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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Men Who Wrought, by Ridgwell Cullum
+
+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 Men Who Wrought
+
+Author: Ridgwell Cullum
+
+Release Date: July 24, 2011 [EBook #36836]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MEN WHO WROUGHT ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Andrew Sly, Al Haines and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Frontispiece: He Moved a Step Nearer the Steel Rail.]
+
+
+
+
+
+THE
+
+MEN WHO WROUGHT
+
+
+By
+
+RIDGWELL CULLUM
+
+_Author of "The Night Riders," "The Way of the Strong," "The Law
+Breakers," etc._
+
+
+
+
+PHILADELPHIA
+
+GEORGE W. JACOBS & COMPANY
+
+PUBLISHERS
+
+
+
+
+Copyright, 1916, by
+
+George W. Jacobs & Company
+
+
+
+
+_All rights reserved_
+
+Printed in U. S. A.
+
+
+
+
+BY THE SAME AUTHOR
+
+  The Golden Woman
+  The Law-Breakers
+  The Way of the Strong
+  The Twins of Suffering Creek
+  The Night-Riders
+  The One-Way Trail
+  The Trail of the Axe
+  The Sheriff of Dyke Hole
+  The Watchers of the Plains
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+      I. The Danger
+     II. A Strange Meeting
+    III. The Mystery
+     IV. Mr. Charles Smith
+      V. The Lure
+     VI. The Old Mill Cove
+    VII. On the Grey North Sea
+   VIII. Borga
+     IX. The Friendly Deep
+      X. The Future
+     XI. Back at Dorby Towers
+    XII. Kuhlhafen
+   XIII. News
+    XIV. "Kamerads"
+     XV. The Ineradicable Strain
+    XVI. Enemy Movements
+   XVII. The Crouch of the Tiger
+  XVIII. From Beneath the Waters
+    XIX. The Tiger Springs
+     XX. Bar-Leighton
+    XXI. Enemy Movements
+   XXII. A Means of Escape
+  XXIII. The Wreck at Dorby
+   XXIV. Ruxton Arrives at a Great Decision
+    XXV. The Sweetness of Life
+   XXVI. Ruxton Wins a Trick
+  XXVII. The Week-End Begins
+ XXVIII. The Week-End
+   XXIX. The Close of the Week-End
+    XXX. Gazing Upon a New World
+   XXXI. After Twelve Months
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+He moved a step nearer the rail . . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_
+
+Out of the grey waters rose the submersible
+
+"Go on," he said sharply
+
+
+
+
+THE MEN WHO WROUGHT
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE DANGER
+
+
+"Amongst the many uncertainties which this deplorable, patched-up peace
+has brought us, there is, at least, one significant certainty, my boy.
+It's the inventor. He's buzzing about our heads like a fly in
+summer-time, and he's just about as--sticky."
+
+Sir Andrew Farlow sighed. His sigh was an expression of relief; relief
+at the thought that he and his son, dining together at Dorby Towers for
+the first time since the dissolution of Parliament had released the
+latter from his political duties, had at last reached the end of a long
+discussion of the position brought about by the hopelessly patched-up
+peace, which, for the moment, had suspended the three years of terrible
+hostilities which had hurled the whole of Europe headlong over the
+precipice of ruin.
+
+The great ship-owner toyed with the delicate stem of his liquor glass.
+There was a smile in his keen blue eyes. But it was a smile without
+lightness of heart to support it.
+
+"Yes, I know. They've been busy enough throughout the war--and to some
+purpose. Now we have a breathing space they'll spread like a--plague."
+
+Ruxton Farlow sipped his coffee. The weight of the recent discussion
+was still oppressing him. His mind was full of the appalling threat
+which the whole world knew to be overshadowing the future.
+
+The dinner was drawing to its close. The butler, grown old in Sir
+Andrew's service, had finally withdrawn. The great Jacobean dining-hall
+of Dorby Towers, with its aged oak beams and beautifully carved
+panelling, was lost in the dim shadows cast by the carefully shaded
+table lights. Father and son were occupying only the extreme end of the
+dining-table, which had, at some far-distant age, served to bear the
+burden of the daily meals of half a hundred monks. There were no other
+lights in the room, and even the figures of the two diners were only
+illuminated by the reflected glow from the spotless damask on the
+table, a fashion to which the conservative habits of the household
+still ardently clung. It was a fitting setting for such a meeting as
+the present.
+
+Sir Andrew Farlow, Baronet, was one of the greatest magnates of
+shipping and ship-building in the country, and was also one of the
+greatest sufferers by the German submarine warfare during the late war.
+His extreme wealth, and the fact of the enormous Government contracts
+in his ship-building yards, had left him practically immune from the
+consequences of his losses, but the losses to his fleet had been felt
+by the man, who was, before all things in the world, a shipmaster.
+
+His son, and only partner, had spent those past three years in the
+service of his country. Not in the actual fighting line but in the work
+of organization, an important position which his wealth and capacity
+had entitled him to.
+
+Sir Andrew pierced and lit a cigar.
+
+"We mustn't ridicule them, though," he said, in his hearty Yorkshire
+way. "We've laughed at 'em too often in the past. It's a laugh which
+cost our country a couple of thousand millions, and a world-wide
+suffering which mankind will never forget." Then his manner lightened.
+"Henceforth the inventor must be to us a rare and precious orchid. We
+must spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on him, the same as I spend
+thousands on my orchid houses. I count myself well repaid if I succeed
+in raising one single perfect bloom on some rare plant. That is, if my
+rivals have failed with the same plant. The inventor is the orchid of
+modern civilization, and the perfect blooms he produces are very, very
+precious and--rare."
+
+"You are thinking of those diabolical engines of destruction which were
+prepared for this war."
+
+Ruxton helped himself to a cigar.
+
+"On the contrary, I am thinking of the defence, not the offence, of
+this old country of ours."
+
+The younger man nodded as he lit his cigar.
+
+"That is it. We must prepare--prepare. We have only a breathing space
+for it."
+
+"There must be no more slumbering."
+
+"And no more sacrificing the country to self-seeking demagogues."
+
+"Yes, and no more slavery to Party prejudices, as antique as the
+timbers of this house."
+
+"Nor the knaveries of men who seek power through dividing the country
+into classes, and setting each at the other's throat."
+
+"Nor must we ever again allow the nation's security, economic or
+military, to be hurled into the cockpit of Party politics."
+
+"Gad! It makes me shiver when I think how near--how near----"
+
+"We were to destruction," added Sir Andrew gravely.
+
+It was again a moment of intense thought. Each man was regarding from
+his own view-point that intangible threat inspired by the
+unsatisfactory termination of the war, which left the Teutonic races in
+a position to brew further mischief with which to flood the world.
+
+The pucker of thought, the drawn brows, completed the likeness of Sir
+Andrew Farlow to England's national symbolic figure. His broad
+shoulders and shortish figure; his round, strong, Yorkshire face, with
+its crowning of snow-white, curly hair, and the old-fashioned, crisp
+side whiskers made him a typical John Bull, even in his modern evening
+dress.
+
+In the case of his son Ruxton it was almost in every respect an
+antithesis.
+
+No foreigner would have taken Ruxton Farlow for anything but an
+Englishman, just as no Englishman but would have charged him with
+possessing foreign blood in his veins. And the Englishman would have
+been right.
+
+Sir Andrew Farlow had spent a brief married life of a few months over
+one year with one of the most beautiful women amongst the Russian
+nobility, and the birth of his son left him a widower.
+
+From his mother young Ruxton had inherited all those characteristics
+which foreign Europe assigns to the British born; his great size, his
+fair, waving hair and his darkly serious eyes. These things all came
+from his Russian mother, who had possessed them herself in a marked
+degree. Furthermore he inherited other qualities which could never be
+claimed for his Yorkshire father. The boy from his earliest childhood
+was an idealist: an idealist of but a single purpose which developed
+into a brilliant specimen of the modern product of an old-fashioned
+patriotism.
+
+But he brought more to bear upon his patriotism than the mere
+passionate devotion to his country. He was a fine product of public
+school and university with the backing of a keen, well-balanced brain,
+and a natural aptitude for statecraft in relation to the rest of the
+world. He saw with eyes wide open to those interests dearest to his
+heart, and clearly, without one single smudge of the fog of personal
+self-interest.
+
+"It's never out of my thoughts, Dad," Ruxton said at last. "It is with
+me at all times. It is the purpose of my life to devote myself to, and
+associate myself with, only those who will place their country before
+all else in life."
+
+"An ideal difficult to realize in Great Britain," observed his father
+drily.
+
+"Do you think that? Do you really think that?"
+
+Sir Andrew stirred impatiently.
+
+"It is not what I think. It is not what any of us think. It is what we
+see and hear--and _know_. This war has shown up so many weaknesses in
+the armor of our social economy as well as the psychology of our people
+that one hardly knows where to hurl one's condemnation the most
+forcefully. So many weaknesses and failures stand out crying aloud for
+the bitter castigations of national conscience that it is difficult to
+point out one worthy feature. Oh, you think that too sweeping," cried
+the baronet with flushed rugged cheeks and brow, as his son raised
+questioning eyes in his direction. "That is what every other man and
+woman in the country would say in their purblind vanity. But it is
+true. True of the country. True of us all. There is one thing which
+appeals to me as our greatest failure, however. One failure preeminent
+over all others that has sunk deep down in my heart, and the scar of
+which can never be obliterated. I was brought up in the early Victorian
+days when patriotism was no mere head-line in a sensation-loving press.
+It was something real. Something big. Something which gripped the sense
+of duty and made our men and women yearn for active participation when
+danger threatened our Empire, even to the sacrifice of all they held
+dear in life. That national spirit was sick to death when this war
+broke out. Our press was divided, our politicians were divided, and,
+yes, our people were largely indifferent. But for the strength of a few
+of our leaders, men who have deserved far better of our country than
+our country has ever yielded them, thanks to indifference and Party
+politics, the end of this war would have come with even more terrible
+consequences to our Empire than all that is signified by the position,
+almost approaching _in status quo ante_, in which we now find
+ourselves. The ramifications of our lack of national spirit are so
+multifarious that it is impossible to go into them as a whole. One or
+two, however, are so prodigious, and have been so pronouncedly marked,
+that the veriest optimist has not failed to observe. One which stood
+out remarkably was the attitude of the reigning Government when war was
+declared. Every newspaper cried aloud that our ranks had closed up to
+meet the peril. They did close up, as far as the will of the country
+was concerned, but our machinery was geared to certain movement, a
+machine built through years of partizanship in politics. The result was
+pitiful. When the party in power was faced with Labor troubles which
+threatened our downfall in the war, they dared not face their task of
+drastic remedy because they saw in the dim future the loss of votes
+which would return their opponents to power at the next election. Hence
+the political crisis, at a time when we could ill afford such crises,
+and the formation of a coalition. Ten months were thus lost in drifting
+while Labor played, and our soldiers, inadequately armed, went to their
+deaths. The press, a divided press, mark you, sought a scapegoat in the
+individual, when they, no less than our national machinery, were to
+blame for the disaster. Is such a condition conceivable in a fervent
+Latin race, or an iron-shod Teuton? No, no. Is it right to blame Labor,
+who, for the past decade and more, has been coddled and pampered into
+the belief that like any baby in its cradle it has only to cry loud
+enough to obtain the alleviating fluid? It at least has cunning enough
+to realize that its weight of vote in the country is sufficient to
+control the destiny of the demagogues who seek place and power through
+its ignorance. Man, but it makes me sweat to think of it. National
+spirit? Faugh! Look at the manufacturers. Patriotism? They were full of
+newspaper patriotism until those who were executing Government
+contracts discovered that their profits were to be limited. The Army?
+Our voluntary system? The Army was all right. Oh, yes, the Army was
+great. But the system? The system was probably the most painful among
+all our national systems. The most hopelessly inadequate. And, from a
+national spirit view, was hideously grotesque. But the men who joined
+and shed their blood upon those terrible battle-fields abroad were as
+the worker in the vineyard who engaged for one penny. They gave their
+all, and made up in the execution of their duty for those who sheltered
+behind the skirts of their womenkind, and the race of shopkeepers they
+left behind. The spirit of our country when the war broke out was a
+sordid commercial spirit. 'Business as usual' was the cry. Then our
+press, our wonderful divided press, said the country was not awake. It
+was slumbering! I tell you it was a lie!" The old man banged his fist
+upon the table and set the glasses jumping. "Our country was not
+asleep. Every man, woman, and child capable of common understanding
+realized our peril from the start. It was the hateful commercial mind
+seeking to make gain out of the disaster which had overtaken the world,
+that mind that has acquired for us the detestable sobriquet of 'a race
+of shopkeepers,' that hindered and deterred us. We were not slumbering.
+We were awake. Wide awake! To think that I have lived to see the day
+when our women's fair hands should be called upon to distribute the
+white feather. Our present-day musicians and our national bards will
+tell you that the old songs of England are out of date. They are right.
+Our girls and boys look askance at your Marryats, your Dickenses, your
+Thackerays, your Stevensons, and all those great masters who found
+their strength in our country's greatest ages. When war broke out we
+were floundering in the mire of sensualism brought about by the years
+of peace and security, and so we bred the cult of the sensualist
+writers on sex problems, and all the accompaniment of the other arts to
+match."
+
+The white-haired veteran, who had spent his early youth fighting his
+country's battles on the Empire's frontiers, and, in later days, had
+devoted all his energies to the furthering of Britain's supremacy on
+the seas, passed one strong hand over his lined brow. He swallowed like
+a man choking back an emotion threatening to overwhelm him. Then the
+flush died out of his rugged cheeks, and he smiled at the son he loved,
+and who was his one remaining relative. "Forgive me, my boy, but--but
+all I've said is true. I don't think many will deny it. Anyway those
+who do are lying to their own consciences, or--or are purblind in their
+insane egoism."
+
+Ruxton smiled responsively and thrust back his chair.
+
+"There's no forgiveness needed, Dad," he said. "You have quoted but a
+few of the hundred signs, of which we all have proof, that when war
+broke out patriotism had only the smallest possible part in the life of
+this country. From the beginning to the end of this war England has had
+to pay out of her coffers, to those of her people whose services she
+needed, a price so extortionate that one wonders if it is not all some
+hideous nightmare and in truth unreal. But tell me, Dad," he went on
+after a pause, "you spoke just now of inventors, and your manner
+suggested that there was something--important."
+
+Sir Andrew rose from the table and led the way towards the distant
+folding doors.
+
+"Well, I don't know if it will prove to be anything--worth while."
+
+He fumbled at an inner pocket of his dinner coat, and produced a letter
+written on thin paper. When they reached the great hall and stood under
+the brilliant electrolier he unfolded it and held it out for his son's
+perusal.
+
+"I get lots of them," he said almost apologetically, "and few enough
+turn out worth while. This one reads a little different. That's all."
+
+
+"Sir,
+
+"You are a great shipmaster. You owned a fleet of merchant shipping
+when war broke out of forty-two coastwise and thirty-five ocean-going
+ships. At the end of the war you owned thirteen coastwise and
+twenty-one ocean-going traders. I have a means of saving you any such
+loss by submarine in the future. May I be permitted to show you my
+invention?
+
+"Truly yours,
+  "Charles Smith.
+
+"P.S.--Absolute secrecy is necessary. A simple 'yes' addressed by wire
+to Veevee, London, will be sufficient."
+
+
+"The wording of it is so unusual that it--interested me," Sir Andrew
+went on, as Ruxton began to read the letter a second time.
+
+Presently the younger man looked up from his reading.
+
+"That's your imagination working, Dad," he said, smiling. Then he
+added: "Let it work. Let it run riot. That's what we want in
+England--now. I should see this man. I think he is a foreigner--in
+spite of his English name."
+
+The John Bull face of the elder man wreathed into a warm smile as he
+looked up at his towering son.
+
+"I had decided to," he said quietly.
+
+Ruxton handed him back the letter. Then he moved across to the great
+mullioned window and looked out upon the perfect summer night. The moon
+was shining at its full and not a cloud was visible anywhere.
+
+"I have some letters to write, my boy," Sir Andrew went on. "If you
+want me I shall be in the library. What are you going to do?"
+
+"I think I shall take a stroll along the cliffs. It'll do me good, Dad.
+I want to feel our beloved Yorkshire cliffs under my feet again, and
+make sure they're--still there."
+
+Ruxton laughed.
+
+"The General Election is on August 21st, isn't it?" his father enquired
+presently. "You've got seven weeks in which to recuperate, and get the
+cobwebs blown off you."
+
+"I always get rid of bad fancies up here in my native air," Ruxton said
+lightly. "I'm glad we haven't a strenuous campaign."
+
+"No. We shall win all right."
+
+"Win?" Ruxton laughed. "The National Party will sweep the polls. Labor
+will be opposed to us as Labor will oppose any party. They will always
+be with us. But even if the extreme Radicals were to link forces with
+them, they couldn't obtain a twenty-five per cent. representation. No,
+Dad, whatever the country failed to realize during the first two years
+of war, it's been all brought home to it now. The English housewife has
+been driven to a sweeping and garnishing of her home. We've driven her
+to that, and the National Party is--_going to see she does it
+thoroughly_."
+
+The younger man's enthusiasm drew an approving smile from his father.
+Also a world of pride in this great, fair-haired idealist shone in his
+eyes.
+
+"Sweep and garnish. That's it, boy," he said ardently. "And what a
+sweeping, what a garnishing is needed. I wonder. Can it be done?"
+
+"That is what we intend to test. It is to that great effort my
+colleagues have pledged their lives. I have pledged mine to another. I
+tell you, Dad, that the sweeping and garnishing isn't sufficient. That
+is only the moral side of the campaign that lies before us, and without
+it the other side can never be achieved. But all my future is to be
+given up to the material security side of the problem. It may be only
+my dreaming, but I seem to see a terrible threat sweeping up over the
+eastern horizon. A threat so appalling for us as to make the late war
+almost insignificant. Some day, if you have the patience to listen to a
+dreamer, I will tell you of the dread that persistently haunts me.
+Meanwhile we have that--breathing space."
+
+Without troubling himself to get a hat Ruxton Farlow passed through the
+entrance hall, out into the brilliant, warm summer night, and strode on
+towards his destiny.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+A STRANGE MEETING
+
+
+The peace of the night knocked vainly at the heart of the man as he
+moved along over the grass-grown cart track, which skirted those fields
+abutting on the pathway marking the broken line of the lofty Yorkshire
+cliffs.
+
+The warmth of the July air left him utterly forgetful of the light
+evening clothes in which he was clad, just as the grass-grown track
+failed to remind him that the shoes he wore had never been intended for
+country rambles. The soft sea breeze fanned his cheeks, and the bracing
+air added vigor of body if it left his mental feelings wholly
+uninspired.
+
+For the time, at least, Ruxton Farlow was living within himself. His
+mental digestion was devouring hungrily of that force which had come to
+make his contemporaries realize that here was a man of that unusual
+calibre which must ultimately make him a leader of men in whatever walk
+of life he chose for that strenuous journey.
+
+The full moon, shedding a ghostly glory on every hand, yielded him the
+necessary guidance for his footsteps. It served his purpose, but its
+beauty for once left him unimpressed. The diamond-studded sky suggested
+no jewel-bedecked cloak of mysterious night as at other times it was
+wont to appeal. All romance was dead for the time, as though the
+shutter of his mental camera had been closed with a slam for the
+development of the plates within which held those living, grim pictures
+of the life he felt himself surrounded by on every hand.
+
+He passed the last stile and faced the open sea. That smooth limitless
+expanse, sighing and restless, as it gently rocked its bosom like some
+aged crone nursing the infant she was too old to bear herself. He flung
+himself full length upon a rustling bed of heather. His head was
+towards the sea, and craning over the very edge of the dizzy cliff.
+There was no thought in his mind of the dangerous proximity. He had
+known these cliffs almost from his birth up. They were the friends of
+his whole life, and their possible latent treachery was unthinkable to
+him. He propped his face between his two hands and sank his elbows deep
+into the heather. Then, like some schoolboy, his feet were raised
+behind him, and crossed, while his eyes searched that mysterious
+horizon lost in the shadows of a perfect night.
+
+It has been said that Ruxton Farlow was an idealist. But let there be
+no misapprehension about it. His idealism was practical and full of
+sanity. He was no visionary. His mind was ever groping for the material
+welfare of his country. The moral welfare, he felt, should be in hands
+far more capable in that direction than his life and learning had made
+his. It had been his habit of life to feed his mind upon hard and
+incontrovertible facts which bore upon the goal of his ideals. He
+accepted nothing which was merely backed by academic logic. He demanded
+the logic of practice. Theory was impossible to him, unless that theory
+was demonstrated in practice. Thus it was he kept his mind alert for
+facts--and again facts.
+
+The facts which concerned him at the moment were many, and he found in
+them all, when arranged in due order, one stream like some rushing
+river which raced on its tempestuous way to the wide sea of disaster
+beyond.
+
+The starting-point of his facts was the truth that no modern
+combination of force, however superlative its effort, could crush out
+of international existence the power of two peoples with aggregate
+populations of virile strength of some hundred and odd million souls.
+The war had proved that. And the only possible peace resulting from it
+had added the conviction that, from a peace point of view, the war had
+proved utterly useless and damaging. Besides the enormous expenditure
+of treasure and the vast sacrifices of human life, it had given the
+world a nominal peace backed by an aggravation of international hatred
+and spleen a thousand times greater than had ever been known in history
+since the days of bare-limbed savagery.
+
+What then was the outlook? The man stirred with that nervous suggestion
+of a disturbed mind. War--war! On every hand war--again. Once again all
+the moral development of the human race towards those higher planes of
+light, learning, and religious ideals was shadowed by the spectre which
+during the last three years had flung men back to the shadows of an
+ancient savagery and barbarism.
+
+The savage mind of the Teuton had broken out into a fierce
+conflagration of barbarism. Again it would smoulder, like some
+slumbering volcano, only to break out again when the arrogance of the
+German heart told it that the time was ripe to avenge the indignity of
+its earlier failure.
+
+Ruxton Farlow accepted this as his basis of fact, and followed the
+river down its turbulent course towards that sea of disaster which he
+already saw looming ahead. It required no imagination. The course was a
+straight one, straight as the crow flies. For that passion of hatred
+which inspired the flood brooked no obstruction to its course. It
+clamored for its goal and swept all side issues out of its path. Great
+Britain lay in that sea beyond. Great Britain, who, in German eyes,
+owned the earth, and incidentally had snatched even those inadequate
+colonies from her bosom, which, through long years of diplomatic
+trickery, she had contrived to acquire. The Prussian passion for
+conquest had been changed through the late war to the passionate
+national hatred of the German people against Great Britain. This was
+clear. So clear that the light which shone upon it was painful to his
+mental vision.
+
+What then was the resulting position of the country he loved? The
+lessons of the war were many--so many. Yet preeminently outstanding was
+one fact which smothered all others in its significance, and reduced
+them all almost to nothingness. His father had dwelt upon the lack of
+national spirit when war broke out. That had been remedied. The country
+had changed during those three years of suffering and sacrifice. No,
+his father had missed the great lesson. Yet it was so simple--so simple.
+
+The man raised his head higher, and folded his arms under him as a
+support. He gazed down at the calm summer moonlit sea. So calm, so
+peaceful, so--seductive to the straining mind.
+
+He began to realize the yearning of the suicide for the peace beyond
+life. How easy to solve all problems. How easy to rid oneself of the
+duties, the harassing, cruel duties imposed by the Creator of all life.
+The soft murmur of the breaking swell upon the beach below. One plunge
+beneath that shimmering surface and--nothing. In that instant there
+flashed through his mind a memory of just such another sea. The perfect
+summer sea. The great ship, one of the wonders of the age. A stealing
+trail of foam across the glass-like surface. An explosion. Then fifteen
+hundred souls solve the problem of that--nothing! Ah, that was it. That
+was the Danger. He knew. Every thinking human being knew that if
+Germany had begun war with a fleet of some three or four hundred
+submarines, three weeks would have terminated the war so far as Britain
+was concerned.
+
+He moved over on to his side, and his movement was a further expression
+of nervous tension. He propped his head upon one hand with his eyes
+fixed on the vague horizon beyond which the Teutonic giant was
+peacefully slumbering, and his thought was spoken aloud.
+
+"Is he slumbering?" he asked of the sea. "Is he? Will he ever sleep
+again? No, I think not. Not at least while there is a chance that his
+intelligence behind the machine can render an island home untenable."
+
+"Night claims from the overburdened soul the truth which daylight is
+denied."
+
+Ruxton Farlow sat up with a jolt. His dark, searching eyes were turned
+from the sea. They were turned in the direction whence the voice, which
+had answered him, had proceeded. In the brilliant moonlight he saw the
+outline of a figure standing upon the footpath which ran parallel to
+the coast-line. The figure was not quite distinct, but it was clearly a
+woman's, which corroborated the conviction he had received at the sound
+of the voice.
+
+"But for once she has betrayed her--trust," he said, and a feeling of
+irritation swept over him that he had permitted himself to respond to
+the challenge of this stranger, who was probably something in the
+nature of one of life's vagrants, wandering homeless over the deserted
+ways of the countryside.
+
+Then he discovered to his further annoyance that his response had
+brought forth its logical result. The figure was moving towards him,
+and as it drew near he became aware of that delightful feminine rustle
+which no man ever yet found unseductive.
+
+The woman made no verbal reply until she was standing before him.
+Ruxton was still sitting on the heather, but his eyes were wide with
+astonished admiration, and his clean-shaven lips were parted, which
+added to his whole expression of incredulous amazement.
+
+The woman standing before him was no vagrant, unless a vagrant could
+possess a queenly presence, and an attire which suggested the best
+efforts of London or Paris. He stared, stared as might some schoolboy
+budding into manhood at the sight of a perfect womanhood. Then, in a
+moment, questions raced through his head. Who was she, and where--where
+did she come from? What freak of fortune had set her wandering those
+cliffs alone--and at night?
+
+She was beautifully tall and crowned with a royal wealth of hair which
+remained hatless. Its color was not certain in the moonlight, but
+Ruxton felt that it must be red-gold. He could think of no other color
+which could match such a presence. Her figure, sharply outlined in the
+moonlight, was superb. It suggested all he had ever seen in those
+ardent dreams of youth. Her face possessed something of the reflected
+glory of the moon lit by eyes whose color was hidden from him, but
+which shone like great dull jewels full of a living fire.
+
+All these things he realized in one swift comprehensive glance. But in
+another moment his whole attention was absorbed by the rich voice, the
+tones of which were like the softest music of some foreign southern
+land.
+
+"It is scarcely fair to blame the night," she said, in smiling protest.
+
+All unprepared for the encounter Ruxton had nothing but a stupid
+monosyllable to offer.
+
+"No," he said, and a sigh somehow escaped him.
+
+Then, in a moment, the blood was set swiftly pulsating through his
+veins.
+
+"May I sit down?" the woman enquired. "I have had a long walk, and am a
+little tired," she added in explanation.
+
+But she waited for no permission. And somehow Ruxton felt that her
+expression of weariness was far below the mark. She appeared quite
+exhausted.
+
+"You are more than a _little_ tired," he said, with urgent solicitude.
+
+Now that her face was nearer to his level he could see that she was
+indeed very, very beautiful. Her eyes were large and almost oriental in
+their shape. Her cheeks were as delicate as the petals of a lily. The
+contour of her whole face was a perfect oval with just sufficient
+lengthening to give it character.
+
+She did not deny him. But a smile lit her eyes.
+
+"This is delicious," she said, with a sigh of content, turning her face
+towards the sea, and drinking in deep draughts of fresh, salt air.
+
+Ruxton endeavored to gather his faculties, which had been completely
+scattered by the thrilling shock of the encounter. He felt himself to
+be like a callow youth of seventeen rather than a man of over
+thirty-five, a man whose public life had made intercourse with women of
+society a matter of every day.
+
+"You have had a long walk?" he enquired wonderingly. "But at night? On
+these cliffs? You are ten miles from Dorby, and there is no habitation
+between--except Dorby Towers. Beyond this there is a village or two,
+but no railway for miles." He had made up his mind that she did not
+belong to this district. Her costume was still in his thoughts.
+
+"I did not come from Dorby. Nor from any of those villages. Still, I
+have had a long walk. I have been on my feet nearly three hours."
+
+As she offered no further explanation Ruxton urged her.
+
+"Will you not explain--more?"
+
+"Is it needed?"
+
+The woman faced round, and her Eastern eyes were smiling frankly into
+his.
+
+Ruxton had no alternative. He desired none. The situation had suddenly
+gripped him. He was caught in its toils, and delighted that it was so.
+This woman's beauty, her frank unconventionality, were wholly charming.
+He asked nothing better than that she should satisfy her whim, and sit
+there, beside him, talking--talking of what she pleased so long as he
+listened to the rich music in her voice, and could watch the play of
+her beautiful, mobile features.
+
+"No," he said deliberately. "There is no need." Then he made a
+comprehensive gesture with one hand. "The night is beautiful, it is a
+night of romance and adventure. Let us forget there are such things as
+conventionality, and just--talk. Let us talk as this silver night
+prompts. Let us try and forget that painful thought which daylight
+brings us all. As you say, the night is the time of truth, while
+daylight demands the subterfuge which conceals it."
+
+But the woman did not respond to his invitation. A little pucker of
+sudden distress marred her brows.
+
+"Conventionality. I had forgotten," she said. Then her manner became
+suddenly earnest. She leant slightly forward, and her shining eyes
+warned Ruxton of the genuineness of their appeal. "Yes, I had truly
+forgotten," she went on. "Will you--will you forget for the moment
+there is the difference of sex between us? Will you forget that I am a
+woman who has wilfully thrust her presence upon a man, a stranger, and
+laid herself open to a dreadful interpretation of her actions? Will you
+simply regard me as some one who is striving to unravel those tangled
+skeins, which, just now, seem to be enveloping a helpless humanity,
+and, in her effort, has sought out the only man whom she feels can help
+her--Mr. Ruxton Farlow, the man who will one day rise to be a great
+ruler in his country?"
+
+"You sought me out?" enquired Ruxton, ignoring the tribute so frankly
+spoken.
+
+"That is why I have been on my feet for three hours. Will you do as I
+have asked?"
+
+The charm of this beautiful creature was greater than the man knew. The
+situation, as she put it, was wholly impossible. Yet her fascination
+was such that he was impelled to hold out his hand.
+
+"For the time, at least, we are comrades in a common cause," he said,
+smiling. "My hand on it."
+
+The woman laid a white-gloved hand in his, and the thought in the man's
+mind was regret at the necessity for gloves.
+
+Ruxton stretched himself out on the heather again. This time he was on
+his side, supporting his head upon his hand and facing her. The moon
+was shining full down upon her uncovered hair, and illuminating the
+perfect features which held the man's gaze.
+
+"And now for the tangled skein," he said with attempted lightness,
+while his eyes lit whimsically.
+
+"Ruxton Farlow doesn't need a woman to point the dreadful tangle in
+which humanity is involved--just now. He knows more of the threads than
+perhaps any man of his country. He was thinking of them when he was run
+to earth here upon this scented waste of Nature's riot. He was probably
+pulling apart the wretched threads himself, seeking hope in his
+endeavor, hope for the future, hope for the future of this land we both
+love, and for its people. Doubtless he, as others, has found the task
+something more than arduous, and no doubt he has searched the scene
+that lies below him, yearning for that peace of mind which oblivion has
+yielded in recent days to so many souls which have passed beneath the
+shining surface which encircles this iron-bound coast."
+
+Ruxton's eyes devoured the entrancing animation which accompanied the
+words. An added amazement had leapt within him. She had fathomed his
+secret feelings as his eyes had searched the surface of the shimmering
+summer sea. Her understanding was even more uncanny than had been her
+sudden apparition. Who was she? he kept reiterating to himself. Who?
+And where did she come from?
+
+"I felt all that," he found himself saying.
+
+"I know. I have felt it all, too. But your feeling had no inspiration
+in cowardice. It is the mind of the imaginative that sees an
+exaggeration in all that offends the sensibilities. It is the mind that
+distorts with painful fancy the threat which has not yet fallen. It is
+the mind which is inspired by a heart strong with hope, which in its
+turn owes its inspiration to a spirit possessed of a great power to do.
+Of such spirit are the leaders of men. Their mental agony is theirs
+alone, they suffer and do for those others who do not possess power to
+do for themselves."
+
+The woman's eyes were turned upon the distant horizon again. Their gaze
+was introspective, and she talked as she thought, regardless for the
+time of the man beside her.
+
+But he was more mindful. No word of hers was lost upon him. He was
+marvelling at her depth of understanding, he was marvelling at her
+simplicity of expression. And, through it all, he was noting and
+endeavoring to place that suggestion of foreign intonation in her
+perfect English accent. More and more was this splendid creature
+becoming an enigma. More and more was he becoming absorbed in her, and
+more surely was his promise of simple comradeship becoming an
+impossibility.
+
+"And the threat--which inspires these phantasms?" he said, as the
+musical tones ceased, and the murmur of the sea came up to them in
+their eyrie.
+
+"It is a reality."
+
+Ruxton stirred. He sat up once more, and his gaze, for the moment, left
+the beautiful profile, and wandered towards the eastern horizon.
+
+"I know," he said simply.
+
+"I have seen," came the impressive rejoinder.
+
+Ruxton's eyes came back to the woman's face.
+
+"Will you tell me?"
+
+His request was made without a shadow of excitement. That was his way
+when confronted with a crisis. Now he understood why she had worn
+herself to weariness for three hours on her feet. But for all the
+interest of the moment his mind was still questioning--Who?
+
+"The telling would be worthless. It would convey simply--words. There
+is better than telling."
+
+"But the world is at peace now," Ruxton suggested.
+
+"It was at peace before, when--the telling came from all ends of the
+world."
+
+"And no one listened."
+
+"Those who could have helped refused to hear. And those who heard were
+powerless."
+
+"So now you come----?"
+
+"To one who, eschewing all that his wealth and position could give him
+of life's leisure and delight, has dedicated his whole future to the
+land I--have learned to love."
+
+"And what would you have me do?" Ruxton was smiling, but behind his
+smile was a brain searching and hungry.
+
+"Do? Ah, that is it." The woman turned swiftly. All her calm had been
+caught up in a hot emotion. Her eyes were wide and shining as she leant
+towards him and searched his fair face and dark eyes. "There is peace
+as you said. But it is only words written upon paper with ink that is
+manufactured, and by a pen also manufactured. The whole peace is only
+manufactured. There is no peace in the hearts of the leaders of
+nations, only hate, which has inspired a passionate yearning for
+revenge, a passion which has intensified a thousandfold all effort
+towards the destruction of the hated. Need I tell you of the Teuton
+feelings? Ruined, blasted as has been that great machine, both military
+and industrial, there is still the Teuton mind ready and yearning for
+such a revenge as will stagger all conscious life. Well may the
+sensitive imagination distort and magnify the threat that cannot yet be
+grasped. Well may the straining mind contemplate with ecstasy the
+oblivion gained by those poor creatures on the _Lusitania_. But for
+those who would learn, and know, and see, there is a better, braver
+death to die than the bosom of the ocean can offer. I tell you there is
+work for every true Briton, man and woman. Work that can offer little
+else than the reward of a conscience that, maybe, is rendered easy in
+death. The men who would lead Britain must be men with eyes, and ears,
+and mind wide open. The time has gone by when England's politicians may
+sit down in luxurious offices and enjoy the liberal salaries this
+country so generously dispenses. They must learn first hand of the
+dangers which threaten these impregnable shores. Impregnable? That has
+been the fetish which has been the ruin of Britain's national spirit.
+But I tell you, as surely as the sun will rise to-morrow I can prove to
+you that impregnability can never again be applied to these splendid
+shores. Remember, these are the days when victories and destruction are
+wrought by thought in peace time. The days of simple brute strength
+have died for all time. And that is why I have travelled far to seek
+Ruxton Farlow."
+
+"You have sought me to tell me all this that I have thought for months.
+That I have felt. That in my heart I have known as surely as that night
+follows day. You have sought _me_," he added reflectively.
+
+The stranger leant still further towards him, and the man thrilled at
+the contiguity. So close was she that her breath fanned his cheek, and
+he found himself gazing into the eager, beautiful eyes.
+
+"And have I not done right? Have I not done right to come to you, who
+have felt, and thought, and known these things for months--if I can
+show you even more than in your worst moments you have ever dreamed of?"
+
+It was an intense moment. Its intensity for the man was well-nigh
+overpowering. Was this wonderful creature some brilliant siren luring
+him to destruction for very wantonness, or in the interest of others?
+Was she just as she represented, just an ardent patriot, to whom chance
+had revealed some damaging secret of his country's enemies, or was she
+merely a woman endowed with superlative beauty exercising her
+attraction in those enemies' interests? These things flashed through
+his brain, even as those feelings of sex stirred his blood and made for
+denial. For a moment the mental side of him rose dominant.
+
+"You are a foreigner," he challenged, in a voice he hardly recognized
+as his own.
+
+"I am a Pole."
+
+The admission came promptly.
+
+"You speak English--perfectly," he persisted in the same voice.
+
+"I am--glad."
+
+"Where were you--during the war?"
+
+"In England."
+
+The questions and answers flew back and forth without a semblance of
+hesitation.
+
+"Yes, yes." Then the man mused. "There were thousands of foreigners at
+large in England--then."
+
+"But not all were--spies."
+
+The man lowered his eyes. A flush stole up to his brow. It was a flush
+of shame.
+
+"I--I beg your pardon," he said. The mind had yielded to the man.
+
+"Why should you? Your country should be first in your thoughts. You
+have not hurt me."
+
+Ruxton passed one hand across his broad, fair forehead.
+
+"But you--a Pole. It seems----"
+
+"It seems that I must have some motive other than I have stated. I
+have." A bitter laugh accompanied the admission. Quite suddenly she
+threw her arms wide in a dramatic gesture. "Look at me," she cried.
+"You see a Pole, but before all things you see a woman. Give riot to
+your heart, and leave your head for other things. Then you will
+understand my motives. I have lived through centuries of horror during
+that terrible war. A horror that even you, who know the horrors
+committed, will never be able to understand. The innocent women and
+children in Belgium and France, and my own country, on your own shores,
+on the high seas. O God," she buried her face in her hands. Then, in a
+moment, she looked up. "Think--think, if at some future time the Teuton
+demons overrun this beautiful land I love. The past, those horrors of
+which I have spoken are nothing to that which will be committed here in
+England. Now do you understand? Now--will you let me show you what--I
+can show you?"
+
+"I think I understand--now."
+
+"And you will grant my request?" The urgency was intense. But in a
+moment the woman went on in a changed tone. A soft smile accompanied
+her next words. "But no. Don't answer now. It would not be fair to
+yourself. It would not be fair to your country. It would even deny all
+that I believe of you. Keep your answer. You will give it to me--later.
+I will not let you forget. Now I must go."
+
+She rose to her feet, and Ruxton watched her with stirring feelings as
+she occupied herself with that truly feminine process of smoothing out
+the creases of the costume which had suffered by contact with the
+heather.
+
+At last she held out her white-gloved hand, and Ruxton sprang to his
+feet. He realized that she was about to vanish out of his life as
+swiftly and mysteriously as she had entered it.
+
+"You are going?" he said quickly.
+
+"Yes. But you will be reminded."
+
+The man held the gloved hand a shade longer than was necessary.
+
+"But on these cliffs? Alone?" Somehow her going had become impossible
+to him.
+
+But the woman laughed easily.
+
+"It will be only a few moments on these cliffs. It is nothing. Remember
+I have been wandering about for three hours--alone."
+
+"But--Good-bye!"
+
+The man made his farewell regretfully. He had been about to ask her
+how, with ten miles to Dorby, and a considerable distance to other
+villages, she would only be on the cliffs a few moments. But he felt
+that her coming and her going were her secret, and he had no right to
+pry into it--yet.
+
+"Good-bye."
+
+The woman turned away, but was promptly arrested by a swift question.
+
+"May I not know your name?"
+
+The stranger faced him once more, and her smile lit up her radiant
+features till Ruxton felt that never in his life had he seen anything
+to equal her beauty.
+
+"My name? Yes--why not? It is Vladimir. Vita Vladimir."
+
+Then, in a moment, the man stood gazing after her, as the brilliant
+moonlight outlined the perfect symmetry of her receding figure.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE MYSTERY
+
+
+Ruxton Farlow's return home was even more preoccupied than had been his
+going. An entirely new sensation was stirring within him. Before, his
+thoughts had been flowing along the troubled channel of affairs, all of
+which bore solely upon the purpose of his life. Now their flow had been
+further confused by the addition of an emotion, which, under ordinary
+circumstances, might well have leavened the most gloomy forebodings.
+Instead, however, it was rather like an artist engaged on painting a
+picture of tragic significance who suddenly discovers that another hand
+has added some detail, which, while it is still a part of the subject
+portrayed, yet renders the whole a masterpiece of incongruity.
+
+The coming of a woman into the affairs of his life seemed to him as
+incongruous as it was pleasant, and, in the circumstances, justified.
+It was an element all unconsidered before. His association with women
+until now had been the simple parrying of the feminine shafts levelled
+at him in the process of ordinary social intercourse in the position he
+occupied in life. He was by no means a man who took no delight in
+women's society. On the contrary. But his purpose in life had always
+been too big as yet to permit his dwelling upon those pleasures which
+no real manhood can ever ignore.
+
+Women were to him part of the most exalted side of a man's life. His
+ideals in that direction were as wholly unworldly as his ideals were
+practical in every other direction. From his earliest youth, due to the
+death of his mother at his birth, he had never experienced a woman's
+influence upon his life, and thus he had been left to the riot of
+imagination, which, in very truth, had been his safeguarding against
+the operation of the matrimonial market of social London in the midst
+of which he had found himself plunged.
+
+Now, under conditions wholly robbed of every convention, he had
+suddenly been confronted by a wonderful creature, who, to his vivid
+imagination, appealed as the most beautiful of all her beautiful sex.
+Furthermore the contact had been brought about through those very
+ideals and purposes to which he had devoted his life. And, moreover,
+the wonder of it all was that his purpose was apparently her purpose,
+and she had sought him because this was so. Herein lay the
+extraordinary incongruity of a sex attraction brought about by the
+threatened tragedy overshadowing them all.
+
+Vita Vladimir!
+
+It was a name such as he might have discovered anywhere amongst the
+foreign colony in Soho. His attraction towards the woman afforded no
+glamor to the name. None at all. He told himself frankly it did not fit
+her. Furthermore it left him unconvinced that it truly belonged to her.
+Yet she said she was a Pole. And somewhere in the back cells of memory
+there was a sort of hazy recollection that "Vladimir" had some
+connection with Polish history.
+
+However, the question of her name left him cold. Only the vivid picture
+of her personality remained in his mind. Her charm, her ardor, her
+beauty, and that extraordinary suggestion of mystery, conveyed in her
+costume, and the evasion of the details of her coming and going--these
+things had caught the imagination and the youth in him, and acted upon
+them like champagne.
+
+He strove to thrust aside these things and consider her only through
+the purpose on which she had sought him out. She knew, and had seen,
+the realities of the threat which he believed to be hanging over his
+country. She could, and would, show him these things.
+
+Suddenly on the impulse of a reasonable incredulity he asked himself if
+he were dreaming. The whole thing must be a mere phantasm, the outcome
+of all the troubled thought which had occupied him for so long. But she
+had told him he would hear from her again, and then that tiny
+white-gloved hand. He felt its clasp now, as it had lain in his strong
+palm. No, it was no dream. She was real--and she was very, very
+beautiful.
+
+By the time he reached the great colonnade which formed the entrance
+porch of his home the woman's personality had dominated all his
+endeavor to regard the incident from any other point of view. The woman
+had absorbed all that was in him, and a curious, deep, thrilling
+sensation of delight at the encounter had completely thrust into the
+background the purpose which had brought it about. All that which we in
+our consideration of the affairs of life are apt to despise, and even
+leave out of our reckoning altogether, had asserted itself. It was the
+sex instinct, which no power of human mentality can resist.
+
+Ruxton had no wish to meet his father again that night. He wanted
+solitude. He wanted to think and dream, as all youth desires to think
+and dream, when the floodgates of sex are opened, and it finds itself
+caught in the first rush of its tide.
+
+Glancing at his watch he discovered it to be close upon midnight. But
+the hour had no significance in his present mood. His father would have
+retired, and the library would be empty, so he passed up the oak
+stairway with the determination to smoke a final cigar, and let his
+thoughts riot over the delectable banquet the evening had provided for
+them.
+
+But that particular pleasure was definitely denied him. When he entered
+the library the lights were still on, and he beheld his father's curly
+white head still bent over the table at which he was wont to attend to
+his private correspondence.
+
+The old man looked up as the other walked down the long book-lined room
+towards him. His deep-set eyes were smiling as they were ever ready to
+smile upon the companion of his wifeless life.
+
+"Finished your ramble?" he enquired pleasantly.
+
+Ruxton returned the smile and flung himself upon a long old settle
+before he replied.
+
+"The ramble is finished," he said, preparing to light a cigar.
+
+Their eyes met. The father knew there remained something as yet
+unspoken behind the reply. He waited. But Ruxton's decision was not yet
+taken.
+
+"Finished your letters yet?" he enquired from behind a cloud of smoke.
+
+The bright blue eyes surveying him twinkled.
+
+"One more," his father said.
+
+"Go ahead then."
+
+Sir Andrew knew by the tone that ultimately the unspoken word was to
+come. He glanced down at his papers with a sigh.
+
+"I believe, after all, I shall have to break with some of my
+old-fashioned habits. It is an awful thing to contemplate at my time of
+life. I think I must be getting old. The burden of private
+correspondence begins to weigh. I have always held that a private
+secretary for such a purpose is waste of money, and the undesirable
+admission of another into one's private life."
+
+Ruxton stretched out his long legs. His bulk almost completely filled
+the settle.
+
+"It's hard work for Yorkshire to change its habit. A feature applying
+pretty generally to the Briton. I only wonder a man of your vast
+fortune has clung to such habits so long. I, who possess but a
+twentieth of the fortune you possess, find I cannot do without one."
+
+"But then you are a political man," his father smiled drily.
+
+Ruxton nodded. "And in consequence I am saved much heartburning."
+
+"Yes." Sir Andrew gathered up a sheaf of sealed envelopes and flung
+them into his post basket. "Twenty-five letters. Answers to cranks.
+Answers to those philanthropists who love to do good with other folks'
+money. Answers to beggars, to would-be blackmailers, to public
+institutions whose chief asset is a carefully compiled list of likely
+subscribers, and then--those whom we have decided to encourage--the
+inventors. Here is our friend Charles Smith." He picked up the last
+letter remaining to be dealt with. "What am I going to say to him?"
+
+The old man scratched one shaggy eyebrow with the point of his
+penholder--one of his signs of doubt and perplexity.
+
+"This secrecy business adds importance to the reply," he added.
+
+Ruxton held out his hand.
+
+"Let's read it again," he said.
+
+His father passed the letter across, and sat watching the concentrated
+brows of his son, while the latter re-perused the contents.
+
+The watching man was about to turn back to his desk when his eyes
+abruptly widened questioningly. Ruxton had suddenly sat bolt upright,
+and a quick flush of suppressed excitement spread over his strong
+expressive features.
+
+
+"Veevee, London!" he exclaimed. "A code address which is obviously a
+word made out of initial letters. V. V." Then he looked across at his
+startled parent. "I say, Dad, there's mystery here all right--mystery
+everywhere to-night. V. V. Those initials fit Vita Vladimir exactly."
