" + +Renwick obeyed somewhat dubiously and sank, scarcely daring to breathe, +beneath the thick foliage beside the arbor which concealed his +companion. She seized his hand and he felt her fingers trembling in his +own, but he pressed them gently--aware that the tremors of the girl's +fingers as the footsteps approached the arbor were being unpleasantly +communicated to his own. The breach of hospitality to the household of +the Archduke, upon whose land he was, was as nothing beside the breach +of etiquette to the Empire by his Chief. Renwick's nerves were good but +he trembled with Marishka. The friendship of nations depended upon the +security of his concealment--more than that--and less than that--his own +fate and the girl's. And so Renwick crouched beside her and silently +prayed in English, a language he thought more fitted to the desperate +nature of his desires, that the three figures would pass on to another +part of the garden, that they, the luckless lovers, might flee to the +abandoned tennis court in innocence and peace. + +But Renwick's prayers were not to be answered. Had he known at the +moment how deeply the two of them were to be enmeshed in the skein of +Europe's destiny he would have risen and faced the anger of his host, +or, risking detection, incontinently fled. But Marishka's hand clasped +his own, and lucklessly, he waited. + +The three men reached the gate of the arbor, the smaller one entering +first, the giant with the gray beard, at a gesture from their host, +following, and they all sat in chairs around the small iron table. +Renwick was paralyzed with fear and Marishka's chill fingers seemed +frozen to his. There had been rumors in the chancellories of Europe of +this visit to Konopisht to see the most wonderful rose garden in Bohemia +in mid-June, but Renwick knew, as did every other diplomat in Vienna, +that the visit to the roses of Konopisht was a mere subterfuge. If there +had been any doubt in the Englishman's mind as to the real nature of the +visit, the grave expressions upon the faces of the men in the arbor +would speedily have set him right. The Archduke opened a cigarette case +and offered it to his companions who helped themselves with some +deliberation. + +"A wonderful rose garden, truly, my friend," said the man in the jaeger +hat with a smile which broke the grave lines of his face into pleasant +wrinkles. "I will give your gardener twice what you offer him to come to +me." + +The Archduke showed his white teeth in a smile. "_Majestaet_ has but to +request----" + +"A jest, my friend. It would be unmannerly. It is Her Highness that I +would also rob, for roses, after all, are more a woman's pleasure than a +man's." + +"The Duchess spends many hours here----" + +"The _Arch_ Duchess," corrected the other vehemently. + +The Archduke shrugged. "She will always hold that rank in my heart," he +said quietly. + +"And with me and my House," said the other quickly. + +"It is a pity that my own family should not be of the same mind." + +"It matters nothing," said the other. "Nothing. You shall see." + +The Archduke examined the ash of his cigarette, but said nothing. + +"You must realize, my great and good friend," continued the man in the +hunting suit, "that I did not come to Konopisht only to see your roses." + +The Archduke nodded attentively. + +"The fortunes of your family are linked to mine by ties deeper than +those of blood,--a community of interest and of fortune which involves +the welfare, happiness and progress of many millions of people. The +history of civilization in Europe has reached a new page, one which must +be written by those who have in keeping the Divine destiny of the +Germanic race. It is not a time to falter before the graveness of our +responsibility and the magnitude of our undertakings. I spoke of these +things at Eckartsau. I think you understand." + +The Archduke nodded gravely. + +"I will not shirk any responsibility. I hesitated once. That hour has +passed. Sophie--Maximilian--Ernest----" + +"They must have their heritage." + +The man in the jaeger hat got up and paced impatiently the length of the +arbor, at one moment within three yards of the terrified lovers in the +foliage. + +"Are we alone, your Highness?" he asked of the Archduke. + +"I gave orders that no one should enter the rose garden at any time this +afternoon," replied his host. + +"It is well." He sent a quick glance toward the tall man who had risen. +"You understand, Admiral, _nicht wahr_?" + +A guttural sound came from the old man's throat. + +"The destinies of Europe, _meine Herren_," he went on. + +"_Majestaet_ may speak on," said the Archduke coolly, "without fear of +eavesdroppers." + +Renwick, crouched beneath the foliage, was incapable of motion. All his +will power was used in the effort to control his breathing, and reduce +his body to absolute inertness. But as the moments passed, and the men +in the arbor gave no sign of suspicion he gained confidence, all his +professional instincts aroused at the import of this secrecy and the +magnificence of the impending revelations. He was England, waiting, +alert, on guard, for the safety and peace of Europe. He did not dare to +look at Marishka, for fear of the slightest motion or sound which might +betray them. Only their hands clasped, though by this time neither of +them was conscious of the contact. + +"At Eckartsau, my brother," went on the smaller man, "you and I came to +an understanding. Maximilian and Ernest are growing toward manhood. And +what is that manhood to be? Habsburg blood flows in their veins as it +flows in you, the Heir Presumptive, but the Family Law debars them. Not +even the Este estates can pass to your children. They will become +pensioners upon the bounty of those who hate their mother." + +"Impossible!" whispered the Archduke tensely. "It must not be. I will +find a way----" + +"Listen, Franz, my brother. A magnificent horizon spreads before you. +Look at it. Part of the Duchy of Posen, the ancient Kingdom of Poland +with Lithuania and the Ukraine, the Poland of the Jagellons, stretching +from the Baltic to the Black Sea. Yours. And after you, Maximilian's. +For Ernest, Bohemia, Hungary, the Southern Slav lands of Austria, +Serbia, the Slav coast of the Eastern Adriatic and Saloniki;--two +Empires in one. And the states of those who have despised Sophie +Chotek----" he paused expressively and snapped his jaws, "the Austrian +Erblaender will come into the Confederated German Empire." He paused +again and then went on more quietly, "Between us two a close and +perpetual military and economic alliance, to be the arbiters of Europe +under the Divine will, dominating the West and commanding the road to +the East." He paused and took a fresh cigarette from the box on the +table. + +"It is what I have dreamed," murmured the deep voice of the Archduke. +"And yet it is no dream, but reality. Fate plays into my hands. At no +time have we been in a better position." + +It was the turn of the Archduke to walk the floor of the arbor with long +strides, his hands behind him, his gaze bent before him. + +"Yes, civilization, progress--all material things. But the Church--you +forget, _Majestaet_, that your people and mine are of different faiths. +Some assurance I must have that there will be no question----" + +"Willingly," said the other, rising. "Do not my people serve God as they +choose? For you, if you like, the Holy Roman Empire reconstituted with +you as its titular head, the sovereignty of central Europe intact--all +the half formulated experiments of the West, at the point of the sword. +This is your mission--and mine!" + +The two men faced each other, eye to eye, but the smaller dominated. + +"A pact, my brother," said the man in the hunting-suit, extending his +hand. + +The Archduke hesitated but a moment longer, and then thrust forward. The +hands clasped, while beside the two, the tall man stood like a Viking, +his great head bent forward, his forked beard wagging over the table. + +"A pact," repeated the Archduke, "which only Death may disrupt." + +They stood thus in a long moment of tension. It was he they called +_Majestaet_ who first relaxed. + +"Death?" he smiled. "Who knows? God defends the Empire. It lives on in +my sons and yours." + +"Amen!" said the Archduke solemnly. + +"For the present," continued the other quietly, "silence! I shall advise +you. You can rely upon Von Hoetzendorf?" + +"Utterly. In two weeks I shall attend the grand maneuvers at Savajevo." + +"Oh, yes, of course. You shall hear from me." He took a few steps toward +the door of the arbor. "It does not do to stay here too long. We must +join the others. Berchtold, you said, is coming?" + +The Archduke nodded with a frown, and followed with the Admiral into the +garden. The sun had declined and the warm glow of late afternoon fell +upon the roses, dyeing them with a deeper red. But along the crimson +alleys the three men walked calmly, the smaller one still gesturing with +his ebony cane. Presently the sound of their footsteps upon the gravel +diminished and in a moment they disappeared beyond the hedge by the +greenhouses. + +Renwick in his place of concealment trembled again. The reaction had +come. He drew a long breath, moved his stiffened limbs and glanced at +his companion. Her face was like wax, pale as death and as colorless. +Her fingers in his were ice-cold. Her eyes, dark with bewilderment, +sought his blankly like those of a somnambulist. Renwick rose stiffly to +his knees and peered through the bushes. + +"They have gone," he muttered. + +"The Archduke!" she gasped. "You heard?" + +He nodded. + +"Have we dreamed? I cannot believe----" + +Renwick was thinking quickly. Marishka--their position--his duty--a way +of escape--one thought crowded another in his mind. He glanced about +through the foliage behind them and then rose to his feet. + +"I must get back to Vienna, at once," he said hoarsely. + +Marishka stood beside him, clinging to his arm. + +"And I--I know not what to do. I could not look Her Highness in the +face. But I too must go to Vienna. I am not versed in politics, but the +secret that we share is terrible. It oppresses me. Austria--my country!" + +She hid her face in her hands and stood silent a moment, in the throes +of a struggle, still trembling violently. At the touch of Renwick's +fingers upon her arm, she straightened, lowered her hands, her face now +quite composed. + +"I too must leave here at once," she said quietly. "I have an allegiance +stronger than my duty to Sophie Chotek. I am going----" + +"Where?" he asked. + +"To Schoenbrunn." + +"But Marishka, have you thought----?" + +"I pray that you will waste no words. As you love me, Hugh, you will do +what I ask and be silent." + +"What can I do?" + +"Go with me to Vienna tonight." + +"That would be most imprudent. Your reputation----" + +"I care nothing. Will you accompany me?" + +Renwick shrugged. "Of course." + +"Then do as I bid you. I will show you a way out to a small gate from +the garden by which you can reach the public road. Go to your Inn. Make +arrangements for an automobile. I will join you tonight." She peered in +all directions through the foliage and then led the way through the +bushes in a direction opposite to that by which they had come. Renwick +followed silently, his mind turbulent. What was his duty? And where did +it conflict with Marishka's mad plan? What would his Ambassador have +wished him to do? And in what could he serve England best? He must have +time to think. For the present at least Marishka should have her way. +Indeed, had he wished, he saw no means of dissuading her. He would go +with her to Vienna, make a clean breast of things to his Chief, before +Marishka could carry out her plan. After that the matter would be out of +his hands. + +The girl descended some steps to a narrow gate in the hedge. Here +Renwick paused a moment to clasp her in his arms. + +"Beloved," she whispered, "not now. Go. Follow the path to the wall. You +must climb it. Let no one see you descend. Au revoir. God be with you." + +And she was gone. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +COURT SECRETS + + +Hugh Renwick lay flat upon the coping of the wall for a moment peering +up and down the road until sure at last that the way was clear, when he +let himself down and walked rapidly in the direction of the village. The +events of the last hour were of a nature to disturb the equanimity of an +existence less well ordered than his. The winning of the Countess +Marishka, an achievement upon which he had set his whole soul for many +uncertain weeks in which hope and fear had fought a daily battle in his +heart--that in itself had been enough to convince him that the gods +looked upon him with favor--but this other _coup de foudre_! Whatever +the means by which his information had been obtained, the mere +possession of it and the revelation of it to his Ambassador was a +diplomatic achievement of the highest importance. There had long been +rumors of an _entente_ between Archduke and Kaiser, but _this_! He +rubbed his eyes to make sure that he was awake. + +Hugh Renwick was merely the average Englishman of good family and +wealth, who because of his education in a German university had found +the offer of the post of Vienna singularly attractive. He had filled his +position with circumspection, if not with brilliancy, and had made +himself sufficiently popular in court circles to be sure that if not a +triumphant success in the drudgery of the office, he was at least not +altogether a social failure. Good looking, wealthy, talented though he +was, it was something indeed to have won Marishka Strahni, who, apart +from her high position in Vienna and the success of a season, was, as he +well knew, the finest girl in all Austria. Even yet he doubted his good +fortune. He had come to Konopisht, where the girl was visiting the +Duchess of Hohenberg, who had been a childhood friend of her mother's. +As everyone in Vienna knew, Sophie Chotek was ineligible for the high +position she occupied as consort of the Heir Presumptive. Though a +member of an ancient Bohemian family, that of Chotek and Wognin, the law +of the Habsburg's that archdukes may marry only those of equal rank, +forbade that the Duchess of Hohenberg and her children should share the +position of husband and father. She had been snubbed upon all the +occasions of her appearance at court functions, and had at last retired +to the Archduke's estates at Konopisht, where she led the secluded life +of the _ebenburtige_, still chafing, rumor had it, and more than ever +jealous and ambitious for the future of the children. + +Upon the occasion of a previous visit of the Countess Marishka to +Konopisht, Renwick had spent a week end at the castle, but he thanked +his stars that he was now stopping at the village inn. It would have +been difficult to go through the formality of leave-taking with the +shadow of this impending tragedy to Europe hanging over him. He pitied +Marishka from the bottom of his heart for he had seen the beginnings of +the struggle between her devotion to the Duchess and her duty to her +sovereign. But he knew enough of her quality to be sure that she would +carry out her plan at whatever the cost to her own feelings. + +As Renwick approached the gates which led into the Castle grounds, he +had an actual sense of the consequence of the Archduke's guests in the +appearance of soldiery and police which were to be seen in every +direction, and while he waited in the village road two automobiles came +out of the gate and dashed past him in the direction of the railroad +station, in the foremost of which he recognized Archduke Franz and his +guests of the rose garden. + +"The roses of Konopisht," he muttered, thinking of Marishka's fatalism. +"Were they symbols, those innocent red blossoms?" And then with an +inward smile, "Marishka! What bitterness could the roses of Konopisht +bring between Marishka and him?" + +A sense of the grave importance of his mission came over Renwick with a +rush. He looked at his watch. Six o'clock. It would have been hazardous +to use the wire to reach the Embassy even had he possessed a code. He +knew enough of the activities of the Austrian secret service to be sure +that in spite of his entree at the Castle, his presence at Konopisht at +this time might be marked. He sauntered down the street with an air of +composure he was far from feeling. There was nothing for it but to obey +Marishka's injunctions and wait, upon his guard against surprises, but +ready to go to any extreme to reach Vienna and the Embassy with a sound +skin. He found the owner of a motor car, and telling the man that he was +traveling by night, he paid its owner in advance and engaged it to be at +a certain place by nightfall, promising a further payment if the matter +were kept secret. Then he went to the inn, took supper, and lighting his +pipe, paced the cobbles and waited. + +As the summer dusk fell slowly upon the streets of the little village, +Renwick found himself a prey to renewed apprehensions as to Marishka. +Had her presence and his in the rose garden been discovered by one of +the Archduke's retainers? And was she now a prisoner in the castle where +a few hours ago she had been so free a guest? She was clever, as he +knew, but the burden of her secret had marked its shadows upon her face. +What excuse would she offer the Duchess for her sudden departure? The +girl was dear to him, dearer than anything in the world but England, and +the thought of making a choice between her safety and the performance of +his duty was bitterly painful to him. Eight o'clock passed--nine. He had +gone inside the house again, for the actions of any stranger in +Konopisht were sure to be conspicuous and he felt himself already an +object of notice. But at last unable to bear the suspense inactive, he +went out, crossed the road and stood, his teeth clenched upon his +extinguished pipe, his gaze upon the road which led to the gates of the +Park. + +There she came to him, out of the darkness. At the touch of her fingers +he started, for he had not been expecting her from this direction, but +the sound of her voice fell like the balm of her presence upon his +spirit. + +"Thank God," he gasped. "Marishka, I was afraid----" + +"I came as soon as I could," she whispered rapidly in English. "It was +difficult. I could make no excuses for leaving. I pleaded fatigue and +went to my room. And when the opportunity offered, stole out through the +garden." + +"And your absence will not be discovered----?" + +"Not until tomorrow--when, please the Holy Virgin, I shall be at +Schoenbrunn." + +He took her in his arms and kissed her warmly, but he felt the restraint +in her caress. + +"Hugh, beloved, let us wait upon duty for our own happiness. I cannot +rest until I have told our dreadful secret. You have a motor car?" + +"Come," he said. And taking her small valise with his own, he led the +way to the spot where the machine was awaiting them. Marishka gave +directions and in a few moments they were off. The danger of detection, +once beyond the village, was slight, and their purpose to reach the +railroad at Budweis and take a late train to Vienna was not difficult of +accomplishment. The machine was none too good, but the road for the main +part was excellent. Renwick's arm was about the girl, and they sat +discussing their plans for the immediate future. + +"You have no fear for what you are about to do?" he asked. + +"What should I fear?" she said lightly. "I am only doing my duty." + +"There will be difficulties, will there not?" + +"Perhaps. But I shall succeed. Prince Montenuovo, the High Chamberlain +of the Court will listen to me." + +"But you will not tell him all." + +"Not unless it is necessary. You, Hugh, will take me to him." + +Renwick was silent for a moment. + +"Marishka," he said at last, "we share a terrible duty, yours to +Austria, and mine to England----" + +"But mine--is it not the greater?" she pleaded. "You must not speak, +Hugh, until I have given you permission." + +Renwick folded his arms and gazed stolidly into the darkness. + +"I must tell what I know to Sir Herbert," he said firmly. "You must not +ask me to be silent." + +He noticed the change in her voice as she replied, "Is my happiness so +slight a thing that you can refuse the first request I make of you?" + +He caught her hand to his lips. + +"Marishka, you know----" + +"My first request----" + +"There is nothing in the world that I would not do for you. You would +think little of me if I did not do my duty." + +"And of your duty to me----? Is that nothing?" + +Renwick smiled into the darkness. Had he been told six months ago that +he would be bandying the interests of England against the plans of a +pretty woman he would have laughed the idea to scorn. + +"What do you wish me to do, Marishka?" he asked gently. + +With a swift impulse, she threw her arms about his neck, whispering in +his ear. + +"O Hugh, I cannot bear that there should be a difference between us, +today, the first of our _fiancailles_. It will perhaps make no great +difference that you should tell what we have heard, for your country, +thank the Holy Virgin, is at friendship with mine. If you would but wait +until I give you permission." + +"And if something happened to me in the meanwhile----?" + +"Nothing can happen. No one at Konopisht can know. I am sure of +that--sure." + +Perhaps the moment of danger that had threatened their happiness had +made each more considerate, and the two great secrets that they +possessed, their own and the other more terrible one had strengthened +the bond between them. + +"I will wait until you have been to Schoenbrunn," he decided. + +"Until I give you permission," she insisted. + +He kissed her. She believed it to be a promise and the tight pressure of +her hand rewarded him. In that moment of _rapprochement_, the destinies +of nations seemed a matter of little moment to them. + +"You will marry me soon, Marishka?" he murmured. + +"Perhaps," she whispered gently. + +Morning brought the pair in a _fiacre_ into the Schottenring, Marishka +weary but resolute, Renwick somewhat dubious as to their appearance at +this early hour alone in the streets of Vienna. But at his suggestion +that they drive first to the house of Marishka's aunt and guardian, +Baroness Racowitz, where some excuse could be made for the girl's +unexpected visit, Marishka only shook her head and gave the town address +of Prince Montenuovo, who, as she knew, was still in residence, the +Emperor not being expected at Ischl until the middle of July. Nor would +she permit Renwick to accompany her within the house, and so he sat +alone in the humble _fiacre_ for what seemed an interminable time, until +a man in livery came down the steps and gave him a note in Marishka's +hand. + + "I have succeeded in getting an audience. Go to the Embassy and + await word from me. Silence." + +And so at last he drove away to his hotel, sure at least that for the +present he had done his duty to Marishka. But this was no boy-and-girl +matter. The lives of nations, perhaps, hung upon his decision. In a weak +moment he had promised Marishka an impossible thing. He did not know +what danger hung over him. If anything happened to him England might +never know until it was too late. The vision of Marishka's pale face +haunted him, but he decided to take no further chances, and locking +himself in his own rooms, he wrote a long statement, in which he +accurately recounted his experience in the garden the day before. This +letter written, sealed, addressed, and given to a trusted servant to be +delivered into the hands of the Ambassador at a given time, Renwick +breathed a sigh of relief, then bathed, dressed, and waited. + +It was not until some days later that he heard in detail of Marishka's +visit to the Emperor. The High Chamberlain, aware of the visit of the +Countess Strahni to Konopisht, and convinced of her earnestness and +anxiety, had acted immediately. The Emperor fortunately was not ailing +and the audience was obtained without difficulty. Franz Joseph at +eighty-four, and burdened with more sorrows than those that fall to the +lot of the average man, still found interest in the complaints and +petitions of his subjects and had audience on certain days at +Schoenbrunn. It was this intimate touch with his people, kept through +many years, which endeared him to his subjects, and stories of his +paternal kindness were thus continually sent the length and breadth of +the nation. + +Marishka was shown into an antechamber in the Emperor's private suite +where for what seemed an interminable time she sat and waited. At length +her sponsor appeared and conducted her along a short corridor past +several rooms to a white door which the Prince opened, and then stood +aside as Marishka entered. + +"The Countess Strahni," he announced. + +Marishka, a little bewildered and frightened, advanced uncertainly, her +eyes dazzled by the brilliant sunlight which streamed in at the south. +As she hesitated, a voice near the furthest window spoke reassuringly. + +"Come in, child," it said. "I am here." + +She advanced with trembling knees, aware of an old man in a military +blouse sitting in a large chair beyond a desk. The infirmities of age +and suffering had bowed his shoulders and to Marishka the Emperor seemed +smaller than when she had seen him last, smaller and very much older. +There was a stillness about his person, a quality of resignation and +quiescence that was almost statuesque. But his whiskers and mustache, +carefully groomed, were brushed upward and outward from the rather heavy +lip and chin, and had a military cut which comported well with the +dignity of his appearance. His eyes, the right one much smaller than the +left, were light gray in color, and as her own gaze caught them, very +grave and kindly, like his voice, which as he spoke gave her every +encouragement to be at her ease. + +"You will pardon the infirmities of an old man and forgive me for not +rising," he said gently. "Will you be seated, here, before me, where I +may look at you?" + +There was a pathetic touch of his old gallantry in the gesture which +accompanied the words, and a bright flash of his eyes as Marishka came +forward into the light and stood before him. Even today the Emperor was +not immune from the charms of feminine beauty. Marishka did as she was +bidden, sitting upon the edge of her chair before the old man, gazing at +him again, without words to begin. + +"His Highness has told me that you have something of importance to +communicate," said the Emperor with a smile. "Your grandfather once did +me a service. If there is anything that I may do----" + +The quiet voice paused and she was conscious of the gaze of the gray +eyes upon her in gentle inquiry. + +"It is nothing that I want, Sire," she murmured haltingly. "It is +something of the utmost importance that has occurred--at +Konopisht--which I thought it necessary that you should know--something +of the gravest moment to the State--to Austria--and to--to Your +Majesty." + +She paused breathless, finding speech difficult. + +She saw his eyebrows upraised slightly and then contracted, while his +gaze upon her grew concentrated. + +"You may speak freely, child. There is no one here who hasn't the +interests of my country at heart." + +Marishka glanced around swiftly, her pulses throbbing. Prince Montenuovo +stood beside the desk, immovable. + +"Your Majesty," she almost whispered, "my information is of such a +character----" + +She paused again and felt the old man's gaze upon her in deeper interest +and curiosity. There was a silence, but if he had had a momentary doubt +of her, it was speedily dispelled, for his rather weary lips parted in a +smile, as he turned to his Chamberlain. "If Your Highness will be +pleased to await my call----" + +Prince Montenuovo with a bow withdrew. + +"Now, child," said the Emperor, bending slightly forward in his chair, +"will you not tell me freely what has bothered you?" + +"Your Majesty," said Marishka, plunging breathlessly into her subject, +"I was stopping at Konopisht at the castle of the Archduke Franz. The +Duchess of Hohenberg, formerly the Countess Chotek, was a friend of my +mother's, and for many years our families have been intimate." + +She saw the slight contraction of the heavy brows at the mention of +Sophie Chotek's name, but she went on rapidly: + +"Sire, when you know how long our families have been friendly, how kind +Her Highness has been to me since the death of my father and mother, you +will understand that what I am about to say--to reveal--is very painful +to me. I could not speak, Sire, even now, unless the welfare of Austria +and of Your Majesty were not more important to me than any personal +considerations whatever." + +As she paused painfully again, he encouraged her with a smile. + +"Go on, child," he said. + +"I was at the tennis court, playing with"--she paused and blushed +prettily--"with a friend. The game finished, we--we went into the garden +and sat upon the lawn in the shade of some foliage where it was cool. I +did not know, Sire, nor did my companion, of the presence of royalty at +Konopisht, and did not remember that I had been told not to go into the +rose garden until it was too late." + +"Too late?" he asked keenly. + +"We were interested, talking, and not until the sound of footsteps upon +the graveled walk near the arbor, did I realize how grave a violation of +the hospitality of the Archduke had been committed. I should have fled, +but, Sire, I could not. I was frightened. And so we stayed, hidden in +the foliage by the arbor." + +"So!" he broke in, his voice speaking the word with a rising inflection +of intense interest. "It is well that you have come. I, too, know +something of the visitors to the roses of Konopisht. The talk was not +all of roses, _nicht wahr_?" he said quietly, with a little bitterness. + +"No, Sire. The talk was not all of roses," said Marishka. + +"Go on, then," he continued. "Spare me no word of what you heard or saw. +Nothing." + +And Marishka, composing herself with an effort, obeyed the command. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE HABSBURG RAVEN + + +The Emperor heard her through until the end, with a word here, a sudden +question there, the gravity of the girl's disclosures searing more +painfully the deeply bitten lines at eye and brow. But he did not +flinch. It seemed that grief and pain had already done their worst to +that frail body. For whatever this Habsburg's failings, fear was not one +of them. There was resolution too in the clenching of the freckled fist +upon the chair arm and in his footsteps as he started up from his chair +and walked the length of the room. Bowed though his shoulders were with +the weight of his years, he was still a figure to respect--a +personality. Marishka watched furtively, waiting for him to speak again +as he strode back and forth, but his brows were deeply tangled in +thought and his shoulders were more bent than ever. It almost seemed +that he had forgotten her presence. + +But at last he turned toward where Marishka, who had risen and was still +standing, was awaiting his pleasure. He came straight toward her and +extended his fingers. She sank to her knees to kiss them, but he caught +her by the hand and restrained her. + +"You have done well, Countess Strahni," he said quietly. "The men of +your House have always been brave soldiers and good citizens, the women +comely and loyal, and you, my child, have today done much to continue +the honorable traditions of your family. Austria is, for you, as she is +for us all, the Mother, whom God blesses in the loyalty of her children. +As for those"--and his brows clouded--"who follow the devices of their +own hearts, those who consider neither the family law nor the human +law----" He paused, turned and sank into his chair, leaning forward +again intently as the new thought struck him. "Who was your companion, +Countess?" + +Marishka flushed a little but said quietly, + +"A gentleman--an Englishman----" + +"So!" again the rising inflection, followed this time by a slight frown. +"An Englishman!" + +"A friend of mine, Sire," she went on with an access of dignity. "Herr +Renwick, an attache of the British Embassy----" + +"Ah, I understand. He has told?" + +"He has given me his promise to reveal nothing until I had been at +Schoenbrunn and then only with my permission." + +"I see," said the Emperor with a frown. "He is discreet?" + +"He has a reputation for discretion, Sire; I think he may be trusted." + +"So," said the Emperor. "Where is he now?" + +"I was to communicate with him later." + +"Giving him permission to speak?" + +"Yes, Sire." + +"It is a pity," he muttered, as though meditating aloud. "We have washed +enough linen in public. And this----" He turned abruptly toward her. +"You have influence with this Herr Renwick?" he asked keenly. + +Marishka was painfully embarrassed. + +"A little, Sire, I think." + +"You have served Austria well today, Countess Strahni. You can serve her +again if you can prevent this Herr Renwick from communicating with Sir +Herbert Southgate.... This is no concern of England's." + +"I will do what I can, Sire. But the matter, it seemed, was of grave +importance to Herr Renwick. He is an able diplomat and most +intelligent." + +The Emperor regarded her almost wistfully. + +"It would be a pity," he said, "if Herr Renwick should be discredited at +the Austrian court----" + +"It would ruin him, Sire," said Marishka apprehensively; "if he tells +what he knows, he would only be doing his duty." + +"He must not tell, child," said the Emperor gravely. "This is Austria's +secret and her sorrow. You realize that, do you not?" + +Marishka bowed her head, painfully. + +"Yes, Sire." + +"You will promise me to do what you can?" + +She looked into the face of this tired old man and a great pity for him +swept over her. + +"I will, Sire. I will ask him not to tell--demand it of him even if----" + +She paused and hid her face in her hands, unable to say more, trying to +hide the true nature of the sacrifice he was asking of her. + +The Emperor understood and laid a kindly hand upon her shoulder. + +"I understand, my daughter. I pray that no bitterness may come between +you, on account of this. Responsibility comes to you early, and yet you +cannot--must not shirk it." + +"And if he refuses----?" she pleaded. + +The wrinkled face broke into a smile, the gray eyes were bright in +admiration. + +"I am sure," he said gallantly, "that Herr Renwick could refuse you +nothing. Were I younger----" He paused with a sigh and smiled again. "I +am not sure even now that I am not a trifle jealous of this discreet +Englishman of yours." And, then, aware of her intense embarrassment, +"But I am sure that you will succeed." + +"I shall try, Sire," she murmured. + +And still he seemed loath to let her go, walking toward the window where +he stood in the sunlight looking down upon the lovely gardens beneath +him. + +"Perhaps you did not know, Countess, that this visit to the roses of +Konopisht has caused us some concern here in Vienna. Berchtold, who went +yesterday to Konopisht, will, of course, discover nothing. The Duchess +of Hohenberg is a very clever woman. You know her as a friend. If her +loyalty to her friends is as sincere as her ambitions for her children, +then you can surely have no cause for complaint. Friendship begets +friendship, but those who love Austria may not serve other gods--or +goddesses. You have considered these things, and however difficult the +task--have chosen?" + +"It has been bitter, Sire. I can never go back to Konopisht." + +"I am sorry. A terrible lesson awaits Sophie Chotek. I have been sorely +tried. As for the Archduke Franz--a reckoning--a reckoning----" + +She saw the old man pause and start a pace back from the window, toward +which he stared, wide-eyed and immovable. There, upon the sill of the +window, a black bird had suddenly appeared and hopped awkwardly to and +fro. It seemed perfectly at home, and not in the least frightened, +peering into the room with its head cocked upon one side, a baleful +purplish glitter in its eye. + +In a flash Marishka remembered the legend which connects every +misfortune of the House of Habsburg with the appearance of this bird of +ill omen: the flight of ravens at Olmuetz, the raven of the ill-fated +Maximilian at Miramar, the raven of the Archduchess Maria Christina on +the eve of her departure for her future kingdom of Spain, the raven +which came to the Empress Elizabeth on the afternoon before the day of +her assassination,--all these incidents so closely connected with the +royal figure before her, passed quickly across her mind as they must +have crossed that of the Emperor. He sank into his chair and she +followed his gaze through the window again. The somber bird had gone. + +Marishka stood in silence, not daring to move, aware of the terrible +undercurrent of thought which must be racking the mind of her sovereign, +this man of sorrows, who stood upon the brink of the grave and peace, +and yet who must still live and suffer until the curse of the Countess +Karolyi should be utterly fulfilled. + +"Sire," she muttered after a moment, "can I----" + +He stirred, and raised a pallid face to hers. It was quite composed now, +but marked with a sadness inexpressible. + +"You may leave me now, child. I am a little tired. If you will touch the +bell upon the table----" + +He paused as she did so, and a servant entered. + +"You will tell Prince Montenuovo that the audience is concluded," he +said. + +Marishka fell upon her knees before him, and touched his fingers to her +lips. + +"May God bless Your Majesty," she murmured half-hysterically, scarcely +knowing what she said, "and give you peace." + +She was aware of his smile as she arose. + +"Go, Countess," he said, "you have done well. Keep this secret at +whatever the cost to yourself. Those who love Austria must now be +prepared to suffer for her. My blessing, child." + +She obeyed the gesture of his hand and followed the High Chamberlain +into the outer corridor. + + * * * * * + +Marishka's first thought, upon emerging from the palace, was that she +must find Hugh Renwick at once. A new idea of her duty had been born in +her. The importance of keeping this secret of theirs from England had +not seemed as obvious before her visit to Schoenbrunn. The thought of her +lover's possible refusal of her request now seemed appalling. As she +remembered his sober face last night in the automobile, when this topic +had caused her a moment of unhappiness, it seemed that his refusal to +accede to her request was more than possible. She had liked Hugh Renwick +because he was strong, honest, reliable, serious,--qualities she had not +found abundant among the younger men of the ancient families of her +country. She loved him now because, against many obstacles, he had at +last carried her heart by storm. But she realized that the very +qualities she had most admired in him were the very ones that would make +her present task most difficult. + +He had given his word not to reveal the secret to his Ambassador without +her permission. That was his promise, given, she knew, grudgingly, and +only because he felt for the moment that her duty took precedence over +his own. But was it, after all, merely a question of precedence? And +would he, now that he had kept his promise so far, insist upon doing his +manifest duty to his own country? Fears assailed her that she might not +be able to prevail. His love for her was untried. How far might she rely +upon it in this inevitable conflict between them? And if he refused her! + +The motor car of the Prince carried her to the apartments of the +Baroness Racowitz, where, after a rapidly thought-out explanation of her +sudden visit which seemed satisfactory, she wrote a note to Hugh +Renwick, asking him to come at once to her, addressing it to his +apartments in the Strohgasse and telling the servant if he was not at +home to take it to the Embassy. This note dispatched, her mind somewhat +more at ease, she joined the Baroness at luncheon. + +Baroness Racowitz, her father's sister, was a woman of liberal views. +Educated in England, she had absorbed some of the democratic spirit of +the West, and so looked with favor upon the suit of the young Englishman +who had won his way into Marishka's heart. Today, however, in spite of +the confession which trembled upon her lips, Marishka remained silent. +And the mere fact that she did not speak added conviction of the danger +which threatened her happiness and Hugh Renwick's. + +As the afternoon waned she grew apprehensive, and it was not until +evening that he came. His appearance did little to reassure her. + +"Your note did not reach me until a few moments ago," he began soberly. +"I went upon a mission to the ministry which has kept me all day." + +"I have been worried," she began nervously. "I went to Schoenbrunn this +morning----" + +"I know it," he broke in quickly. "Otway, of the Embassy, saw you +leaving in the Prince's car." + +Something in his tone, in the avidity with which he had seized upon her +phrase, warned her of the truth. + +"Oh, Hugh," she cried, "you have already told!" + +His voice sank a note lower, and its very earnestness seemed to make the +barrier between them the greater. "This morning when I left you, I wrote +a complete statement of what happened at Konopisht, and gave it to a +servant with instructions to deliver it at the Embassy at a certain +hour. When I tell you that I was bidden to the Ministry this afternoon, +closely questioned and detained in violation of all precedent, you will +understand that from my own point of view, I acted wisely." + +"You mean----" + +"I mean that larger forces than yours and mine have taken control of the +situation." + +"Then your message has been delivered?" + +"Yes." + +"Oh, I cannot believe it of you----" she said, staring at him in +anguish. + +He smiled gently. + +"I have only done my duty----" + +"Your duty!" she said bitterly. "And what of your duty to me? You +promised----" + +"Merely," he put in quickly, "that I would wait until you had been to +Schoenbrunn." + +"No, no, you promised," she said, with rising anger. "It was my +secret--not yours. I have never given you permission to reveal it." + +"Nor having been to Schoenbrunn would have given it now, Marishka," he +said firmly. + +"And knowing this, you use subterfuge, an unmanly recantation--break +your promised word----" + +"I have broken no promise, Marishka, listen----" + +"Nothing that you can say----" + +She rose, her face hidden in her hands. "Oh, you have done me a +damage--irreparable! I too have promised----" + +"The Emperor!" + +"My sovereign--he asked this secrecy of me and you--the man I----" + +"Marishka, I love you," he pleaded, trying to take her hand. "Anything +but this! Can't you understand? I would have betrayed my trust. The +situation you placed me in was impossible. Great mischief is brewing in +Europe. Could I sit idly by and let my country be in ignorance of it? +God knows what is to happen, but whatever comes your country and mine +can have no quarrel--any more than you and I can have. England is +strong. No nation in Europe can endure without her friendship. Can't you +see? I have done Austria no wrong--a service, rather, Marishka; and +you----" + +"You can do me no further service, Herr Renwick," she said coldly, +rising. + +He was on his feet too, his face pale, regarding her steadily. + +"I cannot believe that you are willing to blame me for doing my duty. +Love can only exist in an atmosphere of respect, Marishka. Could you +have cared for me if I had been willing to seek your favor at the +expense of my own honor? Could you? Think." + +"Those who can thrive politically upon the misfortunes of my country are +my country's enemies--and mine," she said coldly. + +"I have done your country no harm--nor you. Listen, Marishka," he +pleaded tensely. "Look at me. I love you, dear, with all my heart and +soul, I love you. You cannot forget what happened to us yesterday. I +will not give you up----" + +"You must--I pray that you will leave me, Herr Renwick," and she moved +past him toward a door. + +Renwick straightened. Whatever hopes he had had in his heart that +Marishka might forgive him for acting without her consent, her action +left no doubt as to her present intentions. The bitterness the girl's +fatalism had predicted yesterday had fallen upon them quickly. But he +would not despair. As the girl was yet to learn, Renwick was not one who +despaired easily. But his years of service had given him discretion. + +"I cannot believe that you are quite in earnest," he said quietly. "I +will call upon you again when you have had time to weigh my action +impartially----" + +"I shall not be at home to you." + +"Nevertheless," he said coolly, "I shall come." + +Her shoulders moved disdainfully. "It should be enough that I----" + +"Marishka," he broke in again and came toward her, "at least give me a +chance to speak to you again--tomorrow----" + +The curtains beside her parted abruptly as she fled, leaving Renwick +staring helplessly at the embroidered hangings. + +He stood awkwardly for a moment, like a figure suddenly frozen, and then +dropping his arms to his sides turned and sought his hat and stick. For +the present at least there seemed nothing else to do. He descended the +stairs, a deeply puzzled frown upon his brows, and went out into the +darkness of the street. + +Courts and camps, they say, are the best schools, and Renwick had not +lived his thirty years in vain. He had known since last night what he +must do in England's service, and he had also known what havoc that +service must work in Marishka's mind. He had foreseen the inquietude of +the Austrian government at his possession of this state secret, and had +known that his relations with Marishka must be put in jeopardy. He knew +that she must request his silence, that he must refuse her, and that no +woman's pride, put to the test, could brook such a refusal. Like +Marishka, he had had a brief hope that this love might survive the +ordeal put upon it, but he had not been long in discovering that the +Emperor's request to Marishka had made his action seem unpardonable. And +yet he had known as he knew now, that no other course had been open to +him. Since Marishka's early visit to the Palace, an undercurrent of +events had moved swiftly. The fact that he had received a note from +Baron Lichteveld asking him to call at the Ministry, the interview +between them full of allusions on the Baron's part which showed a +complete knowledge of the situation; a veiled request, a veiled threat, +to both of which Renwick had appeared oblivious. These, and an +uncomfortable sense that he was being detained, had at last made Renwick +open his lips. The information of which he was possessed, he had told +the Baron, was in the hands of those who would at the proper time place +it before the British Ambassador. The firmness of his attitude had +brought the interview, apparently pleasant and quite unofficial, to a +sudden ending, and Renwick had left the Ministry, aware that his own +official position in Vienna had suddenly become precarious. + +His statement was now at the Embassy, and its astounding contents had +been read by his Chief. He made his way thither, somewhat dubious as to +the thrill of his achievement, aware of a shadow about him, the ghost of +yesterday's joy, which made all success save the intimate personal one +that he most craved, flat, stale, and unprofitable. In the darkness of +the street he was aware, too, that he was being observed and followed, +but he went boldly toward his destination, sure that as a member of the +staff of the British Embassy, his person at least partook of the +official immunity of his Chief. + +But there were other forces arrayed against him with which he had not +reckoned. At a deserted and unlighted corner he found his progress +blocked by two figures who attempted to engage him in a conversation. +Now thoroughly awake to a personal danger which no official immunity +could minimize, he was at once upon his guard, moving quickly into the +middle of the street. The two men followed him, and another whom he had +not seen came upon him from the rear. He dodged the blow of a stick +which caught him a stinging blow upon the forearm, but he sprang aside, +striking a furious blow full in the face of one of his antagonists and +leaping out of harm's way as the third came on; and then, finding +discretion the better part of valor, took to his heels, emerging into +the Ringstrasse some moments later, with no greater damage than a +bruised arm and the loss of his breath and hat. + +The Embassy in the Metternichgasse fortunately was not far away, and he +reached the building without further mishap, now fully aware of the +desperateness of his enemies, whom he did not doubt were employed by +those whose interests in his secret were more important even than those +of the Austrian government. Who? It was obvious. There were other +agencies at work, which drew their information from high sources with +which they had little in common. A little bewildered by the rapid march +of events, but now certain of the web of intrigue and hostility of which +he was the center, Renwick entered the office of the Embassy, breathing +a sigh of relief that he was again for the present safe within its +familiar portals. + +The Ambassador was at his desk in his private office, and Renwick went +in to him immediately, the grave faces of his Chief and Captain Otway, +the military attache, assuring him that his information had already been +received and discussed. + +"Ah, Renwick," said the Ambassador, rising, "glad you've come. We were +beginning to fear that something had happened to you. Why, what's the +matter? You're as white as a sheet----" + +"Am I, sir? Oh, it's nothing. You got my message?" + +The ambassador nodded and then quickly, "Give him a drink, Otway." And +then as the other moved across the room to obey, "You were attacked--in +the street?" + +Renwick laughed. "Oh, don't bother, please. I'm quite all right--just a +bit of a breather--that's all. You see--I ran for it. Safer, I thought. +I could have done for the beggars, if I'd had a heavier stick, but I +didn't want to make a rumpus. You see, I did well in putting the thing +on paper." + +"Are you hurt?" + +"Merely a bruised arm. Little chap with a stick--behind me." + +"Most extraordinary! I can hardly believe that the government would +dare----" + +"It isn't the government, sir, I'm afraid," he said, with conviction, as +he took his whiskey and soda. "There are others who have more to lose +than the Emperor's party by this revelation----" + +"Yes, that may be so," replied the Ambassador judicially, pacing the +floor. "Perhaps you're right, Renwick. But now that you're safe, we +should only concern ourselves with the greater issue. Tell me again in +your own words all that has happened since yesterday morning." + +Renwick obeyed, and it was far into the night before he finished, while +the faces of his auditors grew grave again. The security of this well +ordered office, with the familiar tokens of distant peaceful England all +about them, made a prosaic background for the visions which were +flashing through the minds of these three Englishmen. Even now, to +Renwick, as he related his experience again, the whole thing seemed +incredible, and the reiterated questions of his Chief, who was a prudent +man, might have shaken a less convincing witness. But Renwick had +dreamed no dream, and the returning ache in his arm left no room to +doubt the actuality of his experience. + +"You have done England a service, Renwick," said the Ambassador at last, +magnanimously. "It isn't often that such crumbs of information are +offered us--in such a way. But we will take them--and digest them +overnight. I want to sleep on this matter. And you--you will stay here +tonight, Renwick. It will be safer. Until tomorrow, gentlemen----" + +And so he dismissed them. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +SECRET INFORMATION + + +An ambassador has been wittily described as an honest man sent to "lie" +abroad for the commonwealth. He is supposed to be familiar with all the +scandal and intrigue of the court to which he is accredited, to be +possessed of countless incriminating secrets, and to steer his way amid +the maze, disturbing no ghost or skeleton of family or government, +preserving the while a calm punctilio and an exterior of fathomless +simplicity. The ambassador of modern Europe is at once a Chesterfield, a +Machiavelli, and a Vidocq. He must be a lamb, a lion, and a ferret. He +must fly upon the wing of occasion, he must condescend to act as +messenger boy to his Prime Minister, he must conduct a business office +and a fashionable restaurant and successfully run a detective bureau. + +Something of the ambitions of Franz Ferdinand and his wife had been +known to the Right Honorable Sir Herbert Southgate; the Archduke's visit +with his wife to the court of St. James was significant, and their stay +at Potsdam dutifully recorded at Berlin, had shown something of the +nature of the _rapprochement_ between Archduke and Kaiser. The visit of +the Kaiser to the Archduke's hunting lodge at Eckartzau on the Danube, +had set tongues wagging, and private information had served to warn Sir +Herbert that an understanding had been brought about. The visit to the +roses of Konopisht had not deceived the Ambassador, for it was known +that a pact of some sort had been made, but the revelations of Mr. +Renwick had been of a nature to appall. + +A night of deliberation had done little to obliterate the Ambassador's +grave fears for the future, and he communicated at once in code and in +full with the Home Government. He lost little time upon the following +day in setting in motion all the devices he possessed for obtaining +secret information as to the effect of Countess Strahni's startling +disclosures. + +For several months the surface of the diplomatic pool had been ominously +placid. Few ripples had disturbed its surface, save those occasional +ones from the direction of unquiet Serbia. But the waters were seething +now, stirred to their very lees by plot and counterplot. The advices +received by the Ambassador were alarming. Had the attack upon Hugh +Renwick failed to advise him that the military party possessed full +knowledge of the Countess Strahni's disclosures, he should soon have +discovered it. There was an undercurrent of intrigue in various high +offices which advised him that communications of the greatest importance +were passing. His own interests, of course, were best served by a +studied innocence and unconcern, and his public appearances, both social +and official, gave no sign of his intimate knowledge of approaching +calamity. + +The first surface indication of the turmoil was a polite note from the +ministry, stating that his second secretary, Hugh Renwick, was _persona +non grata_ to the Austrian government, and requesting his recall. This +indicated a definite purpose neither to ignore nor condone, and in +itself was a surprising admission of the facts. The Ambassador by note +expressed his high opinion of the abilities of his secretary and +requested the Ministry's reasons for their decision. They merely +repeated their former request without explanations. And so the +Ambassador, with a smile, which had a world of meaning, offered Renwick +his passports. + +But Renwick had no desire or intention to leave Vienna. He merely +removed his personal belongings to his apartment and stayed. That he had +ventured into deep political currents he was now sure, for though he +moved with great care, he was aware of being followed and once he was +shot at in a quiet street in broad daylight. He made no complaint to the +authorities, but only moved with greater discretion, sure that the +interests that desired his elimination were not among the Austrians. +From the point of view of the Austrian government he was merely a +discredited Englishman, and therefore a person of no importance. That +the Countess Marishka had apparently also reached the same conclusion +was evident, for though he called several times at the apartment of the +Baroness Racowitz, he was not admitted. + +With theories of his own as to the probable effect of the Countess +Strahni's bombshell, Renwick began some investigations which he +conducted with great tact and secrecy. The forthcoming visit of the +Archduke Franz to Sarajevo had assumed suddenly a vital importance. One +morning after a night conference with Sir Herbert he took the train for +Belgrade. When he returned a few days later he was again closeted with +the British Ambassador, and when night fell, he went direct to the +apartment of the Baroness Racowitz, succeeding by a handsome bribe to +the servant at the door in sending a note to the Countess Marishka, +which read as follows-- + + COUNTESS MARISHKA STRAHNI, + + A friend of yours is in grave danger, chiefly through your agency. + I pray that you will see me, if only for a moment. In doing so you + will secure for yourself an opportunity of doing a service which + you can never regret. + + HUGH RENWICK. + +When the servant returned, some moments later, Renwick was shown into +the drawing room, with the word that the Countess Strahni would see him. +She appeared almost immediately, her face a little pallid, her manner +restrained, her accents frigidly polite. But the dark eyes were +luminous, the brows were drawn inward, and her voice trembled slightly +as she spoke his name. + +"Herr Renwick, I can hardly believe that you would impose so difficult a +situation were it not that something of importance has occurred----" + +"It has, Countess Strahni," he said gravely, then paused. "I beg that +you will believe me." + +She sank into a chair and motioned for him to be seated, but he remained +standing, his eyes studying the fine line of her neck and shoulder as +she bent forward, her gaze upon the rug. There was something almost +childish in her imperiousness. He wanted to take her in his arms and +hold her there as he would have done a spoiled child, and trust the +issue to his strength and her weakness, but the quick tap of her +slippered toe upon the carpet warned him that his mission was delicate. + +"Proceed, if you please," she said after a moment. + +"You may not know, but a few days after my return from Konopisht, my +connection with the British Embassy ceased----" + +"I have heard," she broke in quickly, in a suppressed tone; "I am +sorry." + +"But my interests in the political aspect of affairs were so great that +I could not leave Vienna." + +"At least I am not to blame for the actions of the ministry." + +"Naturally. I suppose I might attribute all my misfortunes to the roses +of Konopisht," he said. + +She glanced up at him quickly and a little scornfully, but she swallowed +nervously and her toe accelerated its tapping upon the rug. + +"I beg that you will come to the point of your visit," she said quickly. + +"I will," he went on easily. "The possession of State secrets has given +me an interest in Austrian affairs which has created a pardonable +curiosity. Fortune has favored my investigations and I have learned much +here in Vienna. I have learned more in Belgrade--and in Sarajevo." + +She glanced up quickly. + +"Sarajevo! Why?" + +"You will remember that the Archduke spoke of going there to see the +maneuvers of his troops on the twenty-eighth of this month." + +"Yes." Her eyes stared at him widely now. "But what----?" + +She paused uncertainly, expecting him to go on. Instead he waited a +moment as though seeking his words carefully. + +"The Archduke plans to take the Duchess of Hohenberg to Sarajevo with +him. I came here to tell you that if she goes she will be in great +danger----" + +"Danger!" + +"Yes. There is a plot against the life of the Archduke. I thought that +as a lifelong friend, you would like to know----" + +"Assassination! Holy Virgin! Not that!" + +She had started up from her chair and faced him, trembling violently. + +"I swear to you," he said soberly, "that I have every reason for +believing that in Sarajevo the lives of both will hang by a hair." + +"But who----?" she stammered, her eyes wide with consternation. + +She paused, the thoughts that had come first into her mind, stifled in +horror. + +"It is not necessary for me to say. I am merely giving my belief based +on the closest study of political conditions." + +A slight color had come into her cheeks. + +"I am sure that you must be unduly alarmed," she said coolly. "The +Archduke will be in the midst of his friends--his whole army at +maneuvers!" Her lips found courage in a smile. "Why, the thing is +impossible!" + +Renwick leaned against the mantel, his arms folded, and went on +steadily. + +"The thing is not impossible, Countess Strahni. The danger to Franz +Ferdinand is very real--a danger that no army of Austrian soldiers can +minimize. He goes to a hostile neighborhood. He is not loved in +Sarajevo. Should not this be sufficient?" + +"You trouble me," she muttered, passing a hand before her eyes. "But I +must know more. An Archduke must have enemies----" + +"But this Archduke! Can you conceive of no reason why Franz Ferdinand +should be in danger?" he asked meaningly. + +She searched his face quickly, in her eyes the truth dawning. + +"You mean----?" + +He shrugged. + +"You should know what I mean." + +"I cannot believe----" she halted again. + +"Countess Strahni," he went on quickly, "were I still a member of the +staff of the British Embassy, I should not speak. I do not even now +accuse any group or political party of participation in this plot. The +Emperor at least is guiltless. Death has already done its worst to him. +The matter is out of his hands. But I do know that such a plot exists. +Franz Ferdinand will not return alive from Sarajevo and if the Duchess +of Hohenberg accompanies him, she, too----" + +"It is horrible--and I--I will have been the cause----" + +She sank into her chair and buried her face in her hands. + +"Perhaps now you will understand my motive in coming to you," he said +softly. "I have no desire but to serve you. England has no further +concern for Archduke Ferdinand. Forewarned is forearmed. His sting is +already drawn. But death, like this--sudden, violent, without a +chance--England has never looked with kindness upon the killing of +women, Countess Strahni." + +"It is horrible," she whispered. "Horrible! I cannot believe----" + +"Unfortunately I can give you none of the sources of my information. But +whatever my sins in your eyes, at least you will admit that I am not +given to exaggeration. You may still believe that I have taken a liberty +in coming to you; but the situation admits of no delay. The telegraph +lines are in the hands of the Archduke's enemies. The Archduke and +Duchess leave Konopisht in the morning by special train, but there is +still time to reach them." + +Marishka had risen, and was now pacing the floor, her hands nervously +clasped before her. + +"I see. I--I--understand. I--I should be grateful that you have told me. +But it is all so sudden. So terrible!" + +She paused before him. + +"I have betrayed her," she stammered through pallid lips. + +"You could do nothing else. His fortunes are hers----" + +"But not this----" she whispered. "It is too ghastly!" + +There was a long pause, and then, "Will you make the effort?" he asked. + +"Yes." + +"You must leave in an hour." + +"But how----?" + +She looked at Renwick and their glances met. + +"I will go with you," he said coolly. + +His gaze was on the dial of his watch which he had taken from his pocket +and was regarding judicially. His calmness, his impudence, enraged her. +She had sworn, because of his falseness, that she would never see this +man again, and here he was calmly proposing a night journey into +Bohemia, and she was actually listening to him. + +She turned quickly toward the door and stood, one hand grasping the +portiere, while she turned a white face toward him. + +"Thanks, Herr Renwick," she said icily, "but I go alone----" + +"That is impossible. There is danger. A night journey in a train of +uncertain quality----" + +"I hope that you will not waste words. I thank you for what you have +done, but I--I must go at once----" + +Renwick took a pace toward her. + +"Countess Strahni, if you will listen to me----" + +But he got no farther, for he knew that her will was as strong as his +own, and that forgiveness was not to be read in her eyes. + +"I beg that you will excuse me, Herr Renwick. The time is short----" + +He bowed gravely. + +"At least, you will permit me to order you a _fiacre_----" + +She nodded in assent as though to be rid of him and then turned and went +up the stairs leaving Renwick to find his way out into the darkness of +the street. + +Marishka hurried to her room and rang for her maid. In spite of the +turbulence of her thoughts, she gave her orders calmly and then prepared +for the journey. The imminence of the danger to Sophie Chotek should +have obsessed her to the exclusion of all personal considerations, but +while she dressed she could not help thinking of the imperturbable +impudence of her visitor. His kindness, his thoughtfulness, the fact +that he had done her a service, and was at this very moment doing her +another, gave her a sense of being in a false position, which made her +most uncomfortable. And yet one could not treat with contumely a person +who acted in one's interests. His calmness, his assurance enraged her. +She would never see him again, of course, but she seemed to feel the +need of some final words to convince him of the depth of her disdain. He +was so calm, so gravely cheerful, so assured, so maddeningly +considerate! She wondered now why she had not led him on to a renewed +plea for forgiveness, that she might the more effectually have crushed +him. + +But her duty to Sophie Chotek soon drove these speculations as to the +unfortunate Herr Renwick from her mind. Suppose that Sophie Chotek +questioned closely as to the reasons for Marishka's sudden departure. +What should she say? The Duchess was not one who could easily forgive a +wrong. Her placid exterior served well to conceal a strength of purpose +which had already brought her many enemies in the Royal House. That she +was capable of tenderness was shown in her adoration of her children and +in the many kindnesses she had shown Marishka herself, but there was, +too, a strain of the Czech in her nature, which harbored grievances and +was not above retaliation. Marishka's cause, as a loyal Austrian's, was +just, and she had not faltered in doing what she knew to be her duty, +but the thought of seeking the Duchess now that she had betrayed her, +required all of her courage. She had balked an ambitious woman, +stultified all her efforts to advance the fortunes of her children, and +had written her husband before the House of Habsburg a traitor to his +Emperor and his country. What if she had heard something and suspected? +Would the Duchess even listen to a plea for her own life and safety from +the lips of one who had proven an enemy, a bread and salt traitor to the +Houses of Austria-Este and Chotek and Wognin? + +But Marishka did not falter, and when the _fiacre_ came to the door she +descended quickly. The Baroness fortunately had gone upon a visit to +friends in the country, but Marishka left a note with her maid which +explained her absence, and departed alone for the railroad station, +feeling very helpless and forlorn, but none the less determined to see +her venture through to its end. + +She wore a gray traveling dress and was heavily veiled, and when she +reached the station, the guard showed her immediately into an unoccupied +compartment. This, it seemed, was unusual, as her watch indicated that +only a few moments remained before the train should leave. But she +settled herself comfortably, grateful for her seclusion, whatever its +cause, and closed her eyes in an effort to sleep. + +The last warning words of the guards had been given and the train was +already in motion when she heard a warning "Sh----" at the open window, +where a head and a pair of shoulders appeared, followed immediately by +an entire body which was suddenly projected through the opening and +landed head first upon the floor. Marishka had risen, a scream on her +lips, but something familiar in the conformation of the figure +restrained her. The tangle of legs and arms took form, and a head +appeared, wearing a monocle and a smile. It was the imperturbable but +persistent Herr Renwick. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +TWO INTRUDERS + + +Marishka was too dismayed for a moment to trust her tongue to speech. +That she was angry she knew, for she felt the blood rising to her +temples, and the words that hung on her lips were bitter, cruel and +unreasoning. + +"It is a pity, Herr Renwick," she began quite distinctly in English, +"that you have neither the good taste nor the intelligence to leave me +to my own devices." + +Renwick gathered up his stick and straw hat, bowed politely and seated +himself opposite her. Indeed, as the train was now moving rapidly, no +other course was open to him. But he wore no look of recantation. His +calmness was more impudent than ever, and he even took out and reset his +monocle. + +"Oh, I say, Countess Strahni," he said, "that's rather rough on a chap. +I had to come. It was wiser, you know." + +"I care nothing for your wisdom," she said scornfully. "If it is no more +firmly seated than your sense of honor, it can be of little value to you +or to me." + +"I'm sorry. I will try not to interfere with your comfort----" + +"You--you arranged this"--as the thought came to her--"this opportunity +for a tete-a-tete?" + +"The Countess Strahni's conception of a tete-a-tete may differ from +mine," he said with a smile. + +But his coolness only inflamed her the more. + +"You have taken an unpardonable liberty," she said wildly. "You have +already passed the bounds of decency or consideration. You have been not +only impudent but ridiculous. One service you have done me tonight. I +thank you. You may do me another--by getting out at the first station." + +He folded his arms and regarded her gravely. + +"I regret that that is impossible." + +"Why, please?" + +"Because I propose to go with you to Konopisht, and to accompany you +upon your return." + +"You--you----!" + +"One moment, please," he said quietly and with some show of spirit. "It +is not necessary that you should have a further misconception of my +motives or of my agility. I did not seek this--er--tete-a-tete. My +servant engaged this carriage. I had not hoped to have the honor of +accompanying you. Unfortunately, circumstances forced a change of plan." + +"Circumstances!" she said contemptuously. + +He bowed slightly. "As a discredited Englishman, I still possess, it +seems, some interest for certain citizens of Austria. I only discovered +the fact this evening when leaving the apartment of the Baroness." + +"You were followed again?" she asked quickly, her interest in the fact +mastering her animosity. + +"The object of my visit to you has been guessed. I was followed--but you +were followed also." + +"I----?" + +"Yes--to the station." + +"And where----" + +"Booked through to Konopisht not a foot from the back of your head in +the adjoining compartment----" + +And then as she straightened in alarm and regarded the cushioned seat +behind her in sudden terror, "But I do not think you need be unduly +alarmed. We can----" + +"They are following _me_!" she whispered. "But why? Why?" + +"Because of your friendship with the Duchess. Those who plan the death +of the Archduke are in no humor to fail." + +"Incredible! And they----" she halted again, breathless with +apprehension. + +"I fear, Countess Strahni, that your mission to Konopisht has now become +a difficult one. That is why I thought it better to go with you. The men +who are following you are moving with considerable insolence and +confidence. They will carry out their orders unless circumvented." + +"But how?" she whispered, her anger of a moment ago magically +transmuted. "What can I do?" + +He gazed out of the window at the blur of night and smiled. + +"To begin with," he said politely, "they think you are alone. You see, I +might help you, Countess Strahni, if you could manage to endure my +presence for a few hours." + +It was Renwick's innings and he made the most of them. Indeed, +Marishka sat leaning forward looking at him appealingly, aware that +after all here was the only prop she had to lean upon in this extremity. +She did not speak. The wrong he had done her and Austria was +great--unforgivable, but the merit of his service in this situation was +unmistakable. Inimical as he might be to the sentiments in her heart, +there was no disguising the relief his presence gave her or the +confidence that radiated from his calm assurance. + +"One of the men I have seen before," he said. "He has gained some +celebrity in the Secret Service. You see, we must give them the slip +before we get to Budweis. This train makes several stops. It ought not +to be difficult." + +The plural pronoun seemed quite inoffensive now, and she even uttered +it--herself. + +"Yes," breathlessly; "but suppose they tried to stop us?" + +"Er--that would be most unfortunate," he muttered, as though to himself. + +"You don't think they will, do you?" she appealed. + +"I'm sure I don't know," he said thoughtfully. + +For some moments he said nothing and Marishka, whose pride had come +again to her rescue, gazed steadily out of the window away from him, +trying to forget her dependence upon her companion, whose initiative and +devotion were hourly growing more in importance. Whatever his private +purposes in aiding her, and she had no reason to doubt his +disinterestedness, for the present at least they had a common duty to +humanity which must be performed at any costs to prejudice or pride. + +At the next station a surprise awaited them. The door of their +compartment was opened, a man entered and bowing most politely, quickly +closed the door behind him. Marishka examined him with apprehension, +noticing that he seemed more interested in the Englishman than in +herself, for in the brief glance he gave Renwick, the suavity of his +demeanor seemed for a brief moment to have changed. + +He was a person of middle age, tall, stockily built, but withal rather +jaunty in appearance, and when he smiled again he disclosed a gold tooth +which seemed to Marishka for some reason inexpressibly reassuring. He +rubbed his hands together and looked a great deal like a successful +head-waiter in mufti. But he glanced from one to the other quickly and +settled himself in a corner with an air of being very much at home, +which removed the earlier impression. Renwick took the initiative at +once. + +"A pleasant evening," he said to the newcomer, in German. + +"One might say so," replied the other, bowing calmly. + +"But one doesn't?" asked Renwick. "The conditions are not so propitious +as they were a while ago. A storm is brewing perhaps?" + +The man examined him steadily, aware of the double meaning, but only +smiled again. Renwick got up and with great deliberateness, moved the +length of the aisle, and, while Marishka followed him with her gaze, +seated himself directly opposite the intruder. The man made a movement +with his right hand which he put into the side pocket of his coat, but +as Renwick sat, he smiled again and shrugged. + +"You are traveling to Budweis and beyond?" asked the Englishman. + +"To Budweis and beyond," said the other coolly. "And I would advise Herr +Renwick," he went on quickly, "that the hotels of Budweis are +excellent." + +"Ah!" That he had come out into the open suited Renwick's plans +excellently. He removed his monocle and slipped it into a waistcoat +pocket. "To be sure. Budweis. Unfortunately the lady whom I have the +honor to accompany, visits friends at some distance in the country." + +"The Countess Strahni must go to the Kaiser von Oesterreich Hotel at +Budweis tonight," he said with precision. "It is near the station." And +then quickly "I would also advise Herr Renwick to move at once to the +other end of the compartment." + +Renwick stared at him for a moment as though he had not understood his +meaning and then shrugged and rose. Polite amenities had ceased. He +turned half toward Marishka and then, without warning, threw himself +furiously at the man. + +There was a muffled discharge as the stranger attempted to draw the +weapon from his pocket, but the bullet did no damage, and the +Englishman's blow, fiercely struck, sent the other reeling sideways. He +smiled no longer, but struggled upward gamely. Renwick had caught his +pistol hand and forced him down to the floor, where he pinioned him with +his weight. + +The whole affair had happened so quickly that after one gasp of terror, +Marishka had sat stupefied with horror. But as the struggle continued, +the man on the floor began to shout lustily for help, and she sprang to +the aid of the Englishman, who was choking the man by twisting his +cravat. + +"Your veil--quick," he stammered breathlessly. And after she had given +it to him, "Now, take the revolver from his coat pocket." + +She obeyed. Most of the fight was out of their antagonist, and the +muzzle of the automatic, thrust beneath his nose, completed his +subjugation. After they had gagged him, they bound his wrists and ankles +with handkerchiefs, and then straightened and looked at each other, +listening. Marishka's eyes were sparkling and the color was coming back +into her cheeks. + +"He--he might have killed you," she stammered in English. + +"Or I him," said Renwick. "Thank the Lord, I didn't have to. Do you +think they heard?" + +They listened again, but there was no sound above the roar of the train. + +"We'll have to get out of this--at the first stop--and run for it. I +don't know where we are, but Budweis can't be far off. You still want to +go on?" + +"Yes, I must," she cried resolutely. "I must. Oh, God, if I failed now, +I could never forgive myself." + +"You see--they're determined----" + +He paused, staring at the mummy upon the floor, who had raised his head. +One eye was badly damaged, but the other was frowning at them comically. +But neither Renwick nor Marishka felt like laughing. Renwick started +suddenly toward the window and peered out, for the train was coasting +and ahead of them in the distance he saw the lights of a station. + +"Quickly!" he said to the girl. "There's nothing for it but to go out on +the opposite side. The door is locked." He glanced at the prostrate +figure. And then to Marishka, "You must follow me." + +He did not wait for her answer, but opening the closed window he swung +himself from the floor by a grip on the door jamb, put his feet out and +lowered himself to the running board. The brakes were on now as the +train approached the station, but still Marishka hesitated. + +Renwick's face appeared in the aperture. "All clear," he whispered, "the +tracks on this side are empty. Wait until the train stops and then step +out--quickly, please." + +There was no denying his command of her and of the situation, and, +difficult as the feat appeared, in a moment she was sitting on the sill, +her feet depending outside into the darkness, where Renwick without +another word seized her in his arms and lowered her to the step beside +them, thrilled by the danger of her flight, but ready to follow wherever +he led. + +With a grinding of brakes the train stopped, but they got down quickly, +and in a moment had dodged behind a building, and listening for sounds +of pursuit, made their way up the dimly lighted street of a small town. +It was not yet midnight and there were signs of activity here and there. +She hurried beside Renwick blindly, content as he was for the present to +put as much distance as possible between themselves and the railroad +station. They listened anxiously for the train to move, but there was no +sound of bell or exhaust. The distant shouts seemed more ominous. +Renwick only glanced behind them and hurried the pace. He led her around +a corner, into a well-lighted street where an automobile, its engine +running, was standing before a rather pretentious house. He ran up to it +and examined it quickly. + +"It's really too bad," he muttered, with a quick glance toward the +house, "but our need is great," and got in, Marishka following without a +word. "It's a Mercedes, thank God," he whispered. "I hope it will go." + +It did, with a sputter and roar which brought a shouting figure to the +door of the house, but Renwick was beyond stopping and turned blindly at +the next turning and followed the street through the sleeping town into +a well-traveled country road, which led straight onward toward the +setting moon. + +"I haven't the slightest notion where we're going," he said presently, +"but we seem to be on our way." + +Marishka found herself laughing nervously. She wasn't in the least +amused, but the strain was telling on her. + +"Nice chap--the owner of this car, to put it just there. I'll have to +buy it, I suppose. No end of a good machine. I wonder if he thought to +fill the tank." + +Renwick ran the car up a long hill which it took with ease, and at the +summit the moonlit summer landscape was visible for miles in all +directions. There at a crossroad the Englishman stopped the stolen car +in the shadow of a tree, got quickly out and investigated the tank. + +"Plenty of petrol--enough for all night, I should say," he reported. +"And now"--as he looked around him in all directions--"which way? Hanged +if I know." + +Marishka was scanning the valley below them eagerly. In the distance to +their right a row of lights moved slowly into the night. "The train!" +she said, "Budweis lies in that direction. I've often been over the road +from Konopisht. If we can reach it----" + +"That ought not to be difficult. Here goes." And he took the crossroad +to the right. + +So far all was well, but the stolen motor car was a dead weight on +Renwick's conscience, and the danger of detection was still most +unpleasant. If an excuse were needed for his arrest, a pretext which +would hide the real secret of the mission of his pursuers, the larceny +of the machine would now furnish it. He had no humor to see the inside +of a village jail from which communication with the Ambassador would be +difficult if not impossible. There were processes of law in Austria +which suddenly became formidable to one in his position. But he drove +on, keeping a lookout for sign posts, aware that the girl beside him, +now that their danger was passed, had again assumed an uncompromising +silence which was not too favorable an indication of the state of her +mind and feelings toward him. He smiled inwardly. At least she could not +rob him of the moment when on the steps of the train he had held her in +his arms. He did not doubt that she was thinking of that moment also, +hating him the more cordially because she was so dependent on him. Did +she hate him? He stole a glance at her. She sat stiffly staring before +her into the night, a frown at her brows, her lips closed in a thin +line. Pride? + +"Marishka," he ventured softly, "will you forgive me?" + +Her figure grew more rigid. + +"Herr Renwick----!" she gasped. + +"I love you," he broke in. "You must know how much----" + +"It is a pity that I have already gauged your capacity for devotion," +she said bitterly. + +"I _had_ to tell, Marishka----" + +"Herr Renwick, I am already much in your debt. Add to my burden, if you +will, by keeping silence on a matter so painful----" + +"Forgive me----" + +"Never. You have betrayed me." + +"I'll never give you up." + +"You must. Circumstances have placed me in this false position. I am at +your mercy. I beg you to be silent." + +"You will marry me, some day, Marishka," he asserted cheerfully. + +"Never," scornfully. "Never. The House of Strahni, Herr Renwick, holds +honor high and loyalty even higher than honor----" + +"There is another precept of the House of Strahni," he broke in calmly. +"Their women--where they give their lips----" + +"Oh, you are intolerable! I abominate you!" + +"And I--I still adore you," he whispered. "I shall always adore--and +serve." + +"Thank God, the hour of your service nears its end," she said chokingly. + +"Who knows?" he muttered. + +But he made no further attempt to break through her reserve. She was too +greatly in his power. And so he drove in silence, passing through the +silent streets of Budweis without challenge and soon found himself upon +the main highroad to Prague, over which the two had traveled less than a +week ago in their hurried flight to Vienna. The moon had long since set, +but when they climbed the hills along the Moldau faint gray streaks upon +their right hand proclaimed the coming of the dawn. If Marishka was +weary she gave no sign of it, for she sat bolt upright in her seat, her +eyes wide open, staring along the thin yellow ribbon which marked their +road. To the few questions as to her comfort she answered in +monosyllables, and at last he made no further effort to engage her in a +conversation. He felt no anger at her rebuffs--only tenderness--for in +his heart he could not altogether blame her for her repudiation of him. + +Broad daylight found them on the Prague highroad, not three miles from +Konopisht Schloss. Here Renwick decided to desert the car and go afoot +through the forest to the castle. He hid the machine in a thicket and +led the way, Marishka following silently, content to trust herself to a +judgment which until the present moment had seemed unerring. He glanced +at her from time to time, aware of the pallor of her face and the +fatigue of her movements. Once when he turned he fancied that her lips +were smiling, but when he spoke to her she answered him shortly. The +wounds to her pride were deep, it seemed, but he armed himself with +patience and smiled at her reassuringly as they paused at the edge of +the wood. + +"The Schloss is just beyond these woods, I think. Some smoke is rising +yonder. We must avoid the village. I think we may reach the garden by +the lower gate. And there I will await you, Countess Strahni," he +finished quietly. + +It seemed as though in giving her her title, that he was accepting +without further plea any conditions of formality in their relations +which she might impose. + +She waited a long moment without moving or replying. And then she turned +toward him with a smile. + +"Herr Renwick," she said gently, "whatever the personal differences +between us, I owe you at least a word of gratitude for all that you have +done. I thank you again. But I do not wish you to wait for me. I shall +not trouble you longer." + +"I will wait for you," he repeated. + +"It is not necessary. I shall not return." + +"You might, you know," he smiled. "I don't mind waiting at all. I shall +breakfast upon a cigarette." + +"Oh," she cried, her temper rising again, "you are----you are +impossible." + +With that she turned and strode ahead, reaching the gate before him and +entering. + +"_Au revoir_, Countess Strahni," he called after her. + +But she walked rapidly toward the rose garden without turning her head, +while Renwick, after lighting his cigarette, strolled slowly after her, +sure that the world was very beautiful, but that his path of love even +amid the roses did not run smoothly. + +He reached the hedge just in time to see a man, one of the gardeners he +seemed to be, come forward along the path from the direction of the +castle and stand before Marishka bowing. He saw the girl turn a glance +over her shoulder, an appealing glance, and Renwick had just started to +run forward when from each tree and hedge near him figures appeared +which seemed to envelop him. He struck out to right and left, but they +were too many. He felt a stinging blow at the back of his head, and had +the curious sensation of seeing the garden path suddenly rise and smite +him tremendously. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +HERR WINDT + + +When Renwick managed again to summon his wits, he found himself lying in +the dark where somebody was bathing his brows with a damp cloth. His +head ached a great deal and he lay for a moment without opening his +eyes, aware of soft fingers, the touch of which seemed to soothe the +pain immeasurably. He opened his eyes to the semi-obscurity of a small +room furnished with the cot on which he lay, a table and two chairs. It +was all very comfortable and cozy, but the most agreeable object was the +face of Marishka Strahni, not a foot from his own. Through eyes dimmed +by pain he thought he read in her expression a divine compassion and +tenderness, and quickly closed them again for fear that his eyes might +have deceived him. When he opened them again he murmured her name. + +"Marishka," he said gently, "you--you have forgiven me?" + +But she had moved slightly away from him and was now regarding him +impassively. It was too bad for his vision to have played him such a +trick. It was so much pleasanter to sleep with Marishka looking at him +like that. + +"You have had a blow upon the head, Herr Renwick," her voice came as +from a distance. "I hope you are feeling better. It was necessary for me +to bathe your head with cold compresses." + +Necessary! Of course. But it would have been so much pleasanter to know +that she had done it because she wanted to. + +"So it was _au revoir_, after all?" he smiled, struggling to a sitting +posture. + +"You had better lie still for a while," she said briefly. + +His head was throbbing painfully, but he managed to make light of it. + +"Oh, I'm quite all right, I think," he said looking around the room +curiously. "Would you mind telling me what happened and where we are?" + +"They struck you down and brought us here. It's one of the gardener's +cottages on the estate." + +"And you?" + +"They were very polite but we are prisoners--for how long I don't know. +I've failed, Herr Renwick----" she finished miserably. + +"Perhaps it isn't too late----" + +"There are men outside. They intend to keep us here for the present." + +"There ought to be a way----" said Renwick, putting his feet to the +ground. "I could----" He stopped abruptly, for at that moment he +discovered that the captured weapon had been removed from his pocket. + +"I'm afraid it's hopeless," said Marishka bitterly. + +Renwick glanced at his watch. "Only eight o'clock. Even now we +could----" + +He rose and walked to the window, peering through a crack in the +shutter, but an attack of vertigo caused him to sink into a chair. She +regarded him dubiously, pride and compassion struggling, but she said +nothing. + +"Beastly stupid of me," he groaned. "I might have known they'd spare no +detail----" + +There was a knock upon the door, and at Marishka's response, a turning +of the key, and a man entered. In spite of a discolored eye and a +wrinkled neckband, he was not difficult to identify as their friend of +the railroad train. His manner, however, was far from forbidding, for he +clicked his heels, swept off his cap and smiled slowly, his gold tooth +gleaming pleasantly. + +"Herr Renwick is, I trust, feeling better," he said politely. + +Renwick grinned up at him sheepishly. + +"I congratulate Herr Windt upon his adroitness," he said. "I fear I made +the mistake of underestimating his skill in divination." + +"It was not inspired enough to guess that you were in the Countess +Strahni's carriage," he replied. "You have quick fingers, Herr Renwick. +Fortunately I was aware of your destination and knew that we should +meet. All is well that ends well." + +"That depends upon the point of view, Herr Windt. But I might have +killed you in the railway carriage." + +"That would have been an error in judgment, which would have been most +unfortunate for both of us. I, too, might have shot you through my +pocket, but I refrained, at some hazard to myself. I try never to exceed +the necessities of a situation. Having performed my mission successfully +I can now afford to be generous." + +"Meaning--what, Herr Windt?" + +"That I shall keep you here only so long as is absolutely necessary." He +glanced at his watch and said significantly, "The Archduke's private +train will leave here in half an hour." + +Marishka had listened in some amazement to this conversation, but the +politeness of her jailer only angered her. + +"I would like to know by what authority you imprison a loyal citizen of +Austria," she stormed. "Your identity seems to have made some impression +upon Herr Renwick, but I would inform you that I at least am not without +friends to whom you will answer for this outrage." + +Herr Windt bowed low. + +"I beg that Countess Strahni will reconsider that word. I have intended +to act with great discretion. Herr Renwick unfortunately underestimated +the forces to which he was opposed. I am sorry he has suffered injury. +As for you, Countess, I beg leave to recall that those who have +restrained you have treated you with every consideration." + +"Who are you?" she asked angrily. + +"Herr Renwick has spoken my name." + +"You are a member of the secret service of the Austrian government?" + +He smiled again and bowed low. + +"It is the custom of those in my trade to ask questions--not to answer +them. In this service, however, it will please you perhaps to know that +I am not acting for the Austrian government." + +"Who then?" + +"I cannot reply." + +"You dare not." + +"Perhaps. But I am willing to admit, Countess Strahni, that the same +motive which impelled you to Schoenbrunn," he said significantly, "has +actuated both myself and my employers." + +"And that motive?" + +"The safety of the Empire." + +"Austria! But not complicity in this dastardly----" + +At a warning sound from Renwick she paused. Herr Windt was regarding her +gravely. + +"I regret that I do not comprehend the Countess Strahni's meaning," he +said with a bow. "It would be a source of great unhappiness to me, if in +doing my duty, I had done you a harm. I am not an enemy, Countess, but a +loyal compatriot. I may add that I am prepared to do what I can to +protect you from the results of your unfortunate connection with a +dangerous political situation." + +"Protect! You!" Marishka smiled bitterly and glanced ironically around +the walls of the cabin. + +"I beg to assure you that I am not jesting. Herr Renwick will recall +that he was attacked one night upon the streets of Vienna. He was also +shot at by some person unknown. The inspiration for those assaults did +not emanate from my employers." + +"I suspected as much," muttered Renwick. + +Marishka was examining Renwick wide-eyed. + +"Shot at!" she murmured. + +"The information in Herr Renwick's possession," Herr Windt went on +suavely, "was more damaging to other interests than to theirs. Herr +Renwick's connection with the British Embassy has terminated. He has +merely the status in Austria of a traveling Englishman. But his +activities are dangerous where they concern the movements of the +Countess Strahni. I am performing an act of friendship to a loyal +Austrian in offering her escort back to Vienna, where if she is wise she +will remain quietly under my surveillance." + +During this speech, of which Herr Windt delivered himself with much +bowing and rubbing of his hands, Marishka remained silent, a wonder +growing in her eyes. + +"I fail to see how my presence here or elsewhere can interest you or +others," she said as she sank upon the cot. Weariness was telling on her +and the disappointment of her mission's failure. And the threat of +danger that hung in his words was hardly reassuring. + +"Countess Strahni may doubt my good intentions. That is her privilege. +In a short time"--here he looked at his watch again--"she will be at +liberty to come and go as she chooses. In the meanwhile I beg that she +will listen to me and heed my warning." + +He looked at her until she raised her head and signified for him to +continue. "The agencies which attempted to prevent the delivery of Herr +Renwick's information to the British Embassy are again at work. Herr +Renwick having been"--he paused and bowed to Renwick--"if I may be +permitted to say so--having been repudiated by his Ambassador and by the +British government, he is politically a person of no importance--at +least as far as my relations with him are concerned. Whatever he may do +privately, unless it proves valuable to the interests of Austria's +enemies, will pass as it has already passed--unnoticed in Austria. The +case of the Countess Strahni is different----" + +He paused a moment to rub his hands together thoughtfully. + +"I can not understand----" + +"Within the past twenty-four hours the apartments of the Baroness +Racowitz have been observed by persons not in my service. The Countess +perhaps has had no unusual communications?" + +Marishka started up in her chair, while Windt, watching her, smiled +slowly. + +"Ah, I was not mistaken----" he said. + +"A request to go to the Hofburg tonight--before Herr Renwick came," she +whispered, now thoroughly aroused. "I did not go. The signature was +unfamiliar to me." + +Herr Windt took a pace toward the window and peered forth through the +slats of the blind. + +"The Countess Strahni would not have reached the Hofburg," he said +quietly. "She would have gone--er--elsewhere!" + +"The man in the green limousine!" came suddenly in cryptic tones from +the silent Renwick. + +"Exactly. He followed the Countess Strahni's fiacre in motor car to the +Nordwest Bahnhof." + +"And you?" + +"We forestalled him--that's all," he said, showing his gold tooth in a +most ingratiating smile, but there was a flash in the deep set eyes +which explained much to Renwick. + +"There was a commotion near the booking-stall," said Renwick. + +"Ah, you witnessed?" + +"From a distance. I had other affairs." + +"Yes. That will perhaps make my laxity with regard to Herr Renwick's +sudden appearance the more pardonable," said Windt, with a professional +air. + +Marishka, who had listened with growing inquietude to these revelations +of her danger, had risen and paced nervously the length of the room. + +"But why?" she pleaded. "Who can dare to molest me in my own home or in +the streets of Vienna?" + +Herr Windt rubbed his injured eye gravely. + +"The Countess Strahni has unfortunately become a political document, the +possession of which, I may even say the suppression of which, is highly +important." + +Marishka sank upon the couch, and for a moment buried her face in her +hands. + +"But what would be gained by getting me out of the way? I have already +told what I know." + +Herr Windt smiled. + +"As Herr Renwick would perhaps inform you, the place for an important +document is the safe. If the document is harmless a desk may do. If it +is incriminating, like you, Countess"--he said with a dramatic +gesture--"the fire!" + +Renwick by this time had risen and stood fitting his monocle into his +eye. + +"Astounding!" he muttered. "And yet I quite believe you." + +"There seems little room to doubt." Herr Windt walked to the window and +peered out again. "My men are all about this place, Herr Renwick, and +yet even now I am not certain that you have not been followed." + +He turned and faced Marishka with his usual bland composure. "Herr +Renwick should, I think, be able to take care of himself. I beg, +however, that Countess Strahni will not be unduly anxious. I shall +myself go outside and take every precaution." He turned at the door and +bowed. "I beg that in the meanwhile, you will come to some decision as +to your immediate plans, counting upon my efforts to aid you. There is +no train for Vienna until this afternoon," he said significantly. "I may +add that the machine in which you came from Altensteig will be returned +to its owner by one of my young men, who will explain the circumstances, +and arrange a proper compensation." + +With this parting shot delivered in his best professional manner, Herr +Windt left the room with an air of triumphant urbanity which added not a +little to the respect with which Renwick now regarded him. + +Marishka sat upright on the bed staring straight before her while +Renwick paced the floor frowning. + +"If I could only have reached her--for a moment," said Marishka +brokenly, as though thinking aloud. "She would have listened to me--she +would have believed me. I would have thrown myself upon her mercy--told +her all. It is horrible--a death like that--when a word might save them +now--and it will be I--I who have killed them----" She started up +staring at Renwick. "And you! Why do you stand there, doing nothing?" +she flung at him wildly. "You learned of this thing--at Belgrade. Why +couldn't you have prevented it? Given it publicity? Why don't you do +something now? England has power. Why doesn't your Ambassador speak? Is +he frightened? Dumb? Will he stand idly by and see this----" + +"It is none of England's affair, Countess Strahni," Renwick broke in +soothingly. + +"Then it is of Germany's?" She halted as the new idea came to her, and +walked to the small table where she sank into a chair and buried her +head in her hands, trying to think. + +After a while she raised her head suddenly and looked at Renwick. + +"Do you believe that this man tells the truth?" + +"I do. He stands high among those of his profession." + +"Do you believe that agents of the German government were trying to take +me prisoner--and you?" + +"Herr Windt is surprisingly well informed. I am quite sure that someone +is trying to shoot me," he laughed. "I believe that you were +followed--by whom I don't know." + +"Then how do you explain the efforts of German agents to take me, when I +am acting in the interests of the Kaiser's friend and ally, the Archduke +Franz?" + +"You forget that this plot is a secret one. The Archduke may fear the +Serbians and the Bosnians, not his own countrymen." + +"Oh! Yes--of course." She was silent again, but moved her hands +nervously along the table top and in a moment got up and peered through +the window-blind. + +"I beg that you will submit yourself to Herr Windt if not to +me----" pleaded Renwick earnestly. "At least in his company you will be +in no danger. I have done what I can to help you reach the Duchess, +because the secret we shared brought about this calamity. But the matter +has been taken out of my hands and yours. I advise you to return this +afternoon to Vienna." + +She did not reply and only stood by the window, tapping at the sash with +unquiet fingers. + +"You are tired," he said gently. "Lie down on this bed for awhile and I +will see what can be done about breakfast." + +"I'm not hungry." + +"You can't go without food." + +"I'm not hungry," she repeated. + +Renwick shrugged and walked to the other window, where he presently +observed Herr Windt coming around the corner of the building. That +remarkable person had thought of everything, for he carried in his hands +a coffeepot and cups, while another man followed with plates and a +saucepan. + +He turned the key in the lock and entered, putting the coffee upon the +table and rubbing his hands with a more than usual gusto. + +"I am delighted to be able to inform you that the occasion for your +detention has passed. Within certain bounds you are now at liberty. The +train of the Archduke has just passed down the valley." + +"Oh!" gasped Marishka. + +"I would advise you, however, to keep within call. If Herr Renwick will +give me his word of honor not to try to escape----" + +"I don't quite know where I should go----" + +"Very good. The wires, of course, Herr Renwick, are in the hands of +Austrian officials." + +Renwick nodded. + +"You have won, Herr Windt. I have no plans which conflict with yours." +He turned a glance toward Marishka. "Countess Strahni is very tired. I +think if we were to leave her for a few hours, she would probably eat +and rest----" + +"By all means," said Windt with alacrity, moving toward the door. "And +if Herr Renwick will follow me I think I can find another coffeepot." + +Marishka did not turn from the window as they went out of the door. Her +heart was heavy within her, and through the glaring summer sunlight +which came in at the window and beat upon her face, she saw--Sarajevo! +Sophie Chotek alighting from her train, the pomp and circumstance, the +glitter of uniforms, the crowded streets through which she must pass and +the crowd which seethed with unrest, along the street through which +Sophie Chotek must pass...! It was too horrible. She wanted to +shriek--to cry out against the infamy that was to be done, but she could +only close her eyes to try and shut the vision out. + +After awhile she grew calmer, and tried to think clearly. There was a +pitcher and basin in the corner of the room, and so she bathed her face +and hands and refreshed herself. The coffee still steamed upon the +table. There was rye bread, and there were eggs in the water of the +saucepan. She felt weak and dispirited, but it would not do to fail for +lack of strength, and so she sat and ate and drank. The plan born of her +talk with Hugh Renwick still turned over and over in her mind. Would +Renwick still be able to do something to help her? Which way should she +turn? If her own efforts to warn Sophie Chotek had been futile, if Hugh +Renwick could not do something, and England selfishly held aloof while +this horrible conspiracy which seemed to have its very tendrils hidden +in the hearts of those who should have been her friends, was under way, +what must she do? She felt dreadfully; alone, and fearfully guilty. Her +own death or the threatened imprisonment of which Herr Windt spoke +seemed slight atonements for the wrong that she had done Sophie Chotek. +If she could still succeed, by using the agents of the Archduke's +imperial friend and ally, in sending a warning through the German +ambassador at Vienna, to Budapest or Sarajevo, the consequences to +herself were immaterial. They might have her to do with as they chose; +for by this sacrifice only could she atone. She did not fear death, for +death to youth and health is inconceivable. She smiled incredulously as +she thought again of the ominous surmises of the impossible Herr Windt. +There was something of the opera bouffe about his methods which +abstracted from the brilliancy of his success. To Marishka he was still +the head waiter. This was the twentieth century. No political secret +could justify the imprisonment or death of a woman!... She shuddered a +little, as she thought of the very death that had been planned by the +employers of Herr Windt--Austrians--loyal Austrians he called them, of +the same blood and lineage perhaps as herself. She had not yet succeeded +in wholly believing it. There was some missing reason for the actions of +this secret service agent, some motive which neither she nor Hugh +Renwick had yet fathomed, which would explain her detention and his. It +was unbelievable that---- + +Marishka started at a small sound from the direction of the fireplace. +It was a curious sound, a subdued metallic clink which nevertheless +differentiated itself with startling clearness from among the already +familiar sounds of the quiet summer morning. She started up and peered +into the shadows of the hearth. There was something there, a small +object--round, wrapped in paper. She reached forward quickly, picked it +up and examined it curiously then took off its covering, disclosing an +Austrian coin--a _kroner_--nothing more. It was most mysterious. The +thing could obviously have not come from the sky. Who? + +She examined the paper closely. It seemed like a leaf torn from a note +book. There was writing on it, and moving to the window she made out the +script without difficulty. It was written in evident haste with a blunt +pencil. + + I have found a way to escape in a machine from Herr Wendt, if you + will come at once. Only one man watches the cabin by the door. + There is another in the orchard. Go quietly out by the window and + follow the hedge to the garden wall. I will be at the gate beyond + the arbor. Destroy this note. + + HUGH RENWICK. + +Marishka read the note twice to be sure that there was no mistake. She +quickly peered through the window by the door. Yes, the man was there, +smoking his pipe in the sunshine, his back against a tree, dozing. +Anything were better than this interminable suspense--this horrible +oppression of acknowledged failure. To be under further obligations to +Herr Renwick was an added bitterness to her wounded pride, but hope had +already beggared her and she could not choose. She got into coat and +hat, and after another careful scrutiny of her somnolent guardian, +quietly opened the shutters of the side window, stepped out into the +shadow of the hedge, and made her way toward the distant garden wall. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE GREEN LIMOUSINE + + +Herr Windt started up from the bench on which he had thrown himself. It +was a pity there was no earlier train for Vienna. He stretched himself +and yawned, for he confessed himself a trifle disappointed that there +was to be, after all, no test of wits between himself and the agent of +the Wilhelmstrasse who had followed the Countess Strahni to the Nordwest +station in Vienna. His men had done the fellow in the motor cap no great +damage, for his own instructions had been limited but definite: to save +Marishka Strahni in all secrecy from coming to harm, but to prevent her +at all hazards from reaching Konopisht before the Archduke and Duchess +left for Sarajevo. This simple task had been accomplished with little +difficulty. The agent of the Wilhelmstrasse, undoubtedly a person of +small caliber, had given up his efforts, or would seek a more propitious +moment, to carry it out later in Vienna. Herr Windt yawned again. His +visit to Bohemia would have been indeed a delight if a secret agent of +the caliber of Herr Hauptman Leo Goritz, or Ober Lieutenant Franz +Scheib, could have been sent upon this delicate mission to oppose him. +But there was no such luck. Herr Windt had made a careful round of +village and garden while Herr Renwick remained under the eye of his men, +and there had been no sign of anything suspicious to disturb the +monotonous peacefulness of the quiet garden. The reaction which always +followed upon success, had set in, and the famous man was now frankly +bored and somewhat fidgety. He got up and paced the stone walk a few +times and then gazed out to where his most trusted man, Spivak, was +dozing in the sun. Everything was too quiet, too peaceful. The serenity +of the landscape annoyed him. He glanced at his watch--still four hours +of this infernal quiet before their train left for Vienna. He went to +the door of the room into which Herr Renwick had gone to lie down and +looked in. The room was empty. This was not surprising, for Herr Renwick +was under parole and would have the freedom of the garden in the +immediate vicinity of the two cabins. As the morning was hot he had +perhaps gone out to enjoy the shade of the trees. But Herr Windt now +moved with alacrity and crossed the small plot of vegetable garden which +separated the two cabins, and in some haste turned the corner of the +small building which sheltered the Countess Strahni. + +Before the door, listening, a puzzled look upon his face was Herr +Renwick. + +"I have called her three times," said the Englishman quickly. "She +sleeps very soundly--or else----" + +But Herr Windt did not stand upon ceremony, for he thrust past the +Englishman, threw open the inner door, then returned bellowing lustily. + +"Gone! The room is empty----" + +"Gone!" cried Renwick. + +Windt eyed him keenly. + +"I have been yonder, by the trees, near your man----" protested Renwick +and there seemed no doubt as to his innocence. + +"Hi! Spivak! Linder! Hadwiger!" cried Windt. And as the men came running +from all directions, "She is gone. What have you been at?" + +"Gone?" + +"By the window, idiots; did none of you see her?" + +"No, Herr Windt----" + +"But she could not have flown up the chimney----" + +He halted abruptly, then dashed into the room again, peering into the +fire place and examining the furniture, all his professional instincts +keenly aroused. As he shook the bed clothing, there was a tinkle upon +the floor, and a coin rolled into the farthest corner of the room. This +he pounced upon like a dog upon a rat and brought it forth into the +light of the window. + +"A _kroner_!" he muttered. "Curious! Could she have dropped it do you +suppose?" + +"Perhaps. Her money was in a handbag," cried Renwick with his legs out +of the window. He had already espied a possible mode of escape, and +started running along in the shadow of the hedge. + +"Your parole, Herr Renwick!" shouted Windt, scrambling after him. + +"Come on then," cried the Englishman over his shoulder while the +Austrian followed swiftly shouting orders to his assistants. "Follow me, +Spivak! The Park gates, Hadwiger! Let no vehicle get out! Linder, notify +Lengelbach--the telegraph!" + +Renwick went fast but Herr Windt and the puffing Spivak kept at his +heels as they reached the garden, crossing it at full speed toward the +arbor, whither Renwick led them as though by an inspiration, through the +bushes and toward the small gate beyond, which led to the door in the +wall, over which a week ago he had climbed in his hurried flight with +Marishka to Vienna. + +Renwick was thinking rapidly. Had Marishka escaped alone--perhaps +devised a plan of her own to reach Vienna from Budweis in time to come +up with the party of the Archduke? Or had someone----He doubled his +pace, cursing his throbbing head and his own simplicity and impotence. A +trap? + +"There is a door?" stammered Windt. + +"In the bushes just beyond--a private one--usually locked----" + +"Spivak! You hear?" + +"I could not know----" panted the other. + +"You should have known----" + +They reached the small flight of steps that led down, and dashed along +the path among the bushes toward an open gate, emerging upon the road +which marked the beginnings of the village street. There were a few +people in sight, an old man hobbling upon a stick, a child with a dog, +two peasants in the shade of a tree eating their midday meal--and down +the road to the west--a cloud of dust! + +The peasants rose in alarm at the rapid approach of the three excited +men, and turned as though to flee into the safety of the adjoining +field, but Renwick overtook them. + +"You saw a lady come out of the gate yonder?" he questioned. + +"A lady, Excellency?" + +"Yes, yes. A lady and perhaps a gentlemen." + +"We are merely eating our dinner, Excellency. We--we have no wish to do +harm to anyone." + +"Idiots!" cried Windt. "A motor-car? An automobile? Did you see it? +Answer--or----" + +"A motor-car--Excellency?" the fellow stammered. "Yes--a motor-car." + +"How long since?" snapped Windt. + +"A moment only--it was here--just here--and now it is gone----" + +"Where?" + +"Y-yonder----" and he pointed down the road. + +The three men exchanged frowning glances, but Herr Windt's were the most +terrible of the three. + +"You saw? Speak--What color was this car?" + +"H--how should I know, Excellency? I was peacefully eating my dinner. +See! It is but half finished----" + +"You will never eat what remains unless you speak the truth----" he +roared. + +"I--I am speaking the truth----" + +"What color had this car?" + +"I don't understand----" + +"Its color, man--the paint?" + +"Oh! The paint----" + +"Speak! Blockhead----" + +"Excellency, I think----" he stammered in terror, "I think----" + +"What--quickly----" + +"I think, Excellency, that it was green." + +Renwick gasped. The face of Herr Windt wore a blank look as though he +had suddenly received a glacial douche. + +"_Herr Gott!_" he muttered, wiping the sweat from his brow with an +eloquent forefinger. + +"The green limousine!" muttered Renwick. + +For a moment all three men stood helplessly staring down the road toward +the west, where the dustcloud was slowly settling on leaf and hedgerow, +but there was a turn in the road which hid all objects beyond. Herr +Windt was the first to recover his initiative. + +"Clever!" he muttered. "A message! Linder should have observed----But +they will not get far. Come----" And he led the way at a quick trot in +the direction of the village, where they reached the telegraph office at +the railway station. + +While Herr Windt went inside to give his orders, Renwick sank upon a +bench outside and tried to think of what had happened and what it might +mean to Marishka and to him. The green limousine--a German secret +agent--there could be no doubt, and he, Renwick, already warned of this +possible danger to Marishka had permitted her to fall into this trap, +while he had come off unscathed. His conscience assailed him bitterly. +Trusting to the efficiency of Herr Windt's men he had slept--slept while +Marishka was being carried off to danger--to imprisonment--or +perhaps--he did not dare to think of anything worse. And Marishka must +have connived at the plan for her escape! How had the message passed? +And what was the lure? + +As the new idea came to him he rose quickly and moved toward the door of +the telegraph office. He paused for a moment to adjust his monocle and +it was fortunate that he did so, for there was a crash of glass at the +window just by his head, followed by a cry of alarm within the room. +Renwick dodged behind a projection of the building, and peered out while +Windt and Linder came rushing from the office. + +"A shot?" + +"Who?" + +"I can't imagine. He can't have gone far." + +The four men raced out, Herr Windt with automatic drawn, but when they +reached the freight station which seemed to be in the direction from +which the shot had come there was no one in sight. Across the railroad +was a patch of dense woods. + +Here Herr Windt paused. + +"He was shooting at _you_, Herr Renwick," he said calmly. + +"I haven't a doubt of it." + +"Go forward, Linder and Spivak--search the woods--but do no shooting +unless attacked." Here Windt pocketed his weapon. "I regret, Herr +Renwick, that my other business is of the utmost importance. You will +come with me to the telegraph office, please." + +Renwick obeyed rather willingly. He was unarmed and saw no possible +utility to his own cause or Marishka's in dodging around in woods which +contained a person bent upon assassinating him. + +"You see, Herr Renwick, the matter is not ended." + +"I'm much more comfortable that it is not," replied Renwick grimly. "He +shoots well." + +"You must be careful," said his companion casually. "Come inside. +Hadwiger will watch." And he calmly took up his interrupted duty with +the telegraph officer, with an air of impassivity, which of course, was +part of his professional mien, but Renwick somehow gained the idea that +his own death whether by shooting, poison, or other sudden device was a +matter with which Herr Windt could have the least possible concern. +Renwick sank into a chair and smoked a pipe, trying to think what he +could do, listening dully meanwhile to the Austrian's dictated messages +to the wire, delivered rapidly and with a certain military precision. + +"Stop all green motor cars traveling north on the Prague highroad--and +all roads leading north. Report at once here by telegraph description of +those arrested. Confirm this message by name of station." And then in +quicker tones, "Send that to all telegraph stations in this district +north and west of here--and quick, you understand--lose no time. When +that message is sent I will give you another--for the Chief of Police at +Prague." Then turning to the door as a new thought came to him he spoke +to Hadwiger. + +"Go to the wood on the Prague highroad where the machine is concealed +and bring it here. Quick. We may need it. You see, Herr Renwick, in ten +minutes all the roads into Prague will be closed to them. Even if they +reach the city they will be detained." + +Renwick did not reply. He was weighing the probabilities in his own +thorough English way. His head still ached, but the pipe of tobacco +aided his faculties. The thought that persisted in his mind was that +Marishka had escaped from Herr Windt with the sole purpose of carrying +out the object of her visit to Konopisht. He remembered the sudden +interest she had displayed at the mention of the possibility of her +having been followed to Konopisht by an agent of the Wilhelmstrasse. +England could do nothing for her, Austria her own country stood +helpless, while the Military Party, which alone possibly had the power +to help her, still remained in ignorance of the plot. Germany! He +remembered the look that had come into her eyes as he had confirmed the +opinions of Herr Windt--an opinion borne out by the attempts upon his +life and her safety in Vienna. But what of the man in the green +limousine? She was a human document, as Herr Windt had said, which was +destined for the safe, or possibly for destruction. By what means had +the man in the green car lured her from the security of the cabin? +Renwick could not believe, after all that he had done for her, that she +would throw herself into the hands of a stranger on the barest chance of +success without at least confiding in him. A shadow had fallen between +them, a shadow and an abyss which had grown darker and deeper with the +hours, but that he was her enemy--political, personal--he could hardly +believe she could think him that; for he had done what he could--striven +earnestly to help her reach the Duchess in safety. That he had failed +was through no fault of his own. He could not understand her flight--not +from Windt, but from him--without a word or a sign. It was not like +her--not even like the Marishka who had chosen to call him dishonorable. +However much she could repudiate his political actions, there still +remained between them the ties of social consanguinity, the memory of +things which might have been, that no wounded pride could ever quite +destroy. But to repudiate him without a word--that was not like +Marishka--not even the Marishka of today and yesterday. And while he +tried to solve the problem in his own way, the telegraph instrument +ticked busily on. Herr Windt leaned over the desk reading the messages, +repeating the names of the towns which replied. + +"Beneschau--Pribram--Wrshowitz--that district is covered, Lengelbach?" + +"Yes. Ah, here is something." + +Windt bent forward again repeating the message aloud. + +"From Beraun--Franz--Schweppenheiser--and--a--woman--says--she--is--his +--wife. Small--four--cylinder--car--American--make--black--in--color +--with--brass--band--on--hood. Both--man--and--woman--have--grey--hair +--age--seventy-two--and----" Herr Windt broke off with an oath, +"_Schafskoepfen!_" he cried. "Enough of that----" And paced the floor of +the room before Renwick, glaring impatiently out of the window. + +"Another," said Lengelbach, "from Bresnitz. Man--and--girl--much +frightened----" + +"Ah!" + +"Say--they--are--running--away--to--be--married." + +"Yes--the description----" + +"Man--dark--age--twenty-five--girl--yellow--hair----" + +"Bah!" furiously. "Enough--the next." + +For an hour or more, Renwick sat helplessly and listened while the +different towns including the city of Prague responded. There was no +green limousine in all Bohemia. At last, his patience exhausted, he rose +and knocked his pipe out. + +"Herr Windt," he inquired calmly, "what reason have you for believing +that they will go to Prague?" + +"The roads are good. The German border lies beyond," said Windt shortly, +turning away. + +"Wait!" Renwick's hand clutched his arm firmly. "Is there a road running +south and parallel to the highroad?" + +Windt regarded him in silence for a moment and then-- + +"Yes, many--but most of them mere cow paths." + +"An automobile could pass over them, Herr Lengelbach?" + +"Yes, the roads to Bruenn are not bad," said the man. + +Renwick smiled grimly. "It is my belief, Herr Windt, that they have +slipped through your fingers." + +"No." + +"You have exhausted almost every means----" + +"There are other stations----" + +"I would suggest that you try the country to the southward." + +"Why?" + +"Because that is the way that they have gone----" + +"Impossible!" + +"I think you forget the Countess Strahni's mission--and yours." + +"She will not succeed." + +His stubbornness angered Renwick, and he caught him by the arm again, +and whispered a few words in his ear. + +Herr Windt turned a startled glance at the Englishman. His mind had been +bent upon mere machinery. When he spoke there was in his voice a note of +respect. + +"Ah--it is worth considering. But how? The telegraph wires are now in my +possession--here in this district to Budweis--to Vienna----" + +"Then why don't you use them?" asked Renwick bluntly. + +Windt stood stock still a moment and then went quickly to the desk. + +"Repeat that message to Budweis, to Gmund, to Altensteig and Absdorf. +Also cover the Bruenn road. It can do no harm," he said turning urbanely +to Renwick. + +"Perhaps not," said Renwick dryly, "if the harm is not already done." + +Together they listened to the clicking of the telegraph instrument. Half +an hour passed. Hadwiger returned with the machine. Spivak and Linder +came in from their fruitless search of the woods. The suspense was +unendurable. Renwick, forgetting his danger, paced the road outside +until a cry from Windt brought him into the office. The others were +leaning over the instrument while Windt spelled out the words, +"I-g-l-a-u t-w-o s-e-v-e-n-t-e-e-n G-e-r-m-a-n o-f-f-i-c-e-r a-n-d +w-i-f-e. G-r-e-e-n l-i-m-o-u-s-i-n-e p-a-s-s-e-d h-e-r-e t-e-n +m-i-n-u-t-e-s a-g-o f-o-r V-i-e-n-n-a." + +"_Kollosaler Halunke!_" thundered Windt, his urbanity shattered to +shreds. "They have taken the other road. Here, Lengelbach, take this +quick. "Hold green motor-car man and woman." Send that to every +telegraph station between Bruenn and Danube. Relay all messages to +Budweis. I'm going there." + +And turning quickly he went toward the automobile, with a sign to the +others to follow. Very politely he stood aside while Renwick entered, +and with one of the men climbed into the rear seat while the other two +got in front, Hadwiger driving at a furious pace. For a long time they +went in silence, Herr Windt sitting with folded arms, his brows tangled +in thought. To acknowledge that he had been outwitted had been galling, +but to let this English creature of pipe and monocle indicate, in the +presence of his own underlings, the precise means of his discomfiture +was bitter indeed. At last his lips mumbled vaguely. + +"Still I do not understand," they said. + +"A note wrapped around the coin," suggested Renwick. + +"_Ach, so._ It is very probable. The simplest expedients are often the +most effective. Still it is remarkable that they have slipped through." + +"The green limousine goes to Vienna," said Renwick. + +Herr Windt had self-respect enough for a rather cynical smile. + +"And after Vienna?" he asked. + +Renwick shrugged. + +"That will depend upon the efficiency of the Austrian Secret Police." + +"Meaning, precisely what, Herr Renwick?" + +"Merely that the Wilhelmstrasse is skillful, Herr Windt," he replied. + +"You mean that they will escape--here in Austria! Impossible!" + +"You will need all your wits," said Renwick dryly. + +The truth of the remark was soon apparent for when Herr Windt's party +reached the telegraph station at Budweis, there were no reassuring +messages. The green limousine had vanished into the earth. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +AN ESCAPE AND A CAPTURE + + +In her flight from the cabin in the Archduke's woods, the Countess +Strahni crept along in the shadow of the hedge which bordered the +orchard, and reached the gate of the garden. She had seen the watcher in +the orchard pacing to and fro, and, awaiting the moment when his back +should be turned, she hurried swiftly on to the shelter of the garden +wall, once within which, she thought that she would be safe from +detection by the men of Herr Windt. She waited for a moment at the gate +to be sure that the man near the cabin had not observed her, and noted, +through the foliage, that he had not moved. Then summoning her courage, +she crossed the garden boldly in the direction of the arbor--the fateful +arbor of Austria's betrayal--and her own. In the path beyond it Hugh +Renwick would be awaiting her--Renwick, the imperturbable, the +persistent, the--the despicable. Yes, she was quite sure that she +despised him, in spite of all his efforts on her behalf, so the thought +that she was once more to be beholden to him in this hapless quest gave +her a long moment of uncertainty as she reached the arbor. She paused +within the structure, wondering whether, now that she had succeeded in +eluding Herr Windt, it would not be better to flee into the castle, and +enlist the aid of the servants in behalf of their master and mistress. +She had even taken a few steps toward the tennis court, when she +remembered--the telegraph in the hands of Austrian officials who had +their instructions! That way was hopeless. The Archduke's chamberlain +had, of course, gone south, and in the castle, beside the +house-servants, there would have remained only the English governess, +the children, and the housekeeper. There could be little help expected +from them--only bewilderment, horror, or perhaps incredulity. She must +go on to Herr Renwick, continue the impossible situation between them, +hide her exasperation in a studied politeness, and trust implicitly, as +she had done before, to his undoubted desire to retrieve his lost +standing. + +She turned into the path which led from the arbor, and hurried through +into the narrow path which led to the hidden gate beyond. Just here +where the foliage was thickest, and not twenty yards from the spot where +she and Hugh Renwick had listened to the pact of Konopisht, a figure +stood bowing. She had been so intent upon seeing the Englishman that it +was a full moment before she recovered from the shock of her surprise. +The man before her was tall, with good shoulders, and wore a brown +Norfolk jacket and a soft hat. His eyes were dark and as he smiled they +wrinkled very pleasantly at the corners. + +Marishka halted and stared at him uncertainly. + +"I beg your pardon," she said. "I came here to meet----" She paused, for +the thought suddenly entered her head that this perhaps might be another +of the men sent to detain her. But in a moment she realized her mistake. +The air with which the man swept off his hat and bowed convinced her +that he was a gentleman and his manner put her at once at her ease. + +"Herr Renwick," he said, with a smile, "has gone on to make some +arrangements for your comfort. He has asked me to conduct you to the +automobile, and will join us beyond the village." + +An automobile! There would still be time, perhaps, to reach Vienna +before the archducal party should leave for Bosnia. + +"Oh, of course," gasped Marishka thankfully. + +"If you will come this way, Countess----" he said, with something of an +air. He bowed, but kept his gaze fixed upon hers. There was something +very remarkable about this man's eyes--she could not tell just what it +was--but they held her for a second, held her motionless until the hand +which held his hat gestured for her to pass on. She took the walk before +him, descended the steps which led to the lower path where he hurried +forward and opened the door in the wall. + +Even now, no notion entered her head that this polite person was other +than he represented himself to be. And the well equipped machine which +stood in the road outside the wall only caused her a momentary thrill of +joy at the opportunity which placed the means of their escape so readily +at the hand of the now really admirable Herr Renwick. As she paused +again for a moment, her companion threw open the door of the limousine, +and lightly touched her elbow. + +"If the Countess Strahni will enter----" he said quietly. "There is +little time to lose." + +Marishka obeyed and in a moment the man in the Norfolk jacket was seated +beside her, the chauffeur had thrown in the gears, and the machine was +moving swiftly upon its way. She sank back into the comfortable cushions +with a sigh of satisfaction which did not escape her companion. + +"It was fortunate that I should have been in this neighborhood," he said +with a strange smile. It was not until then that she noticed the +slightly thick accents with which he spoke and she glanced at his +profile hurriedly. His nose was aquiline and well cut, but the +suggestion of his nationality was elusive. In spite of his evident +gentility, his good looks, his courtesy and his friendship with Hugh +Renwick, Marishka now had her first belated instinct that all was not as +it should be. The man beside her looked past the chauffeur down the road +ahead, turning one or two glances over his shoulder into the cloud of +dust behind them. She noticed now that the car had not gone in the +direction of the village, but had reached the country road which led to +the west and was moving at a high speed which seemed to take the waiting +Renwick little into consideration. All the windows of the car were +closed, and she had a sense of being restrained--suffocated. For a while +she did not dare to give her thoughts utterance, but as the car reached +the Prague highroad and turned to the right, she started and turned in +alarm to the man beside her. + +"You told me that Herr Renwick was waiting for us just beyond the +village. Where is----?" + +The question trembled and died on her lips for the eyes of the man +beside her answered before it was asked. + +"I regret," he said evenly, "that there is no time to wait for Herr +Renwick." + +"You--you have----" she stammered helplessly. + +"I beg that the Countess Strahni will not be unduly disturbed." + +"Where are we going? This is the road to Prague. Tell me where you are +taking me. I insist----" + +He smiled at her again, but did not reply. + +Marishka was now really alarmed and looked out of the closed windows at +the flying hedgerows in desperation, wondering what she must do and +trying to think how this dreadful mishap had befallen her. Hugh +Renwick--his note to her--this stranger with the remarkable eyes who +always smiled! Where was the missing link--what the deduction? But it +was no time in which to lose one's courage. She turned toward the man +beside her who was regarding her calmly. + +"Who are you?" she asked. + +[Illustration: "Who are you?" she asked.] + +His eyes narrowed slightly as he looked past her out of the window. Then +he said politely: + +"The Countess Strahni is well within her rights in asking that question. +I am Captain Leo Goritz." + +That meant nothing to her and she found herself repeating her question. + +He deliberated a moment. + +"I see no reason why I should not tell you," he said at last. "I do not +desire a misconception of my personal motives--which I beg you to +understand are of the highest. I am merely carrying out my orders to +bring the Countess Strahni with all dispatch within the borders of the +German Empire." + +"You--you are----" she paused in dismay. + +"Of the German Imperial Secret Service," he said quickly. + +Marishka sank back into her seat breathless with apprehension, the +warnings of the hated Herr Windt dinning in her ears. + +"Then you sent----" She fingered the scribbled note which had not left +her fingers. + +"I regret, Countess, that the situation made deception necessary. One of +my men in the tree above the chimney. My orders were urgent." + +Marishka glanced about the machine helplessly, her thoughts, in spite of +herself, recurring to Hugh Renwick, who must before long discover her +absence and guess its cause. But there seemed no chance of escape. To +open the door and leap forth into the road at this speed was only +courting injury, and the calm appearance of Captain Leo Goritz seemed +only the mask for a resoluteness of purpose with which she could not +dare to cope. To cry out seemed equally futile for the road was deserted +except for a few market wagons, the occupants of which were country +louts who only stared dully as they passed. But in a flash the +inspiration came to her. Germany! Germany could help her carry out her +purpose to warn the Duchess before she reached Sarajevo. She glanced at +her companion and found that his brown eyes had turned as though by +prescience to hers. + +"Captain Goritz," she stammered, "I--I seem to be in your power. +Whatever your authority for this--this restraint of my liberty--I submit +myself----" + +He showed his fine teeth in a smile. + +"I regret that the Countess Strahni should have been put to this +inconvenience." + +She made a motion of deprecation. + +"I beg that you will spare yourself meaningless civilities. I do not +know the meaning of this outrage." + +"The Countess Strahni is far too clever to suppose that I can believe +her----" he put in quickly. + +"What do you mean?" + +"Merely that an intelligence which can throw central Europe into a +turmoil," and he laughed pleasantly, "does itself and me too little +credit." + +"Oh, you know----" she gasped. + +"Yes, I know." + +She examined Captain Goritz with a new interest. + +"But you did not know the object of my visit to Konopisht," she went on +desperately. + +"I confess," he said slowly, "that your sudden departure from Vienna was +most mystifying----" + +"I will tell you," she went on excitedly. "I came to Konopisht to warn +the Archduke Franz of a plot to assassinate him when he reaches +Sarajevo----" + +"Ah! So that----" Captain Goritz started suddenly forward in his seat +and faced her eagerly in an attitude of sudden alertness. + +"A plot! Serbian?" he asked sharply. + +"No--I----" Loyalty stifled her lips. + +"I see." And then keenly, "Austrian--as a result of your disclosures to +the Emperor?" + +She eyed the man in amazement. He was omniscient. + +"A plot----" she stammered. "I do not know--I came to warn them--the +Archduke and Duchess, but I was prevented from doing so. They----" she +gasped again--"those who plan this dastardly thing are powerful--they +control the telegraph. There was no way to reach them and so I came----" + +"Herr Windt----?" + +She nodded. "You know--he acts for them. He kept me in the cabin until +it was too late." + +"I understand----" He nodded, his brows tangled in thought. "There can +be no other explanation." + +"I heard. I saw--back there in the garden--Emperor and +Archduke--friends. Oh, don't you understand? _He_ would do +something----" + +Captain Goritz had sunk lower into his seat and with folded arms was +gazing at the back of the man in front of them, but under his frowning +brows his eyes glowed with initiative. + +"What you tell me is serious, Countess----" he muttered. + +"So serious that I beg you will listen to me," she went on almost +hysterically. "The Duchess was my friend--I heard and I told what I +heard----" + +"Yes. It is a pity, Countess Strahni." + +"But I did not know," she went on breathlessly, conscious only of the +imminence of Sarajevo and of the power of the man beside her perhaps to +aid her. "I could not know that I should be betraying her--the friend of +a lifetime--to this--I did my duty as I saw it--to Austria. I am telling +you this--a stranger--an enemy perhaps--because it is in your power to +help--to prevent this terrible thing. Think! Think! It is your duty as +well as mine--your duty to the one who shares with Franz Ferdinand the +secret of the rose garden--his friend, and if God so wills--his ally. It +is all so terrible--so bewildering. But you must see that I am in +earnest--that I am speaking the truth." + +"Yes, yes," he said abstractedly, nodding, and then was silent, while +the machine went thundering northward, every moment taking them further +from Marishka's goal. She watched his face anxiously for a sign. His +eyes glowed somberly but he did not more or glance aside. His problem, +it appeared, was as deep as hers. For an age, he sat there like a stone +figure, but she had the instinct not to speak, and after a while he +straightened, leaned quickly forward and threw down the window in front +of them. + +"What is the village before us, Karl?" he asked in quick tones. + +"Beneschau, Herr Hauptmann." + +"There is a road to Bruenn?" + +"Yes, a fair one, Herr Hauptmann." + +"Take it--and faster." + +That was all. Marishka knew that she had won. Captain Goritz was +frowning at the dial of his watch. + +"Perhaps we are too late--but we can at least try," he muttered. + +"Whatever your mission with regard to me--that is unimportant--beside +this other duty----" + +"Yes, yes. We shall need you. If you could reach the Duchess +personally----" + +"She will listen. I have known her all my life." + +"Good. We must succeed." And then, figuring to himself. "Bruenn--one +hundred kilometers--Vienna seventy more--five hours--six perhaps. They +may not leave Vienna at once----" + +"The German Ambassador----" she suggested. + +"Of course." And then, turning suddenly toward her, his eyes intent, he +said, with great seriousness: "Countess Strahni, for the moment your +interests and mine are identical. The success of this project depends +upon your silence----" + +"Anything----!" + +"One moment, please," he put in quickly. "I wish you to understand the +seriousness of your position. Your security, your safety now and later, +will depend upon your own actions. You have proved yourself politically +dangerous to the peace--to the welfare of Europe. My mission was to +bring you safely into Germany. Failing in that, I must exact absolute +silence and obedience----" + +"Yes----" + +"You travel as my wife, the wife of a German officer going to Vienna for +medical advice----" + +She flinched a little, but his air of abstraction reassured her. + +"Do you agree?" + +"Yes." + +"You have friends in Vienna. You must not see them. Have I your word?" + +"I have no wish but to help you." + +He examined her keenly. + +"I regret that the terms of our contract must be more explicit." + +"In what?" + +"I exact your word of honor to remain under my orders, to make no +attempt to escape, to speak no word as to my identity or your own----" + +"Have I not told you that my own fate is unimportant if I succeed in +reaching the Duchess of Hohenberg?" + +"And after that?" he asked keenly. + +"What do you mean?" + +"Merely that the same conditions as to yourself shall continue to +exist." + +Marishka hesitated. What lay before her? It was incredible that harm +could come to one of her condition at the hands of the servants of a +great and Christian nation like Germany. She glanced at Captain Goritz. +He was still examining her gravely, impersonally. There seemed little +doubt as to the genuineness of his intentions. + +"And the alternative?" she asked. + +His expression changed and he looked slowly away from her at the flying +landscape. "I regret that you are still oblivious to your danger. You +and one other person in Europe were the witnesses to the meeting at +Konopisht. His Majesty's government does not deem it expedient at this +time that you should be at liberty to discuss the matter----" + +"But I have already spoken----" + +"That matters nothing if the witnesses are eliminated." + +His tones were quiet, but there was no doubt as to his meaning and she +started back from him in dismay. + +"You mean that you would----" + +She halted again, wordless. + +"Political secrets are dangerous--their possessors a menace." + +"You--you would destroy----?" she gasped. + +"The evidence!" he finished. + +His voice was firm, his lips compressed, and he would not look at her. +But she was still incredulous. Civility such as his and violence such as +he suggested were incongruous. She took refuge from her terror in a +laugh. + +"You are trying to--to frighten me," she stammered. + +"If you are frightened, I am sorry. You are in no danger, if you will do +what I ask. I shall spare no courtesy, neglect no pains for your +comfort." + +"Thanks. That is kind of you. You will gorge the goose that it may be +the more palatable." + +He gave a slight shrug. + +"I am but doing my duty. In my position, Countess, one is but a piece of +thinking machinery." + +"Yet it has been said that even machinery has a soul." + +He glanced around at her quickly, but she was looking straight before +her at the narrow ribbon of road which whirled toward them. She was very +handsome, this dark-haired prisoner of his, and the personal note that +had fallen into her speech made their relations at once more easy and +more difficult. + +"I regret," he said coolly, "that my orders have been explicit. I still +demand that you comply with the conditions I have imposed. Your word of +honor--it is enough." + +She paused for a long moment--debating her chances. She was selling her +liberty--bartering it with a word--for Sophie Chotek. This was her +atonement, and if she failed, her sacrifice would be in vain. + +She took a surreptitious glance at the profile of Captain Goritz. A part +of the great machine that the world calling Germany he might be, but she +read something in his looks which gave her an idea that he might be +something more than a cog between the wheels. + +Some feminine instinct in her, aroused by his impassive performance of +his duty, gave her new courage. Since they were at war, she would play +the game using women's weapons. After all, he was a man, a mere man. + +When she spoke, it was with the air of calm resolution with which one +faces heavy odds. + +"I am in your power," she said quietly. "I give my word of honor to do +as you wish." + +And as his gaze dwelt for a moment upon her face-- + +"I shall not break it, Captain Goritz." + +"Good!" he said, with an air of satisfaction. "Now we understand each +other." + +Meanwhile the machine went thundering on, the man at the wheel driving +with a skill which excited admiration. At times the speed of the car +seemed frightful, for it swerved dangerously at the frequent turns in +the road, but Marishka clung desperately to the arm-rest to save herself +from being thrown into the arms of Captain Goritz, aware of her +impotence, but conscious, too, of a sense of exhilaration in the +wildness of their pace, which seemed at any moment likely to throw both +the car and its occupants into the ditch. Her companion made no effort +to resume the conversation and only sat staring forth watching the +villages through which they passed, his brows deeply thoughtful. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +CAPTAIN GORITZ + + +At Iglau, a town, as Marishka afterwards learned, inhabited largely by +Germans, they stopped to replenish the petrol tank. But Captain Goritz +wore a deep frown when he got into the seat with the chauffeur, who +immediately started the car. They were off again. + +What this action portended Marishka could not know, nor could she +understand the meaning of the conversation which immediately took place +between the two men. But the car still moved forward as rapidly as +before, and in a moment when they skidded around a passing vehicle and +dangerously near a stone wall, she found herself wishing that Captain +Goritz had chosen to enter the limousine, leaving all the wits of their +astonishing chauffeur for the exigencies of the road. + +But as the front window was down, a tribute to the confidence her jailer +now reposed in her, fragments of their conversation reached her. + +"A road--away from trunk-lines. Jarmeritz, perhaps.... It should not be +difficult--a Peugeot if possible, or a Mercedes--its age would tell. At +any time now.... A detour here, I think--there is a telegraph line along +the hill yonder.... It would be better in a more desolate place, in the +foothills of the Maehrische-Hoehe. It is a matter of luck, Karl. We must +chance it." + +She saw the chauffeur nodding and putting in here and there a +suggestion, while every little while she caught an allusion to herself. +She had no inkling of the meaning of this extraordinary conversation nor +of the way the man called Karl now slowed down as they passed other +machines either going or coming, and gazed at them with a critical air, +shaking his head as he passed on at redoubled speed. But the mystery was +soon to be revealed to her, for on a long piece of level road which went +straight through a strip of pine woods, she felt the machine leap +suddenly forward and heard the comments of the men in front. + +"I cannot tell at this distance. A good one, I should say, and new." And +gazing through the dust before her she made out the lines of a +touring-car traveling rapidly in the same direction as their own. Karl's +motor horn sent a deep blast, but the fellow in front was in no mood to +give him the road. He repeated it loudly, warningly, encroaching upon +the rear wheels of the touring car, and at last the other car slowed +down, and as the road was narrow, drew aside into a shallow ditch. But +instead of putting on speed in passing, as he had done before, the +chauffeur Karl merely drew up a little ahead of the other car and held +out his hand as a signal to stop while Captain Goritz quickly clambered +down into the road and stood just below Marishka where she could quite +easily hear the conversation which followed. The people in the touring +car were a chauffeur, a stout man and a small boy. Captain Goritz was +bowing politely. + +"Very sorry," he said, "but we are almost out of petrol." + +"There is a garage a few miles beyond," said the chauffeur of the +touring car. + +But Goritz shook his head. + +"I wish to exchange cars with you--at once, please." + +The chauffeur and the stout man, who looked like a small magistrate, sat +staring at Goritz as though they thought that he or they had suddenly +been bereft of their senses. But Karl, who seemed to know precisely what +to do, got down beside them and produced from his pocket a pistol, which +he brandished in their direction. The meaning of the situation was now +obvious, and the Austrians scrambled down in great alarm. + +Captain Goritz smiled at their precipitous movements and his voice was +reassuring as he addressed the fat man. + +"I regret that we have no time to lose. I only ask you to exchange cars +with me. Mine, I think, is the more valuable." + +But the others seemed stricken dumb and continued to stare wide-eyed, +their mouths gaping open. + +"Would you mind telling me how you are equipped with oil and petrol?" +asked Goritz coolly. + +"The tank is full," stammered the frightened chauffeur, still eyeing +Karl's weapon dubiously. But by this time the fat man had regained some +of his courage. + +"What is the meaning of this outrage?" he blustered. + +"We go upon a matter of life and death," said Goritz sharply. + +"And I----" + +His remark was cut short, for at that moment a bullet from Karl's pistol +went off somewhere in his general direction, and leaving the boy and the +chauffeur to their fate, he fled, a frightened behemoth, into the woods. + +Captain Goritz now opened the door of the limousine. + +"You will get down at once, please," he said quietly to Marishka. "We +will go on in the other car." And while Karl transferred a suitcase and +other personal belongings, Captain Goritz scribbled something upon a +card which he handed to the astonished chauffeur. "If your master ever +comes back and is not satisfied with his bargain, he should present +himself at this address in Vienna and the matter will be satisfactorily +arranged." And then as he got into the tonneau of the car beside +Marishka, "I would warn you not to follow us too closely. It would be +dangerous." + +Karl put in the gears and they started at once. "It would also be +difficult, Herr Hauptmann," he said with a laugh, "for I have locked the +switch." + +"Ah, it is better so," said Goritz calmly. "And now, by Jarmeritz, I +should think." + +Karl nodded and, increasing the speed of the touring car, soon left the +green limousine and its new owners far behind. + +The precision and speed with which the exchange of automobiles had been +accomplished and the unruffled impudence of the demeanor of Captain +Goritz gave Marishka a new idea of the caliber of the man upon whose +mercies she had been thrown, a new idea of the lengths to which he was +prepared to go in the performance of his duty. Success, the gaining of +which might easily have been tragic, was by his command of the situation +turned into something which seemed comically near opera-bouffe. She +could not understand what it all meant and timidly she asked him. + +He smiled gravely. + +"Your friend, Herr Windt, will be trying to make our journey difficult +for us. The green limousine was conspicuous. It was observed in Vienna. +We shall be more dusty, but I hope otherwise quite as comfortable." + +"You think that we may be detained?" she asked anxiously. + +"We shall do our best to prevent that from happening," he replied. "The +way is long and our paths must be devious, but I think we shall succeed. +There are many roads to Vienna, Countess." And then, with an air of +consideration, "I hope that loss of sleep is not wearing on you. +Presently we shall get out and have something to eat." + +"Thank you," said Marishka with a grateful glance. + +She felt Captain Goritz's look upon her for a long moment after she had +turned away. Marishka sighed gently. Her companion's gaze left her and +he peered straight before him, frowning. All this she knew by her +woman's sixth sense without even looking at him. Even a thinking machine +must have its moments of aberration. In a little while, the choice of +roads having been decided, he turned to her again and Marishka's eyes +met his fairly. + +"You have not already regretted your bargain?" he asked quietly. + +"No," she replied, smiling at him. "If you succeed, I shall regret +nothing. A pawn has small chance, when the fate of kings is in +question." + +He was silent for a moment. + +"I hope that you will understand my position, Countess. It is not my +wish to make war upon women----" + +"But one's duty is paramount, of course," she put in quickly. "I am not +squeamish, Captain Goritz, but if my--my--er--elimination is necessary +to your plans, it is only fair that I should be advised of the fact in +time to say my prayers." + +He regarded her soberly. Was she laughing at him? Her mien was quite +serious, but her tone was sprightly--even flippant. + +"It would be a matter of profound regret to me, Countess Strahni," he +said, with some dignity, "if any misfortune should happen to you while +under my charge." + +"It is so nice of you to put it that way," she smiled at him. "Under +other conditions, you know, we might even have been friends." + +"I would be deeply pained if you should consider me an enemy," he +replied. + +"_Ach! leider!_" she sighed. "A prisoner can have no choice." + +He made no reply to that and sank back into his favorite position with +arms folded, staring straight before him. This girl was too handsome to +quibble with. Her newly discovered cheerfulness disturbed him. He had +known in abundance women of courage, women of skill in dissimulation, +but he remembered that when they were both beautiful and clever it was +the part of wisdom to be upon one's guard. + +Marishka glanced at Captain Goritz's well-shaped head in the seat beside +her. It was to be war between them--war! A thinking machine! Was he? She +smiled to herself. She knew that she had power. What handsome clever +woman does not know it? Men had desired her--a Russian duke, an Italian +prince. And an Austrian archduke even, braving the parental ire, had +wished to marry her, willing even to sacrifice his princely prerogatives +if she would have said the word. Hugh Renwick----She swallowed +bravely.... But the sense of her power over men gave her a new courage +to meet Captain Goritz with a smile upon her lips while she summoned in +secret all her feminine instinct to aid her in the unequal struggle, a +game needing both caution and daring, a game for high stakes--in which +perhaps no quarter would be given. + +As they approached the environs of Vienna, the car now moved at a +reduced speed and boldly chose the main highroads. Twice they were +stopped and examined. This showed that all the machinery of the +telegraph was now in operation, but the touring car did not answer to +the given description and Captain Goritz's air of surprise and annoyance +was so genuine that there was little delay. + +"Our friends of the Maehrische-Hoehe are fortunately still frightened or +else quite satisfied with the green limousine," he laughed. "We shall go +through, I think." + +"Shall we be in time?" asked Marishka. + +The German shrugged and looked at his watch. "We shall be in Vienna in +twenty minutes." + +Marishka made no comment. As their journey neared its ending she +realized that she was very tired, but the incentive that, had spurred +her last night and all day still gave her strength to cope with whatever +was to come. + +"To the Embassy," Goritz whispered, "and fast!" + +He had mounted again into the seat beside the chauffeur, and so Marishka +did not question him, but his back was eloquent of determination. They +drove boldly into the Ringstrasse and turned rapidly into a side street. +Here the machine stopped again and Captain Goritz stood at the door of +the tonneau waiting for her to descend. He led the way, walking rapidly, +while Marishka struggled beside him as fast as her stiffened limbs +permitted. + +"The Ambassador can succeed where we should fail. He must procure an +interview for you. I think it may be managed unless----" He paused. "But +we shall see." + +Silently Marishka followed into the Metternichgasse and up the steps of +the Embassy and into a lofty salon where Captain Goritz bade her wait, +and disappeared. A gloomy room with dingy frescoes of impossible cupids +and still more impossible roses. Roses--the _leit motif_ of her tragedy! +There were mirrors--many mirrors, all of which seemed to be reflecting +her pallid face. She was weary and covered with dust, but not so weary +as she was desperate. Why should she wait again, while Sophie Chotek was +here--here in Vienna. Unable to remain seated, she rose and walked about +the room, the eternal feminine impelling a rearrangement of her hat and +veil at the long mirror near the upper end of the room. Beside her was a +window which opened upon a small court. Opposite this window was another +window from which came sound of voices. She listened. It was her +privilege, for they were speaking of her. + +"...I acted upon my own judgment, Excellency. There seemed nothing else +to do. The Countess Strahni has given me her word of honor. She will +keep it." + +"But the telegraph----" + +"Sealed----" + +"Impossible!" + +"I beg you to try it--at once." + +"Ah--the telephone!" + +Marishka heard the clicking of the instrument and the voice again asking +for a number. Silence. And then,--"I do not understand...." A pause. +"_Ach--so!_" Another click and tinkle of the bell. "_Donnerwetter_, Herr +Hauptmann! You are right. They say there is a temporary derangement of +the system." + +Another bell sounded. A door opened and shut. Then a question in the +same voice. + +"Graf von Mendel, the Archduke Franz reached Vienna this afternoon with +the Duchess on the way to Sarajevo. Where are they now?" + +Another voice replied, "I do not know, Excellency. They were at prayers +in the Capuchin Church." + +"When does their train leave Vienna?" + +"At six--from the Staats Bahnhof--Excellency." + +"It is six o'clock now," cried the other voice in dismay. "We are too +late----" + +Marishka heard no more. It was enough. Too late! She had failed. Her +sacrifice, her atonement,--fruitless. She sank into a chair and buried +her face in her hands, trying to think. But in her head was a dull chaos +of sounds, echoes of her wild ride, and her body swayed as she sat. She +had never fainted, but for a moment it seemed that she lost +consciousness. She found herself presently staring through her fingers +at the pattern in the gray aubusson carpet--and wondering where she was. +Then she heard the voices again and remembered that she must listen. + +The voice of the one they called Excellency was speaking. + +"_Herr Gott_, Goritz! Austria's mad archdukes! The telegraph also +closed! It is unbelievable. I must send a message in code to Berlin." + +"It would be delayed," said Goritz dryly. + +"But something must be done----" + +"If you will permit----" + +"Speak." + +"Excellency, this is a desperate game. I thought perhaps we should +arrive in time to get a message through. But Herr Windt has wasted no +time. We must suit our actions to the emergency----" + +"Of course. But how?" + +"Go to Sarajevo--at once." + +"But I----" + +"Not you, Excellency. I shall go. A railroad book, Graf Mendel, if you +please. Today is the twenty-sixth. The Archduke goes by way of Budapest. +We can save several hours, I think, by way of Gratz and Agram--if there +is a train tonight." + +"And the Countess Strahni?" + +"Your Excellency may well see her usefulness merely in telling what has +happened in her efforts to reach the ear of the Duchess of Hohenberg. No +word from you to Archduke Franz could be more convincing----" + +"_Ja wohl_, even if I could send it----" + +"And you cannot--of that I am convinced." + +Another voice broke in. + +"A train at eight--Excellency--by way of Oedenburg and Brueck--reaching +Marburg in the morning----" + +"Good!" + +"And from there," added Goritz, "by automobile along the new military +road through Brod. We might reach Sarajevo tomorrow night--surely by +Sunday morning." + +"If that would not be too late." + +"It is the only thing to do." + +A silence. And then-- + +"The Countess Strahni is here?" + +"Yes, Excellency." + +"You will make proper preparations to leave at once--secretly--you +understand. I will secure the necessary papers." + +"_Zu befehl_, Excellency----" + +Without waiting to hear the conclusion of the interview Marishka moved +away from the window to the further end of the room, and when Goritz +came some moments later she stood looking out upon the traffic of the +street. Fortunately dissimulation was not difficult, as the growing +darkness of the room hid her face. + +"We are too late," said Captain Goritz. "The Archduke's train has gone." + +"How terrible!" muttered Marishka. + +"Are you prepared to go on, Countess Strahni?" + +"Yes--yes, if----" she paused. + +"To Sarajevo--tonight--at once?" + +"Yes--at once." + +She realized that she was repeating his words like a parrot, but she +seemed to be speaking, moving as in a dream. Captain Goritz came closer +and examined her face in the dim light of the window. + +"You are tired?" + +"A little----" + +"I am sorry. I wish I could spare you further trouble." + +"It does not matter." + +Her voice was very close to tears. + +He paused uncertainly for a moment. + +"Countess Strahni, we leave at eight by the night train. I shall make +arrangements for your comfort, a sleeping compartment. In the meanwhile +you may go upstairs to a guest room of the Embassy and rest. If you will +write a note asking for a valise with necessary articles of apparel, I +will see that it is brought to you. A dark suit and heavy veil." + +He walked to the side of the room and touched a button. "You see," he +said with a smile, "I am trusting you." + +"You are very kind." + +"_Bitte_. You will not mention the Embassy." + +"No." + +A man-servant appeared. + +"His Excellency wishes the Countess Strahni to occupy a room upstairs. +You will inform one of the upstairs maids that everything is to be done +for her comfort. You will also bring to his Excellency's office a note +which Countess Strahni will write." + +The man bowed, then stood aside while Marishka went out. + +"At half-past seven, Countess----" + +She nodded over her shoulder to where the German stood with bowed head +looking after her. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +DIAMOND CUTS DIAMOND + + +Captain Leo Goritz made it a habit to neglect no detail. There was but a +little more than an hour of time, but he acted swiftly. At his request +the Ambassador procured money, and from the War Ministry the necessary +papers, a safe conduct for an officer of the Fifteenth Army Corps, +returning to his regiment at Sarajevo with his wife. Graf von Mendel +attended to the secret arrangements for their departure from the Embassy +and booked the passage. Captain Goritz sat at a desk in a private +office, upon which was a small copper teapot above a spirit lamp. The +water in the pot was steaming. A servant knocked at the door and brought +him a letter. + +"Ah! You followed my directions about the paper and ink?" + +"As you ordered, Herr Hauptmann. And a maid is with the Countess +Strahni." + +"Very good. Wait outside and be prepared to take a message in an +automobile." + +"_Zu befehl_, Herr Hauptmann." + +As the servant reached the door Goritz halted him. + +"The room which the Countess Strahni has is not on the side toward the +British Embassy?" + +"No, Herr Hauptmann." + +"Very good. You may go." + +The man withdrew, closing the door gently. And Captain Goritz took the +note of the Countess Strahni and held it in front of the copper teapot, +moving it to and fro, the back of the envelope in the jet of steam. In a +moment the flap of the envelope curled back and opened. The thing was +simplicity itself. He took two slips of paper out of the envelope and +read them through attentively, smiling amusedly as he did so. Then +without waste of time, he put one of the notes before him, and drawing +some writing paper nearer wrote steadily for ten minutes, tearing up +sheet after sheet and burning each in turn. At last apparently satisfied +with what he had written he put the sheet aside and burned the original +note in which he had been so interested. Then he addressed several small +envelopes, glancing from time to time at the other note of the Countess +Strahni upon the desk in front of him. The envelopes all bore the words, + + HERR HUGH RENWICK Strohgasse No. 26 Wien. + +At last, critically selecting one of those he had written, he burned the +others, and folding the note enclosed it in the smaller envelope, which +he sealed carefully, putting it with the Countess Strahni's letter into +the original and larger envelope, which he pasted anew and carefully +closed. Then he rang the bell, and when the man appeared: + +"You will take this note to the given address. You will explain that the +note within is to be delivered tonight at eight o'clock. Then you will +wait twenty minutes for a suitcase or valise and bring it here. That's +all. And hasten." + +"_Zu befehl_, Herr Hauptmann." + +Goritz sat for a moment--just a moment of contemplation. It was merely a +thread of possibility, a chance, if other expedients had failed, but +thoroughly worth taking. His man Kronberg was a good shot, but he might +have missed, and if so Europe was large, and Herr Renwick clever. The +hook of Leo Goritz was baited with a delectable morsel--most +delectable--it would have been childish not to use it. Where Marishka +Strahni was, there also was the heart of Renwick--the Englishman with +the nine lives--the last of which must be taken. + +This duty accomplished, Goritz went to a room upstairs, bathed and +dressed in the uniform which had been provided, packing a large bag with +several objects besides clothing and necessities of the toilet, +including two automatic pistols, and went down to the Embassy office. +All this had occupied an hour. He was awaiting Marishka when, somewhat +refreshed and newly attired, she descended and entered the Embassy +office. His Excellency rose and bowed over her hand-- + +[Illustration: His Excellency rose and bowed over her hand--] + +"Captain Goritz tells me that you have consented to help us in this +extraordinary affair. I wish you Godspeed, Countess Strahni, and a safe +return," he added with some deliberateness. + +She glanced at Captain Goritz who stood in a military attitude, but he +only smiled politely and said nothing. + +"I thank Your Excellency for your hospitality and protection," she said +slowly. "I am sure that I shall be quite safe with Captain Goritz----" + +"Ober Lieutenant Carl von Arnstorf, at your service," corrected Goritz, +"of the Third Regiment, Fifteenth Army Corps." + +Marishka smiled. + +"And I?" + +"Frau Ober Lieutenant von Arnstorf," said Goritz shortly. + +"It is necessary, I suppose?" + +Goritz bowed, and his Excellency added, "It simplifies matters greatly, +Countess Strahni." + +Marishka shrugged. It was no time for quibbling. + +"The way is clear?" asked the Ambassador of von Mendel. + +"Quite, Excellency. The side street has been patrolled for ten minutes." + +Goritz opened a door which led to a small staircase, and he and Marishka +descended and went through the kitchens to a small street or alley where +a machine was awaiting them. A question--a reply from a man who had +brought down their bags, and they moved slowly out of the alley into a +small street. + +A bath, food, and a glass of wine had restored Marishka, and she now +faced the immediate future with renewed hope and courage. Apart from the +belief, fostered by the careful detail of her companions arrangements, +that she might still be successful in reaching the ear of the Duchess +before the royal train reached Sarajevo, there was an appeal in the +hazard of her venture with Captain Goritz. He was a clever man and a +dangerous one, who, to gain his ends, whatever they were, would not +hesitate to stoop to means beneath the dignity of honorable manhood--an +intriguer, a master craftsman in the secret and recondite, a perverted +gentleman, trained in a school which eliminated compassion, sentiment +and all other human attributes in the attainment of its object and the +consummation of its plans. And yet Marishka did not fear Captain Goritz. +There is a kind of feminine courage which no man can understand, that is +not physical nor even mental, born perhaps of that mysterious relation +which modern philosophy calls sex antagonism--a spiritual hardihood +which deals in the metaphysics of emotion and pays no tribute to any +form of materiality. Captain Goritz, whatever his quality, to Marishka +was merely a man. And whatever the forces at his command, her promise, +the half uttered threat as to her fate--which she had refused to take +seriously--she was aware that she was not defenseless. The elaborateness +of the Ambassador's manner, the graces of Graf von Mendel, and Captain +Goritz's now covert glances advised her that she was still armed with +her woman's weapons. Marishka was young, but her two years in the life +of the gayest court in Europe had sharpened her perceptions amazingly, +but she knew that if beauty is a woman's letter of credit worth its face +value with a man, it can also be a dangerous liability. Captain Goritz +differed from the gay idlers of the Viennese Court. The signs of +interest he had given her were slight,--a courtesy perhaps a trifle too +studied, a lingering glance of his curiously penetrating eyes which +might even have been impelled by professional curiosity, a +thoughtfulness for her comfort which might have been any woman's due, +and yet Marishka did not despair. + +They reached the railway station uneventfully, where she learned that +men from the Embassy had followed on bicycles as a matter of precaution, +and the travelers found their compartment and were safely installed. She +sank into her place silently and looked out of the window into the blur +of moving lights as Vienna was left behind them. Upon the seat opposite +her sat the newly created officer of the Fifteenth Army Corps, Ober +Lieutenant Carl von Arnstorf, looking rather smart in his borrowed +plumage. The intimacy of their new situation did not frighten her, for +she thought that already she had read enough of her companion's +character to know that at least so far she was on safe ground. She gave +him permission to smoke without his asking it, and this, it seemed, made +for the beginnings of a new informality in their relations. + +"There isn't the slightest reason," she said with a smile, "that you +should be uncomfortable. Since you are doomed for the present to share +my imprisonment----" + +"Doomed?" he exclaimed civilly. "You may be sure that I don't look upon +such a doom with unhappiness, Countess. Are you very tired?" + +"A little. I shall sleep presently." + +"Do you know," he said as he thoughtfully inhaled his cigarette, "for +the first time in my rather variegated career, I find myself in a false +position." + +"Really! How?" + +"I will explain. I have had much dealing to do with women--with women +of a certain sort. It is a part of my trade. Were you unscrupulous, +intriguing, you would meet your match. As it is you have me at a +disadvantage." + +"I?" + +"I have felt it--from the first. Even a secret agent has eyes, +dimensions, senses. I am a little abashed as if in the presence of +phenomena. Your helplessness and innocence, your loyalty and +unselfishness--you must be sure that I am not unaware of them." + +Marishka laughed easily. + +"You restore my faith in human kind, Captain Goritz. You'll admit that +your attitude toward me has been far from reassuring." + +"Countess, I beg of you----" + +"The alternative to disobeying your wishes--destruction--death!" she +went on, shuddering prettily. + +"I am merely a cog in the great wheel of efficiency. I spoke +figuratively----" + +"But of course you know," she broke in quickly, with another laugh, +"that I didn't believe you. I haven't really been frightened at all. How +_could_ I be? You're not in the least alarming. To face the alternative +you imposed would take courage. I am easily frightened at a mouse. The +deduction is obvious----" + +He laughed and then said soberly, "It is far from my wish to frighten +you. That kind of brutality has its justification, but this is not the +occasion, nor you the woman." + +"I was sure of it. If I hadn't been I shouldn't have come with you." + +"Ah!" Goritz straightened and stared at her. "But--your promise----" + +"I should have broken that and asked the first _gendarme_ in the +Ringstrasse to take me home. You admit that the plan would have been +feasible?" + +He shrugged. + +"The Countess Strahni's word of honor----" + +"Honor is as honor does and I am here, Captain Goritz." + +"I trust that you will have no reason to regret your decision." + +"That sounds like another threat." + +"It isn't. I actually mean what I say. A secret agent doesn't permit +himself such a luxury very often," he laughed. + +"Then you're not going to murder me offhand----" + +"Countess, I protest----" + +"You wish my last moments to be graced with courtesy. I shall at least +die like a rose--in aromatic pain." + +Her irony was not lost on him. He was silent a moment, regarding her +soberly. + +"Countess, you are too clever to be unkind--your lips too lovely to +utter words so painful. I could not do you harm--it is impossible. I +pray that you will believe me." + +"I am merely taking you at face value, Herr Hauptmann," she returned +coolly. "You have told me that you are merely a thinking machine, or a +cog in the wheel of efficiency, which plans my elimination----" + +"A figure of speech. Your silence was what I meant." + +"Ah, silence! Perhaps. It seems that I have already said enough." + +"Quite," he smiled. "You have set Europe in a turmoil--another +Helen----" + +"With another Paris in your background?" she shot at him. + +He smiled, lowering his gaze to the ash of his cigarette. + +"You speak in riddles." + +"It's your trade to solve them." + +"Do not underestimate my intelligence, I understand you," he laughed. +"It is a fortunate thing for me that you are not a secret agent. My +occupation would be gone." + +"It is a villainous occupation." + +"Why?" + +"Because no secret agent can be himself. It's rather a pity, because I'd +like to like you." + +"And don't you--a little?" + +"I might if I thought that I could believe in you. If a man is not true +to himself, he cannot be true to those that wish to be his friends." + +He was silent for a moment. + +"I think perhaps," he said quietly at last, "that you do me an +injustice. I am merely the servant of my government----" + +"Which, stops at no means--even death." + +"I too look death in the face, Countess," he said with a slow smile. "It +lurks in every byway--hangs in every bush." + +"It is frightful," she sighed, "to live like that, preying upon others, +and being preyed upon--when the world is so beautiful." + +"The world is just what men have made it. I, too, once dreamed----" His +words trailed off into silence, and he looked out of the window into the +night. + +"And now?" she asked. + +Something in the tone of her voice made him straighten and glance at +her. He had seen the same look in other women's eyes. + +"And now, I dream no more, Countess Strahni," he said abruptly. + +Marishka's gaze fell before his. + +"I am sorry," she said. + +There was another silence in which Captain Goritz took out another +cigarette. + +"I do not think that I quite--understand you, Countess Strahni----" + +"Naturally," she broke in. "You have known me--let us see--a little less +than twelve hours." + +Her smile disarmed him. + +"You are far from transparent, Countess," he said quizzically. + +"And if I were?" + +"It would probably be because you wished me to see something beyond," +with a laugh. + +"To one who deals in mystery and intrigue, sincerity must always be +bewildering." + +"H--m! I was once stabbed in the back by a woman who was too sincere." + +The smile left Marishka's face. "How terrible!" + +"It was. I nearly died. It was my mistake, you see." + +Marishka was silent for a long moment. And then, + +"I'm afraid, Captain Goritz, that the world has left you bitter." + +"To the secret agent the world is neither sweet nor bitter. He has no +sense of taste or of feeling. He is merely a pair of ears--a pair of +eyes which nothing must escape----" + +"Deaf to music--blind to beauty," sighed Marishka. "From the bottom of +my heart I pity you." + +Captain Goritz gazed at her for a long moment, in silence, then his eyes +narrowed slightly and his voice was lowered. + +"It is rather curious, Countess Strahni, that you should hold in such +low esteem a profession practiced by one of your most favored friends." + +"Mine?" she questioned, startled. + +"Herr Renwick," he replied dryly, "is a secret agent of the Serbian +government." + +A gasp escaped her, and she struggled for her composure at the mention +of Hugh Renwick's name. + +"That is impossible." + +"I beg your pardon," he said politely, "I happen to know it to be the +truth." + +She laughed uneasily. + +"Until two weeks ago Herr Renwick was an attache of the British +Embassy," she asserted. + +"Of course. But he has been also in the pay of the Serbian +government--Austria's enemy." + +"You are misinformed," she gasped. + +"I beg your pardon. England and Serbia are on excellent terms. You will +not deny that Herr Renwick has been to Belgrade in the last two weeks?" + +"You--you----" she paused in consternation, aware again of this man's +omniscience. + +"The details had not been clear until my return to Vienna. Think for a +moment. Herr Renwick visits Belgrade and Sarajevo while a plan is +arranged to take the life of the Archduke Franz. It is well within the +bounds of possibility----" + +"Your skill in invention does you credit," she put in quickly, "but Herr +Renwick has no interest in the death of the Archduke. On the contrary, +he has done what he could to save him." + +"You will admit that it was Renwick who gave you the information of this +plot." + +"Yes--but----" + +"One moment. You'll also admit that he gave no authority for his +information." + +"But he did what he could to help me warn the Archduke." + +"H--m! You did not know perhaps that it is to Serbia's interest and to +Renwick's to warn the Archduke. Austria needs a pretext to make war on +Serbia. Every diplomat in Europe is aware of that. If the Archduke is +attacked in Sarajevo, war will be declared on Serbia within a week." + +He paused a moment watching Marishka's face, intent upon its changing +expressions. + +"Herr Renwick is no enemy of Austria," she asserted firmly. + +"If he is no enemy of Austria, how could he act for the Serbian +government, which follows instructions from St. Petersburg? Herr Renwick +knew of the plot against the life of the Archduke, for he told you of +it. Where did he learn of it? In Sarajevo or Belgrade, where it was +hatched. Who informed him? His friends of the Serbian Secret Service who +live among the anarchists at Sarajevo and Belgrade." + +"I do not believe you." + +"You must. Serbia has done what she can to prevent this crime. His +Excellency tells me that today the Serbian Minister in Vienna pleaded +with the Austrian Ministry to use its efforts to have the visit of the +Archduke Franz postponed. He was ignored." + +He paused and flecked his cigarette out of the window, while Marishka +gazed straight before her, trying to think clearly of Hugh Renwick. A +Serbian spy! It was impossible. And yet every word that this man spoke +hurt her cruelly. Renwick had been in Sarajevo and Belgrade, for he had +told her so. He alone of all persons outside the Secret Government of +Austria had been in a position to know the details of the plot and to +prepare her for them. He had sought to use her in warning the Duchess, +not as an agent of humanity and Christian charity, but as the emissary +of the cowardly and vicious government across the border, Austria's +enemy, Serbia the regicide and the degenerate, about the fate of which +hung the peace of Europe. Hugh Renwick! + +Her mind refused her. Fatigue and want of sleep were making her +light-headed. She would not believe. She shut her eyes and by an effort +of will managed to get control of her voice. "I find that I am very +tired, Captain Goritz," she said quietly. + +"Ah, it was very thoughtless--inconsiderate of me," he said, with sudden +accents of civility. "It is very painful to believe ill of those to whom +one is attached," he finished suavely. + +"You are mistaken," she said slowly. "There is no attachment between +Herr Renwick and me." + +"A friend, let us say, then," he put in keenly, "in whom one is +disappointed." + +"It is nothing to me, Captain Goritz," she said, meeting his eyes +bravely, "what Herr Renwick is or does." + +He smiled and bowed. + +"Still," he said with his exasperating pertinacity, "it is of course +interesting to know the truth. It would perhaps be still more +interesting to know what Herr Renwick has to say in regard to the +matter." + +"I do not care what Herr Renwick would have to say. I do not expect to +see Herr Renwick again, Captain Goritz, in Vienna or elsewhere." + +He smiled at her politely. + +"But you will admit, it is not within the bounds of possibility. Herr +Renwick is clever--indefatigable----" + +Marishka started up in her seat. + +"You mean?" + +"Merely that Herr Renwick is not easily discouraged. I would not be in +the least surprised if he followed us on to Sarajevo." + +Marishka stared at her companion for a moment and then sank back in her +seat. + +"Oh," she gasped. + +Her long sustained effort to keep pace with events had been too much for +her. Her faculties failed to respond, and she closed her eyes in an +attempt to obliterate all sight and sound. Dimly she heard the voice of +Captain Goritz above the grinding of the brakes of the train. + +"I am sorry that you are so tired, Countess Strahni. I shall now leave +you to your own devices. We have reached Brueck, and I shall go to +another compartment. I shall arrange with the guard to see to your +comfort." + +The train stopped and the guard opened the door. + +"Good-night, _liebchen_," he said with a smile. And as she opened her +eyes in astonishment, she heard him say to the guard: + +"Frau Lieutenant von Arnstorf desires to sleep. I am going to smoke with +a friend in the adjoining carriage. She is not to be disturbed. You +understand." + +The man saluted and closed the door, and Marishka was alone. With an +effort she rose and mechanically made her dispositions for sleep, +thinking meanwhile of the words of Captain Goritz and feeling a dull and +unhappy sense of disappointment and defeat. There was a latent cruelty +under his air of civility which astonished and terrified her. And the +revelations with regard to Hugh Renwick, astounding though they were, +had in them just enough of a leaven of fact to make them almost if not +quite credible. Hugh Renwick, the man she had chosen--a friend, a paid +servant of atrocious Serbia! She could not--would not believe it. And +yet this man's knowledge of European politics was simply uncanny. If his +civility had disarmed her earlier in the day, if she had been able to +speak lightly of the threat of her imprisonment, the fear that had +always been in her heart was now a blind terror--not of the man's +passions but of his lack of them. He was cold, impenetrable, +impervious--a mind, a body without a soul. He haunted her. She lay on +her couch and stared wide-eyed at vacancy. The sound of his voice still +rang in her ears. She wondered now why the memory of it was so +unpleasant to her. And then she thought she knew that it was because the +magnetism of his eyes was missing. His body was a mere shell covering an +intricate piece of machinery. She tried to think what it must be like to +be actuated by a mind without a soul. She had pledged herself obedience +to this man, trusting to her implicit faith in the ultimate goodness of +every human creature to bring her through this venture safe from harm. + +Vaguely, as though in dreams, she remembered that this man had thought +that Hugh Renwick would follow her to Sarajevo. She had written him a +note of warning telling him to leave for England at once. Would he +disregard her message, discover where she had gone, and if so, would he +follow? Renwick's sins, whatever they were, seemed less important in +this unhappy moment of her necessity. He had failed her in a crucial +hour---- + +She started up from her couch a smile upon her lips. Hugh Renwick was no +Serbian spy. The man, Goritz, lied. Hugh Renwick and Goritz--it was not +difficult to choose! One a man who let no personal suffering--not even +the contempt of the woman he loved interfere with his loyalty to his +country; the other, one who used a woman's loyalty as a means to an +end--cruelly, relentlessly--which was the liar? Not Hugh Renwick. Weary +and tortured, but still smiling, Marishka sank back upon her couch and +at last, mercifully, she slept. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE MAN IN BLACK + + +It was after dark when the train bearing Herr Windt and Renwick reached +the Franz Josef station, the stolen machine of Altensteig having been +left at Budweis with Hadwiger, who was to return it to its owner and in +the name of the state to make proper arrangements for compensation. Herr +Windt, sadder if no wiser, took a _fiacre_ and drove off hastily, +leaving Renwick to his own devices. + +To the Englishman, Marishka's case seemed desperate, for though the +identity of the driver of the green limousine was unknown, his +cleverness in eluding the net which Herr Windt had spread for him +indicated him to be an agent of the Wilhelmstrasse, a personal emissary +of those near the Kaiser, who was moving with great skill, using every +means of a great organization to keep Marishka's mission and identity a +secret. But Renwick was not the sort of a man that gives up easily. In +the back of his head an idea persisted, and he planned to follow its +development for good or ill to its conclusion. + +The correctness of his surmise as to the direction of Marishka's flight +in the green limousine had convinced him that Vienna was not her final +destination. He, too, took a _fiacre_ and drove at once to the apartment +of Baroness Racowitz. Marishka's guardian was away, but a fee to the +Austrian maid put him in possession of the facts. + +"No, Herr Renwick," she replied, "Countess Strahni did not return to the +apartment, but she was in Vienna and had sent for a suitcase and +clothing, which were delivered to a man who waited in an automobile." + +"What sort of a man?" + +"I couldn't exactly say, sir, a servant, a butler, perhaps; but there +was a note for Herr Renwick." + +"Ah--give it to me." + +"My instructions were to deliver it at eight o'clock at Herr Renwick's +residence in the Strohgasse. I have but just returned from there." + +Renwick started down the steps and then turned. "There was nothing +else?" + +"Nothing." + +"You do not know where Countess Strahni is?" + +"I know nothing more than I have told you, sir." + +Renwick rushed out to the waiting _fiacre_, and bade the driver go at +top speed. A note from Marishka! Under different circumstances this +would not perhaps have been surprising. The difference that the change +in their personal relations had wrought in the last few weeks, her mood +during their hurried flight to Konopisht, her desertion of him, all of +these circumstances made the fact of her writing to him the more +significant. She had accepted his services in the escape from Windt, +because he had forced them upon her, but he could not forget that she +had afterward repudiated him and fled from him without a word of +explanation of her sudden decision. His own personal danger had warned +him that Marishka, his companion eavesdropper, would also be in jeopardy +at the hands of those unseen forces which were working in the interests +of the Wilhelmstrasse. Marishka had thrown herself into their power and +was perhaps at this very moment in danger. But he was soon to know the +facts. At his apartment his servant handed him the note and hastily he +tore it open and read. + + I have gone to Sarajevo. I must do what I can, but I need you. I am + a prisoner and in great personal danger if we are stopped en route. + Therefore move secretly, telling no one. Go to the Hotel Europa, + where I will try to communicate with you. + + M. S. + +Renwick read the communication through twice, and then glanced at his +watch. Nine o'clock. There was no time to go to the British Embassy in +the Metternichgasse, though he would have liked to know if anything had +been seen of Marishka at the German Embassy which was just adjoining. +But he wrote a note to Sir Herbert, then called his servant, who packed +a bag while Renwick bathed and dressed. At ten he was seated in the +train for Budapest--a slow train that he had taken two weeks before on +his mission to Belgrade. + +He had made this move on impulse, without second thought, for Marishka's +message as to her destination again justified his surmises and +corroborated his fears as to her perilous situation. No other thoughts +save those of her danger and her need of him had entered his head, and +he had moved quickly, aware that any loss of time might be fatal to his +hope of helping her. But seated in his compartment of the railway +carriage, he had time to consider the note in all its aspects and in its +relation to the extraordinary events of the day. There were but two +other occupants of the carriage, an old gentleman with a white beard, +and a young Hungarian officer--a vacuous looking youth in +uniform--neither of them obviously of material from which secret service +agents are made. After the experience at the Konopisht railway station, +Renwick had no humor to be shot at in such close quarters, where the +range would necessarily be deadly. He settled his automatic comfortably +in his pocket, and after another and more reassuring inspection of his +travelling companions he took out Marishka's note and examined it +carefully. + +The knowledge he possessed as to her situation suggested caution. An +agency which could attempt to take his life would not be above forgery. +Marishka's hand? There seemed no doubt of it. It was not difficult for +Renwick to remember the peculiarities of her angular writing. The notes +he had received from her, invitations, appointments, apologies--very +often apologies, he remembered with a slow smile--dainty, faintly +scented missives on gray paper which bore her crest, differed from this +hurriedly written scrawl on a heavier paper which he had no means of +identifying. Only upon closer inspection did he discover a hesitation in +the lower curves and upward strokes of the letters which were not +characteristic of the decisive Marishka. + +Without being certain of its spuriousness, he came to the conclusion +that because of its contents, the note was for the present to be +regarded as an object for suspicion. Would Marishka--the Marishka who a +few hours ago had treated him with such acidulous politeness--write, "I +need you"? Could contemptuous silence be turned so quickly into urgent +appeal? Her danger made such a transition a possibility, and if she was +now ready to recant, all the more reason why he should obey. The one +thing about the message which struck a jarring note was the request for +secrecy under plea of personal danger. And if a forgery--why should his +enemies speak of her personal danger? A lure! So obvious a one that only +the veriest dolt could be deceived by it. The situation then resolved +itself into this: He was invited to go to Sarajevo--if by Marishka, to +save her from personal danger or abduction by her captor--if by the +German agent, with Marishka as a lure, to be the victim of a conspiracy +which planned either murder or imprisonment. And, however keen his own +prescience, Renwick realized that the note had so far succeeded in its +object. He was on his way. + +He was too tired tonight to do the situation justice, for the blow at +the back of his head had taken some of his strength, and he realized +that without sleep his utility would be impaired for the morrow. And +after a glance at his companions, he decided to chance it, and settling +himself comfortably, he was soon heavily sleeping. + +Renwick was awakened some while later by the young Hungarian officer's +cursing as he stumbled over the Englishman's feet. A glance at his watch +showed Renwick that he had slept four hours. It was dawn. Beside him at +the further end of the seat the old man with the white beard still +slept. Renwick glanced out of the window and found that the station was +Vacz. They were twenty or thirty miles from the Hungarian capital. The +morning was cool, and Renwick stepped down from the open door upon the +platform and stretched his limbs, sniffing the air eagerly. He felt +renewed, invigorated, and the ache at his head was gone. He had made no +plans beyond the very necessary one of getting money at the British +Consulate and taking the first train south. The difficulties in making +proper connections, the probability that somewhere he must desert the +railroad and beg, buy, or steal a motor car, and the ever present danger +of a shot from a German agent confronted him, but in his early morning +humor nothing seemed impossible. He would get through in some way and +find a means of reaching Marishka! And if Marishka were already spirited +away? He would find her and the green limousine chap with whom he would +have a reckoning. + +Impatient of the delay of the train, he took out his cigarette case and +was about to smoke, when the warning of the guard was shouted, and he +got into his carriage, followed by another traveler who clambered in at +the last moment and sank into the seat opposite. As the train moved, the +two men scanned each other in the light of the growing dawn which now +vied with the flickering light of the overhead lamp in their +compartment. The stranger was a very tall man in dark clothes, who gave +an instant impression of long rectangularity. He had a long nose, a long +upper lip which hung over a thin slit of a mouth which resembled a +buttonhole slightly frayed by wear. His chin was long and square and, +like his upper lip, blue, as though a stiff black beard were in constant +battle with a razor. His eyes were large and regarded Renwick with a +mild melancholy as he bowed the Englishman a good morning. Renwick +nodded curtly. He had planned another nap and hardly relished sitting +awake and staring at the sepulchral visitor. Where last night's +weariness had sealed his eyes to the ever-present sense of danger, +morning brought counsel of caution and alertness. The leanness of the +huge intruder was of the kind that suggested endurance rather than +malnutrition, a person who for all his pacific and rather gloomy +exterior, could be counted on to be extremely dangerous. + +In a situation where any man might prove to be his hidden enemy, Renwick +was learning to be wary. And so upon his guard for any movement of +hostility, he sat bolt upright and smoked his cigarette, puffing it +indolently into the face of his solemn companion. Beyond the first +greeting, no words passed between them, and the Englishman, more at his +ease, looked out of the window at the low marshlands along the river and +planned the business which brought him. Day came swiftly, and before the +train reached the city the sun was up in smiling splendor, melting the +pale fogbanks of the Danube valley beneath its golden glow. + +At the Westbahnhof, Renwick got down, and bag in hand made his way to +the railway restaurant for a cup of coffee. The keen morning air had +made him hungry, and he breakfasted like a man who does not know where +his next meal is coming from. It was not until he paid his check and got +up from the table that he noticed his gigantic companion of the train +doing likewise, but he gave the matter no thought, and getting into a +waiting _fiacre_ drove to the British Consulate to make some necessary +arrangements, including the procuring of money for possible large +expenses. The Archduke and Duchess, he discovered, had slept in their +car, which had been shifted to a train that had left for the south in +the early hours of the morning. The service on the road was none too +good, except that of the Orient Express, which had gone through last +night, but by haste Renwick managed to catch the nine o'clock train for +Belgrade, planning to get off it at Ujvidek and trust to Providence for +an automobile. + +He was no sooner comfortably seated in his compartment and +congratulating himself upon its emptiness, which would permit of +opportunity for sleep, when the door was thrown open and his tall +companion of the early morning solemnly entered. Renwick did not know +whether to be surprised or angry, and finished by being both, glancing +at the intruder through his monocle in a manner distinctly offensive. +But the tall man if aware of the Englishman's antagonism gave no sign of +it, clasping his cotton umbrella with large bony hands and gazing +gloomily at the passing landscape. + +An accidental meeting of two travelers bound in the same direction? +Perhaps. But there was too much at stake for Renwick to be willing to +take chances, and yet he could not kill and throw out of the window an +entire stranger who looked like the proprietor of a small confectionery +shop, in mourning for a departed friend. Of course there was nothing to +be done, but the man's presence irritated Renwick. As the moments went +on, and the man still silently stared out of the window, Renwick's +choler diminished. The fellow was quite harmless, a person from whom +murder and secret missions were miles asunder. If the man of the green +limousine had foreseen that Renwick would take the nine o'clock train +for Budapest and had set this behemoth upon him, the man would have made +an attempt upon his life this morning in the ride between Vacz and the +capital. And how, since the telegraph lines were closed to the German +agent, could this person have been put upon the scent? It hardly seemed +possible that this was an agent of Germany. And yet as the miles flew +by, the stranger's silence, immobility and unchanging expression got on +Renwick's nerves. He was in no mood to do a psychopathic duel with a +sphinx. + +The morning dragged slowly. At Szabadka he got down for lunch and was +not surprised to see his traveling companion at his elbow, eating with a +deliberation which gave Renwick a momentary hope that the train might +get off without him. Renwick was already in his carriage and the guard +calling when the fellow stalked majestically from the eating-room +munching at the remains of his _Boehmische Dalken_ and entered the +carriage, still clinging to the cotton umbrella, and quite oblivious of +the powdered sugar with which he was liberally besmeared. Secret agent! +The man was a joke--a rectangular comedy in monosyllables. + +There was no connection for Brod at Szabadka until late in the afternoon +and Renwick hoped to make better time by going on to Ujvidek, a large +town, somewhat sophisticated, where the buying or hiring of a machine +would be a possibility. During the afternoon he took Marishka's letter +from his pocket and studied it again, now quite oblivious of the +creature who had curiously enough resumed the same seat opposite him. +And in his concentration upon the problem of the note the man was for +the moment forgotten. It was only when he glanced up quickly and quite +unintentionally that he saw the gaze of his neighbor eagerly watching +him. It was only a fleeting glance, but in it, it seemed, the whole +character of his fellow traveler had changed. His hands still clasped +the umbrella, the sugar was still smeared upon his sallow cheeks, but it +seemed that his eyes had glowed with a sudden intentness. A second later +when Renwick looked at him again, the man was staring dully at the +passing cornfields and vineyards and he thought he had been mistaken. He +would have liked to know more of this fellow, and was again tempted to +try to draw him out but the recollection of his former venture dismayed +him. So he relapsed into silence and lying back in his seat, one hand in +his pocket, he closed his eyes and feigned slumber, watching the man +through his eyelashes. For a long while nothing happened. Then at last +as Renwick's breathing became regular the giant's head turned, and his +eyes regarded the Englishman stealthily. Renwick did not move. But he +saw his companion lean slightly forward while one hand left the umbrella +handle, unbuttoned his coat and then moved very slowly behind him. That +was enough for Renwick, who started upright and covered the man with his +automatic. But the other had merely drawn a large and rather soiled +handkerchief from a pocket of his trousers and was in the act of blowing +his nose when he looked up and saw the impending blue muzzle of +Renwick's weapon. + +Then his jaw dropped and his eyes flew wide open. + +"_Herr Gott!_" he stammered in a husky whisper. "Don't shoot!" + +Whether it was the pleasure of discovering that the man had at last +found his tongue or whether the innocence of his purpose was explained, +Renwick found himself much relieved. + +"Are you crazy?" the other was saying. "To draw a pistol upon me like +that! What do you mean?" + +But Renwick still held the pistol pointed in his neighbor's direction. + +"I will trouble you to stand," he said quietly, "with your hands up and +back toward me." + +The man stared at him wide eyed but at last obeyed, lifting his huge +back to its full height, and Renwick ran an investigating hand over his +hip pockets. They were empty. + +"Thanks," he said at last, "you may be seated." He felt a good deal of a +fool but he managed an uncomfortable laugh as he returned the automatic +to his pocket. "You see," he explained, "I owe you an apology----" + +"Yes, sir--such an outrage upon my dignity. I do not understand----" + +"Let me explain," went on Renwick, feeling more idiotic every moment; "I +have an enemy who seeks my life and when you put your hand in your +pocket I thought that you----" + +"It is strange that a gentleman in a railway carriage may not be +permitted to blow his nose without being threatened with a pistol," he +said hotly. + +"But you will admit, my friend, that your always being next to me in +trains is at least suspicious." + +"_Donnerwetter!_ And why, for the same reason, should I not be +suspicious of _you_?" + +"I trust at least that you have no enemies who seek _your_ life." + +"Who knows?" he shrugged. "Every man has enemies. I will thank you, sir, +to keep your pistol in your pocket." + +"Willingly. And in return I may say that you may blow your nose as often +as you please." + +"_Danke_," with some irony. "You are very kind. I suppose, if when +reaching Ujvidek, I should happen to be going in your direction you +would shoot me without further question." + +"That would depend on which direction you are taking," replied Renwick, +with a sense of abortive humor. + +"I go to Brod--thence to Sarajevo----" + +"The devil you do----!" cried Renwick in English, starting forward and +staring at the man. And then more calmly in German, + +"And how are you going?" + +The fellow paused and looked out of the window again. "As to that--I do +not know," he said slowly. + +He had resumed his air of settled gloom, the dignity of which was +somewhat marred by a vestige of powdered sugar upon his chin, but in +spite of the low esteem in which Renwick had held him, all his former +suspicions of the creature rushed over him in a moment. + +"And suppose that I, too, should be going to Brod and Sarajevo?" he +asked brusquely. + +The stranger turned toward him a slow bovine gaze which gradually +relaxed into the semblance of a smile. + +"_Ach so_," he replied blandly, "then it is just possible that we may go +together." + +His manner was sphinxlike again, and the Englishman eyed him curiously, +feeling a strong desire to kick him in the shins. But luckily he +refrained, saying coolly. + +"And what means of transportation do you propose to employ? Of course +you know there are no trains----" + +"_Natuerlich._" + +"Then how shall you travel?" + +"And you, Herr Shooter, how shall you go?" + +Renwick smiled indulgently. + +"If I took an automobile----" + +"I should be constrained to go with you." + +"Constrained?" + +"If you would invite me--or condescend to permit me to pay my share of +the expenses." + +The man's personality was slowly expanding. Second class confectioners +who venture on wild goose chases were rare in Renwick's acquaintance. He +was becoming interesting as well as elusive, but Renwick was in no humor +for further quibbling. + +"I regret that that is impossible. I go on alone," he said decisively. + +"_Ach, so_," said the other sadly. "That is too bad----" His words +trailed off into a melancholy silence and he resumed his occupation of +looking out of the window. The incident in so far as Renwick was +concerned, was concluded. + +At least he thought that. At Ujvidek, when Renwick, bag in hand, got +down upon the station platform, the stranger stood beside him, fingering +his cotton umbrella foolishly and looking this way and that. But when +the Englishman after an inquiry of a loiterer, started in search of a +garage, he found his fellow traveler at his heels, and the frown which +Renwick threw over his shoulder failed utterly to deter him from his +purpose--which clearly seemed to be that of continuing his journey in +the Englishman's company. + +When Renwick reached the garage and talked with the proprietor, a +Hungarian whose German was almost negligible, the man of the cotton +umbrella abandoned the doorway which he had been darkening with his +shadow, and shuffled forward awkwardly. + +"If you will permit me," he said solemnly. "I speak the Hungarian quite +well. I should be glad to interpret your wishes." + +The man's impertinence was really admirable. Renwick's desire to get +forward on his long journey made him impatient of obstacles. He +shrugged. + +"Very well, then. Tell him I must have a machine and chauffeur to take +me to Sarajevo by way of Brod. I will pay him handsomely and in advance. +I must travel today and all night. I must reach Sarajevo in the +morning." + +"_Ach, so_," said the stranger, and Renwick listened to the conversation +that ensued, endeavoring by the light of his small knowledge of the +language to make out what was said. But he was lost in the maze of +consonants. + +In a moment the interpreter turned with a smile. + +"It is good. There is a machine. This man will drive himself. The price +is two hundred _kroner_ and the petrol." + +"Thank you. That is very good. I must leave within half an hour." + +Renwick produced money, the sight of which brought about an amazing +activity on the part of the garage man. Renwick strolled to and fro +outside, alternately smoking and watching the preparations for +departure, while the melancholy giant stood leaning upon his umbrella in +the doorway. What was he waiting for? Renwick thought that he had made +his intentions sufficiently explicit. At last, his impatience getting +the better of him, he stopped before the man with the umbrella. + +"I am greatly obliged to you for your kindness. But you understand? I go +on alone." + +The man in black regarded him blandly. + +"That is not a part of the arrangement," he said. + +"What do you mean?" + +"That I am to go with you." + +"I asked you to make no such arrangement." + +"It is a pity that perhaps I misunderstood." + +Renwick angrily approached the garage owner and tried to make him +understand, but he only proceeded with his work with greater alacrity, +bowing and pointing to the man in the doorway. + +"You observe," said the tall man, "that you will only complicate +matters?" + +Renwick glared at the other, but he returned the look with an impudent +composure, and Renwick, in fear of losing his self-control, at last +turned away. Nothing was to be gained by this controversy. After all, +what difference did the fellow's presence make? As a source of danger he +had already proved himself a negligible quantity. So Renwick with an ill +grace at last acquiesced, and within an hour they were on their way, +crossing the Danube and turning to their right along a rough road by the +Fruska mountains. + +The first accident happened before the machine reached Sarengrad, a +blowout which made another tire a necessity. The second, a broken leaf +of a spring, which made rapid travel hazardous. But it was not until +nightfall, in the midst of a desolation of plains, that carburetor +trouble of a most disturbing character developed. Renwick paced up and +down, offering advice and suggestion and then swearing in all the +languages he knew, but the chauffeur only shrugged and sputtered, while +the tall man gurgled soothingly. An hour they remained there when +Renwick's patience became exhausted, and he gave way to the suspicion +which had for some time obsessed him, that the pair of them were +conspiring to delay him upon his way. + +He came up behind the tall man who was bending over the open hood of the +car, and catching him roughly by the elbow, swung him around and faced +him angrily. + +"I've had about enough of this," he said. "Either that car moves in five +minutes or one of you will be hurt." + +He moved his hand toward his pocket to draw his weapon but his wrist was +caught in midair by a grip of steel that held Renwick powerless. The +Englishman was stronger than most men of his weight and made a sharp +struggle to get loose, but the man in black disarmed him as he would +have disarmed a child, and calmly put the pistol into his own pocket. It +was not until then that his bulk had seemed so significant, and the real +purpose of his presence been so apparent. There was no use in battling +with this melancholy Colossus who might, if he wished, break every bone +in Renwick's body. + +"Herr Renwick, if it will please you to be reasonable," he said, +releasing the Englishman and speaking as if soothing a spoiled child. + +At the mention of his name, Renwick drew back in growing wonder. + +"Who--who are you?" he asked. + +"My name is Gustav Linke," he said suavely. "I have been sent to keep +you from coming to harm. You see"----and he patted the pocket which +contained Renwick's pistol, "it is not difficult to run into danger when +one is always pulling one's pistol out." + +"Who sent you?" demanded Renwick furiously. + +The man in black coolly picked up his cotton umbrella which in the +struggle had fallen to the ground. + +"That is not a matter which need concern you." + +"I insist upon knowing and in going on to Brod without delay." + +The other merely shrugged. + +"I regret to say that that is impossible." + +"Why?" + +"Because my instructions were to keep you from reaching the Bosnian +border until tomorrow morning." + +"You are----?" + +"Herr Gustav Linke--that is all, Herr Renwick." + +"An agent of----" + +"The agent of Providence--let us say. Come. Be reasonable. I am sure +that the trifling disorder in the carburetor may be corrected. We shall +go on presently. The night is young. We shall reach Brod perhaps by +daylight. What do you say? Shall we be friends?" + +There was nothing else to be done. The disgusted Renwick shrugged and +got into the tonneau of the machine, awaiting the pleasure of his +captor. Out of the chaos of his disappointment came the one consoling +thought, that whatever Linke was, he was not a German. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +FLIGHT + + +The visions which disturbed Marishka Strahni in that dim borderland +between sleep and waking persisted in her dreams. And always Goritz +predominated--sometimes smiling, sometimes frowning but always cold, +sinister and calculating. He made love to her and spurned her by turns, +threatened her with the fate of the Duchess, whom she saw dead before +her eyes, the victim of a shot in the back. There was a smoking pistol +in Marishka's hand, and another figure lying near, which wore the +uniform of an Austrian general--the Archduke Franz it seemed, until she +moved to one side and saw that the figure had the face of Hugh Renwick. +She started up from her couch, a scream on her lips--calling to +Hugh----! Was she awake or was this another dream, more dreadful than +the last? There followed a conflict of bewildering noises, as though +night had mercifully fallen upon a chaos of disaster. She sat up and +looked around her. A train. + +She gasped a sigh of relief as her gaze pierced the dimness of the +elusive shadows. She remembered now. Captain Goritz. But she was still +alone. She lay down again, trying to keep awake in dread of the visions, +but exhaustion conquered again and she slept, dreaming now of another +Hugh, a tender and chivalrous lover who held her in his arms and +whispered of roses. + +It was daylight when she awoke. Captain Goritz was now sitting by the +window smiling at her. She started up drowsily, fingering at her hair. + +"You have slept well, Countess?" he asked cheerfully and without waiting +for her reply. "It is well. You have probably a trying day before you." + +Marishka straightened and looked out of the window past him at the +sunlit morning. Could it be possible that this alert pleasant person was +the Nemesis of her dreams? The world had taken on a new complexion, +washed clean of terrors by the pure dews of the night. + +"Thanks, Herr Hauptmann," she smiled at him. "I am quite myself again." + +"That is fortunate," he said. "We are nearly at our journey's end--at +least this part of it. Our train goes no further than Marburg." + +"And then?" + +"An automobile--a long journey." + +"I am quite ready." + +At Marburg they got down, and after Marishka had made a hurried toilet, +they breakfasted in comfort at the Bahnhof restaurant. If Captain Goritz +nourished any suspicion that they were being followed he gave no sign of +it, and after breakfast, to Marishka's surprise, Karl the chauffeur +appeared miraculously and announced that their car was awaiting them. + +"If I were not sure that you were Herr Lieutenant von Arnstorf," laughed +Marishka, "I should say you were the fairy of the magic carpet." + +"The magic carpet--_ach_, yes--if we but had one!" he said genuinely. + +The motion of the automobile soothed and satisfied her. At least she was +doing what she could to reach Sarajevo before the archducal party +arrived, and as her companion hopefully assured her, with a fair chance +of success. If Marishka could see Sophie Chotek, all her troubles would +be over, for then the Wilhelmstrasse would not care to oppose the dictum +of the Duchess in favor of one who whatever her political sins in +Germany's eyes, had made endless sacrifices to atone. + +If Marishka succeeded! But if she failed? + +The morning was too wonderful for thoughts of grim deeds or the authors +of them. The poisons distilled in her mind the night before were +dispelled into the clear air of the mountainside, over which singing +streams gushed joyously down. Birds were calling--mating; wild creatures +scampered playfully in thicket and hedge; and the peaceful valleys were +redolent of sweet odors. + +In the long hours of the afternoon Marishka's thoughts were of Hugh +Renwick. Perspective had given him a finer contour, for she had Goritz +to compare him with. She loved Hugh. She knew now how much. Her +happiness had been too sweet to have had such a sudden ending. She had +been unkind--cruel--broken with him even when he was bending every +effort to aid her. He was trying to help her now for all that she +knew.... She had written him a note from the German Embassy--just a few +lines which she had enclosed with the message to her maid at the +apartment--warning him that he was in danger and praying that he leave +the country and return to England, a kindly note which by its anxiety +for his safety conveyed perhaps more of what was in her heart than she +would have cared to write had she believed that she was to see him +again. + +What reason had Captain Goritz for believing that Hugh would follow her +in this mad quest? How could Hugh be sure where she had gone and with +whom? There had been a quality of the miraculous in the judgment of +Captain Goritz. What if even now Hugh Renwick were near her? Her pulse +went a little faster. Pride--the pride which asks in vain--for a while +had been dashed low, and she had scorned him with her eyes, her voice, +her mien, her gestures, all, alas! but her heart. The women of the house +of Strahni----! Hugh Renwick had kissed her. And the memory of those +kisses amid the red roses of the Archduke was with her now. She felt +them on her lips--the touch of his firm strong fingers--the honest gaze +of his gray eyes--these were the tokens she had which came to her as +evidence that the readings of her heart had not been wrong. A Serbian +spy----! She smiled confidently. + +In a moment she stole a glance at Captain Goritz, who was bent forward +studying his road map. She waited until he gave directions to the +chauffeur and then spoke. + +"Captain Goritz," she said carelessly, "you manage so cleverly that I am +beginning to trust implicitly to your guidance and knowledge. But there +is one thing that puzzles me. It must be more than a whim which makes +you think that Herr Renwick will follow us to Sarajevo." + +"Not _us_, Countess," he smiled; "I said _you_." + +"But granting that he would follow me--which I doubt--how could he know +where I have gone?" + +Goritz laughed easily. + +"He will find a way." + +Marishka's face grew sober. + +"I fear Herr Renwick's friendship cannot achieve miracles. The last he +saw of me was in a hut in Bohemia. What clew could he have----? What +possible----" + +"Ah, Countess," Goritz broke in, "you do not realize as I have done the +cleverness of the Austrian Secret Service. We have so far eluded them. +We were very lucky but it cannot be long before the green limousine will +be discovered, and the direction of our journey." + +"But even that----" + +"To a clever man like Herr Renwick--to a man whose affections are +involved," he added slowly, "it would not be difficult to decide where +you have gone. He knows the discomforts and dangers you have passed +through to achieve your object. He will, of course, seek your apartment +and read the meaning of your sending for your clothing just as +easily"--he paused a moment and smiled at the back of Karl's head--"just +as easily," he repeated slowly, "as though you yourself had written him +a note telling him--er--exactly which train you had taken." + +Marishka felt the warm color flooding her neck and brows. In writing +Renwick she had broken her promise to this man not to communicate with +her friends. Goritz watched her pretty distress for a moment with +amusement which speedily turned to interest. + +"Of course, Countess, you did _not_ write to him?" he said, with sudden +severity. + +"I owe you an explanation, Captain Goritz----" she said timidly. + +"You wrote--Countess?" evincing the most admirable surprise. + +"I inclosed a few words in my note to my maid--a warning of danger and a +request that Herr Renwick leave at once for England----" + +And as Goritz frowned at her, "Surely there is no harm in that." + +"Your word of honor----" + +"I betrayed nothing of my whereabouts or plans," she pleaded. + +"How can I know that you speak the truth?" + +"I swear it." + +Goritz shrugged lightly. + +"It is, of course, a woman's privilege to change her mind. Still, you +put me upon my guard. It is unfortunate. How can I be sure that you will +not be sending other notes without my permission to the Europa when we +reach Sarajevo?" + +"The Europa----? I fail to understand." + +"The Europa Hotel," he said with a curious distinctness, "where all +English people stop, and where of course your friend Mr. Renwick will +stop." + +Marishka examined him keenly. + +"Your prescience cannot be infallible." + +"No. But Herr Renwick will come to Sarajevo," he repeated confidently. + +He was still studying the road map and she was silent, thinking. But in +a moment he raised his head and shrugged again. + +"Of course it is nothing to me. As an English subject he has the +protection of his Ambassador. Even if my orders demanded his arrest I +should be without power to carry them out." + +"It is easier to deal with the credulity of women," she said quietly. + +"Countess Strahni, you make it very difficult for me--doubly difficult +since I have learned how lightly you hold your promise." + +"But confession absolves----" + +"With me, perhaps, because I could refuse you nothing, but not with +those that have sent me." + +"But why should you be uneasy at the possibility of Herr Renwick +following to Sarajevo?" + +"I do not relish the disturbance of my plans." + +She smiled a little at that. + +"I think I should be a little happier if I knew just what those plans +were." + +He did not reply at once. Then he went on slowly, choosing his words +with care. + +"My sentiments of respect must by this time have told you that no harm +can come to you. Last night His Excellency, the German Ambassador, +informed me that I shall do a great damage to the friendship between +your nation and mine, if I presume to take you across the German border +without your consent. I have been much moved by his advice. He has +already written to the Wilhelmstrasse in your behalf. I cannot yet +absolve you from your promise since my own actions in Austria have been +far from conventional. Herr Renwick, if he chooses, can make my visit to +Sarajevo most unpleasant. But I see no reason, after our purpose has +been achieved, why you should not be restored to your friends, even to +Herr Renwick, if that is your desire," and then in a lower tone, "I can +assure you, Countess Strahni, that I relinquish you to him with an ill +grace." + +"Herr Renwick is no Serbian spy, Captain Goritz," she said steadily. + +He smiled. + +"Oh, you do not believe me. Very well. You will discover it for +yourself." + +"How?" she asked timidly. + +He looked at her with every mark of admiration, but his reply did not +answer her question. + +"Herr Renwick is indeed fortunate in having so loyal a friend--even +though, as you say, there is nothing between you in common. I envy him +the possession. I hope that he may better deserve it." + +She smiled but did not speak for a moment and then, "Why is it that you +so dislike a man whom you do not know--whom you--you have never seen?" + +Goritz bent forward toward her, his voice lowered while his strange dark +eyes gazed full into hers: + +"Need I tell you?" he whispered. "You have thought me cruel, because I +have done my duty, heartless--cold--a mere piece of official machinery +which could balk at nothing--even the destruction of a woman's +happiness--because my allegiance to my country was greater than any +personal consideration. But I am not insensible to the appeals of +gentleness, not blind to beauty nor deaf to music, Countess Strahni, as +you have thought. Beneath the exterior which may have seemed forbidding +to you, I am only human. Last night I took advantage of your weariness +and weakness in telling you, with cruel bluntness, of Herr Renwick's +relations with the Serbian government. I learned what you have labored +to conceal--that you care for him--that you care for one who----" + +"It is not true," she broke in calmly. "I do not care for Herr Renwick." + +"It would delight me to believe you," he went on with a shake of the +head, "but I cannot. It has been very painful to me to see you suffer, +for whatever you have done in a mistaken sense of loyalty to your +country, nothing can alter the fact of your innocence, your virtue, and +your dependence upon my kindness in a most trying situation. I have told +you the facts about Herr Renwick because I have believed it my duty, to +you and to Austria. If I have hurt you, Countess Strahni," he finished +gently, "I pray that you will forgive me." + +Marishka was silent, now looking straight before her down the mountain +road which they were descending slowly. The voice of Captain Goritz had +a sonorous quality which could not have been unpleasant to the ears of +any woman. She listened to it soberly, trying to detect the tinkle of +the spurious, but she was forced to admit that beyond and behind the +mere phrases which might in themselves mean nothing, there was a depth +of earnestness that might have proved bewildering to one less versed in +the ways of the world than herself. His eyes, singularly clear and +luminous, dominated and held her judgment of him in abeyance. For the +moment she was able to forget her terrors of the night before, his +enmity for Hugh Renwick, and the threat he had hung over her freedom. +She did not dare to trust him. Too much still hung in the balance of her +favor or disfavor. And yet she was forced to admit the constraint of his +fervor, his kindness and courteous consideration. A woman forgives much +to those who acknowledge without question the scepter of her femininity. + +At last she turned toward him with a smile and gave nun her hand. Nor +did she withdraw it when bending low he pressed it gently to his lips. +This was a game that two could play at. + +"We are to be friends, then?" he asked quietly. + +"Of course," she smiled at him. + +Toward six of the afternoon a trifling mishap to the motor delayed them +for two hours, and it was long after midnight before they reached Brod +and learned that the train of the Archduke had left within the hour. +This was a terrible disappointment, which seemed to menace the success +of their venture. But Captain Goritz determined to go on as rapidly as +possible, trusting to reach their destination before the royal party +left its train, hoping that the sight of Countess Strahni by the Duchess +would be sufficient to let down any official barriers which might be +interposed. But an unforeseen difficulty at Brod still further delayed +them, a difficulty which required all of the ingenuity of Captain Goritz +to get them once more upon their way. It was three o'clock in the +morning, when having made some necessary repairs to the machine, they +reached the Austrian end of the great bridge across the Save. Here they +were halted by an iron chain across the bridge entrance and a police +officer who, it seemed, looked upon their night traveling with +suspicion. Captain Goritz protested indignantly and produced his papers, +which the officer inspected by the dim light of an ancient lantern held +by a subordinate. + +"I am sorry," he said firmly, "but no motor cars are permitted to cross +into Bosnia until tomorrow morning." + +"But, my friend," said Goritz with an air of outraged patience, "I am an +officer of the Third Regiment of the Fifteenth Army Corps returning to +Sarajevo from a leave of absence which expires at nine in the morning. +It is necessary that my party goes through at once." + +"I must obey orders, Herr Ober Lieutenant." + +"But my papers are correct. They are signed, you will observe, by +General von Hoetzendorf himself." + +"I am sorry, but you cannot go through. If you choose to take up the +matter with my superior officer, you will find the Kaserne in the main +street near the mosque. I shall pass you only upon his vise. That is +final. You will please turn your car and return to the village." + +Captain Goritz gazed longingly along the pale beam of the motor lamps +into the dark reaches of the bridge, and then at the shadow of the heavy +chain. At last with reluctance he gave the order to turn back. There +seemed no doubt that the restriction was unusual, and that the visit of +the Archduke had much to do with the obstruction of traffic between +Sarajevo and central Europe. The car moved slowly back through the +darkened village in the direction from which they had come, while Goritz +planned what was better to be done. The nearest other crossing at Kobas +was twenty miles away, over the road by which they had come, and they +knew that the roads upon the Bosnian side of the river were mere cow +tracks. If the officer at the bridge refused to pass them, how were they +to be certain that they would fare any better at the hands of his +superior, probably a crusty village official who would not relish being +awakened in the small hours of the morning even by a belated army +officer? At the order of Captain Goritz, the chauffeur Karl backed the +car into a meadow and put out the lights. Then Goritz lighted a +cigarette and smoked rapidly. + +"Brod is Serbian for ford. Is the passage above the bridge or below?" + +"Below, Herr Hauptmann, but dangerous at this season. I should not risk +it." + +"Ah, I see." He paused a moment, thinking rapidly. "Is there a chain at +the other end of the bridge?" + +"I have never seen one, Herr Hauptmann." + +"Very good. You will await me here." + +And without further words he got down and disappeared into the darkness. +Marishka sat trembling with uncertainty, trying to pierce the obscurity +in the direction in which her companion had gone. Silence, except for +the droning of the insects and the distant rushing of the river. +Fifteen, twenty minutes in which Marishka sat tensely waiting, hoping, +fearing she knew not what, and then silently, merely a darker shadow of +the night itself, a figure appeared and silently mounted into the seat +beside the waiting Karl. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +TRAGEDY + + +She heard a few phrases pass between them and then, without lights, the +machine suddenly moved forward. The explosions of the engine, muffled +though they were, seemed like rifle shots to ears newly accustomed to +the silences of the night. But the speed of the motor increased rapidly, +and she felt the damp of the river fog brushing her cheek. She could see +nothing though she peered into the blackness eagerly. The car was +rushing to destruction for all that she knew, yet Karl was driving +straight and hard for the entrance of the bridge. Marishka saw the dim +gleam of a lantern, heard a hoarse shout, and then the sound of shots +lost in the crashing of the timbers of the bridge as they thundered +over, the throttle wide, past the bridge house at Bosna-Brod upon the +other side of the river, and on without pause through the village into +the open road beyond. All this in darkness, which had made the venture +the more terrible. + +It was with relief that she heard the light laugh and even tones of +Captain Goritz. + +"That is well done, Karl. Your eyes are better than mine. But I have no +humor for a bath in the Bosna, so we will have the lights, if you +please." + +"They will follow us?" stammered Marishka. + +"There is a greater danger of detention at Dervent or Duboj, but I'm +hoping the bridge-tender may keep silent. It was stupid of him not to +guard the chain." + +"You lowered it----?" + +"It made a fearful racket, but the roar of the river helped." + +A little further down the road, at a signal, Karl brought the car to a +stop and silenced the engine, while Goritz got down into the road and +listened intently, striking a match meanwhile and looking at the dial of +his watch. There were no sounds in the direction from which they had +come but the distant roar of the river and the whispering of the wind in +the trees. + +"It is half-past three, Karl. How far have we to go?" + +"More than two hundred kilos--two hundred and fifty perhaps." + +"Ah, so much?" and he frowned. "I wish to reach the capital by eight +o'clock, Karl," he said. + +"_Zu befehl_, Herr Hauptmann--if it is in the machine. I can at least +try." + +As Goritz got in beside Marishka, he started the engine, and they were +off again. As a sign that at least the chauffeur was trying to carry out +his orders, in a moment they were rushing along at a furious pace which +seemed to threaten destruction to them all. In spite of an impending +storm which had now, fortunately, passed, at Brod Karl had lowered the +top of the car in order to make better speed in the final race for their +goal, and the rush of wind seemed to make breathing difficult, but +Marishka clung to the bracket at her side, trying to keep her balance as +they swung around the curves, and silently praying. Conversation was +impossible until the road rose from the plains of the Save into the +mountains, where the speed was necessarily diminished. The car, +fortunately, seemed to be a good one, for no machine unless well proven +could long stand the strain of such work as Karl was giving it to do. +Through Dervent they went at full speed, seeing no lights or human +beings. Beyond Duboj the moon came out, and this made Karl's problems +less difficult, though the road wound dangerously along the ravines of +the Brod river, which tumbled from cleft to cleft, sometimes a silver +thread and again a ragged cataract hundreds of feet below. There were no +retaining walls, and here and there as they turned sudden and unexpected +corners it almost seemed to Marishka that the rear wheels of the machine +swirled out into space. She held her breath and closed her eyes from +time to time, expecting the car to lose its equilibrium and go whirling +over and over into the echoing gorge below them, the depth of which the +shadow of the mountains opposite mercifully hid from view. But Karl had +no time in which to consider the thoughts of his passengers. He had his +orders. If achievement were in the metal he intended to carry them out. +The feudal castles of old Bosnia passed in stately review, Maglaj, +Usora, clinging leech-like to their inaccessible peaks, grim sentinels +of the vista of years, frowning at the roaring engine of modernity which +sent its echoes mocking at their lonely dignity. Marishka could look, +but not for long, for in a moment would come the terrible down-grade and +the white, leaping road before them, which held her eyes with fearful +hypnotism. Death! What right had she to pray for her own safety, when +her own lips had condemned Sophie Chotek? There was still a chance that +she would reach Sarajevo in time. She had no thought of sleep. Weary as +she was, the imminence of disaster at first fascinated--then enthralled +her. She was drunk with excitement, crying out she knew not what in +admiration of Karl's skill, her fingers in imagination with his upon the +wheel, her gaze, like his, keen and unerring upon the road. + +Beside her Captain Goritz sat silently, smiling as he watched her. + +"It is wonderful, is it not?" he said in a lull, when the machine +coasted down a straight piece of road. "Fear is the master passion of +life. Even I, Countess, am in love with fear." And then with a laugh, +"We shall arrive in time if the tires hold. It is a good machine, a very +good machine." + +Dawn stole slowly across the heavens between the mountain peaks, an opal +dawn, pale and luminous. Here and there objects defined themselves +against the velvety surfaces of the hills, a hut by the river brink, a +thread of smoke rising straight in the still air, a herdsman driving his +flock in a path across the valley. But Karl, the chauffeur, drove madly +on, more madly, it seemed, as the light grew better. People appeared as +if by magic upon the road, with loaded vehicles bound to +market--awe-stricken peasants, who leaped aside and then turned +wondering. + +The machine climbed a mountain from which a vista of many miles of +country was spread out before them, but there was no sign of their +destination. Half-past eight--nine----! The roads became crowded again, +with vehicles, horsemen, footmen, and groups of soldiers, all traveling +in the same direction. Sarajevo was not far distant but they went at a +snail's pace, their nerves leaping in the reaction. Marishka, pallid +with fatigue, sat leaning forward in her seat, dumb with anxiety. Goritz +rubbed his chin thoughtfully. But he had not yet begun to despair. +Suddenly the car came to a turning in the road, and the Bosnian capital +was spread out at their feet. Goritz looked at his watch. It was nearly +ten. If the thing they dreaded had not yet come to pass there might +still be time. As they descended the hill into the valley of the +Miljacka, it was apparent that the town was in holiday attire. Flags +floated from many poles, and the streets and bridges were crowded with +people. At the direction of Captain Goritz, Karl drove quickly to the +railroad station, where a group of officials stood gesturing and talking +excitedly. + +"Has His Highness gone into the city?" asked Goritz of the man nearest +him. + +The fellow paused and turned at the sight of the Austrian uniform. + +"Ah, Herr Lieutenant--you have not heard?" + +"I have just come down from the hills. What is the matter?" + +"A bomb has been thrown into the automobile of the Archduke----" + +"He is killed?" asked Goritz, while Marishka leaned forward in horror. + +"Fortunately, no. He cast the bomb into the street, but it exploded +under the vehicle of his escort, killing several, they say." + +"She is safe--Her Highness is safe?" questioned Marishka. + +"Yes, but it was a narrow escape," said another man. + +"Where is the Archduke now?" asked Goritz. + +"At the Rathaus--where he is to receive a testimonial from the +Burgomaster, in behalf of the city. From there they go to the Governor's +palace, I think." + +"Thanks," said Goritz with a gasp of relief, and gave the word to Karl +to drive on toward the center of the town. + +"'Forewarned is forearmed,'" he muttered to Marishka. "They may not dare +to attempt it again. I think you need have no further anxiety, +Countess." + +"But I must reach Her Highness. I must let her know everything." + +"We shall try." And then to Karl, "Go as far as you can into the town, +to Franz Josef Street." + +But at the tobacco factory the crowd was so great that they could not go +on, and Goritz after some directions to Karl, helped Marishka down, and +they went forward through the crowd afoot, listening to its excited +comments. + +"Cabrinobitch----" + +"A Serbian, they say. The police seized him." + +"I was as near to him as you are. Stovan Kovacevik was hit by a piece of +the bomb. They have taken him to the hospital." + +"Colonel Merizzi--they say he is dead. And Count von Waldeck badly +wounded." + +Marishka shuddered. She had known them both at Konopisht. She caught +Captain Goritz by the arm and forced her way to the Stadt Park, +following the crowd of people and at last reaching Franz Josef Street, +which was filled almost solidly with an excited, gesticulating mass of +humanity. + +"A Serbian plot!" they heard a man in a turban say in polyglot German. +"Not Serbian nor Bosnian. We have no murderers here." + +"So say I," cried another. "They will blame it upon us. Where are the +police, that the streets are not even cleared." + +"Why does he come here to make trouble? We do not love him, but we are +an orderly people. Let him be gone." + +"He was at least brave. They say after the bomb was thrown into his +machine he threw it into the street." + +"Brave! Yes. But he is a soldier. Why shouldn't he be brave?" + +"Courage may not save him. There is something back of this. A man told +me there was a bomb thrower on every street corner." + +Marishka pushed forward shuddering, with Captain Goritz close behind +her. + +"I cannot believe it," she whispered. + +"The ravings of a crowd," he muttered. "It matters nothing." + +But as they neared the corner of Rudolfstrasse, there was a stir and a +murmur as all heads turned to look up the street in the direction of the +Carsija. + +"He comes again." "The machine is returning from the Rathaus." The word +flew from lip to lip with the speed of the wind. A few Austrian soldiers +were riding down the street clearing the way. They were all. No police, +no other soldiers. It was horrible. The sides of the machine were +utterly unprotected from the people, who closed in upon it, almost +brushing its wheels. Marishka pressed forward again, jostled this way +and that, until she stood upon the very fringe of the crowd at the +corner of the street. Captain Goritz held her by the elbow. What purpose +was in her mind he could not know. But every nerve in her--every impulse +urged her to go forward to the very doors of the machine and protect +Sophie Chotek, if necessary with her own body, against the dangers +which, as the people about her said, lurked on every corner. The machine +approached very slowly. There was no cheering, and it seemed strange to +Marishka that there could be no joy in the hearts of these people at the +courage of their Heir Presumptive, who had faced death bravely, and now +with more hardihood than prudence was facing it again. The car was open, +and she could see the figures of the royal pair quite clearly, their +faces very pale, the Archduke leaning forward talking with a man in +uniform in the front seat opposite him, the Duchess scanning the crowd +anxiously. As the machine stopped again at the street corner, Marishka +rushed forward until she stood just at its front wheels, waving a hand +and speaking the Duchess's name. She saw the gaze of Sophie Chotek meet +hers, waver and then become fixed again in wonder, in sudden +recognition, and incomprehension. Words formed on the girl's lips and +she called, + +"It is I--Marishka Strahni, Duchess--I must speak----" + +She got no further. Out of the mass of people just at her elbow the +figure of a man emerging, sprang upon the running board of the machine. +He seemed to wave his hand, and then there were sounds of shots. The +Archduke started up, holding a protecting arm before the body of the +Duchess, who had sunk back into her seat, her hand to her breast. The +Archduke wavered a moment and then fell forward across the knees of the +Duchess. + +Of the mad moments which followed, Marishka was barely conscious. She +was pushed roughly back into the turgid crowd and would have fallen had +not an arm sustained her. Men seized the assassin and hurried him away. +There were hoarse shouts, glimpses of soldiers, as the machine of death +pushed its way through the mass of people, and always the strong arm +sustained her, pushing her, leading her away into a street where there +were fewer people and less noise. + +"Come, Countess, he brave," Goritz was saying. "God knows you have done +what you could." + +"It is horrible," she gasped brokenly. "A moment sooner, perhaps, and I +should have succeeded. She recognized me--you saw?" + +He nodded. "Kismet! It was written," he said grimly. + +"But someone must pay--someone--who was----?" + +"A Bosnian student--named Prinzep--a man said." + +"He was but a boy--a frail boy----" + +"He has been well taught to shoot," muttered Goritz. + +"Death!" she cried hysterically. "And I----" + +"Be quiet. People are watching you," said Goritz sternly. "Lean on my +arm and go where I shall lead. It is not far." + +[Illustration: "Be quiet. People are watching you," said Goritz +sternly.] + +The sight of strange, distorted faces regarding her gave Marishka the +strength to obey. Mechanically her feet moved, but the sunlight blinded +her. She passed through a maze of small streets lined with market stalls +where groups of people shouted excitedly; and dimly as in a dream she +heard their comments. + +"The police--we have police--where were they? The Government will be +blaming us. We are not murderers! No. It is a shame!" + +Marishka shuddered and leaned more heavily upon the arm of her +companion. She was weary unto death, body and spirit--but still her feet +moved on, out of the maze of small alleys into a larger alley, where her +companion stopped before a blue wooden gate let into a stone wall. He +put his hand upon the latch, the gate yielded, and they entered a small +garden with well ordered walks and a fountain, beside which was a stone +bench. Upon this bench at the bidding of Captain Goritz she sank, +burying her face in her hands, while he went toward the house, which had +its length at one side of the garden. She put her fingers before her +eyes trying to shut out the horrors she had witnessed, but they +persisted, ugly and sinister. Over and over in her mind dinned the +hoarse murmur of the crowd, "We are not murderers! No!" Who then----? +Not the frail student with the smoking pistol ... the agent of +others.... The eyes of Sophie Chotek haunted her--eyes that had looked +so often into her own with kindness. She had seen terror in them, and +then--the mad turmoil, the dust, the acrid smell of powder fumes, and +the silent group of huddled figures in the machine!... + +There were sounds of voices and of footsteps approaching, but Marishka +could not move. She was prone, inert, helpless. + +"She is very tired," someone said. + +"_Ach_--she must come within and sleep." + +A woman's voice, it seemed, deep but not unsympathetic. + +"A glass of wine perhaps--and food." + +"It shall be as you desire, Excellency. I know what she needs." + +Arms raised her, and she felt herself half led, half carried, into the +house and laid upon a bed in a room upstairs. It was dark within and +there was a strange odor of spices. Presently someone, the woman, it +seemed, gave her something to drink, and after awhile the turmoil in her +head grew less--and she slept. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE HARIM + + +Dreams, colorful and strangely vivid, but not unpleasant. It seemed that +Marishka lay upon a couch so soft that she sank deliciously without end +to perfect rest. Above, about, below her, perfumed darkness, spangled +with soft spots of light, which came and went curiously. She tried to +fix her gaze upon one of them, but it was extinguished immediately and +appeared elsewhere. She found another--and another, but they fled from +her like _ignes fatui_. She heard the whir of a machine, fast and then +slow again, near and then at a distance. Was it an automobile or an +aeroplane? The notion of an automobile speeding in space was +incongruous, the milky way--a queer concept! She smiled in her +dreams.... Then suddenly a bright sunlight peopled with strange figures +in fez and turban, faces that leered at her, lips that howled in +excitement, arms that moved threateningly, dust, noise, commotion, from +which she was trying in vain to escape.... And then darkness again and +the subdued murmur of voices, one voice familiar, one gruff and +unfamiliar. + +"Ten thousand _kroner_--that is a large sum," said the gruff voice. + +"Yours, Effendi, if the thing is accomplished." + +"It should not be difficult. You may reply upon me." + +"And you are to show the lady every attention--every comfort----" + +"_Zu befehl_----" + +There was a recurrence of the changing lights and the voices receded. +Presently she seemed to hear them again. + +"She is to be kept in seclusion of course, but otherwise you will accede +to all her requests--all, you understand----Should she care to +write--you will send a message. There are more ways than one to kill a +goose. And this one lays the golden egg, Effendi----" + +"I understands--a golden egg." + +"Very good--perhaps tonight----We shall see." + +"I shall be prepared, Excellency." + +The voices died away and melted into the murmur of a crowd, which merged +curiously into the whir of an automobile. But it was dark again and the +spots of light in the darkness reappeared. One, two, three, a dozen she +counted and then they vanished. She was alone, an atom in the expanse of +infinity, but the darkness and the perfume now oppressed, suffocated +her, and she tried to escape. But she moved her limbs with difficulty, +and a weight sealed her eyelids. She struggled up against it and managed +to rise upon one elbow and look about her. + +She was awake. Slowly memory returned, the memory of things which seemed +to have happened a long while before, and time and distance seemed to +have robbed them of their sting. She was awake and alone in a dark room, +lying on a low couch, upon which were spread a number of pillows of +strange design. A latticed window was near, and outside, the shadows of +a tree branch fell across the barred rectangle, cutting the lines of +light into broken lozenges of shadow. The room was furnished somberly +but richly with heavy hangings and teakwood furniture decorated with +mother-of-pearl. A lantern of curious design depended from the ceiling. +There was a figure standing in the corner. She raised herself upon one +elbow and examined the figure attentively, not frightened yet, but +merely curious. + +It was a suit of ancient armor of a period with which she was +unfamiliar. She moved her limbs painfully and sat up. Her head throbbed +for a few moments but she found that she was able to think clearly +again. Slowly she realized where she was and what had happened. The blue +door in the wall--this the house that adjoined the garden. She had +slept--how long she did not know, but the beams of sunlight were orange +in color and made a brilliant arabesque upon an embroidered hanging on +the opposite wall. She must have slept long. Her dreams returned to her, +fleeting and elusive, like the _ignes fatui_ which had been a part of +them. The whir of wheels, the vision of the vari-colored crowd, the +murmur of voices speaking--these too had been a dream. She tried to +recall what the voices had murmured. Phrases came to her. "Ten thousand +_kroner_--the goose that lays the golden egg----" It was all like a +story from a fairy tale. She looked about her--a dream--of course. Who +could have been speaking of _kroners_ and golden eggs here? + +There were two doors to the apartment in which she lay, one, ornate with +Turkish fretwork, which had in its center panel what seemed to be a +small window, covered by a black grille. At the other end of the room +another door, open, from which came a flicker of cool light, the soft +pad of footsteps and the sound of a voice humming some curious Oriental +air. Marishka did not get up at once, but sat among the pillows, her +fingers at her temples as she tried to collect her thoughts. She knew +that she must think. Everything seemed to depend upon the clearness with +which her mind emerged from the fog of dreams. Slowly, the happenings of +the last few days recurred--the flight, the wild ride down the ravines +of the Brod, Sarajevo, the tragedy, the car of Death! She put her +fingers before her eyes and then straightened bravely. And what now? +Goritz! What was he going to do with her? She tried to judge the future +by the past. She had given herself unreservedly into his hands in the +hope of reaching Sophie Chotek before--before what had happened. Their +interests had been identical--the saving of life--and if they had +succeeded, there would have been no need for anxiety as to her own +future. But now the situation seemed to have changed. Failure had marked +her for its own, an unbidden guest in a strange country in which she was +for the present at the mercy of her captor. She could not forget that +she was his prisoner, and the terms of her promise to him came to her +with startling clearness. His recantation, his courtesy, his ardent +looks had allayed suspicion, but had not quite removed the earlier +impression. In this hour of awakening and depression there seemed to be +room for any dreadful possibility. + +Was she a prisoner? If so, the window was not barred, and she saw that +it let upon the tiny garden fifteen feet below. If she could gather the +strength, it might not be difficult to lower herself from the window +sill--drop to the garden and flee. But where? To whom? She turned +quickly, listening for the sounds of the footsteps in the adjoining +room, her hand at her breast, where her heart was throbbing with a new +hope. Hugh! Hugh in Sarajevo! And yet why not? It came to her in a throb +of joyous pride that in spite of all that she had done to deter him, he +had persisted in helping and protecting her, oblivious of her denial of +him and of her cutting disdain. But would the frail clew of her flight +through Vienna be enough to point her object and destination? The memory +of his cleverness and initiative in their night ride to Konopisht gave +her new hope. Why should he not come to Sarajevo? Between the lines of +the note she had written him he must have read the tenderness that had +always been in her heart. He was no coward, and the idea of fleeing to +England when danger threatened her would, of course, be the last that +would come into his mind. It was curious that she had not thought of +this before. He would come to Sarajevo if he could--perhaps he was here +now---- + +A heavy figure stood in the doorway regarding her. She could not at +first decide whether it was a man or a woman for the wide, baggy +trousers resembled a skirt, and the short, sleeveless jacket was similar +to that worn by the male Moslems she had seen in the Carsija. But in a +moment, a voice of rather low pitch spoke kindly, in atrocious German. + +"The Fraeulein is at last awake. Does she feel better?" + +"Ah, thanks, yes," said Marishka, at last deciding that it was a woman. +"I have slept long." + +"Seven hours at least, and like the dead. But you must be hungry. I will +prepare something at once." + +"Thank you. And if I could wash my face and hands." + +"It shall be as you wish. If you will but come with me----" + +Marishka rose, and as she did so, the door with the black grille opened +from within, and a girl came into the room. Like the older woman she +wore baggy trousers and slippers, but above the waist, typifying the +meeting of East and West, a somewhat soiled satin blouse which might +have been made either in Paris or Vienna. The face was very pretty, +regular of feature and oval in contour, but the effect of its beauty was +marred by the hair above it, which was dyed with henna a saffron red. +But she wore a flower at her breast, and in spite of her artificialities +exhaled the gayety of youth. She smiled very prettily and came forward +with a confiding air, giving Marishka her hand. + +"I have been waiting for you to wake up," she said in a soft voice. "I +have never known anyone to sleep so soundly." + +She laughed like a child who is very much pleased with a new toy, and +holding Marishka's hand, looked at her curiously from head to foot. +There was something very genuine in her interest and kindliness, and +Marishka found herself smiling. + +"I must have been very tired," she said. + +"I am sorry. You are feeling better now?" + +"Yes, but very dirty----" + +"Come with me. Zubeydeh will bring food." + +She led the way through the door of the black grille, down a short +passage into a large room at the end of the house. The apartment was +strewn with rugs, and its furniture was a curious mixture of the color +of the East and the utility of the West--a French dressing stand beside +a stove of American make, a Bosnian marriage chest, a table which might +have come out of the Ringstrasse, a brass tray for burning charcoal, a +carved teakwood stand upon which stood a nargileh, a box of cigars, some +cigarettes, and two coffee cups still containing the residue of the last +draught. There were latticed windows in _meshrebiya_, which overlooked +the garden and street, and piled beside them were a number of pillows +and cushions. The room was none too clean, but there were evidences here +and there of desultory attempts at rehabilitation. + +The girl with the red hair led Marishka to one of the window recesses, +where she bade her sit upon a pile of pillows, bringing a basin and an +ewer of water which she put upon the rug beside her. + +"Ah, I was forgetting," said the girl, and going to the corner of the +room produced with much pride Marishka's suitcase. "His Excellency left +it for you this afternoon." + +The sight of water and a change of clothing did much to restore +Marishka's confidence and self-respect, and she opened the bag with +alacrity, bringing forth from its recesses soap, clean linen and a +washcloth. + +While Marishka ate and drank, the girl with the red hair crouched upon +her knees beside the suitcase, sniffed at its contents eagerly, and with +little cries of delight touched with her fingers the delicate articles +which it contained. + +"How pretty! How soft to the touch!" And then rather wistfully, "It is a +pity that one cannot get such things in Bosna-Seraj." + +"You like them?" asked Marishka, reveling in the delight of being free +from the dust of her journey. + +"Oh, they are so beautiful!" + +For all her years, and she must have been at least as old as Marishka, +she had the undeveloped mind of a child. + +"You, too, are beautiful," she sighed enviously, "so white, your skin is +so clear. Your hair is so soft." And then as an afterthought, "But I +think it would look just as pretty if it were red." + +Marishka laughed. + +"What is your name, my dear?" she asked. + +"I am called Yeva--they say after the first woman who was born." + +"Eve--of course. It becomes you well." + +"You think so. Was she very beautiful?" + +"Yes--the mother of all women." + +"The ugly ones?" + +"Yes. We cannot all be beautiful." + +"It must be dreadful to be old and ugly like Zubeydeh." + +As Marishka brought out brush and comb and a towel, Yeva ran quickly and +procured a mirror--a small cheap affair with tawdry tinsel ornaments. + +"You will let me brush your hair, Fraeulein. It will be a great +privilege." + +"Of course, child--if you care to." + +And while Yeva combed and brushed, Marishka questioned and she answered. +The house in which she lived was near the Sirokac Tor. Her lord and +master was of the Begs of Rataj, once the rulers of a province in +Bosnia, where his father's fathers had lived, but now shorn of his +tithes and a dealer in rugs. He was an old man, yes, but he was good to +her, giving her much to eat and drink, and many clothes. She must ask +him to get some of these pretty soft undergarments from Vienna. And the +Excellency. She had seen him twice, some months before through the +_dutap_, when he had conversed with the Effendi in the adjoining room. +And was the beautiful Fraeulein in love with the Excellency? + +Marishka answered her in some sort, listening to the girl's chatter, +meanwhile thinking deeply of the plan that had come into her mind. +Scraps of suggestion that she had gleaned from her talks with Goritz +gave her at least a hope that she might be successful in reaching Hugh +Renwick by messenger. "The English always go to the Europa," he had +said. There, if Hugh Renwick had come to Sarajevo, was the place where a +note would find him. And so, the hair brushing having been successfully +accomplished, she asked the girl if there was someone by whom she could +secretly send a note. + +A message! To an Excellency--a Herr Hauptmann--or perhaps a +General--yes. She was sure that it could be managed. She herself perhaps +could take it. Had not the Effendi told her that the Fraeulein was to +want for nothing? And greatly excited at the thought of intrigue, +brought a tabourette which she placed before Marishka, then found paper, +ink and envelopes and squatted upon a pillow, watching eagerly over +Marishka's shoulder. But the girl's scrutiny troubled Marishka. Was she +in the confidence of Captain Goritz? And if not, could she be persuaded +to hold her tongue? Instead of writing at once, Marishka relinquished +the pen and took Yeva's hand. + +"It is very necessary for my peace and happiness that the contents of +this note should be only seen by the person to whom it is delivered----" + +"Ah, Fraeulein, it shall be as you say. By Allah, I swear----" + +"Do you care enough? I will give you anything I possess if you will keep +my secret." + +"Ah!" her eyes were downcast and her tone was pained. "That the Fraeulein +should not believe in my friendship----" + +"But I _do_ believe in it----" + +"Still," broke in Yeva smiling craftily, "I should very much like to +have something by which to remember the Fraeulein--the pink sleeping +garment which is so sweetly smelling and soft to the touch." + +"It is yours, Yeva. See," and Marishka took it from the valise, "I give +it to you." + +The girl gurgled delightedly, and crooned and kissed the garment like a +child with a new doll. She was for trying it on at once and, thus for +the moment relieved of Yeva's scrutiny, Marishka bent over the +tabourette, pen in hand. But before she wrote she called Yeva again. + +"There is no entrance to this house except by the garden, Yeva?" she +asked. + +"Oh, yes, to the _selamlik_, the _mabein_ door and this----" + +She walked to the side of the room and thrusting aside a heavy +Kis-Kelim, showed Marishka a door cunningly concealed in an angle of the +wall. + +"That leads--where?" Marishka asked. + +"To a small court of the next house." + +"And the street below?" + +Yeva nodded and renewed the inspection of her new present in the mirror, +so Marishka wrote: + + HUGH, + + I am a prisoner in a house near the Sirokac Tor beyond the + Carsija--a house with a small garden the gate of which has a blue + door. I am treated with every courtesy, but I am frightened. Come + tonight at twelve to the small court at the left of the house and + knock twice upon the door. I will come to you. Forgive me. + + MARISHKA. + +While Yeva was scrutinizing her new adornment in the small mirror +Marishka reread the note. She did not wish to alarm her lover unduly, +for perhaps after all there were no need for grave alarm. + +The intentions of Captain Goritz were perhaps of the best, his given +word to liberate her, to free her from her promise and return her to her +friends, had been spoken with an air of sincerity, which under other +conditions might have been impressive. But some feminine instinct in her +still doubted--still doubted and feared him. And in spite of his many +kindnesses, his few moments of insensibility to her weariness and +distress there in the motor in the flight from Konopisht, and in the +railway carriage when he had spoken of Hugh Renwick's connection with +hated Serbia--these memories of their association lingered and +persisted. She feared him. The failure of their mission would perhaps +have made a difference; and the promise of a man whose whole existence +was a living lie, was but a slender reed to hang upon. + +She straightened abruptly and gazed before her in sudden dismay. Her +word of honor--as a Strahni! She was breaking her promise--had already +broken it. For she had pledged herself to Goritz--to go with him whither +he pleased, if he would enable her to save the life of Sophie Chotek. + +But he had failed! _But he had failed!_ She clutched at the sophistry +desperately. Goritz had failed. Under such conditions should she +consider her promise binding? It had been conditional. Liberty, there in +the street below, just at her elbow, and Hugh Renwick within reach! She +came to this conclusion with desperate speed, and quickly addressed and +sealed the envelope. + +Yeva, before the mirror, was wrapped in admiration of her new +possession. + +"Am I not beautiful in it, Fraeulein?" she was asking as she twisted and +turned, examining herself at every angle. + +"Yes, Yeva," said Marishka quietly, "but it is not a garment in which +one goes out upon the street." + +"The street!" Yeva laughed deliciously. "I would make a sensation in +Bosna-Seraj, I can tell you, attired only in this and a _yashmak_." + +And then seeing the note lying upon the tabourette, she came running +with little childish footsteps. "Ah, you have sealed it! And you are not +going to let me see?" + +"It is nothing, Yeva." + +"But I thought----" peevishly. + +"How can you be interested in my little affairs?" + +"I hoped that he might come and I should see him through the _dutap_." + +"Perhaps he may!" said Marishka with an inspiration. "Could you be +trusted to keep this message a secret? To tell no one?" + +"I have already promised----" + +"Not even to Zubeydeh----?" + +"Of course not. Zubeydeh is old and ugly. She would not understand what +a young girl thinks about." + +"And can you go out without her knowing?" + +"By the private stairway. Of course. There is another door below, +locked, but I can procure a key." + +"Then I too----" Marishka paused and Yeva turned, reading her thoughts. + +"Ah, I understand. You wish to go to him. It is a pity, but it is +impossible." + +"Impossible! Why?" + +"I can do the Fraeulein a favor, since she has been kind to me, but to +disobey the commands of my lord and master--I would call upon myself the +curses of Allah." + +Marishka pondered for a moment. "The Effendi desires that I remain +here?" she asked. + +"That is his command, Fraeulein." + +"I see." + +If Marishka had had any doubts as to the intentions of Captain Goritz, +the Beg of Rataj had now removed them. How much or how little of what +the girl revealed had been born of innocence or how much of design, +Marishka could not know, but it hardly seemed possible that the child +could be meshed so deeply in this intrigue. Marishka felt sure that Yeva +had promised to deliver her note, because the situation amused and +interested her, as did her visitor, and because of the pink garment Yeva +was now so reluctantly laying aside. + +Marishka took another garment from the valise, a dainty drapery of silk +edged with fine lace, and held it up temptingly. + +"Yeva," she said. + +"Yes, Fraeulein." + +"This, too, is very beautiful, do you not think so?" + +Yeva sighed wistfully. + +"Yes. It is very beautiful." + +"And would you care to have this too?" + +"Would I----? Oh, Fraeulein! I cannot believe----" + +Yeva came forward with arms outstretched, brown fingers curling, but as +she was about to touch the garment Marishka swept it away and put it +behind her back. + +"I will give it to you----" + +"Yes----" + +"If you will take me out with you by the secret door to the Europa +Hotel." + +"Fraeulein!" The girl stopped aghast and then slowly turned away. + +"You would have me disobey the commands of my lord and master?" she said +in an awed whisper. + +"I am asking only my rights," urged Marishka desperately. "I am an +Austrian with many friends. I have believed that I was a guest in this +house, welcome to come and to go as I choose. If the Effendi desires to +keep me against my will he runs a great risk of offending the government +of Austria and my friends." + +"As to that I do not know----" said Yeva plaintively. + +"It will do you no harm to be my friend." + +"I am your friend. But to disobey the command of one's lord and +master----" + +"It is worse to disobey the laws of Bosnia." + +"But what can I do?" asked the girl, helplessly weaving her fingers to +and fro. + +"You need do nothing but go out to deliver my message. Then you shall +appear to lock the door below, but the bolt shall not catch. That is +all. When you are gone I shall follow into the street." + +"And I shall not see you--and your lover through the _dutap_?" + +"You shall see us there--yonder. I promise you." + +"It is a terrible thing that you ask." + +"Yeva!" Marishka held the silk garment up before the childish gaze of +the girl. "Look, Yeva." + +It was enough. With a cry, Yeva seized the garment in both hands and +carried it to her lips, kissing it excitedly. + +"And if I do what you ask--you will never tell?" + +"Never." + +Marishka had won. It was with difficulty that she restrained her +companion from disrobing again and putting on the new garment, but at +last by dint of much persuasion she succeeded in getting Yeva to put on +her own garments, her head dress, veil and _yashmak_, and in a short +while they were both attired for the street. With a last look around the +room, a short vigil at the _dutap_ for sounds of watchful Zubeydeh, Yeva +timorously found the key of the lower door, pushed the hanging aside, +and with a last rapturous look at the draperies upon the dressing stand, +vanished into the darkness of the door. + +Marishka, her heart beating high with hope, quickly packed a few of her +belongings into a small package and followed. It was very dark upon the +narrow stair, but with a hand upon the wall to steady herself, she +slowly descended. Feeling for the steps with her feet, at last she +reached the floor below, and stepping cautiously forward came upon a +blank wall. She turned to the left and found her egress stopped--to the +right--yes, there was a door. She fingered for the latch and found it, +opening the door, which let in the daylight. But just as she was about +to step out, she started back in sudden consternation. Upon the step, +grim and forbidding, dressed in fez, white shirt, and wide breeches, +stood a man with folded arms facing her. He made no sign of greeting, +nor did he change his posture by so much as a millimeter, but she heard +his voice quite distinctly, though he spoke in a low tone. + +"You will be pleased to return at once." + +"But I----" It was the courage of desperation--short-lived, alas! + +"At once," the man repeated, unfolding his arms. "At once--or shall +I----" + +Marishka waited no more upon the order of her going but went at once, +finding her way up the dusty stairs, terrified, again a prey to the most +agonizing fears. + +Would Yeva find Hugh at the Hotel Europa? + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE LIGHTED WINDOWS + + +The night journey of Mr. Renwick to the Bosnian border with the man in +black was one long chapter of accidents and delays. But Herr Linke +commanded the situation. He had taken care not to return the +Englishman's weapon, and there was nothing for Renwick to do but sit in +silence by the side of the melancholy Colossus, and pray for an +opportunity which never came, for Linke had a watchful eye and sat in +the tonneau of the machine. Toward midnight they reached Vinkovcze, +where they had supper, and resumed their leisurely journey with a new +supply of petrol, which only seemed to increase the trouble in the +carburetor. It was at this time that an uncontrollable drowsiness fell +upon Renwick. He struggled against it but at last realized that in spite +of himself sleep was slowly overpowering him. As in a haze he saw the +huge figure of Linke beside him lean over, smiling, while a deep voice +which seemed to come from a distance rumbled calmly, + +"You are very sleepy, Herr Renwick?" + +Renwick dimly remembered muttering a curse. + +"You've drugged--cof----" + +Then Renwick slept. + +When he awoke it was broad daylight. The car was moving smoothly enough +along a good road between two mountains, and at the side of the road a +river flowed in the direction from which the machine had come. + +Renwick felt light-headed and rather ill, and it was some moments before +he became conscious of the figure beside him, while he struggled upright +and found his speech. + +"Where are we?" he asked. + +"Near Duboj, Herr Renwick, where we shall presently eat our supper----" + +"Supper!" + +"Yes. You have slept the clock around----" + +"Ah, I remember," and he turned upon the man with a renewed and quite +futile anger. "You drugged me, you----" + +"Softly, my friend," the big man broke in soothingly. "You can do no +good by defaming me." + +Renwick shrugged. "You'll pay the score at settling time, nevertheless." + +"Perhaps. In the meanwhile I beg you to consider that you are but fifty +kilometers from your destination. Since we passed the Save we have +proceeded with greater rapidity." + +But Renwick had sunk into a sullen silence. The huge creature, whom he +had held in such light esteem, had made a fool of him, had reduced him +to the impotence of a child. As his mind cleared, the object of the +man's actions became more involved. Whatever he was, he had succeeded in +preventing Renwick from reaching Sarajevo before the Archduke's party +should arrive, but why he should wish to drug a man who was meeting his +wishes and giving no trouble was more than Renwick could answer. Still +puzzled, he glanced at his watch. It was now five o'clock. The sight of +the dial startled him. Had Marishka succeeded in reaching the Duchess or +had----? Forgetting his quarrel with Linke in the new interest in +portending events, he questioned, + +"You have heard from Sarajevo?" + +"By wire at Yranduk," said Linke, nodding gravely. "The Archduke Franz +and the Duchess of Hohenburg were assassinated this morning in the +streets of Sarajevo." + +Renwick's knowledge of the plot and the difficulties which surrounded +his and Marishka's efforts to prevent its consummation had convinced him +that the attempt would at least be made, but Herr Linke's bold statement +of the fact shocked him none the less. + +"They are dead?" + +"Both," said Linke. "They died before reaching the Landes hospital." + +"Who----" Renwick paused, aware that names meant nothing. + +"A Serbian student, named Prinzep." + +The Englishman said nothing more, for he was again thinking of Marishka. +She had failed! Had she arrived too late or had her visit to Sarajevo +been prevented? And if so where was she now? There was nothing for it +but to go on to the Europa Hotel and inquire for the note that she would +leave there. In a somewhat desperate mood, he followed Herr Linke into +the small hotel at Duboj, for he knew that he could not go on without +food, having eaten nothing since the day before. As he hesitated, the +_goulash_ upon the dish before him, Linke smiled. + +"You need have no further fear, Herr Renwick," he said calmly. "We are +now friends, engaged upon precisely the same service." + +"Indeed! And that----?" + +"To find the Countess Stranhni at the earliest possible moment." + +"And after that?" + +"To restore her to her friends." + +"You know where she is?" + +"No. But I can find her." + +It entered Renwick's head at the moment to tell the fellow of the note +in his pocket, but the events of the night had made him careful. + +"Who are you?" he asked again. + +But the man evaded. + +"I beg that you will eat, Herr Renwick," he said coolly. "We have no +time to spare." + +And so at last, when Herr Linke ponderously helped himself and the +Hungarian chauffeur from the dish, Renwick followed his lead and ate. + +In less than half an hour they were again upon their way, reaching the +hills above the Bosnian capital just before nightfall. Here, for some +reason, the machine again halted with a loud explosion of back-fire and +a prodigious amount of smoke. The chauffeur got out, looked into the +hood and straightened, gesticulating wildly. Herr Linke followed, and a +conversation ensued, the import of which was lost upon the Englishman. +But when it was finished, Linke turned to Renwick and explained that the +machinery was injured beyond repair and that the car could go no +further. Two Bosnian policemen who had appeared in the road before them, +now rode up and made inquiries. Renwick shrugged and was about to walk +away with the intention of finishing his journey afoot, when the +chauffeur came forward and caught him by the arm, shouting something in +an excited and angry voice, appealing to the men on horseback and +pointing alternately at the Englishman and at the injured machine. The +Bosnians got down and listened while one of them, who seemed to +understand, addressed Renwick in German. + +"This man says that you engaged to pay for any breakages to the machine, +and that you have not paid him all that you owe." + +"He lies. I paid him at Ujvidek. Herr Linke here will bear me +witness----" As he turned to address his traveling companion, he paused +in amazement, for without a word, or a sound, Herr Linke had suddenly +vanished into space. + +But the Hungarian was screaming again, and what he said must have +impressed the policeman who had spoken to him, for he turned to Renwick, +scratching his head dubiously, and suggested that the matter be further +discussed before a magistrate in the city below. Renwick agreed, gave +the policeman his card with the word that he would find him at the +Europa Hotel and leaving his suitcase in the car as security for his +appearance when summoned went hurriedly down the hills toward the city. +The colloquy had occupied some moments, but when Renwick came to a +straight reach of road which led toward the tobacco factory buildings he +was surprised to find that Herr Linke was nowhere in sight. The man was +an enigma, a curious mixture of desperado and buffoon, but his sudden +disappearance without a word of thanks, apology or explanation, gave +Renwick something to puzzle over as he made his way to the bridge. Its +possible significance escaped him until he had reached the river, when, +a thought suddenly occurring to him, he put his hand into the breast +pocket of his coat, feeling for the note from Marishka. It was gone! He +hunted, feverishly, one pocket after another, and was on the point of +going back for a search of the machine when the truth suddenly dawned. +Herr Linke had taken it from him, last night when he slept--had drugged +him that he might get it without commotion! In an illuminating flash he +remembered the sharp look in the man's eyes yesterday morning in the +train from Budapest when Renwick had taken the note from his pocket. +Linke! He hurried his footsteps, bewailing his own simplicity and +wondering what this new phase of Herr Linke's activities might signify. +Renwick had assumed that the Austrian was an agent of Herr Windt, who +unable to follow him on to Sarajevo had guessed the train upon which he +had left and had sent this man up from Budapest to get into his +carriage. But his most recent accomplishment seemed to leave this +presumption open to doubt. If Herr Linke had stolen the letter in the +belief that it contained secret information which would be of value to +Austrian secret service officials, the mere reading of it would have +convinced him of its innocence in so far as Marishka was concerned. And +if a forgery! Perhaps something in the message which Renwick had +overlooked would put him upon the track of the fellow of the green +limousine. He went along the river bank from the bridge toward the +hotel, the location of which was familiar to him, hurrying his pace. At +any rate the note was gone and with it the mysterious Linke, facts which +clearly indicated one purpose. Herr Linke was bent upon intercepting any +message which might come to the Hotel Europa for the Englishman. And +given that to be his purpose, what was his intention with regard to the +Countess Strahni? + +Still puzzling over the mysteries, which gained in elusiveness as he +hurried into Franz Josef Street, he reached the hotel, which was near +the Carsija, and made hurried inquiries of the Turkish porter, who +smiled and professed ignorance, but said to the Excellency that he would +diligently inquire, bringing Renwick at last to the major-domo, who +informed him that a note bearing the name of Herr Renwick had been left +at the hotel an hour before, but that not twenty minutes ago, Herr +Renwick had called and claimed it. + +"That is not possible," said Renwick hotly, "since I am Herr Renwick." + +The major-domo shrugged and bowed obsequiously. It was most unfortunate, +he said, but of course as Excellency must know, the Hotel Europa was not +a postoffice and could not be held responsible for the proper delivery +of letters when it knew nothing of the identity of those to whom they +were addressed. + +Renwick paused a moment, and then said quickly, "To whom was the note +delivered? You saw?" + +"Yes, Excellency. The person who said he was Herr Renwick was tall, +attired in black clothing, and carried an umbrella." + +"Who brought the note?" + +"As to that--I do not know." + +The major-domo moved majestically away, but the Turkish porter who stood +listening, broke in. + +"If your Excellency will permit. It was I who received the note, late +this afternoon. It was brought by a woman in a _yashmak_--a Turkish +woman. Of course I could not know her, since one looks with averted eyes +upon the women of Islam, but she would have come from the Turkish +quarter of the town--from beyond the Carsija--perhaps. I do not know. I +can say no more." + +Renwick paused irresolutely and giving the man a fee, went out of the +hotel into the street, mingling with the crowds upon Franz Josef Street, +where but a few hours before on a nearby corner, the Archduke and +Duchess had met their deaths. Deciding that at all hazards he must +remain inconspicuous while he thought out a plan, he crossed the river +and went into a small park, where he sank wearily into a bench and +buried himself in new speculations. + +A pipe and tobacco soothed, if they failed to stimulate his faculties. +He had reached an _impasse_. What if the Enigma in black were playing +some deep game of his own with regard to Marishka? What if, after all, +he was no agent of Herr Windt, but represented perhaps the military +party of Austria, which had as deep an interest in Marishka's silence as +had the Wilhelmstrasse? And yet such a theory was hardly plausible, for +if Linke were interested in Marishka's silence he would also be +interested in Renwick's, and this being the case, the easiest way out of +the business would have been to have dropped Renwick into some deep pool +of the Save or the Bosna while he slept. Herr Linke puzzled Renwick, but +reason informed him that the unknown limousine chap was the greater +menace both to Marishka and himself. That he held Renwick's life cheaply +was indicated by the frequent attempts upon it in Vienna and in Bohemia +and the mere fact that he had twice failed was no sign that a third +attempt might not be successful. The most unfavorable phase of the +situation was that the German agent knew Renwick by sight, and would +have every opportunity of following him to some secluded spot--shooting +him in the back and escaping into a nearby street before the excitement +subsided. What did the German agent look like? He might pass the fellow, +elbow to elbow, and the Englishman would not know him. Renwick had no +fear of meeting the man on even terms, but the thought of being stabbed +in the back or shot at by any casual passer-by was disturbing to his +morale. Every innocent bush, every tree was an enemy. What did the green +limousine chap look like? A Prussian? With a bulky nose, small mustache, +and no back to his head? Or was he small, clean shaven, and ferret-like? +How would he be dressed? In mufti? Or in some favoring disguise which +might better lend itself to his purposes? + +Renwick rose suddenly and, with a careful glance about him, made slowly +for the Lateimer Bridge, sure at least, that he had not been followed, +and convinced that he must equalize the hazards between this German and +himself by playing the game according to the standards of the +Wilhelmstrasse. So he found his way carefully into the Carsija, and +found a stall where he managed to buy a native Bosnian costume,--fez, +white shirt, short jacket, wide trousers fitting close below the knee, +sash and slippers. His automatic having been taken by the prudent Linke, +he was unarmed, but managed to find a revolver of American make and +cartridges which fitted it. With his newly acquired purchases he +returned in the darkness to the other bank of the river, where he found +a small inn in the Bistrick quarter. + +He concealed ten one hundred _kroner_ notes in the lining at the belt of +the trousers, and pinned it securely. The remainder of his money, a few +fifty crown notes and coins, he put in his pockets with his watch and +other valuables, and changed his clothing. When he had finished dressing +he examined himself in a mirror. His face was tanned by exposure, and +the dust of the journey which he retained gave him a soiled appearance +sufficiently Oriental. He was now Stefan Thomasevic, a seller of sheep +and goats, which he had brought to the market. He left his English +clothing in a bundle in the care of the innkeeper and advising the man +that he would return later in the night or at least upon the morrow, +went forth across the river again, with a sense of greater security from +the observations of any who meant mischief to Hugh Renwick. If he did +not know what the green limousine chap looked like, the limousine chap +at least could not know him. + +As he slouched through the alleys of the Carsija, reassured as to the +completeness of his disguise, he smoked a native cigarette, and asked +many questions among the keepers of the stalls, squatting cross-legged +with them upon the ground and learning much of all matters save of the +one with which he was most concerned. + +"Few but Moslem people had passed through the Carsija upon this day," +they said, "for the terrible happenings of the morning had kept the +Austrian Excellencies in their own part of the town and Islam--Islam in +time of trouble was always wise to find its company among its own +people." + +Renwick's task seemed hopeless, but he did not despair, leaving the +bazaar at last, and climbing the hill to the old town beyond the +Bastion. Here he again questioned every passer-by. "Had the Effendi seen +a tall Excellency dressed in black who carried an umbrella? He, Stefan +Thomasevic, had sold the Excellency some sheep and goats, but the +Excellency had not yet paid all of that which he owed. It was not a +matter about which to laugh. If the Excellency did not soon appear in +the Carsija, it was a matter for the police." + +But no one could help him. Herr Linke was moving with discretion, for it +was probable that if such a creature had strolled through the Carsija, +there would be a dozen idlers who would have observed and noted the +fact. Renwick's chief hopes were crumbling. And yet, if Linke suspected +that the note which had been sent to the Hotel Europa was a bait, he +would of course act with great caution. It was nearly midnight when, +weary and disappointed, Renwick returned from the Kastele quarter in the +direction of the Carsija. The houses were dark save for a glimmer of +light in an upper window here and there, but the moon had come out, and +Renwick, moving silently along in the shadow of walls and houses, gazed +about him with the eagerness of despair. For a while he stopped in the +angle of a wall, and listened to the sounds of the city below him, the +rush of the river below the Bastion, the motor and bell of the electric +tram-car, the whistle of a freight locomotive at the further end of the +town--strident noises brought from the West to break the drowsy murmur +of the Orient, but not a sight nor a sound which could give him a clew +as to the whereabouts of Linke or Countess Marishka. The inaction was +maddening. In his belt the American revolver hung its futile weight. Had +it not been for Linke, he might have had a chance at least to follow the +instructions of the note of the Hotel Europa to some conclusion whether +for good or ill--it did not matter. If Marishka herself had written +it!... She would be awaiting him now--and he could not come to +her.... In his stead--Linke the gigantic, the mellifluous.... + +Renwick turned slowly into a side street, and crouched in the dark angle +of a wall, for a motor car was coming toward him. Motors in the region +of Franz Josef Street and the river were not uncommon, but as a rule +they were seldom to be seen in the hilly region near the Bastion. From +his dark vantage point, Renwick saw the car approach and pass him, +quietly coasting, and stop a short distance below the angle of the +street from which he had emerged. He caught a glimpse of the profile of +the chauffeur, and noted the condition of the car. He judged that it had +come a long journey, for Sarajevo and the part of Bosnia through which +his own machine had traveled, had suffered much from the drought. This +machine was covered with dust, of course, but it was also literally +spattered with mud. The Englishman watched the machine for a while, but +the chauffeur having silenced the engine, remained motionless, in deep +shadow, waiting. Of course belated visitors from the European section of +the city to the Kastele were a possibility, but the quietness with which +the chauffeur had approached, and the eager way in which he now leaned +forward in his seat watching the _meshrebiya_ windows of a house at some +distance, excited Renwick's curiosity. Why was the man there? Who was he +watching in the house of the lighted window? Had this mystery anything +in common with his own? Renwick watched the windows too. A light burned +dimly within, and once he thought a shadow passed. The window and the +chauffeur interested him, but he was too far away to distinguish the +house clearly, and so, moving stealthily, he stole quietly up the hill +to a cross street, and turning to the left, in the shadow of a wall, +walked rapidly down to a small alley which he took at random, at the end +of which he paused for observation. The house with the _meshrebiya_ +windows was now just below where he stood, but opposite him was an +ancient stone wall, and in its center was a blue door. There were trees +within the enclosure, and he heard the sound of falling water. He found +a dark doorway and crouched silently, watching. + +A _cul-de-sac_? Perhaps. Disappointment and chagrin had done their worst +to him. He would wait see what was to happen, and if nothing came of the +venture he would merely have his labor for his pains. He noted above the +wall that there were windows of the house which overlooked the garden. +In one of them, in the room which the chauffeur had been observing, the +light still dimly burned, but he saw no shadows. Peering out from the +angle of the alleyway, he thought he had discovered a doorway or court +between the house he was watching and the one below it toward the +Carsija, and in a moment fancied that he could distinguish the sound of +whispering voices, from that direction; but the shadow of a mosque +nearby threw its shadow upon this part of the street, and he could see +nothing clearly. If there were men there, they were keeping in the +shadow of the wall around the turn of the street, beyond the range of +Renwick's vision, but the night breeze which carried the sound of the +whispers also wafted the odor of a native cigarette. The smell of it +made Renwick wish to smoke, for the suspense and inaction were telling +upon him, but he resisted the impulse, sinking lower into the shadow, +and awaiting events. + +Minutes passed--hours they seemed to the waiting Renwick--and then came +the deep boom of a bell, which echoing down the silent streets, seemed +just at Renwick's elbow--another--another--until he counted twelve, of +the belfry of the cathedral announcing midnight. + +He waited, thinking deeply. The machine which had come a long journey? +The lighted windows which the chauffeur watched? The whisper of voices +from the street below him? There was mystery here. He crouched lower and +watched the dark shadow of the arch below the house. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE BEG OF RATAJ + + +When Marishka reached the top of the stairs, entered the Harim, gazing +terrified into the darkness from which she had emerged, she pushed aside +the Kis-Kelim and listening fearfully for sounds of footsteps below, +then closed the door, turned the key, and put her back against it, +viewing with a new vision the interior which a while ago had seemed so +friendly. Without Yeva who had given its disorder a personality, the +room seemed alien, hostile and madly chaotic. For the first time since +the reassurances of Captain Goritz in the green limousine as to her +safety, she had a definite sense of personal danger. She was not +timorous by nature, and the hope of success in her mission of atonement +had given her the courage for the venture. She realized now that the +will which had kept her buoyant through two arduous days and nights had +suddenly forsaken her and left her supine, without hope or initiative. +The actions of the man at the doorway below had frightened her. He had +been so uncompromising in his ugliness. The shock of her awakening had +been rudely unexpected, and had bewildered her with its brutal +significance. She was a prisoner in this Turkish house, in an obscure +quarter of a half Oriental town, and night was imminent, a night which +seemed to possess untold possibilities for evil. What was to happen? Why +had not Captain Goritz returned? Enemy though she now knew him to be, +even Goritz was a refuge in this perilous situation. And yet it seemed +certain that the man at the foot of the stairs was acting under his +orders or under the orders of another who was accountable to him. + +Weakness overpowered her and she threw herself on the pile of cushions +in the window and buried her face in her hands, as if by blinding +herself to the imminent facts of her surroundings she could free her +spirit of the terrors which were overtaking it. As in her dream, her +faculties were elusive, thoughts and half-thoughts conflicting and +interchangeable. The rush and the roar of the hurrying motor car, the +kaleidoscope of the maddened crowd, the shots, the sunlight and then the +spangled darkness with the sound of voices. She started upright in her +cushions, her face pallid and drawn, her thoughts now focusing with +sudden definiteness. The voices! They were no dream--no more a dream +than the other horrors that encompassed her. She tried to remember what +they had said. "Ten thousand _kroner_--the goose that lays the golden +egg----" What did the phrases mean? Another--"To be kept in seclusion, +of course, but you will accede to all her wishes." The meaning of the +voices became clearer, at every moment. "Should she care to write, you +will send a message!" Marishka put her hand to her lips as though to +stifle a cry, and then sank back with a gasp of comprehension. Goritz! +He had expected her to send a message, and had prepared for its +delivery. But why? How could he have known!... Slowly the meaning of it +all came to her. His certainty and insistence as to Hugh Renwick's +pursuit--the belief that Renwick would go at once to the Hotel Europa! +The power of suggestion! And she had followed it blindly--unawares, +leading Hugh Renwick into this deadly trap which Goritz had laid. She +read the plan now in all its insidious perfection. There was something +malign--hypnotic--in an influence which could so easily compel +compliance. And Hugh? She had written him to come here--to the door in +the court below, where men would be waiting--perhaps to take his life. +It was too horrible! + +Nature mercifully intervened. The strain of long days and nights of +anguish had reached the limit of her endurance, and her nerves, too, +long under tension, suddenly rebelled. She sank helplessly upon the +floor, sobs racking her body from head to foot. She did not know how +long she lay there, but when she raised her head it was already growing +dark in the room, like the shadows that were stealing about her heart. +Whichever way she turned, groping mentally for a thought which would +lead her toward a light, disorder reigned, danger threatened. If there +was a man at the foot of the stairs to prevent her escape, there would +be others beneath the windows and at the door into the garden. + +Yeva! She clung to the hope of Yeva's sincerity--the last thing left to +her. It was difficult for her to believe that this child with the body +of a woman could be guilty of complicity in any plot. She might have +obeyed instructions to be the bearer of any note that Marishka might +write--indeed her childish prattle as to the wishes of her lord and +master verified the voices of Marishka's dream, and suggested that +Marishka should be permitted to do as she chose--so that Yeva had +offered, without fear of consequences, to deliver Marishka's note at the +hotel. She had even consented to leave the lower door open that Marishka +might escape and follow her. No woman of the world could have acted a +part as Yeva had played it. If the girl had known of the guardian of the +lower door, her skill in dissimulation was consummate--so much out of +keeping with the simplicity of her mind as to be entirely incredible. +Yeva was innocent, a mere tool in the hands of Captain Goritz, who +disposed all the pawns in his command to play his game. Yeva had been +permitted to depart without hindrance. Would Marishka's note reach its +destination? Or would it be intercepted and its message read by Captain +Goritz? His cunning had amazed her but it frightened her now. A ruse so +carefully planned could have for its object nothing less than the +obliteration of Hugh Renwick, as a prisoner or something worse--perhaps +Death! She shuddered. She, Marishka, would unwittingly have caused it! +She had asked him to come at midnight and knock upon the door in the +court below and she knew enough of Hugh to be sure that if he received +the message, no matter how great the danger to himself, he would come. +The note! If she could recall it! She would suffer whatever Goritz had +in store for her, if Hugh could only be spared. She had already done him +hurt enough--without the chance of this last most dreadful sacrifice in +her behalf--in vain. He would come to her and she must wait--without the +power to warn him, and perhaps see him killed before her very eyes. + +Her thoughts made her desperate--and the idea of another attempt to +escape came into her head. If she could only reach the street, she could +run--and it would be a better race with her pursuer than she had given +Hugh in the rose gardens of the Archduke! She made the attempt, quietly +opening the door by which she had entered the room and passing on +tip-toe down the corridor to the door with the _dutap_. She drew aside +the curtain which covered it and noiselessly turned the knob. As she +peered out she found herself staring straight into the eyes of Zubeydeh. +The woman's look was cold but full of understanding. + +"Does the Fraeulein wish anything?" she asked without the slightest +change of expression. Her voice was colorless, like the speech which +might be expected from a graven image. + +"I--I was hungry," stammered Marishka helplessly. "I--I am sorry to +bother you." + +"If you will return to the room within, I will bring food at once," she +said stolidly. And so Marishka, once more balked in her enterprise, went +back to the Harim. Strong as she was, armed anew with the sudden +strength of desperation, she knew that even if she could use her +strength she was no match for this massive creature who, in the +_selamlik_ nearby, perhaps had men within call. She went to the windows +and peered out into the street. There was no one in sight, except a tall +man in black who carried an umbrella. She watched him a moment through +the carved screen, but he went up the street and disappeared around a +corner. The garden seemed to be deserted. Would the gate to the street +be locked? She made an effort to move the lattice of _meshrebiya_, but +it was nailed fast to the main wood work of the house. Her case was +hopeless. There was nothing to do but wait upon the clemency--the mercy +of Captain Goritz. A new idea of her captor was being born in her, of a +creature who differed from the courteous German official of Vienna and +Agram. His eyes haunted her, the dark eyes set just a little obliquely +in his head, a racial peculiarity which she had not been able to +identify. She knew now. They were Oriental, like Zubeydeh's, like those +of the man at the door below, alien, hostile and cruel. And yet it was +curious how the smile in them had disarmed her and she remembered, with +a futile glow of returning hope, that she had not feared him, that she +had even had the temerity to defy him. But her courage had ebbed--she +could not have defied him now and in the darkness while she waited for +Yeva she feared him--feared him. + +It seemed strange that Yeva had not returned. She had been gone an hour +or more and the Hotel Europa could not be a great distance away. As the +moments passed she gave up the other hope of persuading the girl, when +she returned, to go back at once to the hotel and reclaim the note, +before Hugh could get it. Could anything have happened to her? Marishka +wanted her--the sound of a voice, the touch of a feminine hand, her airs +and graces--the foibles of a child perhaps, but intensely virile in +their childishness and intensely human. It seemed that even Yeva was to +be denied to her. + +For when Zubeydeh brought lights and food the woman made no comment upon +the absence of the girl--a confirmation of Marishka's suspicions that +Zubeydeh was aware of the conspiracy and what was to come of it. But as +Marishka made a pretense of eating what the woman had brought, she +summoned courage to inquire. + +"Yeva went out into the city by the passage to the street. She has not +yet returned?" + +"I do not know," she said in her heavy colorless voice. + +The woman lied. Marishka knew it by the shifting glance of her eye. + +"Will you kindly inform His Excellency--I need mention no names--that I +should be very glad if he would meet me at his convenience----" + +"Excellency is not here," said the woman. + +"Well, when he comes, I should be grateful if you will deliver my +message." + +"I will tell him." + +Nothing more. Her manner was not discourteous, but her voice was +forbidding. She had been given instructions to keep silence. And just +before leaving the room, a further confirmation of Marishka's conviction +that Yeva was at that very moment in another part of the house, Zubeydeh +gathered up the two pieces of drapery which Marishka had given the girl, +and carried them out of the room. + +The hours lengthened while Marishka sat trying to gather the remnants of +her courage to face Captain Goritz when he should come to her. The +Turkish lamp which hung from the ceiling burned dimly, casting grotesque +shadows about the room, flickering in patches of tawdry light upon the +gilt of the embroidered hangings, and touching the blades of the ancient +weapons which decorated the wall about the couch, scimitars, swords, +daggers and spears! Marishka got up and examined them more closely, +curiously, as though she had not seen them before. She shuddered a +little as she plucked from its sheath a small dagger with a bronzed +handle, and found that its blade was very sharp and bright. She reached +up to put it back, but as she did so there was a sound from the room +beyond the passage, and a knock upon the door. So she slipped the weapon +into the waistband of her skirt, beneath her blouse, and went to her +seat among the pillows. In a moment the knock was repeated, and in reply +to her call, the door opened and she heard footsteps along the corridor. + +The man who entered was tall and slender, with a hooked nose, heavy +brows, and a beard streaked with white. He wore the turban and bright +green belt which denoted the Moslem, and the fingers with which he +touched brow, lips, and heart in salutation were covered with rings. + +"_Salaem 'alaikum_," he muttered, bowing. + +Marishka knew no reply to this and made none, waiting in some +trepidation for him to proceed. He was a villainous looking creature, +but comported himself with an air of some dignity. In a moment he spoke +again in excellent German. + +"I hope that Excellency has been able to make herself quite comfortable +in my poor house." + +As he spoke, Marishka remembered that this was one of the voices of her +dreams, the gruff voice which talked with Goritz. + +Something was required of her in reply, and so, with an effort, + +"Yeva has been very kind, Effendi," she managed. + +"Yes. Allah has been good to me. Yeva has a heart of gold." + +"You are the Beg of Rataj?" Marishka asked. + +He salaamed again. + +"Will you tell me, then, what has become of Herr Hauptmann Goritz?" + +The man's face wore a sudden crafty look of incomprehension. + +"Goritz, Excellency?" he asked coolly. "There is no one of that name in +my acquaintance." + +Marishka accepted the rebuke and ventured timidly, "I mean, the--the +Excellency--who brought me here----" + +"Ah! Lieutenant von Arnstorf! He has gone, I think, upon a journey," +said the Beg. + +Marishka was silent a moment, thinking. + +"That is strange. It is very necessary that I should see him." + +The man smiled up at the lamp above his head, revealing a void where +teeth should have been. + +"I need not say that he has directed that everything possible shall be +done for your comfort--and it is my pleasure to obey Excellency's +orders, in so far as my poor house can afford. And even were these not +Excellency's instructions," he added with a grin, "it is an honor for +the house of Rataj to have beneath its roof one so noble and so +beautiful." + +A wave of nerves swept over Marishka for the admiration in his glance +was unmistakable, but she knew that any possible chance of safety for +Hugh--for herself--lay in the favor of this man. And so with a shudder +of repugnance which she concealed with difficulty, she motioned to him +to be seated. His small eyes appraised her eagerly for a moment, and +then he sank upon a cushion near her, and without asking permission, +took out a cigarette. + +"I--I shall not forget your kindness, Effendi," said Marishka, +struggling for her composure. "Already Yeva and I are good friends." + +"Ah, that is fortunate, for it was upon the question of the future of +Yeva that I have come to talk with you." + +"In what may I serve you, Effendi?" + +He sighed deeply. + +"Times change, Excellency. In the days gone by, the Begs of Rataj were +reckoned among the rulers of Bosnia, high in the counsels of the +Janissaries, feudal lords of great domains. But I, alas! the last of the +Begs of Rataj, whose father even held the sway of a king, have been +deprived of my tithes, and reduced to the low condition of a merchant in +rugs, a dealer in antiquities, dependent upon the good will of tourists +from the West, reduced perhaps one day to sit in a stall in the Carsija. +It is not so much that I am no longer rich, but it is my pride, the +pride of race which suffers under misfortune." + +Whither was the man leading? Much as she distrusted him, her curiosity +was aroused, and she listened, watching him intently. + +"You will perhaps understand," he continued gravely, "that all this is +very hard upon Yeva, the star of my heart, with whom Allah has blessed +me. The West has flowed in upon the East at Bosna-Seraj, and engulfed +it. We are no more a simple Moslem city with the tastes of our fathers; +and our women are no more satisfied to remain as they were, childish, +ignorant, and unlettered. The spell of the Occident is upon the land. +Vienna, Berlin, Paris, have come to Bosna-Seraj. Our women sigh for the +things which are beyond the mountains. The peace of the home is invaded +and our women are unhappy, because their lords and masters have no money +to procure for them the things that they wish." + +Money! Thank God! This man could be bought! + +"And Yeva?" Marishka asked, trembling in fear for the new hope that had +risen. + +"It is the same with her as with the others, Excellency," he shrugged +despairingly. "She is but a child. I have been foolishly liberal with +her--as liberal as my poor means allowed, and she has come to know the +value of money--the dross for which men perjure their souls, and die if +need be. Yeva, alas! wishes jewels, the pretty clothing of the women of +fashion. And I, as I have related, being a mere dealer in rugs, +Excellency, have not been able to give them to her. It has made +unhappiness come into my household; it has made me, the Beg of Rataj, +hereditary ruler of thousands, ashamed to raise my head or my voice in +her presence--I, Excellency, her lord and master!" + +He wagged his head to and fro with an air which might have been comical, +had not Marishka's need been so desperate. But she read him easily, a +vile, blackmailing rogue who held no allegiance higher than what he got +from it--a man who, for all his fine flow of talk, could be dangerous as +well as unscrupulous. But Marishka met him fairly. + +"I have taken a fancy to Yeva, Effendi," she said quietly. "She will +tell you perhaps that I have already given her several trifles which she +fancied. Perhaps I can do something to solve your problems. In my own +country I am considered wealthy and I can be generous with those who +treat me with kindness." + +"Ah!" The Effendi's eyes sparkled hungrily. The Austrian countess was no +fool. She had already begun to understand him. + +"To treat Her Excellency with kindness! And could I do anything else? My +house, poor as it is----" + +"Effendi," Marishka cut in boldly, "let us waste no words. I am a +prisoner in your house, at the instance of Captain--of Herr Lieutenant +von Arnstorf----" + +"A prisoner? Has not the Excellency----?" + +"One moment. I am not aware how much you know of the political situation +which has brought me to Bosna-Seraj, but I do know that I am confined +here against my will--a prisoner in a house within the realms of my own +country. Of course you know that I have sought to escape, that I have +written to a friend who will do what he can to liberate me." + +"Excellency, I beg of you----" + +"Please let me finish. For political reasons, the fact of my presence +here and my mission should be kept a secret. My friends, therefore, +would not wish to call upon General Potiorek, the governor, for soldiers +or police, if my liberty can be secured quietly--without commotion. I am +willing to meet you upon any reasonable grounds." + +Marishka paused, for the man had risen and was pacing the floor slowly. + +"Ah, Excellency, I, too, will waste no further speech, for I see that +you are a woman of the world, and I, Beg of Rataj, am only a seller of +rugs. But I am placed in a difficult position. It has pained me deeply +to see you constrained to stay in my poor house against your will. And +yet, what would you? His Excellency has done me many favors, and +gratitude is one of the strongest traits in a nature which suffers much +misuse. I do not know anything of politics, or of the controversy +between you, and I have simply obeyed the dictates of my heart in giving +his Excellency some proof--some return of his kindnesses to me. But +since I have seen you, heard your voice, felt the distinction of your +presence in my poor house, I am torn between my emotions--of gratitude +and of pity." + +"How much do you want?" said Marishka quietly. + +"Excellency, the brutality of the words!" + +"I mean them. How much?" + +The man's keen eyes appraised her quickly and then looked away, but he +sank upon his cushion again, wagging his head and breathing a deep sigh +to measure his humiliation. + +"I am but a poor man, Excellency," he sighed again. + +Upon Marishka's wrist was a bracelet set with diamonds. She slipped it +off quickly and handed it to him. + +"You are a poor man," she said. "I give you this--for Yeva." + +"Ah, yes. For Yeva." But his eyes were regarding the bracelet, which he +was weighing in his hand. + +"And if you do what I wish, I shall give you fifteen thousand _kroner_ +more." + +"Fifteen thou----!" he whispered. "Excellency, a fortune----" + +"If you do what I wish----" + +"Anything--Excellency has but to speak." + +Marishka deliberated a moment and then, "You will first remove the guard +at the foot of the private stairway to this----" + +"Excellency, the hour is late. If you can be comfortable in my house +until the morning, all shall be arranged. For tonight I have +planned----" + +"No. It must be as I wish. You will also take a message addressed to Mr. +Hugh Renwick at the Hotel Europa, and find him----" + +"And he will give me money?" the man broke in quickly, his bony fingers +clutching like talons at the bracelet. "He will give me fifteen thousand +_kroner_?" + +Marishka hesitated. The price she had mentioned was cheap for her +liberty--for freedom from the fear that had all day obsessed her, but it +was a large sum, and one which it might be impossible to procure at this +time of night. + +"He will give you such assurances as you may require. At least he will +give you something. I shall write that I need this sum of money, and he +will surely do what he can." + +"Something--yes," he mused. "Something is, of course, better than +nothing at all. But how can I be certain that I shall see him?" + +"Ah, but you must, Effendi. It is necessary for you, to find him--and at +once." + +"But if he should refuse?" + +"He will not. Do you consent?" + +He salaamed deeply. + +"Excellency's wish is my law." + +So Marishka sat before the tabourette and wrote: + + I have promised the bearer of this note fifteen thousand _kroner_, + as the condition of my liberation. Give him what you can, and + arrange for the payment of the balance tomorrow. This is the cry of + desperation. _Do not come here or attempt to see me._ It is + dangerous. I will come to you. + + M. + +She sealed the note and handed it to him. He turned it over and over in +his fingers, his gaze aslant. + +"But suppose," he repeated slowly, "that I should not be able to find +him." + +"You must," she said with desperate hardihood. "If the note should not +reach him, the conditions of our agreement change. And be sure of this, +Effendi--if harm comes to Hugh Renwick, payment will be exacted from you +to the tenth part of a hair. His safety and my freedom----" + +"I do not comprehend," said the man, his brows raised in a +well-simulated surprise. "What have I to do with the safety of this +Excellency? He can be in no danger, here in Bosna-Seraj. We are a +peaceable people----" + +"Still--" she said distinctly, "you will remember." + +He shrugged and took a pace away from her, still fingering the note. + +"I do not comprehend," he repeated. "But I will do as you request. I +shall go at once," and he moved toward the door, then paused. "As to the +guard at the door below, that will not be necessary, since you will +await me in the _mabein_." He went quickly down the corridor, opened the +door of the _dutap_, and called Zubeydeh, who entered at once. "The +Countess will wait in the outer room. When I return I shall conduct her +to the Hotel Europa, where she will spend the night. You will wait upon +her in the meanwhile, as becomes a distinguished guest of the house of +Rataj." + +Then followed a phrase or two of Turkish, and the woman bowed stolidly. + +"It shall be as you wish, Effendi." + +And he passed the woman with another phrase, and was gone. + +Zubeydeh and Marishka stood facing each other, the elder woman in sullen +antipathy, illy concealed by the habitual mask of imperturbability. +Marishka had disliked her from the first, actuated by that rare instinct +which only women can employ, and now there seemed something ominous in +her stolid ugliness. Marishka had not fully understood the instructions +of the Beg, and not until Zubeydeh picked up her suitcase and carried it +down the corridor, did she realize that she was merely carrying out the +orders of her master. But Marishka did not move. Before her eyes danced +the words of her earlier note to Hugh, which asked him to come to her by +the private passage to the court below. If the Effendi did not succeed +in finding him, he would come; and she would not be there to meet him. +Instead of following Zubeydeh, who had returned and stood staring at +her, her feet refused to obey. + +"But I should prefer to remain here----" she said firmly. + +A vestige of a smile--slight, but none the less disagreeable--came into +the woman's yellow face. + +"The Harim," she said dryly, "is intended for the daughters of the +faithful. You cannot stay tonight." + +And as Marishka still stood irresolutely, she caught her by the arm with +a grip which was none too gentle, and pushed her down the corridor and +out into the _mabein_. + +Marishka sat upon the couch in the room into which she had first been +conducted, her head near the latticed window, through which the pale +green moonlight vied with the glow from the lantern over her head. +Though it could not yet be time for him to return, she listened intently +for the sound of the footsteps of the Beg. Had she succeeded? In spite +of the danger which threatened Hugh Renwick, and the ominous absence of +Captain Goritz, she felt that there was a chance that all might still be +well. Where was Captain Goritz? The tale that he had gone upon a journey +was an invention, of course. He was here in Sarajevo if not in the house +where she was held a prisoner, at least somewhere near, where he could +be sure of the culmination of the plot to remove Hugh Renwick, without +himself being involved in any unpleasant issues. From the appearance of +the Beg of Rataj and of the man she had met at the foot of the stairs, +she knew that any dreadful deed was possible in the darkness of the +secluded streets outside the house, in the garden below, or in the house +itself. But she did not despair. It was easier to win money by keeping +within the law than by breaking it. The Beg was a rogue, but money was +his fetish, and Marishka's bribe was the larger. + +As the moments lengthened and the man did not return, hope ebbed, and +she grew anxious. The small metal clock on the table in the corner +indicated the hour. It was half-past eleven. In half an hour, if the Beg +had not delivered her note, Hugh Renwick would come to find her, unless! +She breathed a silent prayer--unless he had not yet reached Sarajevo! +For hours she had prayed that he had followed her, for that was the +proof of his devotion that her heart required of him; but now she prayed +just as fervently that he had not come. The notion of another attempt to +escape occurred to her, but when she got up and peered down into the +darkness of the stairway which led below, her courage failed her, and +she remembered the man at the foot of the other stair. Zubeydeh, too, +was near, and while she was planning, the woman passed into the Harim +and closed the door behind her. + +She peered out of the window into the garden, searching its shadows for +signs of a guard, but all was quiet, except for the sound of whispering +voices, which might have come from the street or from the house +adjoining. In the dim light she watched the hour hand of the clock as it +slowly moved around the dial. Ten, fifteen minutes passed, and still she +heard no sound of footsteps. What if Hugh came while the Beg was absent +searching for him? She knew that there must be other men besides the +villain she had met at the foot of the stairs. What orders had the Beg +given his men? And what orders had he countermanded? The silence was +closing in upon her like a fog. She could not bear it. What if Hugh were +already at the foot of the stairs, waiting to knock upon the door of the +Harim as she had directed? The suspense was killing her. She rose +quietly and tried the door of the _dutap_ into the corridor which led to +the Harim. It was locked. + +She staggered and clung to the wall to keep from falling. She saw it all +now. Goritz had intercepted the note she had sent by Yeva. _They_ were +in there--Zubeydeh, the Beg and his men, and perhaps Goritz, too, +waiting--waiting for the two knocks at the steps below. And then the +door would be opened, and Hugh---- + +The bell of the cathedral tolled, and fearfully she counted its strokes. +It was twelve o'clock. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE MAN IN ARMOR + + +Renwick waited in his place of concealment near the blue door, listening +and watching eagerly. Something was happening in the house with the +_meshrebiya_ windows, for it was after midnight, and all Islam was +asleep. There were sounds of whispering again, but when he peered out +there was no one in sight. Then he thought he heard footsteps; but +whether they came from the direction of the house of the lighted window, +or whether from up the street he could not yet decide. Now he was sure +of them. Someone was approaching over the rough cobbles--from the alley +behind him! He crouched into a place of concealment behind a broken +lattice, flattening himself against the door, and waited--breathless. He +did not dare to look out, for the figure was almost upon him, but the +footsteps now silent, now moving rapidly forward, indicated the stealth +of a man who evades pursuit or fears detection. Presently a shadow +loomed beside him as a man paused for a moment beside the doorway where +Renwick stood, so close that the Englishman could hear his breathing, +and then moved on to the corner of the wider street a few feet away. +Even yet, Renwick feared to move, but at last, as the man went on toward +the wall of the blue door, Renwick risked detection, and peered out. + +The figure glanced at the blue door, and then turning quickly, went with +long strides down the street toward the house with the _meshrebiya_ +windows. Renwick's glance had been but a momentary one, but in it he had +marked a huge figure, in a squarish hat and ill-fitting clothes. Gustav +Linke! In his hand, clutched like a weapon, he still carried his +atrocious umbrella. A grotesque outlandish figure, an ink-blot on the +velvet night! What was he doing here near the house of the lighted +windows? Renwick sprang from his place of concealment, whispering +Linke's name; but when he reached the corner of the alley the man was +twenty paces away, and so bent upon his mission that he heard nothing. +Renwick halted instinctively, and in the moment of hesitation, his +opportunity was lost. As wisdom had urged caution while Renwick had +waited, so doubly it urged it now. Linke moved like a man with a +mission, and Renwick peered forth from the angle of the wall watching +eagerly, sure now of what that mission was--the pursuit of Marishka +Strahni! + +He saw the man stop beneath the lighted windows, look up, and then with +a glance to right and left, enter the shadow of the mosque and disappear +within the small court beside the house. Renwick thought rapidly and +clearly. In the court where Linke had disappeared there must be another +entrance to the house. For a fleeting second, the idea entered Renwick's +head to follow the man, and trust to fortune; but the wall and blue door +opposite tempted him. Inside the garden, at least there would be a +chance for concealment, and a vantage point from which he could watch +and hear what went on within the house. He waited a moment, trying to +decide whether or not he had better risk detection in the narrow strip +of moonlight, or wait and see if anyone moved in the street below. He +was on the point of taking the chance when from the door of a house just +below him, several men emerged. It was difficult to determine how many +there were, but Renwick thought that there were at least four--perhaps +five; but whether Bosnians or Turks he could not decide. And from their +stealth and silence, and the rapidity with which they followed the tall +figure of Linke into the dark passage, the obvious inference was that +they were bent upon mischief. + +There was no further time to plan, so Renwick, with a quick look to +right and left, darted furtively across to the gate of the blue door and +tried the latch. It was unlocked, and quickly he entered the garden; +with his hand upon the revolver in his belt he waited, listening, but +there was no sound within but the plashing of the water of the fountain. +His eyes had grown accustomed to the darkness, and he searched the +shadows of the bushes by the reflected moonlight which silvered the +upper stories of the building. He saw that there was a door near the +center of the house facing the fountain, and upstairs in the windows +over it was the dull glow of a lamp or lantern. The windows of the other +room, which he had observed from across the street, were now darkened. +This was curious, but there was no time to debate upon it. He must act +quickly. He was sure now that Marishka was somewhere in this house, a +prisoner. She had sent for him, or why should Linke be here? He drew the +revolver from the folds of his sash, and with a keen glance to right and +left, crouching below the level of the shrubbery, he reached the door of +the house and tried it. + +It was locked. He hesitated for a moment, looking over his shoulder, and +then slipping his weapon into his belt again, he put a foot into the +trellis beside the doorway and began climbing. It was a dangerous thing +to attempt, for as he emerged from the shadows below, his figure would +be clearly outlined against the moonlit wall, and a well directed shot +from the garden would send him clattering down like a maimed squirrel +from a tree. But the game was worth the candle, for he had seen that the +window in the room above the door was open, and as he had decided to +enter the house at any cost, this was the only way. But it was slow +work, for the trellis was old, and creaked beneath his weight, and once, +when his foot slipped, he thought he must surely be discovered. Then he +waited, with his fingers almost at the window ledge, listening. He heard +the low murmur of voices, but they seemed to come from another part of +the building, and so risking the whole venture in one effort, he quickly +raised his head above the level of the window-ledge, and peered in. At +first he saw only the flickering shadows of a lamp hanging from the +ceiling, and then a figure in the corner opposite, which startled him +until he saw that it was immovable--a suit of armor upright against the +wall. The room appeared to be empty, and so he grasped the inside of the +sill, and hauled himself up until his shoulders were within the window +opening. + +It was then that a female figure started up from a couch just beside +him, stifling a cry. The light from the lantern above fell full upon her +face, and her eyes were staring at him in terror. It was Marishka. He +whispered her name, but still she stared at him wildly, and it was not +until then that he remembered his disguise. He took off his fez, and +spoke to her again. + +"Marishka, it is I, Hugh!" + +He saw her stare and then take a pace toward him as he clambered into +the room, and in a moment she was in his arms. + +"Hugh--beloved!" she murmured brokenly, as she leaned heavily against +him. "I have been so frightened----" + +"Marishka! Your hands are ice cold. They have kept you here--against +your will?" + +"Yes. And you--Hugh--they've tried----" + +"Don't fear," he smiled. "I've as many lives as a cat. Didn't you hear +me scratching my way up the wall? Sh----" + +He left her for a moment, and peered out into the darkness of the +garden. All was silent as before, and so he returned and took her in his +arms again. + +"You've forgiven me?" he whispered. + +"Need you ask? Oh, Hugh, I've wanted you so!" + +"Thank God for that." Their lips met and she clung to him, all the +pitiful longings of her days and nights of misery in her caress, the +dependence of helpless womanhood, but greater than that, the fear for +his safety, which took precedence over her own. + +He kissed her tenderly, the joy of possession the greater for the +dangers that they ran. + +"You're trembling, Marishka. Don't worry." + +But she clung to him anew. + +"If anything should happen now--that I have you again." + +"Dearest! I, too, have suffered with you--but I haven't despaired. I +would never have given you up, you know," he said with a smile. + +"I've never wanted you to give me up, Hugh. I've tested you +cruelly--because--because--my pride was hurt----" + +"It had to be, Marishka. But you've survived it----" + +"My love is greater--greater than anything in the world to me," she +murmured. "Danger has proved it--and yours----" + +"It needed nothing. I love you--now and always." + +"You forgive?" + +He kissed her again and again, and for a long moment they clasped each +other in silence, their lips together, questioning, replying in broken +syllables. To the woman, nothing else mattered. If death came now, she +knew that it would be sweet. And it was Renwick who found his reason +first. Her hands still in his, he led her to the window, where he +scanned the garden anxiously. But there was still no sign of anything +suspicious, nor, in the house, any sound. But Renwick now questioned her +quickly. + +"You sent me a note in Vienna?" + +"Yes. A warning. I was afraid. I urged you to return to England, but I +hoped----" + +"Ah! The note--a forgery!" + +"What do you mean?" + +"Your note told me to come to Sarajevo--to the Hotel Europa, where you +would communicate with me." + +"A forgery! Goritz! Now I understand. He said that you would follow." + +"Goritz--the limousine chap! He is here?" + +"I don't know. I haven't seen him since this morning. Hugh! He has laid +plans to kill you--a trap----" + +"We shall outwit him----" + +"But I am frightened, even now with you here beside me, Hugh. He +is clever--I am no match for him--I wrote you to come--tonight. It +was what he wished. Don't you understand? A trap! You are in +danger--here--now----" + +But Renwick did not seem to be greatly disturbed. His mind had cleared +amazingly. + +"We shall fight him with his own weapons----" + +"I am frightened. Are you sure that no one saw you enter the garden?" + +"Positive." And then pursuing his thought, "You sent a note to the Hotel +Europa?" + +"Yes--" she stammered, "this afternoon. I asked you to come +here--tonight at twelve. You received it?" + +"No. It was intercepted." + +"I don't understand." + +He laughed. "I don't wonder. It's the luckiest thing in the world that +I've found you." + +He kissed her again, and then quickly, "The Harim is--where?" + +She pointed to the door with the grille, and he regarded it with a new +interest. In the silence that followed, they heard again the murmur of +voices, a woman's and a man's. + +"Zubeydeh!" she whispered. "The woman here and--a man's voice." + +"We must find a way out quickly. They may come around this way." + +He noticed the door upon the other side of the room. + +"Where does that lead?" + +"To the _selamlik_, I think. But it is better to go by the window. I can +climb. Let us go." + +He shook his head. + +"It's dangerous. The stairs----" + +"It is dark below. I don't know where they lead." + +"To the garden. They must. The door is locked on the inside, but perhaps +there's another exit at the rear. Come." + +He drew his revolver from his belt, and taking her by the hand, led her +to the stair, and there they stopped, for Marishka clutched his arm in +sudden consternation. From the Harim came a sudden muffled noise--as +though some one were beating upon a carpet. + +"Shots!" whispered Renwick. "We must hurry." + +"Shots! What does it mean?" + +"I'll explain later. Hurry!" + +There were cries now--the shriek of a woman, and above all, a hoarse +bellow as of some enraged animal. Renwick had already descended a few +steps, Marishka following him, when the door to the _selamlik_ opened, +and a female figure clad in Marishka's silk drapery rushed forth. It was +Yeva. + +"Fraeulein----" she whispered in awed tones to Marishka. "Forgive me!" +she pleaded. "I have seen. It was beautiful. I could not see harm come +to you. His Excellency has been in the street at the back of the house, +but when the fighting began came up the rear stairway of the +_selamlik_----" + +"Goritz!" stammered Marishka in terror. + +"But I have locked the upper door." + +"He will come here, Yeva!" + +"Excellency must go--if there is yet time." + +"The garden!" + +"No," said Renwick, looking about for a place of concealment. "I shall +stay." + +"It is death----" whispered Marishka. + +But Yeva was resourceful. "The armor!" she whispered. "I have often +hidden in it from Zubeydeh. Quickly, Excellency! It stands upon brackets +in the wall." + +And while Marishka watched the stairhead in terror, Yeva helped the +Englishman into this strange place of concealment. Excited as Yeva was +at her share in the affair, her fingers were nimble, and she buckled the +straps quickly, then turning fled into the _selamlik_ and unlocked the +door. But Goritz by this time had managed to find a way to the stairs to +the _mabein_, and came up stealthily, listening eagerly to the +increasing commotion in the Harim. He found Marishka and Yeva hand in +hand at the door to the _selamlik_ staring in consternation at the door +of the black grille. There were no more shots, but more ominous even +than shots were the sounds of voices, strained, subdued, tense with +effort--the heavy breathing of men, the crashing of furniture, and then +at last the jar of heavy bodies falling--a cry of triumph--and silence. + +Captain Goritz had folded his arms and waited expectant. + +"It is very strange," he said coolly to Yeva. "Someone has broken into +the Harim?" + +"Excellency, I do not know. I was at the other end of the house. The +Fraeulein was frightened and called to me," she lied glibly. + +"It is not to be wondered at----" he said with a strange smile. "They +have made enough noise to raise the dead. I have a pardonable curiosity +as to what has happened." But as he strode toward the door and laid a +hand upon the knob, Yeva rushed forward. + +"Excellency!" she whispered. "You dare not! The law!" + +He looked at her for a moment, then shrugged and turned to Marishka. + +"I would suggest, Countess Strahni, that you go with this girl at once +into the _selamlik_. I have no idea of what has happened, but it must be +something quite disagreeable--an intruder within the Harim--the penalty +is severe----" + +Marishka was leaning against the rail of the stairway near the suit of +armor, and Goritz watched her curiously. + +"I--shall not go," she stammered faintly, wondering at the growing +mystery. + +He shrugged. "As you please," he muttered, "but I warn you that the +situation may be--unpleasant----" + +"I shall remain--" she said again. + +There were sounds of heavy footsteps, and the door of the _dutap_ swung +open, revealing the Beg of Rataj, torn and dishevelled, his face +distorted with passion. He paused in the doorway, and looked from Goritz +to Marishka, breathing rapidly. + +"Ah, Excellency," he gasped. "I call you all to witness. A man has +entered the Harim--a Christian. Yeva, I knew, was not there, but I saw +him and followed from the street with my friends--my son, my +brother-in-law, my cousins. He is here. We have killed him." + +Goritz glanced at Marishka, but she stared past the dreadful apparition +into the corridor, behind him, incapable of speech or thought. + +"A Christian!" said Goritz. "Incredible!" + +"You shall see," said the Effendi. And turning to those within he +uttered a phrase in Turkish, and presently Zubeydeh and a man came +forward dragging something behind them. Marishka hid her face in her +hands, and crouched nearer the corner where the armor was. + +She saw Goritz suddenly start forward, his gaze upon the prostrate +figure in black, which its bearers had deposited none too gently in the +middle of the rug. Then he peered into the upturned face, starting +upright and glaring at the Effendi. + +"_Vermalerdeiter Haellen_----" he cried. "_It's not the man!_" + +"What do you mean, Excellency?" cried the Beg. + +"What I say--Idiots!" + +"A Christian--in my Harim!" wailed the old ruffian. "He has ruined my +furniture and killed my brother-in-law and my cousin." + +"What do I care?" cried Goritz furiously. "You've got us all into +trouble with your bungling. Do you know who this man is?" he stormed. + +"Who, Excellency?" cried the Effendi. + +"Nicholas Szarvas--the most famous secret service agent in Hungary." + +"What say you, Excellency?" the Effendi asked bewildered. + +"You have heard." + +"It is impossible. This was the man----" + +"Bah! You are a sheep's head." + +"Sheep's head I am not----" + +"Then you are a fool!" + +"By the beard of the Prophet--he was in my Harim," muttered the Effendi. +"I call you all to witness----" + +"I wash my hands of the matter," said Goritz furiously. + +"I am within my rights--the Harim----" + +"Bah--You have killed a police officer of the Empire!" + +"And you?" The Effendi's face was the color of that of the man upon the +floor, but his eyes glowed with fear and desperation. + +"I know nothing of the matter," continued Goritz. "A Christian comes +into your Harim and you kill him. If he turns out to be an officer of +the law, what is it to me?" + +"You will pay me that which you owe," shrieked the Effendi. "The man has +broken my furniture." + +"It is a pity he didn't break your head. I pay you nothing." + +And then to Marishka, "Come, Countess, we must be upon our way." + +Marishka stood staring at Goritz, a new horror in her eyes. She now +understood. The Effendi thrust himself between them. + +"You will pay me that which you owe," he stormed again. + +"Stand aside!" said the German, and then to Marishka, + +"If the Countess Strahni will be good enough to accompany me?" he said, +civilly. + +But Marishka stood fixed, staring at him with alien eyes, as the Effendi +rushed forward toward her, his arms extended. + +"She shall not go. She will see what has been done. He is _not the man_. +She will remain here in my house until----" + +"Stand aside, Effendi!" cried Goritz furiously, and as the man did not +move, he caught him by the shoulder and thrust him roughly aside. He +scorned to use a weapon, and the other man and the woman seemed +completely dominated by his air of command. + +"You will please come at once, Countess Strahni. There is no telling how +soon the police will be coming." + +And as Marishka did not move-- + +"You heard?" + +"I will not go," stammered Marishka. + +Goritz paused, examining her keenly, as though he had not quite +understood. + +"I have asked you quite courteously, Countess----" + +"I will not go," repeated Marishka. Her voice was ice-cold, like her +body, which seemed to be frozen into immobility. + +"I beg to remind you of your promise--to go with me----" + +"I will not go," she said again. + +"Then I must take you," he said, striding toward her furiously, and +reaching out a hand to seize her by the wrist. + +Then a strange thing happened. The man in armor, in the corner behind +Marishka, strode clanking forth into the room, while a voice +reverberated in the iron helmet. What it said no one understood. The +Effendi gazed at the moving thing in terror, and then with a shriek fled +down the stairs, Zubeydeh and her companion, _calling in loud tones upon +Allah_, at his heels. Goritz glanced at the thing and then stood +irresolute a moment, as the man in the armor slowly raised an arm, for +at the end of the arm Goritz saw a revolver pointed directly at him. + +"Hold up your hands, Captain Goritz," rang the voice from the depths of +the helmet. "Quickly, or I'll shoot." + +Goritz bit his lips. + +"Clever--Herr Renwick," he said coolly in English. "You've taken the +trick." + +"Hold up your hands----" + +But Goritz with a sudden leap had sprung behind Marishka. Renwick fired +once as he jumped, and missed. And now Goritz, shielding himself behind +Marishka's body, drew his automatic and fired again and again, riddling +the ancient armor like a sieve. Marishka struggled wildly in the arms of +the German, and managed to draw the dagger concealed in her waist, but +he caught her wrist and held her in front of him, taking careful aim at +the man in the armor and firing deliberately. Renwick tottered forward +silently and came crashing to the floor in the corner, where after a +moment of struggle, he relaxed and lay motionless. + +Goritz caught Marishka around the waist and disarmed her. But this act +of precaution was unnecessary, for after one fleeting glance at the +tangled heap of iron in the corner, she sank a dead weight in his arms. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +NUMBER 28 + + +For a month the Landes Hospital had been greatly interested in the +mystery of patient Number 28. In spite of the imminence of war, and the +preparations which were being made to care for the wounded along the +border, the physicians, the nurses, and the other patients had all +formed theories as to the man's history and the possible causes of his +injuries. And during the long period in which he lay unconscious, +hovering in the dim realm between life and death, not a day passed in +which his temperature, respiration, and other symptoms were not +discussed from one end of the hospital to the other. The Head Surgeon, +Colonel Bohratt, inclined to the opinion that if the man continued for a +few days longer without change he would recover. But the Head Nurse +shook her head sagely. The wound in the head had been difficult, as the +operation was an unusual one, the wound in the shoulder was nothing, but +the one in the stomach! If the operation of Colonel Bohratt proved +successful, then a miracle had been performed. + +The interest in the case, both from the sentimental as well as the +professional point of view, was so great that the man's bed had been +carefully wheeled from a ward where he had been taken from the operating +table, into a private room, where every chance would be given him to +recover. + +On the twenty-seventh of July, Fraeulein Roth, the nurse on duty at the +bedside of the man of mystery, noted a slight change in his breathing, +and saw that he had opened his eyes, which were regarding her calmly, +but with the puzzled expression of one who has come a great distance +into a strange country. She knew then that what the Head Surgeon had +said was true, and that the man of mystery had turned the corner which +led away from the land of the Great Beyond. But being a prudent person, +she gave no sign of her delight, merely moving softly closer to the +bedside, and in German quietly asked him if he felt better. + +The man did not or could not reply at once, but she saw that his gaze +slowly passed beyond her to the bare walls of the room and to the open +window, beyond which were clouds, sunshine, and the distant drowsy +murmur of the city. + +"You are feeling more comfortable?" she asked again, in German. + +"Yes," he _muttered_. + +"You have been sick," she whispered softly, smoothing his pillow. + +"Ah, yes, sick," the man muttered, and closing his eyes, slept again. + +It was not long before the news of the awakening of Number 28 had +reached the nurses and attending physicians. Colonel Bohratt, greatly +pleased at the correctness of his prophecy and the end of the period of +coma, at once a tribute to his wisdom as well as to his professional +skill, came himself and viewed the patient, gave directions for +treatment and predicted speedy recovery. + +That night, the man of mystery awoke again, exchanged a few words with +Fraeulein Roth as before, and again slept. And on the morrow, a sure sign +that all was going well with him, he had gained so much strength that he +moved freely in his bed, and took more than the casual interest of the +desperately sick in his situation and surroundings. Fraeulein Roth had +been given instructions to keep him quiet, but she smiled at him when +quite rationally he questioned her. + +"Is this a hospital?" he asked. + +"Yes--the Landes Hospital." + +"Where?" + +"Sarajevo." + +"Ah,--Sarajevo." + +He remained silent for a long moment. + +"I have been here long?" he asked again. + +"A month." + +"A month! And the date?" + +"The twenty-eighth of July----" + +"Yes. I understand." + +Fraeulein Roth wished him to be quiet, but after a long moment of +contemplation of the ceiling, in which his brows puckered in a puzzled +way, he spoke again. + +And when Fraeulein Roth anxiously desired him to be quiet, she discovered +that Number 28 had a will of his own and only smiled at her earnestness. + +"I am feeling quite strong," he said weakly. "It will do me no harm to +talk, for some things puzzle me. I was brought here. Won't you tell me +how?" + +She debated with herself for a moment, but after an inspection of her +patient she decided to tell him the facts. + +"A peasant had discovered two men lying in a strip of woods near the road +to Gradina. At first he had thought that both were dead, but upon closer +examination he found that one of the men, although desperately wounded, +still breathed, and notified the police, who summoned the ambulance." + +"I?" asked the sick man. + +She nodded. "You were brought here--to the Landes Hospital in a bad +condition. The other man was dead." + +"The other man--dead?" + +"Yes," said the nurse, "with stab wounds in the back, and one in the +heart." She regarded her patient keenly a moment, and then went on. +"There were no marks of identification upon either of you. You were +without clothing. Following so closely upon the assassination of the +Archduke Franz and his wife, the circumstances were suspicious, and the +police of Sarajevo and the secret service officials have done all they +could to find some clew to the murderers. You see," she concluded with a +smile, "you are a man of mystery and all Sarajevo awaits your recovery." + +"Oh, I see. They are waiting for me to speak?" + +Number 28 lay silent, regarding the ceiling intently, frowning a little. +His mind worked slowly and Fraeulein Roth saw that he found some +difficulty in mental concentration. + +"We will talk no more at present," she said firmly. "If you are no +worse--perhaps again tomorrow." + +But on the following day and the next the condition of the patient was +not so favorable, for he lay in a drowsy condition and showed no +interest in anything. It seemed that the pallid fingers of Death were +still stretched over him. There were whispered consultations at the +bedside, and a magistrate came to take a deposition, but the Head +Surgeon advised delay. He had a reputation at stake. + +The wisdom of his advice was soon proved, for at the end of three days +Number 28 rallied, his fever subsided, and he smiled again at Nurse +Roth. But she had learned wisdom and refused to talk. + +Number 28 straightened in bed and ran his thin fingers through the beard +with which his face was now covered. He ate of his food with a relish +and then eagerly questioned. + +"I am quite strong again, Fraeulein. See--my hand does not even tremble. +Will you not talk with me?" + +"My orders are to keep you quiet." + +"I have been quiet long enough--a month!" he sighed. "The world does not +stand still for a month." + +The nurse smiled. "I see that you are used to having your own way," she +said. + +"Is it not natural that I should wish to know what has happened in the +world? Tell me. The Archduke Franz was killed. Did they discover a +plot?" + +"A plot? Yes. The boy Prinzep was employed by the Serbians." + +"He confessed?" + +"Not to that--but it is obvious." + +"And what has happened?" + +She examined him intently, aware now of what she herself had long +suspected, that this patient was no ordinary kind of man. His German had +a slight accent, but whether he came from central Europe or elsewhere +she could not decide. + +"Austria Hungary is on the eve of great events. A week or more ago +Austria Hungary sent an ultimatum to the Serbian government, to which an +unsatisfactory reply was received. The Austro-Hungarian minister has +left Belgrade, and war has been declared upon Serbia." + +"War! and Russia?" + +"Russia, France and Germany have mobilized." + +"And England?" + +"Nothing is known of what England will do. But it is feared that she may +join the cause of Russia and France." + +Number 28 lay silent for a moment thinking deeply, and then-- + +"It has come at last. War. All of Europe----" + +"It is frightful. There has already been fighting on the Serbian border. +We are preparing here to receive the wounded." + +He remained silent a moment, his eyes sparkling as he thought of what +she had told him and then quietly, "War!" he muttered. "I must get well +very quickly, Nurse, I must----" + +_She waited for him to go on, for, being a woman,_ curiosity as to his +history obsessed her, but he said no more. And in spite of her interest +in this man whom she had faithfully watched and served for more than a +month, some delicacy restrained the questions on her tongue. + +"You will not get well for a long while, Herr Twenty-Eight, if you do +not keep quiet," she said quickly. + +"You are very good to me," he replied. "I shall do as you wish." + +Several days after this, the patient having gained strength rapidly, he +was permitted solid food. He slept much, and in his waking hours seemed +to be thinking deeply. He was very obedient, as though concentrating all +his mind upon an effort toward speedy recovery, but he did not talk of +himself. His strength now permitting more frequent conversation, the +nurse brought him the news of the world outside, which included the +declaration of war by Great Britain against Germany--and the certainty +of a declaration against Austria Hungary. + +"It is as I suspected," he muttered. "England----" + +Again her patient was silent, and Nurse Roth glanced at him quickly. +English! + +She did not speak her thought, for the import of her news had sent her +patient into one of his deep spells of concentration. No Englishman that +she had ever met had spoken the German language so fluently. But +concealing her interest and curiosity when he turned toward her again, +she smiled at him brightly. + +"You are now getting much stronger, Herr Twenty-Eight," she said. "The +Head Surgeon has given permission for your examination." + +"Examination?" + +"A magistrate will come tomorrow to take your deposition." + +"I don't understand." + +"About all the facts connected with your injuries." + +"They have learned nothing?" + +"A little. The man who was found with you has been identified." + +"Ah!" + +"As Nicholas Szarvas, a Hungarian police officer----" + +"Szarvas!" + +"You knew him?" + +The patient was silent again. She had come suddenly upon the stone wall +which had balked all her efforts. Her hand was near him upon the bed. He +took it and pressed it to his lips. + +"Do not think me ungrateful for all your kindnesses, Fraeulein. Some day +perhaps I can repay you. But there are reasons why I cannot speak." + +She drew her hand away from him slowly. + +"But you must speak when the magistrate questions," she said gently. + +"Perhaps!" And he was silent again. + +With his growing strength had come wariness. If England declared war, +he, Hugh Renwick, at present unknown, would be interned, a prisoner; and +all hope of finding Marishka and the German, Goritz, would be lost. In +the first few days of his awakening, he had thought of sending for +Warwick, the British Consul, and putting the matter entirely in his +hands. But before he had had the strength to decide what it was best to +do, had come the declarations of war, and he had determined to remain +silent and act upon his own initiative. Unless he had muttered something +of his past in his fever, and this he doubted, or some sign of it would +have come from Fraeulein Roth, there would he no means of identifying him +as an Englishman, and when he recovered, they would let him go. As it +was, he was a man of mystery, and as such he intended to remain. He had +noted the marks of interest in the face of the nurse, and in her +questions, and his gratitude to her was very genuine, but he was sure +now that he was in no position to take chances. War being declared, +Warwick would have been given his passports, and would have left the +country. No one in Sarajevo knew the Englishman, Renwick--at least no +one who would be likely to connect the man of mystery of the Landes +Hospital with the former secretary of the British Embassy in Vienna. + +As his mind had grown clearer, the wisdom of his decision became more +apparent. If a magistrate came, he would be obliged to see him, but he +knew that his period of illness could cover a multitude of remembrances. + +The magistrate came with a clerk, and questioned with an air of +importance. Renwick realized that if he refused to answer, he might make +himself an object of suspicion, and endanger the chances of his release +upon recovery, and so, as he was not under oath, he invented skillfully. + +"What is your name?" + +"Peter Langer." + +"What nationality?" + +"Austrian, if you like. I am a citizen of the world." + +The magistrate examined him over his glasses. + +"The world is large. From what part of Austria did you come?" + +"Vienna." + +"Your parents are Viennese?" + +"They were in Vienna when I was young." + +"Were they born there?" + +"I do not know." + +"It is necessary that you should." + +"I am sorry if it is necessary. I do not know." + +"What brought you to Sarajevo?" + +"I am a wanderer. I wished to see the world." + +"A wish that has almost proved fatal. You have no business?" + +"Merely the business of wandering." + +The magistrate frowned. + +"I beg that you will take this matter seriously, Herr Langer." + +"I do. It is not in the least amusing." + +The man consulted his notes for a moment. + +"Where were you on the night of June twenty-eight?" + +"I have been ill for a month. Dates mean nothing to me. My memory is +bad." + +"Ah! Well, then, where were you on the night of the assassination?" + +"What assassination----?" + +"The assassination of the Archduke," replied the magistrate sternly. + +"In Sarajevo, I should say." + +"_Natuerlich._ But in what place?" + +"In the street, perhaps--or in a house. I don't remember." + +"I beg that you make the effort to remember." + +"I cannot," said Renwick after a pause. + +"You must." + +"My mind is clouded." + +The magistrate exchanged a glance with the nurse, who stood at the head +of the bed, and spoke to her. "This man talks to you quite rationally?" + +Fraeulein Roth hesitated and then said: "Yes. But he has been very ill. I +should suggest that you excuse him where possible." + +"H--m! This is a matter of great seriousness. A police officer has been +murdered by a person or persons unknown. This man was found near his +body, both of them left for dead. It is not possible that he can have +forgotten the circumstances--the fight, the shooting which preceded his +unconsciousness." And then to Renwick--"You knew Nicholas Szarvas?" + +"No." + +"I would remind you that this is the man who was found dead beside you." + +"I did not know him." + +"What are your recollections of the evening I have mentioned?" + +"I have no recollections." + +"You said that you were in a house." + +"Or the street--I forget." + +"You remember having an altercation with someone?" + +"In my dreams--yes. Many." + +"But before your dreams, when you were conscious?" + +"None." + +"Szarvas was stabbed. Did you see him attacked?" + +"I did not." + +"Have you any idea who shot you?" + +"A man who was my enemy, I should say." + +"Ah--you had an enemy?" + +"What man has not?" + +"What was his name?" + +"I don't remember." + +The magistrate got up frowning, and paced up and down the room, his +hands behind his back. + +"I should advise you, Herr Langer, that it is my opinion that you are +willfully endeavoring to impede the steps of this investigation. I would +remind you also that those who try to thwart the officers of the law in +the performance of their duty, are alike amenable to it. Your +reticence--I can call it by a less pleasant word--is aiding and +abetting a criminal, who must be brought to justice." + +"It is not likely----" He paused. + +"What?" + +"That I should wish to save a man who had tried to murder me." + +"But this is precisely what you are doing." + +Renwick smiled. + +"What would you? Have me invent a story for your record? I can say no +more than I remember. I remember nothing." + +The magistrate took off his glasses and rubbed them rigorously, as if by +so doing he could clear his own mind as to what had best be done. Then +he put them upon his nose and took up his hat and papers. It was certain +that the patient's brain was still far from strong. + +"I shall not pursue this investigation now," he said to Nurse Roth. "I +shall wait a few days in which Herr Langer may have time to reflect. He +is still very weak. In the meanwhile, Herr Langer, I would tell you that +it would be wise for you to recover your memory." + +"A desire which I sincerely share," said Renwick with a smile. + +"If not," continued the magistrate with his most magisterial manner, +"you will be detained, as a material witness, in Sarajevo." + +"I have no intention of leaving Sarajevo unless someone should happen to +pay my railroad fare," replied Renwick wearily. + +The man left, followed by his clerk, and Nurse Roth closed the door +behind them. When the sounds of their footsteps had faded away along the +corridor, she turned to the table where she rearranged some roses in a +vase. + +"You lie very ingeniously, Herr Twenty-eight," she said with a smile. + +Renwick regarded her calmly. + +"It is not my nature, Nurse Roth. But a cracked skull doesn't improve +the brains beneath." + +She came over to him quickly, and stood beside the bed. + +"You have some reason for concealing your identity. I know that you +remember what happened. But I will protect you as far as I can, upon one +condition." + +"And that?" he asked anxiously. + +"That you will give me your word of honor that it was not you who killed +Nicholas Szarvas." + +He caught her by the hand and smiled up at her with a look so genuine +that there was no question as to his sincerity. + +"I give it. I did not kill Nicholas Szarvas." + +"Thank you," she said simply. "I believe you." + +[Illustration: "Thank you," she said simply. "I believe you."] + +"I wish I could tell you," he whispered earnestly, "for I know that you +are my friend, but"--and he relinquished her hand--"but I _must_ keep +silent." + +She touched him gently upon the shoulder in token of understanding, and +from that moment said no more. + +The days passed slowly, but it was evident to those who were interested +in the case that Number 28 gained strength very rapidly. His wounds had +healed, and he was soon permitted to get up and sit in an armchair near +the window, where he could look out over the minarets of the city below +the hill. But to all except Nurse Roth, it seemed that the injury to his +head had done something to retard the recovery of his memory. He spoke +quite rationally to Colonel Bohratt upon matters regarding his physical +condition, but sometimes even when the Head Surgeon was talking with +him, he relapsed into a state of mental apathy which caused that worthy +man to remove his bandage and examine the wound in his head. After which +the Colonel would leave the room with a puzzled expression. And in +consequence of this curious mental condition, it was thought wise to +defer the visit of the officer of the law until the patient's mind +should show a change for the better. There was even a consultation upon +the advisability of another operation upon the head, but the patient +showed such encouraging marks of growing lucidity that the operation was +deferred. + +It was a dangerous game that he was playing, and Renwick knew it, for +the time would come when he must tell who he was, or find a chance to +escape from the hospital. Escape was his hope and each day as he gained +new strength, he thought of a hundred expedients by which it might be +accomplished. He knew that even now he was under surveillance, and +virtually a prisoner of the Austrian government, until he could give +some account of himself, and of the events of the night of the +twenty-eighth of June. And so he conserved his energies carefully, +gaining courage and weight with each new day, playing the game of delay +until he was assured of his strength and the moment was propitious. The +chief difficulty which confronted him was a means to procure clothing. +He was allowed the privileges of the hospital, permitted to walk upon +the terrace, but he had no clothing except the sleeping suit of cotton +and a wrapper-like affair which he wore when out of his room. Whether +his restriction to this costume was by neglect or by design, he did not +know, for all the other convalescents whom he met out in the air wore +the clothes in which they had come to the hospital. The fact that he had +been brought here unclothed was of little comfort to him, and he feared +to request a change of garments for this might excite suspicion. There +was nothing for it but to wait, and when strength enough came, seize the +first opportunity presented to slip quietly away. + +He had been studying his chances with a discriminating eye. His room was +upon the second floor, but there was a rain-spout which passed just +beside it, and given the strength of hand and wrist to accomplish the +descent, the matter would be simple. There was a row of shrubbery just +below the terrace, which led to a path over the hills, where he might be +lost under cover of the night. But even at night he could not go into +Sarajevo without clothing. For a while the idea of appealing to Nurse +Roth occurred to him, but he at last rejected it, aware that she had +already done much that could not be repaid, and unwilling to subject her +to the alternatives of refusal or acquiescence--one of which might be +hazardous to his own chances, the other surely fruitful of +unpleasantness to herself. He had no right to ask this of her. He wished +to incur no new obligations, for when the time came, he intended to go, +and he could not repay her kindness with deceit. And so he waited, +simulating weakness, exercising in secret, and gaining in strength for +the hopeless task before him. + +He had made no plans. What plans could he make when he had no means of +making inquiries? Goritz was gone with Marishka,--by this time perhaps +far beyond the German border, the girl a prisoner--or----? For a moment +he paused as the new thought came to him. What would be the status of +the Countess Strahni since the outbreak of war? The conditions which +existed before the pact of Konopisht were no more. Germany's ambitions +stultified--Austria forgiving--both nations involved in a great +undertaking the prosecution of which must make them careless of all less +vital issues! Had Goritz been recalled from this secret mission to +another more important? And if so, where was Marishka? Could she have +been released? There was a chance of it, but it seemed a slender one. +Goritz! Something--some deeply hidden instinct, some suspicion harbored +perhaps in the long days and nights of his unconsciousness, some pang of +fear born of pain and unrest, advised him that, behind the secret duty +which had first brought Goritz to Vienna, he was now playing a game of +his own. The brief glimpse he had had of the man, short but fearfully +significant, had made an unpleasant impression. He had seen the look in +the eyes of the German as he had asked Marishka to go with him from the +house of the garden, a look courteous and considerate, that had in it, +too, something more than mere admiration. If the man were in love with +her! And what man of any vision, learning to know Marishka could help +caring for her! Not love, surely! Not love from a man who sheltered +himself from danger by using her as a shield. He had been safe then. +Renwick could not have fired then. And Goritz was clever enough to know +it. But the dastardliness of such a trick! There was a long score to pay +between Renwick and Goritz, a score the items of which had begun with +the attempts upon the Englishman's life in Vienna and Konopisht, the +imprisonment of Marishka, and the shooting in Sarajevo which had +nothing to do with politics. They were enemies. Their countries were +enemies. It was written. + +Absorbed in these unpleasant meditations, Renwick sat upon the terrace +of the hospital after supper, idly manicuring his nails with Nurse +Roth's scissors. As it grew dark, he got up, slowly pacing up and down +the length of the terrace. The moment was approaching when he would be +called in to go to his room, but he grudgingly relinquished the moments +in the soft evening air. It was curious how much latitude they gave +him--curious, also, that the magistrate, after his second fruitless +visit a few days ago, had not returned. As Renwick had continued evasive +the magistrate had grown angry and at last had threatened him with the +visit of one who would make him speak. Who was this new inquisitor to +be? Someone in higher authority? Or perhaps some secret service agent +who had finally succeeded in getting some clews as to the murder of the +colossal Szarvas? + +Of one thing Renwick was sure--that soon he must make a break for +liberty. Tonight--now--into the dusk beyond the hills. He was not very +strong yet, but it might be---- + +"Herr Twenty-Eight," said the voice of Nurse Roth at his elbow, "you are +to go at once to your room for examination." + +"Thanks, Fraeulein. I shall go. It is the magistrate?" + +She nodded soberly. + +"The magistrate and another whom I have never seen. They are now in the +office consulting the Head Surgeon." + +Renwick smiled at her as he whispered, "I am to be _grilled_?" + +"I fear so." + +He shrugged. "The time for subterfuge is past." And then, taking her +hand again, "I shall go at once. But whatever happens I want you to know +that I shall never forget what you have done for me." + +"It is nothing. Now go, please." + +He bowed and preceded her into the hallway. As they passed the office +the door was open and Renwick glanced in. The magistrate was there and +another man, talking to Colonel Bohratt, all of them unaware of the +patient in the darker hallway looking at them. Renwick started, and then +gazed again at the third man leaning over the table facing him. His +figure seemed familiar, his bowing and gestures more so, and yet for a +second Renwick could not place him. And then the man smiled, showing a +gold tooth which caught the reflection of the electric light upon the +table. A gold tooth---- + +Nurse Roth was regarding Renwick who glanced at the open door behind him +and then at Nurse Roth. The pause was momentous. Renwick quickly +recovered his poise and went on a few steps. + +"They wish to see me--in the office?" he asked in a whisper. + +"In your room, please. I shall tell them that you are waiting." + +"Thanks, again," said Renwick abruptly, with outstretched hand, "and +good-by." + +"Good-by?" she asked in alarm. + +He smiled over the shoulder as he went up the stairs. + +"I think I shall exchange the hospital--for the jail." + +He left her standing there looking up at him in wonder or pity, and then +turning the stairhead went on down the upper corridor. There were nurses +conversing here, and a patient or two, so Renwick went slowly until he +reached his room. But once within the door he acted with speed and +resolution. First he turned the key in the lock and softly shot the +bolt, then crossed the room quickly, his heart beating rapidly. He was +not strong and his nerves already were warning him, but they did not +fail him. He peered out of the window upon the terrace. It was not yet +dark and there was a nurse below standing beside a man in a wheel chair. +He could not go now for they would see him and surely give the alarm, +and so he waited, going back to the door and listening for the sound of +approaching male footsteps. As yet no sound. He peered down upon the +head of the luckless nurse, mutely imprecating. The moments were +precious. Would they never go in? It was past the hour for loitering on +the terrace. For a moment the idiotic notion came to him to go out into +the corridor and call the attention of the nurse in charge of the floor +to the infraction of rules, but he turned again to the window. The nurse +was moving now, slowly pushing the wheel chair toward the door. It was +barely a hundred feet away, but to Renwick it seemed an eternity before +the pair vanished within. Then taking off his slippers he put them in +the pocket of his wrapper, and rolling it into a bundle, dropped it +noiselessly upon the terrace below. His nerves quivered as he sat +astride the window-sill but he set his jaw and lowered himself from the +window, catching the iron gutter-pipe with bare fingers and toes. The +spout seemed to creak horribly, and for a moment he thought that it was +swaying outward with him. But the sensation was born of his own +weakness. The pipe held and slowly he descended, reaching the ground, +his knuckles bruised and torn, but so far, safe. + +He paused for a moment to slip into his wrapper and then crossed the +terrace quietly, reached the lawn and the shelter of the bushes below. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +DISGUISE + + +Long ago he had planned the direction in which he should go when the +time came for him to escape. And so without pausing to look behind him +he hurried down the hill in the shelter of the hedge until he reached +its end. A hundred yards away was a hillock. By going forward in a line +which he had already marked he would have the partial protection of +rocks and bushes. He paused just a moment to be sure that no one was +coming after him. All was as before and the dark group of buildings, his +home for nearly two months, loomed in silent dignity behind him. But +Renwick knew that it would not be long before the whole countryside +would be buzzing like a hornet's nest. In his enfeebled condition, he +could hardly hope to cope with his pursuers in the matter of speed and +so as he went on across the stream at the base of the hill, he tried to +plan something that would outwit them. The nearest outlying houses of +the town were but a few hundred yards distant, but instead of taking the +road down the hill, he turned sharply to his left after crossing the +road and entered the Moslem cemetery, laid according to the custom in a +cypress grove. He now moved slowly and leaning against the bole of a +tree regained his breath while he listened for the expected sounds of +pursuit. The cemetery seemed to be deserted, but he decided to take no +chances, so he found a tree with thick foliage, and climbed from one +bough to another until he found a crotch of a limb where he disposed +himself as comfortably as possible to wait until the pursuit had passed +him by. + +His pulses were still pounding furiously from the sudden effort of +muscles long unused, and his nerves were tingling strangely, but he +clung to his perch until the period of weakness passed and then planned +what he had better do. Inside of an hour every policeman in Sarajevo +would be warned by Herr Windt to look out for a man with a beard, +wearing a sleeping suit and a blue woolen wrapper. The obvious thing +therefore was to avoid Sarajevo or else find a means to change his +costume. But if he begged, borrowed, or stole an outfit of native +clothing--what then? Where should he turn? He had no money, for that, of +course, had been taken by the ruffians who had carried his body into the +woods and stripped him of his clothing. To all intents and purposes he +had been born again--had come into the world anew, naked save for the +unsightly flapping things in which he was wrapped. His English clothes +were at the inn in the Bistrick quarter where he had left them, but to +seek them now meant immediate capture. And if he wore English clothes in +the streets of a town full of men in uniform he would be as conspicuous +as though in sleeping suit and wrapper. A native costume was the +thing--and a fez which would hide the plaster on his head. But how to +get it? He heard voices, and two men passed below him weaving in and out +among the trees; he blessed the inspiration which had bidden him climb. +He would have known Windt. He was not one of them. They were men from +the hospital, out of breath with running, and the phrases they exchanged +gave Renwick comforting notion that they were already wearily impressed +with the hopelessness of their task. A while they waited, and then he +saw them go out on the further side of the copse as though glad to be +well away from so melancholy a spot. Indeed the gray turban-carved +tombstones were eloquent to Renwick and a newly made grave not far away +was unpleasantly suggestive of the fate that had so nearly been his. It +was starlight now, but dark, and the owls were already hooting +mournfully as though the souls of those who lay in the sod beneath had +come again to visit by night their last resting places. It was not the +most cheerful spot for a man who had just come out of a bout with death, +and Renwick had no mind to stay there. So when the men who had been +searching for him had gone their ways, he clambered stiffly down. He +lingered by the newly made grave, obsessed by the rather morbid notion +of digging up the estimable Moslem who reposed there and exchanging his +own hospital wrapper for the much to be desired native costume, but +desperate as was his need the idea was too unpleasant. He would rob, if +necessary, but not the dead. + +As he wandered among the trees in the direction of the nearest lights, +he felt a pair of scissors in the pocket of his wrapper--Fraeulein +Roth's. His fingers closed upon them now. A weapon? Better than that. A +plan had come to him which he proceeded immediately to put into +practice. Taking off his wrapper he seated himself upon a tombstone and +began cutting it into pieces, shaping a short sleeveless jacket. He cut +the sleeves of the wrapper lengthwise and made a turban. + +Its skirt made him a belt with something left over. He puzzled for +awhile over the remnant of cloth left to him, thinking of his legs, but +at last discarded it as useless, and hid it among the bushes. Then, +laboriously, he trimmed his mustache and beard. It was low work without +light or mirror, but he persevered until to the touch of his fingers the +merest bristle remained, a stubble such as a man would have who had gone +a few days without shaving. Then, satisfied that under cover of the +darkness he might pass in a crowd of people unnoticed, he slipped the +scissors into the coat of his sleeping suit and sallied forth. + +At least he was rid of the flowing robe which would have made of him a +marked man. Fortunately the night was hot and sultry, and so far he +suffered no inconveniences, but he knew that this disguise was only a +makeshift and that by fair means or foul, he must come into the +possession of some sort of costume in which he could face the light of +day. In the road, he passed a farmer returning from the bazaar, and the +careless greeting of the man reassured him. A polyglot costume +surely--but this was a city of polyglots. The disguise would do--at +least for this night. But the appearance of Windt had seriously alarmed +him. It meant, if he was taken, that he would surely be interned, or +worse, perhaps that he might be accused of complicity in the murder of +Szarvas, Windt's own man. In the back of his head a plan had been +forming, which meant if not active help in escaping from the city, at +least a short refuge from pursuit, and perhaps something more. He meant +to go to the house where Marishka had been--and speak to the girl, Yeva. +It was the only hope he had of a clew to Marishka's whereabouts--the +only hope of help in this city of enemies. He was quite sure that he +would not be a welcome visitor, for it was the old ruffian in the +turban, of course, who had taken the clothing from Renwick's body and +left him for dead upon the hillside. The theory in the hospital had been +that those who had carried Renwick into the woods had intended burying +the bodies--for a spade had been found later near the place--but that +the murderers had been frightened away before being able to carry out +their plan. And lacking information upon the subject, Renwick had come +to the same conclusion. He might not be welcome at the house of the blue +door, but he knew the old man's secret and decided to risk danger by +playing the game with an open hand. + +Instead of going into the city by the nearest way, which would have led +him in a few moments into the European part of the town, he bore to the +left again, climbing the hill behind the Tekija mosque, until he reached +an eminence back of the fortress above the Golden Bastion, and then +slowly descended into the Turkish quarter of the town where the streets +were narrow and dark and the danger of detection minimized. He had +already passed many people who had merely glanced at him and gone their +ways, and the success of his disguise gave him confidence; but as he +approached the Sirocac Tor he was badly frightened, for on turning the +corner of a street he ran directly into the arms of a stout Bosnian +policeman who was looking for him. The man swore at him in bad German +and Renwick drew back against the wall, sure that the game was up, until +he realized that the fellow was only cursing because he was almost, if +not quite as much startled as Renwick. So the Englishman, regaining his +composure, bowed politely and would have gone on, but the policeman +spoke. + +"Which way have you come?" he asked. + +"From the Kastele." + +"You have seen no bareheaded man with a beard, wearing a long blue +coat?" + +"A long blue coat? There are none with long blue coats in the Kastele in +the month of August." + +"Pfui--! I do not wonder!" said the fat Bosnian, and hurried on. + +But the venture made Renwick more cautious, and he avoided the +street-lights, moving under the shadows of walls and houses, at last +reaching the tortuous alleyway down which he had once come to inspect +the house with the _meshrebiya_ windows. Almost two months had passed +since he had stood in this spot, watching these same lighted windows, +unaware of the success that had been almost within his grasp. Outwardly +nothing was changed. The blue door faced him, and gathering courage, he +crossed the street and entered the garden. It was very dark under the +trees and he went quietly forward, stopping by the fountain to listen +for sounds within the house. He realized that it was growing late, and +that while the garden offered him a refuge from those who were seeking +him in the city, daylight would make his tenure precarious even here. If +the girl Yeva would only come down into the garden! He waited by the +bench listening, and presently was rewarded by hearing a light rippling +laugh from the room above the door. She was there--the girl--but not +alone--with the old woman perhaps, or the man with the beard. Renwick +listened again and watched the window, but heard nothing more. There +was nothing for it but to put on a bold front, so summoning his courage, +he walked to the door of the house and loudly knocked. + +There was an exclamation, a sound of footsteps upon the stair, and at +last the bolt of the door was shot and the door opened. Zubeydeh stood, +a lantern in her hand, scrutinizing him. + +He spoke in German at once. "I come upon an urgent matter," he said +coolly. "Upon a matter very important to the owner of this house----" + +"Speak--what do you want?" she asked. + +"I bear a message." + +"The Effendi is not at home----" + +"Ah--then Yeva may receive it." + +"Yeva! Who are you?" + +He smiled. "For the present that need not matter." + +Zubeydeh blocked the door more formidably with her body. + +"No one enters this house in the Effendi's absence." + +"I do not desire to enter the house. I merely wish to talk with Yeva, +here----" + +"That is not possible." The woman moved back and made a motion to close +the door, but Renwick took a pace forward and blocked her effort with +his foot. + +"Wait," he said. + +Something in the tone of his voice arrested her, and the hand which held +the door relaxed. She regarded Renwick with a new curiosity. Her eyes +narrowed as she peered into his face. She had seen someone who looked +like this tall beggar, but where----? + +"Who are you?" she asked again, this time with a note of anxiety, +scarcely concealed. + +Renwick smiled, but he had not yet removed his foot from the sill of the +door. + +"You do not remember me?" + +"No--and yet----" She paused in bewilderment, and Renwick quickly +followed his advantage. + +"I am one who can save this house from a danger." + +"Speak!" + +"I have but to speak yonder," and he gestured eloquently toward the city +below them, "and the danger will fall." He leaned forward, whispering +tensely, "The secret police of the Austrian government wish to know more +about the death of Nicholas Szarvas and----" + +Zubeydeh dropped the handle of the door and seized Renwick's arm, while +her narrow eyes glittered terrified close to his own. + +"And you----?" + +"It is merely that I did not die," he said coolly. + +"You are----?" + +"I am the man in the armor, Zubeydeh," he said solemnly. + +She started back from him in affright, her hands before her eyes. + +"Allah!" she whispered, and then leaned forward again touching his arm +lightly, imploringly, while she looked past him into the dark recesses +of the garden. + +"Then they are there--the police are coming----?" + +He quickly reassured her. + +"No. I mean you no harm. Do you understand? I have said nothing--nor +shall I speak unless----" he paused significantly. + +"Unless----?" + +"Unless you refuse to permit me to speak with Yeva. That is all. Listen, +Zubeydeh; since that night I have been in the hospital. They would keep +me here a prisoner. I have escaped--in this disguise. I make a bargain +with you. You help me--I will be silent. If you refuse, I shall tell the +police." + +"What do you want?" she asked breathlessly. + +"A disguise, a weapon, and some money--not much." + +"Money! The Effendi has gone upon a journey." + +"A few _kroner_ only--enough to get me out of town." + +"And you will keep silent?" + +"As the grave. Don't you understand? I wish to go away from +here--quickly, and then you will not see me again." + +"How can I believe you?" she said suspiciously. + +"Bah! Don't be stupid! If I had desired to betray you, I should have +told the truth long ago." + +Zubeydeh hesitated. + +"You will go away?" + +"Yes. I shall go----" + +There was a sound upon the stairs behind Zubeydeh and Yeva thrust +herself forward. + +"I was at the window above. I heard. Allah be praised! You are alive?" + +"Yeva! You know anything--of _her_?" + +"No, nothing," sadly. And then as she examined him closely, "But you +must come into the house. I will do what you wish." + +The matter was now out of Zubeydeh's hands, for whatever her doubts, +Yeva's swift confidence had swept them away. She stood aside and +motioned for him to go up the stairs. + +"You will not remain long?" she asked. + +"Only long enough to change my clothing--you will provide?" + +"Yes. There are garments." + +"A fez, jacket, breeches, stout _opankas_." + +"It shall be as you desire." + +Renwick went up the stairs into the room where he and Goritz had met, +recapitulating briefly in his mind the sequence of events which had led +to his own downfall. If he had only shot the man when he had stood there +a fair mark, defenseless! It had not been the sporting thing, but if he +had known what was to follow, he would have done it nevertheless. At +least he thought so now. The fateful armor had been restored to its +place in the corner, and while he anxiously awaited Yeva's return he +examined it casually with the rather morbid interest which one might +display in the inspection of one's coffin. It was dented upon the sides +with the marks of bullets which had glanced aside, but three neatly +drilled holes, two in the breastplate and one in the helmet, reminded +him again how narrow had been his escape from death. "Close shooting, +that," he muttered to himself. "Emptied clip and not one miss." + +Yeva, who had gone with Zubeydeh into the Harim, now returned +(discreetly veiled) and with an air of restraint made a sign to the +Englishman to be seated while Zubeydeh brought refreshments. + +He heard Yeva speaking gently at his ear. + +"Allah is good. Excellency, they told me that you were dead--that they +would bury you. They took your body and that of the other man in a cart +to the hills above the city. But someone came, and they were forced to +go away." + +"You saw her go with him?" + +"Yes. She had fainted. I helped to carry her down through the +_selamlik_ to the street at the back of the house. Then an automobile +came, and they took her away." + +"There have been no inquiries here?" + +"None. And you will say nothing?" she asked anxiously. + +"Not a word. Would you have me deliver myself into the hands of my +enemies?" + +"I shall help you, Excellency, if you will try to find her." + +"Yes. I shall try. I will follow, if you will provide me with clothing." + +"It shall be done. But first you must eat and drink and then we shall +plan." + +Zubeydeh, now completely disarmed, brought cakes and sherbet, and when +Renwick had eaten and drunk, gave him cigarettes and the clothing, +showing him into a room where he quickly divested himself of his rags of +wrapper and put on the garments which she had brought. They were +curiously familiar. His own disguise--that which he had bought in the +bazaar and had worn when he had first come to this house. He felt in the +pockets of his trousers but the money was gone. And when he was dressed, +Zubeydeh colored his face with some liquid which she brought from the +kitchen. + +The clock on the mantle indicated the hour of eleven when Renwick +prepared to take his departure. It had been a market day in the Turkish +quarter, and late at night the farmers would be returning to their +homes. Aware of the difficulties which might lie in the way of his +leaving the city, Yeva proposed that Renwick should leave the Carsija in +the cart of a cousin of Zubeydeh's, a farmer who lived on the Romanja +Plain; and Renwick, quick to see the advantages of the plan, readily +agreed, for it was toward the Visegrader Gate, he had learned, that the +automobile of Captain Goritz had departed. + +As he left the lower door with Zubeydeh, who was to accompany him as far +as the Carsija, Renwick caught Yeva by the hand. + +"I cannot thank you, girl. But some day I shall pay. You will remember. +I promise." + +"It is nothing," she said; and then with a laugh: "But if in Vienna or +Paris or London, you should see a silk dress of blue----" + +"You shall have two of them--and two of pink----" + +"Excellency----!" she cried, clapping her hand childishly. + +"And if I find her--jewels----!" + +"It is too much----" she cried. And then eagerly, as though she feared +he might misinterpret, "Still, I should like them----" + +"You shall have them--some day." + +"I shall pray to Allah that you may find her. Go, Excellency. Go to her +and tell her that I have done what I can." + +"Allah will bless you." + +"May Allah bless you both," she sighed, "for it is all so very +beautiful." + +The last glimpse that Renwick had of her was from the gate of the +garden, where he turned to wave his hand as she stood, leaning wistfully +against the doorpost of the house, looking after him. + +The arrangements for his journey were readily made and the business of +the night being concluded, in half an hour Renwick, passing again as +Stefan Thomasevics on his way to Rogatica to help in gathering the +harvest, was seated beside Selim Ali, Zubeydeh's cousin, driving in a +cart through the silent Kastele. Renwick saw several Bosnian police +officers in uniform, who inspected the empty vehicle, but merely glanced +at the slouching figures on the seat. At the Visegrader Gate they were +detained and questioned, but Selim had a clever tongue and told a +straight story which Renwick corroborated with nods and gestures. It +would have been dangerous to risk his too fluent German on the officer +of the guard. No, they had seen no bearded man in a blue coat. It had +been a hot day in the bazaar. One didn't like to think of blue coats on +such a day. Even tonight it was still sultry, but soon the harvest time +would be here, and after that the snows. Would the Excellency like a +fine melon, for forty _hellers_--the only one left in all the day? No? +Then we will give it to the Excellency for nothing. + +The officer grinned and let them pass, but he took the melon. It was +after midnight for in the distance behind them they had heard the bell +of the cathedral tolling the hour. Safely past all military barriers, +Selim, who had had a long day, yawned and clambered into the tail of the +cart to sleep, leaving the horse to its own devices. But sleep was not +for Renwick. His escape had been accomplished without much trouble, and +given a little luck and some skill he thought he could manage to lose +himself quickly in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. But the magnitude of his +undertaking in finding Marishka was formidable. Most of Bosnia and all +of Austria Hungary lay between Sarajevo and the German border--five +hundred miles of enemy's country to be traversed without other resources +than eighteen _kroner_ pieces and a pair of somewhat worn _opankas_! And +after that--the heart of the enemy's country! + +Eighteen _kroner_! His own, probably, filched from the pockets of the +clothing he had worn when he had entered the house in search of +Marishka. His own clothing, the disguise he had bought in the bazaar. +Then perhaps----! Feverishly he felt along the upper lining, where he +had pinned the larger sum of money he had taken from his purse when he +had changed from mufti at the inn over in the Bistrick quarter of the +town. They had found it? Something crinkled under the pressure of his +fingers, and a pin pricked his thumb. It was there--his money. They had +not searched for it, thinking of course that the money they had found in +the pockets was all that he had possessed. He found the head of the pin +and opened the lining, counting the notes--ten of them in all--of one +hundred _kroners_ each. + +A thousand _kroners_! He could have shouted for glee. But caution came +to him in time. He looked around to find that Selim had awakened and was +sitting up rubbing his eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +RENWICK QUESTIONS + + +Had the man observed him when he was counting his money? The hazard of +his position made Renwick suspicious. Selim was a crafty rogue as his +conversation with the officer at the Visegrader Gate had shown, and one +of Zubeydeh's breed needed watching. But the man yawned and stretched +his arms, then got up and looked about with so genuine an air of +drowsiness and fatigue that Renwick concluded that he had been mistaken. +How much or how little Selim had been told of Renwick's affair the +Englishman did not know. But the man had already done him a service and +might be in a position to help him further. So he decided upon an +attitude of friendliness and gratitude which might perhaps be measured +by a few of his eighteen _kroners_ but no more. + +It was about three o'clock, when having met no adventures upon the way, +they reached the farm of Selim Ali upon the border of the Romanja Plain. +Twenty hours at a stretch, nine of which had been spent in the tension +of his escape, were more than Renwick's strength permitted, and he sank +upon the straw pallet to which Selim assigned him, weary and shaken, and +with a hand which instinctively clutched the lining of his trousers +where his money was pinned, he fell into a deep sleep, from which he +did not awaken until the sun was high in the heavens. + +He did not rise at once, but lay on his cot, gazing at the ceiling, his +mind adjusting itself slowly to his situation. He felt for the money in +the lining of his trousers. It had not been touched. If Selim had +discovered the notes in Renwick's possession he was either without +design upon them or had concluded to postpone its consummation until +some later hour. Where was the man? Renwick wanted to talk to him. He +heard the sound of a voice in another part of the house, and getting up +went outside and walked around to the rear of the building. A young +woman in Turkish costume was washing some clothing in a tub by the door. + +Renwick greeted her with a bow and a smile, and asked for Selim. She +pointed toward a distant field, and then asked if he desired food. +Renwick thanked her and replied that he would wait until Selim returned, +and went back to bed. There, some moments later the woman brought him +coffee, bread, and excellent soup, which the Englishman devoured +hungrily, not aware until the moment that it was precisely food he +required. When he had finished eating, he smoked a cigarette and planned +his pilgrimage. + +He had but two known facts with regard to the flight of Captain Goritz +with his prisoner; first, the automobile had gone through the Kastele in +the direction of the Visegrader Gate, over the very road by which +Renwick had come with Selim; second, the object of Captain Goritz was to +reach the German border as speedily as possible. + +The fact that Goritz had left town by this road to the north and east +indicated one of two things: that Goritz, seeking the more quietly to +escape from the town, had chosen the road through the Kastele quarter, +intending to make a detour over the mountains and reach the Bosna road, +by which he would go straight through Hungary and Austria to his +destination; the other inference was that Goritz had chosen the more +easterly road to the north in order to avoid passing through Austria, +seeking the shortest road into Silesia, through central Hungary and +Galicia by way of Cracow. It seemed probable that Goritz had already +reached Germany, and yet even this was no assured fact. If Goritz had +chosen to return through Austria by the main traveled roads, by Bosna, +by Agram, or by Budapest, there was scarcely a chance that he could have +eluded the agents of the watchful Windt. The plot against the life of +the Archduke had consummated in his death. Marishka had failed, but with +her failure had come a restitution of her complete rights as an Austrian +citizen. Herr Windt, no longer seeking to restrain her actions, would +wish to save her from the results of her own imprudences, redoubling his +efforts to come between Goritz and the German border. + +Renwick tried to think as Goritz would think. Why had Goritz come by the +circuitous road over the Romanja Plain? Surely not to go north by way of +Serbian territory. Goritz had a reason. The shortest road--the least +traveled road, the road which avoided Brod, the main gateway into +Bosnia, was the road by which he would pass through the rural districts +of eastern Hungary, proceeding all the while along the level country of +the Danube or the Thiess, reaching Silesia--the long tail of the German +Empire which thrust out between Poland and Galicia. + +Renwick paced the room with quick strides. The theory hung together. And +given this to be the plan of Goritz, had he succeeded in carrying it +out? Possibly. But Hungary was wide. It was five hundred miles at least +from Sarajevo to the Carpathians, and much may happen to an automobile +in five hundred miles. Marishka, Yeva told him, had fainted. It would +have been inhuman for Goritz to have taken her such a distance without a +chance for rest or recuperation. Goritz! Every theory that Renwick +devised seemed to fall to the ground when he thought of him. The +cleverness of the man was amazing. And what lay behind his cleverness? +What of decency or what of deviltry lay behind the mask that Renwick had +seen? The man had treated her with consideration--for Marishka had not +complained of his attitude toward her--until there in the Turkish house, +when he had seized her by the arm.... + +Deliberation had gained something--only a theory as yet, but if a +theory, one which stood the acid of inspection from every angle. + +Renwick's task seemed hopeless, but that spirit of persistence, of which +Marishka had once spoken, was one of the dominating characteristics of +his nature. Given a sound purpose, a worthy desire, he was not easily +dismayed, and desperate as his chances of finding Marishka now seemed, +it did not enter his head to give up and seek his way--as he might +easily have done--to the Serbian border and so to safety. Marishka had +forgiven him! During the long days of his convalescence the memory of +their brief joyous moments in the Turkish house had renewed and +invigorated him. He had heard her calling to him across the +distances--despairingly, but hoping against hope that the man she loved +was still alive. It thrilled him to think that he could still come to +her--if she would wait--come even from the grave and answer her call to +him--the call of one brave spirit to another, which needed no material +fact of physical utterance to make itself heard. He would find her--not +soon perhaps, but all in good time. Providence had not saved him +miraculously for failure, and it was written that he should succeed. The +gods would be with him now and arm him against disaster. He rejoiced to +find how strong he felt today. All the tremors had gone out of his +nerves, and he was ready to begin his journey whenever it should be +time. But first he wanted to question Selim--Goritz had passed this +house--there was a chance ... + +Selim Ali returned from the fields at supper time, greeted Renwick with +bluff heartiness, and together they sat at a substantial meal of +_Jungfern-Braten_, over which Selim's wife Zaidee presided. In the light +of events, Renwick willingly reconstructed his estimate of Selim. Last +night Renwick would have been suspicious of the angel Gabriel, but with +the courage of the sunlight had come confidence in himself, and faith in +his star. It seemed that Zubeydeh had told her cousin nothing of +Renwick's nationality or predicament, but that he was a friend who had +gotten into a trouble, and that the police of Sarajevo were looking for +him. Selim was to shelter him and speed him upon his way. Selim asked +many questions which Renwick answered as he chose, biding his own time. +Yes, _he_, Stefan Thomasevics, had gotten into trouble in Sarajevo, all +because of a woman (and this Renwick knew to be true), and desired to +leave the country. He did not wish to go to the war and he would not +fight against the Serbians who were not in the wrong. He, Thomasevics, +wished to go north to Budapest where he would work in the factories and +amass a fortune. Selim wagged his head wisely and laughed. + +"You must work long, my young friend, and spend nothing," he said. +"Come. You're a strong fellow--a little weak just now from smoking too +many cigarettes and staying up too late at night. But I will give you +work here upon my farm and pay you well." + +But Thomasevics shook his head. + +"Thank you. You are kind, but I have already made up my mind." + +Selim shrugged and lighted his long pipe. + +"As you will, but I have made you a good offer." + +"A good offer. Yes. Which I would accept were my mind not set upon other +matters." He paused and then, "Selim, you are a good fellow. I will tell +you the truth. I would like to stay with you, but I am searching for +something which may take me to the ends of the earth." + +"That is a long way, my friend." + +"Yes, a long way, when one doesn't know which way to go." + +"Ah, that is even longer. There are but two things which will take a man +like you so far as that--vengeance, or a woman." + +Renwick smiled. + +"I see that you are wise as well as clever. I go for both, Selim." + +"A woman? Young?" + +"Yes." + +"Beautiful?" + +"Yes." + +"And the vengeance----" + +"That shall be beautiful also." + +Selim smoked his pipe solemnly and as Renwick hesitated, + +"Will it please you to tell me more?" he asked. + +Renwick deliberated. + +"Yes. I am groping in the dark. And the darkness begins at Sarajevo. She +left there in the night--with _him_." + +"Ah, a man! Of course." + +"They fled by the Visegrader Gate and they came upon this road, past +this very house." + +Selim shrugged. + +"At night! It is a pity. I might have seen them but I sleep soundly." + +"There are no other houses for a long distance in either direction. They +might have stopped here." + +"But they did not!" And as Renwick gave up despairingly, "You see, I +worked very hard all last week and slept like a dead man." + +"It was not last week," said Renwick gloomily, "almost two months +ago----" + +"Ah, as to that----" and Selim shrugged again. "One has no recollection +of things that happened before the Hegira." + +Of course it was hopeless. Renwick had only unraveled the thread to see +how far it would lead. Here it broke off, and so he relinquished it. +Rather wearily he sank back into his chair and gazed out of the window +into the sunset. + +Selim's wife entered with a tray to take away the dishes. She wore no +_yashmak_, for Selim, though professing the Moslem faith, was somewhat +lax in carrying out its articles. He did not believe in running a good +thing into the ground, he said. So Zaidee came and went as she chose. + +"I have been listening from the kitchen," she said with a smile. "It is +always a woman that makes the trouble, _nicht wahr_?" + +"Then how can Paradise be Paradise?" grunted Selim. + +"Thou wouldst get on poorly without us, just the same," said Zaidee +demurely. + +"But I should not go to the ends of the earth, like Stefan, here." + +"Thou! Thou dost not know the meaning of love. I wish I could help him." + +"It is impossible," sneered Selim. + +"But it is interesting," sighed Zaidee. "She went away with another +man--that is cruel!" + +"Perhaps Stefan is better off than he knows," said Selim. + +"Selim," said Zaidee with great solemnity, "thou art a pig!" + +"Pig I am not." + +"Pig!" she repeated with more acerbity. + +Renwick was in no mind to take a part in their quarrel and was moving +toward the door of the adjoining room when a phrase caught his ear. + +"And thou art a magpie, Zaidee, always croaking. It will get us into +trouble, thy talking. I have but to set my foot outside the house and +thy tongue wags like the clothing of a scarecrow." + +"I have done no harm," she said angrily. + +"It is no affair of thine--they will come again asking questions. I have +no humor to talk with any of that accursed breed." + +"What harm can come--if we tell the truth----?" + +"Bah--what do the police care about the truth?" + +Renwick turned and reentered the room. + +"The police!" he said quickly. + +"Zaidee talks too much. A month ago in my absence they came inquiring." + +"And what wouldst _thou_ have said?" cried Zaidee angrily. "To shelter a +sick woman is no crime----" + +"I should have said nothing." + +"And what happened?" asked Renwick eagerly, now aware of the bone that +chance had thrown in the way of a starving man. + +"In the middle of the night which followed the day upon which the +Archduke was assassinated----" + +"And whose tongue is wagging now--thou magpie?" put in Zaidee +spitefully. + +"Be quiet----" said Selim. + +Renwick glared at the woman as though he would have liked to choke her, +and she subsided. + +"An automobile stopped at my door. There were three people, an Austrian +officer, a lady who was sick, and a man who drove the car. They asked +admittance on account of the Excellency who was sick. I could not +refuse, for they said that they would pay me well." + +Selim paused, hunting in his pockets for a match to light his pipe, and +Renwick, containing his patience with difficulty, stood, his hands +clenched behind him, waiting. They had stopped here--at this very house. + +"And then----?" he asked calmly. + +"We put the Excellency to bed----" + +"_I_ did," said Zaidee. + +"Bah! What matter? They were bound upon a journey over the mountains to +Vlasenica, where the Excellency was taking his wife for the waters." + +"His wife," mumbled Renwick. + +"They traveled at night to avoid the heat of midday, but the sudden +sickness of the Excellency made further travel impossible." + +"The officer Excellency lied----!" said Zaidee. + +"Be quiet, thou----!" roared Selim. + +"Let Zaidee speak. I am no policeman," said Renwick. + +"What interest is it of yours?" + +Renwick caught the man by the shoulders with both hands and glared at +him. + +"Merely because this is the woman I seek." + +"An Excellency like--and you?" + +"What I am does not matter. A hundred _kroner_ if you tell the +truth----" + +"A hundred _kroner_----!" + +His eyes searched Renwick eagerly, and then, "There is little I would +not tell for a hundred _kroner_, but----" + +"I am not of the police, I tell you. This lady is an Austrian noblewoman +in danger." + +"And the Austrian officer----" + +"Is no Austrian, but an enemy of Austria----" + +"A Serb----?" + +"No." + +"Who are you?" + +"What does that matter?" + +Selim shrugged. "Nothing perhaps--still----" + +"And if I tell you, you will keep silent?" + +"A hundred _kroner_ will make me dumb." + +"I am an Englishman," said Renwick after a moment. + +"Ah--a spy!" + +"No. A prisoner who has escaped." + +"That is better." + +"Speak!" + +And as the man still hesitated Renwick unpinned the notes in his pocket +and tossed one of them upon the table, in front of him. Selim took it +eagerly. + +"I am quite ready to believe anything you say----" + +But Renwick seized his wrist in a strong grip. "You have not spoken +yet." + +"I will speak, then," said Zaidee. "Selim is a fool to hesitate. I +nursed the Excellency for two nights and a day. I cooked her eggs and +chicken and soup, but she would not eat. She was very much frightened." + +"The man--he treated her badly?" + +"Oh, no. Very politely, and paid us for our service, but the Excellency +was frightened. I was kind to her, and she was grateful, but she spoke +nothing of where she was going. Perhaps she did not know. But it was not +to take the waters." + +"You, Selim," broke in Renwick, "you heard the men speaking? What did +they say?" + +He shrugged. + +"How can I remember? They planned their journey with a map, but I had no +interest----" + +"What map----?" + +"A map--how should I know----" + +"Of Hungary----" + +"Hungary!" And then scratching his head, "Yes, it must have been of +Hungary, for they spoke of Budapest----" + +"And what else? The Danube--the Thiess?" + +"I do not remember?" + +"You must----!" Renwick's fingers closed again upon the hundred _kroner_ +note which Selim had put back on the table. + +"What good would it do if I lied to you?" + +"Think, man, think! They made marks upon the map?" + +"Marks? Oh, yes--marks." + +"Up and down, the way they were sitting?" + +"Yes. I think so. By the beard of the Prophet! You can't expect a fellow +to remember such things as this for two months." + +"Did they speak of mountains?" + +"Mountains----!" Selim scratched his head again. "How should I know?" + +"The Carpathians?" + +"The Carpathians. Perhaps. Ah----" + +Selim tapped his brow with a stubby forefinger. + +"There was a name they spoke many times. It was a strange name." + +"What?" + +"I can't think." + +"Zaidee, you heard?" Renwick asked. + +"I was listening, but I could not understand." + +"Was it a city?" + +"I do not know." + +"Was it Cracow? Kaschau? Agram? Was it Bruenn?" + +But they made no sign. + +"Think!" said Renwick. "At the top of the map--away from them--near the +edge?" + +Selim shrugged hopelessly. "I can't remember," he said. + +Renwick despaired. + +"Was the map large?" + +"Yes. I remember that. It covered this table----" + +"Ah--then you can tell me how they stood?" + +"Yes. I can tell you that." + +He got up and placed himself at the side of the table. "The Excellency +was here--the map spread out----" + +"Did he lean to the left or to the right?" + +"He leaned well forward with both elbows upon the table--straight +forward--yes--almost across--a pencil in his hand--the other was +pointing. The lamp was just there----" pointing to the left center of +the table. + +"The lamp was on the map?" + +"Yes--to keep it in position----" + +"On the left-hand side?" + +"Yes." + +"And they didn't move the lamp?" + +"No. It remained there until they raised it to take the map away." + +"I understand. And they made marks up and down with a pencil?" + +Selim shrugged. + +"It is what I think, merely." + +"And the name was----?" + +"How can one be sure of a name? It is a wonder just now that I can +remember my own. Had I known what was to happen----" And he shrugged and +dropped wearily again into his chair. + +"And the police--? What has Zaidee said to the police?" + +"Merely that the Excellencies were here--in this house." + +"The police are coming again?" + +"I do not know. It would seem that they have forgotten." + +"And if they come, you will speak?" + +"The hundred _kroner_ will make me dumb." + +"And Zaidee?" + +"I will not speak." + +"Nothing of me, you understand. I am but Stefan Thomasevics----" + +"It is understood." + +"And you remember nothing more?" + +"Nothing." + +"You are sure. The Excellency left no message--no note----?" + +"Nothing." + +Renwick pushed the hundred _kroner_ note toward Selim and straightened. + +"You have done me a service, Selim. They have gone to the east of the +Tatra----" + +"Tatra!" suddenly shouted Selim triumphantly. "It is the name!" + +"Are you sure?" asked Renwick excitedly. + +"Yes. Tatra--that is it. They spoke of it for half an hour. Eh--Zaidee?" + +"Yes. It is the name." + +Renwick paced the floor with long steps. + +"Selim," he said at last, "it is now dark. I must go at once." + +"Tomorrow." + +"Tonight. The stars are out." + +He moved to the door and peered out. + +"You will keep silent?" he asked. + +"Have I not promised?" said Selim. + +He caught them both by the hand. + +"Allah will bless you." + +"A hundred _kroner_--that is blessing enough for one day, Stefan +Thomasevics," he laughed. + +"Adieu!" said Renwick, and walked bravely off into the starlight. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +AN IMPERSONATION + + +At least he now had a goal--"the center of the map, near the top"--the +Tatra region by which Goritz had passed (if he had not been intercepted) +into Galicia and so into Germany. Aside from the value of Selim's +information, one other fact stood out. The secret service men who had +visited Selim a month ago had not returned. Did this mean that Herr +Windt had already succeeded in closing the door of escape? The passes +through the Carpathians could of course be easily guarded and closed, +for there were few of them accessible to traffic by automobile. Was +Renwick's goal, after all, to be there and not beyond? He had put in one +summer in the Tatra region with Captain Otway of the Embassy, and he +knew the district well,--a country of mountain villages, feudal castles, +and rugged roads. Otway had been interested in the military problems of +the Austro-Hungarian empire, and Renwick remembered the importance of +the Tatra as a natural barrier to Russian ambitions. The shortest +automobile road into Silesia lay to the _east_ of the Tatra range--and +the passes through the Carpathians at this point were few and well +known. By process of elimination, Renwick had at last assured himself +that his first theory was tenable, for Selim had confirmed it. A hundred +conjectures flashed into the Englishman's mind as he trudged onward, to +be one by one dismissed and relegated to the limbo of uncertainty. But +assuming that Selim had told the truth, Renwick had found the trail, and +would follow wherever it might lead him, to its end. + +His idea of traveling afoot by night and of hiding by day, at least for +the first part of his journey, was born of the desire to leave nothing +to chance. His own capture meant internment until the end of the war, or +possibly an exchange for some Austrian in England. But they should not +catch him! Concealed in his belt he wore the American revolver, and +carried some cartridges which Zubeydeh had restored to him. + +The weather fortunately had been fine, and the days and nights in the +open were rapidly restoring him to strength. The discomfort at the wound +in his body which had bothered him for a few days had disappeared. He +was well. And with health came hope, faith even, in the star of his +fortunes. It took him two weeks to reach Polishka, below which he +crossed the Save at night in a boat which he found moored to the bank, +and daylight found him at a small village through which a railroad ran +north towards the plains of the Danube. Here he paused dead-tired for +food and rest. + +The innkeeper, who spoke German fairly well, swallowed Renwick's story, +his taste somewhat stimulated by the sight of the ten-_kroner_ piece +which the Englishman used in paying for his breakfast. + +But the time had now come for the execution of a bold plan which for +some days and nights Renwick had been turning over and over in his mind. +It was a good plan, he thought, a brave plan which stood the test of +argument pro and con. The British Embassy in many of its investigations +during times of peace,--investigations of a purely personal or financial +nature,--had been in the habit of calling in the services of one Carl +Moyer, an Austrian who ran a private inquiry bureau in Vienna. He was an +able man, not directly connected with the secret service department of +the Empire, but frequently brought into consultation upon matters +outside the pale of politics. Renwick's interest in Moyer had been +limited to the share they had both taken in some inquiries as to the +standing of a Russian nobleman who had approached the Ambassador with a +scheme of a rather dubious character. But a physical resemblance to +Moyer, which had been the subject of frequent jokes with Otway, had now +given Renwick a new and very vital interest in the personality of the +man which had nothing to do with their business relations. Moyer was +thinner than Renwick, and not so tall, but their features were much +alike. When at first the idea of an impersonation had come to Renwick, +he had rejected it as dangerous, but the notion obsessed him. The very +boldness of the project was in its favor. He could now move freely along +the railroads and if one ignored the hazard of meeting the man himself +or someone who knew him intimately, he could pursue his object of +following the trail of Captain Goritz with a brave front which would +defy suspicion. True, he would have no papers and no credentials, but +this, too, was a part of the guise of a man who might be moving upon a +secret mission. Carl Moyer, disguised as an Austrian of the laboring +class, moving from Bosnia to the Carpathians--what could be more +natural? + +As Renwick ate his breakfast in the small inn at Otok, he came to a +sudden decision to put this bold plan into practice. And so, exhibiting +another ten-_kroner_ piece, he made known his wishes to the innkeeper. +He was a Bosnian, he said, but in Hungary he did not wish to attract +attention by wearing his native costume. In parts of Hungary there was a +feeling that the Bosnians who lived near the Serbian border were not +loyal to the Emperor and this, it had been said, might make it difficult +for him to obtain employment. His purse was not large but if his host +would procure for him a suit of western clothing, a coat, a pair of +trousers, a shirt, a cravat, and a soft hat, he, Thomasevics, would +offer his Bosnian clothing in exchange and do what was fair in the +matter of money. The train from Britzka did not go north for an hour. +Would it be possible to find these things in so short a time? The +innkeeper regarded the worn and mud-stained garments of his guest rather +dubiously, but the terms of the offer in the matter of money having been +made clear, the transformation was accomplished without difficulty and +Renwick boarded the train rather jubilant at the celerity and speed of +his journey. By nightfall, with luck, he would be across the Danube and +well within the borders of Hungary, mingling in crowds where all trace +of his identity would be lost. He spent most of his afternoon on the +train trying to recall the mannerisms of the man Moyer, a trick of +gesture, a drawl and a shrug which he thought he could manage. Carl +Moyer he now was, on a mission from Bosnia to the North, in which the +better to disguise himself he was permitting his hair and beard to grow. + +Hut success had made him over-confident, for at the Bahnhof at Zombor +where he had to change into a train for Budapest, something happened +which drove all thought from his head save that of escape from the +predicament into which his imprudence had plunged him. + +He was sitting upon a bench on the platform waiting for his train when a +man approached and sat beside him. Renwick needed no second glance to +reassure himself as to the fellow's identity. He was Spivak, Windt's +man, the fellow who had kept guard on the cabin at Konopisht. The +Englishman feared to get up and walk away, for that might attract +attention. So he sat, slouched carelessly, his hat pulled well down over +his eyes, awaiting what seemed to be the inevitable. Spivak--one of +Windt's men sent of course to Zombor, one of the important railway +junctions, to watch all arrivals from the south. Renwick had been ready +with his story when he debarked from the train but there had been a +crowd and he had been in the last carriage. Renwick's mind worked +rapidly, and to an imagination already prescient of disaster, the man +seemed to be inspecting him. As Spivak's chin lifted, Renwick faced him +squarely. Their glances met--and passed. Renwick calmly took out a +cigarette and bending his head forward lighted it coolly, aware that the +man was saying something in Hungarian. + +Renwick made a gesture of incomprehension, wondering meanwhile how he +could kill the man on the crowded platform without attracting +observation. + +"The train from the south was crowded today," said Spivak in German. + +"Crowded? Yes." + +"Do you come from Brod or Britzka?" + +"From Britzka," said Renwick without hesitation, and then with the +courage of desperation-- + +"I have seen you before," he went on, calmly puffing at his cigarette. + +"I have, I think, the same impression." + +"Your name is Spivak--of the Secret Service----" + +"You----" + +"My name is Carl Moyer." + +It was a gambler's chance that Renwick took. If Spivak intimately knew +the man--but he did not and the effrontery disarmed him. + +"You are Carl Moyer? I must have seen you," he muttered. "I have been in +Vienna a little--with Herr Windt, but I am of the Hungarian branch. You +have been in Sarajevo?" + +"Yes," said Renwick easily following out a wild plan that had come into +his mind. "I have been employed by the Baroness Racowitz to find the +Countess Marishka Strahni." + +"Ah, I see. It has come to that!" And then, regarding his companion with +a new interest, "When did you come from Sarajevo?" + +"Last night. It is a strange case." + +"And you have found a lead?" + +"Several----" + +"You can do nothing against such a man as Goritz." + +"It is Goritz--yes--but I will find her if I have to go through Germany +with a harrow." + +"They have not gone to Germany, my friend. Every gate out of Hungary has +been closed to them since the assassination." + +Renwick smiled. The thing had worked. The spirit of the venture glowed +in him--its very impudence fascinated. + +"Perhaps!" he replied. "Still, a man who could outwit Nicholas +Szarvas----" + +Spivak caught him so suddenly by the arm that Renwick trembled. + +"You think he killed Szarvas----?" whispered Spivak eagerly. + +"If not himself, it was by his orders. And the Englishman--Renck----" + +"Renwick." + +"I've found the evidence that Renck was lured to Sarajevo. He possessed +a secret dangerous to Germany and so Goritz killed him." + +"And this Peter Langer--who escaped from the hospital----?" asked Spivak +cynically. + +"The chauffeur of Goritz, left for dead in the fight with Szarvas and +stripped of his clothing to hide all marks of identity. It is no wonder +that he wished to escape----" The Englishman broke off with a rough +laugh and rose. "But this won't do, I'm giving you all my thunder. Herr +Windt does not relish my employment in this service, but since he has +accomplished nothing you cannot blame my clients. I am on my way to +Germany. The surest way to catch a fox is to smoke him out of his hole." + +Spivak took a few paces away, and then slowly returned. + +"What you say is interesting, Herr Moyer, and the theory hangs together, +but you will waste your time in Germany." + +"Why?" + +"Because Captain Goritz is still in Hungary." + +"What further reason have you for believing that he is here?" + +Spivak smiled and hesitated a moment. And then, "You have talked freely. +One good turn deserves another. I will tell you. We know that Captain +Goritz is still in Hungary because within the past week the +Wilhelmstrasse has sent urgent messages to Vienna inquiring for him." + +"Ah--that is interesting," said Renwick slowly, trying to hide the throb +of triumph in his throat. "Then you think----?" + +"Merely that he is in hiding--with the lady," said Spivak with a leer. +"It is no new thing for a man to go in hiding with a lady." + +Renwick's laugh was admirably managed, for fury was in his heart. "This +information is helpful," he said. "You believe that it is true?" + +"I am sure. Berlin is anxious because he has not returned. I do not know +what they suspect over there, but the situation is changed. The war has +made a difference. We have no idea where he has gone. All that we know +is that it will be very difficult for him to get out." + +In the distance the train was rumbling up the track, and Renwick was +thankful. But he caught the fellow by the hand. + +"You are a good fellow, Spivak. If at any time you wish to leave the +government service and take a good place at a fair payment, you will +come to see me in Vienna." + +"Thanks, Herr Moyer. I shall remember. You are going on to Budapest?" + +"Yes. And you?" + +"I am detained here to watch for a Russian spy who is trying to get +through to the Galician border." He laughed. "You're sure you're +not----?" + +"That's a good joke, Spivak," he smiled. "A Russian! I'd have precious +little chance----" And then as the train rolled in-- + +"Don't forget--Ferdinand Strasse, Number 83----" + +"I will not. Adieu!" + +"Adieu, my friend." + +And with a final wave of the hand Renwick turned and slowly mounted into +his third class carriage. The plan had worked and the man, it seemed, +had not the slightest suspicion. He was, as Renwick remembered from +Konopisht, not infallible, and the ease with which Renwick had +accomplished his object and the remarkable nature of his newly acquired +information could only be explained by the fact that Spivak was seeking +the Russian and not himself, and by the boldness of his impersonation, +which had immediately pierced the crust of Spivak's professional +reserve. All had gone well, but it seemed an age before the train drew +out of the station. Renwick did not dare to look out of the window to +learn if the man were still there, and until the bell of the locomotive +rang announcing the departure of the train, he was unpleasantly nervous, +for fear that a suspicion might dawn in the man's mind which would lead +him to pursue the conversation. + +Renwick never learned whether Spivak's second thoughts had warned him +that all was not as it should be, for instead of taking any chances, the +Englishman got down from the train at the first stop and disappeared +into the darkness. + +It was with a feeling of elation mingled with apprehension that Renwick +made his way forward. Elation because of the new crumbs of information, +apprehension because of the definite assurance that Goritz still held +Marishka a prisoner somewhere within the borders of Hungary. Definite it +seemed, for Spivak had spoken with the utmost confidence of things with +which he was intimately concerned. The trail narrowed. It seemed as +though Providence, aware of past impositions, was bent on making amends +to one who had suffered much from her disfavor. The sudden appearance of +Spivak, which had seemed to threaten disaster, had been turned by a bold +stroke from calamity to good fortune. But Renwick determined to avoid +further such encounters if possible. And so, resuming the mode of +progress which had been so effective on the way to Tuzla, he walked at +night, and slept under cover by day, reaching a town upon the banks of +the Danube, where he bought new clothing, a straw hat, a change of +linen, and a hand bag with which (representing himself as a grain +merchant of Ujvidek), he boldly boarded a steamer upon the river, +reaching Budapest without further incident. + +It was not until he had passed the Quai and was safely in the Karoly +Korut that Renwick breathed easily. He was now safe, finding his way to +his immediate destination, the house of a person connected with the +English Secret Service, into whose care he confidently entrusted +himself. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE NEEDLE IN THE HAYSTACK + + +Herr Koulas was by birth a Greek, by citizenship, an Austrian, and by +occupation, a chemist; but his real metier, concealed under a most +docile and law abiding exterior, was secret inquiry in behalf of the +British government into all matters pertaining to its interests, either +social, political, or military. He knew his Hungary from Odenburg to +Kronstadt, from the Save to the Carpathians, and Renwick, while somewhat +dubious as to the wisdom of his visit under the circumstances, found +himself received at this excellent man's home with a warmth of welcome +which left no doubt in his own mind as to the unselfishness of his host. +Even before the war Renwick and Constantine Koulas had met in secret, so +that if trouble came no plan should mar the man's impeccable character +in Austrian eyes. And Renwick would not have come to him now, had not +his own need been great. But Herr Koulas, having heard the tale of his +adventures and reassured as to the present danger of pursuit, gave +willingly of his hospitality and counsel, and when he learned the +character of Renwick's mission, volunteered to procure him a set of +papers which would rob his pilgrimage to the north, at least, of its +most obvious dangers. He was ready with information, too, and offered a +mind with a peculiar genius for the kind of problem that Renwick +presented. The fact that the great Prussian secret agent, Leo Goritz, +was involved in the affair lent it an individuality which detracted +nothing from its other interest. Leo Goritz! Only last year there had +been a contest of wits between them, both under cover, and Koulas had +managed to get what he wanted, not, however, without narrowly escaping +the revelation of his own part in the investigation. Goritz was a clever +man and a dangerous one, young, brilliant, handsome, unscrupulous, who +wore an armor of impenetrability which had not yet revealed a single +weak link. And yet, Herr Koulas reasoned, broodingly, that there must be +one. A weak link! Where was the man without one? The messages from the +Wilhelmstrasse! Why had Goritz not returned to Berlin upon the outbreak +of the war? What was keeping him in Hungary? He was in the Tatra region? +Possibly. Which were the passes by which he might try to go? Uzoker, +Dukla, or perhaps even Jablunka. The Russians were already battering at +Przemysl--Uzoker Pass was out of the question. Jablunka--that was nearer +the German border, but eagerly watched even in times of peace. Goritz +would not have dared to try to abduct the Countess Strahni by way of +Jablunka! The railroad went through Jablunka, a narrow highway with no +outlet for many miles. It was not the kind of _cul-de-sac_ that Goritz +would have chosen. Dukla? Perhaps. A little farther to the east, of +course, but not yet menaced by the Russian advance. + +The thing was puzzling, but interesting--very. The abduction of a loyal +citizen of Austria--a lady of noble birth--a hurried flight by +unfrequented roads and then an _impasse_! Had Herr Windt blocked the +way? Was the lady ill? Or had something else detained them? + +Renwick sat in the back room of the small laboratory, his arms folded, +his brows tangled in thought, as Herr Koulas, puffing great clouds of +smoke from his long pipe, thus analyzed the situation. + +"I have thought of all of these things, Herr Koulas," Renwick muttered, +"and my mind always comes back to the same point. If I know that Goritz +has come to this region, if I know that he has not gone out of it, I +also know that he remains. I do not care _why_--my question is +_where--where_?" + +Koulas ran his long forefinger over the map upon the table. + +"It is the map Goritz might use--a road map of the government," he +grumbled. + +"The center near the top--Poprad--he would get through there with +difficulty----" + +Renwick had risen and paced the floor slowly. + +"I have not been through Dukla. It is accessible?" + +"Yes. Svidnik to Przemysl. Rocks--a _schloss_ or two----" He turned. "It +was there that the Baron Neudeck was killed--you remember--three years +ago?" + +"I have forgotten--Neudeck--an Austrian?" + +"A German--Neudeck was selling military plans to the Russians--Goritz!" + +Koulas sprang to his feet triumphantly--"Goritz! It was Goritz who +discovered him----" + +Renwick was listening eagerly, and Koulas turned with a shrug. "Nothing +much, my friend. And yet--a coincidence perhaps--Goritz, Neudeck, Dukla. +Goritz--Strahni--'the center of the map--at the top.' It might be worth +trying." + +"I shall try it. There is nothing else for me to do. The Pass is used +for transport?" + +"No. The line of communication is through Mezo Laborcz." + +"It will be risky----" + +"Not unless you make it so. With luck you shall bear a letter to General +Lechnitz (which you need never deliver) as a writer for a newspaper." + +"That can be managed?" + +"I hope--I believe--I am confident." + +Renwick smiled. Herr Koulas was something of a humorist. + +"Tell me more of this Neudeck case," asked the Englishman. + +"There is unfortunately little more to tell. Neudeck was a German baron +with military connections, not too rich and not above dishonesty. Goritz +traced the plans to Schloss Szolnok, an ancient feudal stronghold which +an elder Baron Neudeck had bought----" + +"In the Dukla?" + +"--in the Dukla--where some Russian officers were invited for the +shooting. They did not know how little they were to enjoy it----" Koulas +chuckled and blew a cloud of smoke--"for Goritz shot Neudeck before +their very eyes, and took the plans back to Germany. This is secret +history--a nine days' wonder--but it passed and with it a clever +scoundrel who well deserved what he got." + +"And since his death who lives in Schloss Szolnok?" + +"I don't know." He laughed again. "You jump very rapidly at conclusions, +my friend." + +"Time passes. I must jump at something. I am going to Dukla +Pass--tomorrow if you will help me." + +"That goes without saying. For the present you shall go to bed and sleep +soundly. I would like to go with you, but alas--I am not so young as I +was and I can best serve all your interests here." + +Renwick shook Koulas by the hand and took the bedroom candle that was +offered him. + +"Good night," he said. "I pray that no harm may come to you from this +imprudence of mine." + +"Do not worry, my friend. I am well hedged about with alibis. Good +night." + +The next evening after dark Renwick, now Herr Max Schoff of the _Wiener +Zeitung_, supplied with a pass which Herr Koulas by means of his +underground machinery had managed to procure, took the night train for +Kaschau, which he reached in the early morning of the following day, +going on later to Bartfeld, the terminus of the railroad, a small and +ancient town under the very shadow of the mountains. Here, it being late +in the afternoon, he found the Hungaria, a hotel to which he had been +directed, where he made arrangements to stop for the night while he +leisurely pursued his inquiries. + +Now at last, so very near his destination, he was curiously oppressed +with the futility of his pilgrimage. He had come far, braving the danger +of detection and death, for he had no illusions regarding the status of +an Englishman approaching the battle lines under the guise of a +newspaper writer. If taken, it would be as a spy, and he would be +treated as such. + +Herr Koulas had warned him not to be too sanguine, for the roads out of +Hungary were many, and Dukla Pass, merely because of a bit of forgotten +secret history, a possibility not to be neglected. Herr Koulas had also +warned him that the methods in induction which had been open to him had +also been open to the Austrian secret service men who, perhaps, had +already taken measures to follow the same scent. And so it was that the +golden smile of Herr Windt still persisted in Renwick's dreams by night, +and in his thoughts by day. If Spivak had told his story of his meeting +with the spurious Moyer, his conversation about Szarvas would +immediately identify him as Renwick the Englishman. But however near the +two trails ran, Windt's men had not yet come up with him, and, until +they did, Renwick knew that he must move boldly and quickly upon his +quest. And so at last resolution armed him anew. + +It was now approaching dusk, and he cast about for a person to whom he +might talk without arousing suspicion, and so he turned into an inn at +the corner of the street and ordering beer sat himself upon a bench +along the wall before a long wooden table. The few men who sat drinking +and smoking gave him a curious glance, and the proprietor of the +establishment, aware of a stranger, felt it to be his duty to learn +something of his mission to this small town and of his identity. This +was what Renwick wanted, and as the man spoke in German, he told with +brief glibness his well rehearsed story, inviting his host to join him +in a glass, over which they were presently chatting as thick as thieves. +He was a newspaper writer, Renwick said, upon his way to the front, and +showed the letter to General Lechnitz. But he had never before been in +this part of the country and intended to see it, upon the way. It was an +interesting town, Bartfeld, a fine church too, St. Aegidius. Had his +host lived in Bartfeld a long time? + +The man was a native, and very proud of his traditions, expanding +volubly in reply to Renwick's careless questions. His father and +grandfather had kept this very inn, and indeed for all he knew their +fathers' fathers. A quiet town, but interesting to those who were fond +of historical associations. Renwick listened patiently, slowly drawing +the man nearer to the subject that was uppermost in his mind. It was a +short distance to Dukla Pass, a very picturesque spot, he had been told, +one well worth a visit, was it not? + +"Dukla Pass!" said the man. "A name well known in the annals of the +country in the days of John Sobieski, long before the railroad went +through beyond; a wonderful spot with cliffs and ravines. I have been +there often. In the season, before the war, one drove there--for the +view. Now alas! what with the Cossacks running over Galicia, the people +had more serious things to think about." + +"It is easily reached?" asked Renwick. + +"By the road beyond the town--a short cut--a climb over the mountains, +but not difficult at this time of the year." + +"There is a village there?" + +"A few farmhouses merely, in the valley along the streams. The glory of +the Dukla is its ruins." + +"Ah, of course, there are feudal castles----" + +"Javorina, Jaegerhorn, Szolnok----" + +"Szolnok!" said Renwick with sudden interest. "I have heard that name +before----" + +He paused in a puzzled way. + +"It was the summer residence of Baron Neudeck----" + +"Ah, then it is not a ruin?" + +"Until three years ago he lived there--in the habitable part--when +something terrible happened. No one about here is sure--but the place +has an evil name." + +"That is interesting. Why?" + +"The facts have never been clearly explained. The story goes that Baron +Neudeck was in the midst of entertaining guests--a hunting party of +gentlemen; that there was a night of revelry and of drinking. One of the +servants, entering the dining-hall in the morning, found Baron Neudeck +lying dead upon the hearth with a bullet wound in his forehead. The +guests had disappeared--vanished as if the earth had swallowed them." + +"And the police?" + +"The police came and went. It was very strange. Nothing further was +heard of the matter. But no one about here will go within a mile of the +place after nightfall." + +"And the servants--what became of them?" + +The man shrugged. "They did not come from around here. They were +Germans, who came with the Baron. If the police are satisfied, I am." + +The man shrugged and drained his glass. + +"The other castles are ruined, you say? Then it cannot be long before +Szolnok will share their fate--since it is not occupied," suggested +Renwick. + +"Perhaps," said the man indifferently, rising with a view to closing the +conversation. + +Renwick ordered another glass of beer, and sat looking out of the small +casement window at the passers-by, thinking deeply. + +The inspiration of Herr Koulas had at least set him upon a scent which +still held him true upon this trail. The information he had received +might mean much or little. German servants? Had Goritz used the servants +of Baron Neudeck in unraveling the secret of the stolen plans? Had they +been implicated in the affair? Did he hold them his creatures by a +knowledge of their share in the guilty transaction? Three years had +passed since the killing of Neudeck. What had happened in the meanwhile? +Had the title of the property passed to others? Had the Schloss been +occupied since the Baron's death, or was it deserted? He evolved a +theory rapidly, determining to test it at once. It would perhaps be +imprudent to question further this innkeeper, a public character, and it +seemed quite probable that he knew little more than had already been +told. A visit to the farmhouses in the valley would reveal something. He +would go---- + +Renwick had been gazing out of the window, but his attention was +suddenly arrested by the figure of a man at the corner of the street, +who stood, smoking a cigarette. There was nothing unusual in his +clothing or demeanor, but the thing which had startled Renwick into +sudden alertness was the rather vague impression that somewhere he had +seen this man's face before. A vague impression, but definite in the +sense that to Renwick the face had been associated with something +unpleasant or disagreeable. But even as Renwick looked, the man tossed +his cigarette into the cobbles and turning on his heel walked up the +street, passing out of Renwick's range of vision. The Englishman started +up from his unfinished glass with the notion of following, but a second +thought urged caution. It was still light outside, and if the stranger's +memory for faces were better than his own, a meeting face to face would +merely court unnecessary danger. So Renwick returned to his bench and +made a pretense of finishing his beer, awaiting in safety the darkness. +Where had he seen this man before? He searched his mind with painful +thoroughness--wondering if the injury to his head had robbed his brain +of some of its clearness. He had seen this man's face before--before his +sickness--he was sure of that. Hadwiger, Lengelbach, Linder--one by one +he recalled the secret service men. The face of the stranger was that of +none of these. Someone--a shadowy someone--out of darkness--or dreams. +Could the idea have been born of some imaginary resemblance, some +fancied recollection? The thing was elusive, and so he gave it up, aware +that if his brain had played him no trick, there was here another +confirmation of his hope that he was on the true scent. Were the threads +converging? + +The plan that he now had in mind was to go over the mountains afoot and +make some quiet inquiries among the farmhouses in the valley below the +Pass, in regard to Schloss Szolnok. And so as the light had grown dim, +he got up and went forth into the street, pulling his soft hat well down +over his eyes, and making his way toward the road which led to Dukla +Pass. He verified the innkeeper's direction by inquiry at the end of the +main street, and as the night was clear, set forth briskly upon his walk +over the mountain road, for the idea of spending the evening in +inactivity was not to be thought of until all the facts regarding this +Schloss Szolnok were in his possession. + +A ruin--uninhabited? And with its crumbling, his own hope.... It was no +time for despair. Had he not come miraculously from death and traveled +safely from one border of the enemy's country almost to the other, as +though led or driven by some secret impelling force--some inspiration, +some hidden guidon or command? At each turn, at each danger, he +remembered he had acted with swiftness and decision, and had at no time +been at a loss. Fortune had favored him at each stage of his journey and +had directed his steps with rare assurance in this direction. Fortune or +a will-o'-the-wisp? Or was Marishka calling to him? He had had the +impression of her nearness often--there in the hospital--and since, at +Selim Ali's--upon the road. It seemed strange and a little mystifying +too, that he had never doubted that he would be able to find her.... And +now--if not at Schloss Szolnok--elsewhere. + +As the darkness of the mountain road deepened, swift vision came to him. +The possible danger of attack ... Out of the gloom of shadowy rocks, he +had a vision of men who interposed, barring his way, a man in a cap +asking the time. Vienna--the night that he had left Marishka, when the +three men had attacked him! The face of the man in the cap, and the +stranger of Bartfeld--they were the same! + +He could have shouted aloud in the joy of the revelation. The man who +had attacked him in the streets of Vienna--this cigarette-smoking +stranger in Bartfeld. A German? Who else? Perhaps the man who had shot +at him--in Vienna--at the Konopisht railroad station, a minion of +Goritz. Then Goritz could not be far away.... + +Renwick strode down the mountain side toward the distant lights of the +valley, like a man in seven-league boots, searching eagerly meanwhile +the gloomy peaks above him to his left for signs of Schloss Szolnok. He +could distinguish nothing amid the deep shadows of the mountain side. +But the lights below beckoned warmly, and finding a road to his right at +the foot of the declivity, he went toward them rapidly, knocking boldly +at the door of the first house to which he came. + +An old man answered his summons, a tall old man with a long pipe in his +hand, who inspected the visitor narrowly. + +"I have lost my way," said Renwick with a smile, "and thought you might +let me have a cup of milk and some bread, for which I will pay +generously." + +The man in the doorway waved his hand in assent, and Renwick followed +him into the house, where his host made a motion for him to be seated. A +girl and a woman sat by the table knitting, and an old crone sat in a +large chair by the fireplace, in which some embers still glowed. Renwick +was hungry, but not nearly so hungry as impatient for the crumbs of +information that these worthy people might possess, and so he invented a +story while he ate which the girl, who spoke German more fluently than +the old man, translated to her elders. The woman at the table spoke a +little German and shyly added her share to the rather desultory +conversation. Bartfa was not far, only a few miles over the mountain--a +short distance by wagon or horseback, but something of a distance for +one who was weary and footsore. Herr Schoff had come all the way from +Mezo Laborez--and afoot? A newspaper writer? That was a dangerous +occupation in times like these. + +Renwick, having finished his bread and milk, deftly directed the +conversation to the possibilities of Dukla Pass from the Russian point +of view as a means of invasion of the Hungarian plain, and it was soon +quite clear that this possibility had not been absent from their minds. +Renwick praised the effectiveness of the Austrian army which he had +seen, and quickly reassured them. For Dukla Pass, as he had heard, was +but a slit in the mountains, which the Austrians could easily defend. A +few guns upon the rocks, and a million Cossacks could not break through. + +It was encouraging, the man put in in his patois, for they had been +greatly disturbed by rumors among the country-folk and many soldiers +already had passed through. + +"It is a place of historical interest," said Renwick easily, "a +_Schloss_ or two perhaps." + +"Javorina--Jaegerhorn, yes--but mere ruins, long ago the property of the +Rakoczi family. And Szolnok----" Here the man paused, glanced at the +girl and the woman, and they both made the sign of the cross with their +forefingers at their breasts. + +In the slight period of embarrassment which followed, Renwick regarded +them with a new interest. The old crone at the fireside, who had been +leaning forward with a hand cupped at her ear, caught the significance +of the gesture and solemnly imitated them. + +"Ah, I remember now," said Renwick with an air of seriousness which +matched their own. "Was it not at Szolnok that Baron Neudeck was +killed?" + +The old man glanced at the others before speaking. + +"Yes. It was there," he said quietly. + +"And the place is no longer occupied?" asked the Englishman. + +No one replied. + +"There is a mystery attached to Schloss Szolnok?" asked Renwick, +lighting his pipe. + +"He asks if there is a mystery," said the woman dully. And then followed +as before the strange ceremony of the cross. + +"I am a stranger in these parts," Renwick went on, "and no mischief +maker. This story interests me. I should like to know----" He paused +again as the old man leaned forward toward him, and laid his skinny +forefinger along Renwick's knee. + +"It is the abode of the devil," he whispered, and then crossed himself +again. + +"Ah--something mysterious----" + +"It is not a matter which we talk about in this house. We are poor, +hard-working people who fear God. But strange things are happening up +yonder night after night. Here in the valley, we no longer go near by +day--nor even look." + +"Ah, I see. Then the place has long been unoccupied?" + +The old man was silent, but the woman, gathering confidence, took up the +story. + +"It was always a place of mystery--even in the days of Baron Neudeck, +who was an evil man. The servants were strangers to our people and spoke +not at all. They never came into the valley." + +"And they did not come for food--for milk, eggs, butter?" + +"Szolnok farm was above the Schloss upon the mountain side. They had +what they needed." + +"Ah, I understand. And since the death of the Baron?" + +"We do not know. We do not go there. Two years ago a young man from +this village went there seeking a sheep which had gone astray. He never +came back. And the sheep skin was found some days later at the foot of +the precipice. And scarcely a month ago, a venturesome young man from +Bartfa climbed the road to the castle in the dead of night on a wager. +What he saw no one will ever know, for he came running down the road to +his companion stricken with terror, and has never spoken of the matter +from that day to this. It was a ghost he saw, they say----" + +"Or a devil," put in the old man. + +"And by day? You see no one?" + +"The Schloss is well within the gorge. I do not go to look, my friend." + +"Have there been no lights at night for three years?" + +"None that I remember--until now." + +"Then it is only for a month or more that they have been seen?" + +"Perhaps. I do not know." + +The man was growing reticent and his family followed his example. The +character of the occupants of Szolnok was not a popular topic for +conversation in Dukla Valley. But this man could help Renwick, and he +determined to use him. And so as the woman bade him good night and went +upstairs, Renwick rose and went to the door, where the old man followed +him. + +"It is late, my friend," he said, "and a weary walk for me to Bartfa. I +will pay you well for a bed." + +"Willingly, if we but had the room----" + +"Or a pallet of straw in your stable. I am not fastidious." + +"Ah, as to that, of course. It can be managed." Renwick took out a +hundred-_kroner_ note, and held it before the man's eyes. + +"If you will do as I ask I will give you this." + +"And what is that?" + +"A place in your stable tonight--breakfast at three in the morning, and +the clothing you now stand in----" + +"My clothing?" + +"No questions asked, and silence. Do you agree?" + +"But I do not understand." + +"It is not necessary that you should. I shall do you no harm." + +"A hundred _kroner_--it is a large sum----" + +"Yours--if you do what I ask----" And he thrust the note into the old +man's fingers. + +This bound the bargain. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +SCHLOSS SZOLNOK + + +The night and day which followed the terrible events in the house of the +Beg of Rataj were like an evil dream to Marishka Strahni. She slept, she +awoke, always to be hurried on by her relentless captors, too ill to +offer resistance or any effort to delay them. Hugh Renwick was dead. All +the other direful assurances as to her own fate were as nothing beside +that dreadful fact. And Goritz--the man who sat beside her--Hugh's +murderer! Fear--loathing--she seemed even too weak and ill for these, +lying for the first part of their long journey, inert and helpless. The +man beside her watched her furtively from time to time, venturing +attention and solicitude for her comfort, but she did not reply to his +questions or even look at him. At the house of Selim Ali she recovered +some of her strength, and again upon the following night, at a small inn +not far from the Serbian border, she fell into a deep sleep of +exhaustion, from which she was aroused with difficulty. The machine was +stopped frequently, and its occupants were questioned, but in each case +Captain Goritz produced papers from his pocket, which let them pass. +They were now well within the borders of Hungary, and as the girl grew +stronger, courage came, and with it the thought of escape. But in spite +of her apparent helplessness she was aware that her captors were +watching her carefully, permitting no conversation with anyone, locking +the doors of the rooms in which she slept, at the houses where they +stopped, and taking turns at keeping guard outside. But their very +precautions gave her an appreciation of the risks that they ran. She was +a prisoner in her own country. All those she passed upon the road were +her friends. She had only to make her identity known, and the object of +her captors, to gain her freedom. She was somewhere in eastern Hungary, +but just where she did not know. The chauffeur spoke the language +fluently, and Marishka's ignorance of it made her task more difficult. +But one night at an inn in a small village, she found a girl who spoke +German, and in a moment when the attention of her guards was relaxed, +she managed to make the girl understand, promising her a sum of money if +she would summon the police of the town, to whom Marishka would tell her +story. The girl agreed, and in the early morning just as the machine +came around to the door Goritz found himself confronted by two men in +uniform. + +Marishka, who had been waiting, trembling, in her room above, came +running down the stairs and threw herself upon their mercy, telling her +story and begging their intercession. + +But even as she spoke she realized that the very wildness of her +narrative was against its verity in the minds of these rustic policemen. + +"It is an extraordinary tale," said the elder man, "and one which of +course must be investigated--an abduction!" + +"If you will permit me," said Goritz smiling calmly. "This lady is my +wife. I am taking her to the north for the baths. As you observe, she +is the subject of delusions----" + +"It is not true," cried Marishka despairingly. "I beseech you to +listen--to investigate----" + +"I regret," said Goritz, with a glance at his watch, "that I have no +time to delay. I am Lieutenant von Arnstorf of the Fifteenth Army Corps, +bearing a safe conduct from General von Hoetzendorf, which all police +officers of the Empire are constrained to respect. Read for yourself." + +And he handed them the magic paper which already had done him such +service. The men read it through with respect and not a little awe, +bestowing at the last a pitying glance upon Marishka, which too well +indicated their delicacy in interfering in the affairs of one in such +authority. + +"And you will not summon the mayor? What I tell is the truth. In the +name of the Holy Virgin, I swear it." + +One of the men crossed himself and turned away. Goritz had already laid +his fingers firmly upon her arm and guided her toward the machine. + +"Come, Anna," he said in a sober, soothing tone, "all will be well--all +will be well." + +And so Marishka, with one last despairing glance in the direction of the +two officers, permitted herself to be handed into the machine by Captain +Goritz who, before the automobile departed, handed a piece of money to +the girl who had done Marishka this service. The last glimpse that +Marishka had of the police officers showed them standing side by side, +their fingers at their caps. Her case was hopeless. She had no friend, +it seemed, in all Hungary, and she abandoned herself to the depths of +her despair. How could she have expected to cope with such a man as +this? + +Goritz said nothing to her of warning or of reproach, but in the same +afternoon, after drinking a cup of coffee which he urged upon her, she +became drowsy and slept. + +She awoke in a large room with walls of panelled wood, and a groined +ceiling. She lay upon a huge bed, raised high above the floor, over the +head of which was a faded yellow silken hanging. Her surroundings +puzzled her, but she seemed to have no desire to learn the meaning of it +all, lying as one barely alive, gazing half conscious toward the narrow +Gothic window near by, through which she had a glimpse of mountains and +blue sky. But the sunlight which fell in patches upon the Turkey rug +dazzled her aching eyes, and she closed them painfully. She felt +wretchedly ill. Her throat was parched, and her body was so weak that +even to move her hand had been an effort. She slept again, woke and +slept again, aware now, even in her stupor, of someone moving near her +in the room. At last with all the will-power left at her command, she +opened wide her eyes and raised herself upon an elbow. It was night, but +lamps upon two tables shed a generous glow. + +As she moved, a figure that had sat near the foot of the bed, rose and +came toward her. It was a very old woman with a wrinkled face and the +inturned lips of the toothless. But her face was kindly, and her voice +when she spoke had in it a note of commiseration. + +"The Excellency is feeling stronger?" she asked. + +"I--I do not know," said Marishka painfully struggling to make her lips +enunciate. "I--I still feel ill. What is this place?" + +"Schloss Szolnok, Excellency, in the Carpathians." She laid her rough +hand over Marishka's. "You have some fever. I will get medicine." + +"A--a glass of water----" + +"At once." The woman moved away into the shadows and Marishka tried to +focus her eyes upon the objects in the room--large chests of drawers, +and tables, a cheval glass, a _prie-dieu_, a carved escritoire with +ormolu mountings, a French dressing table, portraits let into the +panelling, massive oaken chairs, well upholstered--a room of some +grandeur. Schloss Szolnok? What mattered it where she was? Death at +Schloss Szolnok could be no worse than death elsewhere. Weakness +overpowered her, and she sank back into her pillow, aware of her +throbbing temples and a terrible pain that racked her breast. Death. +Hugh, too. He was calling to her. She would come. Hugh! With his name +upon her lips she sank again into unconsciousness. + +For weeks, the very weeks that Hugh Renwick lay in the Landes Hospital, +Marishka lay upon the tall bed in the great room at Schloss Szolnok, +struggling slowly back to life from the clutches of pneumonia. There was +a doctor brought from Mezo Laborcz, who stayed in the castle for a week +until the danger point had passed, and then came every few days until +the patient was well upon the road to recovery. Marishka did not learn +of this until much later when, convalescent, she sat by the window, +looking out over the sunlit mountains beyond the gorge, and then in +wonder and something of disappointment that Goritz had not permitted her +to die. And when the old woman, who bore the name of Ena, related that +the Herr Hauptmann had himself driven the automobile which brought the +doctor in the dead of night to Szolnok, the wonder grew. Marishka had +learned to think of Goritz as one interested only in her death or +imprisonment, and after Sarajevo she had even believed that her life +while in his keeping had hung by a hair. He had killed Hugh, brought her +into this far country against her will, had even drugged her that he +might avoid a repetition of her attempt at escape. And now he was +sparing no pains to bring her back to health, daily sending her messages +of good will and good wishes, with flowers from the garden in the +courtyard, which, as Ena had reported, he had plucked with his own hand. +It was monstrous! + +A few mornings ago he had written her a note saying that he awaited her +pleasure, craving the indulgence of a visit at the earliest moment that +she should care to see him. Marishka, much to Ena's chagrin, had sent no +reply. The very thought of kindness from such a man as Goritz--a +kindness which was to pay for Hugh's death and her favor, made a mockery +of all the beauties of giving--a mockery, too, of her acceptance of +them, whether tacitly or otherwise. A man who could kill without +scruple, a woman-baiter, courteous that he might be cruel, tolerant that +he might torment! By torture of her spirit and of her body he had +brought her near death that he might gain the flavor of saving her from +it. + +He was of a breed of being with which her experience was unfamiliar. The +note of sentiment in his notes, while it amazed, bewildered and +frightened her a little. She was completely in the man's power. What was +Schloss Szolnok? Who was its owner? Ena would not talk; she had +received instructions. Before her windows was spread a wonderful vista +of mountains and ravines, which changed hourly in color, from the +opalescent tints of the dawn, through the garish spectrum of daylight to +the deep purple shadows of the sunset, to the crepuscular opalescence +again. Under any other conditions, she would have been content to sit +and muse alone with her grief--and Hugh. He was constantly present in +her thoughts. It was as though his spirit hovered near. She seemed to +hear him speak, to feel the touch of his hand upon her brow, soothing +her anguish, praying her to wait and be patient. Sometimes the +impression of his presence beside her was so poignant that she started +up from her chair and looked around the vast room, as though expecting +him to appear in the spirit beside her. And then realizing that the +illusions were born of her weakness, she would sink back exhausted, and +resume her gaze upon the restful distance. + +Ena, her nurse, was very kind to her, leaving nothing undone for her +comfort, sitting most of the while beside her, and prattling of her own +youth and the Fatherland. And so, sure of the woman's growing interest +and affection, she slowly revealed the story of Konopisht Garden, her +share in it, and the events that had followed. Marishka could see that +the woman was greatly impressed by the story which lost no conviction +from the pallid lips which told it. And of her own volition, that night, +Ena promised the girl to reveal no word of her confidences, and gave +unreservedly the outward signs of her friendship for the tender creature +committed to her care. She had believed that the kindness of the Herr +Hauptmann had meant the beginnings of a romance. But she understood, +and aware of the sadness of the sick woman's thoughts, did what she +could to delay a meeting which she knew must be painful. + +In reply to Marishka's questions, now, she was less reticent, and told +of the long years at Schloss Szolnok under the Barons Neudeck, father +and son, of the coming of Herr Hauptmann Goritz, and of the threat which +had hung over them for three years since the dreadful night when her +young master had been killed. There had been no heirs to the estate and +no one knew to whom the half-ruined Schloss belonged, but each month +money had arrived from Germany, and so she and Wilhelm Strohmeyer, her +man, and two other servants under orders from Germany, had remained. She +had lived here almost all her life. The people in the village a mile +away were the nearest human folk, and Baron Neudeck had not endeared +himself to them, for once he had beaten a farmer who had questioned the +Excellency's right to shoot upon his land. And so the country people +passed aside and did not venture up the mountain road which indeed had +become overgrown with verdure. And for their part the servants were +contented to stay alone. It was very quiet, but as good a place to die +in as any other. + +Marishka listened calmly, trying to weave the complete story and Captain +Goritz's part in it. Whether Schloss Szolnok was or was not the property +of the German government--and it seemed probable that it would have been +confiscated upon the discovery of Baron Neudeck's treachery--the fact +was clear that Goritz was now its occupant and master. She had not dared +to wonder what was still in store for her at the hands of Captain +Goritz, and had lived from day to day in the hope that something might +happen which would end her imprisonment and martyrdom. She heard nothing +from the outside, and Ena, who had long ago given up the world, was in +no position to inform her. + +But as she gained her strength, Marishka knew that she could not longer +deny herself to Captain Goritz. The mirror showed her that her face, +while thin and wan, was still comely. Wisdom warned her that however +much she loathed the man, every hope of liberty hung upon his favor. And +so she gained courage to look about her and to plan some means of +outwitting him or some mode of escape from durance. The latter +alternative seemed hopeless, for it seemed that the castle was built +upon a lonely crag, its heavy walls, which dated from feudal times, +imbedded in the solid rock. From her bedroom window, below the +buttressed stone, were precipitous cliffs which fell sheer and straight +to the rocky bed of the stream which rushed through the ravine two +hundred meters below. But there would be other modes of egress, and so, +feeling that her strength was now equal to the task, she determined to +go forth and test the cordon which constrained her. One morning, +therefore, she called Ena's attention to her pallid face and suggested +the sunlight of the garden as a means to restoration. The woman was +delighted, and attired in a costume of soft white silk crepe, which she +had fashioned in her convalescence from some posthumous finery that Ena +had discovered, Marishka walked forth of her room down a stone stairway +into the great hall of the castle; and so into the ancient courtyard +where the flower garden was. She had expected Captain Goritz to join +her, and in this surmise she was not mistaken, for she had culled an +armful of blossoms which she sent to her room by Ena when the German +appeared. She heard his voice behind her, even before she had summoned +courage for the interview. + +"My compliments upon your appearance, Countess," he said soberly. "I +hope that you find yourself well upon the road to recovery." + +"Thanks," she replied in a stifled tone. "I am feeling much stronger." + +"It has been a very pitiful experience for you--one which has caused me +many qualms of conscience," he muttered, "but I have tried to atone and +would beg you to believe that all my happiness for the future depends +upon your forgiveness." + +"I can--never forgive--never----" said Marishka, her throat closing +painfully. "I hoped to die," she sighed, "but even that you denied me." + +"I have only done my duty--my duty, Countess--a sweeter duty than that +which urged me to Vienna--to undo the wrong that I have done you, to +bring again the roses into your cheeks." + +She waved her hand in deprecation. "For your courtesy, for the kindness +of your servants, I thank you. But for what you are yourself--only the +God that made you can understand--can forgive--that." + +He straightened a moment and then slowly leaned against the wall beside +her, his chin cupped in his hand. + +"You are cruel----" + +"I am truthful. Anything else from me to you would be beneath my +womanhood. I would kill you if I had the strength or if I dared." She +gave a bitter laugh. "It is at least something, that we understand each +other." + +He paused a long moment before replying. + +And then, "_Do_ we understand each other? I hope that you will permit me +to speak a few words in extenuation of a person you have never known--of +Leo Goritz, the man." + +"A man who makes war upon a woman--who uses violence to compel +obedience----" + +"A woman--but an enemy to my country. Between my duty to Germany and my +own inclinations, I had no choice. I was an instrument of the State, +pitiless, exact and exacting. You have spoken the truth. So shall I. Had +my duty to Germany required it of me, I should have killed you with my +own hand--even if you had been my sister." + +She gazed at him with alien eyes. + +"It is monstrous! I would to God you had." + +He bowed. + +"That is merely my official conception of my obligation to the +Fatherland," he said quietly. + +She still gazed at him unbelieving, but he met her glance squarely. + +"You need not believe me unless you choose, but I speak the truth. My +orders were to bring you safely into Germany, or to--to eliminate you. +Perhaps you will understand now my difficulties in keeping you +unscathed." + +"My death would have relieved you of that responsibility. It would have +been so easy to have let me die----" + +"I could not!" He bent his head over his folded arms. "I could not," he +repeated. And then, after a silence, "Countess Strahni, I beg that you +will consider that I have succeeded so far in saving you from personal +danger." + +"And yet you used me as a shield to save yourself from the bullets of +the man you killed----" She broke off, laughing bitterly. + +"He would not fire. I knew it. He was a fool to give me the chance. I +took it. There was nothing else----" + +"It was murder. And you----" + +She glanced at him once and then turning away, hid her head in her arm. +"O God!" she whispered, as though to herself. "How I loathe you!" + +Though the words were not even meant for him to hear, he did not miss +them. + +"That is your privilege," he said after a moment, "and mine--to--to +adore you," he said in deep accents. + +Slowly she lowered her hands and gazed at him with eyes that though they +looked, seemed to see not. + +"You--_you_--! You care for _me_!" She dropped her hands to her sides, +and then with a voice that sought steadiness in its contempt, "What +object has the Fatherland to gain by this new hypocrisy, Herr Goritz?" + +He stood stock still, making no effort to approach her. + +"I think you do me some injustice," he said. + +"Injustice!" she said coldly. "_I_ do _you_ injustice? I think you +forget." + +"If you will permit--it is only fair at least that you should listen. +Even if what I say does not interest you." + +She waved a hand in a gesture of deprecation--but he went on rapidly in +spite of her protest, with an air of pride, which somehow robbed the +confession of its sincerity. + +"Your words have been cruel, Countess, but the cruelest were those in +which you attribute the highest motive of my life to the baseness of +hypocrisy. I have done many wrongs, broken many oaths, sinned many +sins--in the interests of my country--the service of which has been the +only aim of my existence. I have been entrusted by the Emperor himself +with missions which would have tested the courage of any man, and I have +not failed. That is my pride--the glory of my manhood, for the means of +accomplishment no matter how unworthy, are unimportant compared with the +great mission of the Germanic race in the betterment of humanity." + +"I fail to see, Herr Hauptmann, how----" + +He commanded her silence with an abrupt gesture. + +"If you will be pleased to bear with me a little longer. _Bitte._ I +shall not be very long. I merely wanted you to understand how my whole +life has been devoted to the great uses of the State, with the most +unselfish motives. I have been not a human sentient being, but a highly +specialized physical organism to which any wish, any emotion, unless of +service to the state, was forbidden. Charity, kindness, altruism, all +the gentler emotions--I foreswore them. I relinquished friendship. I +became a pariah, an outcast, save to those few beings from whom I took +my orders, and to them I was merely the piece of machinery which always +accomplished its tasks. I have had no happiness, no friendships, no +affection, but I am the most famous secret agent in Germany. A somber +picture, is it not?" + +He paused and shrugged expressively. And then his voice lowered a note. +"Perhaps you will believe me when I say that my whole existence is a +living lie. Ah, yes, you think that. It is a lie, Countess, because no +human being can defy the living God that is within him. He cannot +forever quell the aspirations of the spirit. The spark is always alight. +Sometimes it glows and fades, but sometimes a worthy motive sets it on +fire. It is that spark which has survived in me, Countess Strahni, in +spite of my efforts--my desires even--to deny its existence. Your +illness----" + +"Herr Hauptmann, I beg of you----" + +"No. You cannot deny me. I nursed you, there--brought you back to life. +Ah, you did not know. I brought a doctor at the hazard of the discovery +of my hiding place. Charity came, love----" + +"Herr Hauptmann, I forbid you," whispered Marishka chokingly, wondering +now why she had listened to him for so long. "I must go--go to my room." + +Goritz straightened and stood aside. + +"You need not fear me, Countess," he said. "You see?" he added quickly. +"I do not touch you." + +Marishka moved a few paces away and then turned to look at him. He stood +erect, smiling at her, his cap in his hand. + +"I--I must go to my room, Herr Hauptmann," she murmured haltingly. "I--I +am yet--far from strong." + +"I am sorry. I pray that you will feel stronger in the morning. Adieu!" + +"Adieu----" she murmured, and hurried through the stone portal, aware of +the gaze of those dark, slightly oblique eyes which had puzzled, then +fascinated--then frightened her. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +PRISONER AND CAPTIVE + + +It was with mingled feelings that Marishka found the sanctuary of her +sleeping room. Her abhorrence of Goritz as the murderer of Hugh Renwick +was uppermost in her breast, her fear of him as her captor of scarcely +less import, but his tumultuous plea for her forgiveness and his strange +avowal had given her food for thought. Such a rapid _volte-face_ was +beyond credence. This man had watched by her bedside, nursed her during +the week that she had lain unconscious. Her cheeks burned hot at the +thought of the situation, and quickly she questioned Ena who at last +reluctantly admitted the truth. Herr Hauptmann Goritz had sat many +nights by the bedside while she, Ena, had slept so as to be fresh for +the day to follow. He had commanded her silence, and Ena had obeyed. She +hoped that the Excellency would understand. + +Marishka nodded and sent her from the room, for she wanted to be alone +with her thoughts. He had watched by her sickbed, carrying out the +orders of the doctor while she had lain unconscious--Goritz, the master +craftsman of duplicity--Goritz, the insensible! What did it mean? Had +the man spoken the truth? Was he--? Love to such a man as Goritz! It was +impossible. + +He had always been courteous and considerate, but there was a new note +in his voice which rang strangely. Another lie--another hypocrisy? And +yet the very frankness of his admission with regard to her safety for a +moment disarmed her. He would have killed her--"eliminated" her--had the +necessities of his duty demanded it of him. And yet he had confessed his +love for her. What was the meaning of the paradox? Had he something to +gain by her favor? Had a change taken place in their situation? A chance +phrase had revealed the fact that there was now a danger of the +revelation of this hiding place. They had been pursued--what had balked +him in the continuance of their flight into Germany? Meditation only +served to enhance the mystery, and she emerged from an hour of thought +over the scene in the courtyard with no very clear idea of what the +future had in store for her, sure only of one thing--that she must not +hang importance upon the words of this man, who had already proved +himself a deadly enemy to her happiness. He had hired assassins to kill +Hugh, and when they had failed, had accomplished his purpose by a vile +expedient. + +Love! She knew what love was. She closed her eyes and buried her face in +her arms in wordless, silent grief for the man to whom she had given all +that was best and noblest of her--Hugh! But she could not weep. It +seemed as though, long since, the fountains of her misery were dry. For +a long while she crouched in the window, motionless, and when at last +she raised her head and gazed out down the shimmering vista of the +gorge, it was with a look of new resolution and intelligence. She must +escape. Every iota of cleverness must be given to find a way out of +Schloss Szolnok. What if, in spite of all, the things that Leo Goritz +had confessed were true! She doubted it and yet--if he loved her--! Here +was a woman's revenge, to bait, to charm, to spurn; and then to outwit +him! A test of the sincerity of his professions, and of her own feminine +art--a dangerous game which she had once before thought of playing, +until his cruelty had atrophied all impulse. + +But now! If he really cared--her power would grow with the venture, her +own safety the pledge of his purity--a dangerous game, indeed, here +alone upon this crag in the mountains, but if he were sincere, she was +armed with a flaming sword to defend--to destroy! If--? She would not +trust him, but she would fight him with the weapons she had. Her lips +closed in a thin line, and a glint as of polished metal came into her +eyes as the scene in the house of the Beg of Rataj shut out the lovely +landscape before her. To destroy--to fan the spark to flame that she +might extinguish it; to corrode the spirit with the biting acid of +contempt; to envenom the soul--newly born, perhaps--to the sweeter uses +of beneficence, and then escape! If he cared! + +And if he did not care--if, as she really believed, he lied to gain an +end.... + +This was the thought of him that obsessed her. A liar, always. Why not +now? Men of his kind were unusual to women of hers, but even in the +midst of his confession--as near self-abasement as a man of his type +could come, the note of egotism rang clear above the graceful +phrases--too graceful to be anything but manufactured in that clear +inventive brain of his. + +She paced the floor, thinking deeply, and at last stopped by the window +and sought again the counsel of the eternal hills. After a while she +turned again into the room and peered into a mirror, seeking in her +face the answer to the riddle. It was pale, resolute, but it was not +ugly. + +She planned her campaign with the calm forethought of a general who +picks out his own battlefield, disposing his forces to the best +advantage, for attack or for repulse, for victory, or defeat. She must +mask her approach, conceal her intentions, and develop slowly the real +strength of her position. There was much that she wished to learn as to +Schloss Szolnok, and its security from those who sought to intercept +them, much in regard to the plans of her captor for the future, but she +knew that she must act with caution and skill, if she hoped to escape. + +Goritz had previously expressed a wish that when she grew strong enough +to leave her bedroom, she would join him at dinner, which she heard was +served in one end of the great Hall, but she decided that the first +skirmish should take place in a situation of her own choosing. And so +after dusk, the moon coming out, she went again upon the terrace where +she leaned upon the wall of the bastion and looked down with an air of +self-sought seclusion, upon the mists of the valley. + +Goritz was not long in joining her. She heard his footsteps as he +approached but did not give any sign or acknowledgment of his presence. + +"May I talk with you, Countess Strahni?" he asked easily. + +Her shrug, under her cloak, was hardly perceptible. + +"Since you have already done so it seems that my own wishes do not +matter," she said coolly. + +"I have no wish to intrude." + +Marishka laughed. "I can go in----" She drew her wrap more closely +about her throat and straightened. + +"I hope that you will not do that," he said. + +"Is there anything you wished to speak to me about--? That +is--er--anything of importance?" + +Goritz looked past her toward the profile of the distant mountain, and +smiled. + +"I thought that you might be interested to learn something of my reasons +for stopping here." + +"The insect in the web of the spider has little emotion left for +curiosity." + +"The spider! I have always admired your courage, Countess." + +"I can die but once." + +"Perhaps you may care to know that you are not in the slightest danger +of death." + +"Thanks," she said coolly. "Your kindness is overwhelming. Or is +my--'elimination' no longer essential?" + +The more flippant her tone, the more somber Goritz became. + +"My purposes, Countess Strahni, I think, you no longer have any reason +to doubt. You are quite safe at Schloss Szolnok----" + +"So is the insect in the web--from all other insects but the spider." +She turned away. "You cannot blame me, Herr Hauptmann, if I judge of the +future by the past." + +"I would waste words to make further explanations which are so little +understood, but there are matters of interest to you." + +"Ah." + +"You have been ill. Many things have happened. You would like to hear?" + +"I am listening." + +"It is the trifles of the world which make or prevent its greatest +disasters. The man with the lantern at the bridgehead at Brod did not +know that he held the destiny of Europe in his hand. And yet, this is +the truth. Had he permitted us to pass unquestioned we should have +reached Sarajevo in time to prevent the greatest cataclysm of all the +ages." + +Marishka turned toward him, her interest now fully aroused. + +"What do you mean?" + +"War, Countess Strahni--the most bloody--terrible--in the history of the +world--the event that I have striven all my life to prevent. All of +Europe is ablaze. Millions of men are marching--battles have already +been fought----" + +"Horrible? I cannot believe----" + +"It is the truth. It followed swiftly upon the assassination at +Sarajevo----" + +"Serbia!" + +"Serbia first--then Russia--Germany--Belgium--France--England, too----" + +"You are speaking the truth?" + +"I swear it." + +"And Austria?" + +"Germany and Austria--against a ring of enemies bent on exterminating +us----" + +"England--?" + +And while with eager ears she listened, he told her the history of the +long weeks, now growing into months, in which she had been hidden from +the world--including the defeat of the Austrians by the Serbians along +the Drina, and the advance of the Russians in East Prussia and Galicia. + +She heard him through until the end, questioning eagerly, then aware of +the dreadful significance of his news, forgetting for the moment her own +animosities, her own questionable position in the greater peril of her +country--and his. His country and hers at war against the world! + +"Russia has won victories against Austria--in Galicia?" she urged. + +"Yes--the Cossacks already are approaching Lemberg----" + +"Lemberg!" + +"They are less than two hundred kilometers from us at the present +moment." + +"And will they come--here?" + +"I hope not," he said with a slow smile. "But Schloss Szolnok is hardly +equipped to resist a siege of modern ordnance." + +"And you--why are you here?" + +The ingenuousness of her impetuous question seemed to amuse him. + +"I?" he said. "I am here because--well, because you--because I had no +other place to go." + +"Will you explain?" + +"I see no reason why I should not. I chose the place as a temporary +refuge from pursuit. Your illness marred my plans. The war continues to +mar them." + +"How?" + +He smiled. + +"The insect _has_ curiosity, then? Schloss Szolnok has proved safe. I +have no desire to take unnecessary risks." + +"You were pursued?" + +He nodded. "Yes. And I managed to get away--here, but the other end of +this pass is now strongly guarded. I could have gone through when I +first came, but you were very ill. You would probably have died if I had +gone on. Now it is too late. You see," he said with a shrug, "I am quite +cheerful about it." + +She turned and examined him with an air of timidity. + +"You mean that--that to save my life you--you have sacrificed all hope +of winning through to Germany?" + +"With you, yes--for the present," he smiled. + +She turned away and leaned upon the wall. + +"I--I think that I--I have done you some injustice, Herr Hauptmann," she +murmured with an effort. + +"Thank you." + +"But I cannot understand. The papers which passed you through +Hungary--signed by General Von Hoetzendorf----" + +"Unfortunately are of no further service. An order for my arrest has +been issued in Vienna." + +"Your arrest? For taking me?" + +"For many things----" And he shrugged. + +"What do you propose to do?" + +"Remain here for the present," he said slowly. "It is doubtful if anyone +would think of seeking us here. The Schloss has an evil name along the +countryside. None of the peasants dares to come within a league of the +place." + +"And I--?" she asked. + +"It seems, Countess Strahni," he said slowly, smiling at her, "that our +positions are now reversed--you the captor--I the prisoner. And yet, as +you see," with a shrug, "I am making no effort to escape. You have led +captivity captive." + +His phrases were too well spoken, and the look in his eyes disturbed +her. + +"You--you wish me to understand that I am free to go----" + +"Hardly that," he interrupted with a short laugh. "Only this morning you +said that you would kill me if you dared. I do not relish the notion of +being delivered into the hands of the police." + +"You think that I would do that?" she questioned. + +"Wouldn't you?" + +"I don't know. I----" + +"I am sure of it. I am no longer under any illusions with regard to your +sentiments toward myself. This morning I uncovered my heart to you--and +you plunged a dagger into it. It was too much--beyond my deserts. I am +no man for a woman to spit upon, Countess Strahni. You are still a +prisoner--as completely under my power as though you and I were the last +people left upon the earth." + +His tone was mild, but there was a depth of meaning under it. + +"I--I can scarcely be unaware of it," she murmured. "What are you going +to do with me?" + +"For the present we shall stay here--until an opportunity presents----" + +"For escape?" + +"I could go alone tonight--and reach Germany--without you. That is not +my purpose." + +"Then you propose to take me with you?" + +"When the coast is clear--yes." + +"And if the coast should not be clear?" + +"I shall remain." + +The situation was as she had supposed, but his motive--the real motive! +She drew the wrap more closely around her throat and turned away from +him again. To escape from him! That was the only thing she could think +of now. Upon the road, his attitude of firm consideration, his cool +insistence upon compliance with his wishes, had not been nearly so +ominous as the personal note which he had injected into their relations. +He frightened her now. But to escape? She was watched, she was sure, for +in the afternoon, while the drawbridge was lowered, she had made out the +figure of a man on guard at the end of the causeway. But while her +conversation with Goritz dismayed her, she studied him keenly, trying to +read him by what he did not say. + +She smiled at him impudently. + +"And suppose I attempted to escape?" she asked. + +"You would fail. There is but one exit from Szolnok--the drawbridge--and +that is continually guarded." + +"You have ordered your men to shoot me?" + +"No--but you will not pass." + +"I see. Your contrition does not go as far as that." + +"Not beyond the walls of Schloss Szolnok," he said coolly. + +"And you ask me to believe in the integrity of your motives? What was +the use, Herr Hauptmann? I could understand duplicity to me in the +performance of a duty, but to practice your machine-made emotions upon +my simplicity--! I could hardly forgive you that." + +He kept himself well in hand and even smiled again. + +"You wrong me, Countess Strahni. I have spoken the truth." + +"You cannot deny me the privilege of doubting you," she replied. + +"What further proof would you have me give you that I am honest in my +love for you?" + +She pointed past the drawbridge along the causeway toward the valley +below. + +"Permit me to go--there--alone--tonight." + +He laughed quietly. + +"Alone? I do not know what danger may lurk in the valley. The fact that +I wish to keep you here--is a better proof of my tenderness." + +She turned away from him and leaned upon the wall. But to him at least +she did not show fear. + +"We cannot remain here indefinitely," she said coolly. + +"Are you not comfortable? Is not everything provided for you? It has +been my pride to make your convalescence agreeable in all ways," he +said, leaning a little nearer to her. "I have tried to atone for the +discomforts of your journey. Was it not my solicitude for your health +which balked my own plans? You have questioned the truth of my +professions, but you cannot deny the evidences of your safety." + +Marishka was thinking quickly. Much as she abhorred the man, she +realized that, if she were to have any chance of success she must meet +him with weapons stronger than his own. And so she turned to him with a +smile which concealed her growing terror. + +"Herr Hauptmann, I do not wish you to think that I am ungrateful for the +many indulgences that you have shown me. Your position has been a +difficult one. But from the beginning we have been enemies----" + +"Before the outbreak of the war--but allies now----" + +"Not if you persist in your plan to carry me to Germany." + +He asked her permission to smoke, and when she had granted it he went on +coolly. + +"Perhaps something may happen to prevent the execution of my plan," he +said. + +"What?" she stammered. + +He searched her face eagerly for a moment. + +"You may be sure, Countess Strahni," he said in a half-whisper, "that it +is very painful to me that you should think of me as an enemy. Enemy I +am not. It is my duty to take you to Germany, but it is very painful to +me to do anything which makes you unhappy. Here, safe from detection, I +am still doing my duty. And in remaining here you, too, are safe. Will +you not try to be contented--to endure my society just for a little +while? I want to show you that I can be as other men----" + +She laughed to hide her fears. + +"All men are alike where a woman is concerned--" + +"Will you try? I will be your slave--your servant. Within the castle you +may come and go as you please. No one shall approach you without your +permission. You see, I am not an exacting jailer. All I ask is the hope +of your friendship, a glimpse of your returning smile, and such +companionship as you care to give me. It is not much. Do I not deserve +it? _Bitte_, think a little." + +Marishka gasped and fought the impulse to run from him, for his face was +very near her shoulder, his voice very close to her ear. + +"I--I think that--we may be friends," she murmured. + +"Will you give me your hand, Countess Strahni?" + +She extended it slowly and he bowed over it, pressing it to his lips. + +She found her excuse in a cough, a vestige of her illness which she +summoned to her rescue. + +"It--it is getting late, Herr Hauptmann," she said. "I must be going in. +The night air----" + +"By all means." He accompanied her to the portal of the hall and then +she left him. + +That night Marishka did not sleep, and the next day, pleading fatigue, +remained in her bedroom, trying to muster up the courage to go forth and +meet Goritz at this tragic game of his own choosing. That she had +stirred some sort of an emotion in the man was not to be doubted. She +read it in his eyes, in the touch of his fingers, and in the resonant +tones of his voice, but she read too, the sense of his power, the +confidence of his egotism to which all things were possible. And much as +she wished to believe the testimony of his flashes of tenderness, the +hazard of her position stared her in the face. But she knew that with +such a man she must play a game of subtlety and courage. And so she +resolved to meet him frequently, testing every feminine device to win +him to her service which would obliterate all things but her own wishes, +and present at last an opportunity for her escape. + +In the week that followed she walked out with him across the causeway +into the mountain road, visiting Szolnok farm and climbing the hills +adjacent to the castle, but she saw no one except the German farmers, +and it seemed indeed as though the gorge was taboo to all human beings. +Goritz made love to her, of course, but she laughed him off, gaining a +new confidence as the days of their companionship increased. Slowly, +with infinite patience, with infinite self-control, she established a +relationship which baffled him, a foil for each of his moods, a parry +for each attack. With a smile on her lips which masked the lie, she told +him that Hugh Renwick had been nothing to her. + +And Goritz told her of the women he had met in the performance of his +duty from London to Constantinople, women of the secret service of +England, France, Russia, who had set their wits to match his. Some of +them were ugly and clever, some were stupid and beautiful, but they had +all been dangerous. He had passed them by. No woman in the world that he +had ever known had had the nobility of spirit, the courage, the +self-abnegation of the Countess Strahni. + +It was in these moods of adulation and self-revelation that Marishka +found him most difficult. But she managed to keep him at arm's length by +the mere insistence of her spirituality which accepted his friendship +upon its face value, telling him that she forgave the past, and vaguely +suggesting hope for the future. With that he had to be content, though +at times he was dangerously near rebellion. She promised him many things +but denied him her lips, hoping day by day for the rescue which came +not, and praying night after night that the God who watched over her +would forgive her for her duplicity and for the hatred of him that was +in her heart. + +But there came a day when the walks beyond the causeway ceased, and from +the window of her bedroom she learned the reason. Far, far below her in +the valley along the road which wound through the Pass, she saw the +figures of marching men. Austrian soldiers! What did their presence +mean? They were going toward the other end of the pass--thousands of +them. Had the Russians crossed Galicia? That night there were no lights +in the side of the castle toward the gorge save the candle in her room, +which was screened by heavy hangings. And when at dinner she questioned +Goritz he gave her the briefest of replies. The Cossacks were coming? +Perhaps, but they would not take Dukla Pass. He warned her not to show +her figure at the castle windows or above the wall of the rampart, and +she obeyed. + +For several days Goritz disappeared, and she gained a breathing space to +think over her position. She ventured out many times into the courtyard +in the hope of finding an opportunity to elude her guard, but each time +she approached the drawbridge she saw the chauffeur Karl seated in the +shadow of the wall, smoking his pipe. And so she knew that any attempt +to pass him would be impossible. + +At the end of the fourth day, Captain Goritz joined her at the supper +table. He had now discarded his Austrian uniform and wore a rough suit +of working clothes, similar to the peasant costume which Ena's husband +wore. He greeted her gladly, but she asked him no questions as to his +absence, upon her guard as she always was against the unknown quality in +the man, which held her in constant anxiety. But after he had eaten, the +cloud which had hung over him seemed to pass, and he leaned forward, +smiling at her across the table. + +"You have been obedient?" he asked. + +"What else is left for me?" she smiled. "I have wondered where you +were." + +"Ah," he laughed, "you missed me? That is good. You wondered what would +happen to you if I did not come back." He laughed as he lighted his +cigarette. "I am not so easily to be lost, I assure you. I have been +through Dukla Pass." + +"Many soldiers have gone through the pass today--many this morning--many +more this afternoon." + +"Yes, I saw them." + +"And the Russians?" + +He was silent for a while, and then spoke very quietly. "They are +coming." + +She made no sound and seemed to be frozen into immobility by the import +of the information. + +"The Austrians have fortified the other end of the Pass, but it is said +that the Russians are in great numbers, sweeping everything before +them----" + +"Przemysl--! Lemberg--!" + +"Lemberg has fallen. The fate of Przemysl hangs in the balance." He +shrugged. "Tomorrow, perhaps, may see the Cossacks at Dukla Pass." + +"And then----" + +"I do not wish to alarm you," he said gently. "Six hundred years have +passed over Schloss Szolnok, and it still stands. I am not going to run +away." + +"But you can do nothing--against so many." + +"They will not bother us, I think. The Austrians, you see, have passed +us by. They are taking all their artillery to Javorina and Jaegerhorn and +mounting them upon the old emplacements of the ruins. The defense will +be made there where the gorge is narrower." + +"But if they should come--here--the Cossacks--!" she whispered +fearfully. + +He laughed easily. "Ah, Countess, I am not a half-bad jailer, after +all?" + +"The Cossacks!" she repeated. + +"They shall not come here." + +"What can you do?" + +"The place is impregnable--sheer cliffs upon all sides--the causeway two +hundred meters long. I could pick them off one by one from the top of +the keep. With the drawbridge up, we are as safe as though we were in +Vienna." + +"But their artillery?" + +"They will not think us worth their while. In the armory there are six +repeating hunting rifles and four shotguns, ammunition plentiful----" He +broke off and, rising, came over and stood beside her. "But we will not +think of unpleasant possibilities. It has been so long since I have seen +you--too long." + +She let him take her hand and press it to his lips, but tonight that +condescension did not seem to be enough. He fell to one knee beside her +and would have put his arm about her waist if she had not risen and +struggled away from him. + +"You forget, Herr Hauptmann, the dependence of my position here--alone +with you. Whatever our personal relations, a delicacy for my feelings +must warn you----" + +"Marishka!" he broke in. "What does a man who loves as I do, care for +the conventions of the sham world you and I have left so far behind. I +adore you. And you flout me." + +"For shame! Would you care for me if I were a woman without delicacy or +dignity? I beg of you----" + +But he had held her by the hand and would not release her. + +"I adore you--and you flout me--that is all that I know. Your +indifference maddens me. Perhaps I am not as other men, and must not be +judged by other standards than my own which are sufficient for myself as +they should be sufficient for you. You know that I--I worship you--that +by staying here I have forgotten my duty to my country at a time when I +am most needed. Does that mean nothing to you? Can you be callous to a +love like mine which lives only in your happiness and hangs upon your +pleasure? I worship you, Marishka. Just one kiss, to tell me that you +care for me a little. I will be content----" + +She struggled in his grasp, her fear of him lending her more strength. +Her lips--? Hugh's! Never--never--as God witnessed. + +"One kiss, Marishka----" + +She struggled free and struck him with her clenched fist furiously, full +in the face, and then ran to the window, as he released her, breathing +hard, trembling, but full of defiance. The suddenness of the affair and +its culmination had driven them both dumb, Marishka with terror, Goritz +with chagrin at his mistake and anger at her temerity. He touched his +face with the fingers of one hand and stared at her with eyes that +burned with black fire in the pallor of his face. + +"You have struck me," he muttered. And then, with a shrug, "That was not +a love tap, Countess Strahni." + +She could not speak for very terror of the consequences of the +encounter, but stood watching him narrowly, one hand upon the +window-ledge beside her. + +"Well," he asked presently, "are you dumb?" + +"You--you insulted me," she gasped. + +"Whatever I have done, you have repaid me," he muttered. + +She glanced out of the window into the black void beneath. + +"I--I am not afraid to die, Herr Goritz," she said. + +He caught the meaning of her glance and her poise by the window-ledge, +and their significance sobered him instantly. He drew back from her two +or three paces and leaned heavily against an oaken chair. + +"Am I so repellent to you as that?" he whispered. + +"My lips--are mine," she said proudly. "I give them willingly or not at +all." + +His gaze flickered and fell before the high resolve that he read in her +face. And her courage enthralled him. + +"_Herr Gott!_" he muttered, "you have never been so beautiful as now, +Marishka!" + +She did not reply or move, but only watched him steadily. + +He paced the floor stiffly, his hands behind him, struggling for his +self-control. And the better instinct in him, the part of him that had +made life possible for Marishka at Schloss Szolnok, was slowly +triumphant. + +"A kiss means much or little," he said quietly at last. "To me, the +consecration of a love which has leaped the bounds of mere platitude. A +woman of your training perhaps cannot grasp the honesty of my +unconvention. I have meant you no harm. But that you should have +misunderstood--!" + +"One thing only I understand--that you have violated the hospitality of +Schloss Szolnok." + +"I beg of you----" + +"It is true. Was your kindness, your courtesy, your consideration, but +the means to this end? I can never believe in you again." + +"Do you mean that?" + +"I do----" + +"It is a pity." + +"It is the truth. Fear and affection cannot survive together." + +"Fear?" + +"I can never trust you again. Let me go--I beg that you will excuse me." + +He bowed. "If that is your wish----" and turned and walked to the window +opposite, while Marishka found her way up the stairs and so to her room +where she lay upon her bed fully dressed, in a high state of nervous +excitement. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE RIFT IN THE ROCK + + +Hugh Renwick in his borrowed plumage, strode forth before dawn, and +reaching a spot where the valley narrowed into the gorge and marked the +grim outline of Schloss Szolnok against the lightening East, slowly +climbed the rugged slope of the mountain on his left which faced it. He +meant to spend the morning in a study of the approaches to the castle, +and if possible devise some means by which he could inspect it +unobserved at closer range. Daylight found him perched in a crevice of +rock among some trees, through the leaves of which he could clearly see +the distant mass of stone which rose in solitary dignity, an island +above the mists of the valley, a grim relic of an age when such a +situation meant isolation and impregnability. + +Indeed, it scarcely seemed less impregnable now, for upon two sides at +least, the cliffs rose sheer from the gorge until they were joined by +the heavy buttresses which tapered gracefully until they joined the +walls of the crenelated towers and bastions. In the center of the mass +of buildings rose the square solid mass of the keep, with its crenelated +roof and small windows commanding every portion of the space enclosed +within the gray walls. He marked the dim lines of a road which ascended +from the valley upon the further mountain, now scarcely visible because +of the vegetation which grew luxuriantly on the hillsides, and he +studied this approach to the castle most attentively--the straight reach +of wall, built to span a branch of the gorge beyond, perhaps two hundred +feet deep and six hundred wide. This was the main entrance to the +castle, a narrow causeway, that terminated at the gate where he marked a +drawbridge now raised, which hung by chains to the heavy walls above. + +The only means of access? Perhaps, and if the gate were guarded, +impassable by night as well as day. But Renwick was not sure that there +was no other means of ingress. To the left of the keep, and on a level +with the top of the long curtain of wall, the building fell away in +ruins, for portions of old bastions were missing, and there was a breach +in the northern wall, which had tumbled outward over the precipice into +the ravine below. + +As daylight came Renwick watched the windows and ramparts intently. +There was no sign of life, but remembering that here there was no need +for early rising, he waited patiently, gazing steadily through the +leaves across the valley. At last his patience was rewarded, for from a +building in the courtyard near the central mass, he made out a thin pale +blue line which ascended straight into the sky. Smoke! Breakfast was +cooking. His heart gave a leap. There were no devils in Schloss +Szolnok--but Goritz! In a short while, still watching intently, he saw a +figure pass from the gate toward the main buildings, where it +disappeared. Renwick would have given the remainder of his +hundred-_kroner_ notes for a good pair of field glasses, by which it +might have been possible to distinguish the identity of any figure that +could be seen. But he realized that he had accomplished the object of +his visit, for the raised drawbridge indicated that whoever occupied the +castle, seclusion was important to him. Deciding that he knew enough to +warrant closer investigation, Renwick moved slowly along the mountain +side into the gorge, under the cover of rocks and undergrowth, slowly +descending toward the road, with the idea of crossing the stream and +climbing the rugged cliff beyond, from which he could gain a nearer view +of the northern and ruined end of the castle. + +But after an hour of careful progress, as he reached a projection of +rock which hung over the road below, he crouched, suddenly listening. +For he heard the sound of voices, a rumble of wheels, and the creaking +and clanking of heavy metallic objects. The sounds came nearer, swelling +in proportion, now clearly distinguishable; and so lying flat upon his +stomach, he parted the bushes at the edge of the rock and peered over. +There was a cloud of dust and the clatter of iron-shod boots against the +flints of the road, and in a moment he made out long ranks of soldiers, +marching rapidly to the northward into the Pass. Renwick knew that the +northern end of the Pass was already strongly guarded, for his host had +told him that many soldiers had gone through during the weeks before; +but the sight of these hurrying men, the shrouded guns which lumbered +amidst them, and the long line of motor trucks and wagons which +followed, gave Renwick a notion that events of military importance +were pending in the Galician plain beyond. He tried to form some +idea of the number of men that passed. A regiment--two, three, +four--artillery--three batteries at least. For an hour or more they +passed, and then at last, silence and solitude. + +Although adequately disguised, Renwick was in no position to be stopped +and searched, for if he wore no marks of identification, his automatic, +and the money pinned in his trousers lining, would have made him an +object of suspicion, the more so in a country where soldiers were moving +in so precarious a military situation. + +And so he descended slowly, hiding in a copse at the base of the rocks +where he waited for a while listening, and then peered cautiously out. +Then matching his footsteps to those of the soldiers, he crossed the +road obliquely and plunged through the bushes down over the rocks to the +bed of the Dukla, where he waited and listened again, crossing the +stream at last by a fallen tree and reaching the protection of the +undergrowth upon the farther bank. + +Though he had been able to learn little in Budapest of the military +situation, even from Herr Koulos, the sight of Austrian soldiers +marching toward the northern end of the Pass assured him that the +Russians must have won important victories in Galicia, thus placing all +the passes of the Carpathians in jeopardy. But whatever his interest in +conjectures regarding the possibility of victory or defeat, his own +business was too urgent to admit of other issues, and so he made his way +forward cautiously through the underbrush, which in places was almost +impenetrable. Four-footed things, startled by this unusual invasion of +their hunting ground, started up almost beside him and fled--rabbits, +squirrels, a wolf, and a brown bear, which rocked upon its four legs +dubiously for a moment, and then lumbered comically away. These +creatures and the pathless woods advised him that however frequented the +mountain road below, the inhabitants hereabout were not in the habit of +traversing the wooded mountain sides. Moving forward slowly he climbed +the hills in the general direction of the castle, the sunlit bastions of +which suddenly appeared through the foliage above him and to the right. + +He moved more warily now, for if Goritz were in hiding within Schloss +Szolnok, he would of course take pains that every avenue of approach +should be watched. But a careful inspection of the crag upon which the +castle was perched, and from this new angle, led Renwick to the +conclusion that Goritz might be so sure of its inaccessibility from the +north that no guard at the ruined end would be thought necessary. At +first glance, indeed, Renwick was inclined to that opinion himself, for +the rocks, though fissured and scarred as though by the blasts of +winter, though not so high, were scarcely less precipitous than upon the +southern side. At his very feet, perhaps already buried for years in the +loam and moss, were the huge blocks of stone which had fallen from the +northern towers and rolled down the steep slope of the natural +counterscarp which the conformation of the mountain provided. + +Renwick scrutinized the beetling wall of rock above the incline with a +dubious eye, seeking a possible path or succession of footholds by means +of which he might make his way to the breach in the stone rampart above. +The task seemed hopeless, but he knew that the most formidable +difficulties are often solved by the simplest devices, and so he studied +the wall patiently, his gaze suddenly focusing upon a fissure in the +cliff, a little to his right, which went upward at an angle, its apex +passing a projection of the rock which extended for a hundred feet or +more to the southward. Above that precarious platform, the cliff was +splintered and torn as though the agencies which had devastated the wall +above had wreaked their vengeance here too. But there were finger holds +and footholds, a desperate climb even in the daylight to a member of an +Alpine club. But Renwick from his ambush studied the face of that rock +foot by foot, and at last decided that when night came, the +possibilities of entrance having been denied him elsewhere, he would +make the effort. + +He did not know what he would find among the ruins above, their +connection with the habitable part of the castle having probably been +walled up by Baron Neudeck, and granting that Renwick succeeded in +making his way to the top, his chances of reaching the main buildings +might be slim indeed. And suppose after all this effort, that Marishka +were not here--that Goritz had gone on--! + +But how could he have gone on? Surely not by a road guarded by an army +at its other end. And it was only last night that he had seen Goritz's +fellow assassin and hireling. Marishka was within, and Renwick had not +permitted a doubt of it to enter his mind since yesterday. + +But to make certain of the matter he decided upon further investigation, +retracing his steps for some hundred yards down the declivity, making +sure of his landmarks as he went, until he reached the lower level of +the valley, where crossing a brook he began climbing the steeper slope +of the northern mountain. Here a greater degree of caution was required, +for the rock upon which the Schloss was built was close to the northern +slope and it was over the eastern reaches of the northern crags that +the road passed which led to the causeway. To make his investigation +more difficult of accomplishment, most of the mountain side was in +bright sunlight while the castle was in shadow. And so, it being now the +middle of the afternoon, he decided to move slowly at first, find a +secluded spot and eat of the bread and cheese which was to be both his +breakfast and supper. + +From his position, well up among the rocks, he had a view of the +tree-tops of the valley below with a glimpse of the road a short +distance from the spot where he had crossed it in the morning. The +ruined end of the castle he commanded, too, from a new angle. He was now +above the level of the crag and made out among the twisted mass of stone +the vestiges of what had once been a chapel, and a watchtower. There was +an arch which seemed to lead into a vaulted structure, but from his +position he could not see within it. + +Renwick's eyes were good and they searched the valley below him +ceaselessly. He thought he heard a rumble as of thunder in the distance, +but as the sky was clear he knew that he must have been mistaken, but +after a while along the road below him more soldiers passed, riding +rapidly and silently--into the deeper shadows of the gorge. Their +clattering wagons followed, and this, Renwick decided, was the cause of +the distant sound that he had heard. Once or twice he thought that he +saw motion among the undergrowth at some distance below him, but decided +that he had been mistaken. Again--nearer and to his right. There was no +doubt of it now. Renwick crawled deeper into his place of concealment +and peered out. + +Some one was climbing up over the rocks below him, mounting slowly a +little farther up the gorge. He heard the crackling of twigs and the +sound of voices in a subdued murmur. There were two of them. Venturing +his head beyond the leaves he got a glimpse through the trunks of the +pine-trees--a tall man and a shorter, stouter one. They were more than a +hundred yards away and moving up the mountain side away from him, but to +Renwick's mind, fixed only upon the men he sought and those who sought +himself, the figures, though wearing rough clothing like his own, seemed +strangely like those of Herr Windt and Spivak. Of course he might have +been mistaken, for within two miles of this spot at least two hundred +people lived, but the profusion of game in the valley confirmed the +report of his host of last night that the peasants who lived in the +vicinity of Dukla were not in the habit of venturing into the Pass. And +if not peasants and not the men he had imagined them to be, who were +they and what were they doing here? He lay quietly, listening for the +sound of their footsteps which seemed to pass toward the castle above +him and at last died away in the distance. + +Windt here? It seemed incredible that he had traced Renwick so quickly. +Or was it as Herr Koulos had said, that the same sources of information +which had been open to Renwick had been open to Herr Windt also? Was he +seeking Goritz or Renwick or both, trusting to the relations between +Renwick and Marishka to bring all trails to this converging point? If +the strangers among the rocks above him were Windt and Spivak, he was +indeed in danger of detection and capture, and the fate of an Englishman +taken armed in a region where Austrian troops were massing was +unpleasant to contemplate. And yet Renwick decided that before he made +the rash attempt to mount the cliff he must further investigate. And so +he lay silent until nightfall when with drawn automatic he emerged from +his hiding place and quietly made his way along the mountain side. He +searched the undergrowth eagerly, as a man only can when his life +depends upon the keenness of his senses, and without mishap reached a +point opposite the castle where he commanded both the courtyard and the +mass of buildings around the central tower. The distance across the +narrow gorge at this side of the castle was perhaps two or three hundred +yards, and Renwick from the shelter of a bush could see the windows +quite distinctly. As the night grew dark two lights appeared--both, he +noted, upon the side of the buildings toward where he sat--lights which +could not be visible from the deeper, wider valley upon the other side +or from the road below. He saw figures moving--the small bent figure of +a woman in the building upon the left which seemed to be the kitchen, a +man in the courtyard near the gate which Renwick had seen from the other +side. The room upon the right near the keep, seemed to be the Hall, for +the windows were longer than any others and denoted a high ceiling +within. There was a light here too, and Renwick watched the windows, his +heart beating high with hope. In his anxiety to see who was within the +apartment he forgot the strangers upon the mountain side, the danger of +his position, the hazardous feat before him--all but the hope that +Marishka was here. + +He had almost given up hope of seeing her when she appeared. He knew her +instantly, though he could not easily distinguish her features. She sat +in a chair at a table, conversing with some one whom he could not see. +A pang of jealousy shot through him. Goritz--! + +What if believing him dead Marishka had learned to tolerate the German +agent, even to the point of friendship. There they were, sitting face to +face at table, as they had done for two months or more. What were their +relations? Prisoner and captive? And which was which? How could he have +blamed Marishka,--Renwick, a dead man? + +He knew that she had grieved, that she must have hated the man who had +done him to death--perhaps still hated him as Renwick did. He peered at +the fragment of Marishka's white dress, the only part of her that was +visible to him, and upbraided himself for his unworthy thoughts of her. + +And when the dead came to life what would she say to him? + +Hedged about with difficulties and dangers as he was, the sight of the +girl so near him and yet so inaccessible was maddening. Now that he had +discovered her, every impulse urged him to the feat of scaling the wall. +And yet, as though fascinated, he still sat, his gaze fixed on the bit +of white drapery which was a part of Marishka. He tried to imagine what +Goritz was saying to her, for he seemed to know that Goritz was her +companion, seemed to hear the murmur of their voices. He waited long and +then the white drapery vanished, reappeared, and Marishka's figure stood +in the window, leaning with one hand upon the casement, in silhouette +against the light. And now quite distinctly against the velvety soft +background of the breathless night the sound of her voice, refined by +the distance between them, but fearful in its tone and significance. + +"_I--I am not afraid to die, Herr Goritz_," it said. + +Renwick started to his feet as though suddenly awaking from a dreadful +dream into a still more dreadful reality. Marishka still stood in the +window motionless, but the words that she had spoken seemed to be +ringing endlessly down the silent gorge and in his brain, which was +suddenly empty of all but its echoes. He wanted to shout to her a cry of +encouragement--and hope, but he remained silent, grimly watching and +listening. + +Marishka said something else and then turned into the room, while +through another window he saw the dark figure of Goritz pass away from +her toward the outward wall. Of Marishka he saw no more, but at +intervals he saw Goritz pacing to and fro.... + +How much longer Renwick watched he did not know, but after a while he +found himself stumbling along the face of the mountain, descending by +the way that he had come, Marishka's words singing their message through +and through him. It was as though the words had been meant for him +instead of Goritz, that Renwick even in death should know of her danger +and come to her aid. He was coming now, not as an avenging spirit, but +in the flesh, armed with righteous wrath and a fearful lust for +vengeance. He understood what the message meant. Hers was not a cry of +despair but of defiance.... What had happened? He had not seen. + +"I am not afraid to die." Nor was Renwick--but to live were better--to +live at least for tonight. Fury gave him desperation, but for the task +before him he needed coolness, too. And realizing that haste might send +him hurtling to the bottom of the gorge, he moved more cautiously, +stepping down with infinite pains until he reached the brook, which he +crossed carefully, and then moved back up the declivity toward the +castle. + +The night was clear, starlit but moonless, and the cliff as he reached +it looked down upon him with majestic and sullen disdain. The ages had +passed over and left it scarred and seared but still defiant and +inaccessible. Renwick paused a moment to be sure of his ground and then +boldly crawled up over the chaos of tumbled bowlders and broken masonry, +until he reached the wall of solid rock, where he stopped again to +regain his breath and examine the fissure that he had studied earlier in +the day. It was a cleft in the rock, the result of some subterranean +upheaval which had caused the whole crag to settle into its base; a +fissure, originally a mere crack which had been widened and deepened by +the erosion of time. Upon closer inspection, it was larger than it had +appeared from below, perhaps ten feet in width at the outside, and +tapering gradually as it rose. + +He entered and ran his fingers along its sides, penetrating to its full +depth until there was just room enough in which to wedge his bent body. +Then rising cautiously, seated, so to speak, upon the incline which +seemed to be about thirty degrees from the vertical, he dug the +iron-shod toes of his peasant's boots into the roughnesses of the wall +before him and rose, pushing with elbows and arms where the wall was too +smooth for a foothold. It was hard work, and at the end of ten minutes, +perspiring profusely, and leg and arm weary, he stopped upon a +projecting ledge, where he found a perfect balance for his entire body, +and relaxed. But he had gained fifty feet. + +Above him was the long streak of pallid light shimmering against the +gloom of the rock like the blade of a naked sword, with its point far +above him among the stars. For a full five minutes he rested, and then +went upward again, feeling with his finger ends while he braced his +body, taking advantage of every foothold before and behind. At one spot +the fissure widened dangerously, but he struggled inward; at another it +went almost straight upward, requiring sheer strength of fingers; but at +last he found another ledge and braced himself with his feet for another +rest. He did not dare to look downward now, for fear of dizziness, but +he knew that he had already come high. The sword blade was shorter, +curved now more like a scimitar at its tip, which showed that the angle +was greater. + +But what if before he reached the rocky platform, the cleft should grow +too narrow to admit the passage of his body? It was too late now to +think of any such impediment. He struggled upward again, slipping back +at times, clawing like a cat, with toes and fingers, fighting for his +breath, but always mounting higher, his gaze upward toward a star in the +heavens near the point of the scimitar. Would he ever reach the top? +Bits of the rock crumbled, broke off and flew out into space, and once +he slipped and slid outward, only saving himself from destruction by the +aid of a jutting piece of jagged rock which caught in his clothing. A +desperate venture--but successful, for with one final effort, with +fingers torn, and knees and elbows bruised and bleeding, he hauled +himself up to the level of the flat projection of rock upon which he +dragged himself, exhausted and breathless, but so far, safe. + +He lay there for a long time, flat on his back, his eyes dimmed with +effort, his gaze on the stars, which now seemed to blink in a friendly +way upon his venture. To succeed so far--failure was now impossible. +Fearfully he peered over the edge of the cliff upon the velvety +tree-tops of the valley below. Three hundred feet, four perhaps, and +beyond to the left where the crag fell down to the very bed of the Dukla +itself, black void--vacancy. + +Above him still was the hazardous climb up the broken face of the rocks, +but he did not fear it. His nerves were iron now. There were roots +growing here, and small bushes, stunted trees, growing in the +interstices of the rocks, and he climbed steadily, always looking +upward, toward the breach in the wall now so very near, fifty feet, +forty--and then the wall seemed to hang over him smooth and bare. So he +hung there by a sturdy branch, one foot clinging, and studied the +surface, descending a few feet carefully and then rising again to the +left in a fissure, swinging himself along a narrow ledge where the +masonry of the bastion joined the rock. Over this he climbed, finding +solid footing at last, and then rest and a breathing space within the +broken walls. + +He lay behind a pile of rocks which had fallen from the walls of the +watchtower, recovering his breath again, and the strength of his +fingers, every bone of which was crying out in protest. He peered over +into the depths below, trying to measure the distance he had come--three +hundred feet--perhaps more. Could he find a rope of that length within +the castle--? After a while he straightened in the shadow of the wall +and peered cautiously up at the dark bulk of the keep and the tower, +beyond the ruined chapel, searching its roofs and window for a sign of +life. Silence. The ruin was deserted. For half an hour he watched and +waited, and then sure that there was no chance that he had been +observed, rose to his feet and moved forward stealthily into the shadows +of the chapel. The roof had long since fallen in and been removed, but +Renwick stumbled over a dusty tomb, toward the fragment of altar with +the reredos still showing traces of sculpture, partially protected by a +fragment of roof over the apse which had been spared by the wind and +storm. To the right of the altar was a Gothic door, which had at one +time led into the building adjoining, but upon investigation he found +that it had been built in with solid blocks of stone. The other arch of +the vaulted structure outside which he had noted from the mountain side +was also filled by a wall. So far as Renwick could see, the ruined part +of Schloss Szolnok was isolated, with no mode of egress from the +habitable part. + +Renwick had screened his movements as far as possible from view of the +windows in the keep and other buildings, and now discovered that the +lowest one was at least fifteen feet above the level of this rampart; +and so before planning any action, he investigated the guardhouse, a +fallen ruin upon the north bastion. He seemed to make out the forms of +what had once been the stone treads of a circular stair in a tumbled +mass. At first the appearance of the place discouraged him, for it +seemed too far away from the main mass of buildings to furnish any +communication with them, but as he peered among the fallen masonry he +thought he detected a darker spot in the obscurity, and bending forward +was aware of a heavy smell, as of mold and dampness. Upon investigation +he discovered an irregular hole under the mass of stone, a little wider +than his body. + +He dared not strike a match for fear the glow of it might be observed +from one of the windows of the keep, but testing the balance of the +heavy stone steps, he decided to investigate, and so lowering his legs +into the dark aperture he let himself hang from his waist and found that +his toes encountered solidity. He tested his footing with his weight, +and then let go, descending into the hole, which seemed to be a +stairway, leading from the tower into the bowels of the rock. With a +touch of fingers upon the efflorescent walls he moved cautiously down, +step by step, sure now that this was the ancient corridor by which the +men-at-arms passed from the guardhouse to the other rampart. Sixty-two +steps down he counted, and then he reached a level, where he paused a +moment to look at the vague blotch of gray which was the starlight. Even +with eyes that had now grown accustomed to the darkness he could see +nothing, and so deeming himself safe from observation, he struck a +match, which struggled a moment against the foul air and then went out. +But in the brief moment of partial illumination, Renwick made out a +corridor extending straight before him, slightly downward. He followed +it cautiously his hands stretched out, his toes feeling for pitfalls, +and at last came to a rough wall. + +Was this the end--a wall which shut off communication with the ruins? +Emptiness to the right. He turned and followed the wall blindly, down +its tortuous way, aware of a difficulty in breathing, and a throbbing at +his temples down which the moisture was pouring profusely. In a while +which seemed hours, the rough wall stopped, and his fingers encountered +a wooden upright--a doorway--open. And testing the stone floor carefully +he passed through it, the echoes of footfalls advising him that he was +in a larger space. He peered in all directions, seeking a sign of light +within, for it seemed that the air had now grown fresher, but he saw +nothing, and so striking a third match which burned more brightly, he +held it over his head for a moment and looked about him. + +It was a kind of crypt in a good state of preservation, octagonal in +shape, about twelve feet high, and the ceiling was supported by arches +which sprang from dwarf columns of stone at the angles. From the center +of the ceiling by a heavy chain hung an ancient iron lamp which still +contained the remnants of a candle. There was a heavy wooden table at +one side, and two heavy chairs, but Renwick's gaze passed these quickly +to a partition of rough boards in one of the walls opposite, and then +his match burnt his fingers and expired. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE DEATH GRIP + + +He stood in the middle of the stone floor, matchbox in hand, trying to +decide what he must do next. As nearly as he could judge by his +observations during the afternoon, and the direction of the steps and +passageways, the vault was somewhere under the main group of buildings, +the keep or one end of the Hall, two or three stories below the level of +the chapel floor. Part of the corridor through which he had passed was +hewn from the solid rock, and part was built of masonry. The wooden +partition opposite him was obviously the beginning of the used part of +the castle, but admitting that he could pass it, in which direction +would it lead him? He feared to strike another match, for beyond the +door perhaps someone might be moving. It was now, as nearly as Renwick +could judge, about one o'clock in the morning. He crossed the crypt +carefully and found the partition, feeling its surface, which was made +of rough boards loosely nailed together. He put his eye to one of the +cracks and peering in, could see nothing; but a current of warmer air +which came through the slits, slightly aromatic in odor, warned him that +the space beyond was surely connected with the habitable part of the +castle--a wine cellar perhaps, or a storage room. He debated for a +moment whether it was wise to use another light and then at last decided +to take the risk, and as matches were scarce, found the ancient candle +in the iron lamp, which after sputtering feebly for a moment, consented +to burn. By its aid he examined the dust upon the floor of the crypt, +which showed the imprint of no footsteps but his own; then the walls of +the crypt, discovering immediately another door which his eyes had +missed in the earlier glow of the match,--a narrow door open to the +left, of thick wood, with heavy iron hinges, the flanges of which formed +the braces of the door itself. He blew out the candle and put it into +his pocket. Peering through the keyhole and seeing nothing, he lifted +the latch and tried to open it. + +His efforts proved that it had been unused for many years, for the +hinges had sagged, and some of its weight rested upon the stone floor. +But with an effort, he managed to move it an inch or so. Another effort +swung it clear of its stone sill, and at last he managed to open it wide +enough to admit the passage of his body. But with this last attempt the +rusty hinges rasped horribly; and so he waited in silence, listening +fearfully for any sounds in front or behind him which might indicate +alertness above. + +Another passage lay before him, a narrower one, which soon developed a +straight flight of narrow stairs leading upwards. He stood for a moment +staring, for the gloom above him seemed to lighten. He sat upon the +lower step and took off his heavy boots, then crept up the stairs +noiselessly, reaching a landing dimly lighted by a small slit of a +window which looked out upon the night. Pausing here, he was enabled +definitely to establish his position within the castle walls. Below him +was the narrower gorge, opposite him the cliff upon which he had +crouched this afternoon. He was beneath one end of the Hall, and from +all indications, in an ancient secret passageway, the existence of which +from its condition had for years been forgotten. At the landing there +was a heavy wooden door upon his left. This he examined as minutely as +possible by the dim light of the loophole, peering through the keyhole, +from which exuded a faint odor of gasoline. It must be here that Goritz +kept the car. The platform was near the level of the rampart, then. +Renwick did not pause here long for he saw that the stairs turned and +mounted again in the opposite direction. + +Renwick felt for his automatic, and leaving his shoes on the landing by +the window, again climbed into the darkness. Another landing--and before +his eyes, now sensitive to the slightest lessening of the gloom, a thin +thread of light crossed the narrow passage, terminating at his right in +an illuminated spot upon the wall. It did not emanate as he had at first +supposed, from a keyhole, but from a crevice between two stones, where +the joints had turned to powder. He peered through eagerly, but his +range of vision was small, covering merely a section of paneled +woodwork, a mullioned window, and a chair or two. He held his breath and +listened, for he fancied he heard the sound of footsteps. Yes, there +they were again, the slowly moving footsteps of a man pacing to and +fro--and then the footsteps halted suddenly and a voice spoke. It was +that of Leo Goritz. + +"Are you sure that you saw them?" + +"There is no mistake. My eyes are good." + +"Did they remain long?" + +"For twenty minutes or so, but they saw that the thing was impossible +and went away." + +"The situation becomes interesting," said Goritz. + +"Rather too risky, I should say," put in the other. "If the Herr +Hauptmann had only taken my advice last week----" + +"I never take advice. But you may have been mistaken. I can scarcely +believe that Herr Windt had the skill to trace us here--unless----" + +"But it was he. I was peering through the slit in the postern, not +twenty feet away. I could have killed him easily." + +"But twenty feet is a long distance when two hundred feet yawn beneath. +Let him come. We have food enough for a siege--ah, there it is again!" + +There was a significant silence between the two men, but Renwick +listened the more keenly, for he heard the deep rumble, as of thunder, +which had perplexed him in the afternoon--a reverberation, repeated and +continued, which seemed to make the very flags beneath him tremble. But +since he could hear and feel it within these solid walls, much nearer +and louder, he realized now that it meant the roar of artillery--the +defiant blasts of the Austrian guns at the end of the Pass, or the +triumphant salvos of the Russians. And the voice of Goritz confirmed +him. + +"The thing has come rather sooner than I expected," he growled. +"_Donnerwetter!_ Why couldn't the Russians have put off the attack for a +week!" + +"And if they win the Pass----" + +"Perhaps it is just as well for us if they do. Herr Windt may neglect us +in the general scramble for safety." + +"He is not of that sort, Herr Hauptmann." + +"Then let him come. Twenty feet is a long jump even for the legs of the +Windt." + +Goritz laughed at his joke and then yawned sleepily. + +"You may go now, Karl. Is Strohmeyer at the gate?" + +"Yes, Herr Hauptmann." + +"You are sure that he will not go to sleep?" + +"I think not." + +"The signal is one stroke of the postern bell. He understands?" + +"Yes, Herr Hauptmann. Any other orders?" + +"None except these. That he is on no account to fire unless attacked. +But this fact is to be understood. No man is to pass into Schloss +Szolnok tonight." + +"_Zu befehl_, Herr Hauptmann." + +The chauffeur, Karl, passed across Renwick's range of vision and the +steps of Goritz resumed their pacing of the floor--more slowly now. The +Englishman had been kneeling, scarcely daring to breathe, and now he +wondered what he had better do next. Taking infinite pains to make no +sound he investigated the wall of the Hall with his finger tips. There +was a door here, a secret door, he thought, hidden from the interior of +the Hall in the paneling of the wainscoting. Did Goritz know of its +existence? The floor of the crypt, it was true, had shown no sign of +footsteps, and the door below, Renwick was sure, had not been opened for +many years. But if Goritz knew of this passage, there was a chance of +his entering and finding him. Renwick dared not strike matches now, and +determined to go on until he had mastered all the architectural details +of the passage, and then devise some plan to reach Marishka. Balked in +other directions he could return to this secret door into the Hall, and +awaiting the departure of Goritz, force an entrance and trust to luck. + +But there might be some other and less dangerous means of reaching +Marishka. Even if he entered the Hall, he would have no idea which way +to turn. Better to follow the passage to the upper floors, if it were +possible, and enter above, thus creating a diversion which might add to +the advantage of his surprise. But did the passage mount higher? Or +was--? His advancing toes touched something solid. Bending forward, he +found steps, and immediately began mounting them on all fours. + +The sleeping-rooms, he had supposed, were on the two upper floors of the +keep and in the buttressed building toward the south which was a part of +it. This was the direction in which he was going now. He reached another +landing, as nearly as he could judge by the steps he had taken, almost +over the crypt, three levels below. This was the keep, then, upon his +left. With pulse beating rapidly he felt for and found a wooden +upright--another door. He paused and listened. There was no sound nor +any light upon the other side. So he went on slowly until at a distance +above him he saw the starlight coming through another loophole, the +counterpart of that below the Hall, and mounted noiselessly, peering out +upon the wider valley to the south. He had therefore traversed the +castle from one side to the other, and was now near the top of the +buttressed wing of the keep. + +Breathing in deep gasps the keen night air, Renwick waited, listening, +and now heard again from outside the thunderous reverberations of the +battle at the head of the Pass. He had been so intent upon his mission +that he had forgotten it! But now the furious character of the +engagement was obvious. It was far distant, perhaps four or five miles +away, and yet the wild heavens were aglow with strange flashing fires, +the reflections of the bombs and star-shells which paled the ineffectual +lights of the firmament. Battle! Schloss Szolnok, too, should see +battle--his own with Goritz! But Renwick would take no chances this +time. + +The heavy reverberations rose and died away, but a fainter spatter of +sounds continued, the deadly counter-melody of machine-gun and rifle +fire which went on without intermission. Far below the Schloss, in the +direction of the road along the Dukla, he heard the clatter of +transport, and the calls of men. + +All of this Renwick's mind assimilated in his moment of rest and +recuperation, but beside the loophole, clearly defined by the flashes in +the heavens, his searching glances made out the uprights of another +door. Here, perhaps----He bent forward, listening at its cracks, and +then knelt, searching for a latch or keyhole. Nothing. But as he turned +his back to the loophole, shutting out the starlight, he imagined that +he saw something white upon the stone flagging. He leaned forward to +pick it up and found that his fingers were softly illuminated. The spot +was the reflection of a dim light within the room. He put his face close +to the floor and found the aperture, a small hole of irregular shape in +the baseboard of the door. A candle. Someone, then, was within? He put +his ear to the chink and listened. A muffled sound, faint, but +agonizingly definite--a woman's sobs! Renwick straightened and then +listened again. Silence. Perhaps he had been mistaken. No. There it was +again--fainter now. He ran his fingers softly along the edges of the +woodwork, seeking a latch, a handle, but could find none. If there were +a secret spring, it was so deftly hidden that he could not discover it. +But in the brief moments of his search he had decided that he must enter +this room at all costs. And so rising to his feet, he gave up trying to +find the secret of admittance and slowly put his weight against the +woodwork. It made no sound nor yielded to his pressure. He tried it +again with the same results. Then despairing, and desperate, he struck a +match and ran it quickly along the jambs. The hinges were concealed, but +he found signs of them at the right. To the left, then--another match--a +handle, a knob--where? And then just as the third match went out he +found it--a flat, iron lever which moved around a swivel, cunningly let +into the woodwork. He caught it quickly in his fingers, twisted it down, +and then, automatic in hand, he pushed upon the door which opened and +swung inward upon its hinges. + +Renwick waited for a moment in the doorway, pistol in hand, blinking at +the candle upon the table, like a cat emerging from a cellar, searching +the vast room for its occupant. A huge room with wainscoted walls, with +heavy hangings at the windows, massive furniture, a high canopied +bed---- + +He took a few quick steps forward into the room, for a figure clothed in +soft white had started up from the bed and was staring at him with +startled eyes--Marishka! + +Renwick was hatless, tattered, covered with dust, his face streaked with +grime and sweat, and the short beard that he wore still further +transformed him. But it seemed that a look of recognition struggled +with the terror in her eyes. + +"You, Hugh--again!" she whispered. + +A pang shot through him at the pitiful sound of her voice and at the +words. Had her sufferings---- + +"Your spirit. It has--has been--with me often, Hugh." She went on +dreamily. + +"Marishka!" he whispered, crossing to her swiftly. "It is I--Hugh. It is +no dream, no vision. Awake!" + +She brushed an arm across her eyes like one arousing from a deep sleep, +and then straightened suddenly and still uncertainly. But he caught her +by the arm and brought her face close to his own so that she might see. + +"I didn't die, dear. I am here in the flesh--to protect--to take you +away from this place." + +"Then I--I have not dreamed?" + +"Not now?" + +She clasped his wrists, his shoulders, his face with her hands to assure +herself of the truth, and he took her in his arms and kissed her +tenderly. + +"Marishka!" he murmured again. And then she seemed to grow heavy in his +arms, repeating his name breathlessly. + +He was frightened for a moment for her head drooped away from him. She +looked so piteously thin and white, and her hands were ice cold. + +"Marishka!" he pleaded. "Marishka." + +Her eyes opened again and her smile reassured him. + +"Forgive me, Hugh. The joy is almost more than I can bear." + +"You are safe now," he whispered. "Safe!" And he clasped her close, +holding her there in a breathless moment oblivious to their danger. + +Then while she still wondered, Renwick suddenly released her, moving +quickly to the door by which he had entered, and after examining the +mechanism carefully, quietly closed it. Then he turned to Marishka and +questioned, while still seated upon the bed, she regarded him with +bewildered eyes. + +"What men are there at Schloss Szolnok, Marishka?" he asked quickly. + +"Goritz--the chauffeur--and Ena's husband," she answered slowly, with an +effort. + +"Strohmeyer?" + +"Yes. The two men--at the farm--are not here--at night." + +"Ah, I see----" And then, "That other door," he whispered tensely. "Is +it locked?" + +"Yes. I--I locked it tonight." + +"You feared?" + +"Hugh--until tonight----" + +She stopped and shuddered, until he came to her and held her for a +moment in his arms. + +"He will not frighten you again," he muttered between set lips. + +"Thank God," she whispered, now starting up as though with the first +realization of their position. + +"Have you any plan of what you will do?" + +"Yes. Goritz is still below in the Hall. I have a plan, but I can do +nothing until he goes to bed. Where is his room?" + +"In the keep, along the passageway outside." + +"I see," thoughtfully; and then, "Do you know where I can find a +rope--several ropes, stout ones?" + +"I do not know. There is a storeroom." + +"Do you know where it is?" + +"Yes, I think so." + +"And you can find it--in the dark?" + +"I think so." + +"Is there any way of telling when Goritz goes to bed?" + +"I hear his steps sometimes in the corridor outside." + +He went noiselessly over to the door, listened a moment and then +returned. + +"No sounds. There isn't much sleep for anyone here tonight. The noise +and the knowledge that Herr Windt is somewhere near----" + +"Herr Windt!" + +"He has followed us here. I think he found a trace of me at +Bartfeld--the village beyond the mountain," he whispered. + +"But we might go down through the castle and the courtyard--if we could +pass the man at the drawbridge. Does it make a noise when it is +lowered?" + +"Oh, yes, Hugh--a dreadful noise." + +"That's awkward." He crossed to the door into the wainscoting and +listened there, then at the other door into the corridor, and returned +to her. + +"For the present, at least, we're safe." + +He caught her in his arms and held her silently. Her arms clinging to +him, she raised her head and found his lips. + +"Beloved," she whispered, "how did you----" + +"I followed you here--on a mere fragment of a clew--but it was enough." + +"But he shot you----" + +"I was well cared for--in a hospital." + +"You were wounded--dangerously?" + +"Yes, but I don't die easily. I'm quite well again." + +"Are you sure?" + +He laughed. "Could I be here, else? Your cliffs are steep----" + +"You climbed----?" + +"Yes, up a fissure and through the ruins. I saw you--there in the +window--from across the gorge. I heard you call, Marishka----" + +"Call----?" + +"That you were not afraid to die." + +"But I _was_ afraid, Hugh--it was so far--so dark below." She shuddered. + +He pressed her closer to him. "Has he--has Goritz----" + +"Until tonight, Hugh--he has not been unkind," she said slowly. "I was +sick; he nursed me. But I've feared him--I fear him still----" + +He felt her body trembling against his own, and reassured her gently, +pausing a moment to listen tensely for sounds at either door. And +then---- + +"Don't worry, dearest. He cannot harm you. I was not spared from death +for nothing." + +"I am not frightened now, but tonight has been horrible--the noise--my +terror of I know not what. It has been like the end of the world to me." + +"The beginning of our world, yours and mine," he said confidently. + +She straightened, drew away from him and put a hand before her eyes +again. "Even yet I cannot believe." She looked up at him with a wide +gaze that still held in it something of the reflection of the long days +of helplessness and misery--something more deeply spiritual than he had +ever seen. "Hugh, dear," she went on softly, "you will think it strange, +but I--I have heard you calling to me--speaking to me, like a living +presence here in this room. Not as you are now, beloved, but +paler.... I thought that you were dead.... And so when you came--at the +door--I thought--I must have dreamed----" + +"You were frightened, dear." + +"Yes--terribly frightened, Hugh," she confessed, "by _him_--and by the +firing. It seemed at times as though the castle were rocking under me. +Listen!" + +A terrific cannonading began again--louder, more continuous than any +that had gone before. + +"Yes--they are fighting for the end of the Pass," he muttered; "the +Russians----" + +"And will they----?" + +"God knows. I pray----" he paused and scanned her face anxiously. + +"What, Hugh?" + +"That the Russians may win." + +She started away from him, her eyes widely inquiring. + +"Why?" + +He smiled slowly. + +"It's simple enough. Because if I am taken by the Austrians I shall be +shot as a spy." + +"You--a spy!" + +"No, not really," he said soberly. "But I'm an Englishman, an enemy of +Austria armed and in disguise. That is enough----" + +"They--my people would shoot you!" She whispered, horror-stricken. + +"I have no illusions about my fate--if taken----" + +"But you have come here--to help me----" + +"Unfortunately that does not change matters." + +He put her gently aside and went for a while and listened at the doors, +and then came back to her. + +"Silence. But we will wait a little longer," he whispered. + +Marishka caught him by the shoulders and looked up into his eyes. + +"Hugh, what you have said frightens me. You mean that you--that we are +enemies--you and I--because our nations are at war----!" + +She drew away and held him at arm's length while she scrutinized him in +the light of the guttering candle. + +"You--my enemy, Hugh? I--yours?" A wan smile came proudly to her lips. +"If I am your enemy, beloved, then love and loyalty have perished from +the earth. And you, who have risen from the grave to come to me----!" + +"Sh----, dear," he whispered. "You must know the truth. Whatever +happens--here in the castle, the Austrian troops are all around us. Herr +Windt, too. There is no escape for me unless the Russians come through. +That is why I hope----" + +Marishka put her arms around his shoulders quickly and kissed him on the +lips. + +"Then I, too, pray that they may come through," she whispered fervently. + +"Marishka! I do not ask you to give up your allegiance----" + +"No, Hugh. I give without asking. Beloved, I want you to understand," +she said solemnly. "Those that are your enemies are my enemies. You +would have died for me--and I, can I do less for you?" + +"Sh----, Marishka," he murmured, "there is no death----" + +"Death can be no worse for me than the horrible utter loneliness without +you; but whatever comes, I am yours, Hugh--in life--in death. I owe no +allegiance, no fealty, but to you, and I have kept the faith, Hugh, even +here. I can have no country that you may not share, no compatriots that +are not yours also. My kingdom is in your heart, beloved, there to live +while you will have it so." + +"Marishka!" He caught her in his arms and held her long in his embrace, +and she clung close to him, her lips on his in this final test of their +plighted troth. About them the thunder of battle, ever approaching +nearer; the rumble and din of groaning wagons on the road below; the +hoarse cries of men; the whine and sputter of laboring motors trying to +pass in the narrow road--confusion, disorder, chaos; but now they heard +nothing. For them the earth stood still. Nations might totter and crash, +but their Empire was in each other.... + +Renwick raised his head at last. "Marishka," he whispered, "it is time +that we made a move." He released her suddenly, listened at the doors, +and then moved to the table beside her. + +"First, we had better put out the light--then perhaps we can see if +there is anyone outside." + +Marishka snuffed the candle, and they went to a window overlooking the +courtyard, drew the hangings and peered out. The din in the valley below +them was increasing, a hurrying of wagons, horses and guns in the narrow +road. Were more Austrian reinforcements coming up? It seemed so. From +the mountains beyond, the rattle of small-arm fire had risen to a steady +roar, but the detonations of heavy ordnance were less frequent. + +"The Austrians--may be winning," he said calmly. + +She pressed his hand. "I am sorry," she said bravely. + +But there was a world of meaning for Renwick in the way she whispered +it. + +"Your people shall be my people," she murmured again. "And your God, my +God." + +He could only return her pressure in silence. + +He would have been little happy if he could have said how much. + +Together they peered through the slip of the silken hanging to the +rampart below. Flashes of reflections from the end of the Pass played +like sheet lightning, and in the fitful illuminations they could see the +figure of the old man, Strohmeyer, reclining in the shadow by the +postern gate. The drawbridge was still raised, and beyond it they could +see in the flashes, the length of the causeway stretching out into the +darkness of the mountainside beyond. Strohmeyer did not move. It almost +seemed as though he were asleep. + +"What makes you think that Herr Windt is here?" asked Marishka suddenly. + +"I saw him with Spivak yonder," and he pointed to the north beyond the +gorge. + +Marishka was silent, her eyes eagerly searching the shadows. Her hand +was trembling a little with the excitement of their situation, but her +voice was firm as she whispered: + +"Perhaps tonight my eyes are uncertain, Hugh. But do you not see +something moving in the shadow of the wall?" + +"Where?" + +"Of the causeway--there, beyond the chain of the drawbridge----" + +He peered eagerly in the direction she indicated. + +"A shadow----?" he questioned. "I can't--no--yes--it moves--there!" + +"Yes--another and still another. And they are carrying something." + +Renwick watched again for a tense moment. + +"Windt--and his men," he said with conviction. "They are going to try to +span the abyss." + +"Strohmeyer----" + +Here at least was a community of interest with Goritz. "They will win +their way across, unless he wakes," said Renwick tensely. + +"What is it that they are carrying?" + +"Timbers--see! There are at least four men to each. They are putting +them in the shadow of the wall. Will the man never wake up?" + +"What can we do?" she whispered desperately. "I could call out to him." + +"No----" he said, "I don't want to arouse Goritz yet. Ah! They have +slunk away again to get more timbers, I think." + +"And if they should succeed----?" + +"They must not. One man could hold the place indefinitely from the +protection of the gate. If the man would only wake!" + +But Strohmeyer slept on. + +"And Goritz?" she said anxiously. "Surely tonight he cannot be +sleeping." + +"Perhaps he is so sure of himself--yes--in the passage below I +heard--there was to be a signal--one stroke of the postern bell----" + +"But if the man sleeps----" + +"If they come again--no matter what happens, we must warn him," he +decided. + +"Sh----" + +Renwick felt his arm seized suddenly by Marishka's icy fingers and +turned, following her wild gaze into the room behind them listening. The +anxieties of the night had made Marishka's senses keen. "The door!" she +whispered. "The secret door by which you came!" + +Renwick listened. In a brief lull in the commotion outside, he heard a +slight sound, near and startlingly distinct like that of a rat in a +partition. Then in the blackness of the room, a gray streak appeared, +slowly widening. The door into the secret passage had opened, and the +starlight from the loophole beyond now showed a dusky silhouette. +Renwick felt Marishka's arm clutch his in terror, as Goritz noiselessly +stepped forward into the room. Renwick had instinctively drawn the +hanging behind him, and he and Marishka were in deep shadow while every +move that Goritz made was clearly defined. First he took a pace toward +the bed, then paused and turning struck a match and searched for the +candle. + +He was in shirt sleeves. Renwick had drawn his automatic and could have +shot him easily. But murder, in cold blood--even when his life and +Marishka's depended upon it! Renwick could not. He saw Goritz turn from +the lighted candle and stare toward the empty bed and then quickly +search the shadows of the room. It was a long moment before he saw the +blaze of the candle beside him reflected in Renwick's eyes which peered +down the barrel of his automatic. + +"What nonsense is this--Marishka----?" he began. + +But Renwick's voice cut the darkness like a steel blade. + +"Don't move--Goritz. Hands up--high!" + +"Who----?" + +"Hands up, I say----" And as he slowly obeyed, "Now turn toward the +bed----" + +Goritz was now staring at Renwick as though he had seen a ghost, but he +knew better than to take his hands down. + +"You----" he muttered. "You're----" + +"I'm Renwick," said the Englishman crisply. "Now do as I tell you +or----" + +He paused uncertainly, for at that moment, behind him through the window +came the deep boom of a bell. + +"The drawbridge!" cried Marishka. + +"Ah!" came from Goritz's throat as with an incredibly swift movement he +smothered the candle. Renwick fired twice and then threw Marishka to one +side, but there was a crash of the door in the wainscoting, and then +silence. + +"He has gone!" cried Marishka somewhere in the darkness. + +"Wait!" shouted Renwick. Some instinct warned him of the trick, and he +sprang aside just as Goritz darted at the spot where he had been. He +felt the rush of the man's body and turned, but did not dare to fire, +for fear of hitting Marishka, so he ran forward toward the window and +presently they met, body to body, clutching in primitive combat. The +man's hand went at his throat, but he wrenched it away again--again. His +arms went around the waist of his adversary low down, in the attempt to +raise him and bear him to the ground. Goritz was now striking furiously +at his head, and by this token Renwick knew that the man was unarmed. +Renwick's furious rush brought them with a thud against the wall, where +they fell, oversetting a table to the floor. Amid the broken furniture +they struggled, in the pitch blackness, with their bare hands, for +Renwick's weapon had been knocked from his fingers. In the rebound from +the wall Renwick fell beneath, Goritz with one hand upon his throat with +a grip which was slowly tightening, but Renwick managed to tear it away +and release himself, striking furiously at the man's face. Goritz was +young and strong, and Renwick's struggle up the cliff had taken away +some of his staying power, but he fought on blindly in the darkness; +grimly, like the bulldog that holds and ever tightens his jaws, no +matter what the punishment he suffers. The bulldog against the wolf. +Goritz was agile, and his arms were strong and wiry. He struck and tore, +but Renwick's arms were cracking his ribs, squeezing the breath from his +body. He struggled with an effort to one knee, and in the change of +position managed to get the fingers of one hand around Renwick's throat +again. They rolled over and over upon the floor, first one uppermost and +then the other, but the fingers on the Englishman's throat were strong. +Fires flashed before Renwick's eyes and the blood seemed to be bursting +from his temples. + +His grip was relaxing.... He felt his strength going. Then with his +remaining consciousness he was aware of a warm moisture upon one of his +wrists. Blood! Goritz had been struck by one of his bullets. With a +desperate effort, he let go one arm and struck. The man's grip relaxed +and he tore it away, gasping greedily for breath. + +Marishka in terror had at first slunk into a corner, listening to the +fearful sounds of the combat--following it with her ears from one part +of the room to another. What must she do? Gathering courage, she passed +the foot of the bed, and grasping for the table found the match box and +managed to light the candle. + +They were upon the floor near one of the windows over the valley, locked +in a deadly grip, breathing in terrible gasps. She must do something to +help--something--for as the glow fell upon them they seemed to struggle +upward against the wall by the window, upon the sill. She could not make +out which was which--but instinctively she seemed to realize their +deadly purpose--death for one or both on the rocks below! The hanging at +the window came crashing down and enveloped them, but they did not know. +They were drunk with the lust of killing--mad! + +Out of the confusion she saw Goritz rise smiling, straining with his +arms, hauling Renwick over the sill. Death! Hers, too, then! With a cry +of despair she reached them, clinging with her arms around Renwick's +waist. + +Goritz opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came forth. He might have +struck her down but he did not. Instead he rose with one foot upon the +sill in one supreme effort to throw Renwick over, but the Englishman, +already half out of the window, got his right arm loose, and swinging +with all the strength left to him, launched a terrible blow at his +adversary. It struck him on the point of the chin. Goritz staggered, +lost his balance, toppled for a moment in the air, his grip on the +Englishman's collar, which tore loose as he fell--out--into the black +abyss.... + +Renwick sprawled half across the wide sill, but Marishka clung +desperately, dragging him in--to safety. He toppled in upon the floor +and lay motionless while Marishka hovered over him. + +"Hugh----!" she cried. "Hugh!" + +Renwick struggled up slowly, trying to speak, but his chest heaved +convulsively, and he could only gasp meaninglessly. + +"All--right," he managed to utter after a moment. + +She got water and he drank of it. + +"You're hurt--you're covered with blood." + +"No, no----" he gasped, "winded." + +"But the blood!" + +"His. I had shot him--through the body." + +Marishka peered toward the window and shuddered. + +"His face--Hugh--I can't forget." + +Renwick struggled painfully to his feet. + +"Nor I. He almost did for me. If it hadn't been for you----" + +"You'd have followed him, Hugh!" And then almost inaudibly, "Holy +Virgin!" she whispered. + +Renwick moved his limbs to be sure that they were sound. + +"Close thing, that," he muttered. "Beastly close." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +BESIEGED + + +So desperate had been the struggle that they had forgotten the peril of +the drawbridge. Shots had already been fired in the courtyard but they +had not heard them. Now, as an awed silence fell upon them, at the +passing of Goritz and at their relief from immediate danger, they were +suddenly aware of the sounds of commotion outside near at hand, the +sharp crack of small arms, the cries of men and the booming of the +postern bell--calling Goritz--who would never come! + +Renwick staggered to the window over the courtyard, Marishka's hand in +his, and peered out. Somewhere a great fire was burning, for overhead +the sky was copper-colored with its reflections, and below they saw +dimly two figures crouching in the shadow of the postern gate. As they +looked, three men emerged from the wall of the causeway, carrying a +timber with which they approached the abyss, but as they neared the edge +a flash darted from the postern and the foremost man fell. The others, +with a rush, tried to cast an end of the heavy plank across the +intervening space, but it fell short and went crashing down into the +void below. + +"They may be able to hold out for a time," whispered Renwick, "long +enough to let us get away--come, Marishka--the ropes!" + +He took the candle, and she opened the door into the corridor which led +to the keep. Outside they met the old woman Ena, who was crouched upon +the floor by a window, wringing her hands, half dead with fear. But she +started up at the sight of Renwick, who led the way, and then looked in +astonishment at Marishka. + +"Who----?" she gasped, and paused. + +"A friend, Ena," said Marishka. "Do not fear." + +But she still regarded Renwick in terror, for his appearance, +disheveled, torn and bloody, was not one to inspire confidence. + +"The Herr Hauptmann----!" + +"He is dead," said Marishka quietly. + +"Dead! _Herr Gott!_" And she shrank back into her corner, her head in +her hands. + +But there was no time to delay. Renwick hurried Marishka down the stone +stairway to the Hall, whence they descended to a lower floor to the +storeroom. + +It was filled with a conglomeration of dusty odds and ends, boxes, +barrels, bottles innumerable, the relics of the hospitality of Baron +Neudeck, but at first they could see no sign of what they were seeking. +Above them shots sounded intermittently, and the roar of the distant +battle never ceased. Renwick searched feverishly while Marishka held the +candle above his head, overturning the dusty objects, and at last with a +cry of triumph found what they sought, a coil of heavy rope in a far +corner. He dragged it forth and examined it carefully. It was heavy and +long. Was it long enough? There was no way of telling except by +measuring in yard lengths, and no time to risk that. + +There had been a long interval of silence on the rampart above. Had +Windt succeeded in winning his way across? + +He raised the coil of rope from his shoulder with an effort and took the +candle from Marishka's hand, moving toward an arch to their left, +seeking a direct way to the boarded door into the crypt. It should be in +this direction--yes, the wine cellar--here it was--the boarded +partition. Marishka took the candle from his hand again while he +examined the fastenings--nails somewhat rusted, which would not resist +leverage. He found a piece of plank which he inserted in the edge of the +door and managed to pry it open a little, and then bracing a foot +against the stone wall, made an opening wide enough to admit them. + +So far, so well. They were within the crypt, but while Marishka waited, +Renwick pulled the partition back into place to hide their mode of +retreat if the gate above were taken. Then moving rapidly along the +tunnel they reached the steps which led to the watchtower, where Renwick +snuffed the candle; and they climbed, emerging at last among the ruins +with their precious rope. If they could get down they would crawl +through the bushes and undergrowth, making their way before daylight to +the house of the peasant who had sheltered him last night. Another sum +of money would secure their immunity--at least for the present. + +To the northward, the sky was vividly aglow with the reflection of the +flames of a burning house--fired perhaps by the shells of the Russians, +which still seemed to be bursting not far away. And now their acrid +fumes were poisoning the clean night-wind from the north. Below them in +the valley they still heard the sounds of passing transport, and the +hoarse calls of men. The battle for the head of the Pass was +desperate--but with such reenforcements, the Austrians would hold it. +The crackle of small arms after a slight lull rose in intensity to a +continuous roar. And while Renwick was making the end of his rope fast +around a huge granite block, there was a tremendous explosion which +seemed to tear the bloody sky to tatters. + +"A magazine or a mine," muttered Renwick. + +She smiled at him bravely, and resumed her watch of the windows of the +castle. Here in the open, hidden from the courtyard beyond the bulk of +the buildings, they could hear nothing of what was passing at the +drawbridge gate. The silence seemed ominous. Had Windt's men succeeded +in bridging the gap? As yet there were no signs of light in the castle +windows, except the lurid reflections of the northern sky. But in any +event there was no time to spare. Renwick tied a large knot and a loop +in the end of the rope and then carefully lowered it over the northern +wall, measuring its length by his arms, as it went over. Fifty yards, +sixty, seventy, eighty--when it stretched taut. Eighty yards! Sick with +anxiety, he crawled upon his stomach to the edge of the precipice and +peered over into the abyss. + +The rope swung like a giant pendulum from side to side. By the luminous +heavens he could just see the loop at its end--at least seventy feet +from the counterscarp. Seventy feet--or fifty or even twenty-five--for +Marishka sure death among the welter of jagged rocks below! + +Slowly he rose and faced her. She read the truth in his dejection. + +"The rope is too short," he muttered. + +She caught him by the hand. + +"I can climb down by----" + +"No, no," he said in sudden horror, "it is not to be thought of. You, at +least, are safe." + +"But you----?" + +"Perhaps something may happen. We can at least hide in the wall. They +may not find us. Come." + +He descended into the hole among the broken masonry and lowered Marishka +gently beside him, and there for a moment upon the stairs he held her in +his arms while they listened again for noise of pursuit along the dark +passage. Silence. + +She drew his head down until their lips met. + +"Your fate, Hugh--whatever it is--shall be mine." + +He smiled in the darkness. A love like this was worth fighting for. "We +shall win--somehow," he whispered, "we must!" + +Together slowly they retraced their steps to the crypt, where they +lighted the candle and listened again, and now, faintly above, they +heard the sound of a shot. + +"They have not won through yet, Marishka," he said. "My cause is +Goritz's now. We must hold the gate." + +"I am not afraid," she said. "We can still fight." + +He looked at her pale face in admiration, for the fire of resolution +glowed in her eyes. + +"Yes," he muttered grimly, "we can still fight." And then, "Are there +any weapons here?" + +"In the armory--come!" And she led the way up the stair. But as they +searched the Hall, Ena hobbled down the stone stairway from above, +shrieking, and threw herself at their feet. They could not make out +what she said, but Renwick rushed to the door and peered out toward the +postern. Upon the flagging, a figure lay motionless, and the other man +was nowhere to be seen. But worse than that, as though aware of their +advantage, in the causeway beyond, several men were advancing, bearing +another timber. Renwick's eye appraised the situation hurriedly and he +planned quickly, for delay would be fatal. As he reloaded the clip of +his automatic he ordered quickly. + +"Marishka, I have a plan. There are two joists at the foot of the +stair--not very heavy. You and Ena must bring them up here. Then get +what loaded weapons you can. Bring them here, too. Lose no time. I will +return." + +And leaving her, he dashed out of the door, and running to the right +gained the protection of the rampart, behind which he crawled toward the +gate. Where was the other man, the chauffeur, Karl? + +In a moment he learned. For as Renwick approached, the men upon the +other side succeeded in spanning the abyss, and one of them rushed over. +When the man was halfway across, a shot rang out from the gate and the +man on the board swayed and fell. Another followed and another shot rang +out, but the man still came on. + +Renwick, running forward, shouted a word of encouragement. He saw the +man Karl rise from his concealment and meet the fellow just as he +reached the gate, striking him a blow which made him lose his balance +and fall. Then he swung the end of the timber free and it fell into the +gorge as he sprang back to safety, but before he reached the protection +of the gate, several flashes darted from the causeway and the chauffeur +staggered and dropped forward upon his face just as Renwick reached him. + +"Your orders, Herr Hauptmann," he gasped. "But they're too many--my +cartridges--are gone----" He turned with a groan, and for the first time +saw Renwick's face. "You----" he muttered. "You're not----?" + +"It doesn't matter who I am. Are you badly hurt?" + +"_Donnerweiter!_ Yes--through the breast--I'm done for." + +But Renwick stepped past him and found a loophole through which he could +watch what was passing upon the other side of the abyss. + +The last disaster had robbed the besiegers of some of their enthusiasm, +for they had withdrawn to the other end of the causeway where they were +holding council. Searching the shadows of the wall for signs of any +others concealed near at hand, Renwick took the chance of leaving the +gate unguarded, and in the shadow of the wall rushed back to the Hall. +There he found Marishka with the two joists, waiting for him. + +"They've withdrawn," he said, "but they'll be coming on again in a +moment. We are alone, dear, to defend the gate. Can you help?" + +She was deathly pale, but she smiled at him bravely. He picked up the +two joists and carried them outside while she followed him, listening. + +"You on one side of the gate, I on the other. If they succeed in +throwing a timber across, we must push it off. In this way neither of us +need expose ourselves." + +"I understand--and there are rifles and shotguns." + +"Good! Can you load them?" + +"Strohmeyer loaded them while Karl kept the gate, but Ena was afraid to +take them out." + +"Then bring them. You're quite safe if you keep below the wall of the +rampart. Now go, dear--and God bless you!" + +He reached the gate before Windt's men returned to the attack, and put +one of his new weapons of defense upon each side of it. But he feared to +leave the gate again and crouched, waiting. Below in the valley the +commotion had increased and the sounds of firing went on unceasingly. It +seemed indeed, as Marishka had said, that the end of the world had come. +Beside him, the man Karl was breathing with difficulty. From his post at +the loophole, Renwick heard him mutter, and as the road was still clear, +he listened. + +"You're Renwick--the Englishman?" he whispered hoarsely. + +"I am." + +"And Herr Hauptmann Goritz?" + +"He is dead," replied Renwick. + +"_Ach--danke_," said the man. "It is well then--you too--soon----" + +He nodded forward, toppled sideways and lay still. + +The situation was desperate, and yet as Renwick thought calmly, he +gained courage. With Marishka upon one side and him on the other armed +with the joists, it would be difficult for the attackers to get a +lodgment for their bridges, for the stone outside the gate was quite +smooth, and little effort would be required to push their timbers down. +Both Strohmeyer and Karl had lost their lives by exposing themselves +unnecessarily. But with the two joists, both sides of the gate could be +commanded. In a moment, creeping under the protection of the wall, +Marishka joined him, bringing two rifles. + +"Are they coming?" she asked. + +"Not yet. But they will soon." + +He explained his plan more fully, then bade her go back for another +rifle, ammunition; and return in the protection of the opposite wall to +the post opposite. + +"They can do nothing unless they bring artillery," he said confidently. +"Don't expose yourself or look out, but if a plank comes over, push it +down." + +She smiled and slipped away into the darkness, and Renwick returned to +his loophole. The sky above was getting lighter, and a glance up the +mountain side to his left showed it already in clear profile against the +lightening east, which announced the coming of the dawn. And with the +dawn--light. Was this what the attackers were waiting for? + +He saw the gray figure of Marishka creep along the opposite wall, and in +a moment she was there, not ten feet away at her post, crouched in +safety and waiting. + +"On no account look through the loophole," he ordered. "As the light +grows, there will be men to shoot at them. Keep under cover. +Understand?" + +She only laughed hysterically. + +In a moment, as the light grew, he warned her that they were coming +again. + +"Keep in," he cried. "Don't try to look at the end of the----" + +The warning came just in time, for a fusillade of bullets swept the gate +and they heard the sounds of many men's voices as they came on the run. +Another fusillade which sent dust and fragments of stone flying all +about them! Then a timber crashed across, but before it settled into +place the two joists had pushed it off the smooth landing. At the same +time another volley was fired which would have surely found a mark if +Renwick had exposed himself, but Marishka matched her action to +Renwick's, crouching low, safe from observation, pole in hand, eagerly +watching her half of the gate. + +Another timber--which fell harmlessly and crashed down into the gorge, +and another volley--alike harmless to the defenders. High hopes rose in +Renwick. They could do nothing. Opposite him Marishka, forgetting all +her fears, had caught the contagion of successful resistance and +crouched, her jaws set, eyes sparkling, her slender hands grasping the +rough timber, undaunted and resolute. + +"Keep under cover----" he shouted, as another timber came across. + +This one was better cast and lodged squarely upon the stone lintel. They +both shoved at its end, but a man's weight already upon it made their +task difficult. + +"It is on my side. Push, Marishka!" + +He aimed his automatic past the edge of the gatepost and shot the +man--an Austrian soldier--just as he sprang for the landing. He fell +upon the stone, hung to the timber a moment, and fell. Renwick sprang +further out and emptied his clip at the next man, who gave a cry and +dropped. Renwick felt a stinging blow on his left arm, but before +another man began to cross Marishka managed to shove the timber clear +and it fell into the abyss below. + +They were safe for the moment. He looked at Marishka in the gathering +light. She was pale as death, but she did not show fear. + +"All right?" he asked anxiously. + +"Yes--yes," she gasped, "and you?" + +"Never better." + +His arm burned like a live coal, but the madness of battle was in his +blood and he did not care--so long as Marishka did not know of his +injury. The firing had ceased for the moment, as he crawled up and +peered through the loophole. + +"We've beaten them, Marishka," he cried triumphantly. "They've gone +back--I see no timbers. They're doing something. I can see quite plainly +now--fastening a handkerchief to the muzzle of a rifle." And as she rose +to look, "Don't expose yourself. It may be a trick. For God's sake keep +down." + +He picked up the magazine rifle beside him and thrust it through the +loophole, covering the two men who were advancing to the brink of the +abyss. In the pale light he marked the figure of Windt quite clearly. +The other man wore the uniform of an officer of Austrian infantry. And +now he heard the voice of the officer raised in parley. + +"Schloss Szolnok--a truce!" + +For reply Renwick thrust the muzzle of his rifle further through the +loophole. + +"In the name of the Emperor of Austria, I command you to deliver Herr +Hauptmann Leo Goritz." + +Renwick laughed madly. + +"I regret that that is impossible." + +"I beg that you will listen to reason. Austrian troops are all about +you. You cannot resist by daylight. If you will deliver the person of +Herr Hauptmann Goritz and Countess Strahni, we will leave you in peace." + +Renwick paused. Far below in the valley to his right, a new sound broke +the stillness of the early morning--rifle-fire close at hand, rapid +volleys, and then a scattering of shots which echoed with a new +significance up the mountain side. He peered through one of the +crenelations of the rampart beside him and could just see through the +morning mists the moving mass of rushing men,--horses--guns in mad +confusion. + +"Well, what is your reply?" came the voice of the Austrian officer. + +Renwick laughed again. + +"Why should you leave us in peace if you can take the drawbridge?" he +shouted. + +"Hauptmann Goritz is wanted on the charge of murder. I give you this +chance. Will you take it?" + +"I regret that it is impossible," replied Renwick. + +"Why?" + +"Because Herr Hauptmann Goritz is dead." + +"Dead? What assurances can I have that this is the truth?" + +"You have only to look at the foot of the cliff below." + +The two men consulted for a moment and then Herr Windt's voice was +heard. "Is Countess Strahni there?" + +"Yes--and quite safe." + +"And who are you?" + +"My name is Hugh Renwick, Herr Windt----" + +"Renwick--the Englishman----" he heard him gasp. + +"Precisely. And if you're going to take this gate, you'd better be in a +hurry about it--for the Russians are approaching." + +"Then you refuse?" + +"Positively." + +The Austrian officer saluted, and the two men marched up the causeway. +Marishka, on the other side of the gate, had started up and was +regarding him anxiously. + +"What you say, Hugh--it can't be that----" + +"It's true, dear," he almost shouted. "The Russians. They're coming +below there in the valley. I have just seen. The Austrians are in full +retreat. The army has been retreating all night, and we thought there +were reenforcements. If we can hold out a short while longer, we will be +safe. Are you frightened?" + +"No. Will they come again, you think?" + +"Yes. They'll hardly give up so easily. But keep down, Marishka, +further--in the corner. You can see as well. Ah! I wasn't mistaken. Here +they come!" + +Into the squad of Austrian soldiers advancing Renwick emptied the +magazine of his repeating rifle, and took up the other. Two men fell and +the remainder paused, only to be brought on by the Austrian officer who +led them, sword in hand. Renwick could have shot him easily, but he held +his fire and as the mass of men came on he saw them raise their rifles +to their shoulders. + +"Keep down!" he shouted to Marishka, "they're going to----" + +Dust and mortar flew from the ancient gate and behind in the castle, +windows crashed. + +"You are safe?" he shouted. + +"Yes," her voice replied. + +"Now watch the gateway." + +A plank came over, but profiting by their earlier experience, they +shoved it off before it came to rest. Another, a longer one, and +another, both of which found lodgment squarely between the gate posts. +Renwick sprang to the loophole; but the volley that followed spattered +harmlessly around him. + +He was a good shot with a rifle, and aimed deliberately, dropping the +first man that put his foot on the hazardous bridge. Gasping with her +exertions Marishka pushed the shorter timber over, but the longer one +jammed hopelessly against the gate post. + +"Hugh," she cried, "we are lost." + +But a strange thing happened then. For as the second man approached the +bridge and had even put one foot upon it, a shrill call rang out at the +other end of the causeway. + +"The retreat!" the officer shouted. "To the rear----" + +The look of relief upon the face of the brave fellow who was venturing +death upon the precarious timber was reflected in Renwick's own heart, +for he spared the man who, with a startled glance over his shoulder, +presently caught up with the rapidly vanishing Windt. Renwick rushed out +and lifting the dangerous timber hurled it down into the gorge. + +Then he caught Marishka by the waist and lifted her. + +"We're safe, dear--they've gone----" he cried. + +She turned one look up at him and then, slowly closing her eyes, sank +back helpless in his arms. + +"Marishka! It has been too much----" + +The blood flowed from a slight cut upon her cheek where she had been +struck by a piece of flying stone, but he saw that it was not deep. He +laid her gently upon the flagging, and ran to the Hall for water. There +he found Ena, crouched in a corner, more dead than alive. But he +commanded her to come and bring water and brandy, and she obeyed. + +Marishka had only fainted and the brandy soon restored her. + +"They've gone?" she asked of him. + +"Yes, dear. We're quite safe. Listen. The Russians are driving them down +the valley." + +He washed the wound in her cheek tenderly. + +"It will not scar you, Marishka," he smiled. "But if it does--an +honorable scar such as no woman of Austria wears." + +She touched it with her fingers and smiled. + +"I did not even know----" + +And then she saw the blood at his shoulder. + +"You're hurt?" + +"Only a scratch. It's nothing." + +But weak as she was she tore away the sleeve of his shirt, and made him +bathe and bind it with linen from her skirt. + +"Will the Russians come here, you think?" she asked. + +He smiled. + +"If they don't come to us," he said soberly, "we will go to them." + +She smiled. + +"'And your people shall be my people ... '" she murmured softly. + + * * * * * + +Galenski, Colonel of Russian cavalry, sat on his horse on a slight +eminence beside the road which descended from Dukla Pass into the valley +beyond, watching through a pair of field glasses the ramparts of an +ancient castle perched upon a crag. + +Beside him his regiment streamed down the hill at a hand gallop, its +gray coats flapping, as it spread out fanwise in the meadow below, its +lances lightly poised in pursuit of the fleeing Austrians. As a company +captain passed he called out a name, and the officer, with a word to his +lieutenant, galloped up and saluted. + +"Is not that Schloss Szolnok, Captain Kotchukoff?" + +"Yes, sir. You remember--the affair of Baron Neudeck." + +"Of course. I have been watching it, as we came down the road. Fighting +has been going on there for an hour or more." + +"Fighting?" + +"Yes. I don't understand. The Austrians were attacking it. I am certain +for I clearly made out the kepi of the infantry." + +"That is strange." + +"Is it possible that some of our advance posts could have occupied it?" + +"I should say that that was impossible." + +"We must investigate. Detach your company from the command and bring +your men up the road yonder. I will join you." + +Captain Kotchukoff saluted, wheeled his horse and galloped at full speed +down the road into the meadow, while Colonel Galenski trotted slowly +down the hill until he found a ford in the stream, and then slowly rode +up the hill beyond. + +"It is very strange," he muttered. + +As he reached the road above, the company of Captain Kotchukoff came +riding up, but he gave the command to walk their horses, and slowly, +Colonel and Captain riding in front, they approached the end of the long +causeway which led to the castle. That he had not been mistaken in his +observations was clearly to be seen, for several men lay either dead or +severely wounded in the middle of the walled road. As they neared the +drawbridge three more prostrate figures were seen, one of them hanging +almost on the lip of the abyss. + +The drawbridge was raised and beyond the gate another form lay beyond +the threshold. But as yet he saw no sign of life. Colonel Galenski +reined in his horse sharply, raised his hand, and behind him his captain +shouted the loud order to halt. + +At the sound a man suddenly appeared in the gate, and beside him a very +beautiful young woman. Colonel Galenski was a good officer, but the +fact, though of no military importance, was quite clearly to be noted--a +very beautiful woman. The man beside the girl was tall, and bore himself +well. But he was covered with grime and dust and his clothing was torn +and streaked with blood. One sleeve of his shirt was missing, and his +bare arm was bandaged just below the arm-pit with a bloodstained cloth. +And as he looked, the man smiled and saluted. + +Colonel Galenski returned the salute, and spoke in German. + +"You will lower the drawbridge if you please. I wish to enter." + +The man disappeared for a moment, the girl beside him, and presently, +with a loud clatter of rusty chains which made necessary some excellent +feats of horsemanship by the men of the company behind him, the +drawbridge crashed down, and Colonel Galenski rode forward through the +gate, followed by the company of horsemen, who wheeled by fours into +line and halted in the courtyard. + +Colonel Galenski dismounted, neglecting no detail of the signs of +combat, the bullet-scarred flagging, the broken rock, the timbers, the +two figures lying in the shadow of the wall of the gate. + +"From below, with my glasses, I saw the Austrians attacking your +drawbridge," he said. "There were many of them along the road. Your men +have well defended the position. Where are they?" + +The tall man smiled and took the beautiful young woman by the hand. + +"I beg to present you to my garrison," he said with a laugh. "Countess +Marishka Strahni--and--er----?" + +"Colonel Galenski of the Fifth Regiment--horse," said the Colonel with a +bow. "And you, sir--who are you?" + +The tall man extended a grimy hand to the immaculate Russian. + +"I will tell you that, sir, if"--and he laughed--"if you'll give me a +cigarette." + + + + +IN REGARD TO THE EVIDENCE IN THE CASE + + +If the reader of this book is not inclined to accept the _prima-facie_ +evidence as presented in the newspapers from official sources with +regard to the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand and his wife, the +Duchess of Hohenberg, he is referred by the publishers to the very +interesting article by Mr. Henry Wickham Steed called "The Pact of +Konopisht," printed in the _Nineteenth Century_ for February, 1916. Mr. +Steed, as is well known, was for twenty years the correspondent in +Vienna of the _London Times_, and is also the author of the latest and +presumably the most authoritative work in English on the +Austro-Hungarian government and the House of Habsburg. + +The facts presented in that article beginning with the open breach +between Franz Joseph and the Archduke on his marriage to Sophie Chotek; +the _entente_ between Kaiser and Archduke at Eckartzau and Potsdam; the +seizure of the Archduke's papers by the Austrian government after the +assassination; the instructions to the Sarajevo police from the military +authorities of Austria-Hungary to make no special arrangements for the +Archduke's protection; the fact that no evidence has ever been adduced +proving the complicity of the Serbian government; the funeral of the +Archduke and Duchess, at which no wreaths were sent by Emperor Franz +Joseph, by the Archduke's sister, or any member of the Austro-Hungarian +Imperial Family; the inadequacy of the formal arrangements for burial +and the obvious intention of the Court authorities to pay as little +honor as possible to the dead; the exclamation of the Kaiser, during +Kiel week when the news of the assassination was brought to him, "Now I +must begin all over again":--these facts must be considered as +circumstantial evidence of the most positive sort that the relations +between Archduke and Kaiser had been looked on with disfavor and +suspicion by the Imperial Family of Austria. What actually happened at +Konopisht of course will never be known, but there is strong presumptive +evidence that a pact of the character suggested in this story was made +in the rose garden of the castle and that Von Tirpitz was a witness to +it. + +Whatever the police records show with regard to Cabrinovitz and Prinzep, +the former, who threw the bomb, the latter who did the killing, no +successful effort has been made to show that they were employed by the +Serbian government, nor is it probable that Serbia would have promoted a +plot which would give Austria Hungary a pretext for assailing her, a +pretext that Austria Hungary had already sought. The story of the +beginnings of the Great War has shown how she found it. + + In the light of the ascertained facts concerning the production of + anti-Serbian forgeries employed by Austria during the annexation + crises of 1908-9, and exposed during the Friedjung trial of + December, 1909, it certainly would not be beyond the power of + Austro-Hungarian Secret Service agents to cook up a plot at + Belgrade or Sarajevo, were it considered desirable, for reasons of + Imperial policy, either to "remove" obnoxious personages or to + provide a pretext for war. + +The dream of an empire from Hamburg to Saloniki is as yet a dream, but +that it was dreamed in Potsdam no one doubts. + + * * * * * + +Books by George Gibbs + + The Secret Witness + Paradise Garden + The Yellow Dove + The Flaming Sword + Madcap + The Silent Battle + The Forbidden Way + The Bolted Door + Tony's Wife + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Secret Witness, by George Gibbs + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SECRET WITNESS *** + +***** This file should be named 25689.txt or 25689.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/6/8/25689/ + +Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + +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. 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