+
+"Precisely. Also Vivian Vansittart," smiled his father. "Or any other
+high-sounding names beginning with V."
+
+Ruxton passed the letter back with a laugh. Then he flung himself back
+on the settle.
+
+"Wait until I have told you what happened to me to-night. Then write to
+that man and give him a definite appointment at some time when you can
+devote several hours to him--if necessary."
+
+Sir Andrew pushed his high-backed chair well away from the desk and
+helped himself to a cigar.
+
+"This is one more than I have any right to to-night, Rux," he said, as
+he crossed his stout legs, "but go ahead."
+
+Ruxton seemed in no hurry to begin his story. The truth was he felt
+reluctant to let any one share his secret. Furthermore he was doubtful,
+in the light of cold words, if that which he had to tell would carry
+the conviction which possessed him. It seemed impossible; and then the
+personality of Vita. No. But he felt that the story must be told, if
+only in justification of his demand for Mr. Charles Smith.
+
+"Look here, Dad," he began at last. "I know you regard me as a bit of a
+dreamer, but on more than one occasion you have been pleased to say you
+consider my judgment pretty sound. Perhaps it is. I don't know. Maybe
+to-night I have been unduly affected by feelings which don't usually
+carry me away; but, even so, I think I have retained sufficient of our
+Yorkshire phlegm to get a right estimate of things, and the things
+which have happened to-night I am convinced are connected with the V.
+V. in that letter. I was on the cliffs, lying on the heather, looking
+out to sea, when a woman came along who had been endeavoring to hunt me
+out for three hours. She was the most beautiful creature I have ever
+seen. She does not belong to Dorby, or the neighborhood. She was
+dressed to perfection, and was hatless, and her name was Vita Vladimir.
+I tell you these details because they are all significant, and I want
+you to understand that first."
+
+"Go on," his father nodded.
+
+"Go on?" Ruxton gave a short laugh. "It's easier to say than to
+do--adequately. Anyway this is the whole story."
+
+Both men's cigars had been entirely consumed by the time Ruxton Farlow
+had finished his long recital. He told his story of his meeting with
+Vita Vladimir with all the simple force which was part of the Russian
+nature in him. And, in spite of his fears to the contrary, none of its
+dramatic significance was lost in the telling.
+
+His father read in the story all his son wanted him to read. But he
+read deeper even than that, and the depth of his reading was a trespass
+upon the ground which Ruxton fondly believed he had kept to himself.
+The shrewd Yorkshire mind probed deep to the vivid impression this Vita
+Vladimir had made upon his only son, and as yet he was not sure that he
+shared the boy's enthusiasm. However, long years of understanding had
+convinced him of Ruxton's clarity of judgment in vital matters, and his
+earnest recital of the woman's warning and promises carried the
+conviction that, in spite of the boy's attraction, his judgment in this
+matter had remained unimpaired. He accepted the facts, but, to himself,
+deplored the means by which they had been conveyed.
+
+"It is quite remarkable, boy, quite remarkable," was his only comment
+at the conclusion of the story. Then he held the man Smith's letter in
+his hand and glanced at the postscript.
+
+But Ruxton was not satisfied with such comment. He was anxious that his
+hard-headed father should see eye to eye with him.
+
+"But what do you think of it?" he demanded, with suppressed feeling.
+
+The great ship-owner took some moments formulating his reply.
+
+"One's impression from your telling is the honesty of the woman," he
+said deliberately at last. "There are three possibilities in the
+matter. First that she is honest. Second that she--belongs to our
+enemies. Third that she is a--crank. But the second and third I think
+can be dismissed. Why should our enemies make such an extraordinary
+proposal to you, or to anybody, short of a man important enough to be
+done away with? The suggestion of 'crank' is quite dispensable, in view
+of the significance of the story as it bears on all the possibilities
+of the future we have discussed. Accepting her honesty, I should say
+that the answer to this letter will be received by her
+for--transmission. Well?"
+
+"Then answer that letter in the affirmative, and see this Charles
+Smith, Dad," cried Ruxton, rising and pacing the floor. "I am going to
+probe this matter to the bottom." Then he came to a halt before the
+desk, and gazed down into his father's serious eyes. "There is mystery
+abroad, Dad. There is more than mystery. There is something tangible. A
+great and threatening danger which must be nullified. We don't know
+what it is yet. We can only surmise, but surmise is futile. We must go
+and find out, as she said. We must learn these things first hand. I
+shall go."
+
+"That is what I felt you had--decided." The old man sighed. "I can't
+disguise my regret, my boy, but it is--in the light of your life's
+purpose--your duty to go. I will do my part. I will see this--Charles
+Smith."
+
+
+The General Election had come and gone like a hurricane of emotion
+sweeping the country from one end to the other. Passionate opinion had
+been stirred, it had been brought to a feverish surface and had been
+hurled from lip to lip in that spirit of contention, than which no more
+bitter feeling can be roused in the affairs of modern life. For once,
+however, Britain was far less divided than usual. Even prejudice, that
+blind, unreasoning, unthinking prejudice which usually characterizes
+the voter, who claims for himself "good citizenship," had somehow been
+shaken to its foundations. It was an almost awakened Britain which
+marched on the polls and registered its adhesion and support to the men
+who, out of the muckhole of demagoguery, had risen superior even to
+themselves and yielded to the real needs of the country.
+
+And the voice of the new Britain had been heard like a clarion across
+the Empire, so that, at the close of the polls, the world knew that, as
+Ruxton Farlow had said, the British housewife had determined upon that
+sweeping and garnishing so sadly needed, and that once and for all she
+had decided to bolt and bar the back door through which for so long she
+had been assailed by her enemies.
+
+Ruxton Farlow was on his way to his little old Georgian house in Smith
+Square, Westminster. He was returning from Downing Street, where he had
+been summoned hastily and urgently by the new Prime Minister. He had
+found that electrical individual busily engaged in superintending the
+removal of his effects, aided by his equally energetic secretary, from
+one house in Downing Street to that Mecca of all political aspirations,
+"No. 10."
+
+Ruxton had avoided the vehicles and packing-cases at the door and was
+conducted to the great little man's library. And on his entry the
+secretary had been promptly dismissed. The interview was brief. It was
+so brief that Ruxton, who understood and preferred such methods, was
+not a little disconcerted. There had been a hearty hand-shake, a few
+swiftly spoken compliments and a quick assurance, and once more the big
+man found himself picking his way amongst the debris on the doorsteps.
+
+But this time he had scarcely seen the obstructions he had to avoid. He
+dodged them almost mechanically. His heart was beating high with a
+quiet exultation, for he had left the presence of the wonderful little
+man, who seemed to live his whole life on the edge of his nervous
+system, with the assurance of a junior Cabinet rank in the new Ministry.
+
+But the first rush of his tumultuous feelings quickly subsided, as was
+his way, and he remembered that which was at once his duty and desire.
+So he turned into a post-office and despatched a code wire to his
+father in Yorkshire that he might be the first person in the world to
+learn of his early triumph. Yes, he wanted his to be the first
+congratulations. He smiled to himself as he left the post-office. The
+entire press had been devoting itself to forecasting the personnel of
+the new Cabinet, but not in one single instance had his name been
+included in the lists.
+
+It was with a sense bordering on perfect delight that he turned into
+the calm backwater of Smith Square. And for once the dingy atmosphere
+took on a reflected glory from his feelings. The square church, with
+its four squat towers, handsome enough in its architecture but drab of
+hue, might have been some structure of Gothic splendor. Even the
+impoverished trees which surrounded it had something of the verdant
+splendor of spring in them on this late summer afternoon. The sparrows
+and the pigeons failed even to bring home to him the greyness of life
+in a London square. For the moment those mental anxieties which had
+haunted him ever since the Great War were powerless to depress his
+outlook. Life was very good--very good indeed.
+
+He crossed the square and let himself into his house with a latch-key.
+He crossed the panelled hall and flung his hat and cane upon a table
+and hurried up the stairway to his study. He had been interrupted in
+his correspondence by the Prime Minister's summons, and now he was
+anxious to be done with it, and be free to contemplate the new
+situation in the light of those many purposes he had in view.
+
+As he sat down at his desk the door in the oak panelling at the far end
+of the room was thrust open and his secretary appeared. In a few
+moments these two were absorbed in their work with a thoroughness which
+was characteristic of Ruxton. Thus for two hours and more the memory of
+his promotion was completely thrust into the background.
+
+The butler had just brought him in a tray of afternoon tea, and the two
+men took the opportunity to abandon their work for a few minutes'
+leisure.
+
+Ruxton leant back in his chair and lit a cigar, while the secretary lit
+a cigarette and poured out the tea.
+
+"Our labors have borne fruit, Heathcote," said Ruxton, seizing the
+moment to impart his good news. "We are raised from the rank and file.
+Our future lies on the front benches."
+
+"The Cabinet?"
+
+"Yes, the Cabinet."
+
+Nor could Ruxton quite control the delight surging through him.
+
+"Now we begin to see the development of all those long-laid plans we
+have so ceaselessly worked upon, Heathcote," he went on. "Now we are
+getting nearer to the position which will enable us to bring about
+something of that security for this old country for which we both so
+ardently long. Now--Heathcote--now!"
+
+There was a passionate triumph underlying the idealist's words which
+found ample reflection in the dark eyes of the keen-faced secretary.
+
+The Honorable Harold Heathcote, a younger son in an old English family,
+had been Ruxton's secretary from the beginning of his political career;
+he was a brilliant youngster who had determined upon a political career
+for himself, and had, with considerable shrewdness, pinned his faith to
+the banner which, from the beginning of his career, Ruxton Farlow had
+unfurled for himself. These two men were working for a common purpose.
+
+"I knew it would come, Mr. Farlow," said Heathcote with cordial
+enthusiasm. "And there'll be more to follow, or I have no understanding
+of the times. I am glad. Very glad."
+
+At that moment there was a knock at the door, and Heathcote rose to
+answer it. When he returned he handed two telegrams to his chief.
+
+"Telegrams," he said laconically, and returned to his seat and to his
+tea.
+
+Ruxton ran a paper knife through the envelopes. The first message was
+from his father. It was brief, cordial, but urgent.
+
+
+"Heartiest congratulations. Immensely delighted. Must see you at once.
+Inventor turned out most important as well as mysterious.--Farlow."
+
+
+Ruxton read the message over two or three times. Then he deliberately
+tore it up into small pieces and dropped it in the waste-paper basket.
+
+He opened the second message with a preoccupied air. He was
+thinking--thinking deeply. But in a moment all his preoccupation
+vanished as he glanced over its contents. He hungrily devoured the
+words written on the tinted paper.
+
+
+"Am delighted at your promotion. I anticipated it. My most heartfelt
+good wishes. Do not let this success make you forget our meeting. Dare
+I hope that you may find your way to 17, Streamside Mansions,
+Kensington?--Vita Vladimir."
+
+
+It was some moments before Ruxton's eyes left that message. A world of
+unsuspected emotion was stirring within him. He had not forgotten. He
+was never likely to forget. But in the midst of his emotion some freak
+of mind had caught and held the significance of this mysterious
+creature's congratulations. How--how had she learned of--his promotion,
+when no one but himself and the Prime Minister knew of it?
+
+Suddenly he bestirred himself. He carefully refolded Vita's message,
+and placed it in his pocket. Then he turned to Heathcote.
+
+"I shall have to go to Dorby to-night. My father wants me. It is rather
+important. Fortunately things here will not require me just now. But
+you must notify me of anything important happening. Meanwhile give
+orders to have my things got ready, and look me out a train. I must run
+out to send a wire."
+
+"Can't I send it for you?"
+
+"No-o. I think not, thanks."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+MR. CHARLES SMITH
+
+
+A profound silence reigned in the library at Dorby Towers.
+
+The pungent aroma of cigars weighed upon the atmosphere in spite of the
+wide proportions of the apartment. Considerable light was shed from the
+antique sconces upon the walls, as also by the silver candelabra upon
+the long refectory table which ran down the centre of the room. But
+withal it was powerless to dispel the dark suggestion of the old
+bookcases which lined the walls of the room.
+
+Two men were occupying one side of the table, and Ruxton Farlow sat
+alone at the other. The eyes of all three were focussed intently upon
+the object lying upon the table, which was a ten-foot model of a
+strange-looking water craft.
+
+The first to break the spell of the burden of silence was Sir Andrew
+Farlow, who, with a bearded stranger, occupied the side of the table
+opposite his son. But his was no attempt at speech. He merely leant
+forward with an elbow on the polished oak, and his fingers softly
+stroking his square chin and tightly compressed lips. He was humming
+softly, an expression of an intently occupied mind. The fixity of his
+gaze suggested a desire to bore a way to the heart of the secrets the
+strange model contained.
+
+The bearded stranger was watching him closely while his eyes appeared
+to be focussed upon the object of interest, and presently, as though
+the psychological moment had arrived, he, too, leant forward, and, with
+an arm stretched out, terminating in a long, lean, tenacious-looking
+hand, he pressed a button on the side of the model. Instantly the whole
+interior of it was lit electrically, and the light shone through a
+series of exquisitely finished glass-covered port-holes extending down
+the vessel's entire sides.
+
+He spoke no word, but sat back in his chair and went on smoking, while
+he closely watched for any sign of impression which the two interested
+spectators displayed.
+
+The moments slipped by. The patient stranger sat on with his long lean
+legs crossed, and a benevolent smile in his large eyes. After a while
+Ruxton sat back in his chair. Then Sir Andrew abandoned his inspection,
+and turned to the man beside him.
+
+It seemed to be the cue awaited, for the stranger promptly leant
+forward again and released a spring by the movement of a switch.
+Instantly the model split in half, and, opening much in the fashion of
+a pea-pod, displayed the longitudinal sections of its interior.
+
+Simultaneously the two men whose lives had been hitherto given up to
+ship construction rose to their feet, and pored over the wonderful and
+delicate mechanism and design the interior revealed.
+
+Then it was that Sir Andrew verbally broke the silence.
+
+"Will you explain, Mr. Smith?"
+
+The inventor removed his cigar.
+
+"You know--marine mechanism?" he enquired.
+
+Sir Andrew nodded.
+
+"Yes, unless there is a new principle here."
+
+"It is the perfected submarine principle which was used towards the end
+of the war. There is no fresh detail in that direction."
+
+"We have a complete knowledge of that principle," said Ruxton. "We have
+been constructing for the Admiralty throughout the war."
+
+"Good."
+
+There was a distinct "T" at the end of the word as Mr. Smith spoke it.
+
+Ruxton shot a quick glance in his direction. The man's whole
+personality was an unusual one. He was very tall, and very thin. His
+intellectual head, quite nobly formed, was crowned by a shock of
+snow-white hair closely hogged, as might be a horse's mane. His
+features were almost as lean as his body. But the conformation of a
+magnificent forehead and the gently luminous eyes, beneath eyebrows
+almost as bushy as a well-grown moustache, made one forget the fact.
+Then, too, the carefully groomed, closely cut snow-white beard and
+moustache helped to disguise it still more. It was the face of a man of
+great mentality and lofty emotions, a face of simplicity and
+kindliness. It was, in fact, a face which demanded a second scrutiny,
+and one which inspired trust and liking.
+
+To the rest must be added certain details which seemed a trifle
+extraordinary in view of his profession. If his tailor did not trade in
+Bond Street then he certainly must have served his apprenticeship in
+those select purlieus. Perfect cut and excellence of material marked
+every detail of his costume, which was of the "morning" order.
+
+"Then there is little enough to explain, except for the architectural
+side of the matter," Mr. Smith went on, with a peculiarly
+back-of-the-throat tone in his speech, which also possessed a shadow of
+foreign accent. "I am not offering you a submarine principle. That is
+established now all over the world. I please to call my invention a
+submersible merchantman. You will observe the holds for merchandise.
+You will see the engine-rooms," he went on, rising and pointing out
+each detail as he enumerated it. "There are the stateroom decks, with
+the accompaniment of saloon and kitchens, and baths, and--and all the
+necessities of passenger traffic. Everything is there on a lesser scale
+such as you will find on a surface liner. Its speed and engine power
+will compare favorably with any liner afloat up to ten thousand tons.
+Thus it has the speed of a surface craft on the surface, with the added
+advantages of a submarine. In addition to these I have a light, in the
+course of production, which will serve to render the submarine immune
+from the dangers of submersion. I call it the 'U-rays.'"
+
+"The U-rays?" Ruxton's enquiry came like a shot.
+
+"Just so."
+
+Mr. Smith replied quite unhesitatingly, and Ruxton's obvious suspicion
+was disarmed.
+
+"This vessel," the inventor went on, quite undisturbed, "solves the
+last problem of sea traffic under--all conditions."
+
+The light of enthusiasm was shining in the man's luminous eyes as he
+made his final pronouncement. It was as though the thought had filled
+him with a profound hope of the fulfillment of some ardent desire. It
+suggested to the more imaginative Ruxton that he cared more for the
+purpose of his invention than for its commercial aspect to himself.
+
+"You speak, of course, of--war," Ruxton said.
+
+The large eyes of the stranger widened with horror and passion.
+
+"I speak of--international murder!" he cried fiercely.
+
+Sir Andrew turned from the model at the tone of the reply. Ruxton would
+have pursued the subject, but Mr. Smith gave him no opportunity.
+
+"Your pardon, gentlemen," he said with a sudden, exquisite smile of
+childlike simplicity. "Memories are painful. I have much that I
+remember, and--but let us keep to the business in hand."
+
+"Memories are painful to us all--here in England," said Ruxton gently.
+"But--this is a beautiful model. Perfect in every detail."
+
+"It was made in my own shops," returned the inventor simply.
+
+"And you say this," indicating the model, "has been tested on a
+constructed vessel?"
+
+"I have travelled more than ten thousand miles in just such a vessel. I
+have travelled on the surface at twenty-four knots, and under the
+surface at fifteen. I have carried mixed cargoes, and I have carried
+certain passengers. All these things I have done for experiment, so
+that the principle should be perfected. You can judge for yourselves. A
+vessel of this type awaits your pleasure at any hour. A vessel of two
+thousand tons."
+
+"Two thousand?" The incredulous ejaculation escaped Sir Andrew before
+he was aware of it.
+
+"It is nothing," exclaimed Mr. Smith, turning quickly. "A vessel of ten
+thousand tons can just as easily be constructed."
+
+The sweeping assertion spoken with so simple a confidence had the
+effect of silence upon his audience. It was overwhelming even to these
+men who had witnessed the extraordinary development of invention during
+the war.
+
+After awhile Ruxton broke the silence.
+
+"In your original communication to us you assured us of a means of
+avoiding the losses we endured during the war from submarine attack.
+This I understand is the--means. Will you point its uses? I see it in
+my own way, but I should like to hear another mind on the subject."
+
+Mr. Smith folded his arms and settled himself in his chair. Ruxton was
+not seeking information on the subject of the boat. His imagination
+told him all he wanted to know in that direction. It was the man he
+wanted to study. It was the man he was not certain of. He was convinced
+that this man was a foreigner, for all his British name. He desired to
+fathom the purpose lying behind this stranger's actions.
+
+"A great Admiral just before the war," said the inventor, "declared
+that the future of naval warfare lay under the water, and not on the
+surface, as we have always believed. He was right. But he did not go as
+far as he might have gone. The _whole future of shipping_ lies as much
+under water as on the surface. I tell you, gentlemen, that this boat,
+here, will afford untold blessings to humanity. To an island country it
+affords--existence. Think. This country, Britain, is not
+self-supporting. Is it not so? It could not keep its people alive for
+more than months. It depends upon supplies from all ends of the earth.
+All roads upon the high seas lead to Britain. And every helpless
+surface vessel, carrying life to the island people at home, is a target
+for the long-distance submarine. If an enemy possesses a great fleet of
+submarines he does not need to declare a war area about these shores.
+Every high sea is a war area where he can ply his wanton trade. With
+the submarine as perfect as it is to-day, Britain, great as she is in
+naval armaments, can never face another war successfully. _That thought
+is in the mind of all men already_." The man paused deliberately. Then
+with a curious foreign gesture of the hands he went on. "But there is
+already established an axiom. Submarine cannot fight submarine--under
+the surface." He shrugged. "It is so simple. How can an enemy attack my
+submersible? The moment a submarine appears, the submersible submerges
+and the enemy is helpless. An aerial warship will become a spectacle
+for the amused curiosity to the ocean traveller. In peace time storms
+will have small enough terror, and on the calm summer seas we shall
+speed along at ever-increasing mileage. I tell you, gentlemen, the days
+of wholly surface boats are gone. The days of clumsy blockades are
+over, just as are the starvation purposes of contraband of war. With
+the submersible how is it possible to prevent imports to a country
+which possesses a seaboard? That is the proposition I put to the world
+in support of my submersible."
+
+Father and son sat silently listening to the easy, brief manner of the
+man's explanation. Nor was it till he spoke of the futility of a war
+submarine's efforts against his submersible did any note of passion and
+triumph find its way into the man's manner. At that point, however, a
+definite uplifting made itself apparent. His triumph was in the new
+depth vibrating in his musical voice. There was a light in his eyes
+such as is to be found in the triumphant gaze of the victor.
+
+Ruxton beheld these things with greater understanding than his father.
+Moreover, he interpreted them with that sympathetic understanding of
+one who possesses great ideals of his own. Whoever this man might be,
+wherever he came from, one thing was beyond all question in his mind.
+Here was no mere huckster seeking to trade his wares for the sole
+purpose of gain. Gain might be his object, but somehow he felt that it
+was not wholly so, not even paramount in his consideration. It seemed
+to him that the man had spoken the truth when he had said that his
+efforts were directed in the service of humanity.
+
+But for all his understanding he had no intention of accepting his own
+reading without proof from the only direction in which proof could come.
+
+"And what is the commercial aspect of the matter--between us?" he
+enquired in his most businesslike tone.
+
+Mr. Smith looked up in a startled way from the deep reverie into which
+his own words had plunged him.
+
+"Commercial?" he echoed a little helplessly.
+
+"Yes." Ruxton smiled. "The--price."
+
+Mr. Smith nodded readily and smiled back. But his reply carried no
+conviction.
+
+"Yes, yes," he said hurriedly. "I was thinking. Of course--yes. The
+price."
+
+His infantile manner brought a smile to the shrewd face of Sir Andrew.
+Ruxton only waited.
+
+"I--had forgotten," Mr. Smith went on. Then, with his curious tenacious
+hands clasped about one knee, a hopeless sort of distress slowly filled
+his eyes. "It--it is difficult," he stumbled. Then quite suddenly a
+world of relief seemed to come to him. "Would it not be better to leave
+terms until you have seen, and proved for yourselves, of what my
+constructed vessel is capable? You see, any price I could name now
+would sound--er--excessive."
+
+The manner of this strange creature was so delightfully naive that even
+the keen Yorkshire features of Sir Andrew were reduced to a smile of
+enjoyment.
+
+"That's the way I like to hear an inventor talk, Mr. Smith," he cried
+heartily. "Most of 'em want large sums in options on the bare model and
+registered patents. If your invention--the constructed vessel is
+capable of what you claim for it, it is worth--millions."
+
+But the millionaire's encouragement seemed to have an adverse effect
+upon the inventor. Trouble crept again into his eyes, and he passed one
+thin hand across his splendid forehead.
+
+"If it serves to save innocent lives in the future, sir, it has done
+all that I ask of it," he said at last. "Its value to me then could
+never be reckoned in millions. There would not be enough cyphers in the
+mind of man to express that value."
+
+To Ruxton the riddle of this man was growing in obscurity. For all his
+understanding Mr. Smith's attitude demanded explanation which as yet he
+was unable to give it.
+
+But something in the nature of solution to the riddle was nearer than
+he had supposed. It came in the man's words which were added in further
+reply to his father.
+
+"I have no fear but my invention will do these things," he said with
+strong conviction. "But," he added almost sombrely, "I have other
+fears."
+
+"Others?"
+
+The commercial mind of Sir Andrew was sharply suspicious.
+
+"Yes."
+
+Again came that troubled movement of the hand across the forehead. The
+man hesitated in a painful, embarrassed way. Then, with a perfectly
+helpless gesture, he blurted out something of that which Ruxton had
+been waiting for.
+
+"Yes, yes," he cried, his eyes full of a passionate light. "I have
+fears, other fears. Nor are they idle. Nor are they to be belittled. I
+came here in secret. No one but my two confidential men, who brought
+this model, know of my coming. No one knows my whereabouts at all, but
+you, and those two men whom I can trust--even with my life. Fears. My
+God, if you only knew. I tell you there are people in the world, if
+they knew of my visit to you, if they saw that model lying on your
+table, who would not rest until my life was forfeited, and the utility
+of my invention to this country was destroyed forever."
+
+The man stood up. His great height was drawn up to its uttermost. He
+was breathing hard, but the light in his eyes was not of the fear of
+which he spoke. They were burning with a strained defiance of that
+threat he knew to be hanging over him.
+
+The others rose from their chairs simultaneously. Both were startled.
+But Sir Andrew far more than his son. Startlingly as the revelation had
+come, to Ruxton it _was_ revelation. And now it was he who took the
+initiative. He leant across the table.
+
+"I think I understand something that has been puzzling me all the
+evening, Mr.--Smith," he said. "And now that I understand it I am
+satisfied. You have come to us to-day at great danger to yourself. You
+are risking everything in the world that we shall have the benefit of
+your invention. The last thought in your mind is the commercial aspect
+of this affair. Your real object in coming is your secret for the
+present. I might even hazard a guess at it. But it is your secret, and
+one we have no desire to probe. You desire a pledge from us. That is
+obvious. And for myself I give it freely. Your secret is safe with
+me--safe as the grave. I shall avail myself of your offer of a trip in
+your submersible, and, if you will permit me, I shall make my own time
+for it in the near future. Will you allow me that privilege?"
+
+The inventor impulsively held out his hand, and his relief was obvious
+and intense. It was almost as if he had feared the result of his
+revelation.
+
+"Your wishes are entirely mine," he said, as Ruxton wrung his hand. "It
+was this necessity for secrecy which has troubled me. I did not think
+you would accept it. And--I feared the shattering of all my hopes." He
+turned to Sir Andrew, who stood watching the scene wonderingly.
+
+"And you, sir?" he asked, with extended hand. "Have I your word?"
+
+"Absolutely, sir."
+
+The bluff tone, and the grip of the Yorkshire hand, had its prompt
+effect.
+
+"I need no more."
+
+The man proceeded to close up his model.
+
+"And for communicating with you?" demanded Ruxton.
+
+Mr. Smith looked up.
+
+"The same address. Veevee, London. It will always find me."
+
+"Thank you."
+
+
+Two hours later Ruxton and his father were alone in the library. The
+inventor had gone, and his precious model had been carefully removed by
+the two men who had conveyed it to Dorby Towers. For those two hours
+Sir Andrew and his son had thrashed threadbare the situation created by
+the stranger's coming. And, incredible as it seemed, in the minds of
+both men was a steady conviction that the work of that evening was to
+mark an epoch in the history of their country.
+
+The possibilities were of a staggering nature. Neither could probe the
+future under this new aspect. If this new principle of ocean traffic
+were to---- But it was "if." If the man were honest. If the invention
+were right. If--if, and again--if. That was it. And so they had talked
+it out.
+
+Now it was time to seek that rest which Ruxton sorely needed. His had
+been a strenuous day, and he knew he must return to town to-morrow. He
+rose and stretched himself.
+
+"Well, Dad, it's bed for me," he said, in the midst of a yawn.
+
+His father looked up from his final cigar, which was poised in his hand.
+
+"Yes. You must be tired, boy. There's one thing, though, about that
+man, that's occurred to me," he added, his mind still dwelling on the
+subject of their long discussion. "Did you notice his speech? He didn't
+sound to me English, and yet there--was no real accent."
+
+Ruxton laughed.
+
+"I wondered if that had escaped you." Then his eyes grew serious. "No,
+he isn't an Englishman. He isn't even Dutch. That I am sure of. But his
+nationality--no, I cannot say."
+
+"No. It's a difficult matter with these foreigners."
+
+"Yes. But if I can't locate his nationality I am certain of a very
+important fact."
+
+"And that is?"
+
+"He belongs to--Germany."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE LURE
+
+
+That Ruxton Farlow was a creature of destiny rather than a man who
+wrought only through the force of his own self-guidance was
+extraordinarily apparent. The purpose of his life filled his whole
+being. It was all of him, a dim light in the mist and fog of the
+future, ever encouraging onwards, yet yielding to him no vision of the
+path by which it might be the more easily reached. It was his lot to
+flounder on, frequently stumbling and yawning as the conformation and
+obscurities of the road compelled, but every step, every stumble, every
+bruise and buffet, added to the sum of progress achieved and pointed
+the unyielding nature which inspired his set purpose of reaching that
+ray of light beyond.
+
+The coming into his life of the woman who called herself Vita Vladimir
+was an incident in his progress of far greater significance that even
+he had dreamed. Whither it inclined his footsteps he knew not. All he
+knew was that, almost in a moment, she had become definitely linked up
+with his future through a bond, the meaning of which even he had no
+full understanding of. All he knew was that she had some great bearing
+upon the ultimate, and that it was his desire to follow blindly the
+track she had opened up before him.
+
+Nor had he any delusion as to his desire. There was not the smallest
+doubt but that her attraction had influenced his decision. He had
+listened to her words with a brain inspired by the warmth of the
+manhood within him, which her extraordinary beauty had stirred as it
+had never been stirred before.
+
+It was in answer to this feeling that he left Yorkshire at the earliest
+opportunity, and hastened back to town. He merely gave himself time to
+change and hold a brief consultation with his secretary. Then he set
+out in search of the rather obscure little flat in Kensington.
+
+His mind was perfectly clear as to the object of this visit. Just as he
+perfectly understood that even without that object it would have been
+his desire to make it. He wished to give this woman an answer to her
+request. He wished to fathom the manner by which she had learned of his
+promotion. And, apart from these things, he desired ardently to see her
+again. The recollection of that moonlit figure was a sharp negative on
+the photographic plates of memory, and he was anxious to study the
+original in the full light of day. Her undoubted beauty, and the
+romance of their first meeting, had left behind them an irresistible
+attraction; nor had he any desire to resist it.
+
+His position in the world as the only son and partner of the greatest
+among the ship-owners of Britain, his political career, and his
+position as under-secretary in the Foreign Office of the late Ministry,
+had brought him into contact with the social world of London. But,
+hitherto, women had had small enough place in his life. The
+hunting-field and the coverts, with golf and rowing, had entirely
+claimed his leisure, which would have been considered something very
+like wasted had it been spent in Society's drawing-rooms. He was a big,
+strong, outdoor man, and possessed a great deal of that curious
+diffidence which is more apt to attack men of his bulk than those of
+lesser stature.
+
+All these things had served to make him difficult as a prize worth
+striving for in the matrimonial market, and, doubtless, he had been
+thus saved to the work which he believed lay before him. He had never
+been a man of marked celibate tendencies. It was simply the fact that
+the sex question had always been dominated by the simple, hard-working,
+outdoor life he lived. Those who knew him had always taken a delight in
+prophesying that one day some woman would get hold of him, he would get
+it badly, and it would be a thousand to one chance she would be the
+wrong woman, and he would make a complete mess of things.
+
+Now as he sat, filling to overflowing a small drawing-room chair, in
+Vita Vladimir's flat in Kensington, listening to the musical tones of
+the wonderful Polish beauty facing him on a wholly inefficient window
+seat, with his dark eyes, shining and intent, fixed upon her mobile
+features, it looked as though at least one part of his friends'
+prophecy was within measurable distance of being fulfilled.
+
+The woman was talking rapidly, and the light and shade of emotion
+passing over her expressive face were quite irresistible.
+
+"Your coming was more than I dared to hope," she said. "And yet--I knew
+you would. I mean underneath my fears. You know I feel I ought to tell
+you so many things that I have purposely hidden, and yet I know it
+would be a mistake to do so until--I have shown you all that which I
+promised. It makes me feel mean. It makes me feel almost as if I were
+not acting honestly. And yet I know I am. But I think I can tell you
+one thing which may astonish you. Our meeting on the cliffs was the
+result of nearly two months' preparation and consideration. It was even
+in the nature of a plot, in which I was to be the instrument of
+communication. Furthermore it took me nearly two weeks of waiting and
+watching before I could decide that the right moment had arrived. You
+see, so secretly had we to move that I dared not chance a thing. The
+risk for all concerned was so great. Mr. Farlow, will you believe me
+when I say that yours is not the only life at stake in this adventure?
+Even now I dare not give you the details. You must still take me on
+trust, as you were kind enough to do--that night."
+
+Ruxton nodded soberly, though his eyes were feasting upon the woman's
+superlative beauty as she reclined against the window casing in an all
+unconscious pose of considerable grace.
+
+"I think I understand better than you imagine since I have seen--Mr.
+Charles Smith and his invention."
+
+The woman's deeply-fringed grey eyes were widely alert.
+
+"You have--associated us?"
+
+"Veevee, London."
+
+The woman nodded. There was no attempt at denial.
+
+"I see," she said, and the grey eyes became interestedly speculative.
+
+Ruxton glanced about him. He was swiftly taking in the details of the
+plainly furnished, extremely modern little drawing-room. It was the
+preliminary to the next step in this strange adventure. He saw about
+him no single suggestion of the personality of the woman who claimed it
+as her home. It might have belonged to anybody, from a superior
+business woman, who used it as a nightly refuge from the cares and
+worries of a commercial life, to a foreign visitor to London, desiring
+a convenient headquarters. It was to his mind a typical "furnished
+flat" as designated in the house agent's catalogue.
+
+His eyes came back to the woman herself, and a deep, restrained
+admiration grew in their depths.
+
+All that he had believed of her in the deceptive moonlight was more
+than confirmed in the warm light of day. He had no thought for her
+costume. In his man's way he realized a perfect harmony between that
+and the wonderful face and head that adorned it. He was aware only of
+the deep sleepy grey eyes so exquisitely fringed. The smooth,
+delicately tinted cheeks, and the mouth so ripe and full of the
+suggestion of youth. Above all was that wonderful glory of red-gold
+hair massed on the head with all the art of the hair-dresser, which
+transformed it into a crown which any queen might well have envied.
+
+"I want to say something that may sound rough, even brutal," Ruxton
+said abruptly after the prolonged pause. "But then there are times in
+life when the suaveness of diplomatic methods becomes wholly
+misplaced--even an insult to the person towards whom they are directed.
+You will permit me to assure you that what I have to say is the outcome
+of the interest you have roused in me by all you have confided." He
+paused again thoughtfully. He was endeavoring to shut out of his mind
+the picture of the woman's personality which made what he was about to
+say seem so harsh and unnecessary. He nerved himself for the effort and
+proceeded.
+
+"Let me say at once, that against all my--what shall I say--better
+sense? That will do. Against all my better sense I accepted and
+believed your story to me on the cliffs. Had I acted as my sense
+prompted I should have thrust it aside and ignored it, regarding you
+merely as one of my country's enemies, seeking, for some inexplicable
+reason, to leave me at the mercy of your confederates.
+
+"However, for once instinct served me well. I committed no such
+injustice. Then on my return home I discovered a link, as I thought,
+between you and another matter which has since proved to be of
+considerable importance. I refer to Veevee, London. That link you do
+not deny. The combination suggests more fully the importance and
+_truth_ of what you told me."
+
+"The combination of the two things was part of the--preparation."
+
+Vita Vladimir smiled. Her smile was like a sunbeam of early morning,
+and Ruxton was compelled to respond.
+
+"That is how I now supposed. You must forgive me for what else I have
+to say. The natural result of a mind left groping is the dominance of
+imagination. 'Fact' is the only thing which can pin imagination down.
+At the present moment I am lacking in facts. I have only been told, and
+so my imagination has been turned loose. The result has been one or two
+things which I am going to put to you, and you can answer them or not.
+But my future action will be undoubtedly governed by your attitude.
+First, then, this is not your actual home. Second, your name is not
+Vita Vladimir. Third, you were kind enough to send me congratulation on
+my promotion to Cabinet rank when only the Prime Minister, and his most
+intimate colleagues, were aware of it. Even the ubiquitous press had
+failed to steal the information."
+
+Ruxton's challenge came as it was intended to come, shortly, sharply,
+even with a suggestion of brutality in it. He had outraged his own
+feelings in doing so. He knew in his heart he had no doubt of this
+wonderful creature, but his mind, that simple, keen, straightforward
+organ, trained in the hypocritical world of diplomacy, dictated its
+will upon him. He had been asked to believe something very like a
+fairy-tale, and the lips which had formulated the request were the most
+perfect it had ever been his lot to behold. However, the dictates of
+his heart, the warm young manhood in him were still subservient to the
+trained mind. The day might come when rebellion would overthrow such
+sway, but, for the moment, it held.
+
+The woman took no umbrage. There was a quickening of the rise and fall
+of her beautifully rounded bosom, but that was the only sign of emotion
+permitted to escape her.
+
+"Your observation is--quick," she said, with a slightly heightened
+color. "And what if these things are--true? Are they so very
+significant?"
+
+Ruxton shrugged. Something of the warmth had passed out of his eyes.
+But he displayed not the smallest impatience.
+
+Then the woman smiled. Her smile grew into a deep musical laugh.
+
+"I am foolish. I am not clever enough for the work entrusted to me,"
+she cried, spreading out her hands in a deprecating manner. "Here am I
+striving to win your perfect confidence by methods which might well
+characterize the most absurdly cumbersome and blundering child. I am
+deputed to urge you to an enterprise that entails risks--untold; maybe
+I am striving to send you to your--death. And this work is vital to the
+world, and, more than all, to your country. We are both striving in the
+cause of humanity, partners bound by no other tie, and yet in my
+endeavor I am raising doubt in your mind. Doubt of me, doubt of my
+purpose, even doubt of my honor. That is so like a woman--isn't it?"
+
+The smile which the self-denunciation raised upon the man's face no
+longer lacked warmth.
+
+"The clever knave is rarely at a loss for explanation," he said drily.
+"The lack of explanation often carries conviction."
+
+The woman's slumberous eyes only smiled the more deeply.
+
+"I have explanations for all these things, and I would give them," she
+said promptly. "And those explanations might astonish you--a little.
+But at present I have only admission to make, which may have a
+disastrous effect upon my hopes. This is not my home. It is only a sort
+of--office. My name is not Vita Vladimir, except in part. And as for my
+wire to you, the moment the personnel of the new Cabinet was decided
+upon by Sir Meeston Harborough and his colleagues, the news was
+conveyed by the usual underground methods--abroad. That is all."
+
+"And you are in touch with--abroad?"
+
+"It is quite simple," the woman went on, with a shrug. "No political
+movement, no movement of any significance goes on here but it is known
+in foreign official circles even before the press get it here. Remember
+the war. My father, who is interested in this matter I am engaged upon,
+is in touch with those official circles, and so I received the news
+within a few hours of the time Sir Meeston knew it himself."
+
+The interest of this woman was very great. Its influence was growing on
+the man even more quickly than he knew. Her ready admission, her
+obviously true explanation of how she received the news which inspired
+her message of congratulation, these things had immediate effect. To a
+lesser mind than that of this youthful statesman, these things might
+well have inspired added doubt, but to Ruxton they told him all he
+wanted to know with definite assurance. He was convinced of her
+absolute sincerity, as he was convinced of--other things.
+
+The woman was waiting anxiously for the attitude which was to follow
+her explanations. Her anxiety did not display itself in her eyes, which
+were as calm as though matters of vital importance were beyond even her
+appreciation. Nevertheless, her blood was tingling with an apprehension
+which left the silence which had fallen almost insupportable.
+
+But Ruxton was thinking swiftly. For the moment all thought of the
+woman herself had been brushed aside. He was gazing at that dim misty
+light ahead, which was his goal, and he seemed to see the shadowy
+obstacles looming up which perhaps meant a life and death struggle in
+their surmounting. There was no pathway to the right or left. He must
+go on. It was the only road, a dangerous, deadly road, and it was the
+road this woman had offered him. He had probed deeply, far deeper than
+had seemed possible at first, and his probing had helped him to his
+decision.
+
+He rose from his seat and stood towering and large in that small room.
+The sleepy eyes of the woman were raised expectantly to his face, and,
+deep down in their depths, a light of admiration, which had only his
+manhood for its object, was growing with each passing moment. She too
+rose from her seat at the window, and they stood facing each other
+perfect in their splendid youth.
+
+"Well?"
+
+The woman could no longer restrain her impatience. Her interrogation
+broke from her almost unconsciously.
+
+"I came here to--accept your invitation to visit that--to see those
+things first hand, which is the duty of our country's political
+leaders," he said, with a smile which thrilled the expectant woman.
+
+"And you will--accept?"
+
+Ruxton nodded. His fine head, with its fair hair, was inclined in
+acquiescence.
+
+"Thank God!"
+
+The woman's exclamation was one of unrestrained thankfulness and
+relief. Had Ruxton needed any added proof of her honesty and sincerity,
+it was in that wonderful expression of fervid thankfulness which
+accompanied her words. But he had needed none, and it was the result of
+a coalition of heart and brain.
+
+"I shall communicate with your father and appoint a time when I can
+start with him--on his submersible."
+
+The woman's eyes were wide.
+
+"My father!" she exclaimed.
+
+"Surely--Mr. Charles Smith."
+
+The laugh which followed Ruxton's announcement was full of delighted
+admiration.
+
+"And we took so much trouble. We planned so carefully. We came to you
+because we believed you to be the only man approachable on such a
+subject. We did not realize we were approaching an intellect capable of
+fathoming and turning inside out our closely kept secrets."
+
+"Intellect?" Ruxton laughed as he held out his hand in "good-bye." "It
+is not necessarily intellect which recognizes strong family likenesses.
+But I regret to say that your father, brilliant as he may be as an
+inventor, does not do you justice in the matter of his personal
+appearance. However, I shall send him a message addressed Veevee,
+London, which you will doubtless see, and I pray that Providence may
+bless our feeble efforts. From all I can imagine the immediate future
+will contain many uncertainties for me, so I do not know if we shall
+ever meet again. But I want to tell you that I thank you from the
+bottom of my heart for coming to me. If things are as bad as you think,
+then you have done our country an inestimable service--you and your
+father."
+
+But his words had a different effect from that which might have been
+expected. A shudder of pain seemed suddenly to affect the woman and a
+great distress shadowed her beautiful eyes.
+
+"Please don't," she cried. "If you knew all that is in here," she went
+on, pressing her hands upon her bosom, "you would understand all this
+thing means. Mr. Farlow, you have never felt terror as a woman can feel
+it. How could you? You, a man, so big, and strong, and fearless. Even
+your imagination, riot as it may, could never know the haunt which the
+sinking of the _Lusitania_ has created in my woman's mind. Those poor
+helpless souls. Think of them, and think of some future, distant day
+when---- Oh, God! No, no! The service you speak of is no service. It
+is--Duty."
+
+Ruxton was deeply affected by the evident sincerity of her distress. He
+had nothing to add. But Vita Vladimir brushed her moment of weakness
+aside, and gazed up at him with luminous, searching eyes.
+
+"I had almost forgotten," she cried. "I am afraid I am but a poor
+plotter. The delight that you have accepted has put so much out of my
+poor brain." Then her eyes grew wide with awe and dread. "I told you
+that other lives than yours hang upon this matter. So--it is necessary
+for inviolable secrecy. Need you tell even your--father of your going?
+Need any one know? Your servants? Any one at all? It is a big thing to
+ask, but--life is very dear to us all, and---- No, no, what am I
+talking about? I must not beg. I must demand. For as sure as the sun
+rises to-morrow you will be silenced forever if word of this leaks out.
+We shall all be."
+
+The woman's manner was far more impressive than her words. But Ruxton
+treated the matter almost lightly.
+
+"Don't worry. I have given my promise to go. I am wilfully thrusting my
+neck into the noose waiting for it. I shall not take unnecessary
+chances. No one, not even my father, shall hear of this thing from me.
+So--good-bye until I return from--Germany."
+
+Vita's relief found expression in a grave sort of smile.
+
+"Thank you," she said quietly. "But--but you are not going to--Germany."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE OLD MILL COVE
+
+
+He had known the mill all his life; at least he believed he had. He had
+gazed upon that awesome black ruin, keeping watch and ward over the
+wicked little cove below it, like some sentinel on guard over a
+dangerous criminal, with wide, childish eyes, and a mind full of
+terrified speculation. He had known it later, when, with boyish
+bravado, he had flouted the horrific stories of a superstitious
+countryside, and explored its barren, ruined recesses. He had known it
+still later, when, with manhood's eyes opening to a dim appreciation of
+all those things which have gone before in the great effort of life, he
+had seen in it a picturesque example of the endless struggle which has
+gone on since the dawn of life.
+
+So he thought he knew it all.
+
+Now the limitations of his knowledge were forcing themselves upon him.
+Now he was realizing that there were secrets by the score in those
+every-day things which a lifetime of contact may never reveal. The
+strangeness of it all set him marvelling. The limitations of human
+understanding seemed extraordinarily narrow.
+
+He gazed down into the gaping cavity beneath his feet, and, by the dim
+rays of a lighted lantern, counted the worn stone steps until the
+darkness below swallowed up their outline.
+
+Ruxton Farlow straightened himself up and glanced about him at the bare
+stone walls, from the joints of which the cement had long since fallen.
+He looked up at the worm-eaten, oaken rafters which had stood the wear
+of centuries. The flooring which they supported had long since fallen
+into decay, and he only wondered how much longer those sturdy oaken
+beams would continue to support the colossal weight of the millstones
+now resting from their grinding labors.
+
+Through the rents which time and weather had wrought he saw the warm
+glow of daylight above, for all was ruin in the great old mill, ruin
+within and without. As it was with the walls of stone, and the great
+tower of woodwork above them, so it was with the outbuildings beyond
+the doorway, within which he stood. The walls remained, heavily
+buttressed by the hardy hands of a race of men who had understood so
+well the necessity for fortifying their homes against all
+eventualities, but the timbers of the roofs had long since fallen
+victims to the inclemencies of the seasons and the ruthless
+"North-easters" which, probably, since the time when the iron shores of
+Britain first emerged from beneath the waters, had beaten their
+relentless wings against the barrier which held up their freedom.
+
+Ruxton set his lantern on the ground and moved away to the wide
+doorway, which no longer possessed the remotest sign of the old wooden
+doors which had probably been at one time heavy enough to resist a
+siege. Here he drew a letter from his pocket and read it carefully over
+by the light of the sunset.
+
+
+"Dear Mr. Farlow:
+
+"I never knew your wonderful coast could be so interesting, even
+absorbing. I feel I owe you personal thanks for a delightful time,
+simply because you live--where you live. I have discovered a most
+wonderful spot. I say discovered, but probably you have known it from
+the days when you were first able to toddle about by yourself. However,
+I must tell you of it. It is an old, old, ruined mill, regarded by the
+folks on your coast as an evil place which is haunted by the spirits of
+the smugglers who once upon a time used it as the headquarters for
+their nefarious trade. But the incredible part of it is we unearthed a
+secret in it which has remained hidden for generations, possibly
+centuries. Now listen carefully and I will tell you of this secret. In
+the middle of the stone chamber under the mill there is the entrance to
+a passage which communicates with that villainous cove over which the
+evil eye of the old mill forever gazes. Six inches beneath the surface
+of the debris on the floor there is a slate slab, and, on raising this,
+you will discover a stone staircase which goes down, down,--follow it,
+and you shall see what you shall see. I have since discovered that this
+is the _only means of reaching the beach of the cove--unless you
+possess wings_. But I began this note with the intention of only
+telling you how much I am looking forward to seeing you again on
+Thursday evening at eight o'clock. I do hope you are taking full
+advantage of your vacation from parliamentary work, and are storing up
+plenty of good health upon your wonderful, wonderful moors.
+
+"Yours very sincerely,
+  "Vita Vladimir."
+
+
+Ruxton refolded the letter and put it away. He understood it was the
+final summons to that great adventure which was to tell him of the
+threat overshadowing his beloved country.
+
+He had obeyed it readily, eagerly, and now that the reality of the
+whole thing was developing he paused to consider the motives urging him.
+
+He was going to witness things first hand. He was glad. His
+understanding of duty assured him that it was the only means by which
+he could hope to convince others, when the time came. But was this his
+sole motive? Was this the motive which had inspired that feeling of
+exaltation when he first read the perfumed note, so carefully written
+lest it should fall into wrong hands? He knew it was not.
+
+His eyes were raised to the glistening sea away beyond the cove. He was
+gazing straight out through the narrow opening of the cove where the
+precipitous cliffs rose sheer out of the blue waters and marked the
+entrance which the country-folk sensationally loved to call "Hell's
+Gate." His mind was searching and probing the feelings which inspired
+him, and he knew that the beckoning hand of the woman was exercising a
+greater power than any sense of duty. He did not blind himself. He had
+no desire to. Those dark Slavonic eyes of his were wide and bright, and
+the half smile of them was full of an eager warmth. The idealist mind
+behind them was widely open to its own imagery. He saw through those
+Hell's Gates the perfect, palpitating figure which had poured out its
+burden of soul to him on the edge of those very cliffs; and she
+was--beckoning.
+
+The youth of him had been engulfed in the soul of the woman. Nor, as
+yet, did he realize the extent of the power she was exercising. All he
+knew was that he had neither the power nor desire to resist the
+summons, and herein lay the distinguishing mark of those whom Destiny
+claims.
+
+After a few moments he glanced at his watch. And at once the alertness
+of the man was displayed. It was twenty minutes to eight, and shortly
+after eight it would be low tide. The appointment had been made with
+regard to that, and that while he approached from the land, she would
+come by water. Therefore he must not delay.
+
+Dismissing every other consideration he turned back to the mysterious
+stairway he had unearthed and began its descent, aided by the light of
+the lantern he had discovered secreted upon the top step, ready for his
+use.
+
+His progress was rapid and easy. The vaulted, declining passage beneath
+the mill was high and wide, and constructed of masonry calculated to
+withstand the erosion of ages. It was moist and slimy, and the steps
+were at times slippery, but these things were no deterrents.
+
+The stairway, however, seemed endless in the dim lantern light, and by
+the time he had completed the journey he had counted upwards of one
+hundred steps. At the bottom he paused and looked back up the way he
+had come, but, in the blackness of the tunnel, his light revealed
+little more than the first few steps.
+
+Without further pause he turned to ascertain the nature of the place
+upon which the stairway had debouched. It was a wide and lofty cavern
+of Nature's fashioning, except that the walls and the natural
+obstructions of the flooring had been rendered smooth and clear by the
+hand of man. It was easy to estimate the purposes of this subterranean
+abode. There was less imagination in the legends of the old mill than
+he had supposed. If the books of his childish reading had any
+foundation in their local color this was certainly the den of some
+old-time smugglers.
+
+He passed rapidly along the declining passage, and the end of it came
+as he expected to find it. It was a cave which opened in the face of
+the cliff overlooking the cove, but so ingeniously hidden by Nature
+that its presence could never have been even guessed at by any chance
+visit from the sea.
+
+He stood at the opening and gazed out upon the already twilit cove. But
+he could not see the sea from where he stood; only along the face of
+the cliff to his right, down which, zigzagging and winding, a sort of
+rough-hewn stairway communicated with the beach below. In front of him
+a great projection of rock, as though riven from the main cliff at some
+far-off time by the colossal forces of Nature, hid the entire entrance
+of the cavern. And so narrow was the space intervening that he could
+touch it with an outstretching of his arm. It was a remarkable
+hiding-place. Nor did he marvel that he had never heard of it before.
+But the rapidly deepening twilight of the cove warned him of the
+approach of the hour of his appointment. So he blew out his lantern and
+began the descent to the beach nearly fifty feet below.
+
+Within five minutes he was standing in the centre of a patch of golden
+sand with the still ebbing water of the cove lapping gently at his feet.
+
+A curious change had come over him. All interest inspired by the
+journey through the cavern was entirely gone. Even, for the time, he
+had no longer any thought of the purpose for which he was there. His
+mind was absorbed in the curious weird of the place, and the dreadful
+feeling of overwhelming might bearing in and down upon him.
+
+The appalling grey barrenness, the height of the frowning ramparts
+which surrounded him on all sides, except the narrow opening to the
+sea. The absolute inaccessibility of those frowning walls, and the
+melancholy scream of the thousands of gulls which haunted the place. It
+was tremendous. It was terrible. But added to all these things was a
+discovery which he made almost upon the instant. With the instinct of
+personal security his eyes sought the high-water mark upon the beach.
+There was none. It was high up on the cliff sides at no point less that
+ten feet above the highest point of the beach. Herein lay the terror of
+the cove which lived in the minds of the dwellers upon the moors. Here
+was its real terror. A rising tide, and the secret of the smuggler's
+cavern undiscovered, and--death! He smiled as he thought of the name
+given to the entrance to the cove. Hell's Gate! It was surely----
+
+"Ahoy!"
+
+The cry echoed about the grey walls in haunting fashion. Ruxton was
+startled out of his reverie. In a moment his repulsion at what he
+beheld was forgotten. He remembered only his purpose, and his searching
+eyes gazed out over the water.
+
+"Ahoy!" he replied, when the last echo of the summons had died out.
+
+He could see no boat. He could discover no human being. And--it was a
+man's voice that had hailed him.
+
+For some moments a profound silence prevailed. Even the gulls ceased
+their mournful cries at the intrusion of a human voice upon their
+solitude.
+
+Ruxton searched in every direction. Was this another surprise of this
+extraordinarily mysterious place? Was this----? Quite suddenly his gaze
+became riveted upon a spit of low, weed-covered rock, stretching out
+into the calm water like a breakwater. There was a sound of clambering
+feet, and as his acute hearing caught it, a sort of instinct thrust his
+hand into his coat pocket where an automatic pistol lay. Then he
+laughed at himself and withdrew his hand sharply. The figure of a man
+scrambled up on to the breakwater.
+
+They stood eyeing each other for several thoughtful moments. Then
+without attempting to draw nearer the stranger called to him.
+
+"Mr. Farlow, sir. This way, if you please."
+
+Without hesitation Ruxton crossed over to him and scrambled on to the
+rocks.
+
+"You are from----?" he demanded.
+
+The question was put sharply, but without suspicion.
+
+"The lady's waiting for you out there," replied the man simply. "We
+haven't much time, sir. You can't come in here on a rising tide, and
+you can't get out of it either. It's hell's own place for small craft,
+or any craft for that matter on a rising tide." He threw an anxious
+glance at the water.
+
+Ruxton was gazing down at the little boat lying the other side of the
+natural breakwater. It was a petrol launch of some kind, but small and
+light as a cockle-shell. There was another man in the stern, and he
+observed that both he and the man beside him were in some sort of
+uniform.
+
+"I didn't see you come in," he went on curiously.
+
+"We've been lying here half an hour, sir. Our orders were to wait till
+just before the tide turned. We've got about half an hour, sir," the
+man added significantly.
+
+"Where's the vessel?" enquired Ruxton.
+
+"Just outside, sir."
+
+"I didn't see her."
+
+"She's lying submerged."
+
+"And Miss Vladimir is--aboard?"
+
+"The lady is, sir," replied the man, with a shadow of a smile in his
+deep-set blue eyes.
+
+The stranger stood aside, a direct invitation to Ruxton to climb down
+into the boat. But the latter made no move to do so.
+
+Then the man pushed his peaked cap back from his forehead and displayed
+a shock of sandy grey hair which matched his closely trimmed whiskers.
+
+"You'll excuse me, sir," he said, a trifle urgently, "but we've got to
+get out smart. Once the tide turns it races in here like an avalanche.
+We'll never make Hell's Gates if we aren't smart, and we don't want to
+get caught up in Hell itself."
+
+The man's urgency had the desired effect. Ruxton stooped down and
+lowered himself into the bow of the boat.
+
+"That's right, sir, it'll trim the boat," the man approved, as he
+dropped lightly in amidships. In a moment the clutch was let in and the
+little craft backed out of its narrow harbor.
+
+It was a moment of crisis. Ruxton Farlow had practically committed
+himself to the power of these strangers. Not quite though. For he had
+taken the bow seat, and his loaded automatic was in his pocket still.
+However, the position was not without considerable risk. He had
+expected to meet Vita. Instead he had been met by two men in uniform.
+They were both in middle life, and burly specimens of the seafaring
+profession.
+
+He had calculated the chances carefully before taking his final
+decision. Moreover he had closely appraised the men in charge of the
+boat. They were British. Of that he was certain. Nor were they men
+without education. On the whole he did not see that the balance lay
+very much in their favor if any treachery were contemplated.
+
+"You are British," he said to the man in front of him, as the boat
+swung round head on to the gates of the cove and began to gather speed.
+
+"Yes, sir. Served my time in the Navy--and had a billet elsewhere ever
+since."
+
+"Since the war?"
+
+"No, sir. Before the war."
+
+"Where?"
+
+The man faced round with a smile, while his comrade drove the little
+boat at a headlong pace through the racing waters.
+
+"Where a good many of our Navy's cast-offs go, sir. In Germany."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+ON THE GREY NORTH SEA
+
+
+Brief as was the interval between leaving the treacherous cove and the
+moment when Ruxton Farlow found himself surrounded by the tasteful
+luxury of the saloon of the long, low, strange-looking craft waiting
+just outside to receive him, it was not without many thrilling
+experiences.
+
+To a man of less imagination the very few minutes in the petrol launch
+would have meant little more than a rather exciting experience. But for
+Ruxton they possessed a far deeper significance. Nor was the least the
+feeling that he had slammed-to the doors of the life behind him, bolted
+and barred and locked them, and--flung away the key.
+
+That was the man. Sensitive to every mood that assailed him, yet urged
+on by an indomitable purpose, he had no more power to raise a hand to
+stay the tide of life upon which he was floating than he had to check
+the racing current which bore him beyond the threatening shoals of the
+Old Mill Cove.
+
+What a mill-race the latter was! The man in charge of the launch had by
+no means exaggerated it. The little craft, urged by its powerful motor,
+surged through the water till the sea washed over its prow, and Ruxton
+was forced to shelter beneath the decked-in peak, whence he could
+observe the man amidships, who never once desisted from his efforts on
+the well pump.
+
+Then, just beyond the jaws of the cove, they entered a stretch of
+tumultuous popple where the ebb met the opposing currents along the
+coast. Here the boat was tossed about like the proverbial feather, and
+to navigate it into the smooth water beyond demanded all the consummate
+seamanship of those responsible for its safety.
+
+Then, out of the heart of the grey waters, came the abrupt rising of
+the submersible. There was a tremendous swirling and upheaval less than
+fifty yards away, and the grey-green monster of the deep reared its
+forlorn-looking deck, with its conning-tower, its sealed hatchways, and
+its desolate deck rails, above the surface, and lay there, long and low
+and as evil-looking as only a mind filled with memories of the late war
+could have pictured it.
+
+Two minutes later Ruxton had left the little launch, had stepped aboard
+the submersible and passed down the "companion" to the saloon beneath
+the flush deck, once more to be greeted by the woman who seemed to have
+become so much a part of the new life opening out before him.
+
+Her greeting was cordial.
+
+"I knew you would come," she said, as she left her hand for a moment in
+his. Then her grey eyes, so full of warmth, shadowed for a moment. "And
+now that you have come I--could almost wish that I had had nothing to
+do with it. You see, I haven't the courage of my convictions. I know
+they are right, but--I am afraid."
+
+[Illustration: Out of the Heart of the Waters Rose the Submersible.]
+
+
+When he answered her the influence of the woman was greater than Ruxton
+knew.
+
+"You need not be," he said simply. "We are not fighting for ourselves,
+so--why fear?"
+
+The woman had no verbal reply. She regarded for one moment the strong
+face of the man, and the meaning of that regard was known only to
+herself. Had Ruxton possessed more vanity it is possible he might have
+read it aright, but vanity with him was so small a quantity as to be
+almost negligible.
+
+Again the woman held out her hand.
+
+"The tide will not wait. I must hurry ashore." Then she smiled. "I must
+go, too, while the courage your words have momentarily inspired
+remains. My father will join you immediately. Good-bye and good----"
+
+"You do not travel with us?"
+
+Ruxton's enquiry was frankly disappointed. The other shook her
+beautiful head.
+
+"No woman may venture where you are going. No woman has ever set foot
+there. I know it all, as you will understand later, but--no, I return
+with the launch. The tide will just serve us. Good-bye and good luck."
+
+Ruxton was left listening to the sound of her footsteps mounting the
+companionway. Then, as he heard the door of the conning-tower above
+close with a slam, he turned about and sought one of the luxurious
+sofas with which the saloon was furnished.
+
+As he sat he swayed gently to the motion of the vessel, and for the
+first time became aware of the automatic change to artificial light in
+the room. He knew at once that the vessel was returning once more to
+those depths whence he had witnessed it emerge. He gazed about him
+speculatively. The lights were carefully placed and diffused to prevent
+the trying nature of a constant artificial glare.
+
+He became aware of the splendid appointments of the saloon, which was a
+fine example of the marine architect's handicraft. The apartment itself
+was some twenty feet wide, and he judged it to occupy most of the
+vessel's beam. It was probably a similar length. The carpet on which
+his feet rested was a rich Turkey. Nor were the rest of the furnishings
+essentially of the character of a ship's cabin. True, there was a
+centre dining-table bolted to the deck, and the accompanying swinging
+chairs, but there was a full grand piano of German make. There were
+several comfortably upholstered lounges. There was exquisite plastic
+panelling of warm, harmonious tints on the upper parts of the walls and
+the ceilings, while the lower walls were clad in polished carved
+mahogany. He sought for the source of the daylight which had filled the
+room when he first entered, and discovered a great skylight overhead
+which was now covered by a metal shield on the outside, which, he
+concluded, must close over it automatically with the process of
+submerging.
+
+But his further observations were cut short by the abrupt opening of a
+door in the mahogany panelling and the entrance of--Mr. Charles Smith.
+He came swiftly across the room, his steps giving out no sound upon the
+soft carpet.
+
+"Mr. Farlow," he cried, holding out one tenacious hand in greeting,
+"you have done me a great honor, sir. You have done me an inestimable
+service in coming. I can--only thank you."
+
+But Ruxton was less attentive to his words than to the man. There was a
+change in him. A subtle change. He was no longer the enthusiastic
+inventor, almost slavishly striving to enlist sympathy for his
+invention. There was something about him which suggested command--even
+an atmosphere of the autocrat. Perhaps it was that here he was in his
+own natural element--the element which he had himself created.
+Perhaps----
+
+But he left it at that. It was useless to speculate further. He still
+experienced the sense of trust and liking which had been inspired at
+their first meeting by the noble forehead and the gentle, luminous
+eyes, so like, yet so unlike, those other eyes which so largely filled
+his thoughts.
+
+He willingly responded to the extended hand. And the man seemed to
+expect no reply, for he went on at once----
+
+"I was in my laboratory when you came aboard. Now I am entirely at your
+service."
+
+"Good." Ruxton nodded. "I feel there must be a lot of talk between
+us--without delay."
+
+The inventor looked at his watch. Then he pointed at the lounge from
+which Ruxton had risen, and seated himself in one of the swivel chairs
+at the dining-table.
+
+"We have nearly two hours before supper is served. May I send for some
+refreshment for you?"
+
+Ruxton dropped into the seat behind him.
+
+"Thanks, no," he declined, "I dined early--purposely. All I am anxious
+for now is--explanation."
+
+The manner in which his eyelids cut flatly across the upper part of the
+pupils of his dark eyes gave his gaze a keenly penetrating quality. He
+wanted explanation, full and exhaustive explanation. Warnings, and mere
+intangible suggestions, no longer carried weight. He must know the
+whole thing which the future had to reveal to him.
+
+The white-haired man seemed lost in thought. Again Ruxton noted a
+change. The lean face and gentle eyes yielded to something very like an
+expression of dejection. It was almost as if the man shrank from the
+explanations demanded of him, while yet he knew they must be made.
+
+At length he raised his eyes and regarded his guest with an almost
+pathetic smile.
+
+"Explain? Ah, yes. I must explain everything now." He sighed.
+"Where--where shall I begin?" He crossed his long legs and strove to
+settle himself more comfortably in his chair, while Ruxton waited
+without a sign.
+
+"It is hard to explain--all," he said, after a brief pause. "But I know
+it must be. Mr. Farlow, can you imagine what it means when a man who
+has always regarded his honor and his country's honor before all things
+in the world suddenly finds himself called upon to confess that his
+country's honor has been outraged by his country, and his own honor has
+been outraged by himself? If you can, then perhaps you will understand
+my position when explanation is demanded of me."
+
+Ruxton averted the steady regard of his eyes. He did not desire to
+witness this man's pain.
+
+"I think I know," he said. Then quite abruptly he changed from the
+English language to German, which he spoke with the perfect accent of a
+man educated in Frankfurt. "But it may save you much if you begin by
+telling me your real name. The name you are known by in--Germany."
+
+A pair of simple, startled eyes gazed back into his.
+
+"Has--Vita--told you?" he demanded.
+
+Ruxton shook his head.
+
+"Then how did you know?"
+
+"Does it matter? I desire to make it easier for you."
+
+For a few moments neither spoke. The artificial light in the room had
+merged once more into daylight. There was again the sound of the
+opening and shutting of iron doors on deck above them. There were also
+the harsh tones of orders being given.
+
+Ruxton knew that it was the return of the launch which had conveyed
+this man's daughter ashore, and that it was being taken on board and
+stowed within the parent craft. Presently the sounds died away. Once
+more the light in the saloon became artificial, and the silent throb of
+engines made themselves felt. The journey had begun.
+
+"Well?"
+
+Ruxton had now given himself entirely to the use of the German language.
+
+The inventor cleared his throat
+
+"My name is Stanislaus. Stanislaus, Prince von Hertzwohl."
+
+Ruxton Farlow did not move a muscle. There was not the quiver of an
+eyelid, nor one detail of change of expression. Yet he was not unmoved
+at the mention of the man's real name. Although he had half expected
+it, it came with something very like a shock.
+
+Stanislaus von Hertzwohl! Did he not know it? Did not the whole wide
+world know it? Was it not the one name, out of all the great German
+names associated with the war, which was anathematized more surely even
+than that of the Kaiser himself?
+
+Stanislaus von Hertzwohl! The man who had perfected the German
+submarine. The man who had made possible the hideous slaughter of
+innocent victims upon the high seas. The man at whose door was laid the
+responsibility for that inhuman massacre--the sinking of the
+_Lusitania_. The man whom the world believed was the father of every
+diabolical engine of slaughter devised to combat his country's enemies.
+
+"Of course, I know the name," he said simply. "Everybody knows it."
+
+His reply seemed to fire the powder train of the Prince's passionate
+emotion.
+
+"Ach!" he cried, with a desperately helpless gesture of expressive
+hands. "That is it. Everybody! Everybody knows it! They know the name,
+but they do not know the truth."
+
+Then, in a moment, the fire of his emotion seemed to die out.
+
+"Mr. Farlow, I want you to know that truth," he went on calmly. "Will
+you listen to it now? Will you listen to it with an open mind, or--or
+have you already sat in judgment, and, with the rest of an unthinking,
+unreasoning world, condemned me?"
+
+Ruxton's thoughts were pacing rapidly with his feelings. They had
+travelled swiftly back to that moonlit night upon the Yorkshire cliffs.
+To him had come the woman again, so fair, so radiant in her perfect
+womanhood, so passionate in her horror of the tragedy of the world war.
+These things had been beyond all doubt in their sincerity and truth.
+She was this man's daughter. She was loyally supporting her father now.
+Then his mind passed on to the scene in the library at Dorby Towers. It
+had been his work for years to deal with people whose superficial
+presentment was only calculated to cloak real purpose. He had read
+these two people out of his experience.
+
+"Judgment is only for those who possess all the facts," he observed
+quietly. "Will you continue?"
+
+The decision of his attitude seemed to inspire the white-haired man so
+patiently awaiting his reply. He crossed his legs, and, drawing up one
+well-shod foot, nursed its ankle in his clasped hands. He was leaning
+forward full of an anxious, nervous expression of attitude. It almost
+seemed as if his guest's judgment were to him a last straw of hope. The
+noble forehead was a-dew with moisture. His bushy eyebrows were sharply
+drawn in a great effort of concentration. His eyes, so widely simple,
+usually so expressive of childhood's innocence, were now full of a
+suffering that was almost overwhelming.
+
+"If I had been guilty of a fraction of that of which the world accuses
+me could I have dared, or cared, to approach you with my latest
+invention, and--the other proposals? Keep that question in your mind
+while I talk. It is so easy to condemn, and, having condemned, reversal
+of judgment is well-nigh impossible. If I am guilty it is only of a
+patriot's devotion to the country to which _I believed_ I owed
+allegiance. That, and an even greater devotion to the problems of
+making possible those things which seemed impossible. In not one of the
+problems of invention have I ever possessed a motive other than that
+which has inspired every engineer engaged upon naval armaments in every
+other country. Never in my life have I devised any weapon for the army
+other than the monster siege mortar. The liquid fire, the gases, the
+dozen and one contrivances for slaughter have found their inception in
+other brains than mine. I state these facts simply. You must trust
+them, or dismiss them, as you will. I am a marine inventor solely,
+except for that one weapon which was legitimate enough--the siege
+mortar. You, who understand the nature of marine invention, must
+assuredly realize that one man's brain, one man's lifetime are all too
+brief and limited to permit a division of his powers with any hope of
+success."
+
+He paused as though offering opportunity for comment, but none was
+forthcoming. So he went on, his body slightly swaying to and fro, his
+eyes assuming a passionate fire that gave to his whole aspect an
+atmosphere of vigorous protest.
+
+"I am a Pole," he went on presently. "I am a Pole, born in German
+Poland. My parents were poor, but we claim direct descent from the
+ancient royal house. Now let me make my own thoughts and feelings clear
+to you. I was brought up under German methods, German education. I was
+taught, as every child within the German Empire is taught, to believe
+that Germany is above and before all the nations of the world, and
+that, in the brief life of this earth, nothing else but German national
+interests matter to its people. Now mark the obvious result of such a
+training. I make no apology. I, beginning life in my father's little
+engineering shop, finding myself with an abnormal capacity for
+invention, seeking to make for myself and family a competence--what do
+I do? I place whatever ability I may possess at the service of Germany.
+I devote myself to discovery in the one direction in which official
+Germany has looked since the war of 1870.
+
+"The next step comes quickly. It came so quickly that it well-nigh
+overbalanced my whole sense of proportion. The problem that appealed to
+me was the enormous strength of fortresses being built by our neighbors
+against our borders. We were doing the same against theirs. It was
+almost a simple problem. I said that if our fortresses were stronger
+than theirs, and we possessed a secret weapon which could destroy
+theirs, then our empire was safe from invasion for all time. So it came
+about that I took plans of my great siege mortars to the authorities.
+They were considered, and the guns were ultimately made. On experiment
+they proved an instantaneous success, and I was at once given rank and
+wealth, and ordered to work on the development of the gun-power of the
+Navy. It was this that converted me to marine engineering. From then
+onwards my career became one series of triumphs--from Germany's point
+of view. Till now, as you know, I have been rewarded with the revival
+of an old Polish title, to which by birth I am entitled, and am
+placed--as perhaps you do not know--in supreme command of Germany's
+naval construction."
+
+There was no atmosphere of triumph in the man's manner. There was no
+victorious inspiration in the tones of his voice. With each word which
+announced the progress of his triumph an almost painful dejection
+seemed to settle more and more heavily upon him.
+
+Still Ruxton refrained from comment. He knew that the vital things had
+yet to be told. Nor had he any desire to break up the man's train of
+thought. There still remained the tragedy of triumph which this man's
+life concealed.
+
+The man's voice came again in level tones which had lost all light and
+shade. He spoke like one utterly weary in mind, heart, and body.
+
+"If I had only known," he said, with a dreary shake of his snow-white
+head. "But," he added with a shrug, "I did not know. I was blinded by
+success, and a passionate devotion to my work." He drew a deep breath.
+"But I knew later. Oh, yes. I knew. The greatest triumph and the
+greatest disaster of my life was when I converted the paltry little
+coast defence submarines into the ocean-going pirates they afterwards
+became. But it was not until Germany declared a submarine blockade of
+these shores that I knew what I had done. Up to that time I had been
+a--German patriot. From that moment I became a simple, heart-broken
+human being. My legitimate engines of war had been turned against the
+innocent lives of a defenceless people, and when the massacre of
+fifteen hundred souls took place with the sinking of the _Lusitania_ I
+think for the time I became demented."
+
+He was breathing hard. His face had become almost stony in its
+expression. It was the face of a man who for the time is beyond all
+further feeling. Quite abruptly, however, he released his hold upon his
+foot, and ran his long fingers through his shock of white hair.
+
+"Ach! How willingly would I have undone all I had done. I tried to
+resign on various pleas. Health!" He laughed, a hollow, mocking laugh.
+"As well try to struggle free from the strangling rope of the hangman
+with hands tied. To my horror I found that I belonged body and soul to
+Germany, and my rank and wealth was the price the country had paid for
+my brains. Oh, yes, I was no honored patriot serving my country. I was
+its bond slave, the slave of Prussian militarism. And to the end of my
+days that slave I must remain.
+
+"Need I tell you of all the suffering I have since endured? No, I think
+not. No repentant murderer could have suffered more for his crimes than
+I have done. I have striven, by every possible argument, to assure
+myself that mine was not the blame, but no conviction has resulted. The
+world cannot blame more cruelly than I do myself, and yet--I am
+innocent of all intent.
+
+"Throughout all the struggle I have had with my own soul no glimmer of
+light reached me until my daughter came to my rescue. And I think it
+was her woman's wit, supported by her own brave heart, which has saved
+me. She, in her great pity and love of humanity, started a fresh
+thought in the poor brain with which Providence endowed me. It surely
+was only a woman's mind could have conceived so simple a solution to my
+trouble. It was all done in one brief sentence. She said, 'The brain
+that can invent to destroy can invent to save.' And from that moment
+hope came to me."
+
+He leant forward urgently. The veins at his temples stood out with the
+mental effort of the moment.
+
+"Need I detail the result. I came to you as the only possible person to
+help on the work. You were selected after careful thought. I have
+warned you of the threat hanging over your country. Now I will show you
+the engines of destruction which I have been forced to perfect to
+complete the execution of that threat. But I have already shown you my
+submersible. You are now on board the constructed vessel, the
+development and adoption of which is the only antidote to the devilish
+plans of the country to which I belong, plans which are staggering in
+their possibilities. They are so simple, yet so vast and terrible when
+made against England. Listen: Germany has abandoned all other naval
+construction in favor of my new boat--the Submersible Dreadnought. Do
+you realize the type? It is a heavily armored vessel with the gun-power
+of the surface dreadnought, and its speed, but with all the attributes
+of the submarine. A fleet of nominally three hundred is being
+constructed. It will be larger by far. In a few years it will be
+possible to ring your country round with these lurking machines, each
+of which will be capable of engaging successfully any surface war
+vessel ever built, while its submarine attributes will render it
+practically immune from any combination of force opposed to it. Do you
+see? Never again will England, when at war with Germany, be able to
+transport her armies abroad. Never again will she be able to feed her
+millions of people through overseas channels. Henceforth she will be
+driven to peace under any conditions and her mastery of the seas will
+pass from her forever."
+
+Ruxton stirred in his seat. He shifted his position. The man's words
+had sunk deeply.
+
+"The submersible mercantile marine is certainly the obvious retort," he
+said reflectively. Then he added as an afterthought, "Temporarily."
+
+"Yes. Temporarily."
+
+Neither spoke again for some moments. Both were thinking ahead, much
+further on than the immediate future.
+
+"And after the submersible dreadnought?" Ruxton's question was not
+addressed to the inventor, but it was answered by him.
+
+"Who can tell? One of these two countries must go under."
+
+"Yes."
+
+Again came a prolonged silence. Again Ruxton shifted his position. Then
+at last he spoke.
+
+"And you will show me these things. The risk will be stupendous--for
+you."
+
+Prince Stanislaus laughed without a shadow of mirth.
+
+"For me it is just a matter of life and death. Life has few attractions
+for me now. For you? My power is sufficient to safeguard you. Shall I
+show you how?"
+
+Ruxton nodded. His penetrating gaze was again fixed upon the almost
+cadaverous features with their snow-white crown and noble forehead.
+
+"Yes," he said.
+
+Prince Stanislaus began at once. And talk went on between them for many
+minutes. For the most part Ruxton listened, as was his way, and only
+occasionally interpolated a shrewd, incisive question. His dark,
+penetrating eyes were watchful and studying. And no change of
+expression in the other was lost upon him.
+
+Slowly within him there grew a wide admiration for the mentality and
+courage in this strangely simple creature. He read him down to the
+remotest depths of his honest soul. Wherever Prince Stanislaus's
+devotion to his life's work had led him, there was no shadow of doubt
+left in the Englishman's mind as to his present sincerity and honesty
+of purpose.
+
+When the last detail of the plan had been explained Ruxton stood up.
+
+"The judgment of the world is rarely inspired by justice," he said. "I
+thank you, and will gladly place myself under your guidance. Since the
+opportunity of discovering the secrets of Kiel and Cuxhaven has been
+vouchsafed to me I should be far less than the patriot I desire to be
+did I shirk the risks. My duty is quite plain."
+
+The relief and satisfaction his words inspired in the other were
+obvious.
+
+"I thank you," he said earnestly. "You have helped me to that peace
+which I have long sought and I had come to believe could never again be
+mine in this life. But----"
+
+"But?"
+
+The man was smiling.
+
+"But we do not go to either Kiel or Cuxhaven."
+
+Ruxton was startled.
+
+"Where then?" he demanded shortly.
+
+"To the Baltic. Mr. Farlow, you have no idea of the subtlety of the
+people with whom we are dealing. All eyes of the world are on Cuxhaven
+and Kiel. Every vulture of the foreign secret services is hovering over
+those places, and the forges and foundries are working to deceive them.
+But the real work and preparations I speak of are not being made in
+Germany at all. We go to the Baltic, to the island of Borga, which is
+off the coast of Sweden. And there we shall find under German
+administration a naval 'Krupps,' and the greatest arsenal in the whole
+world."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+BORGA
+
+
+A grey, northern day devoid of all sunshine; a forbidding, rock-bound
+coast lost in a depressing mist; a flat, oily sea, as threatening to
+the mariner as the mounting hillocks of storm-swept water; a dull sense
+of hopelessness prevailing upon the still air. All these things marked
+the approach to Borga; for Nature was in a repellent mood, a thing of
+repugnance, of distrust and fear.
+
+A long, low craft was approaching the gaping jaws which marked the
+entrance to the heart of the island, somewhere away in the distance,
+lost in the grey mists which seemed to envelop the whole land.
+
+The deck was narrow, and guarded by a simple surrounding of low rails.
+Amidships was a curious construction which was at once the support of
+the periscope, the conning-tower, and the entrance to the interior of
+the vessel. Dotted about the deck were several sealed hatchways, and
+the sheen of glassed skylights. The whole thing was colored to match
+the surrounding grey-green waters.
+
+Two uniformed figures were standing for'ard in the bows. One of them
+was beating the air with twin flags, one in each hand. The other stood
+by contemplating the book in his hand, and at intervals scanning the
+repellent shore through a pair of binoculars.
+
+Presently the signaller spoke.
+
+"One, six, four, seven, nine, three, two," he said, reciting the
+combination of numerals in German with the certainty of familiarity.
+
+"One, six, four, seven, nine, three, two, it is," replied the observer,
+in a similar, ill-spoken tongue. "That's 'proceed,'" he added,
+referring to his book.
+
+Forthwith the signaller produced a pocket telephone connected with the
+conning-tower by a long insulated "flex," and spoke over it. A moment
+later the throb of engines made itself felt, and, in response, the
+spume broke on the vessel's cut-water, and left a frothing wake astern.
+
+The vessel passed the mist-hooded granite headlands. It left them
+behind, and itself became engulfed in the grey threat lying between the
+overshadowing heights towering upwards nearly five hundred feet towards
+the leaden sky.
+
+The two men on deck gave no heed to their immediate surroundings. They
+were men of the sea, hard and unimaginative. They were concerned only
+with the safety of the vessel under them. They would drive her into the
+very gates of Hell, if such were their orders. But they would avoid,
+with all their skill, the pitfalls by the way. They knew that the
+secrets of this gloomy abode were many, as many perhaps as those of the
+very Hades they would have been willing enough to face. They knew, too,
+that those secrets, just as the secrets of the other place, were
+calculated to destroy them if they diverged one iota from the laws
+which governed the place. So they worked exactly, and took no chances.
+
+The channel quickly began to narrow. The vast cliffs drew in upon them
+in their overpowering might. The barren shores were visible to the
+naked eye, and the white line of heavy surf boomed and boomed again in
+its incessant attack upon the grim walls. Higher up small patches of
+pine trees clung desperately to insecure root-holds, like the intrepid
+Alpini seeking to scale impossible heights.
+
+A few minutes passed and a boat, a small petrol-driven vessel, like
+some cockle-shell amidst its tremendous surroundings, shot out from the
+shore and raced towards them. It had a high, protected prow, and its
+great speed threw up a pair of huge white wings of water till it had
+something of the appearance of an enraged swan charging to the attack
+of an enemy. Again the signaller spoke over his telephone, and the
+vessel slowed down, and finally hove-to.
+
+The patrol boat drew alongside. Two men, amidships, in oilskins, held a
+brief conversation with those on board the intruder. Then their vessel
+passed ahead, and the bigger craft was left to amble leisurely along in
+its wake.
+
+The cliffs had closed down till less than half a mile of water divided
+them. The narrow strip of leaden sky above looked pinched between them.
+For a mile and more ahead there was no change. The narrow passage, with
+its racing tide, was full of hidden dangers, not the least amongst
+which being a crowded mine-field which lined either side of the channel.
+
+As the journey proceeded the gloom increased. Added to the natural
+mists the atmosphere took on a yellow tint, which suggested an
+overhanging pall of smoke. There was no joy in the aspect anywhere.
+
+The end of the passage came at last, and the pilot boat dropped astern.
+Its work was finished, and it raced back to its watching-post.
+
+Now a complete change came over the scene. But it was scarcely a change
+for the better. It was only that Nature, having done her worst, left
+the rest in the safe hands of human ingenuity.
+
+The frowning cliffs abandoned their threat. They ended as abruptly as
+they had arisen out of the sea. They fell back on either hand, carrying
+the shore with them, and merged into a mist-crowned hinterland of dark
+woods and wide ravines, with a wide-stretching foreshore, upon which
+was built a great city, entirely surrounding what had developed into a
+miniature, landlocked sea.
+
+Nature had certainly left her incomplete effort in capable hands.
+Whatever beauty a brilliant sunshine, accompanied by a smart breeze,
+might have discovered upon the inhospitable shores of Borga in their
+pristine state, man's hand had contrived to destroy it. The whole
+prospect was sordid, uncouth, and suggested something of a nether world
+of lugubrious fancy. All that could be said for it was the suggestion
+of feverish industry on every hand. The buildings looked all
+unfinished, yet they were in full work under a great strain of
+pressure. Borga had been built in a hurry, and all connected with it
+suggested only haste and industry.
+
+There were no public buildings of classic model. There were no roads
+and avenues beautified by Nature's decorations. Just alleys and
+thoroughfares there were, and only sufficiently paved for the needs of
+the work in hand. The quays and docks were solid--only. The great
+machine shops, staring-eyed and baldly angular, suggested only the
+barest necessity. And though their hundreds of floors sheltered
+thousands of human workers, and acres of elaborate machinery, not even
+a cornice, or coping, or variation of brickwork had been permitted to
+make sightly a structure purely for utilitarian purposes. The slipways
+at the water's edge, and the gaunt steel skeletons they contained, were
+merely slipways, without other pretensions. A thousand smokestacks
+belched out of their fetid bowels an endless flow of yellow, sulphurous
+smoke upon an already overladen atmosphere. They stood up like the
+teeth of a broken comb, and added to the sordidness of the picture.
+
+A faint relief might have been found for the primitive mind in the
+numberless blast furnaces to be detected on almost every hand by their
+shooting tongues of flame. Like all else in Borga they never ceased
+from their efforts. Theirs it was to give birth to an everlasting
+stream of molten metal with which to fill the crudely-wrought sand
+moulds for the containing of pig-iron. The rolling mills, too, might
+have been not without effect. Those cavernous worlds of incessant
+clamor rolled the hours and days away, and took no count but of the
+output from their soulless wombs. The homes of the deep-noted steam
+hammers, and the fierce puddling furnaces, where men, bare to the skin
+except for a loin-cloth, with greased bodies, endure under showers of
+flying sparks and a heat which no other living creature would face.
+These sights were perhaps not without inspiration. But the sordidness
+of it all, its crudity, its suggestion of hideous life were on every
+hand; in the shrieking locomotives, with their tails of laden,
+protesting trucks; in the beer-drinking booths; in the vast heaps of
+rubbish and waste lying about in every direction; even to the almost
+bestial type of man whose brain and muscle made such a waste of
+industry possible.
+
+What Nature had left unfinished, man had surely completed for her.
+Borga was repellent. Its life was ugly. But ugliest of all was its
+purpose.
+
+Essen had been the greatest arsenal of all time. But since the birth
+and maturity of Borga it had become as a village compared to a capital
+city. Borga was the mechanical soul of an empire. It was the iron heart
+of an armored giant, upon which had been wantonly lavished all the
+mentality and spiritual force of a nation bankrupt in every other human
+feeling.
+
+The incoming vessel moved swiftly. Ahead lay a grey breakwater which
+formed one wall of a small harbor. An open channel clear of all
+shipping indicated its purpose. It was obviously the official
+landing-place. However, if the channel remained clear it was lined on
+either side by a swarm of naval craft, much of which was still in the
+hands of artificers; for here, no less than ashore, the din of
+construction was going on and the busy hive remained true to its
+purpose.
+
+The men on deck remained indifferent to their surroundings. Familiarity
+left them free to give undivided attention to their work. So the boat
+glided silently in between the pierheads, and, in five minutes, was
+lying against the landing-stage with a gangway run aboard.
+
+Two men emerged from the conning-tower and stepped ashore, where a
+small group of uniformed officers were waiting to receive them. Prince
+Stanislaus von Hertzwohl led the way, followed by a younger man, whose
+face was full of a keen intelligence, while his dark eyes were those of
+a dreamer. Both were dressed in the uniform of German naval officers, a
+uniform which particularly seemed to suit the younger man's fair hair.
+
+But the Prince in Borga was a different man from the inventor
+displaying his models. Here he was an autocrat--an all-powerful, high
+officer in the work of the place. Therefore, with a cold acknowledgment
+of the salute of the junior officers, he passed them by and stepped up
+to a man of elevated military rank, who, in the haughty aloofness of
+his position, was standing well apart from the others.
+
+The Prince addressed him with a cold sort of familiarity.
+
+"Ha, Von Salzinger," he cried, "but you are a troublesome people here.
+You give us no peace. We are called to straighten out the muddles of
+Borga when our time can be ill spared from our workshops. Let me
+present my nephew, who is responsible for this damnation light. Herr
+Leder von Bersac--the military governor of Borga, Captain-General von
+Salzinger."
+
+The two men acknowledged the presentation, and their eyes met in a
+steady, keen regard. Then the Prince went on--
+
+"What is it, this light? Have your engineers no thoughts in their heads
+but beer, or is it that they, like the asses, have grown long ears?
+Come, we will go at once. You can dismiss your ceremonial," he went on,
+indicating the group of officers. "I have no time for that. I am an
+engineer, as is my nephew. Besides, I must leave here within the hour.
+I must be in Berlin within two days and return to my works first.
+So----"
+
+"Certainly, Excellency," replied the Captain-General, unbending before
+the man whom he believed through his genius to be the most powerful
+influence in the country at the moment. "But I think the fault is not
+with us--this time. No doubt Herr von Bersac will be able to set the
+matter right. But an hour is short."
+
+"Ach, so," cried the Prince, with irritation. "Then do not delay. Lead
+us to the--place."
+
+Herr von Bersac, watching the scene with his dreamy eyes, noted the
+attitude of the two men towards each other. His uncle's manner was
+something of a surprise to him. Nor could he help but realize the
+other's almost slavish deference, as, in response to the older man's
+order, he hastily moved off shorewards.
+
+The Governor was a typical Teuton. The broad, square back of his head
+surmounted a thick, fleshy neck. His blue eyes were deeply set in puffy
+sockets. His cheeks were full, and the chin, below his bristling
+moustache, was square and strong. His whole appearance, in his
+brilliant uniform, was of cubist inspiration, and, in spite of his high
+rank, and the suggestion of grey about the temples of his close-cropped
+head, he could not have been more than midway between thirty and forty.
+These things Herr von Bersac noted with almost unnecessary interest in
+spite of his abstracted air.
+
+But Herr von Bersac had not had a monopoly of observation. While the
+Prince had been talking the military governor's small, quick eyes had
+not been idle. He had taken the nephew's measure to the last inch of
+his great height. Such observation was his habit as well as his duty.
+His position in the world's greatest secret arsenal demanded that every
+visitor must be regarded as a possible enemy until a due examination of
+his credentials proved him otherwise.
+
+The Prince talked as they made their way to an execrable road by
+crossing a narrow-gauge railway. They skirted piles of debris almost as
+high as some of the adjoining buildings. And the general impression
+left was one of carelessness for anything but the work going on.
+
+"This place is the worst constructed in the world," he declared, as he
+stubbed a toe against a pile of broken concrete. "There is no system in
+it. Where is the system for which we Germans are noted? It is gone,
+with many other things, since the war. We think so hard for the
+downfall of our enemies that we have no time for all that system which
+has made our people the greatest in the world. Ach! I hate Borga. I
+hate it more every time I make my visit."
+
+Von Salzinger laughed in his heavy way.
+
+"Ah, Excellency," he said, "the war has taught us many things. We
+thought we knew it all. Through that very system which was so great we
+wasted much money and many years, for our enemies achieved almost all
+which we had in less than two years. Now we work against time. Our
+object now is no longer system, but--result."
+
+"I am glad," observed the Prince with some acerbity. "You will
+understand then why I can give you only an hour."
+
+"Yes, Excellency," deferred the other.
+
+He had no desire to add to his visitor's obvious ill-humor. And there
+were other reasons for his attitude than the mere fear of his power. He
+desired this man's personal favor. When war broke out in 1914, before
+the Prince had risen to his present power, he, Von Salzinger, had been
+brought into contact with his daughter Valita von Hertzwohl in the work
+of the Secret Service. It had fallen to his lot to endeavor to utilize
+her in his country's service. That his efforts had failed was not his
+only disaster, for, failing to enlist her cooperation, he had achieved
+her displeasure with himself. And her displeasure had disturbed him
+more than the other. He had fallen a victim to her charms in a manner
+which made her displeasure something of a tragedy to his vanity. But he
+was as vain as he was persevering, and with him effort was a continuous
+process, and not spasmodic.
+
+The Prince hurried him through the wilderness of industry, and the
+haughty military governor lost much of his dignity in the scurry, and
+in his effort to pay deferential attention to his visitor's incessant
+complaint. An overwhelming clanging of machinery, intensified by the
+dull thunderous boom of adjacent steam hammers, and the machine-gun
+rattle of the riveting hammers, made talk almost impossible.
+
+Herr von Bersac no longer displayed the least interest in his
+companions. Since he had dropped behind them, and was safe from Von
+Salzinger's observation, the dreaming had passed out of his dark eyes.
+They were alight with a keen interest, an interest almost excited, as
+the wonders of the place revealed themselves to him. But the works and
+their busy life had less effect than other things. His whole mind
+seemed to be absorbed in the direction of the water, and the numberless
+naval craft lying at their moorings. And out of all these his searching
+eyes selected one type, a type he could not miss, a type which seemed
+to be prevailing.
+
+One of them lay so near inshore that he could observe its every detail
+of outward construction. It was a curious, ugly vessel of strangely
+vicious type. He recognized it at once as of the submersible pattern of
+the vessel he had arrived at Borga in. But it was so huge. It was
+heavily armored, as it lay there in light draught, high out of water,
+and on its deck, in place of the simple conning-tower and surmounting
+periscope, there was a central armored turret, while, fore and aft of
+this, two other turrets bristled, each with a pair of 12-inch guns. He
+had no time for a closer inspection as he was hurried along, but he
+made a mental note that the vessel was a submarine dreadnought, and
+that there were nearly fifty other such vessels lying about at their
+moorings.
+
+He seemed fearful of concentrating his observation too long in any one
+direction. A furtive backward glance from the Governor promptly
+diverted his attention. It almost seemed that he had no desire to
+invite Captain-General von Salzinger's regard. No doubt he felt that,
+though his uncle's nephew, he was still only admitted to Borga on
+sufferance.
+
+Finally they approached a high-walled enclosure with closed gates, and
+a line of sentries guarding its entrance. Immediately he became
+absorbed in the German characters of the large printed notice on the
+gates. The notice was to the effect that all entrance to this place
+without a Governor's permit was "verboten."
+
+He became alert and watchful. Doubtless being the engineer responsible
+for the success of the new U-rays lamp he felt that he must no longer
+permit his interest to wander. He watched the square figure of the
+military governor as he took the sentry's salute. He observed the
+junior officer who promptly threw open one of the massive gates. Then
+his whole attention became absorbed in what he beheld as, with his
+companion, he passed within the enclosure.
+
+It was a large dock. And moored at each of its three sides was a
+submarine dreadnought of even greater dimensions than the one he had
+seen mounting 12-inch guns.
+
+The Prince turned to him.
+
+"This, my Leder, is the place where we deal with the things, the secret
+of which the world will never know, but the effects of which one day
+our enemies will learn to dread."
+
+He laughed with the satisfaction of anticipated triumph. Then, as Leder
+von Bersac grunted out some unintelligible acquiescence, he turned to
+the military governor with a shrug.
+
+"Ach, what will you?" he cried, in apparent disgust. "He has no
+delight, no appreciation for these things. He will think all day. He
+will work in his light-rooms till he is nearly blind. All for the
+destruction of our enemies. But joy? He does not know it. If you tell
+him his work has slain a million of the enemy he will say he can make
+it kill more. Himmel! Such joy!"
+
+Ludwig von Salzinger surveyed this enthusiastic product with curious
+eyes. But he offered no comment, and the Prince hurried towards the
+gangway, and led the way aboard the nearest vessel.
+
+At the steel doorway of the armored conning-tower he paused. His whole
+manner abruptly changed to one of definite command.
+
+"If there should be a defect we will have the light unshipped, and take
+it back with us, Leder," he said decidedly. "You cannot work in the
+pandemonium of Borga. It is only fit for the Captain-General's
+artillerymen, who have ears of leather and brains of mud." Then he
+turned upon Von Salzinger in a manner that permitted no doubt of his
+purpose. "You doubtless have more pressing duties, Herr
+Captain-General. Please do not consider us. Our work is technical, and
+will have but little interest for you. Besides, my dear Leder may have
+to examine those secrets of the U-rays which even your chief engineer
+is not admitted to. I thank you for conducting us hither. You will
+leave word for our safe departure at the gates."
+
+His dismissal came as a shock to Von Salzinger. But more than anything
+his vanity was shocked. To feel that this man had the power to dismiss
+him, here in Borga, as he, Von Salzinger, might dismiss one of his
+junior officers, was infinitely galling. But even more intensely
+galling was the thought that this boor of a nephew could calmly move
+about in Borga, penetrate its most secret workshops, and probe the
+secrets which lay therein, while he--he, the military governor--was
+ordered about his business.
+
+There was no help for it. Prince von Hertzwohl had given the order, and
+he must obey as though the order had issued from the lips of the All
+High War Lord. He bowed a short, square, resentful bow and stood aside
+to allow Von Bersac to enter the conning-tower. But the glance which
+followed the tall athletic form of the engineer was no friendly one.
+
+He must obey orders. Well, so must everybody who entered Borga--unless
+they were of higher rank than the military governor. This young man
+could at least be put to the indignity of the inquisitorial process of
+his officials. And he knew how unpleasant their efforts could be made.
+He promised himself this trifling satisfaction, at least--when the
+Prince chanced to be out of the way. It was certainly his duty that
+this young man should go through the customary process which all
+visitors at Borga were submitted to.
+
+He left the deck of the dreadnought as the Prince and his _protege_
+vanished down the steel companionway, and passed out of the docks. Nor
+did he neglect to give the necessary orders for his visitors'
+departure. After that, however, he went straight to his headquarters.
+
+Meanwhile the Prince, without the least hesitation, led his companion
+along the steel passages, past the maze of machinery which formed the
+bowels of the dreadnought. At the extreme peak of the vessel was
+situated the light-room of the U-rays, where they found four engineers
+at work.
+
+The men saluted and stood by when they realized the identity of their
+visitors, and the work of examining the mechanism of the wonderful new
+submarine light at once began.
+
+Von Bersac took small enough part in it. The Prince at once became the
+engineer. The skill and deftness, and the knowledge he displayed were
+incomparable. He talked the whole time he was examining, finding fault
+here, praising there, and all his talk was addressed to his nephew as
+though he were the final authority. Von Bersac remained the
+unenthusiastic creature he had appeared before Von Salzinger, and kept
+to his attitude of disjointed grunts. But his eyes were alert and
+apparently comprehending, and when, in imitation of the other, he
+examined any detail, there was a disarming conviction about all his
+movements. Finally they tested the light, and, after a number of tests,
+the Prince threw up his hands in a gesture of almost ludicrous despair.
+
+"Ach, Leder," he cried, "it is not the fault of these good fellows. It
+is yours--yours and mine. It is a month's delay at least, is it not so?"
+
+Von Bersac silently acquiesced.
+
+"A month of most valuable time," the Prince went on. "See here," he
+cried, and went off into a world of technicalities beyond even the
+comprehension of the skilled engineers present. "It is to be
+regretted," he finished up despairingly. "It must be taken down, and
+sent back to us. But these, these,"--he laid his hands on two portions
+of the delicate mechanism enclosed in polished brass cylinders, through
+which the insulated cables passed--"we will take these with us. They
+can be trusted in no other hands." He turned to the chief engineer.
+"Take these out without delay. Herr von Bersac will wait for them, and
+convey them to my ship. There will be no difficulty. Sever the cables
+here, and here," he added, indicating spots which the engineer chalked
+where he was to cut them. "Do not let any one handle them when they are
+down, Leder. Bring them yourself."
+
+The tall figure of the Prince departed, and Leder von Bersac remained
+while the engineers carried out the work.
+
+It was quite simple. There was no difficulty. The Prince had made
+certain of this before he left his nephew to wait for the two
+cylinders. But the men worked with great care, for they knew that in
+those two simple brass casings lay the vital secrets which were to
+transform the submarine dreadnoughts from lumbering, groping sea
+monsters into live, active, vicious creatures of offense.
+
+
+It was just within the hour when Leder von Bersac passed out of the
+dockyard gates bearing the two brass cylinders in his arms, and
+received the salutes of the sentries. He remembered the method with
+which the Captain-General had received them, and responded in similar
+fashion.
+
+He passed on hurriedly in the direction of the landing-stage. Twenty
+yards from the dock gates an expression of doubt crept into his eyes,
+as he caught sight of a military officer hurrying towards him from the
+direction of what looked like a miniature fortress.
+
+However, he gave no sign. He continued his way. He could already see
+the grey wall of the harbor ahead. But the man was rapidly overhauling
+him, and, in Von Bersac's mind, a calculation was going on as to
+whether he could reach his uncle's vessel before the officer came up
+with him.
+
+This calculation, however, did not prove to his satisfaction. He knew
+he would be intercepted before he reached his destination. And the
+thought strangely disturbed him.
+
+Just as he was about to step on to the landing-stage the officer
+reached his side and saluted.
+
+He spoke at once, and though his manner was perfectly deferential, it
+was quite decided.
+
+"Will Herr von Bersac favor the Captain-General with a visit at his
+headquarters before leaving? The Captain-General requests that he will
+make it convenient--at once. It is the formal matter of registering his
+visit to Borga."
+
+The dark eyes of the tall engineer dwelt for a moment upon the immobile
+features of the man before him. He saw the authority of the military
+governor in the whole swaggering pose of the man, and, for a moment,
+his firm lips tightened. Then, as though by a great effort, overcoming
+his reluctance for the waste of words, he displayed an almost
+unexpected urbanity.
+
+"It will give me very great pleasure to wait upon the
+Captain-General--at once," he replied. "It will be necessary, however,
+for me to deposit these in our vessel--in safety--before I do so." He
+indicated the cylinders. "You will understand when I assure you they
+are the most vital portions of our U-rays light. Perhaps you will favor
+me with your company as far as the vessel?"
+
+The officer's pose underwent a slight change. His manner became even
+less deferential.
+
+"My orders are--at once," he objected.
+
+Von Bersac's manner remained the same, but his dark eyes looked
+straight into the other's.
+
+"Quite so. Doubtless my uncle, Prince von Hertzwohl, will exonerate you
+for the brief delay. He is on the boat at this moment."
+
+The words were well calculated. The engineer had thought rapidly and
+made his decision with lightning celerity. He knew that he must reach
+the vessel lying less than one hundred yards away.
+
+He had his reward, and a slight sigh of relief escaped him. The
+military insolence had left the other's manner. The mention of the
+Prince's name had created a modified atmosphere. After all he was a
+mere Prussian officer accustomed all his life to yielding to authority.
+He, like every one else in Borga, knew that even the military governor
+must yield to the authority of the Prince. Therefore he yielded.
+
+"It will give me the greatest pleasure to--accompany you," he said.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE FRIENDLY DEEP
+
+
+Prince Von Hertzwohl looked up from his bureau. He was sitting in his
+stateroom, which was of some considerable size, and opened out of the
+saloon. His ears had caught the sound of a hasty entrance of the
+latter. His luminous eyes were alert and questioning. The man was
+completely changed from the simple inventor who had told the story of
+his submersible to Sir Andrew Farlow and his son. There was a restless,
+nervous tension about him, altogether at variance with his customary
+calm.
+
+He leapt from his seat. His thin, bent figure moved almost electrically
+towards the door. The next moment he had entered the saloon. The other
+side of the room, and just within the entrance doorway, stood Ruxton
+Farlow, still clad in his German naval uniform, and still bearing in
+his arms the two brass cylinders. There was an urgent look in his eyes,
+and, at the sight of it, the Prince's question came sharply.
+
+"What is it?" he demanded, with the imperiousness of a man accustomed
+to high command.
+
+"Von Salzinger," replied Ruxton quickly. A laugh followed his
+pronouncement. It was the laugh of a man who is alive to the danger of
+a situation.
+
+"Yes?" The Prince's further enquiry was surcharged with eagerness, and
+in broad contrast.
+
+"He demands my presence. I have to conform to regulations and register
+my visit to Borga at--headquarters. He has sent an officer to conduct
+me to him--at once. The officer is awaiting me on the landing-stage.
+The situation has possibilities."
+
+Ruxton's outward calm was not shared by his companion. The Prince
+displayed his realization of the necessities of the moment. His eyes
+were bright and concentrated. Ruxton watched the emaciated features
+with their crowning, upright white hair. There was an ominous sparkle
+beneath the bushy brows.
+
+"I saw it in Von Salzinger's eyes when I sent him off," the Prince said
+at last. "That is why I left you. Had his order come in my presence,
+while ashore, it would have been awkward. That is also why I left you
+to bring those cylinders, and with instructions to bring them straight
+here. I knew you would make this vessel _with me on board_." He pressed
+an electric bell in the panelling.
+
+A moment later a uniformed officer appeared. He stood awaiting the
+Prince's commands. The latter seemed absorbed in thought. Quite
+abruptly he broke the silence with a series of sharp orders.
+
+"Send a man ashore at once, Captain Ludovic. There is an officer
+waiting there with certain orders from the Captain-General. Convey to
+him my compliments, and ask him to step aboard as I wish him to convey
+an important message to the military governor. For yourself, you will
+stand-by. The moment he enters the tower you will have the moorings
+cast off. Just keep the boat held to the quay fore and aft by light
+lines which can be released at a moment. When the officer reappears you
+will, the instant he has passed ashore, clear the gangway, cast off the
+light moorings, and full power ahead out of the harbor. I do not know
+the effect of my message on the military governor, but I expect he will
+endeavor to stop me. This must not be permitted. You understand?"
+
+"Yes, Excellency." The man offered no further comment.
+
+"For the present that is all."
+
+The man saluted and retired.
+
+"Is that man a German, or a----?" Ruxton began as the man disappeared.
+
+"He is a Pole." Then the Prince clasped his fingers and bent them back,
+cracking the joints. It was an expression of intense excitement. He
+laughed. "He hates Prussians, and Von Salzinger is a Prussian."
+
+"The matter is going to be serious?" Ruxton's eyes searched the smiling
+face of the Prince.
+
+"I cannot tell--yet. Von Salzinger has given an order that is about to
+be disobeyed. Von Salzinger is a powerful force in Borga. Even I have
+no right to disobey the military governor's regulations here, nor to
+defy openly his orders. Von Salzinger may do anything. Remember, he is
+a Prussian. One thing is certain, he does not get you before his
+inquisitors. No, I cannot tell what he will do. Ah, here comes our
+visitor. Give me the cylinders."
+
+The Prince possessed himself of the cylinders and was closely
+contemplating them when the youthful Prussian officer appeared in the
+doorway. He was so intent upon his study of them, tenderly handling
+their shining cases with his long fingers, that he did not appear to
+observe the officer's entrance, and, in gently modulated voice,
+continued to address his pretended nephew.
+
+"You have, my dear Leder, committed the great fault which belongs to
+your age. Practice and Principle must ever go hand in hand. I do not
+know yet, of course, but I fear you have let Principle get his nose in
+front of Practice. It may mean much serious delay. We will take these,
+and have them more fully tested, and then----"
+
+He broke off and looked up as an impatient clearing of the throat
+announced the presence of the officer. In a moment the cylinders were
+deposited on the table, and the big eyes were beaming simple kindliness
+upon the visitor.
+
+"You have an order from the Captain-General, is it not so?" he enquired
+blandly.
+
+The young Prussian pulled himself up with due regard for his office.
+Just for a moment his conceit had been a little overborne by the
+presence of the Prince.
+
+"Yes, Excellency," he said, with a sharp return to his military habit.
+"It is an imperative order that I conduct, without delay, Herr Leder
+von Bersac----"
+
+"Ach, so!" exclaimed the Prince, his eyes suddenly flashing and his
+whole manner absorbing all his recent blandness in a quick-rising heat.
+"Does the Captain-General think he can give his orders to men under the
+command of Prince von Hertzwohl? Your Captain-General has yet to learn.
+And those who serve under him also. My nephew, Herr Leder von Bersac,
+is under the command of his uncle, and no one else. Your
+Captain-General knows that as well as I. The regulations of Borga are
+no concern of mine. But when I visit this pestilential place its
+manners are. Convey to your Captain-General that the manners of Borga
+had best be improved. I shall not visit here again until I have seen
+that they are. You can go back, and tell him that I leave at once, and
+that Herr Leder von Bersac has no time to comply with any order issued
+by the military governor of Borga."
+
+The tide of the Prince's anger was too swift for the youthful
+Prussian's armor of official effrontery. He came near to withering
+before it. It was only the understanding of Von Salzinger's supreme
+command in Borga that helped him to weather the storm. He waited one
+moment to see if anything further was to be said, then, under the stern
+eyes of the Prince, he saluted and departed, darting up the
+companionway with hurried steps, and made his way ashore to the
+telephone station on the landing-stage.
+
+Had he paused to glance about him he might have been surprised that the
+Prince's threat had been so promptly put into execution. As it was he
+did not notice even that the gangway followed him ashore, almost
+immediately in his wake. But these things, however they might have
+surprised him, were no real concern of his. It was for him to report
+promptly to the Captain-General, and make matters as safe as he could
+for himself.
+
+By the time he reached the telephone station the vessel was gliding
+silently from the landing-stage.
+
+
+The throb of the powerful engines told Ruxton Farlow all he wished to
+know. He sighed quietly, and it was the outward expression of the
+relaxing of his feelings.
+
+He was smiling into the face of the man before him.
+
+"Well?" he said.
+
+But the Prince had become curiously abstracted. His eyes were on the
+cylinders in an unseeing contemplation. Ruxton watched him thoughtfully
+after his monosyllabic interrogatory. He was filled with not a little
+wonder at the alertness of this man's mentality in a moment of crisis.
+It was an almost confounding realization in the midst of his early
+impressions of him. For himself he could not see ahead with any degree
+of certainty. The Prince had committed himself to a dangerous course in
+defying the German Government's representative in the place, which was
+the most treasured secret in the Teuton heart. He judged that certain
+pursuit would follow, or at least armed interference. Even with a power
+such as the Prince's, at whatever cost, Von Salzinger must enforce
+obedience to his order, or----
+
+The Prince broke in upon his reflections.
+
+"It is good to defy a--Prussian. It did me much good. But Borga is his
+nursery. He is its nurse. He must act. I wonder---- Ach, if he should
+try to stop us I will see him in the deepest pit of hell."
+
+He threw up his hands with his final explosion and in an action of
+almost schoolboyish delight. Then he smiled into the Englishman's face,
+half questioningly, half eagerly.
+
+"Between us and the open sea lie a hundred batteries of heavy,
+compressed-air guns. One shell from any of those guns could send us to
+the bottom, if it caught us at the surface. Then there is the mined
+channel. We are without a pilot. If we submerge the mines are thicker
+still. For myself and my vessel I do not care. For you?"
+
+Ruxton shrugged.
+
+"If I am caught and questioned I shall be shot. And you, too, for
+bringing me here. A gambler's chance is always attractive, even to a
+man who never gambles."
+
+"Then we amuse ourselves at the expense of our friend Von Salzinger.
+When you are safe in England I will forestall him in Berlin. I have no
+fear when you are--safe. Let us go on deck."
+
+Five minutes later they were standing on the deck of the submersible.
+They were standing at the rail, with the conning-tower intervening
+between them and the shore. They were the only souls visible on the
+deck. The captain of the vessel was in the turret, but the crew were
+all below.
+
+Ruxton observed this at once, as he also observed that the skylights
+were all sealed ready for submersion.
+
+"Your captain is ready for any emergency," he said, indicating these
+preparations.
+
+But the Prince was searching the harbor side of the shore with a pair
+of powerful glasses.
+
+Receiving no reply Ruxton permitted his attention to wander over the
+rapidly passing panorama. They were travelling very fast, and a great
+white wake was thrown up behind them. The moored shipping dropped
+astern of them at an almost incredible speed. Ahead he could see the
+frowning narrows coming towards them shrouded in their gloomy hood of
+mist, like the cowled skulls of skeleton sentinels. But even such a
+threat was preferable to the intolerable, sulphurous atmosphere they
+were leaving behind.
+
+"There is no movement from the shore," said the Prince presently,
+lowering his glasses. Then he passed into the conning-tower to confer
+with his chief officer.
+
+In a few moments he returned.
+
+"He thinks it is the narrows where we shall be held up. He says the
+Captain-General would not believe a Pole would face that mine-field.
+Perhaps it is that he is right--Ludovic, I mean. We will wait." Then he
+rubbed his hands with absurd glee. "It is interesting."
+
+Ruxton was forced to smile. A delightful sensation of excitement was
+growing within him again. He had told himself that it was life or
+death, but the full significance of his assurance had been powerless to
+possess him. He had often dreamed of Death. He had imagined it in
+almost every form. Nor, in his dreams, had it ever succeeded in
+terrifying him any more than the thought of it did now.
+
+No, the whole situation had contrived an impersonal atmosphere for
+himself. He was looking on, watching a great contest between the brain
+of this man, his courage and soul, against the military rule and power
+of the Captain-General Von Salzinger.
+
+A low chuckling laugh broke upon his reflections.
+
+"It is an illustration," said the Prince, his eyes now steadily fixed
+upon the jaws of the narrows ahead.
+
+"The test is even greater than I could have hoped. We are an unarmed
+submersible merchantman. Such as we have talked of. Here we are, under
+the enemy's batteries--at war. We are carrying butter, hey? Butter to
+your shores, in war time, in face of a blockade. Your countrymen are
+starving for--butter. We must reach them, and so save your country from
+destruction--with butter."
+
+"Make it copper, Prince," smiled Ruxton.
+
+"Ha! Yes, copper. It is very necessary in war time." The Prince smiled
+in appreciation. Then he pointed ahead. "But see, Ludovic is right."
+
+He was indicating a dark object moving towards them on the water out of
+the gloomy shadows of the rocky sentries of the narrows.
+
+"It is a patrol. Under normal conditions it would gladly pilot us
+through the mine-field. Now it has no such friendly desire."
+
+His regard became less smiling, and he relapsed into silence. The dead
+flat water was thrown up into two great wings as the patrol boat
+pressed on towards them.
+
+The excitement was more and more taking possession of the Englishman.
+His faith in the Polish prince was invincible.
+
+"Shall you hear what he has to say?" he enquired presently, his
+breathing quickened in spite of an outward calm.
+
+The Prince did not turn to answer, but his slight laugh was full of
+quiet confidence.
+
+"Why waste time--valuable time?" he retorted whimsically. "We are in a
+hurry to reach the open sea. No, I do not listen to the
+Captain-General's commands to me. He is my subordinate." Then he added
+with the ingenuous subtlety of a schoolboy, "If I listened to the order
+to stop, and refused to obey, I should commit myself in the eyes of
+Berlin. No. Come below. It is time."
+
+The patrol boat was less than four hundred yards away, and travelling
+at a great pace. It was almost within hailing distance. Ruxton could
+even count the occupants at that distance. He was certain there were
+six at least. The other patrol boat had contained only two officers
+besides the engineer. The difference was significant.
+
+He followed his host into the conning-tower and the steel door was
+closed with a slam behind them. It automatically sealed itself.
+
+The Prince's voice at the foot of the steel companion-ladder, leading
+up to the chief officer's post, rang out sharply.
+
+"Submerge!"
+
+Then he turned to his companion.
+
+"We will go below. We will go forward, where Ludovic will join us in a
+moment. I will show you that which I hope may interest you. We have
+seen the last of Von Salzinger and his command--for some time."
+
+The nervous energy of the Prince led Ruxton at a rapid rate. They
+passed down the companion, and, instead of entering the saloon, turned
+for'ard, down an alleyway which took them past the moving steel bowels
+of the vessel. The low purr of the great Diesel engines fell pleasantly
+upon the Englishman's ears. There was no hiss of steam. There was none
+of the clanging of high-pressure mechanism. Just a steady, powerful
+throb which vibrated throughout the length of the vessel's hull, and
+told him of the enormous mechanical effort going on.
+
+They left the engine-rooms behind and passed by the kitchens, to which
+very careful and elaborate attention had been given. They left the
+quarters of the crew, beautifully kept and equipped, and without a sign
+or suggestion of that inferiority of appointment which is to be found
+on all commercial vessels. They passed a number of carefully disguised
+bulkheads, and finally came to a doorway in a steel bulkhead which
+seemed to mark the limit of the forward end of the vessel. The Prince
+withdrew a key from his waistcoat pocket. He opened the door, and both
+of them passed within.
+
+Once the door was closed he slid his fingers up the steel wall in the
+darkness and pressed a switch. In a moment the room was flooded with
+light, and Ruxton blinked under its power as he gazed about him.
+
+The Prince was standing in front of him gazing half smilingly at the
+expression of his face. He was seeking that surprise which to his
+simple nature meant much satisfaction.
+
+Nor was he disappointed. The moment Ruxton recovered under the dazzling
+glare he realized that that which he now beheld he had witnessed in the
+vessel at Borga, whence he had brought the cylinders. This was the
+U-rays room of the private submersible. It was--yes, it was the U-rays
+in active operation.
+
+A question promptly sprang to his lips.
+
+"But the light is perfect," he said. "There is nothing wrong with it
+here?"
+
+He moved across the narrow triangular room to its apex, where a great
+disc of magnifying glass, like a porthole, came in direct contact with
+the water outside. He stood for a moment peering out through it. The
+water beyond was lit with a ruddy glow that left it extraordinarily
+translucent. It was powerful, and seemingly the power of the rays
+extended a considerable distance. But though the water was thus lit it
+was not rendered transparent. For some silent moments he gazed out,
+then a shadow moved across the field of light--and he understood.
+
+He turned to the silent inventor.
+
+"That was a fish which crossed our bows," he said, in suppressed tones
+which indicated something of his feelings. "I think--yes, I understand.
+This light will reveal any solid body ahead, any obstruction--mines,
+rocks, any danger to progress."
+
+The Prince beamed his satisfaction.
+
+"The submersible need no longer be a blind lumbering monster," he said.
+"The mine-field we are shortly going to pass through is not the danger
+you may have anticipated. The moment we have passed the patrol boat we
+shall rise till our periscope is above water. Then we shall move
+slowly. The helmsman will remain in the conning-tower, but he will be
+controlled from here by---- Ah, here is Captain Ludovic."
+
+The steel door was thrust open and the chief officer entered the room.
+
+"The mines begin about sixty fathoms on, Excellency," he said, with a
+brevity and utter lack of anything approaching the servility one might
+have anticipated in his relation to so powerful a master as the Prince.
+But Ruxton understood. The Prince's simple nature demanded nothing of
+that from those intimately associated with him. Hence, perhaps, the
+devotion of those who served him. "If you will forgive, Excellency, I
+will take _sole_ charge here."
+
+The Prince turned to his guest with a laugh of genial humor.
+
+"Come, my friend, we will leave the excellent Ludovic to his work. We
+are dismissed." Then he turned to the captain, who had taken his place
+at the forward porthole, and had adjusted the telephone receivers over
+his ears. He raised his voice so that the man could hear. "Once clear
+of the last batteries, Ludovic, we travel on the surface," he said.
+
+"Yes, Excellency." The man made no attempt to turn from his watch upon
+the ruddy field ahead.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE FUTURE
+
+
+On the way back to the saloon a further truth began to dawn upon
+Ruxton. Nor did he lose a moment in challenging his host when they
+reached the luxurious apartment.
+
+"You have brought those cylinders away. May I ask why?" he enquired.
+
+The Prince had seated himself, and was in the act of lighting a cigar.
+He desisted, and held his case out towards his guest. Ruxton helped
+himself and waited.
+
+The other stared thoughtfully at the cigar which remained poised in his
+lean fingers. Then he raised his brilliant eyes, and the Englishman
+realized that the moment of lightness, of almost schoolboyish delight
+at the sense of danger had entirely passed. The eyes shone
+passionately, and reminded him sharply of the expressive eyes of the
+woman who had appealed for humanity with him on the brink of the
+Yorkshire cliffs.
+
+"Why? Because I have convinced you of my submersible. Because for that
+reason I have determined to deprive the German Government of the use of
+my U-rays for an indefinite period. Perhaps forever. Listen, there is
+only one man knows that I have an installation of that light on my ship
+besides ourselves, and that man is--Ludovic. I have installed it with
+my own hands. The installation on the submersible dreadnought which you
+saw was the first effort in that direction, and the Government believe
+it to be purely experimental. Well, the experiment has--failed. That is
+all." He shrugged.
+
+"But you will be forced to try again."
+
+"And it will fail--again. Ach, so! I would rather unship my plant, and
+fling my models to the bottom of the sea, where they may help to light
+up the world of crabs, than that my Government should acquire one
+single added threat against humanity."
+
+The next few moments were silently occupied in lighting their cigars.
+Ruxton had no words with which to answer him. He was thinking deeply,
+comparing this man's attitude towards the country which claimed him
+with his own feelings for his island home. He wondered what his
+attitude would have been had their positions been reversed; if he, as
+an Englishman, had been such a power, through his discoveries, for
+aiding his country. To his shame he was forced to the conclusion that
+this white-haired Pole was a greater man than he could ever hope to be.
+
+The difference between them lay in the difference between a perfervid
+patriotism, and the Prince's overwhelming love of humanity inspired by
+the abyss of horror into which a blind devotion to his country had
+flung him. This man had passed the great dividing line where the
+uplifted spirit renounces the claims of earthly passion in favor of the
+call of the voice of the soul. The cause of humanity now dominated
+every other emotion. Somehow his own fervor of patriotism suffered
+severely by the comparison, and so he found himself with no words in
+which to answer.
+
+The old man rose from his chair and passed into his private stateroom.
+A few moments later he returned with two rolls of papers, neatly
+secured by tapes and seals.
+
+He had closed the door. He was about to cross over to his guest. But in
+a moment he was held rigid where he stood. A dull boom roared out
+somewhere overhead and vibrated down the entire length of the vessel.
+
+His eyes were wide and attentive. But there was no fear in them. Ruxton
+started up from the lounge on which he had been sitting. A thrilling
+excitement shone in his eyes.
+
+"Is it a--mine?" he cried sharply.
+
+The Prince shook his head.
+
+"There would be nothing of us left at this moment," he said. "Wait! You
+can feel the steady throb of the engines. No, it was a gun. It was a
+bursting shell from one of the silent guns. They can see our periscope,
+and are firing across us--to heave to. Hark! There goes another."
+
+Again came a terrific detonation. But the vessel ploughed on.
+
+"Presently they will fire to hit our periscope and make us rise to the
+surface. Von Salzinger has gone further than I had dared to hope."
+
+"Hope?"
+
+"He will pay for this with his position."
+
+"But if they hit our periscope?"
+
+The Prince shrugged.
+
+"It will make no difference. We shall not rise till it suits us. We
+have the light. Already we must be nearly through the mine-field. Once
+we are through the mines Ludovic could make the journey seawards
+blindfold."
+
+The Prince crossed over to his chair, and laid the sealed rolls on the
+table beside him. He did not speak. He was obviously listening.
+
+Presently another sharp explosion sounded overhead, and his eyes lit.
+
+"Ah, I thought Von Salzinger would not resist it. You see, he is a
+Prussian." He smiled, but his eyes had lost their humor. "That was
+shrapnel," he went on. "Its bursting is unmistakable. But he will not
+hit the periscope."
+
+Again silence fell between them, and both smoked on with every sense
+alert. There was another explosion overhead. Then another and another.
+Still the vibrations of the engines continued. The two waited some time
+for the next explosion, but it was delayed. At last the Prince rose
+from his seat and passed out of the room. He was away for some moments.
+During his absence Ruxton never stirred a muscle. His cigar had gone
+out. He was still listening acutely.
+
+Finally the Prince returned, and Ruxton's eyes put their question
+plainly.
+
+"We have completely passed the mine-field. We are also completely
+submerged," said the Prince. "We need no longer concern ourselves with
+Von Salzinger."
+
+Ruxton drew a deep breath. He relit his cigar, while the other seemed
+to dismiss the subject from his mind entirely. The excitement of the
+escape had passed, and with the passing of it, it had robbed him of all
+lightness. His large eyes darkened, and a frowning of his bushy brows
+gave him an appearance of depression.
+
+Ruxton, watching him, wondered what next was to be the display of this
+extraordinary creature. Nor had he long to wait.
+
+"You have seen at--Borga?" he demanded.
+
+"More--than I was prepared for, in spite of all you and the Princess
+had told me."
+
+"Yes. Tell me. Tell me about it."
+
+Ruxton drew his feet up on the lounge. His dark eyes were on the
+white-whiskered face of his host, but they had become deeply
+introspective.
+
+"I wonder how many years we have before it--comes."
+
+"Perhaps--ten."
+
+"Ten? Yes, I suppose so." The Englishman's eyes were full of a deep
+pondering. "And then war. War upon Britain alone. The rest of the world
+cajoled into quiescence through self-interest, and the memory of the
+horrors of the late war. Yes, a sudden and swift descent upon our
+overseas commerce. The wholesale wrecking, and terrorizing by
+slaughter. Every ship bound for our shores must be captured or sunk.
+This must occur simultaneously in all parts of the world. Then the
+complete ringing round of these islands, and a naval warfare against us
+with this new type of battle-ship, the submersible dreadnought. From a
+naval point of view, with our own submarine vessels, doubtless it is
+calculated that we might hold our own. But meanwhile our islands would
+be starved, and our country brought to its knees. All our defences
+against submarine attack in the past would be rendered useless by the
+U-rays light. It is certainly a picture to intimidate the stoutest
+heart. And then? What lies behind this? I can see it in your eyes
+that--there is more behind it all."
+
+The Prince leant forward with that swiftness of action which indicates
+a tumultuous stream of thought surging to find expression.
+
+"Ach, that is so. That is all so. But you are right. There is
+more--much more," he cried, his lean hands tenaciously grasping the
+polished arms of his chair. "You have all talked world domination. You
+have all vaguely known that that was Germany's object in the last war,
+and in which she failed. No one knows better than Germany why she
+failed. It does not need the Englishman to remind her. Since then she
+has changed her whole plans, and now they are more far-reaching than
+ever. She has abandoned Napoleonic for the ancient Roman methods.
+Germany, once she has wrested sea power from Britain, will live in a
+state of war with the whole world. The procedure will be an attack
+upon, and annexation of, every small state in turn. And each small
+state so acquired will pay its own bill. She will consolidate each
+territory as she possesses it, and so long as her war methods continue
+they will be bled white. So she will build up in every corner of the
+earth, and in the process she will prosper exceedingly, as did the
+great Roman Empire. And throughout this reign of terror, while the
+outward seeming of civilization will increase a hundredfold, all
+spiritual life, and the culture of the human soul, will go back some
+two thousand years. We are this moment at the world's greatest crisis.
+One slip, one wrong move, and the great structure of the human soul
+will fall with a crash to the bowels of an abyss two thousand years
+deep. For the moment every seeing eye looks to Britain. For the moment,
+at this terrible crisis, Britain alone stands a bulwark that can save
+the human race from its tragedy. Salvation lies in the supremacy of the
+seas, which, thank God, is still in the keeping of your country.
+Britain must keep it. She must hold to it with all the bulldog tenacity
+for which she is famous. She must keep that mastery, not alone for her
+own security, but for the security of the whole human race!"
+
+The man ran his lean fingers through his shock of white hair. And the
+action was an expression of relief from tension. A great light was
+shining in his eyes, a light which told Ruxton Farlow of the hot soul
+burning within. He knew, had known before, the truth of all this man
+had just stated, and the corroboration of his own knowledge, through
+the lips of another, fell with added weight.
+
+He shifted his position. The urgency of all that had been said, all he
+had witnessed, now, as such things always did, drove him to
+considerations which bore actively upon the situation.
+
+"Yes," he said, without emotion, "you have drawn a true picture. A
+picture which we, who care, have held in our imagination ever since the
+signing of that disastrous peace. Now I have witnessed for myself all
+that Germany is preparing." He paused, in deep thought, and the other
+waited anxiously.
+
+"Let us consider now the risks and dangers of the moment," Ruxton went
+on again presently. He glanced up at the ceiling. The artificial lights
+were still shining. "We are still submerged. Therefore we are not yet
+in the open sea. A very real threat still hangs over us--over you. It
+will still hang over you when I am safely landed on my Yorkshire coast."
+
+The shining light of the Prince's eyes was passing. His interest was
+not in his own safety. He shrugged.
+
+"There is no danger for me. With Van Salzinger it is different."
+
+"But you have broken the most vital of Borga's regulations. _Can_ the
+German naval authorities overlook that? Will there be no question? Will
+you not be forced to produce your nephew to be confronted by--Von
+Salzinger?"
+
+A look of doubt crept into the old man's eyes, and Ruxton knew that his
+warning had struck home.
+
+"That possibility had not occurred to me," he said, with undisturbed
+simplicity.
+
+For some moments Ruxton watched him in silence.
+
+"How will you meet--that?" he demanded at last.
+
+The man shrugged again.
+
+"I must think of it. There will be a way."
+
+"Just so. There is a way, Prince," said Ruxton, suddenly bestirring
+himself. "It is simple. Your real cause is the cause of humanity. Why
+not defy the claims of Germany? Abandon her, and yield your life to the
+cause so dear to your heart. Will you not land on the Yorkshire coast
+with me? A great welcome will await you. And--your daughter--she is in
+England already."
+
+Having launched his appeal, Ruxton sat back in his seat and waited with
+a tense patience. Vast affairs were hanging in the balance, waiting
+upon the decision of this man, who was perhaps the mechanical genius of
+the country which claimed him.
+
+After a while the Prince slowly shook his head. And the lack of impulse
+he displayed warned the other that his decision was irrevocable.
+
+"No," he said. "To do so would be to destroy all the possibilities of
+the future for our cause. You will see. It is equally simple. Were I to
+abandon my work for Germany in the manner you suggest, they would know
+that I had betrayed them--and their secrets. All we have gained by the
+knowledge of their secrets would be lost. Then--though it matters
+nothing to me, for I do not value it beyond the help I can give to
+humanity--my life would be destroyed as sure as day follows night. No.
+I go back to my shops, and to my work. I will meet every emergency as
+it arises. Should I fall to this man Von Salzinger I can always beat
+the authorities, and--make my escape."
+
+"You are sure?"
+
+"Ach, yes."
+
+"Then prepare from this moment for that escape. You will have to make
+it. Of that I am equally--sure."
+
+Ruxton's eyes were smiling, but without lightness. And the two men
+smiled into each other's eyes for some silent moments.
+
+The Prince was the first to break the spell. It was with a glance up at
+the skylight overhead.
+
+"See," he cried, not without satisfaction. "There comes the daylight.
+We are on the high seas. All danger is past."
+
+"Immediate danger," corrected Ruxton.
+
+"Ach, so. Yes, 'immediate.'"
+
+The old man turned to the two rolls of paper on the table beside him.
+He picked them up and fondled them tenderly with his long fingers. They
+were to him something very precious, and--he was about to part from
+them.
+
+Suddenly he held them out towards his guest. The shining light had
+returned to his eyes. Again had mounted to that splendid brain the hot
+desire to speak from the bottom of his heart.
+
+"Take them! Take them!" he cried passionately. "They are my children. I
+give them for the world. They must grow, and do for the world all that
+I have dreamed of into their creation. They are the plans, drawn and
+written in English by my own hands. No eyes but mine have seen them,
+and there are no others in existence. They are the plans of the U-rays
+light, which, by taking from them the cylinders you brought away, I
+have robbed Germany of the use of, and the plans of this submersible.
+Safeguard them as you would your life, and lose not a moment in forcing
+your slow country to construct. We have agreed that you have ten years,
+and in ten years you can do much, if you do not let your country
+meanwhile sleep."
+
+Ruxton took the proffered rolls and held them a moment while his eyes
+rested introspectively upon the seals.
+
+"And the price?" he demanded, in a firm voice.
+
+"The price! Himmel, the price!" The Prince threw up his hands in a
+gesture of dismay. "The price!" he repeated. "The price when humanity
+stands at the threshold of disaster! Ach! You are a true Englishman."
+
+He rose from his seat and moved hurriedly across to his stateroom. At
+the door he paused and turned.
+
+"There is no price," he said, and his big eyes were alight with a
+whimsical smile.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+BACK AT DORBY TOWERS
+
+
+Sir Andrew had listened patiently. His had been the grave attitude of a
+man impressed beyond mere words of agreement or understanding. His
+reading glasses had been thrust aside. His grey head was inclined
+towards his clasped hands, and his broad chin found support upon them.
+His whole poise was of the closest attention.
+
+"It's like a--fairy-tale," he said at last as Ruxton's story came to an
+end, and the deep, calm tones of his voice died out.
+
+"Or a--nightmare?"
+
+"Ye-es."
+
+Sir Andrew swung round in his ample library chair and faced his desk.
+It was the movement of a man stirred out of his customary calm.
+
+Ruxton watched his father closely from his seat on the settle under the
+mullioned window. He was seeking the effect of his story upon a man
+whom he knew to be typically British at heart. He had seen it all, had
+experienced it all. His father had not.
+
+Presently Sir Andrew faced him again.
+
+"Now your--purpose," he demanded, with the air of crisp business. "You
+would set out to revolutionize our mercantile marine by the adoption of
+this--submersible."
+
+"As rapidly as is compatible with commercial interests."
+
+"You mean that we are to take the entire risk of the success of this
+new departure?"
+
+"It is our contribution to our country's cause."
+
+Then Ruxton drew a deep breath. He sat up, and his words came swiftly,
+passionately.
+
+"There must be no hesitation, Dad. The submersible will be no failure.
+You must see this thing with my eyes, you must understand it with my
+understanding. What I would do is to take upon ourselves this first
+burden in the cause of patriotism. We must take the lead, cost us what
+it may. If the thing is a failure, then we are so much the poorer in
+this world's goods, but we shall have wrought honestly in the cause of
+our country. If it is the success I am sure of, then our gain is
+twofold. But even if the latter is fulfilled beyond my expectations it
+is not going to be the easy thing it looks. Listen. Hertzwohl believes
+that he can completely cover his tracks. I am just as certain that he
+cannot. Germany will discover the betrayal of her secrets. She will
+punish the offender in the complete manner of which she is so great a
+mistress. Then, by every art and wile of which she is capable, by every
+ruthless persistent purpose for which she is renowned, she will strive
+to undo the harm already achieved. We shall not be left to peaceful
+construction, if my understanding of the situation is correct. We may
+have to face even personal attack upon our lives and upon our
+ship-yards. It is with ideas of this sort running through my mind that
+I intend to lay the whole matter before the Cabinet. I intend to secure
+Government patronage and protection for this scheme. It is the only
+means by which we can hope to meet the attack which I am convinced will
+be forthcoming from our country's enemies. It is a lot to ask of you,
+Dad, at your time of life. Did I not know the great strength of your
+character, and the extreme loyalty you possess for our country, I
+should have shouldered the whole of this burden myself. As it is I know
+that with all your spirit you would have resented such a course.
+Therefore I lay it before you."
+
+The older man made no attempt at agreement or denial. He sat drumming
+his fingers upon the edge of his desk while his keen eyes twinkled in
+his boy's direction. He understood the earnestness of the idealist. He
+saw the purpose in every line of the strong young face. He appreciated
+the perfect poise of the keen, fresh intellect. And for the moment his
+mind went back to the glimpse of Paradise which had been his during the
+brief period of his married life. This son of his was that splendid
+Russian woman over again, and he was glad. But when he spoke his manner
+had undergone no change from his crisp business practice.
+
+"You would have us build----?"
+
+"Two vessels of three thousand tons each and incorporate them with our
+coastwise fleet. Then two deep-sea craft of say six thousand tons. I
+would lay these down at once. Once their success is proved the plans
+can be laid open to all our shipping world. When the time comes the
+Government must be induced to foster the new construction by subsidy,
+and by every other means in its power. But in the first instance we
+alone must bear the burden and all it involves. If disaster should
+overtake our efforts our justification remains. The days of Britain's
+pre-war ineptitude are so recent that even an active progressive
+failure would be a matter scarcely to be deplored. We must convince the
+world of the sincerity of our convictions, and, to do that, we must, if
+need be, risk our entire fortune. The danger we know lies ahead. In
+Britain it is useless to tell of it. Only our own actions can speak and
+carry convictions. It is our plain and simple duty to put our all into
+this thing. If it should bring us disaster or even simple ruin, I tell
+you, Dad, I would rather spend the rest of my life in honest rags, with
+the knowledge that my substance has been absorbed in an endeavor to
+help my country, than claim this beautiful home of ours as a view-point
+from which to watch the triumph of our country's enemies."
+
+"Ye-es."
+
+The twinkling eyes of Sir Andrew developed a smile upon his rugged
+Yorkshire features. But it was a smile of sympathy.
+
+"The most thoroughly unbusinesslike transaction I was ever asked to
+countenance," he observed drily. "This sort of thing, as you have
+suggested, has come rather late in my life. But it only makes me regret
+my years. But tell me again of this man. His genius, his curious
+attitude of mind have left me rather breathless. This sort of thing in
+a German----?"
+
+"Pole. There is not a drop of German blood in his veins." Ruxton caught
+eagerly at the opportunity of the man's defence. "His attitude, his
+personality, has left you no more breathless than it has left me. Dad,
+I have spent nearly a week in his company, a week spent in contact with
+the greatest mind it has ever been my good fortune to encounter. Nor do
+I think the mind is greater than the soul. Oh, yes, I know what the
+unthinking would say. They would think and speak of treachery. They
+would spurn the creature who could betray the country which claims him,
+the country which has bestowed wealth and rank upon him. They would
+talk of loyalty and honor, and so, in their shallow way, prove the vile
+thing he must be. But I tell you there is something terrible in the
+demand for allegiance to a country whose sole aim is conquest in every
+phase of life; not the peaceful conquest which springs from the higher
+intelligence and purity of soul, but the brutal conquest of bloodshed,
+rapine, and terror. The man who can detach himself from the commonplace
+understanding of honor, the man whose courage is such that he dares to
+outrage such understanding in the cause of humanity, is something
+approaching my understanding of a demi-god. If Prince von Hertzwohl is
+a traitor, then I would gladly be branded in a like manner."
+
+The father permitted nothing of the effect of the idealist's words any
+expression. But he was not the less affected by them. However, he still
+bent all his mental force upon the practical side of the situation.
+
+"And you believe this man's life will pay for his--for what he has
+done?"
+
+"I am certain of it."
+
+Sir Andrew drew a deep breath. The assurance carried conviction.
+
+"I am so certain," Ruxton added, "that I offered him shelter here."
+
+"He accepted?"
+
+"On the contrary--he refused."
+
+His father's manner softened.
+
+"His courage is almost--tragic."
+
+"Or sublime."
+
+"When were the preparations at this Borga begun?" Sir Andrew asked a
+moment later.
+
+"During the war." Ruxton gave a short hard laugh. "Borga was purchased
+to be used as an alternative base for submarine construction in case
+Kiel and Cuxhaven should be raided from the sea. Germany, even then,
+was looking far, far ahead."
+
+"Yes."
+
+For a few silent moments Ruxton's father continued to drum his fingers
+upon the desk before him. Then his keen eyes were raised again
+unsmilingly to his son's face.
+
+"And the price? What price does he demand for these plans?" he enquired
+sharply.
+
+Ruxton's eyes levelled themselves at his father's.
+
+"There is no price."
+
+The old man's busy fingers became suddenly still.
+
+"No--price?"
+
+"None. They are a gift--in the cause of humanity."
+
+Sir Andrew ran his strong fingers through his snowy hair. A whimsical
+smile began to possess his eyes.
+
+"You have left me more convinced than I had thought possible."
+
+"Of the danger?"
+
+"No--of the man."
+
+"I am glad."
+
+"In England, as elsewhere, humanity is generally helped at our
+neighbor's expense."
+
+A flash of disapproval leapt into the younger man's eyes.
+
+"If I did not know better, Dad, I should take you for----"
+
+"A cynic," broke in his father. Then he went on explosively. "Believe
+me, boy, I _am_ a cynic where our country's splendid character, as
+depicted in song and verse, and the ha'penny press, is concerned. On
+the subject of our national characteristics the late war was enough to
+break the heart of the veriest optimist. As far as I can see only two
+things stood the test of that fire. The fighting power of our people
+and our naval record. For the rest, for the men whose duty it was to
+supply the moral support, well----"
+
+He broke off and leant across the desk and picked up the telephone
+receiver.
+
+"Hello!" he called. "That you, McGrath? Good. Have you examined
+those----? Yes. Can you come up and talk to us about them at once? Yes.
+Very well. Please do so."
+
+He replaced the receiver and turned about. His keen eyes were regarding
+his son affectionately. There was pride in them, too. His only son
+represented the whole of his life's interests and ambitions.
+
+"You have most of your life before you. Most of mine is behind me. You,
+my boy, have been brought up, as far as was possible to me, in all the
+simple, beautiful beliefs which belonged to your dear mother. I was
+brought up to the hard life of commercial competition, and all the
+moral looseness which that implies. As time goes on I fear many of your
+splendid temples and shrines will be shattered. This must be so, and it
+is right. With the passing of youth you will gain a true perspective of
+human worth. And when that perspective is attained, if I have any
+understanding of my own son, he will not be unduly affected by it. That
+perspective is already mine, I believe, and, since I am first and
+foremost a commercial man, you will forgive me if I reduce my
+understanding to mere percentages. With exceptions, of course, I have
+found that human nature's sense of duty is made up of about 75 per
+cent. of regard for itself, 24 per cent. of regard for the duties of
+other people towards life, and about 1 per cent. of the milk of human
+kindness. So that---- Ah, here is McGrath."
+
+Sir Andrew turned sharply from the amused gaze of his son to the
+newcomer. Ian McGrath was a powerfully built Scot. The sense of
+strength was displayed in almost every detail of his appearance. In his
+short, bristling, iron-grey hair, his extremely decided, plain
+features; the deep-set eyes, the long nose; the hard mouth, and harder
+chin and jaw. Even his build and his gait were loud in their assertion
+of his normal characteristics. The broad, lean shoulders, and generally
+loose-limbed body was propelled swiftly and alertly at all times.
+
+He had thrust his way in without heralding his coming, and he came
+swiftly towards his employer's desk. His position as chief engineer and
+marine architect to the Farlow, Son and Farlow Line at Dorby left him
+upon an extremely intimate footing with the heads of the firm.
+
+But just now his manner was even more confident than usual. There was a
+light almost of enthusiasm in his usually cold eyes. He paused at the
+desk and deposited the rolls of drawings he had in his hands upon the
+table. Then his eyes turned upon the recumbent Ruxton, and, in a
+moment, came back almost defiantly to his white-headed chief.
+
+"They're the most exquisitely drawn plans I've ever seen, Sir Andrew,"
+he said, in a peculiarly metallic voice. "If I believed in genius I'd
+say they are the work of one."
+
+"Sit down, McGrath," said Sir Andrew pleasantly. "We've got to have a
+talk."
+
+Mr. McGrath promptly deposited himself in the nearest chair, and again
+his questioning eyes passed from one to the other of his employers.
+
+Sir Andrew drew the plans towards him and idly turned over the sheets
+and tracings. He was not considering them. He was thinking. Thinking
+rapidly, as was his habit when engaged upon the work of his enterprise.
+
+"This boat has been built and tested. So has the light. Mr. Ruxton has
+travelled in a two-thousand-ton boat of this description for nearly a
+week. He has witnessed the light in operation."
+
+McGrath's eyes were turned half enviously upon Ruxton. There was
+something bordering upon incredulity in them, too.
+
+"Then they are not some crank's--dreaming?"
+
+"No." Sir Andrew raised his eyes from the drawings, and their
+unemotional light held the engineer's.
+
+"These plans are for a two-thousand-ton boat. You will put your
+department on them and increase the tonnage to three thousand,
+approximately. When you have completed the plans we will lay down the
+keels of two vessels of that size and proceed with construction with
+all speed, and--_in absolute secrecy_. So imperative is the latter that
+no precaution is too great to take. We will go into other matters later
+on."
+
+Sir Andrew's manner was a dismissal, and the engineer rose to depart.
+He was accustomed to the ship-owner's brevity, and it suited his own
+ideas of things. But Ruxton detained him. He, too, had risen from his
+seat.
+
+"One moment, McGrath," he said quickly. "There is danger--personal
+danger in this work. It may even be a matter of life and death to--all
+concerned. We shall probably have no peaceful time over this thing. I
+expect that every means--even force--will be used to--wreck us. It is
+only right to tell you. Shall you be--willing to undertake it in the
+circumstances?"
+
+The engineer regarded him keenly. Then his hard mouth relaxed, and he
+seemed to lick his lips.
+
+"This danger. Where does it come from?"
+
+"Germany. The German Government."
+
+The Scot's eyes lit. His face contorted, and he gave a short hard laugh.
+
+"I'm more than willing," he said briefly. Then, with a curious
+unconcern for the warning, he turned to the drawings and gazed down at
+them affectionately. "Man, but they're beautiful. Did you--get them,
+Mr. Ruxton?"
+
+There was no mistaking the implication.
+
+"They are not stolen, McGrath," said Ruxton quietly. "At least not in
+the manner you are thinking. They were given to us by the inventor,
+whose property they were. But--they represent one of Germany's most
+treasured secrets."
+
+The Scot nodded.
+
+"Fine," he said, and the ring in his voice left the two men more than
+satisfied.
+
+Sir Andrew smiled in his most genial fashion.
+
+"Good," he exclaimed. "I shall be free in half an hour, McGrath. We'll
+go into details then. Thank you."
+
+The engineer departed as hastily as he had appeared, and Ruxton dropped
+back into his seat. His father was still contemplating the plans.
+
+At last he spoke without looking up.
+
+"We are committed to it," he said. Then: "I wonder."
+
+Ruxton sprang to his feet.
+
+"I am glad--glad."
+
+Then he moved round and stood gazing out through the leaded window, and
+his thoughts went back to the beautiful creature who on that one
+memorable night upon his beloved Yorkshire cliffs had first opened the
+doors of Life to him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+KUHLHAFEN
+
+
+The old fortress of Kuhlhafen stands a milestone on the path of Time.
+Its vast walls have endured and survived the ravages of a thousand
+storms driving in off the sea. Its gloomy might still rears itself
+silhouetted against the grey skies of the Baltic upon its lofty setting
+of wood-clad hills. Its dull, unlit eyes still gaze down upon the broad
+waters of the shallow, silted harbor from which it takes its name. And
+with it all it haunts the primitive mind of the simple fisher folk
+beneath its shadows with the grim romance of the days of martial
+barbarity which have endured within its walls.
+
+No one would have associated modern significance with this survival of
+the ages. Yet it was sedulously kept in repair. It still retained its
+splendid furnishings, and all the relics of its antiquity. Furthermore,
+all the invention of modern days had been applied to add to its
+convenience. And it was solicitously cared for by the retainers of the
+princely house to which it belonged.
+
+The peasants of Kuhlhafen knew every detail of its history. Its martial
+story was part of their lives. Oh, yes. The information was handed down
+from father to son, and was told with all that care for fantastic
+detail in which the primitive mind never fails to indulge itself.
+
+The owner? Of course. It was Prince Frederick von Berger. Did they not
+have to pay for the tenancy of their miserable hovels to his steward,
+who lived in the castle itself? Oh, yes. He was a great man--a very
+great man. This was only one of his estates, and one which he never
+visited. One could not blame him. It was scarcely attractive to a man
+who owned a palace in Berlin. Then the storming of the cruel Baltic,
+which robbed them of comrades every year. Who would live on its bitter,
+desolate shores unless tied there by the stress of existence? No, he
+never came, they would tell the enquirer with a shrug. A man who
+enjoyed the friendly patronage of the supreme War Lord had no call to
+visit Kuhlhafen, even though the whole of the countryside belonged to
+him.
+
+This was the spoken attitude of the people towards their over-lord.
+Maybe, deep in their hearts, other feelings prevailed. But these poor
+folks had been bred to the discipline of an iron Prussian rule, and it
+is just possible that they had no power to think or feel otherwise than
+authority taught them.
+
+But had these simple fisher-folk been less absorbed in the struggle for
+their frugal existence; had they sufficient initiative to go seek out
+information for themselves; had they, in fact, been human rather than
+Prussian peasantry, they might have discovered that their over-lord was
+a different person from the ease-loving creature of wealth they so
+fondly supposed.
+
+They would indeed have found that it was by no means his habit to spend
+idle days in the gilded courts of Berlin. On the contrary, it seemed
+suspiciously as if it were his lot to have to work very hard indeed.
+Work which even the cleverest amongst the fishers could never have
+hoped to achieve.
+
+Frederick von Berger was by no means an ordinary man. Amongst even his
+intimates he was something of an enigma. These knew that he occupied an
+exalted position in official life. They knew he was on the best of
+terms with the Supreme War Lord. This was all patent enough. But the
+nature of his work was doubtful. His name never appeared in the
+official lists, although it was understood that he was entitled to the
+rank of "General" placed before his name. Nor did he attempt to offer
+the least enlightenment on the subject.
+
+But then he was a silent, even morose, man. He was harsh; a man devoid
+of any lighter side to his nature. There were even some who looked upon
+him as a sort of restless evil spirit whom it was very much best to
+avoid. But, like most men of genuinely strong purpose, public opinion
+left Frederick von Berger cold. He came and went as it suited him quite
+regardless of anything but his own objects, and he never failed to
+avail himself of every ounce of the power which the favor of the German
+monarch endowed him with.
+
+Kuhlhafen, however, was not kept up in its present condition without
+having uses in its princely owner's scheme of things. Although the
+humble fisher-folk remained in ignorance of anything that went on
+within its austere precincts, it was not so much abandoned by their
+over-lord as they believed.
+
+Thus it was that, one night, long after the village had been wrapped in
+slumber, a powerful automobile, with blazing head-lights, flashed
+through its single main street, and passed on up the heights towards
+the dour silhouette above. Later, a second automobile passed over the
+same route. And, with the coming of the second car, there was a tumult
+of bustle raised amongst the resident staff at the castle.
+
+Later on still, there was even a stranger happening. A single white eye
+flashed out its searching rays from the sea and settled its focus upon
+the castle. Then, as though satisfied with its inspection, it turned
+its gaze upon the surface of the restless waters, and discovered a
+small motor-driven boat heading towards the fishing-quay of the
+village. Then, as though in answer to a signal, the blackness of the
+castle hill was lit by a pair of eyes less dazzling than the eye from
+the sea, and an automobile made its way towards the quay for which the
+little sea-boat was heading.
+
+The great secret council-chamber of Kuhlhafen possessed all the air of
+a dungeon or crypt. It suggested no other for its original purpose. But
+as long as the present house had ruled within its walls this great
+underground apartment had been known as the secret council-chamber. It
+was probably the oldest portion of the whole castle, for it certainly
+dated back to the days somewhere before the earliest occupation of the
+territory by the Romans.
+
+One or two significant additions had been made since the great dungeon
+had been converted to the dignity of a council-chamber. Down the length
+of the low-roofed hall, between the central aisle of piers supporting
+it, a long iron-bound oaken table filled up the major space. This was
+flanked by a number of leather-seated chairs belonging to a similar
+period, and of equal crudeness of manufacture.
+
+Table and chairs formed the complete furnishing of this dreary
+apartment, whose only beauty lay in the simple antiquity of its
+architecture and the characteristic chiselling of the grey piers which
+supported its quartered roof. For the rest, in the dim recesses beyond
+the rays of the lamplight on the table, there were to be found the
+wrought-iron sconces upon the walls, which had once doubtless served to
+support the light of blazing torches. And further, still more remote
+from the light, lost in the dusky corners, were an array of instruments
+which had survived the years, and whose evil purpose there could be no
+mistaking.
+
+At the head of this long table sat a man with almost snow-white hair
+and a moustache of similar color, carefully trained with a sharp,
+upward turning of the pointed ends. His was a handsome face of
+considerable refinement. But it was deeply lined, even beyond his
+years, and the thin lips, drooping markedly downwards at the corners of
+his mouth, gave his whole expression something of tragedy.
+
+On his right, at the side of the table, the single lamp-light shining
+full upon his harsh features, sat Frederick von Berger, the absolute
+antithesis of the man at the head of the table. Here was cold strength
+and even ruthlessness, not one whit less than the harsh surroundings of
+the council-chamber in which he sat. The cold eyes of the man possessed
+not one single lurking shadow of warmth. He was perhaps forty-five, and
+the iron mould of his plain features, and the tremendous air of
+physical strength about his body, all added to the impression that here
+was the direct descendant, untempered with the blood of gentler races,
+of those savage forbears who had wrested place and power for themselves
+from amongst their people by the sheer weight of the sword.
+
+These two men had remained seated in conference for some time. The
+manner of the man at the head of the table was silent, even morose.
+Frederick von Berger did most of the talking, and this fact, combined
+with his marked air of deference, gave some indication that his guest
+was some one of extremely unusual importance.
+
+After a while Von Berger rose from his seat and was swallowed up in the
+shadowy remoteness of the room. His companion remained seated, leaning
+back in his chair, gazing after him with deep, cold, introspective
+eyes. His preoccupation was marked, and the drawn lines of his handsome
+face gave some clue to the importance, and even urgency, of his visit
+to these outlands of northern Prussia.
+
+When Von Berger returned he was accompanied by another, who, as he came
+within the radiance of the lamp, revealed the angular, erect figure of
+the Captain-General of the great arsenal of Borga. The moment he came
+within view of the solitary figure at the head of the table he halted
+abruptly in perfect military salutation. His whole attitude underwent a
+marked and deferential change. His usual air of arrogant authority
+seemed to have dropped from him like a cloak. It was a perfect example
+of the effect of the Prussian system.
+
+The man at the table nodded faintly. It was the signal Von Berger and
+his companion awaited. They approached. Von Berger took his original
+seat, but Von Salzinger remained standing.
+
+Von Berger waited. Then the man at the head of the table bestirred
+himself.
+
+"Go on," he said sharply. And at once the Prince turned upon the
+Captain-General.
+
+"The complaint is a serious one, Herr Captain-General. It is so
+serious, and affects such deep interests, that, as you see, it is
+deemed inadvisable to place it before a military tribunal. But it is
+also felt that the complaint in itself is not all; that there is other
+matter of even greater importance lying behind it. Thus you have been
+summoned to make your explanations--here."
+
+The cold eyes of the man were turned from Von Salzinger upon a document
+lying on the table. Just for a moment his hard voice ceased from
+stirring the echoes of the vaulted chamber. But it was only for a
+moment. The next he was reading from the paper before him.
+
+"It appears that on Prince von Hertzwohl's last visit to Borga, when he
+was conveying thither his relative, his most important engineer, for
+the rectification of certain defects in his new light, you displayed
+towards him the gratuitous discourtesy of refusing the Prince's
+guarantee of his relative, and sought to submit the man to the
+interrogatory customary where there is some doubt of a visitor's
+credentials. The Prince, somewhat naturally, refused to submit to such
+an indignity, and left the arsenal. Whereupon you persisted in your
+attitude, and even went so far as to endanger the Prince's valuable
+life by opening the secret batteries upon his vessel--a course which
+was utterly unwarranted in view of the Prince's identity and position.
+It is necessary that you should now state your story of this affair
+without any reservations."
+
+[Illustration: "The Complaint is a Serious One."]
+
+Von Berger's charge was coldly formal. It was also distinctly
+threatening in its final pronouncement. The arrogant Von Salzinger was
+bitterly forced to the reflection that he might expect small enough
+mercy if he failed to convince with his explanation. That which
+disturbed him more, however, was the identity of at least one of the
+men to whom he must explain. He had counted on a military tribunal,
+where his rank and the nature of his office would count. He felt that
+these things would by no means count here.
+
+But he dared not display any misgiving. He knew the value of promptness
+and brevity, with, at least, one of his audience. So he replied--
+
+"In every detail the complaint is accurately outlined. But it avoids
+entirely Prince von Hertzwohl's offence."
+
+"Offence?"
+
+The interrogation came sharply from the man at the head of the table,
+who was almost lost to Von Salzinger's view behind the bulk of the
+oil-lamp which lit the scene.
+
+"It was his right, just as it would have been your right, sir," Von
+Salzinger replied daringly, "to submit to the discipline of the place,
+a discipline which has been ordered by those who have a right to order
+such things. The complaint must come after obedience, not after open
+defiance of Berlin's most imperative orders. That is the case of Prince
+von Hertzwohl. I could not have acted otherwise than I did in the
+interests of our greatest of all State secrets."
+
+The man at the head of the table nodded in seeming approval at the
+robust vindication. Von Berger gave no sign. His eyes never left the
+angular figure of the Captain-General.
+
+"But you threatened his life--by your action in the matter." Von
+Berger's words came without emotion. The hard eyes were unchanging.
+
+"I submit that it had been better for the State had I more than
+threatened it."
+
+"How do you mean, sir?"
+
+The man at the head of the table was sitting up. His eyes were angrily
+alight.
+
+For a second Von Salzinger flinched before this display. He recovered
+himself swiftly, however. He knew he dared not lose a second in such a
+crisis.
+
+"Your pardon, sir, if my manner should seem rough. I feel strongly. If
+a man in Von Hertzwohl's position refuses to obey the laws he is fully
+cognizant of, then, I say, he has reason--grave reason for so doing."
+
+"You imply?"
+
+Again it was the question of the man at the head of the table.
+
+"He dared not have his--nephew interrogated, sir."
+
+"And if he dared not?" It was still the same speaker.
+
+Von Salzinger shrugged.
+
+"There can only be one interpretation, sir."
+
+"You mean--betrayal of Borga's secrets."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+The man at the head of the table turned to Von Berger with a smile that
+never reached his eyes.
+
+"Tell him," he said imperiously.
+
+"Your contention loses all its apparent force in the light of--facts,"
+said Von Berger coldly. "Agents have been set to work upon the matter.
+From the moment of Von Hertzwohl's complaint, in justice to you as
+Borga's commandant, the closest secret enquiries have been made. On the
+occasion of Hertzwohl's visit to your command his nephew did accompany
+him. This nephew is certainly his most trusted engineer, and is the
+actual inventor of the U-light. There is no shadow of doubt about these
+matters. Your suspicions are groundless and cannot be accepted in your
+defence."
+
+Von Salzinger was taken aback at the concise refutation of his
+carefully elaborated suspicions. He began to see the fabric he had
+constructed tumbling about his ears. He had been the victim of his own
+spleen, he knew, and his suspicions had had no sound foundation.
+
+He stood flushed and silent. Then the man at the head of the table
+unconsciously came to his rescue.
+
+"Show him," he briefly ordered Von Berger.
+
+The latter picked up a photograph--a mere rough print--and handed it to
+the troubled Von Salzinger.
+
+"That is Herr von Bersac, the Prince's nephew. It was taken three days
+ago, without the man being aware of it. That is the man who visited
+Borga with his uncle."
+
+Von Salzinger had taken the picture in his hands, and his eager eyes
+scrutinized it carefully. A moment later he handed it back, and an
+intense look of triumph had replaced the embarrassment of a moment
+before.
+
+"That is not the man to whom Von Hertzwohl displayed the secrets of
+Borga. It is not the man I sought to have interrogated. The man who
+posed as Hertzwohl's nephew was a tall man of magnificent physique. Not
+slim like that youth. He was a man of nearly forty, with fair, curling
+hair and dark eyes, and the face and general figure of an--Englishman."
+
+"Englishman?"
+
+The man at the head of the table started up. The passionate hatred
+flung into his echo of the other's word sent a wave of rejoicing
+through Von Salzinger's heart.
+
+"I am morally certain, sir," he added.
+
+Quite abruptly Von Berger had become completely thrust into the
+background. The other had taken entire possession of the scene. He
+began to pace the stone-flagged hall with hasty, uneven steps.
+
+"If I thought it could be so," he cried, with a sudden wave of
+intemperate heat. "Oh, if I believed it were!" He raised one clenched
+fist above his head and shook it in dire threat. The other arm remained
+unmoved at his side. The passionate eyes were flashing a cruel, almost
+insane fire as he strode the echoing stones. The others were held in
+appalled silence in face of his paroxysm.
+
+In a moment he turned fiercely upon the Captain-General, standing
+beyond the table. There was no longer any dignity or restraint in him.
+The hectoring nature of the man was caught in the passion of the
+moment, and his innate brutality must find an object upon which to vent
+itself.
+
+"I tell you, if the secrets of Borga have been betrayed there shall be
+such a reckoning as shall stagger our country from end to end. From the
+highest to the lowest those responsible shall pay to the uttermost. Of
+all the world--an Englishman! Gott in Himmel, it is unthinkable!"
+
+He glared for a silent moment into the abashed face of Von Salzinger.
+Then he went on more calmly--
+
+"I tell you you are wrong. Damnably wrong--somehow. Hertzwohl dare not
+betray us. No money in the world would buy him. We have proved him a
+hundred times. English gold to buy Hertzwohl?" He laughed derisively,
+but there was no conviction in his manner. "You understand, sir, you
+are wrong--utterly wrong. The matter shall be cleared up. You shall
+confront Von Hertzwohl. And if lies have been told, God help the liars."
+
+The two men stood eye to eye across the table. Von Salzinger had
+recovered under stress of emergency.
+
+"I could ask no better, sir--if it were in the best interests of the
+secrets of Borga. But is it? I could give you the names of a number of
+my junior officers in Borga, all of whom encountered this--nephew of
+Hertzwohl. And without reference to me, there is not one of them but
+would deny the identity of that nephew they saw in Borga with the
+identity of the original of that picture. If the liar is to be punished
+I have no fear, sir. But would it be in the best interests of Borga to
+deal hastily with the matter?"
+
+"Explain!" The man went back to his seat at the head of the table. His
+harsh demand warned his hearers of the storm still raging within him.
+
+But Von Berger took up the reply.
+
+"I see the Captain-General's point, sir," he said. "If Hertzwohl is
+confronted it means his vindication or immediate punishment. If secrets
+have been betrayed such a course will not serve us. This Englishman Von
+Salzinger speaks of will still possess them, and--be _free to act upon
+them_. We must recover those secrets, or _make them useless to their
+possessors_. Then we can deal with those responsible for Borga."
+
+Von Salzinger listened to the cold words and eagerly awaited the reply
+of the man at the head of the table. But none was forthcoming, for he
+seemed to be lost in moody contemplation of the whole affair. Therefore
+the Captain-General seized his opportunity.
+
+"That is how I see it, sir," he said eagerly. "I submit, with all
+deference, that I be nominally punished as though I had seriously
+offended. What is that punishment? Degradation? Degradation and
+retirement from the service of the Fatherland. It will satisfy
+Hertzwohl, and put him off his guard. He will have no suspicion, and I
+shall be free to work. If I am placed on the Secret Service and sent
+to--England, it should not be impossible to discover all we want to
+know and nullify the effects of the treachery. Those concerned can be
+silenced. We can be guided by developments. And----"
+
+"The harm is done, man! You talk of nullifying. You talk like a fool.
+There can be no undoing the harm done."
+
+The hoarse passion of the man at the table was in every word he spoke.
+The gleaming eyes were full of the burning fire of unrestrained
+ferocity.
+
+But the cold tones of Von Berger once more dropped like ice upon a
+kindling fire.
+
+"It will be the better course, sir," he said. "We do not yet know the
+full position. That must be perfectly established before we can
+estimate the damage."
+
+But the other seemed absorbed in his own imagery of the matter.
+
+"An Englishman! Gott!"
+
+Von Berger turned abruptly to Von Salzinger.
+
+"Leave us. I will call you when ready. Remain within call."
+
+The authority was unmistakable. The Captain-General might have been the
+veriest conscript for the courtesy displayed. He left the great chamber
+with no outward sign, but with storm sweeping through his heart.
+
+Beyond the door he reviewed the situation. His position was by no means
+enviable, but it was not without possibilities. He realized now that
+the hand of Fate had pointed through the whole affair. He knew that he
+had had no suspicion of Hertzwohl in Borga. A thought of treachery had
+never entered his head. Hertzwohl had piqued him. He had seriously
+offended him, as, long ago, this same man's daughter had offended his
+pride. He had intended merely to retaliate through his official
+capacity, and now through these trivial pettinesses a deadly plot had
+been revealed. He had answered the summons to Kuhlhafen intending to
+defend himself by casting suspicion upon Hertzwohl, and his defence had
+turned out to be the true estimate of the matter. Well----
+
+But his reflections were cut short by the summons to return to the
+council-chamber. Von Berger held the iron-studded door for him to
+enter, and, as he passed within, he closed and carefully secured it.
+
+Then he came back to his place at the table, and his companion signed
+for him to proceed.
+
+He faced the waiting officer.
+
+"Captain-General von Salzinger, you are to be degraded from your rank
+and office. You will be relieved of command at Borga at once. You will
+then report to the Foreign Office, where you will receive sealed
+instructions. On receipt of these instructions you will proceed to
+London without delay. When you have completed the work allotted to you
+in England--satisfactorily--you will receive your reinstatement. That
+is all."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+NEWS
+
+
+The atmosphere of the little study, or library, or whatever it was
+called, in which Ruxton carried on the private work of his political
+calling, in the diminutive house in Smith Square, Westminster, was
+redolent with that delightful suggestion of the old world so dear to
+the collector's heart.
+
+Its owner was a collector by instinct and training. He had been brought
+up to the study of old-world art, and had learned to appreciate the
+beauties of all those delicate and priceless specimens which are the
+handicraft of bygone genius. But he was no keeper of a museum. His
+little home in the purlieus of Westminster was a storehouse of beauty
+and charm. Every piece of furniture, every tapestry, every rug, every
+metal gem was full of significance and harmony with its setting. Not
+one detail of this home but had cost him hours of thought and
+consideration, and the result was all he asked, a perfectly harmonious
+whole, a creation of all that made for undemonstrative artistry in his
+nature.
+
+Just now even the dying early autumn sun seemed graciously disposed
+towards it. It was peeping in through the old Georgian windows and
+searching out the mellow beauties of the study. Its softened tone
+seemed to somehow belong to the picture it discovered within. The
+delicate tracery of the deep, ruddy mahogany furnishings, the design of
+which must have given hours of delight to the artist soul of
+Chippendale; the softened tints of the ancient Persian rugs upon the
+crazily uneven flooring; the exquisite carving of the oaken panels and
+the delicate pictures of the hanging tapestries above them,--all these
+beauties seemed to belong to a time of softened light which comes with
+the ageing of the year.
+
+The calm delight of it all resisted even the touch of a modern figure
+suddenly appearing in its midst. Ruxton's modern blue serge suit and
+soft felt hat might have been an anachronism, but it gave no serious
+offence. He entered the room and glanced swiftly and appreciatively
+upon his treasured friends. Then he laid his hat aside, took his seat
+at his desk and prepared to attend to some work he had on hand.
+
+But, for once, inclination proved stronger than purpose. He sat back in
+the ample chair, such as an elderly ancestor might have revelled in,
+lit a cigar, and, for some idle minutes, all effort was abandoned in
+favor of the relaxed dreaming of a brain accustomed to high pressure.
+
+It was the late afternoon of a long day spent in endless interviews in
+the world of the officialdom to which he belonged here in London. But
+his interviews had had little enough to do with the more commonplace
+affairs of State. His portfolio in the Cabinet, which left him
+responsible for the affairs of the Duchy of Lancaster, also left him
+with ample time to carry out those other plans which he believed were
+to have so great a significance in his country's future.
+
+His day had been spent in completing the negotiations whereby, for a
+considerable period, certain portions of the great ship-building yards
+at Dorby were to be adopted and controlled by the Admiralty. It had not
+been easy to stir the machinery of departments, and only had it been
+made possible by invoking the efforts of the Prime Minister, Sir
+Meeston Harborough, and the Foreign Secretary, the Marquis of
+Lordburgh, with both of whom he had already established a confidential
+understanding. Admiral Sir Joseph Caistor was purely a naval man, a
+brilliant officer, but as yet intolerant of desecrating the traditions
+of his department by confusing it with civilian controlled
+establishments.
+
+However, the last obstacle had been finally surmounted, and, with its
+passing, he discovered the real depths of his anxiety. A strong
+conviction of impending action by the German Government had taken hold
+of him without his being fully aware of it. He had been oppressed by
+it. And now, at last, he experienced a deep sense of relief that the
+cloak of naval secrecy and protection was to be spread out over the new
+construction upon which he and his father had embarked.
+
+He sat thus reviewing these things and smoking leisurely, in the manner
+of a satisfied man. He knew he ought to attend to his letters and then
+go on down to the House, which was now sitting. But he had no intention
+of doing so. There was no debate of importance going on, and he had no
+desire to listen to the silly twaddle of a number of men whose
+qualifications as legislators would have been insufficient to achieve
+for them squatting room on a council of Red Indians, and whose minds
+had no other conception of greatness than the limelight of a halfpenny
+press.
+
+It was five weeks since his return from Borga. Five weeks of hard,
+rushing work in which a confusion of affairs required to be sorted and
+carried through; in which plans had to be developed and set in train,
+and during which a growing and almost oppressing sense of
+responsibility had steadily taken possession of him. There had been no
+leisure. It had been work incessant, work, and again work. Now, at
+last, he felt that a breathing space was almost permissible.
+
+In his first moment of leisure he was determined to carry out a purpose
+upon which he had resolved, even amidst the turmoil of the affairs he
+had been engaged upon. For not once during all those weeks had the
+haunting memory of his beautiful visitor on the Yorkshire cliffs been
+lost to him. He had heard no word from her, he had caught no glimpse of
+her since he had watched her finally ascend the companionway of the
+submersible to return to the shore. For the first time in his life he
+had been made aware that there could be a more imperative claim upon a
+man than his simple duty. For the first time in his life he found
+himself hearkening to the mandates of Nature in a yielding spirit. He
+could no longer resist the haunting charms of the wonderful creature
+who had so appealed to his manhood.
+
+He sat revolving his purpose in his mind. And, so doing, he idly drew a
+copy of an evening paper towards him. He turned its pages in abstracted
+contemplation. Then, suddenly, a head-line caught and held his
+attention. It was the announcement of the completion of his
+negotiations with the naval department.
+
+He read it eagerly, not with any desire to discover publicity for
+himself--rather the reverse. He looked to discover how far the
+pernicious habit of publicity might be damaging to the cause in which
+he was working. He sighed in relief as he came to the end of the
+paragraph. For once the press had exercised laudable restraint. There
+was nothing in it calculated to inspire curiosity or even comment. It
+simply stated that a department in the Dorby yards had been taken over
+by the Board of Admiralty to relieve the congestion in the Naval
+Construction yards.
+
+He thrust the paper aside, drew a telegram pad towards him, and indited
+an address upon it.
+
+
+"Veevee, London."
+
+
+Then he paused and looked up as the door in the panelling of the room
+was thrust open and his secretary presented himself.
+
+"It's the telephone, and a woman's voice speaking, Mr. Farlow," he
+said, with a whimsical smile. "I endeavored to get her name, but she
+refused it. I warned her that I could not call you without she stated
+her business, or gave her name. Finally she said I had better tell you
+that 'Veevee, London,' wished to speak to you urgently. I wrote the
+name down so there should be no----"
+
+"You can put me through--at once."
+
+The crisp response was not without significance to the younger man, and
+Harold Heathcote departed with the mental reservation that "even with
+Cabinet Ministers you never can tell."
+
+A few moments later the telephone receiver on Ruxton Farlow's table
+purred its soft challenge, and he picked it up in hasty and delighted
+anticipation. In a moment he recognized Vita Vladimir's voice. His dark
+eyes smiled at the sunlit window as he replied to her enquiry.
+
+"Yes. It's Ruxton Farlow speaking. How-do-you-do? Most extraordinary
+coincidence. I was just writing out a telegram to you. I was wond----
+Yes, it's ages. I've a lot to tell you about--things. Eh? You must see
+me to-night. Why, that's delightful. I am in great good luck. Not sure
+about the luck?" He laughed confidently. "I am. Eh?" His laugh had died
+out abruptly. "Bad news. That's---- Well, where shall I see you? Not
+at--all right. Could you manage dinner with me somewhere? Ah, anywhere
+you choose. What's that? The Oberon? The West Room? Will that be all
+right in view of the--bad news? Yes, I agree. It is sufficiently
+secluded. Shall we say at eight o'clock? You're sure it quite suits
+you? Splendid. Yes. Then good-bye--till eight o'clock."
+
+Ruxton replaced the receiver, and, for a moment, sat staring out at the
+sunlit square. His eyes were half smiling still, but there was a
+puzzled, slight elevation of his level brows. He was thinking,
+speculating as to the nature of the bad news. But even bad news which
+again brought him into contact with the Princess Vita was robbed of
+more than half its significance.
+
+
+Whatever Ruxton Farlow's impressions, drawn from his earlier encounters
+with Vita von Hertzwohl, they became totally eclipsed by the delight in
+her perfect beauty as it appeared to him when he kept his appointment
+for dinner that night.
+
+Her tall figure, so beautifully rounded, so perfect in its delicate
+proportions, and so full of a delicious sinuous grace, was gowned to
+perfection. Her wonderful red-gold hair, tinged with its soft sheen of
+burnished copper, was a perfect setting for the delicate tracery of
+jewels which completed its exquisitely unconventional dressing. Her
+wonderful grey eyes shone eagerly up into his, lighting the essentially
+foreign complexion which was hers with a warm fire of virile mentality.
+Such were the feelings she inspired that he wondered absurdly that he
+could ever have taken her for anything less than the princess he now
+knew her to be. So great was her effect upon him that it was not until
+her own low-spoken words, reminding him of the bad news of which she
+was the bearer, permitted the memory of the affairs he was engaged upon
+to return to their paramount place in his consideration.
+
+They were seated at a small round table in a remote corner of the great
+West Room. The table next to them was unoccupied, but, for the rest,
+the room was fairly full, and amongst the diners were a considerable
+number of notables who preferred the quiet harmonious charm of tasteful
+surroundings and excellent cooking to the blatancy of the more
+advertised caravansaries.
+
+It was not until the _peches-melba_ had been served, and the order for
+coffee had been given to the waiter, that the cloud was allowed to
+descend upon Ruxton's perfect enjoyment. They had talked of all he had
+seen upon his visit to Borga. They had talked of Vita's father, and the
+services he yearned to perform for humanity. Ruxton had described in
+detail their flight from the great arsenal and its Prussian commandant.
+And all the time Vita had withheld her news, fearing for herself, as
+much as for her companion, the complete banishment of the delight of
+this moment of their meeting again.
+
+But it had to come, and she faced it resolutely. There had fallen a
+pause in their talk, and she drew a deep sigh.
+
+"And now--now for the purpose of this meeting," she said.
+
+Then with a resolute air she rested her elbows upon the table and
+clasped her beautiful shapely hands.
+
+"Is there any other purpose than--the present?" enquired Ruxton,
+following her example and leaning forward. His smile was one of
+whimsical protest. He knew that the moment had come when he must once
+more return to the harness of his office. "I feel rather like a navvy,"
+he proceeded. "After tremendous exertions I have just been lounging
+away my dinner hour. The whistle has blown, and I must get to work
+again. You have blown the whistle."
+
+Vita smiled faintly. But her eyes lost none of their seriousness
+thereby.
+
+"I'm afraid there are liable to be some heavy penalties if--you do not
+respond to it promptly. Oh, dear, I have so enjoyed myself. I wish
+there were no Prussians in the world."
+
+"There are fewer than there were."
+
+"Yes, but so long as one remains there are--too many. I have had a
+communication from my father. It came to-day."
+
+"A letter?"
+
+Vita shook her head.
+
+"We do not communicate by letter. A messenger. A funny little old man
+who carries samples of buttons made in Austria. He represents a button
+firm, and sells millions of them over here. He happens to be my
+father's brother, although no one is allowed to guess the relationship.
+He is my father's most loyal--friend."
+
+"And he has brought you word of----"
+
+"Von Salzinger."
+
+Ruxton waited for her to continue. He was watching her with eyes that
+left him utterly incapable of forgetting her wonderful attraction. She
+was no longer merely a partner in the work he had marked out for
+himself. She was more. She was the woman of his early youthful dreams
+come to life, and every word that fell from her lips had for him a
+significance which appealed to the big soul within him apart from any
+verbal meaning it might convey.
+
+"You know father is the oddest mixture of simplicity and shrewdness I
+have ever known. He is utterly without fear, and his trust, to a point,
+is childlike. But when he is threatened with serious danger he is
+possessed of all the subtlety, it seems to me, of the whole world. That
+is perhaps why I do not gravely fear for his personal safety. His
+message to me illustrates his simplicity, but gives no inkling of that
+wonderful shrewdness which I know him to possess. Perhaps it is worded
+purposely so that I should miss its real significance. You see, father
+knows I am a coward, and does not like to distress me. Perhaps, on the
+other hand, he only sees in the development the dire result of his
+protest to Berlin. You see I have had the story of your visit to Borga
+from him weeks ago. But I see more in it, and I am right. That's why I
+warned you of 'bad news.'"
+
+"And the news?" Ruxton's imagination had been stirred by the girl's
+preliminary.
+
+"In brief it is that Captain-General von Salzinger has been relieved of
+his command at Borga, as a result of his attitude towards you and my
+father."
+
+"That is what your father assured me would happen. He assured me that
+in Berlin his power was almost unlimited--as regards Borga. I see
+little to trouble us in that."
+
+"No-o."
+
+Vita's whole attitude underwent a change. She became reflective, and
+her warm grey eyes grew cold with the bitterness of memory. After some
+silent moments she seemed to arrive at a decision.
+
+"To impress you with my point of view I--must make something like a
+confession," she went on presently.
+
+She was interrupted by the returning waiter, who removed the sweet
+plates and cleared the table for the coffee. After he had poured it out
+and departed, Vita went on. All doubt had gone from her manner, and her
+eyes smiled back into the eager face of the man who had made for
+himself the discovery of the woman in Eden.
+
+"It is just a little bit difficult to tell you these things," she
+smiled. "But I must do so, or you will not see the danger as I see it.
+It is about an early love affair of mine with--Von Salzinger. Oh, don't
+make any mistake," she cried hastily, at the abrupt, ingenuous change
+in the man's expression. "I was never in love with him. But he was with
+me. Ugh! Von Salzinger. A Prussian from head to foot. A typical,
+soulless Prussian. No, no. This man is ambitious. That is all he cares
+for in life--himself and his ambition. My father was a great man in the
+country, and would have been an excellent lever to further his ends. So
+he strove to--enlist my sympathies. I was very young, and--well, I
+think most women, even at an early age, like being made love to. I did
+not so greatly discourage him at first. Then came the War, and I
+discovered many things about the German people I had never dreamed of.
+I also discovered the Prussian in Von Salzinger. He strove his utmost
+to enlist me in the Secret Service, of which, to my horror, I
+discovered he was a prominent member. Need I tell you what happened?
+There was a scene--a dreadful scene, which he has probably never
+forgiven, and--may never forgive. Now here is the complication of which
+my father is unaware. It is my father who has brought about his
+downfall. Do you see? He undoubtedly has suspicions of you.
+Consequently he has suspicions of my father. He is bred to the Secret
+Service. Where has he gone, and what will he do? What has he told
+Berlin, and--what understanding has he come to with them? My simple
+father believes he has settled the matter definitely in the only way
+his position entitled him to settle it. I think he has set an unusually
+swift and poisonous snake upon the tracks of all of us. Now you tell me
+what you think. You can probably judge the position better than I. You
+can look upon it from a detached point of view."
+
+"Detached?" Ruxton smiled dubiously. But his interrogation seemed to
+pass Vita by. She sipped her coffee and waited. Her grey eyes were
+completely veiled beneath her long, dense lashes. Ruxton pushed his
+empty cup aside. "The danger I see is for your father. Not for you, or
+for anything over here. That, of course, may come later. The immediate
+danger is for your father."
+
+Vita sighed.
+
+"You have lightened my fears." She raised her shining eyes. "That
+sounds terrible, doesn't it? But--I would rather have danger threaten
+him, personally, than threaten his project--our project. His position
+is unique, and I doubt even if you can appreciate it. And then he has a
+means of protecting himself which even Berlin has no understanding of.
+Father can escape at any moment he considers it necessary. That was all
+thought out, with many other things, before we approached you. _Our
+visit to Dorby is still all unsuspected_. Remember that."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"But, in spite of your view-point, we shall hear from Von Salzinger, if
+I am not very much mistaken. You see, he knows I am in London. Unless
+we hear soon that he has been given another appointment in Germany,
+then I feel certain we shall have him swiftly on our tracks. What can
+he do--to hurt us?"
+
+There was unmistakable apprehension in the girl's eyes. There was a
+gravity in her assertion that would not be denied, and even Ruxton
+realized the soundness of her argument. But he sought to console her,
+to lessen her fears. He desired more than all things to see her warm
+smile replace the apprehension she was now displaying.
+
+"He can do nothing here, should he favor us with a visit," he said
+lightly. "I have taken no chances. Only to-day I have completed
+negotiations by which our new constructions are definitely placed under
+the control and protection of our Admiralty. If your father is safe,
+then I think we can snap our fingers at Captain-General von Salzinger."
+
+"I'm--glad," cried Vita. Then impulsively: "So glad. Perhaps you don't
+quite understand _our_ feelings. You see," she went on warmly, "our
+project has been placed before everything else in life. Life and death
+or imprisonment are secondary--quite secondary--with us. It is this
+effort to save humanity from the disaster which is being engineered in
+the Teutonic mind that is all that we care for. If necessary we shall
+not shrink from yielding up our lives to that cause. I wonder. Can you
+understand? Yes." She nodded decidedly. "You do understand. That is why
+we came to you. Now you have reassured me. Germany cannot stop the work
+going forward. It has become a British national effort." She sighed
+again, however. "But for all that my news is bad. I am sure of it.
+Perhaps it is only relatively so. I cannot say. If the work goes on no
+news can be really bad. Yes, I am relieved, and I am glad I 'phoned
+you. I wish my father had been here to hear you say that the work would
+go on. It would have been the greatest moment of his life."
+
+There was a great striving for reassurance in her manner. Ruxton
+watched it, as he watched every other play of light and shade in her
+voice and expression. Nor was it until he witnessed the return of her
+brilliant smile that he felt content. With its advent he returned again
+to the serene enjoyment of the moment.
+
+At length, no further excuse for remaining would serve, and at
+half-past nine they rose to go. For Ruxton it was the passing of an
+important milestone on his journey through life. There remained no
+longer any doubt of his feelings. He knew he had met at last the only
+woman in the world who could reveal to him the true depths of happiness
+in life. His full realization had come with her frank avowal of the
+place Von Salzinger had striven to hold in her life. It had been a
+threatening cloud, a summer billow of cloud tossed up by some adverse
+air-current, and, for the moment, it had obscured his sun. Its passing
+had left him in the full blaze of a radiance which he now appreciated
+at its true worth. He knew that he loved this wonderful Princess Vita.
+
+Once again the hand of Destiny had been revealed. He was moving blindly
+at its bidding. Nor had he will or inclination to diverge from the
+course marked out. He was content--more than content, and his only
+alloy was the rapidly approaching termination of the all too short
+evening.
+
+His car rolled up to the door. He had handed Vita into it, and stood
+leaning in through the doorway.
+
+"Where shall he drive to?" he enquired, with a smile of amusement.
+"Kensington?"
+
+"Please, Kensington."
+
+There was almost a challenge in the smile with which Vita replied to
+him.
+
+A moment later he was sitting beside her in the cabriolet as they drove
+on towards the crossing of Piccadilly Circus.
+
+"It is too late to let you take me all the way to my home," Vita said
+quietly. "Besides, I would rather remain in town for the night." Then
+she broke off in an undecided fashion.
+
+Ruxton caught at the pause.
+
+"Do not think about it. I have no desire to know anything but that
+which you choose to tell me."
+
+Vita laughed. And Ruxton felt that her laugh was slightly embarrassed.
+
+"It seems strange not to tell you where my real home is," she said.
+"There is no adequate reason for not doing so--and yet--I will tell you
+the reason that I occupy my Kensington flat in my two Christian names,
+and keep my real home away in the country. Father and I thought it out
+when we embarked upon our plans. We decided that in emergency it would
+be necessary to have a secure retreat. We endeavored to forestall all
+possibilities. We----"
+
+She broke off, gazing across the car at the open window of the door
+beside Ruxton. Her eyes were full of alarm. The car had stopped in a
+stream of traffic, held up by the imperious arm of the point policeman.
+A taxicab had come to a stop beside them, and slightly in advance. A
+hatless head had been thrust out of the window to observe the cause of
+the delay. It was a square head upon still squarer shoulders. The neck
+that linked them was fleshy and powerful. The hair was short and
+stubbly.
+
+Vita's hand reached swiftly and caught Ruxton's arm.
+
+"Quick," she whispered. "Quick--but cautiously. Don't let him see you.
+There, leaning out of that cab. It is Von Salzinger."
+
+Ruxton, his pulses quickened at the touch of Vita's hand upon his arm
+and the eager alarm of her whisper, leant forward and cautiously peered
+out of the window. Instantly the inevitable happened. The car moved
+forward and closed up on the cab. They had drawn abreast. The movement
+distracted the occupant of the cab. His head turned and Ruxton found
+himself gazing squarely into the fleshy features of the Commandant of
+Borga. He promptly drew back, but it was too late. Von Salzinger had no
+scruples. He had obviously recognized the Englishman, for now he leant
+farther out of the window and deliberately peered into the well-lit
+interior of the car for a second look at its occupants.
+
+It was a desperate, trying movement. Ruxton was helpless. There was
+nothing to be done. The man's scrutiny of both himself and his
+companion remained until the traffic moved on. Then, and then only, did
+he withdraw his head.
+
+"He has lost no time, and has had all the--luck," said Vita in a hard,
+bitter tone.
+
+But Ruxton smiled and spoke down into the tube to the chauffeur.
+
+"There is a taxi beside us. Avoid it." Then he put up the tube and
+turned to the girl at his side. "Your fears were well grounded. With
+Von Salzinger in London there can be only one possible interpretation
+of the fact. But I don't think he has had all the luck. You forget that
+I have completed my arrangements with the Admiralty."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+"KAMERADS"
+
+
+Two men walked briskly up Baker Street in the direction of the
+Underground Station. At least, one of them walked briskly. The gait of
+the other were better described as hurried. He was obviously making an
+effort to keep up with his powerful, square-cut, vigorous companion.
+Many eyes were turned upon them as they passed by. It was the
+provocative air of the larger man, whose gait was more than arrogant.
+
+The lesser of the two was not oblivious to the attention.
+
+"It is almost in the nature of a shock to find myself walking beside
+you in London, Ludwig. It is the old days again. But in the old days
+you were thankful to disguise the fact that you possessed military
+training. Now it is as if you were on parade. These people hate and
+distrust anything which suggests the--military."
+
+Ludwig von Salzinger laughed gutturally. His fierce eyes glanced
+swiftly about him, ready to challenge any resentful glance in his
+direction.
+
+"I care nothing for the pigs," he observed pleasantly.
+
+"No. But you are here for--distraction. I have work which demands that
+I attract as little attention as possible."
+
+"Distraction?" Von Salzinger laughed without any mirth. Then he became
+suddenly serious. "Distraction--yes, that is it."
+
+The smaller man was quick of eye--almost furtive. His slight figure was
+well clad in an ordinary blue serge suit. His boots had once been of
+patent leather. His hat was of the Homburg pattern so beloved of the
+Londoner. He wore his brown hair fairly long to disguise the flat back
+of his head. His face was perfectly clean shaven, which left it typical
+of the ordinary man on the street. The other was so obviously of the
+Teuton military caste in spite of his elegant civilian dress, that his
+companion was seriously troubled. He protested again.
+
+"If you cannot disguise yourself let us take a cab. Can you not drop
+your shoulders like the London 'knut'? Can you not slouch? Can you not
+refrain from lifting your feet as though you would crush a worm, or--an
+Englishman? Your moustache is bad enough."
+
+"Ach! you are afraid, like some sick woman. What is it?" cried
+Salzinger half angrily, half contemptuously. "Has the work broken your
+spirit? It was not so in the old days. Johann Stryj, you need a
+holiday--distraction, like I am seeking." He laughed at his own clumsy
+humor.
+
+Stryj took no umbrage. He never took umbrage till he had discovered all
+the possibilities of a man. Von Salzinger had arrived just as he had
+finished his English breakfast in his essentially English flat in Baker
+Street. Johann Stryj had spared no pains to mould his whole life and
+person upon London lines. Von Salzinger had explained nothing as yet of
+the meaning of his sudden descent upon London. He had merely demanded
+that his erstwhile comrade now accompany him to his hotel.
+
+"And what--distraction do you seek?"
+
+The man's quick eyes were sharply questioning in spite of the smile
+accompanying his words.
+
+"That is what I conduct you to my hotel to tell you of."
+
+Johann Stryj appeared to acquiesce, and they progressed in silence for
+a few paces. Then the quick eyes were again raised in the direction of
+Von Salzinger's square face.
+
+"You have left us all very far behind in the service of the Fatherland.
+We hear it all--here. And four years ago you were with us, waiting upon
+every message that came, wondering where the next few hours would find
+us."
+
+Stryj's words were calculated to set the other talking. They succeeded.
+Von Salzinger was obviously pleased.
+
+"You, my Johann, were built for the--service. I was not. I have not
+that faculty for making my feelings subservient to the needs of the
+moment. I was glad when the call of the war took me out of it,
+and--gave me my chance."
+
+Stryj nodded in an expressionless fashion.
+
+"Yes. I am at home in the work. I love it." Then he laughed silently.
+"I am the servant of every pompous official who visits London. I am the
+slave of my orders. I am a cypher on the official lists, I am nothing
+amongst the people of the nation which I serve. Yet I am the head of
+the underground system which works here in England, and, incidentally,
+my income is four times that of a Captain-General. Your honor is very
+great, Ludwig, but I wonder if you have advanced since--those days."
+
+Von Salzinger made no reply. He was thinking of the recent scene in
+which he had participated in the castle of Kuhlhafen. His face
+expressed something of his feelings of chagrin, and his companion was
+not slow to detect them.
+
+"This is a thought of yours too, perhaps," he went on at once. "The
+moment a man enters the higher ranks of our army his troubles begin. He
+must fight for favor, and win it or decay in some obscure ditch in the
+military office. Nor can he rely for five minutes upon that favor.
+Degradation awaits at the first blunder which it is not humanly
+possible to avoid. Is it not so?"
+
+All the buoyancy of Von Salzinger seemed to have vanished from his hard
+eyes. His old friend was telling him all that he had only too much
+reason to be aware of. He had fought his way up that perilous ladder of
+Prussian militarism, and like so many others he had tripped and fallen,
+and now was faced with the task of making good the temporary set-back.
+He had struggled hard at the first trip, and he told himself that
+fortune had favored him, and he had kept his hold, but well he knew
+that unless he recovered his foothold himself he must fall to the
+bottom and die in obscurity.
+
+He turned on the Secret Service man.
+
+"It is all as you say. But the very uncertainty of it makes it all the
+more worth winning. That is why I am in London now. When I have
+finished in London I shall have achieved the lasting honor, so rare in
+our Fatherland."
+
+Stryj shook his head.
+
+"There is none--no lasting honor in our Fatherland," he said.
+
+Then with a quick turn he pointed at the window of a fashionable
+photographic studio. There was a life-size portrait standing in the
+very centre of it. It was a full-length portrait of a man of over six
+feet. He was in the uniform of a British field-marshal.
+
+"There is lasting honor in this country," he said, as they paused and
+stood gazing at the wonderful face in the portrait, with its level,
+stern brows, its convincing, powerful eyes, and the heavy moustache
+that in no way detracted from the purposeful set of the jaws. "They are
+loyal to those they honor here. The man who has fought a great war for
+them, as that man has done, need do no more. His name and fame will go
+down to history with the vast material honor they have showered upon
+him. That is a name that will never die--in England."
+
+But Von Salzinger had no comment to offer. They stood gazing for some
+moments at the stern-faced presentation of the marshal. Then quite
+suddenly an iron grip took hold of the spy's muscular upper arm.
+
+Von Salzinger was pointing at a lesser portrait. It was one among
+several comprising the faces of well-known parliamentarians.
+
+"That man! Quick!" There was excitement in his voice, and a mild pink
+had leapt up into his sallow cheeks.
+
+Stryj was startled, but displayed no emotion.
+
+"The name is underneath," he said, pointing. "He is a new member of the
+Cabinet. Ruxton Farlow."
+
+"Donner! I've found him. Quick! We take a taxi." Then Von Salzinger
+laughed, all his earlier buoyancy returned. "You are right, my Johann.
+I am too military to walk in London. But the walk has done me
+good--much good."
+
+A moment later they were in a taxi speeding on their way towards Von
+Salzinger's hotel.
+
+"What is the--distraction?" enquired Stryj, as the cab swung sharply
+out of Baker Street. His calmness of manner was in marked contrast to
+that of his companion, who was still breathing heavily under his
+emotion. He understood now that a matter, an important mission, was on
+hand, and every faculty was alert to miss nothing of any detail of it,
+even the mood of his old friend.
+
+"Distraction?" Von Salzinger laughed. "Yes, it is distraction. But
+distraction can mean another emotion than pleasure. Hey?"
+
+"Yes." Stryj nodded.
+
+Then Von Salzinger leant over and whispered elaborately into the
+other's ear, as the cabby changed his gears with a clatter and the cab
+began the ascent of the approach to the hotel.
+
+"That man Farlow, as you call him, stole into Borga when I was in
+command. I am not in command of Borga--now."
+
+
+Johann Stryj faced his companion with eyes that never seemed to express
+more than a mild interest. Von Salzinger was lounging in a large
+armchair smoking a long cigar. They were in the latter's private
+sitting-room in the hotel. In spite of his leisured attitude, deep
+emotion lit the eyes of the late Commandant of Borga, and an
+undercurrent of excitement kept his cigar glowing in a reckless manner.
+Stryj smoked a Turkish cigarette with a composure that was in sharp
+contrast with his companion's attitude.
+
+"So you see it was not only friendship that fetched me to your
+apartment this morning, my good Johann," Von Salzinger finished up, at
+the conclusion of his story of the visit of Ruxton Farlow to the secret
+heart of the great Borga arsenal. "I am here for distraction. Hey?
+Distraction, and the unravelling of the plot against the most treasured
+secret of the Fatherland. I am here for more. I am here to break it up,
+and, incidentally, if possible, to break up those concerned in it."
+
+The man illustrated his purpose viciously, with two clenched fists
+breaking an imaginary object.
+
+Stryj inhaled deeply of his cigarette.
+
+"And if you fail?"
+
+He was reading deeply into the less astute mind of the other. He had
+grasped fully his position. He knew, although he asked, what awaited
+failure for his old comrade, Von Salzinger.
+
+"There will be no failure, I promise you. I have unlimited powers, and
+I shall use them. Oh, yes, I shall use them."
+
+"What powers?"
+
+The keen eyes of the spy were watchful.
+
+Von Salzinger produced a document from his breast pocket. He opened it.
+He glanced over it, and passed it across to the other.
+
+"My credentials," he said, with triumph in his accompanying glance.
+
+Johann Stryj took the document and perused it carefully. He closely
+examined the signatures. When he looked up it was obvious that he was
+almost startled.
+
+"It has never been done before," he said, almost incredulously. "By
+this the entire Secret Service is placed at your disposal--absolutely."
+
+Von Salzinger nodded.
+
+"Now do you understand? Now?" he cried violently. "We believe this
+Englishman has burrowed out the most stupendous secret of our
+Government. We believe he has tricked us through this traitor,
+Hertzwohl. Gott! He has caused me to be--degraded."
+
+Stryj passed the violence of his companion by. His mind was searching,
+searching where the less acute soldier could not follow.
+
+"And what of this Hertzwohl? Has he been shot?"
+
+"Not yet. We have to prove this thing--first. That is _our_ work."
+
+"Ah."
+
+Stryj had learned all he wanted to know.
+
+At that moment a waiter entered the room bearing a copy of _Who's Who_
+for the current year. Von Salzinger seized upon it, and, by the time
+the man had withdrawn and shut the door, he had found the page he
+sought.
+
+"Ach!" cried Von Salzinger. "Here he is. The luck has served me well.
+It is as though the plums were ripe, and ready to drop into my mouth."
+
+Stryj rose and crossed over to his side. He looked down where the
+stubby finger of the soldier pointed.
+
+"Farlow, Ruxton. Only son of Sir Andrew Farlow, Bart. Member of
+Parliament for ----. Under Secretary for Foreign Office in 19--. Yes.
+Partner in firm of Farlow, Son and Farlow, ship-builders and
+ship-owners. Dorby. Hall Dorby, Yorkshire. Residence, Dorby Towers,
+Yorkshire. So." Salzinger looked up as he concluded reading out
+disjointed fragments of the information he sought. "They are
+ripe--ripe, these plums," he cried exultingly. "Johann, my friend," he
+went on, glancing up into the spy's clever face, "it is good to see the
+plums hanging--ripe. We have got to hear all they talk of and
+contemplate, we have to watch and discover all that is known by Farlow,
+Son and Farlow. That is your work. You, and those under your control.
+You will leave for Dorby at once. While I----"
+
+"Watch that the birds do not eat the ripe plums you would pick. Dorby.
+I saw the name in the papers yesterday. Those are the yards some
+portion of which have been taken over by the British Admiralty. These
+papers tell me something worth while sometimes."
+
+"The British Navy?" The fierce eyes of the soldier were startled. He
+ran his fingers through his stubbly hair. "Curse the British Navy."
+
+"Yes."
+
+The mild rejoinder seemed to irritate Von Salzinger.
+
+"Talk! Talk! Ach! Those are your orders, Johann. See to them, and
+communicate with me here. I must write."
+
+He moved over to a desk while Stryj deliberately adjusted his hat and
+lit another cigarette. Then he moved towards the door.
+
+"Is there anything else?" he enquired, with his hand upon the handle.
+
+Von Salzinger glanced round.
+
+"Yes, use every means at your command to get the information we need.
+Remember, Stryj, if the secrets of Borga have been discovered, if our
+country has been betrayed, then a harvest of vengeance is going to be
+reaped."
+
+He turned back to his desk and began a long communication addressed to
+Prince von Berger, while Johann Stryj passed silently out of the room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+THE INERADICABLE STRAIN
+
+
+Von Salzinger was gross. He looked it. But he had not yet arrived at
+those years when the outward form loses its atmosphere of virile
+strength submerged beneath overwhelming adipose and a general bodily
+inertia. That would come as inevitably as reaction invariably follows
+upon the heels of excess when vitality passes its maximum. Von
+Salzinger was of original type, and beneath the shallow veneer of the
+civilizing process, in him was to be found of a certainty the hairy
+hands of the savage. It is the brand which can never be eradicated from
+the original Teuton, and particularly from those who are native of
+Prussia. The anxious insistence of the claims to Kultur, emanating more
+particularly from Prussian sources, can be taken as something in the
+nature of an unconscious admission of the depths from which they have
+only been partially lifted.
+
+Von Salzinger was pronouncedly of this type. He possessed all the
+physical and mental force which belongs to it; just as he possessed the
+full appetite for excess which is its invariable accompaniment. In him
+was developed to an unusual degree the desire for all the bodily
+enjoyment that life can offer to a creature in whose veins flows the
+full tide of the animal.
+
+Once having completed his arrangements with his erstwhile comrade
+Johann Stryj, he returned to the carefully considered course which he
+had marked out. With all the Prussian's scheming mind, from the moment
+he had been made aware of the drift of his fortunes he had cast about
+for the best outlets which might promise amelioration for the position
+which chance had placed him in. Nor had he been slow to discover what
+he sought. Possibilities had promptly opened up before the mental force
+which he applied to the problem before him.
+
+He withdrew a letter-case from his breast pocket the moment he had
+finished his communication to Von Berger. He leant back from his desk,
+and, one by one, turned over the papers the case contained. Finally he
+selected a letter written on thin paper, in a close, spidery hand. He
+read this letter through twice. His face was smiling as he read, but
+his eyes remained unchanging.
+
+Finally he laid the letter down and copied into a notebook two
+addresses which had been carefully detailed in it. He read them over
+and verified them. One was in Kensington, and the other was described
+as being near a well-known market town in the county of
+Buckinghamshire. With this matter accomplished he glanced at the clock.
+Should he wait for lunch in the hotel, or should he run into the West
+End and regale himself at one of the fashionable restaurants? Finally
+the attractions of the latter triumphed in their appeal to his
+gastronomic senses and he telephoned down to the hall porter for a cab.
+
+
+Von Salzinger had lunched well. He sat back in the taxi-cab in the
+attitude of a man enjoying the satisfaction of a more than well-lined
+stomach. Even, for the moment, as he leisurely smoked a great Corona
+cigar, and reflected on the quart bottle of Pol Roger '06 he had
+consumed, he felt that the position was not without its compensations,
+and, after all, in certain departments, the French and the long-legged
+English were not wholly to be despised.
+
+Such was his satisfaction that his eyes were half closed by the time
+the cab jerked to a standstill outside a modest block of flats in
+Kensington. But he was alert in a second, for that was the man. His
+purpose at all times dominated, and only in the moments of leisure did
+he permit himself the indulgence he craved.
+
+He negotiated with the cabman for a possible continuance of the
+journey, and passed into the building, his alertness and activity in no
+way impaired by the amplitude of his luncheon.
+
+Five minutes later he returned with a cloud of annoyance depressing his
+heavy brows. He strutted up to the driver and gave his orders.
+
+"We'll go on to Wednesford," he said, in his heavy guttural English.
+"You must have petrol, for I return to-night by eight o'clock. What is
+it, the distance? Twenty-five miles? So. It is easy to do."
+
+The Londoner acquiesced without enthusiasm, and Von Salzinger reentered
+the cab, and slammed the door closed behind him. That was his mood. He
+had been prepared to make the journey, but he was irritated that he had
+to do so.
+
+In twenty minutes the cab had threaded its way on to the Oxford Road,
+and, regardless of all speed limit, raced on towards the famous
+Chiltern Hills.
+
+
+Already the early autumn leaves were beginning to fall under the
+freshening breeze. The hedges were beginning to lose their trim
+appearance, and the dust-laden leaves on the midsummer growths wore a
+mildewed aspect that somehow matched the lank, weedy grass of the road
+banks. The roads were dry, and the fields looked dry. There was a weary
+look about the countryside as though Nature had completed her summer's
+work, and was eagerly looking forward to her winter rest.
+
+A solitary horsewoman was leisurely riding down one of the tarred roads
+approaching Wednesford. Her horse was steaming, and her obvious intent
+was to cool him down before reaching her destination. Presently she
+turned off upon a narrow country lane, whose surface was no
+advertisement for the zeal of the local urban council. It was rough,
+and deep in dust, with overgrown hedges crowding in upon its narrow
+limits in a manner which forced her to keep an accurate middle course.
+
+But Princess Vita was not only cooling down her horse after a joyous
+gallop upon an adjacent gorse-laden common. She was thinking deeply,
+dreaming as only a woman of romantic ideals can dream. Nor were her
+thoughts with the rural picture through which she was now moving, and
+which her ardent heart loved. She was gazing back over past moments so
+recently spent in the heart of the great capital. Just now her whole
+mind was filled with thoughts of _the man_. And so she had no room for
+any other consideration.
+
+For the moment the affairs which had brought this man and herself
+together were powerless to disturb her dreaming. The sweet, fragrant
+air of the autumn countryside was filling her lungs, a sense of
+well-being pervaded her body in the exercise in which she delighted,
+and so the youthful heart of her had turned aside from the cares which
+lurked in the background, and sought only the image of the man who was
+already beginning to occupy so great a part of her life.
+
+The Princess Vita was a well-known figure in the neighborhood. She was
+known as Madame Vladimir, who occupied Redwithy Farm, standing in a
+sleepy hollow nearly two miles outside Wednesford. She had occupied the
+farmhouse for several years, and gossip, supported by the reports of
+the local police during the late war, declared that she was a refugee
+from Russian Poland, and consequently one of our Allies, and so those
+who lived sufficiently near by had set themselves to be kind to her,
+and, incidentally, to satisfy as much of their curiosity as possible.
+
+But the Princess was not easily available to the curious. She was
+gentle, she was sufficiently ordinary in her methods of life to please
+the most exacting of her country neighbors. Furthermore, while
+professing some Polish religion which the country folk had no
+understanding of, in the absence of a church of her own she had readily
+adopted the Church of England. This was enormously in her favor, and
+she quickly became an admittedly proper person.
+
+But even the most well-meaning never succeeded in penetrating beneath
+the surface of acquaintanceship. She was credited with being extremely
+well off. Redwithy Farm was a miniature, restored Elizabethan mansion
+of rare antiquity, set in the heart of a parkland of over eighty acres.
+During the war she had only kept English servants, some seven or eight,
+but from the moment peace had been declared these had been replaced one
+by one with foreigners, retainers from her own home in Poland. No one
+seriously questioned the change. One and all admitted that the
+conditions of Poland after the war made it a charity on the part of
+Madame Vladimir to rescue these poor people from such a condition of
+devastation and afford them the blessings and peace of the English
+countryside.
+
+So, through her own consummate tact, Vita was enabled to live more or
+less unquestioned in her English home. And such peace was justly her
+due, for her objects were simple and honest for the country of her
+adoption. She was preparing, as many another foreigner had done before
+her, a refuge in the hospitable heart of Britain for that father for
+whom she foresaw the growing threat of danger.
+
+Half-way down the winding, narrow lane she turned out through an
+opening which had once been a five-barred gate. She crossed a field and
+passed into another, and then another. Then, making her way through a
+small iron gateway, she entered the twenty-acre patch of larch and
+birch woods which stood on a hill on her own land dominating the farm.
+
+Following the narrow cart track through these woods, her fine eyes busy
+in every direction with the scuttling rabbits, she emerged in full view
+of the quaint old L-shaped house. It was a perfect picture of rural
+England. There was not another house in sight. Redwithy Farm seemed to
+be shut off from the rest of the world by the hilly surroundings of the
+Chilterns. The land rose up on every side but one, and that was the
+direction in which the ribbon-like drive wound its way eastwards
+between the railed-in pastures of rich grassland. The building was
+two-storied for the most part, but here and there dormer attic windows
+peeped out under the eaves of the beautifully cut thatched roof. Then,
+behind the house itself lay the old farm buildings, all in excellent
+repair, and in another direction were the heavy ancient red walls
+surrounding the various fruit gardens and glass ranges.
+
+Vita loved the place, and never more appreciated it than when gazing at
+it from this view-point. Just now there was the added charm of the
+ripening autumn tints lending warmth to the scene and adding to it that
+snug suggestion of shelter from the coming inclemencies of winter.
+
+But in the midst of her happy contemplation she became startled. The
+wonderful peace of it all was abruptly broken. Round the corner of the
+straight-limbed woods, to the east, a motor vehicle made its
+appearance. It came on swiftly down the drive. At first Vita took it to
+be the car of some caller from the neighborhood, but, in a moment, the
+familiar outline of a taxi-cab impressed itself upon her.
+
+This realization was the startling part of the apparition, and, without
+hesitation, she pressed her horse on towards the house.
+
+
+Vita's hasty return to the house was inspired by an intangible dread.
+There was no such thing as a taxi-cab in Wednesford. Therefore her
+visitor must have come from farther afield. There was only one place in
+her mind associated with taxi-cabs--London. If the cab came from
+London, then----
+
+Her undefined fears received ample confirmation on reaching the house.
+Herr von Salzinger was awaiting her in the drawing-room. And at once
+she realized, without having admitted it to herself, that this was the
+very thing she had dreaded. How could she have admitted it? It had
+seemed impossible. Her retreat was known to no one but her father. How
+then had this man discovered it--and so promptly?
+
+The riddle of it left her troubled. She must somehow gain time to
+think. Finally, she gave word to the sallow dark-eyed man-servant that
+she would join Herr von Salzinger in the drawing-room in a few minutes.
+Then she passed up-stairs to change her habit.
+
+Half an hour later she entered the drawing-room, a picture of such
+beauty as set the strong pulses of the Prussian hammering, and made
+him, for the moment, at least, remember only one side of the decision
+which had brought him to Redwithy Farm.
+
+Vita's ready wit had been active. She had decided on her course of
+action, and greeted him now with an assumption of warmth which
+flattered him, and helped to disarm.
+
+"Ludwig von Salzinger!" she cried, her hand outheld in cordial welcome.
+"You, in London, after all this time? How have you managed to tear
+yourself from the paths of honor, which, if all accounts be true, you
+have so familiarly been treading of late? Do you know, when I saw your
+familiar features last night in that cab I really couldn't believe it
+was you. And how--how in the name of all that's wonderful did you
+manage to find me out here?"
+
+Her assumption of pleasure was perfect. Its sincerity even convinced
+the man who had come prepared for a rebuff.
+
+He laughed in responsive cordiality. But his eyes somehow retained
+their normal hardness of expression.
+
+"Do not let us talk of how I found you out," he said. "It is likely to
+arouse--memories. You see, I have still many friends in this
+England--of yours."
+
+"Mine?" Vita shrugged her superb shoulders, and crossed over to the
+mantelpiece, where she stood resting an elbow upon it. "But I know what
+you mean." She sighed a regret. "You found me through your old Secret
+Service friends. I ought to have remembered." Then she smiled, and her
+eyes fixed themselves intensely upon the gross face of the man. "But I
+wanted to forget that. I wanted to remember only the man who had risen
+by the force of his own personality and attainments to high military
+command in our beloved Fatherland. You see, _General_, there is no
+woman but delights in the advancement of her friends over the open road
+of honor. The secret, underground roads,"--she shook her head,--"no,
+they are not for a woman's delight in her--friends. They may be
+necessary, but--they are--underground."
+
+Her purpose was better achieved than perhaps she knew. At the same
+time, however, she was incurring a serious risk in another direction.
+The passions of this Prussian were easily stirred. They had been
+stirred before when he had been younger, when perhaps his experience
+had not inspired him with so much of the cynicism and selfishness which
+had come to him through the ruthlessness of his recent campaigning. His
+ideals of womanhood, if he had ever really possessed any, were now
+completely negligible. Never in his doctrine could woman be anything
+but the amusement of man. This Princess at one time had suggested to
+his mind a means of advancement in his career. Now she was merely the
+daughter of the man who had sought to injure him, a man whom he was
+convinced was a traitor to his country. She was even something more
+than merely his daughter. She was something in this man's schemes and
+plans. This being so, he was left without compunction regarding her.
+She was beautiful and--a woman. He was a man. Moreover he felt that his
+was the power to impress his will upon her in any direction he chose.
+This was the Prussian who ever reckons without his adversary.
+
+Von Salzinger settled himself in a comfortable chair and spread out his
+legs, while Vita pressed an electric bell.
+
+"Maybe," he said drily. "But those underground channels have served me
+well--in the present instance. So I can't feel as you do towards them.
+Do you know, Princess," he went on, with greater warmth, "the sight of
+you last night left me no longer master of myself. Even then I knew
+where to find you. Seeing you again impelled me here to-day. I could
+not wait. I have come here to England in my first leisure to see
+you--in the hopes that you have at least forgiven if not forgotten our
+last meeting. You see, I was so much younger then, if not in years at
+least in the knowledge of those things which humanly speaking really
+matter. Four years! It seems a lifetime since I was with you."
+
+At that moment the man-servant entered with the tea-tray. Ludwig von
+Salzinger watched him curiously as he set it before his mistress, in
+front of the crackling log fire. When the man had withdrawn Vita smiled
+across at him.
+
+"Tea?" she enquired. "It is British--this tea habit. There are other
+refreshments if you prefer them, and--you may smoke. We have the house
+to ourselves. I have given orders. I could not have your visit
+disturbed by the possible intrusion of--neighbors."
+
+At this fresh mark of the woman's cordiality even the cold eyes began
+to melt. Von Salzinger was rapidly abandoning himself to the pleasure
+of the moment. This woman stirred the full depths of passion in him.
+None had stirred them more deeply. He admitted it, and, with his
+admission, he promised himself the harvest of the power that was his.
+
+He accepted a cup of tea and lit a cigar.
+
+"Then perhaps you have forgiven the--past?" he said, with assurance.
+
+Vita shrugged. But her smile was radiant.
+
+"We all make mistakes in--our inexperience."
+
+"Yes." The man sipped his tea noisily. Then for a moment he stirred it.
+
+"Tell me," he went on abruptly. "It is four years--nearly--since you
+told me all you felt about--espionage. It is a long time and much has
+happened. You have many friends here in England. Still you
+remain--simply the daughter of your father? Am I rude?" Vita had
+glanced over at him swiftly, seriously. "You see it is much to me,
+for--I came over to see you."
+
+He had taken care that she should have no misunderstanding of his
+meaning. She displayed no resentment, but her eyes lowered to the
+tea-things she was manipulating. The man abruptly sat forward in his
+chair.
+
+"I must say what is on my mind. It is my way, Vita. You know that of
+old. I saw you last night with a man, a stranger to me. And"--he
+smiled, and leant more urgently towards her,--"I was mad--mad with
+jealousy. I did not know him. I had no means of knowing him, since I
+have been isolated away on my command, and I thought, I felt convinced
+he was your--lover. Ach, it made me mad--mad. So I dared not delay. I
+must see you at once--at once and learn the truth from you. You must
+know, Vita, that I love you just as I have always loved you. All the
+rest--what is it? My position? Nothing. Nothing to compare with my love
+for you. Then my first sight of you after all this time is with that
+man--a good-looking man--in the car. You together--alone. I
+thought--oh, I was convinced he was your husband, and I--I could have
+killed him. Will you tell me of him? Is he? Is he your lover? You must
+tell me."
+
+Through her drooping lashes Vita was watching him. There was a curious
+manner in the man. He was not pleading. He was telling her of his
+feelings as though she had no alternative but to accept them. She was
+alarmed, but gave no sign.
+
+She decided swiftly upon her next attitude. It must be frankness. She
+must keep, hold this man, and convince him that she had nothing to do
+with, and no knowledge of, Ruxton Farlow's movements. If she failed in
+this, then----
+
+She laughed musically, a deep, soft laugh. The eyes which were raised
+to Von Salzinger's were full of amusement.
+
+"The same headstrong, impetuous Ludwig. The years have not changed
+you," she said, shaking her head. "Ruxton Farlow is just one of many
+men friends I have over here. You cannot expect a woman of my position
+to live the life of a nun. I dined with him last evening. When we
+encountered you he was driving me home in his car. Have I committed a
+crime?"
+
+"Here?"
+
+There was a subtle brutality in the man's monosyllable.
+
+Vita flushed. The amusement in her eyes had changed to a sparkle of
+anger. She shrugged.
+
+"If you adopt that tone I have nothing more to say on the matter."
+
+The man realized his mistake and changed his tone at once.
+
+"Forgive me, Vita," he cried hastily. "It--it is jealousy. I cannot
+bear to think of you with that man--alone--or any other man. They have
+no right to you. They are natural enemies of our country. I--I am a
+Prussian, and you--you belong to our country. Can you not understand my
+feelings? Ach! It is maddening to think."
+
+Vita's smile was wholly charming as she glanced at him across the
+tea-table.
+
+"You are going to make me quarrel with you--again. And I don't want to
+quarrel. Tell me--about yourself and your affairs. They are more
+interesting. Tell me of that upward path--of that high command you
+occupy."
+
+For some moments Ludwig von Salzinger did not reply. He had no desire
+to change the subject. His only interest in Vita was her beauty, her
+splendid womanhood; her appeal to his baser senses. His hard eyes
+regarded her unsmilingly for some moments. Then his nature drove him to
+the blunder which the woman had been awaiting.
+
+"My affairs have no interest just now," he said, almost sombrely.
+
+Vita caught at his reply with all her readiness.
+
+"But they have--for your friends. Your old friends," she said, with
+well-assumed earnestness.
+
+"Have they?" The man laughed bitterly. "I wonder." Again his greedy
+eyes had settled upon her with that curious regard which all good women
+resent.
+
+At last Vita threw her head up in a manner which definitely but
+silently made her protest plain. Von Salzinger was forced to speech.
+
+"For the moment the upward path is closed to me," he admitted coldly.
+"I no longer occupy my command. Do--you understand?"
+
+But Vita shook her head.
+
+In a moment there came an outburst of passion. It was the outburst of a
+headstrong man, which robs him of half his power in more delicate
+situations.
+
+"I have been relieved of my command," he cried, springing to his feet
+and standing over her before the little tea-table. "For the moment my
+enemies have triumphed. But it will not be for long," he went on,
+working himself up till he almost forgot whom he was addressing. "The
+enemies of Ludwig von Salzinger do not triumph for long, and then we
+shall see. Oh, yes, we shall see."
+
+Vita nodded sympathetically up at the passionate face.
+
+"And you came to London, and," she added subtly, "you left your enemies
+behind you."
+
+The man flung his cigar end in among the glowing logs with a vicious
+gesture.
+
+"Some of them," he cried fiercely. Then he abruptly recovered himself.
+He began to laugh. The change was awkward, and the cunning that crept
+into his eyes was perfectly apparent to Vita. "Yes, I leave them behind
+me, where we are told to put all evil things. London is safer for
+me--at present. Besides, does it not bring me to your side?"
+
+Vita had learned all she wanted to know in his brief admission. "Some
+of them," he had flung at her in his unguarded moment. The rest of it
+had no interest for her. She rose from her chair, and forced herself to
+a radiant smile.
+
+"You are too deep for me, Ludwig," she cried, purposely using the
+intimate form of address. "But no one realizes your capacity better
+than I. I have known you so long. You will fight your battles
+successfully I am sure. Must you be going?"
+
+The man was left without alternative. He had not thought of departure
+yet. He hesitated. Then he finally held out a hand. Vita only too
+readily responded. In a moment his hot clasp smothered hers. His eyes
+narrowed as they held hers, and the woman gathered something of the
+threat behind them.
+
+"It is not good to be my enemy," he said unpleasantly. "Those who make
+an enemy of me will howl for mercy before I finish with them." Then his
+manner lightened to a tone Vita feared even more than the other. "But
+why talk of these things? I only think of you--dream of you. And some
+day," he went on, still retaining her hand in his, "you will be--kind
+to me. Eh? Is it not so? Surely--for it is our fate. And what a fate
+for any man, my Vita--my beautiful Vita. It will be--wonderful,
+wonderful."
+
+The woman withdrew her hand sharply. She could stand no more of it. A
+growing terror was taking possession of her. Von Salzinger laughed as
+he released her hand with a final pressure. "It is good-bye now, but I
+shall come again, and then--again."
+
+
+Vita was standing before the fire gazing down into its ruddy depths.
+The tea-things had been removed, and she was alone. She was glad. She
+was relieved. But she was not dissatisfied on the whole.
+
+She felt that Von Salzinger was a greater blunderer than she had hoped.
+She knew he had blundered twice. He had blundered in visiting her at
+all. He had betrayed his whole purpose as surely as though he had told
+her all the details of his plans.
+
+But with her satisfaction was a deep element of fear--personal fear.
+But she knew it was a fear--a weakness--that must not be encouraged. If
+it mastered her she would be left powerless to carry through the part
+she felt she had yet to play. So she resolutely thrust it from her.
+Meanwhile, her first duty must be to communicate with her father, and
+that--at once.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+ENEMY MOVEMENTS
+
+
+Busy days crowded upon Ruxton Farlow. The house in Smith Square only
+saw him at night-time, or at the political breakfasts which had become
+so great a fashion. The affairs of his portfolio moved automatically
+with but very little personal attention from him, and so he was left
+free to prosecute his own more secret plans, almost without
+interruption.
+
+Apart from the affairs at the great Dorby works, his chief effort was a
+campaign of proselytism amongst the few of great position in the
+nation's affairs whose conviction and prejudice must be overborne. And
+no one knew better than he the meaning of such an undertaking in
+Britain.
+
+For once, perhaps for the first time in the history of Great Britain,
+such an effort had been made possible through the reaction from
+ineptitude to the splendid unity and enthusiasm of the great National
+Party, of which he was a member. He had struck, at once, before the
+simmering down to conflict of influences had set in, and his decision
+and judgment had not been without their reward.
+
+So his hours were spent in close communion with such men as Sir Meeston
+Harborough and the Marquis of Lordburgh; Sir Joseph Caistor and a few
+others who headed the party. Breakfasts and luncheons were his
+battle-fields. But week-ends for dilettante golf at Dorby Towers, which
+frequently developed into visits to the great yards at Dorby itself,
+were no mean factors in the success of his efforts.
+
+It was from a luncheon in Downing Street that he emerged one afternoon
+on foot into the great official thoroughfare of Whitehall. It had been
+a very small but very successful function from his point of view. It
+had followed upon a week-end at Dorby Towers, at which the President of
+the Board of Admiralty, Sir Reginald Steele, had given his final
+verdict upon the new constructions in process at the Dorby yards. It
+had been more than favorable. It had very nearly approached enthusiasm.
+And in its expression Sir Reginald had swept away the final doubts of
+both the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary.
+
+Even now, as he swung into Whitehall with long vigorous strides, the
+Prime Minister's words were still ringing in his ears.
+
+"You have our approval and support, my boy," he had said in his quick,
+nervous way. "Go ahead, and when the time comes do not hesitate to look
+to us. We shall do everything we can to support your efforts; that is,"
+he added, with a whimsical, twinkling smile, "subject, of course, to
+the permission of a certain section of the ha'penny press."
+
+There was still a suggestion of summer in the autumn air, but the sky
+had lost its brilliancy, and the inevitable grey of smoke was beginning
+to settle upon the city. For Ruxton, however, it might have been
+spring. The vigor of his gait, his delighted feelings, certainly
+belonged to the birth rather than the old age of the summer. He saw
+nothing of that which moved and passed about him. His busy thoughts
+were alive only with those enthralling concerns which were his. Nothing
+seemed able to stir him out of his abstraction until a street arab
+selling papers, who had recognized him, with the humorous effrontery of
+his class raised a newspaper poster for his inspection, and almost
+thrust it under his nose.
+
+"'Ere y'are, governor. Better 'ave one. Kaiser Bill an' old Tirps
+scrappin' it out in the Baltic."
+
+There was no avoiding it. The boy's persistence would not be denied.
+Ruxton glanced at the contents bill, and a startled look crept into his
+eyes.
+
+
+  "HEAVY FIRING IN THE BALTIC
+  MYSTERY UNSOLVED"
+
+
+Ruxton purchased a paper and passed on. But his eager eyes scanned the
+stop press paragraph as he went. It was a report from Copenhagen. It
+stated that heavy gunfire had been heard off the German coast, and
+fishermen stated that a German squadron had been seen twenty miles from
+land engaged in what appeared to be a heavy bombardment of some object
+in the water. It was also stated that seaplanes had been seen to be
+dropping bombs on the same object. Another report, from a German
+source, stated that a portion of the fleet had been engaged in
+long-range target practice. This was denied in a still further account
+from the captain of one of the Baltic ferries, who declared that no
+target had been visible to those on his vessel, which had suddenly
+found itself in the danger zone, with shells dropping in the water
+within a radius of a quarter of a mile.
+
+A still later account hinted that the whole thing was an attempt to
+sink a foreign submarine discovered in the act of espionage.
+
+It was this final paragraph which held Ruxton's attention and
+permanently altered the whole trend of his thoughts. The affairs
+discussed at the recent luncheon had been abruptly thrust out of his
+mind. His final triumph over prejudice and official conservatism seemed
+to have lost its meaning for the moment. The whole centre of his
+interest had been completely transferred. He was gazing out across the
+sea, a grey, dark, troubled autumn sea. A fierce and awe-inspiring
+picture filled his focus. A squadron of battleships; the hawk-like
+swooping of great seaplanes; a small, almost indistinct object bobbing
+amongst the waves. He remembered his escape from Borga. Something of
+such a scene had been acted there, only in that case the battleships
+had been absent, and in their place had been guns trained, with every
+spot on the narrow water carefully measured out. Was this such an
+adventure as his? He could not tell. But----
+
+At that moment he hailed a passing taxi, and, giving the man an address
+in Kensington, he jumped in.
+
+He folded up his paper and thrust it into a side pocket, and, with the
+sudden change of environment, his thoughts underwent a third
+development.
+
+Somewhere in the west, there, he knew that a woman was waiting
+impatiently for his news. He had 'phoned her of his coming, and hinted
+at his success. Her reply had set every pulse in his body hammering out
+a reciprocal emotion.
+
+"Of course you have succeeded," she had replied. "The rapidity with
+which you have done so only the more surely points my original
+conviction. You cannot fail. I shall be in Kensington until a late
+hour."
+
+The invitation had been irresistible to a man of Ruxton's temperament.
+He snatched at it with an almost boyish impulse, determined to lose no
+moment of communion with this wonderful creature whose attractions had
+so overwhelmed the youth that was in him. He knew that whatever the
+future might hold for him there could be nothing comparable with the
+wonderful stirring which the bare thought of her created in him.
+
+As he drove along her image was before his smiling dark eyes. The grey
+glory of her deeply fringed eyes had a power to thrill him as nothing
+else in life could. Her beautiful, oval face, so full of a power to
+express every emotion, suggested to him the mirror-like surface of a
+sunlit lake reflecting the wonders of a perfect life. The radiance of
+her smile alone seemed to him worth living for.
+
+The heart of the man had been unloosed from the bondage of early
+restraint. Now it was a-riot, claiming in its freedom an excess of
+interest for its years of deprivation. He had no power nor desire to
+check it. It was as though a new life had opened out before eyes which
+had all too long confronted the sober grey of mere existence, a life
+which had been hidden behind a dark curtain raised at last only to
+dazzle and amaze.
+
+
+Mrs. Jenkins, a hard-faced lady with a sniff, who had undoubtedly seen
+"worse" days, had performed her duty as only a superior British
+char-lady-turned-cook-housekeeper could have possibly performed it. She
+had regarded Ruxton Farlow on the door-step of Vita's flat for a few
+speculative moments. Then she sniffed.
+
+"Name of Farlow, ain't it? She's in."
+
+Then, shuffling down the passage, she thrust her head through the
+doorway of the sitting-room and sniffed again.
+
+"It's 'im, miss," she announced, and beat a strategical retreat to the
+back regions of the flat, with the virtuous conviction that she had
+performed her duty in a manner which might well have been an example to
+a superior parlor-maid, or even a well-trained footman.
+
+There seemed to be no necessity for greeting between Vita and Ruxton
+Farlow. For the man it was as if Vita had become a part of his life, as
+though she were always with him, ready to support him at every turn,
+ready to lead him on towards those great ideals which were his.
+
+Just now the commonplaces of social intercourse had no meaning for
+Vita. She drew an armchair from its inevitable place beside the cold
+fireplace, and faced it towards the window, flinging the meagre cushion
+aside, so useless to a man's comfort.
+
+"Take that chair," she said, with a warm smile of welcome. "You may
+smoke, too; I'd like you to. And there is refreshment on the table
+beside you." Then she seated herself upon a low chair in the vicinity.
+"Now tell me," she added, as Ruxton flung himself into the doubtful
+armchair with a contented sigh.
+
+"Tell you?" he returned, with a smile in his dark eyes.
+
+Then for some moments he was silent, contemplating the perfect oval of
+her face, the masses of her red-gold hair; the wonderful grace of the
+exquisitely clad body. But under his gaze her warm grey eyes were
+hidden. She felt the ardor of the man's regard, nor did it leave her
+unmoved.
+
+"There ought to be a lot to tell you--there is a lot," he said
+presently, in a half-abstracted manner. "And yet----"
+
+"Begin at the beginning," she helped him, and his eyes were caught in
+the upward glance of the wonderful grey, so eager, so clear, and yet so
+full of simple purpose.
+
+"The beginning?" Ruxton smiled. "It makes it the harder." He shook his
+head. "No man can tell a woman the beginning. There is no beginning. It
+just comes along without his knowing it, and, in a moment, he is caught
+in mid-tide and borne along."
+
+Vita's eyes were gazing up into the strong face in some doubt. She was
+demanding the story of his success. Something she beheld in the man's
+dark eyes made her lower her own, and she found herself powerless to
+urge him further. An absurdly chaotic feeling had suddenly taken
+possession of her, and amidst that chaos was a great and wonderful
+dread that had nothing fearful or terrifying in it. Yet the dread was
+there, a dread which urged her to flee from his presence, and hide
+herself somewhere, whither he could not follow. But opposed to such
+feeling was a fascination which held her waiting, waiting upon his
+words.
+
+Her attitude conveyed something of the emotions his words had inspired,
+but Ruxton was incapable of interpreting them. He was absorbed in the
+triumph of his own feelings. His success in affairs of that day had
+intoxicated him. And their outcome was a wild desire to go further and
+crown them with the achievement of the passion of love which had set
+fire to his soul. He yearned for the love of this woman, and such was
+the impetuous tide let loose that there, and now, he must stake his
+whole future happiness on one single throw. Caution had no place when
+his passionate heart was stirred. Caution, and all its concomitants,
+were for the business of life. In the emotional side of him they had no
+place, they could never have place.
+
+"I may be mad, I may be dreaming," he cried, suddenly springing to his
+feet and confronting the woman he loved with eyes grown darker with the
+sudden intensity of his feelings. "I may be mad to risk forever losing
+a companionship which has become so great a part of my life, so vital
+to my whole existence. I may be dreaming to believe, or hope, that my
+longings can ever reach fulfillment. But I cannot help it. It is not in
+me to act otherwise. The soul-mate of a man either belongs to him, or
+is denied to him, as the great controlling forces ordain. For
+thirty-five years I have walked through life alone. I have seen no
+woman whose companionship I desired, or could desire, during all that
+time. Never once in all that time have the soul-fires in me been
+stirred. Never once have I longed for the warm heart of a woman to beat
+in unison with mine. Then came a night--a mentally black and dreary
+night--when the work seemed desolate, and existence a condition almost
+intolerable in the future. The darkest thoughts of my life passed
+through my hot brain that night; darker even than the thoughts during
+the darkest days of the great war. That moment was the one that
+preceded dawn--my dawn.
+
+"Ah, Vita," he went on, with deeper, more vibrant meaning. "That dawn
+came like the miracle of every other dawn. But, unlike the dawn which
+heralds mere sunrise, it heralded an eternity of beautiful dreams
+untouched by the bitternesses and contentions of the human day. It came
+with a voice out of the moonlit darkness. The voice of a woman, who,
+within a space of time almost negligible, had changed the despairing
+blackness of night to a--wonderful dawn."
+
+Ruxton turned from her and began to pace the narrow length of the room.
+It was an unstudied expression of the fierce fire which had leapt up in
+his passionate, Slavonic heart. Vita's eyes followed his movements,
+fascinated yet unseeing in the tumult which he had roused within her.
+For her his words, his sudden outburst, had reduced to concrete form
+all that gamut of feeling which had been hers from the moment of their
+first encounter. All unacknowledged, the latent power of this man's
+personality had absorbed her every feeling. He was the one out of all
+the world. His handsome head, his superb body, so strong, so perfectly
+poised, but above all that wonderful idealism which saw so clearly
+through the fog of sordid influences which clogged all real progress.
+Almost breathless she waited while he went on.
+
+He paused in his walk and abruptly flung out his arms.
+
+"I can see her now, a figure of perfect beauty, regal, splendid in the
+silvery moonlight. The light playing upon her marbled features, finding
+reflection in eyes wide with sincerity, truth and passion. Vita, Vita,
+I can never tell you all that picture inspired in me. Suddenly I knew
+what life meant. Up till then I had merely existed. Life had had no
+meaning for me but the necessity of working out that simple duty of
+effort which belongs to us all. With your coming everything changed.
+Life became at once that superb thing of which the dreamer speaks.
+Where before only the black shadows of a drear depression had been, at
+once life became flooded with a golden light. It was beautiful,
+beautiful."
+
+The woman's wondering gaze was now frankly held by the passionate eyes
+regarding her. She had no power to withdraw it, she had no desire to
+withdraw it. Her cheeks were flushed. Her lips were parted, revealing
+the pearly whiteness of her teeth framed in their ruby setting, so
+full, so ripe.
+
+"But this is madness," she breathed without conviction. It was the
+burden of her feelings seeking expression. She leant forward in her
+chair, her hands so tightly clasped that the blood was pressed back
+from her delicate finger-tips, and the simple rings dug hard into the
+tender flesh.
+
+"Madness? Madness?" Ruxton drew nearer. He laughed as he echoed the
+word. It was the inconsequent laugh which is merely an audible
+expression and possesses no meaning. "If it is madness let me be mad.
+Madness? Then I never want sanity again. Love is madness, Vita, a
+madness that is ordained, and without it love can never be love. The
+man who can pause to reason does not know love. He can never love.
+Leave reason and sanity for the cold affairs of life. Love can know no
+check from such a course. That is how I love you, Vita. I want
+you--you. I want you always with me, near me. I want you so that our
+life together is all one. You must be part of me. You must be me. You
+speak of the beginning. There is no beginning, just as there can be no
+end. Love is all, everything. Vita--Vita----"
+
+He had bent down from his great height. He had seized the woman's
+tightly clasped hands. He had raised them with gentle force, and, as
+though caught by the magnetism of all the love he had endeavored to
+express, she rose to her feet, and permitted him to hold her prisoner
+before him.
+
+But now with his final appeal the tension seemed to relax. She stood
+there for a moment, silent. Then she sighed faintly. It was as though
+she had awakened from some beautiful dream. The flush on her oval
+cheeks lessened, and the light in her eyes changed unmistakably. The
+man seemed to become suddenly aware of the change, and a note of
+apprehension sounded in his voice as he repeated his appeal.
+
+"Vita--Vita," he cried, with a passion of yearning in the words.
+
+The woman shook her head, but her hands remained captive.
+
+"No, no! It can't be. It is too beautiful, too good to be real. Not in
+this life. This life in which there is no peace--nothing that
+is--beautiful. Besides----"
+
+"Besides?"
+
+Again Vita shook her head. This time she gently released her hands.
+Ruxton contemplated her. Something in her manner was restoring his
+control of himself.
+
+"We cannot--we dare not think of--ourselves now," Vita went on. "A time
+may come when--but not now. We must not pause--nor step aside."
+
+Each word appeared to be an effort. It was as though she were fighting
+temptation in a forlorn hope. Ruxton saw it. He understood, and his
+whole Slavonic passion took fire again. Quite suddenly his two great
+hands fell upon the woman's rounded shoulders, and his strong fingers
+held the soft flesh firmly. Her face was turned up to his in a startled
+fashion, wondering but unresentful. His passion-lit eyes gazed deeply
+down into hers.
+
+"Vita, my Vita, these protests are not you. They are the brave and
+loyal spirit seeking to abnegate those selfish claims which in my case
+are irresistible. You--you will love me. You do love me! I can see it
+in your eyes--now. God, was there ever so wonderful a sight for man?
+Tell me. Forget all else and tell me of it. I am hungry--starving for
+the love you can give me. I will not wait. I dare not. I love you with
+all that is in me. I love you beyond all earthly duties and cares. Tell
+me all that lies behind your beautiful eyes, hidden deep down in your
+dear woman's heart."
+
+Vita was powerless. She was utterly powerless to resist the torrent of
+the love that leapt from him and overwhelmed her. All her protests died
+within her. She imperceptibly drew closer to him, and, in a moment, she
+lay crushed in his arms, her face hidden against his broad shoulder,
+the perfume of her hair intoxicating him still further. His head bent
+down against it and his lips rained caresses upon it. Then, in a
+second, one hand was raised and he lifted her face from its
+hiding-place so that his eyes gazed full upon it. Then, lower his face
+bent towards hers, and in a ravishing silence their lips met, and held
+for long, long moments.
+
+
+The evening shadows were softly drawing their veil about them. The
+plain little room had lost its crudeness of outline. Ruxton was seated
+in the armchair which had been set for him, and Vita was crouching
+curled up on the cushion on the floor close beside him. Ruxton was
+smoking now. He had been smoking for some minutes. Vita was listening
+to the voice she loved, and occasionally interrupted it with a question
+or comment.
+
+He had just completed the story of his success, and her delight in it
+had held the woman forgetful of those things she had yet to tell to him.
+
+But now, in the silence which had followed, a flood of recollection
+spread over her. She searched for a beginning with a brave desire to
+reveal as little of the disquiet which haunted her as possible.
+
+"I have no such success to recount," she said at last, gazing up at the
+strong face above her with a tender smile of confidence. "I have heard
+from Von Salzinger, as I knew I should after that evening in--the car."
+
+"Ah!"
+
+Ruxton laid a hand firmly over one of Vita's, which rested on the arm
+of the chair. It was a gesture which had in it all a strong man's
+promise of protection. To Vita it conveyed a sensation of exquisite
+reassurance.
+
+"Oh, it all seems so futile," she cried, with a sudden helplessness. "I
+mean when you think of the terrible Secret Service which seems to know
+everything. No one in England except ourselves knows of such a person
+as Valita von Hertzwohl. As for my home, only my father knows that. I
+have kept it secret even from you. And yet this Von Salzinger comes to
+England and--calls upon me. The refuge I had so carefully prepared for
+my father in case of emergency is--no refuge at all. I believe I am
+terrified."
+
+"Tell me more." Ruxton leant forward in his chair. All satisfaction at
+the thought of his own affairs had died out of his expressive eyes.
+They were full of concern and sympathy for the woman he loved. "Where
+is this home? I had better know--now."
+
+Vita smiled tenderly. His trifling emphasis on the final word helped to
+banish something of her fears. It was the reminder of the bond between
+them.
+
+"It is the sweetest of aged Elizabethan farms in Buckinghamshire. It is
+called Redwithy Farm, and is less than two miles from Wednesford. It is
+the most romantically beautiful place you could find anywhere, small,
+but--I love it." She sighed deeply. "I was out riding when he called. I
+had no alternative but to see him."
+
+"Why?" The man's earnest gaze was steady. His alert mind was seeking
+something, nor did he know the nature of what he sought.
+
+"Because Vassilitz had admitted him in my absence. He had no right to,
+but--he did. I cannot--but it doesn't matter now. I simply dared not
+refuse to see him, so I affected cordiality and--gave him tea."
+
+Ruxton made an impatient movement.
+
+"Who is Vassilitz? What is he?" he demanded in a level tone.
+
+"My butler. He is a Pole--a German Pole. All my servants are Poles. I
+have known them all my----"
+
+"Ah. And you marvel at the power of the Secret Service?"
+
+The gravity of her lover's tone startled Vita. But she could not credit
+his suspicion.
+
+"But I have known them all my life. They are devoted to me and mine."
+
+"Then I should know them no longer. But tell me of Von Salzinger. He
+has found you out. It does not much matter how. The purpose of his
+visit. That is the important matter."
+
+It was some moments before Vita replied. A fresh terror was slowly
+taking possession of her. After a while, however, she pulled herself
+together with an effort.
+
+"He told me it was to see me. I have told you that years ago he made
+love to me. He pretended his visit was--to see me."
+
+"Pretended?"
+
+A furious jealousy was suddenly taking possession of Ruxton. Only by a
+powerful self-control was he keeping it under. Vita understood by the
+tone of his enquiry, and hastily sought to set his doubts at rest.
+
+"Oh, but he is a loathsome creature." Then she turned to him and looked
+up into his dark eyes. "Ruxton, dear," she appealed, "never, never,
+never believe anything but that I loathe and fear that man."
+
+The demon of jealousy died out of the man's eyes and he smiled.
+
+"I never will believe otherwise, Vita," he reassured her. "Now tell me."
+
+After that Vita told her story briefly and simply. But at its
+conclusion she asseverated her conviction emphatically.
+
+"He was lying. It was patent to me. If he desired to make love to me it
+was incidental. He came because he and the rest of them are in hot
+pursuit of the Borga affair. He is over here to fight to retrieve the
+position from which we know he has fallen. What they will do, what they
+can do--here--I cannot imagine. But they are so subtle--so subtle."
+
+Again that haunting fear had come back to her eyes Ruxton pressed her
+hand gently.
+
+"I think you are wrong, dear," he said firmly. "I am sure of it. As you
+say, they are subtle. I am convinced his visit to you was--for you."
+Ruxton's eyes had grown darker, and his brows drew together.
+Apprehension was stirring, but it was apprehension for Vita. "You must
+not receive him again. I do not think it safe for you down there. I
+should give the place up--temporarily. Anyway it can be no safe refuge
+for your----"
+
+He broke off and sat up with a start. His caressing hand was drawn from
+hers with a suddenness that communicated some further anxiety to the
+woman. She watched him, searching his face while his hands groped in
+the side pockets of his coat.
+
+"What is it?" she demanded, with a sharp intake of breath.
+
+For reply Ruxton withdrew a newspaper folded, and held it out to her,
+pointing at the stop press paragraph on the outside fold.
+
+"Read it," he said urgently.
+
+She stood up and moved to the window for better light He watched her
+while she read.
+
+"Can it be----?" he demanded, leaving his sentence unfinished.
+
+Vita looked up at last. Her eyes were wide. A stunned look was in them.
+Her parched lips moved.
+
+"Do you think it's father?" she asked. "Do you think he has got away?"
+Then, with a sudden appealing gesture: "Oh, say you do."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE CROUCH OF THE TIGER
+
+
+Johann Stryj had departed as silently and undemonstratively as he had
+come. The chief spy was a born master of his craft. The only matter in
+which Nature had been less kind to him in his fitness for the work he
+had imposed upon himself was in the slightly furtive restlessness of
+his eyes. Otherwise the ideal had been achieved. His whole air of
+simple inoffensiveness left nothing to be desired.
+
+Von Salzinger admitted these things to himself, in spite of the morose
+venom which the man's report upon Dorby had inspired.
+
+This venomous mood, however, was not directed against his helper. It
+was inspired by his realization that his own purpose had been made more
+difficult of achievement. He had discovered that his efforts were not
+directed against private individuals, but against the British naval
+authority, an authority he had reason to know had nothing of the
+ineptitude of other departments of the Government.
+
+Thus he sat back in the largest and most comfortable chair in his
+private sitting-room, with his trunk-like legs supported upon a smaller
+chair, and divided his savage mood between outlining the report he must
+now make to Berlin and the devouring of the contents of a large
+_bier-stein_, which stood on the table within reach.
+
+He had nearly succeeded in achieving his double purpose, and
+incidentally relieving his unpleasant mood, when a diversion occurred
+in the form of a telephone summons from the hotel office below.
+
+A visitor for him. Name of Von Berger. Would he see him at once?
+
+Yes, Ludwig von Salzinger would be pleased to see him at once. This is
+what he 'phoned down. To himself he cursed bitterly in homely Prussian
+adjectives.
+
+Von Berger was the last person he wanted to see in England until the
+outcome of his work was assured. This man's coming suggested all sorts
+of vague and disquieting thoughts. With Von Berger in England he would
+no longer be a free agent. He would be forced to yield the conduct of
+affairs to another--a man whom he felt had neither friendliness nor
+mercy for any soul on earth. He was more than disquieted. He was awed,
+and not a little apprehensive.
+
+The latter was displayed in an almost schoolboy action that was
+pathetically humorous. He quickly removed his _bier-stein_--and
+concealed it.
+
+The entrance of Von Berger was characteristic of the frigid, unyielding
+aspect he displayed at all times. No one could have encountered this
+personality and detected one soft spot in the whole of its make-up. It
+was almost as if something of the iron of his native Baltic shores had
+been bred into him through the ages of his ruthless ancestry. No
+iceberg in the northern reaches of his native inland sea could have
+gleamed more coldly bright than his hard eyes. No ice-bound crag could
+have been cut more sharply than the thin compressed lips of his set
+mouth.
+
+He entered the room with cold assurance. He possessed himself of the
+chair which had supported Von Salzinger's legs, and occupied it without
+invitation. He indicated the armchair beside which Von Salzinger was
+standing, with the certainty of authority. And the lesser man sat in
+it, obedient to his visitor's lightest command. There was no greeting
+between them.
+
+Von Berger's keen eyes searched the room. For a moment they rested upon
+the door which shut off the other's bedroom.
+
+"That door?" he demanded.
+
+"My bedroom, Excellency."
+
+"Ah! Admission that way?"
+
+"I keep the outer door locked."
+
+The cold eyes surveyed the windows. They were closed. Then his regard
+came back to the heavy square face of his host.
+
+"Von Hertzwohl has--escaped."
+
+There was no emphasis; no heat of any sort. The lips moved, and the
+pronouncement was made. That was all.
+
+Von Salzinger started. Then a half-smile grew in his eyes. In a vague
+way he realized that the Prince's flight was a triumph and vindication
+for himself. But his momentary satisfaction was damped by the cold
+voice of his visitor.
+
+"On receipt of your report that you had discovered the identity of the
+man who visited Borga, vigilance was redoubled. For obvious reasons we
+had no desire to arrest him until more definite news was received. He
+had no suspicion that he was--observed. Then, suddenly he disappeared.
+We picked up his tracks. He had escaped by sea in his submersible. Our
+squadron very nearly effected his capture. However, he escaped. He must
+have received news from--here. He is probably making for--here. Have
+you any additional report to make?"
+
+Von Salzinger cleared his throat. He sat up. The veins stood out upon
+his square temples. His momentary satisfaction was completely gone. In
+its place was a sickening apprehension that his enemy was slipping
+through his fingers, and in doing so it seemed more than likely he
+might contrive to make his, Von Salzinger's, position even less
+favorable with Berlin.
+
+"Yes, Excellency. I was about to write one when I received the
+telephone message of your arrival."
+
+"Let me have the details quickly and briefly."
+
+"In the yards at Dorby in Yorkshire, owned by Farlow, Son and
+Farlow--Ruxton Farlow is a partner--certain portions of them have been
+taken over by the British Admiralty. But these portions are not being
+used for naval purposes. They are constructing a new type of mercantile
+submersible from foreign plans, which have only very recently come to
+England. The submersible portion of these vessels is the principle
+perfected by Hertzwohl in our naval submarines. The rest of them is an
+entirely new design. But the complete boat is the design of--one man."
+
+"Hertzwohl."
+
+"That is how I read it."
+
+"The object of naval authority in these yards is----?"
+
+"Security and secrecy."
+
+"Which proves the plans have either been stolen or traitorously
+acquired, and they fear interference and--reprisal."
+
+Von Salzinger nodded.
+
+"And this information?" Von Berger's enquiry came with even colder
+incisiveness.
+
+"We have men working in the shops. We have one man in the drawing
+office. All hands, even the clerical staff of these departments, work
+under oath of secrecy, and naval discipline." Von Salzinger smiled
+contemptuously. "This, however, does not impede our flow of
+information. The man in the drawing office has discovered that the
+plans are shortly to be photographed by the naval authorities. Further,
+they are testing a new light which seems to correspond with our new
+U-rays, which was found to be defective by us, and the vital parts of
+which Hertzwohl removed on his last visit to Borga. If this light
+should prove to be identical with the U-rays it suggests a further
+conspiracy. Hertzwohl contrived its faultiness himself, and seized the
+opportunity of removing the vital parts of the--_only_--lamp we
+possessed. It suggests that the whole thing was carefully planned and
+carried out by--Hertzwohl."
+
+The only sign from Von Berger was a curious flicker of the eyelids. The
+unyielding expression of his keen face never varied for one moment.
+
+"This man Farlow--Ruxton Farlow?"
+
+Von Salzinger shook his head.
+
+"For the moment he is beyond our reach. He is a Minister in the British
+Cabinet."
+
+"Yes."
+
+For some moments neither spoke. Von Salzinger watched this man whom he
+feared more than any man in Berlin. He was wondering at the activity
+behind those cold eyes. He was speculating as to the direction in which
+that force would drive. He labored under no delusion. The conduct of
+this affair was to be removed from his hands. It was an added
+bitterness, but a certain relief left it not without compensation. If
+this matter were successfully dealt with, no matter by whom, it must
+redound to his advantage.
+
+Von Berger did not leave him long in doubt.
+
+"It may be possible to destroy those plans--before they are copied," he
+said. "If they have already been traced, still it will be a proper
+step. They may even have neglected to trace them--these English. I must
+see Stryj at once. You will telephone him. Not now," as Von Salzinger
+rose with alacrity to obey. "There is another matter to be dealt with
+first. Hertzwohl has got away. He must be silenced. He must be
+punished. If he is in England--of which I have no doubt, he would be
+even less safe elsewhere--he is to be run to earth, and his power for
+further mischief must be--cut off. You understand."
+
+Von Salzinger's eyes were full of meaning as he nodded, but there was
+no fraction of change in the other's. Von Berger drew a note-book from
+his pocket, and turned some odds and ends of papers over. Finally he
+selected one.
+
+He held it out, and his level eyes forced Von Salzinger's till the
+latter felt that the remotest secrets could be penetrated by their cold
+intensity.
+
+"You know that place?" he enquired.
+
+Von Salzinger read--
+
+
+"Redwithy Farm, Wednesford, Bucks."
+
+
+He drew a deep breath. At the sound of it Von Berger's eyelids
+flickered.
+
+"Yes." Von Salzinger's eyes were slowly raised to the other's.
+
+"Quite so. You visited there the other day. For what purpose?"
+
+"Information." There was a flush in the man's fleshy cheeks. He loathed
+and feared those searching eyes.
+
+"Was your visit productive?"
+
+Von Salzinger shrugged.
+
+"No."
+
+"We will visit there together and must make our visit productive.
+Vassilitz will expect us there to-night. If Hertzwohl is in England we
+must find him through the Princess Valita. Now send for Stryj."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+FROM BENEATH THE WATERS
+
+
+The appeal in Vita's voice, in her yearning, distressed eyes, when she
+demanded her lover's reassurance of her father's escape, was not
+without a powerful effect on the romantic chivalry which was so large a
+part of Ruxton's nature. It set every nerve in his body tingling to
+serve her. Then, too, the debt he owed to the Prince himself, in the
+name of his country, urged him.
+
+That night he had bought later editions of the paper, seeking further
+news which might throw light upon the matter, and possibly yield an
+explanation of the Baltic incident which might relieve them of all
+anxiety. But none was forthcoming. The reports passed from the "stop
+press" to the news columns without added detail. Editorial speculation
+was added, but this afforded no clue to the unravelling of the mystery.
+
+Then, at last, Ruxton took a decision. Its purpose was vague, but the
+impulse was irresistible. His whole thoughts focussed themselves upon
+Dorby and the work going on there. He had offered this foreigner the
+shelter of his home. He had impressed it upon him. It seemed to him
+that such being the case, should his anticipation prove correct, his
+place, at the moment, was unquestionably Dorby.
+
+He communicated his feelings on the matter to Vita, who saw in his
+ideas the inspiration which he would never have admitted.
+
+"If it should be that he has escaped those dreadful guns," she said,
+her hands clasped in an effort to steady herself, "Dorby is the place
+he will make for--the Old Mill Cove. Oh, my dear, my dear, can you not
+see what would happen if he arrived with no one there to caution him?
+He would make for Redwithy. He would come straight to me. And Von
+Salzinger would be ready for him. You will go? You will help him for my
+sake? Ah, thank you," as the man nodded his silent reassurance.
+"Meanwhile I will return home at once that I may be ready for every
+eventuality--and Von Salzinger. I will let you know any development."
+
+So it came about that Ruxton found himself at Dorby Towers once more,
+in deep consultation with his father, who, with steady twinkling eyes,
+listened and advised with all the shrewd, calm wisdom of his clear
+commercial brain.
+
+Nearly the whole of the next day was spent by Ruxton upon the cliffs,
+where, with powerful glasses, he searched the calm surface of the
+treacherous grey waters of the North Sea. His search remained
+unrewarded, but he was indefatigable. His watch was kept up with the
+aid of a confidential man of his father's to relieve him, and when
+evening came he decided that a night watch must follow the day. He had
+carefully calculated the time from the date and hour of the Baltic
+firing, and, in the light of the experience of his own journey to
+Borga, he calculated that if the Prince had actually escaped, and was
+making for Dorby, he would reach the coast some time during the next
+twelve hours.
+
+From three o'clock in the afternoon until darkness set in he had
+rested, leaving his assistant on guard. Then he set out alone to keep
+his night vigil.
+
+His way took him across the wild moorland in the direction of the black
+remains of the old mill, and, in setting out, he remembered that night
+which now seemed so far back in his memory, when, out of the darkness,
+he had heard those tones he had now come to love so well. This time,
+however, his dinner coat and thin shoes had been abandoned in favor of
+a heavy tweed ulster and thick shooting boots. For the autumn night was
+bitter with a light breeze from the northeast, and a great silvery
+moon, and the cold diamonds of a starlit sky, suggested that the
+speeding hours were likely to bring with them many degrees of frost
+before he could return to the warmth of his bed.
+
+His direction gave him no trouble. Every foot of the moorland cliff was
+familiar to him with the instinct bred through childish years of
+association. Then there was the great, heavy moon yielding a light by
+which it would almost have been possible to read.
+
+So he strode on towards his goal, the blackened skeleton, which marked
+the old dishonest times of battles fought out against authority. With
+the detachment of youth his thoughts had been left free to wander from
+the purpose of his journey. A deep concentration had completed every
+detail of the work that lay before him. And so the resiliency of his
+brain had caused a rebound to those wonderful thoughts which claimed
+his every human sensation.
+
+He was thinking of Vita. His mental faculties had visualized once more
+the perfections which were hers, and those with which this love of his
+endowed her. His big heart was stirred to its very depths with the
+memory of her final, wistful appeal. He felt that if human effort could
+serve her, that effort, the whole of it that was in him, was at her
+service. He felt that all quite suddenly a great new power had been
+vouchsafed him, a power to do, to act, and to think--all for the woman
+who had inspired in him this wonderful, wonderful feeling of love.
+
+Nothing, no task, no labor, however great, was too arduous for him to
+accomplish. More, it was a happiness, such as never in his life he had
+known, to be privileged with the task of contributing to her happiness.
+
+In the mood of the moment he had no desire to look ahead. The concerns
+of the future belonged to the future. For him, in this matter, the
+present was all-sufficient. Next to him Vita loved her father. She had
+fearlessly undertaken work which might well have daunted any woman, to
+help him in his motives of humanity. Was there any more sublime motive
+for a woman's action? He thought not. And a wave of delighted
+appreciation swept over him. In the ghostly silvery light of that
+autumn night he thanked God that the love of such a woman had been
+vouchsafed him.
+
+He reached the decayed surroundings of the old mill all too soon. But,
+with a readiness which found him stoically regretless, he probed once
+more the mysteries of the old mill. It was precisely as he had left it
+on his return from Borga, which seemed so long ago. He could detect no
+sign that any one had been near the place. He was glad. He felt its
+secret was still safe, and was yet a power to serve the woman he loved.
+
+The journey through the bowels of the earth was one of simple
+accomplishment now. He even required no lantern. All that was necessary
+was the lighting of an occasional match to verify his positions.
+
+At the cavern mouth he found that it was high tide. The rock-girt pit
+was darkly sombre, but the radiance of the moon was sufficient to
+outline the restless, lapping water's edge, which was all he needed.
+With some care he scrambled over the slippery boulders and finally made
+his way to a great projection which overhung the water some fifteen
+feet below, and took up his position upon its rugged, unyielding
+extremity. Here he sat in full view of the mouth of the great inlet,
+through which the waters were still churning. Beyond it, miles out to
+sea, he could observe every light or object silhouetted against the
+skyline. But he knew that if Prince von Hertzwohl were making for the
+Old Mill Cove he would not approach it till the tide was at a low ebb.
+That would not occur for some hours.
+
+
+The tide had long since fallen. It had been ebbing for nearly three
+hours and a half. So still was the air, so oppressive the sense of
+silent crowding by the towering cliffs about him, that Ruxton's ears
+had become attuned to every change in the sound of the lapping waters
+below him. He had recognized the period of slack water. Then he had
+caught and read the change of sound with the first signs of the ebb.
+Then again he had recognized its increasing speed. And all the time
+eyes and ears were straining for sight or sound from beyond the mouth
+of the cove. He had seen lights pass: slow, distinct, as some trader or
+trawler passed upon its chilly way. But these had been far beyond the
+range at which he expected the signs of the submersible.
+
+It was warmer down in the cove than upon the moorland, but the chill of
+the night air was penetrating, and he huddled his neck down in the high
+upturned collar of his coat and drew its skirts closer about his knees.
+It was a dreary vigil, but his determination never wavered.
+
+A few minutes later he produced a cigar, prepared to obtain the
+trifling comfort which tobacco might afford him, but, in the act of
+striking a match he abruptly abandoned the attempt. He flung it away
+and raised his night glasses. Some sound had caught his straining ears.
+It came from well beyond the towering gateway. It seemed to him like
+the vague and indistinct throb of powerful engines. After a moment's
+search the glasses revealed some dark bulk on the bosom of the sea. In
+a moment he was on his feet searching, searching.
+
+Minutes passed. To him it seemed the bulk remained stationary, but its
+very indefiniteness left him doubting. At last he lowered his glasses
+and gave himself up to listening. Then he prepared to light his cigar
+again. He could hear no sound of engines now. He---- A light had
+flashed out! Instantly a responsive thrill passed down through his
+sensitive nerves.
+
+Now the rapidly passing moments each brought their developments. He
+could hear the voices of men plainly in the dead silence of the night.
+They must be near, dangerously near to the treacherous opening. He
+could see other lights, moving lights, like lanterns being borne along
+a deck by hand. Then he heard the clanking of cable chains. Finally a
+larger light, something in the nature of a small searchlight, detached
+itself from the others, and came directly towards the opening.
+
+He turned away and lit his cigar. Then he scrambled down to the beach.
+
+Ruxton had remained in obscurity watching the light as it passed
+through the opening. It came on swiftly against the racing tide. There
+was no hesitation or indecision. The light steered straight for the
+spit of rock forming a sort of natural quay, upon which he was standing
+under cover of a projecting boulder. There was no longer any doubt in
+his mind. He remembered that other time when he had embarked at the
+same spot.
+
+The launch slowed down and crept towards the rocky tongue. The landing
+was brilliantly lit up by the searching headlight. Slower, slower, it
+finally glided into the landing-place and was held fast by two heavy
+figures now clearly outlined.
+
+A third figure rose up amidships--a tall, familiar figure, clad in a
+long enveloping cloak. He spoke once. Then he stepped actively on to
+the landing. Ruxton emerged from the shadow.
+
+"Welcome, Prince. It is I, Ruxton Farlow."
+
+He had stepped forward with hand outheld.
+
+At the first sound of his voice the men in the boat had become still.
+The Prince had swung round, and his right hand had been plunged deeply
+into the pocket of his great cloak. But a moment later it was
+withdrawn, and a deep-throated laugh expressed his relief.
+
+"Ah, my friend," he cried. "I thought"--then he grasped the
+outstretched hand in warm cordiality,--"then I heard your name, and
+knew my alarms were groundless. You have come here to--meet me?"
+
+"Yes. We guessed."
+
+"Ah. Forgive me. I must give some orders."
+
+He was about to turn away to the men in the boats, but Ruxton detained
+him.
+
+"Before you give orders, I would suggest you send your vessel round to
+Dorby. Our dock-master is on the lookout for you. He is lying off the
+mouth of the river to pilot you in to a--_safe_--mooring. When you hail
+him, pass him one word: 'Towers.' My father is awaiting you at home. We
+have thought out a plan which may meet with your approval."
+
+The tall figure moved a step nearer. Again his tenacious hand was
+thrust out.
+
+"It is always the same--in Britain. I thank you."
+
+He turned and gave orders in compliance with Ruxton's instructions.
+Then the two men stood side by side while they watched the launch slide
+back with the tide. Then, as it swung about, head on for the opening,
+they moved away up towards the cavern entrance in the cliff.
+
+
+Throughout the passage of the cave, and the long climb up the
+rough-hewn staircase to the mill above, no unnecessary word was spoken.
+An occasional warning of trifling pitfalls ahead from Ruxton, on the
+lead, was the only sound beyond the clatter of feet upon the rough
+stone tread of the journey.
+
+There was much to be said between them, but each felt that the dank
+atmosphere of this cavern was scarcely the place in which to pause for
+confidences. This was a meeting between these two full of profound
+significance, even of threat, for both knew that a challenge had been
+thrown out at a power for vengeance, the extent of which neither could
+as yet accurately estimate.
+
+The silence between them was maintained until the outline of the old
+mill had fallen away well behind them, and the intricacies of the
+footpaths amongst the black gorse patches permitted of their walking
+abreast. Then it was Ruxton who opened the subject between them.
+
+"I bought a newspaper almost by chance. It contained news of some
+action by the German fleet--in the Baltic. It was vague. But somehow it
+made me uneasy. Then Vita seemed to read it aright."
+
+"Vita?"
+
+"Ah, forgive me," Ruxton smiled. "The Princess interpreted it. We
+became convinced that it was something to warrant alarm for--your
+safety."
+
+The tall, lean figure pressed nearer to its English friend. Ruxton felt
+the clasp of a hand upon his upper arm.
+
+"And so you came--to the cove?"
+
+There was a deep note of appreciation in the man's voice.
+
+"It was a friendly act," he added.
+
+Ruxton shrugged.
+
+"I promised you a welcome in England. It is nothing."
+
+"No. It is nothing--to some people."
+
+Ruxton dismissed the subject.
+
+"They have discovered. Von Salzinger is in England."
+
+"Yes, Vita has told me. But I knew it without the telling." Then the
+Prince laughed, and there was ironical inflection in his mirth. "Oh,
+yes. It was easy to watch--these things. I watched every move through
+the eyes of my few faithful friends. I saw how they kept me under
+surveillance, after--after they sent Von Salzinger to England. Then,
+when I began to feel that their interest in me was becoming
+threatening, when I received interrogations that were difficult to
+answer--easily--interrogations about the U-rays, then I said to myself
+that I must put to the test all those little plans I had prepared. I
+abandoned my works by sea."
+
+"Then----"
+
+"Oh, it was not all so simple. The story of it I will tell you some
+day. One thing I had not calculated upon was that my place was watched
+from the sea by our naval ships. They are shrewd, these people, but
+they are also blundering. These naval men!" His clasp on Ruxton's arm
+tightened. A certain scorn crept into the vibrating tones. "You know
+them? Your people know them. They laugh at them--your people, I
+mean--as I laughed. The German Navy forgets. They forget that I am the
+master of the submarine. They think they know it all--all that I have
+in here." He touched the high forehead under his soft felt hat with a
+lean forefinger. "But they do not. They see my boat come out. They
+challenge me--as they challenge me at Borga. It is the same again. I
+laugh and I keep on my course. I do not heave-to. Then they open their
+guns at me to sink me, but I only submerge. They follow on my line. I
+come up. They fire again, and so it goes on. They make a great
+commotion and waste many shells. Then comes night, and--I lose them."
+He shrugged. Then after a pause he went on. "Now I come to England and
+I join my daughter in her home. Later on maybe I shall forget these
+people that have owned my body and brain, and used them for so long to
+outrage humanity. I never go back. Never, never!"
+
+"No."
+
+Ruxton shrank from the news he must convey. The doubt in his
+monosyllable, however, did not pass the other by. The Pole's big eyes
+turned full upon his companion's face, and enquiry rang in his echo of
+the monosyllable.
+
+"No?"
+
+"You cannot go to your daughter's place. Von Salzinger has discovered
+it. It will be watched."
+
+"Ah!"
+
+"It is an added reason for my meeting you."
+
+"It is an added complication. So, so."
+
+"But not beyond--straightening out."
+
+"No?"
+
+"My father is awaiting you. There is Dorby."
+
+They walked on in silence. The old man moved with surprising vigor. He
+was thinking rapidly. The new situation involved a readjustment of
+plans. He was seeking solution with a fertility of imagination which
+might have astonished the Englishman had he known.
+
+Ruxton went on.
+
+"Our works are under protection from our naval authority. They should
+be safe. My father thinks the shelter of our home should serve for the
+present."
+
+Von Hertzwohl seemed to pass the offer by, dwelling only upon the
+safety of the works.
+
+"That is good, the works protected," he said abruptly, his luminous
+eyes shining. "You are clever. You take no chance. And the work? It
+goes on? Good! Ah! I must see it all." He rubbed his hands. "There is
+no hitch? Nothing? The vessels grow--grow while you look. Ah, yes, I
+know you British. There will be no more submarine danger; no more
+massacre of women and children at sea. It gives me the greatest joy."
+
+The old man's enthusiasm was beyond all thought of self. It was so
+simple, so intense. It was the enthusiasm of a child for his new toy,
+and Ruxton marvelled at the odd mixture which went to make up his
+strange character.
+
+"The completion of the work is as inevitable as that your Government
+means to--hunt you down."
+
+Ruxton thought to impress the Pole with the precariousness of his
+position. But the man brushed it aside.
+
+"Ach!" he cried, with a gesture of recklessness. "Yes, they hunt me
+down. That is it. That is why I do not burden your father with my
+safeguard. It is good to think of. This generous man--your father. It
+is good that his son comes to--help me. I feel it all here." He pressed
+one hand over his heart. "But no. I know these people. I do not fear
+them. They hunt me down. They kill me. It is not so much. It is so
+small a thing I do not think of it. No. But they do not hunt me down,"
+he went on, with a smile of quiet confidence. "I will go with you to
+Dorby. I will talk with your great father--and then--I go. It will be
+good to befool them--and I will befool them."
+
+He laughed a fearless, heart-whole laugh which left the younger man
+marvelling.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+THE TIGER SPRINGS
+
+
+The drawing-room at Redwithy Farm was bathed in the shadows of early
+autumn evening. A fire of blazing logs spluttered and crackled in the
+great open fireplace. Its ruddy light shed an atmosphere of mellow
+comfort and coziness over the entire aspect of the room. Under ordinary
+circumstances Vita would have revelled in the delight of these moments
+of a great new happiness in her beautiful home.
+
+She was ensconced in an armchair beside the fire which had doubtless,
+in years gone by, supported the slumbering form of some bewigged
+country squire. Its design was perfect for such a purpose. A small
+tea-table stood at her elbow. The muffins were cold upon it, but she
+had been glad of the mildly stimulating effects of the tea.
+
+Now she was sitting forward in her chair gazing deep down into the
+heart of the fire. A teeming thought was speeding through a brain
+which, of late, seemed always to be working at high pressure. The odd
+pucker of thought between her brows added charm and character to her
+beautiful face. Her eyes, too, had lost something of their profound
+serenity. They were alight and shining with a certain nervous
+concentration, while her delicate lips were unusually firmly compressed.
+
+She had only returned from London an hour earlier, and now, far from
+the distractions of the momentous hours she had spent with the man
+whose love had been powerful enough to sweep aside every other
+consideration from her mind, she was striving to quell all emotion, and
+disentangle the skeins in which she felt hopelessly caught up.
+
+Paramount, her great love for Ruxton stood out and tripped her at every
+effort to concentrate upon those matters which related to the plans
+upon which they were all at work. Her alarm for her father was real and
+almost overwhelming. But her joy in her new-found love robbed it of
+half its significance. In the happiness of the moment it was impossible
+to believe or accept, even, the suggestion that disaster had overtaken,
+or could overtake him.
+
+In the first rush of her dread Ruxton's confidence had reassured her.
+Her father must be safe. Her lover's argument had been so clear and
+convincing. Then he had promised to meet him on his arrival in England.
+Yes, her father was bound to make for Dorby. That was their secret
+landing-place. Ruxton would be there. He would not fail. He would warn
+him of Von Salzinger's discovery of her house. He would arrange for his
+safety. To all these things he had given his word, and his word was
+all-sufficient for her. As for his ability to put his promise into
+effect there could be no question. The proud thought in her was supreme.
+
+She dwelt upon the glamored picture of her lover which was always in
+her mind, and it comforted her and reassured her as she had never found
+comfort or reassurance before. No one who knew him could question, she
+felt. Her vivid mental vision dwelt upon the sculptured beauties of his
+magnificent face and head. The calmly assured manner; the great
+physical strength, which reminded her of the men in the wonderful
+history of her own country,--these things overbore her woman's
+timidities, and reacted upon her in a manner which drove all doubts
+headlong.
+
+He would write her. How? Through the post, or would he send a messenger
+with the news of her father's safety? It was a useless speculation. All
+she knew was that the news would come. He had promised it.
+
+Vassilitz entered the room. Vita knew it because the door had opened,
+and the rattle of the handle had disturbed her. Otherwise the man's
+movements were decorously silent. He crossed to the windows and drew
+the curtains. He glided across the room, and prepared to remove the
+tea-things.
+
+Would madame have the lights? No, madame preferred the firelight. The
+brighter lights would have disturbed her dreaming. The man bore the
+tea-table away, his dark eyes and sallow features perfect in their
+immobility.
+
+As the door closed behind him, memory brought Vita a fleeting unease.
+She remembered Ruxton's warning about Vassilitz. He had suggested his
+possible connection with the Secret Service. It seemed impossible. And
+yet Ruxton had been definite. How long had she known him? She cast back
+in her mind. Why, as long as she could remember. She remembered him as
+a village lout, who sometimes worked for her father in his garden. Then
+he had been taken away to the army, as they were all taken away by the
+cruel conscript laws. Yes, of course, he had been away in the army,
+and--they had lost sight of him all that time--the time he was in the
+army.
+
+Then she dismissed the matter. Ruxton must be right. She was sure he
+would not say such a thing without some reason. She would send
+Vassilitz back to his home. There must be no unnecessary risk of her
+father's safety.
+
+Having settled the matter, the fiery caverns in the grate absorbed her
+attention once more, and every beat of her heart helped to bridge the
+distance which separated her from the lover who had so suddenly thrust
+himself into her life.
+
+How long she sat crouching over the crackling fire, dreaming those
+dreams of life, which afterwards become the most sacred treasures of a
+woman's memory, Vita never knew. Later, when she reviewed those
+moments, conviction remained that never for one moment had her eyes
+closed in response to the seductive warmth of the fire. Yet she knew
+that in some strange manner oblivion must have stolen upon her. Without
+a shadow of warning she found herself sitting bolt upright, every drop
+of blood seeming to have receded from her veins, leaving her shivering
+in a frigid panic. The cold, hard tones of a man's voice were
+addressing her.
+
+"The Princess will forgive the unceremonious nature of this visit," it
+said. "It is imperative, for--it is made under the direct authority of
+those who claim all subjects of the Fatherland."
+
+The words were in German. They were without a shadow of inflection, and
+thereby gained in the consummate tyranny of their meaning.
+
+Vita was on her feet. Nor had the wild panic which swept through her
+every nerve centre power to rob her of the regal poise natural to her.
+She battled fiercely for calmness, but only achieved it superficially.
+
+In the dark of the room she could see nothing of the intruder
+distinctly. A shadowy outline in the direction of the closed door was
+all she could make out. Then, with a swift movement, one arm was thrust
+out towards the wall beside the fireplace. Her fingers encountered a
+group of electric switches. In a moment the room was flooded with a
+shaded, mellow light.
+
+"Frederick von Berger! You!"
+
+It was the only exclamation that escaped her parched lips. But it
+expressed all the terror which would no longer be denied.
+
+She had recognized the intruder. And behind him she saw the square
+figure of Von Salzinger. But the latter meant nothing compared with the
+overwhelming personality of the man whom she, with thousands of others,
+had always regarded as the Kaiser's evil genius. Probably only once or
+twice in all her years she had seen this man in the flesh. But his
+pictures, they were known to everybody in the Fatherland, just as was
+the sinister reputation which dogged his name.
+
+Oh, yes, she knew him--and he was here, here in England, and had stolen
+in upon the privacy and obscurity of her home. What was his purpose?
+What? Something of it, at least, was plain to her from the moment of
+her recognition. It was the cruel hand of the Teutonic machinery
+reaching out towards her and--hers. Hers! The thought seared itself
+upon her brain. For herself she had no thought, but for her father she
+had become the veriest coward.
+
+The intruder displayed no interest or feeling at the manner of Vita's
+greeting. The lines of his face remained as stonily graven as chiselled
+marble. So cold was his regard that it even seemed incapable of
+interpreting her matchless beauty.
+
+"I am honored that the Princess recognizes me," he said, with a
+coldness that made his words an offence. "It will save explanation."
+
+Then he came towards her and stood before the fire confronting her. His
+height matched hers, which left him only of medium height for a man.
+
+"Your father has sold the secrets of Borga to--England. Now he has made
+good his escape to--England." Then without a sign, or gesture, or
+shadow of significance, he added: "So you see it was necessary to visit
+you here."
+
+It was well-nigh an impossibility ever to fathom the thought which lay
+behind this man's spoken word. There was a directness and simplicity
+about him which was utterly confounding. Then there was that dreadful
+frigidity of eye and attitude.
+
+Vita realized the impossibility at once. She made no attempt to guess
+at that which was in his mind. She contented herself with his admission
+of her father's escape. Without it terror alone would have remained.
+Instead, now, a wonderful calmness settled upon her. Maybe there was a
+touch of desperation in her calm. But there was still the assurance of
+her father's security, at least temporarily. She must watch. She must
+strive. If there were the smallest possibility she must baffle the
+purpose which had brought Frederick von Berger to her home. She waited.
+
+"It is not presumed, of course, that you are aware of these
+matters--yet. But it is well known to our agents that you are in touch
+with the Prince. Therefore it is probable on his arrival in England he
+will communicate with you. It is not our intention to permit you to
+thus incriminate yourself. All possibility of the Prince's
+communicating with you must be avoided, or you, a woman, will fall
+under the penalty of his crimes. You will prepare yourself at once to
+make a journey by road. You will leave this house at once, and remain
+away from it until the whole unpleasant affair has been settled to the
+satisfaction of Berlin. These are instructions direct to you from the
+authority of the land which still claims you subject."
+
+Resentment was the dominant emotion the man's pronouncement stirred in
+Vita. His authority was unquestioned in her mind, but the manner of him
+was infuriating to her hot Polish blood. The sparkle of her beautiful
+eyes could not be concealed. She bit her lips to keep back the hot
+words which leapt in retort, and, all the while he was speaking, she
+reminded herself of the necessity for calm. The moment his last word
+died out her reply came.
+
+"Here, in England, I am commanded by German authority to abandon my
+home and go whithersoever it pleases you to conduct me. German
+authority in a country where German authority does not obtain. You
+trespass on my premises, admitted I do not know how. You dictate this
+absurd order to me, and expect me to obey it. This is not Prussia."
+
+"Precisely, Princess. If this were Prussia there would be no
+discussion." It was the first shadow of threat the man had displayed.
+It was not in his tone. It lay in the keen, steely cold gleam of his
+eyes. "As for the authority," the man shrugged, "there is no corner in
+the world where a German subject exists that German authority does not
+obtain--for the German subject. If you have not yet realized this, then
+I beg you to do so at once. The method of enforcing that authority
+alone differs."
+
+"I understand that. In England it is enforced by the methods such as
+any common criminal might adopt. For instance, the burglar who steals
+into private houses."
+
+The biting sarcasm left Frederick von Berger quite undisturbed.
+
+"The chief point is, it is, and will be, enforced," he observed coolly.
+"Will you be kind enough to prepare for that journey?"
+
+"If I refuse?"
+
+Von Berger shrugged.
+
+"You will still make it. The preparations will be made for you."
+
+"By whom?"
+
+"By your servants."
+
+There was just the faintest flicker of the eyelids as the man assured
+her. There was no smile, and yet there was a change from the frigidity
+which had been so poignantly marked up to that moment.
+
+"My servants! Are they, too, bound to obey the mandates of Berlin in
+violation of the laws of free England?" Anger was getting the better of
+her resolve.
+
+"They, too, are children of the Fatherland."
+
+"Spies!"
+
+The exclamation broke from the angry woman with fierce heat.
+
+"Certain of them have their orders."
+
+They stood eye to eye. The anger of the Princess flamed into the cold
+gaze of the man. There was no yielding in either at the moment.
+
+"I refuse."
+
+The words came full of desperate determination. But even as Vita
+pronounced them she felt their futility. Swiftly she cast about in her
+mind for a loophole of escape, but every avenue seemed to be closed.
+The house was isolated. It was attended by seven or eight servants, and
+bitterly she remembered that they all came from a country which yielded
+allegiance to Teutonic tyranny. Ruxton had been right. Oh, how right!
+Which of these servants were under the orders of this man? She could
+not be sure, excepting in the case of Vassilitz. Again panic grew and
+reached a pitch of hysteria as she listened to the man's easy level
+tones.
+
+"You are angry, and your common-sense is blinded by it," he said
+without emotion. "Were it not so you would see the absurdity of your
+refusal. I am not without means of enforcing authority. Listen. At the
+front door stands a powerful car. A closed car, which is fictitiously
+numbered. While we are talking your maid is packing for you. She has
+orders to prepare for you every luxury and comfort you are accustomed
+to require. This luggage will be placed in the car, and she will travel
+with you. If you persist in your refusal you will be dealt with. If you
+seek to call for aid you will be silenced. The servants in your house
+will not dare to raise a finger in your assistance. You will be
+conducted to a place already prepared to receive you. You will be
+treated with every courtesy your rank and sex entitles you to. And when
+these affairs are settled to suit Berlin you will be released. Do you
+still refuse?"
+
+The recital of the conditions prevailing possessed a conviction that
+suggested the inevitability of Doom, Vita realized. Coming from another
+than Frederick von Berger she might have hoped. But this man--she
+shivered. A conscienceless mechanism as soulless as cold steel.
+
+Her answer was delayed. Her eyes, searching vainly, swept over the
+room. Finally they encountered the square face of Von Salzinger. She
+had forgotten him. Her gaze was caught and held, and, in a moment, she
+realized that he was endeavoring to convey some meaning to her. Its
+nature was obscure, but the expression of his usually hard face
+suggested sympathy, and almost kindliness. Could it be that in the
+grinding machinery of Prussian tyranny she possessed one friend? She
+remembered Von Salzinger's protestations. She remembered that he had
+spoken of love to her. Love--what a mockery! But might she not hope for
+support from him? No, he was bound hand and foot. She dared hope for no
+open support. But----
+
+Von Berger displayed the first sign of impatience. He withdrew his
+watch.
+
+"I cannot delay," he said. "It is not my desire to use the force at my
+command. Being in England, and you being a woman, discussion has been
+permitted. You will now choose definitely, within one minute, whether
+you will submit to the orders of Berlin, or resist them. I am
+considering your convenience. It is immaterial to me which course you
+adopt."
+
+He held the watch in the palm of his hand, and his eyes were bent upon
+its face, marking the progress of the second hand. The influence of his
+attitude was tremendous. He was a perfect master of the methods which
+he represented. No one could have observed him and failed to realize
+that here was a man who, with the same extraordinary callousness, could
+easily have stepped to the side of a fainting woman, and, without a
+qualm, have placed the muzzle of a revolver to her temple and blown her
+brains out, as had been done in Belgium.
+
+Vita watched him, fascinated and terrified. The silent moments slipped
+away with the inevitability which no human power can stay.
+
+Von Berger looked up. The measure of his eyes was coldly calculating.
+
+"You have ten seconds," he said, and returned to his contemplation of
+the moving hand.
+
+The strain was unendurable. Vita felt that she must scream. Her will
+was yielding before the moral terror this man inspired. There was no
+hope of help. No hope anywhere. The fire shook down, and she started,
+her nerves on edge. She glanced over at Von Salzinger. Instantly his
+features stirred to that meaning expression of sympathy. Now, however,
+it only revolted her, and, as though drawn by a magnet, her eyes came
+back to the bent head of Von Berger.
+
+Simultaneously the man looked up and snapped his watch closed and
+returned it to his pocket.
+
+"Well?" he demanded, and the whole expression of him had changed.
+
+Vita saw the tigerish light suddenly leap into his eyes. The man was
+transfigured. She warned herself he was no longer a man. She could only
+regard him as something in the nature of a human tiger.
+
+"I will go," she said, in a voice rendered thick by her terror-parched
+throat.
+
+"Ja wohl!"
+
+Von Berger turned and signed to his confederate.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+BAR-LEIGHTON
+
+
+The face that gazed out at the driving October rain was one whose
+expression of unrelieved misery and hopelessness might well have melted
+a heart of flint. The wide, grey eyes had lost their languorous melting
+delight, which had been replaced by one of driven desperation. Dark,
+unhealthy rings had sunk their way into the young surrounding flesh.
+They were the rings of sleeplessness, and an ominous indication of the
+mental attitude behind them. The oval of the cheeks had become pinched
+and pale, while the drooping lips added a pathos that must have been
+irresistible to a heart of human feeling.
+
+Vita was a prisoner in the hands of men without scruple or mercy. At
+least one of them she knew could claim all and more than such words
+expressed. Of the other she was less convinced. In fact, it was the
+thought that he was, perhaps, simply under the control of the other
+which, she told herself, made sanity possible. But even so it was the
+vaguest, wildest hope, and only in the nature of a straw to which to
+cling in her desperation.
+
+The window from which she looked out gave upon a wildly desolate scene.
+She was down deep, almost in the bowels of the earth, she admitted, and
+the rugged sides of the chasm, clad in a garment of dark conifers and
+leafless branches, rose up abruptly in every direction her window
+permitted her gaze to wander.
+
+She had no understanding of where she was. The journey had been long.
+It had been swift, too, under the skillful driving of Frederick von
+Berger, beside whom Von Salzinger had travelled. She had a vague
+understanding that the moon had been shining somewhere behind the car
+most of the time. Therefore she had decided they were travelling
+westwards. Then had come the dawn which had found them racing across a
+wide and desolate moorland, in a gale of wind and a deluge of driving
+rain, with dense mist clouds filling to overflowing sharp and narrow
+hollows which dropped away from the high level like bottomless pits of
+mystery and dread.
+
+There had been nobody inside the car to question but her maid,
+Francella, and Vita had steadfastly denied herself any form of
+intercourse with the woman, under the certainty that she formed part of
+the Secret Service with which all unknowingly she had been surrounded.
+
+Then had come a moment when her straining eyes, striving to penetrate
+the rain-streaming windows, had detected a distant view of a stretch of
+water. She had not been certain at first. But later she had detected
+the hazy outline of a steamboat upon it, with a long streaming
+smoke-line lying behind it. So she made up her mind it was the sea.
+
+Even this, however, gave her no real cue to her whereabouts. For a
+moment she thought of Dartmoor, but later on she believed that that
+desolate wilderness was well inland.
+
+Later again, all speculation had been yielded up under the painful
+interest of the moment. They were driving along the edge of a deep,
+mist-laden ravine. Vita had gazed down upon it in awed contemplation.
+It was narrow and precipitous. Then had happened something which made
+her shiver and clutch at the sides of the car. The driver had swung
+round a fierce hairpin bend in the road. The next moment the downward
+incline made her seek support lest she should slide from her seat. In a
+moment the car was swallowed up in the dense white fog of the ravine.
+
+So she had come to her prison, which she learned accidentally was
+called Bar-Leighton. Whether the name applied to the house or to the
+locality she never knew. It was a big rambling mansion, deep hidden in
+a close surrounding of trees, nor, as far as Vita could see, was the
+ravine occupied by any other habitation.
+
+This was the second day of her imprisonment. It had been raining when
+she arrived. It was still raining. It looked as if it were likely to
+continue raining for a month. Vita had spent most of her time gazing
+out of the window. She was heart-broken and desperate.
+
+She had no eyes for anything but the cheerless view beyond the window.
+Its attraction was small enough in its repellent austerity, but it
+represented freedom. It represented the life which was forbidden her.
+Somewhere out there beyond, miles and miles away, was the love of her
+life, maybe vainly seeking her. Somewhere out there all that made for
+her happiness in life lay beyond her reach. Would she ever recover it?
+Would she ever listen to those calm tones of encouragement, and
+purpose, and love again? It seemed impossible. It seemed as though the
+end of all things was about to be achieved for her, now that the savage
+hand of Prussian tyranny had been laid upon her.
+
+The treatment meted out to her had been by no means hard so far. She
+occupied a suite of apartments unusually handsome and spacious. But
+they led from one into the other, and all the outer doors were securely
+locked. She had been handed over to a hard-faced matron of German
+nationality on her arrival, nor, from that moment, had she been
+permitted sight of either of her male captors.
+
+It was this dreadful isolation, this suspense, which affected her. Was
+she to remain here indefinitely, ignorant of her father's movements, of
+all that might be happening to her lover, of the possible disaster to
+all those plans to which she had so completely lent herself? The
+thought was maddening. It was completely unbearable. She wanted to
+weep, to scream. But she did neither. She sat on in a window-seat in
+the splendid sitting-room, and gazed miserably out on the depressing
+aspect which thrust her lower and lower in the deeps of despair.
+
+If Vita had been permitted no further sight of her captors it was not
+because they had taken their departure from the precincts of the prison
+they had prepared for her. On the contrary. With the arrival of Prince
+von Berger at this retreat, hidden so deeply in the remoteness of some
+of the wildest of the west country, the place became a hive of secret
+activity. Many visitors came and went, but mostly at night. And so
+contrived were their movements, that never for one moment did the
+mansion lose its appearance of neglect in the hands of an indifferent
+caretaker.
+
+Amongst those who visited the place at night was Johann Stryj, and with
+him a man named Emile Heuferman. It was a far cry from Dorby to
+Bar-Leighton, but distance seemed to have no concern for these people,
+who were served by cars of great speed and power. It was obvious that
+Frederick von Berger's visit to England had been the cue for great
+activity in the underworld of the Secret Service, and that far-reaching
+powers were in his control.
+
+While Vita watched the desolation of rain-washed woodlands, Von Berger
+was occupied with Johann Stryj and Heuferman in a library, which had
+obviously once been the pride of a previous owner of the house. Von
+Salzinger was in attendance, too, and, for more than two hours, it was
+pretty evident these four had been in close consultation on matters of
+vital interest.
+
+It was obvious, too, that Heuferman was of lesser degree than his
+companion, Stryj, for it was to the latter Von Berger chiefly addressed
+himself and from whom he extracted the information he needed. All the
+talk was of Dorby, and during it the name of Farlow frequently mixed
+itself into the details. The manner of these men was devoid of all
+heat. Von Berger might have been a machine, so frigidly precise was his
+whole attitude. Johann Stryj spoke only the words necessary, with an
+effect and decision which must have left nothing to be desired by his
+exalted superior. Von Salzinger was reduced to a mere observer, but
+Heuferman became an object for the reception of explicit instructions,
+which, for the most part, he received with monosyllabic acquiescence.
+
+It was in the middle of the afternoon that the meeting terminated. When
+Johann Stryj and his companion had taken their departure Frederick von
+Berger turned to the silent ex-Captain-General. His eyes were
+speculative. It was the cold calculation of a mind seeking to complete
+a half-formed train of thought.
+
+"What were your relations with this woman--before the war?"
+
+Von Salzinger started. A flush tinted his heavy features a sort of
+copper hue.
+
+"I--don't understand, Excellency."
+
+That odd flicker of the eyelids which seemed to be the only indication
+of a lighter mood accompanied Von Berger's next words.
+
+"Yet it is not difficult. Information tells us that you at one time
+sought to marry her. Since coming to England you renewed your
+acquaintance. I desire the exact explanation. I may need to use
+the--relationship."
+
+The flush had left the other's cheeks. His eyes took on a smile of
+meaning.
+
+"At one time I had such thoughts. Now I have no desire to--marry her."
+
+"Ah!"
+
+Von Berger had faced round from the library table at which he was
+seated, and, crossing his legs, sat contemplatively with his elbows
+supported on the arms of his chair and his chin resting upon his
+clasped hands.
+
+Von Salzinger stirred.
+
+"I regard her now as one of my country's enemies. There can be no
+thought of marriage with one's country's enemy. Such can never receive
+the consideration we display towards our own womankind. In war the
+woman is the prize of the victor. That is real war."
+
+The callous brutality of the man was revolting. But the other gave no
+sign. He contented himself with a continuance of his cold regard, and a
+further ejaculation.
+
+Encouraged by this negative sign of approval Von Salzinger ventured an
+interrogation.
+
+"How can my relations with her further your plans, Excellency?"
+
+"I am not quite sure--yet." Then Von Berger bestirred himself. "It is
+necessary to lay hands on Von Hertzwohl--at once, and----"
+
+He broke off. At that moment a knock at the door interrupted him.
+
+Von Salzinger sprang to his feet and hurried across the room. After
+reclosing the door he returned to Von Berger.
+
+"Vassilitz has brought this telegram. It arrived last night at Redwithy
+Farm. Does your Excellency wish to speak to him?"
+
+Von Berger took the message and opened it. It was addressed to Madame
+Vladimir at Redwithy Farm. The set of his features relaxed as he read
+the brief communication. Then he passed it across to Von Salzinger.
+
+"Much news in a few words," was his comment.
+
+The other perused the telegram carefully. It came from Dorby--
+
+
+"All's well. Arrived safely. Returning to town. Love.--Ruxton."
+
+
+"It means----?"
+
+"Von Hertzwohl has arrived in England. At Dorby. Also that he returns
+to London--Farlow, I mean, and that he is obviously the lover of the
+woman whom you regard as the prize of the victor. Tell Vassilitz to
+return to the farm without delay, to remain watchful, and to continue
+to act as instructed. I must interview the Princess."
+
+Vita's painful contemplation and misery were rudely broken in upon.
+Just as the shadows of the dreary day were beginning to deepen
+prematurely the door of her sitting-room was silently thrust open, and
+Frederick von Berger made his unwelcome appearance.
+
+He stood for one moment contemplating the beautiful drooping figure
+without the smallest sign of emotion. Then he moved forward over the
+polished floor, and the sound of his approach acted like an electric
+current upon the woman at the window. She had been caught at a
+disadvantage, but, in an instant, all her pride and courage rose
+superior to every other emotion. She sat up, and the haughty
+displeasure in her eyes found vent in cold words which must have stung
+deeply any other personality but that of their present object.
+
+"It would be superfluous to protest at an intrusion where neither
+honesty, justice, nor a sense of decency exists. All I can hope for is
+that whatever your business may be you will complete it, and relieve me
+of your obnoxious presence as quickly as possible."
+
+There was a cold scorn in the simple words which was enhanced threefold
+by reason of the calm with which they were delivered.
+
+If Frederick von Berger appreciated it he gave no sign. The words might
+not have been spoken in so far as they deflected for a second the
+purpose of his coming.
+
+He came close up to the window in which Vita was sitting. His gaze
+avoided her and was directed towards the gloomy prospect beyond it. His
+powerful figure was carried erectly, doubtless from the severity of his
+early military training, but it possessed a litheness quite unusual, a
+litheness which the angular figure of Von Salzinger completely lacked.
+The latent strength of the man was indomitable, and under other
+conditions it would have been something the woman must have admired.
+Now she only saw the cruelty in his hard eyes, and the absolutely cold
+set of the features which seemed rendered immobile thereby.
+
+He raised one foot and rested it upon the window-seat, and, bending so
+that an arm rested upon his knee, he glanced down into the averted face.
+
+"I have come to tell you that your position has somewhat changed since
+you became my guest here," he said, in level tones. "To my very great
+regret it has been discovered that you are as deeply concerned in the
+plot which has cost us the secrets of Borga as those others. I have
+received a telegram, intended for you, announcing your father's arrival
+in this country. The manner in which it is written conveys beyond doubt
+that you are perfectly intimate with all the plans of the conspiracy,
+and even that one of the people most concerned is your lover. So you
+see that changes the aspect of the matter so far as you are concerned."
+
+"You have intercepted a message from Mr. Ruxton Farlow?"
+
+Vita's face was no longer averted. All her woman's pride was outraged.
+To think that this creature's eyes should have read the lines which
+Ruxton had meant only for hers. She thought nothing of the significance
+of her own position as a result of that letter. Only was the sacrilege
+this man had committed apparent to her.
+
+She believed she was dealing merely with a mechanism of Prussian
+tyranny. She was incapable of regarding this man as anything else. But
+Frederick von Berger had calculated every word he had uttered. Human
+nature was a lifelong study with him--even that which he could claim
+for his own.
+
+"Exactly," he replied. "And the fact has made your position very
+precarious, very precarious indeed."
+
+The significance of his simple statement would no longer be denied.
+Vita caught her breath. Her swift, upward glance in his direction had
+something of the alarm which he desired to witness in it.
+
+He removed his foot from the silken cushion and stood up.
+
+"Princess," he went on, "I came to England with very stringent
+orders----"
+
+"Who gives Frederick von Berger orders?" cried Vita impulsively. "Not
+even the Emperor. There is only one person who gives orders to Prince
+von Berger in Germany--himself. It is useless to deny it. All that you
+have done here--are doing--is of your own initiative."
+
+But the man continued as though the interruption had not taken place.
+
+"The orders I have received admit of only one course of action--the
+punishment by death of the traitors to my country, and the complete
+nullification of the effects of the plot. These things will be carried
+out regardless of all cost and consequence. There will be no tempering
+with mercy. Justice, cold justice alone will be meted out--regardless
+of sex."
+
+"The question of justice I doubt. The matter of sex is a foregone
+conclusion. There is ample precedent for that."
+
+The bitterness of the woman's words came from her heart. She knew that
+he was threatening that her life was forfeit, but the fact seemed to
+leave her untouched since that first swift glance of apprehension.
+
+"The point is not one which I care to debate," the man returned, with
+his curious, simple directness. "It is not for me to possess an opinion
+on any matter where authority or the conduct of the State is concerned.
+I can only assure you that duty will be carried out inexorably. For you
+the position becomes deplorable. For you to have committed yourself to
+intrigues which have for their purpose the betrayal of your country is
+an outrage which calls for no mercy. You will have to face a penalty
+similar to that which awaits your father. That penalty is--death."
+
+"Death!"
+
+The echo came in a whisper. It was a startled whisper, as though Vita's
+brain were striving to grasp the full significance of the word as
+applied to herself. Her eyes were no longer on the man's face. They
+were contemplating the scene beyond the window without observing it.
+
+Then, slowly, a change came over her. Her body seemed to draw itself
+erect. The scorn that had lain in her eyes a few minutes ago had given
+place to a curious cold calm. Her shapely lips compressed tightly, and
+she faced unflinchingly the man who had pronounced the sentence. Her
+eyes regarded him for some thoughtful moments. It almost seemed as
+though she were striving to probe beneath that cold mask to the
+thoughts and emotions which she felt must lie behind it. Then a curious
+smile grew in them, a smile of renewed contempt that must have been
+insupportable to a man of any feeling.
+
+"And the alternative? I suppose there is an alternative. A death
+sentence so pronounced is generally inspired by an all-important
+alternative. Do you desire me to betray my friends? Do you desire me to
+hand my father over to execution? Do you desire me to tell you where
+the secrets you desire to recover are bestowed? Do you desire me to
+assist you to restore to your country the cruel means with which you
+hope to crush the heart of humanity some time in the future? Let me
+hear it all, the whole depth to which you desire to force me to
+descend. I have always wondered at the possible profundity to which the
+Prussian mind can descend in its lack of human understanding. Well,
+Prince, you had better say all you have to say now. For after this I
+shall claim the privilege of every condemned person to pass out of the
+world in peace." Then her contemptuous smile deepened. "But perhaps I
+am to be denied that privilege. Perhaps there is no such privilege in
+the Prussian code. Perhaps I am to be placed upon the rack, and
+tortured until I confess. I feel it would only be a fitting outcome of
+the Kultur to which your countrymen have risen. I am waiting to hear
+anything further you have to say."
+
+It would have been impossible to tell from the man's attitude the
+effect of these words. Not a muscle of his features stirred. His regard
+remained coldly contemplative.
+
+"There is no alternative," he said. "Your crime admits of none. We
+place no value upon any information you could give us. Our means are
+perfect for obtaining it ourselves. To prove it I can assure you of
+things which perhaps you do not know yourself. The plans which your
+friends stole are even now in the yards at Dorby in Yorkshire. The
+construction of submersible vessels is going on under Admiralty
+supervision and protection, a matter carefully arranged by your lover,
+Ruxton Farlow. Your father is at Dorby, and his private submersible is
+moored in an inner dock at Farlow, Son and Farlow's yards. These are
+all facts you may be aware of, but there are others which you certainly
+are not. One of them is that these constructions are about to be
+destroyed by explosion, and the plans too. Later on there will be
+further developments. As for the torture you suggest, that, too, is
+unnecessary. I have yet to learn of a greater torture which a young,
+rich, and beautiful woman can endure than the thought of being torn
+from the arms of the hero whom she has foolishly permitted herself to
+worship. There can be nothing more painful to her than to contemplate
+in her last moments the happiness which she is denied being enjoyed by
+some other woman when her own penalty has been paid. My reasoning is
+only a man's, but----"
+
+"A devil's!"
+
+Vita's calm had deserted her. Horror and loathing struggled for place
+in her wide shining eyes.
+
+The man looked on unmoved.
+
+"As you will, Princess," he said, with that curious flicker of the
+eyelids. "But now, since I have completed the business of my visit, I
+will relieve you of my obnoxious presence. When the time comes you will
+be given half an hour to prepare yourself for the execution of your
+sentence."
+
+He moved away. The shadows of the room swallowed him up. Then, a moment
+later, Vita heard the door close behind him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+ENEMY MOVEMENTS
+
+
+Ruxton's return to town from Dorby was made by special train in the
+middle of the night. It had been inspired by an irresistible impulse,
+born of an apprehension which his great love for Vita inspired.
+
+Prince von Hertzwohl had only sheltered one night under the roof of
+Dorby Towers. Sir Andrew had been urgent that he should remain his
+guest indefinitely, feeling that the safety of an Englishman's home was
+the best of all havens for this large, simple-minded Pole. But Vita's
+father proved something of his daughter's estimate of him. His
+gratitude and thanks had been sincere and cordial, but he displayed an
+understanding of the situation which astonished his hosts, and a
+decision that resisted all appeal.
+
+"Dear friends," he had urged, "it cannot be. It is a joy to me, so
+great, to feel the warm shelter of your perfect English home. I love
+the parks, the wide moor, the white cliffs. But I love more than all
+the generosity and kindliness of your friendship. But you do not yet
+grasp what all this means. These people will have my life, and your
+locks and bars will be no obstacle to their Secret Service. They will
+get me here, as they would get me in their own country. Nor can we say
+what danger I might not expose you to. No, my course is quite simple. I
+will show you to-night."
+
+Father and son were reluctantly forced to acquiesce.
+
+That night, after dinner, the shrewdness of Vita's father was
+displayed. He departed to his bedroom, and, an hour later, he
+reappeared in the smoking-room.
+
+The metamorphosis was perfect. An unkempt individual, lean, dirty, and
+slouching, entered the room and made its way to the fire. His beard and
+moustache were gone, and he was clad in the greasy clothes and
+discolored overalls of a riverside mechanic. The disguise was so
+perfect that only with the greatest difficulty both father and son were
+able to recognize him. Later on he left the house, and set out for the
+town of Dorby. It was his purpose to lose himself amongst the thousands
+of workers who peopled the waterside, and so, while keeping in touch
+with Dorby Towers, completely sink his identity. Nor was it until after
+profound consideration that Ruxton and his father realized the
+wonderful but simple astuteness of the man's move.
+
+It was the second night following this event that Ruxton's own resolve
+was arrived at. It was over forty-eight hours since he had dispatched
+his telegram to Vita telling her of her father's arrival and safety. He
+should have received a reply in under six hours. No reply, however, had
+been forthcoming.
+
+At first Ruxton had been patient. There had been much to occupy him of
+an important nature at the shipyards. He had had little time to think
+of anything else. The constructions were steadily growing under the
+energetic hands of his engineers and marine architects. Already the
+promise of the future was taking definite shape. The work, pressed on
+at his urging, was proceeding apace. Already the completed outlines of
+two of the hulls filled twin slipways. His enthusiasm was growing with
+the rapidity of a man of keen imagination. His dreams were becoming
+real, tangible. The experiment was full of a promise which weeks ago
+had no place in his almost despairing regard of the future.
+
+But at night there was less occupation for his mind, and inevitably his
+thoughts flew at once to the woman who had opened out to him the
+radiant possibilities of his future. No reply had reached him on that
+first night, and unease began to make itself felt. He mentioned the
+matter to his father with marked unconcern. The shrewd Yorkshire eyes
+which regarded him were blandly uncurious.
+
+"Did you word it for reply?" he enquired, glancing up from the
+pictorial periodical he was looking at.
+
+Ruxton had not worded it particularly so, he assured him, with a glance
+of trouble in his dark eyes.
+
+Then the old man went on with his paper.
+
+"I shouldn't worry about it," he said calmly. "It must have been
+delivered, or it would have been returned to you."
+
+But the assurance was without effect upon the lover. He said no more
+then, but at dinner the following evening his anxiety would no longer
+be denied.
+
+The butler had withdrawn. Ruxton had been unusually disinclined to talk
+during the meal. The keen brain of his father had summed up the reason
+to a fraction, but, with quiet understanding, he had waited for the
+unburdening which he knew would soon come.
+
+It came as Ruxton, ignoring the dessert, sat back in his chair and lit
+a cigar.
+
+"I've ordered a special train for town, Dad; I can't stand the suspense
+any longer."
+
+"You mean--the answer to your message." Sir Andrew made no attempt to
+misunderstand him. "But where is the suspense? It was a message of--his
+arrival, I understand. The answer was optional."
+
+"Optional? Ah, you don't understand." Just for a moment the trouble
+seemed to pass out of the younger man's eyes. He was contemplating the
+wonderful love which had come to him. He breathed a deep sigh. "Look
+here, Dad, what would you have felt like--you know, say just before you
+married my mother, if you sent her an urgent message by wire and
+received no reply? Why, in the past twenty-four hours you'd have been
+driving in a stage coach, or something equally slow, to find out the
+reason, if I know anything. There are a dozen things I could have done.
+I could have kept the wires humming incessantly--but for possibilities.
+Those possibilities have restrained me. But now I can wait no longer. I
+must see Vita myself and assure myself that nothing is--wrong. Dad,
+it's the whole world to me. I can't wait any longer. I love her, and I
+am going to marry her. That's where the suspense lies."
+
+"That's how I supposed," Sir Andrew nodded, his shrewd eyes twinkling.
+"One has to endure many anxious moments under such circumstances. I
+have known them myself. You leave at----"
+
+"Three A. M."
+
+The old man nodded.
+
+"I've not met her yet, boy," he said kindly, "though," he added slyly,
+"I seem as if I did know her. You see, you've spoken of her a lot.
+Well, if she's half the woman you have told me she is, I congratulate
+you heartily. Somehow, boy, I feel sure she is. Yes, it is as well to
+go--with possibilities hanging over us all."
+
+He rose from the table and held out his hand as Ruxton followed his
+example.
+
+"The very best of luck, boy, and--will you give her my love? You can
+leave the work here in my hands."
+
+The two men clasped hands with a vigor such as belonged to two strong
+natures, and then, as they moved off to the library, they fell to
+discussing those "possibilities" to which Ruxton had alluded.
+
+
+Ruxton's anxiety was no mere impatience of a hotheaded lover. He had
+not permitted his imagination to distort things out of a real
+proportion. He knew that their Teutonic enemies were able to lay hands
+upon Vita if they decided upon such a course. And all too late he had
+realized that his message had been an indiscretion. Once having arrived
+at this realization, the rest followed in painful sequence. If his
+message, though carefully worded, had fallen into enemy hands, the
+possibilities such an event opened up were illimitable.
+
+It was between ten and eleven in the morning that he presented himself
+at the flat in Kensington.
+
+On his way up the stairs he received his first shock. It was no less
+than an encounter with Mrs. Jenkins on her way down them, garbed in her
+long outdoor ulster, such as all women of her class seem to possess,
+bearing under one arm an ominous-looking bundle.
+
+He stopped her, or rather she provoked attention herself by a dry cough
+and a prolonged, moist sniff.
+
+"You goin' up to 'er flat?" she demanded; "'cos if you are she ain't
+in."
+
+There was a sort of defiant displeasure in her words that, to Ruxton,
+might have been just her natural form of address, or might not have
+been.
+
+He paused, glanced down at her bundle, and finally regarded her
+severely.
+
+"Where are you going?" he demanded.
+
+"Don't see it's your bizness. Any'ow I'm goin' to do a bit o' shoppin'."
+
+Then Ruxton adopted a high hand.
+
+"Well, just come back up-stairs a minute. Your shopping will keep. I
+want to speak to you on a matter of importance. Come along."
+
+He moved on up the stairs, and Mrs. Jenkins, used to obeying somebody
+at all times, followed him protestingly.
+
+"I don't see I got no right any'ow. But wot with her bein' away, and
+stoppin' away, and me 'avin' no food to eat, as you might say, an' my
+wages overdue, an' the bills unpaid, I don't know, I'm sure. Maybe you
+got my wages with you, bein' a friend of 'ers?"
+
+But Ruxton offered no explanation until they reached the flat and the
+door of it was securely shut behind them. Then he turned upon her with
+a forcefulness that reduced her to the necessary condition for giving
+all the information he needed with the least superfluous verbiage.
+
+"Look here, Mrs. Jenkins, I just want a few straight answers to a few
+plain questions. Remember, the matters I'm going to question you on are
+of vital importance--very vital importance. I just want plain truth and
+nothing else."
+
+"Truth! You'll say I'm lyin' next. Wot d'yer want to know? My motter is
+allus tell the truth an' shame the devil."
+
+"Yes, yes, that's all right. Where's your mistress?"
+
+The woman sniffed, while she eyed him distrustfully.
+
+"Dunno. Ain't see 'er since you was 'ere last."
+
+"When did you expect her?"
+
+"Why, next day, o' course. She allus come 'ere every day 'less she sed.
+'Sides, my wages was due next day, an' there's the 'ousekeepin' money.
+I ain't got neither. I writ 'er to 'er home, but ain't 'ad no answer. I
+got to eat, an' I ain't got nothin' t' eat in the place, so I was just
+goin' to slip round with a pair o' blankets an' get a loan. Y' see I
+didn't know wot to do, an' I tho't----" She broke off with a fresh
+sniff.
+
+Ruxton produced some money and handed her two sovereigns.
+
+"There, that'll keep you going. Now all I want from you are these
+facts. You haven't seen her since I was here, and you expected her next
+day. You wrote to her and received no reply. The last time you saw her
+she was leaving for her--home. That so?"
+
+The woman nodded and sniffed.
+
+"Yes, sir." The gold had impressed her.
+
+"Very well. Now I want you to keep on here as if nothing had happened.
+You shall have your money regularly. Look after your mistress's things
+carefully, and if any one calls here, any visitors, men, or--or
+strangers, let me know. There, that card will give you my address. If
+I'm not there my secretary will take any message for me. I'm afraid
+some accident must have happened to your mistress. I am going to find
+out with the help of the--police. Do you understand? Whatever you do,
+don't talk."
+
+By the time he had finished the poor woman was thoroughly alarmed, and
+showed it.
+
+"My, sir, I do 'ope nothin' 'as 'appened serious-like. She was allus a
+venturesome one, as you might say, goin' about, an' I allus was
+a-tellin' of 'er----"
+
+"Yes, yes; that's all right. The thing is, I've got to find out. Now,
+you see and do as I have said, and your mistress will thank you. Nor
+shall I forget. Remember, if any one calls for her, get their names and
+remember their faces, and--don't talk."
+
+He hurried away, and passed down the uninviting stairs at a run. Two
+minutes later he was in a taxi, driving at a breakneck speed for Smith
+Square.
+
+Arrived there, he ordered his own car, and, while awaiting its arrival,
+gave a string of instructions to Heathcote. Within another twenty
+minutes he was in his car, threading his way through the London traffic
+with the reckless inconsequence only to be found in an ex-naval
+chauffeur urged by an equally reckless employer.
+
+
+A nightmare of apprehension pursued Ruxton over the switchback Oxford
+road. With a mind clear and incisive he had thought at almost electric
+speed, and planned the course to be pursued. In his brief twenty
+minutes with his secretary he had carefully detailed all his
+requirements. Now he could only lie back in his car, while the
+sailorman, driving him, obeyed the reckless instincts which have made
+him and his comrades a byword for devotion. Ruxton demanded speed, and
+the keen-eyed chauffeur gave it him. Heavy car as it was, it danced
+over the greater part of the journey with the fantastic and dangerous
+irresponsibility of a runaway. But the man at the wheel knew his
+machine. The pride and joy of his life was that he was the driver of
+eighty horse-power. This was the first time he had ever been permitted
+to test the accuracy of the maker's claims.
+
+But to Ruxton the speed was a snail gait, and it seemed to him, on that
+brief journey to Wednesford, that he lived through centuries of
+despairing anxiety and doubts. Had these devils got at Vita? The burden
+of his cry was based on all the experiences of the late war. Yet what
+could they do? What would they dare do, here in England? He tried to
+reassure himself. But it was a vain attempt. He knew, only too well,
+the ruthless audacity of these people. Then he blamed himself that he
+had not insisted that Vita should have abandoned her home in
+Buckinghamshire when she first told him of Von Salzinger's visit. Was
+not that sufficient warning for any sane mind? Did it not clearly prove
+that Vita was watched? And, if she were watched, did it not point the
+purpose in the Teutonic mind to act if it suited it? Of course it did.
+He was to blame, seriously to blame--if anything had happened to her.
+He remembered Vassilitz and the inspiration his doings had awakened in
+him. He must have been mad not to think further--mad or incompetent.
+
+So his feverish imagination ran on and tortured him as no other anxiety
+could have tortured him. And then came the relief of further action.
+
+He reached Wednesford all too soon for his sailorman, who would have
+infinitely preferred continuing his reckless journey to Land's End and
+then--back again. However, he removed his foot from the accelerator and
+drew up at the police-station of the little old market town in a
+perfectly decorous fashion. The local chief was awaiting the car, and
+Ruxton was conducted promptly to that officer's private room.
+
+The chief superintendent was a florid-faced, bulldog-looking man of
+about forty, vigorous, alert, but possessing no outward sign of
+particular mentality. He was all deference for his visitor.
+
+"I received the telephone message, sir," he said at once, "and acted
+upon it. I sent a plain-clothes man out to Redwithy with instructions
+to ascertain if Madame Vladimir was at her residence, and, if not, to
+ascertain if possible something of her recent movements. The man should
+return now at any moment." He pulled out his watch and made a rough
+calculation. "Yes, he is quite due now. Would you care to give me more
+intimate particulars?"
+
+To find himself dealing with a Cabinet Minister in matters of his own
+department was a little overwhelming to Chief Superintendent Reach, but
+he saw in it a possibility of advancement, and was ready to surpass
+himself in his efforts. But Ruxton saw no advantage in laying the inner
+details of the matter before the local police. If any such official aid
+were needed it would be better demanded of Scotland Yard.
+
+"For the moment nothing more is needed than the simple local
+information," he replied. "On that depends all future movements. I will
+tell you this, however. Apart from my personal interest in the matter,
+there is certain political significance in it of a very important
+nature. More than that I cannot say until your man----"
+
+The whistle of the tube on the officer's desk interrupted him.
+
+"That's our man, sir," beamed Superintendent Reach, more than satisfied
+at the opportuneness of the interruption. "Excuse me, sir," he added,
+and listened at the tube.
+
+"Ah, yes. Send him up here at once," he called through it. Then
+glancing over at his visitor, he observed ungrammatically, "It's him,
+sir."
+
+A moment later a brisk plain-clothes man entered the room.
+
+"Well?" demanded his chief sharply.
+
+"The lady's been away about three days, sir," he said, with the
+stolidity of a policeman giving evidence. "Couldn't tell me when she'd
+be back. Hadn't left any instructions about the heating apparatus for
+the new peach-house she is having built. The butler believed the firm
+who were constructing the house were to put in the plant. He said she
+left after tea with her maid and luggage for a journey in a motor. Not
+her own car. He thought it must have been one she hired from
+Wednesford. I have been round the garages, but no one from Redwithy has
+hired a car. That's why I am a bit late, sir."
+
+The chief turned to Ruxton, who was eagerly intent upon the man's
+information.
+
+"I sent him"--indicating the plain-clothes man--"as a heating expert
+from a well-known horticultural firm."
+
+Ruxton nodded.
+
+"You saw the butler--a foreigner?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Did you gather an--impression from him?"
+
+"He seemed straightforward and quite ready to talk, sir. I'm sure he
+knew nothing more, and seemed to believe what he said."
+
+"There's nothing else?"
+
+"No, sir, I think not. The place seemed all reg'lar. You see, sir, I've
+often 'ad to keep an eye on it when the lady's been away
+holiday-makin', and during the war. You see, she's a foreigner. So I
+know it pretty well, though it don't know me. One thing that struck me
+he was speaking truth was there was a tidy bunch of letters on a hall
+table. Might have been an accumulation."
+
+"Letters--ah." Ruxton turned to the chief. "I think you'd better come
+with me and look into things. Those letters. There should be an
+important telegram there--if----"
+
+He rose from his chair with a sickening fear at his heart. The chief
+dismissed his subordinate and waited for Ruxton to complete his remark.
+But as no completion was forthcoming he attempted one himself.
+
+"If there's been no trickery, sir."
+
+"If she went away of her own free will--that's what we've got to find
+out. Come along."
+
+Half an hour later Ruxton was addressing himself to the black-haired,
+sallow-faced Vassilitz, who was urbanity itself in the face of the
+chief of the Wednesford police.
+
+His story was exactly the same as he had told to the plain-clothes man,
+and no amount of cross-examination could elicit the smallest shadow of
+contradiction.
+
+Madame was frequently in the habit of going away suddenly and remaining
+away indefinite periods. But usually she used her own car, and rarely
+took her maid. Sometimes she said when she would be back; sometimes
+not. On this occasion she did not. No, she was unaccompanied except for
+her maid, Francella, Vassilitz's own sister. And she, Francella, had
+given him no information. Madame was very secret in her movements.
+Doubtless madame would return in due course, as she had always done. He
+hoped no accident had happened. He was devoted to madame, whom he had
+known all his life.
+
+Even the matter of letters in no way disconcerted him. They were all
+there on the hall table. But he appealed to the chief of police for
+authority to show them.
+
+The chief assumed the responsibility, and they were produced.
+
+They were examined carefully, and all but one telegram were duly handed
+back to the butler. The telegram was sequestered by the officer, but
+remained unopened.
+
+There was nothing more to be gained from Vassilitz, and the car rolled
+away. And as they went, Ruxton, in an agony of painful conviction,
+gazed sombrely back at the beautiful old Elizabethan structure in its
+perfect setting, which was the home of the woman he loved.
+
+He was aroused from his despairing contemplation by the voice of the
+officer beside him.
+
+"There's trickery afoot, sir," he said emphatically, "and I'll lay a
+month's salary that black-haired Vassilitz is in it."
+
+Ruxton turned sharply.
+
+"What makes you so convinced?" he enquired thickly.
+
+"Why, the letters. Every one of 'em has been opened. So has this
+telegram. Didn't you twig it, sir?"
+
+Ruxton confessed his oversight, and the officer beamed pleasant
+satisfaction.
+
+"That's where experience comes in, sir," he went on. "There never was a
+system of opening letters that couldn't be detected by those who know.
+I've made a study of it. Those letters have all been opened--all of
+'em. What about this telegram, sir?"
+
+"If it's mine, then the Princess has not left of her own free will. I'm
+afraid it's mine."
+
+"Princess, sir?"
+
+"Yes. She's the Princess von Hertzwohl!"
+
+The officer's face had become a study. He was impressed more deeply
+than ever.
+
+"Er--shall I open it, sir?" he hesitated.
+
+Ruxton nodded.
+
+"You may as well."
+
+The man tore it open and glanced at the contents. A flush spread over
+his already florid cheeks.
+
+"It's yours, sir," he said. Then he added in a low tone: "I'm--I'm
+sorry, sir."
+
+For answer he suddenly felt a forceful clutch on his arm.
+
+"The Princess has been kidnapped," cried Ruxton, in a voice deep with
+passionate intensity. "Do you understand? She was waiting at her house
+there for that message. Nothing but force would have caused her to
+leave it until she received that message."
+
+
+Ruxton's extreme dejection on his return to town was changed abruptly
+into even greater alarm.
+
+His secretary was nervously awaiting him. Nor could he restrain his
+impatience. Heathcote was in the hall when Ruxton's key turned in the
+lock. The young man held a long telegram in his hand and flourished it
+towards his employer the moment the door closed.
+
+"It's from Sir Andrew," he said. "There's trouble--trouble at Dorby."
+
+Ruxton snatched at the ominous paper and his eyes eagerly sought the
+boldly-written message.
+
+
+"Explosion here at 6 A. M. Drawing offices completely wrecked. Serious
+fire. Certain departments damaged and had narrow escape complete
+destruction.--Farlow."
+
+
+It was the second blow in a few hours. Ruxton was hit hard. He read
+into the message all the ominous facts which had been left unwritten.
+
+But in a moment he had been roused out of himself. The loss of the
+woman he loved had left him stunned in a curious degree. He had been
+attacked thereby through the sensitive organism which controlled all
+that belonged to the emotional side of the human heart. A terrible
+weight of depression had overwhelmed him for the moment. Now it was
+different. Here was a tangible attack. Here was something that left his
+heart untouched, but roused instead all the human fighting instinct
+which had lain dormant within him. There was no deadening apathy, there
+was no feeling of helplessness. He was alive, alert, and full of
+battle. So he prepared for a second night in succession to be spent on
+the railway.
+
+"I must go to Dorby to-night," he said briefly. Then he added, as he
+passed up-stairs to his library: "Get on to Scotland Yard and put me
+through."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+A MEANS OF ESCAPE
+
+
+In the valley of Bar-Leighton the climatic pendulum had swung again. A
+radiant sort of Indian summer seemed to have definitely set in. Now the
+sun was shining, and fleecy clouds swept along the bosom of a brisk
+southeasterly breeze.
+
+But the sinister genius of the place remained unchanging. It would have
+been optimism of a superlative order to claim that Prince von Berger
+ever really changed. For those in contact with him it was impossible to
+believe him capable of warmth or feeling. Even Ludwig von Salzinger,
+whose human feelings were of a grosser, baser type, regarded him as a
+mere mechanism, inspired by some brilliant detached evil genius. He had
+no love for him, contact with him depressed him, and his prevailing
+emotion was one of fear.
+
+Von Berger turned from the table at which he was sitting. He passed a
+long document across to Von Salzinger, who was standing before the log
+fire crackling in the great dining-room fireplace. The Prince had read
+it through from beginning to end. He had read it again, and then again,
+so that its contents had almost been committed to memory. Von Salzinger
+accepted it in a silence which was the effect of his superior's
+example. And, still following that example, he read it through with the
+closest attention. Meanwhile Von Berger's dispassionate gaze was turned
+upon the brilliant sunlight pouring in through the wide and lofty
+window, which opened out upon a vista of parkland and rolling grass.
+
+It was a written report from Johann Stryj, and it had been delivered
+that morning by hand.
+
+
+"By the time this report reaches your Excellency the completion of our
+plans of destruction will have been reached. They will have been put
+into operation. The drawing office, where all plans and designs are
+locked in a strong-room, has been a simple enough matter to arrange.
+One of our agents works in that department. The development there is
+timed for 6 A. M. on the morning you will receive this. It is
+certain--certain as anything human can be.
+
+"With regard to the docks and slipways there has been greater
+difficulty, infinitely more so, since these are under direct official
+control. However, we have seven agents amongst the operatives, and
+three of our different points of attack are under the immediate
+foremanship of Heuferman himself, upon whom I wish to report most
+favorably. The explosions here are to be synchronized with the others.
+
+"In the case of the other matter I have a less satisfactory report to
+make. Our man certainly landed somewhere on the coast in this region.
+He was certainly traced to one night's shelter at a certain house, of
+whose identity your Excellency is aware. The house was penetrated and
+searched, but the man had taken his departure. There is a possibility
+he has made his way to London, and our agents there are using every
+endeavor to trace him. I have as yet received no report from them. My
+own impression, not based upon evidence, is that he is concealed in our
+own neighborhood. If this be so I hope later to have a good report to
+make on the matter to your Excellency.
+
+"The movements of the Englishmen are simple to follow. They are both
+closely watched. The elder remains here attendant upon the work of
+construction. He is in our hands at any moment, at your Excellency's
+commands. The younger, too, can be dealt with effectually. He passes
+frequently between here and London, and at both ends, and on the
+journey, he is closely observed. It has now been ascertained that he is
+working with Scotland Yard in the interests of the woman. But on the
+result of this combination I have instructed the man on the spot to
+report himself directly to your Excellency, in accordance with your
+orders. I understand, however, and would call your Excellency's
+attention--most earnest attention--to the matter that three of our men
+in that neighborhood are closely shadowed by men from Scotland Yard.
+Consequently their services are denied us. These men can be relied on,
+of course, to give no information, but it points the energy behind the
+search for the woman and the direction of the suspicions aroused.
+
+"My next report to your Excellency I hope will be on the result of our
+endeavors here.
+
+"Your obedient servant,
+  "K 1."
+
+
+Von Salzinger raised his eyes from the paper. They encountered the
+profile of the Prince. He regarded it for some moments without
+friendliness. Then he changed his expression to one of official
+cordiality.
+
+"Stryj is a capable man," he hazarded.
+
+The reply came without a change in the direction of the Prince's gaze.
+
+"He seems successful in the things of lesser importance. Von Hertzwohl
+has slipped through his fingers. He may be capable. We shall see. But
+we want the--body--of Von Hertzwohl. This man has made no attempt to
+communicate with his daughter--yet. Do you know what that means? I
+doubt if you do. It means that your first visit to her alarmed them. It
+warned the Prince, through this man Farlow, that there was danger. You,
+with your attempt at liaison, are responsible for that. Perhaps that
+will appeal to your--imagination. Herr von Salzinger, you have made two
+mistakes. The second is more serious than the first. If we do not
+secure the person of this man you will be recalled to Germany."
+
+The calmness with which he spoke robbed his words of none of their
+significance. With his final pronouncement his cold eyes were turned
+full upon his companion, searching his gross face with a glance of
+inflexible resolve.
+
+Von Salzinger's spirit was tame. But the lash and unjust condemnation
+goaded him.
+
+"Discipline must be observed, Excellency," he said, with a thickness
+which warned the other of the effect of his words. "If I am recalled,
+then I must obey. But it is the authority in Berlin which is to blame
+for his escape. I came here to track this other, Farlow, and the work
+at his yards. Von Hertzwohl was still in the Baltic when I visited the
+Princess. There was no suggestion at the time that the Berlin authority
+would be sufficiently blundering to permit his escape. It would be more
+just to find the scapegoat amongst those who were responsible in
+Berlin. I submit that this matter was in your department, Excellency,
+of which you are the sole head."
+
+Von Berger's reply came with a flicker of the eyelids.
+
+"Those who are responsible for acts which jeopardize the ends of the
+Fatherland will reap the consequent punishment--whoever they be. No
+distinction will be made. That is the discipline of our country, Herr
+von Salzinger." Then he pointed to a chair.
+
+The other accepted the silent order. But it was with an ill grace. Von
+Salzinger, for all his discipline, was no weakling. At that moment he
+was ready to rebel against the iron rod which Von Berger wielded. It
+would have required but one more sting to set the man's headstrong
+passions loose, whatever, in the end, it might have cost him.
+
+But the Prince was alive to the danger signal. His understanding of
+human nature was something more than a study--it was an instinct. A
+secret purpose lay behind his charge. The value of the terror of
+authority upon a Prussian subject was well understood by him, and none
+knew better than he that rank and position afforded no emancipation
+from its peculiar claims. The danger signal, however, warned him that
+in the present case he was dealing with a man of hot passion and
+physical bravery. To gain full effect for his charge he must not
+jeopardize his purpose by risking an outbreak of passion. The effect
+would come after Von Salzinger's private reflection through the inborn
+discipline that was his.
+
+The two men sat facing each other. The truculent regard of Von
+Salzinger would not be denied. But Von Berger gave no sign. He was
+entirely master of himself as always, just as he knew he was master of
+the position at the moment, and of this man.
+
+"That which has happened to us is a greater disaster than the defeat of
+our armies could have been," he said slowly. "You, as well as everybody
+else, must realize this. If you do not you must be made to. That is why
+I have talked plainly. That is why you have indiscreetly permitted your
+anger to get the better of you. Now you must listen to me while I show
+you how we can achieve that which Berlin has failed to do, and which
+this man Stryj has failed to do. I mean lay our hands upon Prince von
+Hertzwohl. The woman up-stairs has been condemned to death."
+
+"To--death?"
+
+The square figure of Von Salzinger was erect, and his eyes were alight
+with a horror unusual to him. Then his feelings subsided under
+incredulity. "But that is a threat--merely."
+
+Von Berger shook his head.
+
+"It is a reality. She will die, if we do not get her father. It is part
+of my plan for trapping him. The news of her death will be whispered
+through certain channels which we know will convey it to him--wherever
+he be. Listen, this is the plan, and this is the work which will be
+assigned to you."
+
+Half an hour later the Prince rose from his chair and crossed to the
+window. He stood with his back towards his companion. He had talked
+long and earnestly in his cold, even voice. Now he waited.
+
+"Well?" he said at last without looking round at the still recumbent
+figure behind him. "That is the duty allotted to you. You accept the
+position?"
+
+For answer Von Salzinger sprang to his feet. His face was purple with
+shame. The diabolical nature of the plan had sunk deeply into the
+half-savage heart of the man and found some small grains of genuine
+manhood there. Even he was revolted, and the habit of discipline
+tottered and crumpled.
+
+"No! By God, no!" he cried, with a savage clenching of the fists.
+
+Von Berger remained gazing out at the autumn scene.
+
+"Think again."
+
+But no answer was forthcoming. Von Salzinger's attitude remained, only
+now it seemed as if his clenching fists were a threat to the man at the
+window.
+
+"Think again, Herr von Salzinger. Berlin gives no second chance."
+
+The frigidity of the words became a threat that was insupportable. Von
+Salzinger was a Prussian. Self-preservation counted with him before all
+things. He saw every hope that had ever been his slipping from his
+tenacious grasp. To refuse--to refuse. He knew all it meant. He must
+accept or--kill this man.
+
+His clenching fists relaxed.
+
+"Very good, Excellency. If those are my orders I must execute them."
+
+"Those are your orders."
+
+Von Berger had turned about, and Von Salzinger beheld that terrible
+gleam in his eyes which Vita had once so painfully witnessed.
+
+
+Von Salzinger spent a bad evening with himself, and a worse night.
+
+Curiously enough this man regarded himself as not only a man of honor,
+but chivalrous towards women. How he arrived at the latter conclusion
+was one of those miracles of psychology which are beyond the
+understanding of the human mind. To him woman was weaker than the man
+whose plaything she was set on earth to become. Man's will must be her
+law. She possessed no rights of her own. Man's strength to enforce his
+will on all weaker vessels was the only right he could understand. Then
+woman, in the nature of things, must be intended as his plaything.
+
+But Von Salzinger drew the line hard and fast at the limits of this
+understanding. Woman must be protected from physical harm and
+discomfort by the man whose plaything she became. As soon would he deem
+it right to treat ill any other of those things in life which gave him
+pleasure. As soon would he expect to see a child tear and rend its
+favorite toy. Woman must be cared for, woman must be sheltered from the
+buffets of life outside her own little life. She must be indulged in
+the feminine luxuries and pastimes. Any other course he believed would
+be an exhibition of brutality by no means in keeping with the boasted
+Kultur of his people. The moral and spiritual side of the woman was
+something which failed entirely to enter into his comprehension. In the
+moral and spiritual side of life she had no place--no place whatever.
+
+The plan of Von Berger, and the cruel nature of the work assigned to
+him, had outraged all his ideas of his peculiar form of chivalry. To
+condemn Vita to death, and wilfully carry out the sentence, failing the
+success of their plans, was an unthinkable and useless cruelty which he
+felt he could not take part in. Brutality had here exceeded itself.
+
+So he endured a painful and troubled night as he revolved in his mind
+the diabolical scheme which Von Berger had unfolded to him.
+
+He contemplated disobedience. Yes, he contemplated defying the terrible
+power which Von Berger wielded so ruthlessly. But the consequence of
+such defiance left him panic-stricken, albeit unconvinced. He searched
+for a way out. But every mode of egress seemed barred to him. Every one
+except---- She was so very, very beautiful.
+
+A tempting thought possessed him, and surged through the thickly
+flowing channels of the animal in him. The temptation grew and grew,
+and, with each passing hour, it more surely took possession of all that
+was most obstinate in him. He was yielding to it. He knew. He left Von
+Berger out of his calculations, he left all thoughts of the purposes of
+his Government out and thought only of himself, and this new temptation
+which dangled before his greedy eyes. Should he yield to the temptation?
+
+His mind went back again of a sudden to the man, Von Berger, whom he
+knew he hated as much as he feared. It seemed so hopeless to oppose
+him, hopeless to oppose Berlin. Yet he felt he ought to. Then his
+thoughts flew again to Vita, and conjured visions of her perfect
+charms--and so he fell asleep.
+
+
+Vita's days and nights had become one long nightmare of terror. The
+terror for herself had undermined all her confidence for her father,
+and in her lover's ability to succor. The hours of racking thought
+since learning the fate awaiting herself left her beautiful face drawn,
+and her spirit bowed and crushed. There was no hope anywhere.
+
+From the moment she had first recognized Frederick von Berger, a dreary
+hopelessness had set in, and now she knew that her worst apprehensions
+were to be more than fulfilled. She knew something of the machinery he
+controlled, and she knew how hopeless it was that Ruxton, with all his
+manhood and confidence, could ever hope to contend with it and defeat
+it. Her father, she knew, would be hunted down and--punished. While
+she--she must inevitably fall a victim of the sentence passed upon her
+here in this desolate, secret prison.
+
+The torture she endured was insupportable. Every moment of the day she
+was watched either by the hard-faced matron of the place, or by her own
+maid, Francella. She had railed at the latter for her cruel perfidy,
+she had appealed to the former. But in neither case had she elicited
+the smallest spark of sympathy.
+
+The matron had merely shrugged her broad shoulders.
+
+"You would sell our Fatherland to an enemy. You are not fit to live,"
+she had said, with a coldness which none can display more effectively
+than a woman.
+
+In Francella she met only the heartless cruelty of a servant who finds
+it in her power to rend a late mistress.
+
+"Some day I take my children to the grave of the woman who would have
+betrayed our country, and I make them spit upon it."
+
+So Vita was left to nurse her terror in the awful solitude and silence
+of the splendid halls of this isolated mansion.
+
+How long she might have borne it and retained sanity is doubtful. It
+surely could not have been long. With the smallest gleam of sympathy it
+might have been possible to endure. But there was no sympathy. The
+gloom of her outlook from her windows, the awesome grandeur of her
+rooms, the cold antagonism of those who waited upon her as prison
+warders,--all these things aggravated her trouble, just as they were
+calculated to aggravate.
+
+Then in the very depths of her despairing misery there suddenly shone
+out a vague, flickering light of hope. It was no less than a stealthy
+and secret visit from Ludwig von Salzinger. It came in the night. Vita
+had abandoned sleeping at night fearing lest the murder would be
+committed during the hours of darkness. She had allowed her imagination
+to run riot till she almost came to fear her own shadow.
+
+She was sitting in an upright chair. She was gazing straight before her
+with eyes staring upon the door. Such was her terror of the night that
+she had been reduced to this impotent watching. Her thought was
+teeming, going over and over again every horrible fancy a distorted
+brain could conjure. Then suddenly, in the midst of it all, she
+started. Her straining eyes dilated. She leapt from her seat and sprang
+behind her chair, grasping its back, prepared to defend herself. The
+door was slowly and silently opening.
+
+Widely ajar it stopped. The next instant a head was thrust round it, a
+square head with a shock of close-cut hair. The woman breathed a sigh,
+but remained ready to defend herself. She had recognized Ludwig von
+Salzinger.
+
+The man recognized her attitude, and signed to her to remain silent.
+His warning had instant effect. Vita drew another sigh, and her grip
+upon the chair-back relaxed. With eyes wide with doubt and fear she
+watched the man's movements. They were stealthy and secret.
+
+He thrust the door further open. Quickly and silently he stepped into
+the room. Then, with the door still ajar, he gazed back cautiously down
+the corridor beyond, in both directions. Having satisfied himself he
+closed the door with the greatest care and came towards her.
+
+"If you speak," he whispered, "don't raise your voice, or--we shall be
+overheard."
+
+"What have you come for?" demanded Vita, nevertheless obedient to his
+caution.
+
+The man's brows went up and his eyes were urgent.
+
+"Why, to get you out of this," he said quickly. "Do you think I can
+stand by while that devil Von Berger does you, a woman, to death? You,
+the woman I love--have always loved? God! I hate that man," he added,
+and an unmistakable ring of truth sounded in his final words. "Look
+here, Vita, I'm part of this diabolical machinery, I know; I can't help
+it; but to submit to the murder of a woman--you--God! I can't do it--if
+it costs me my own life. Oh, yes, I know what you'll think. You know
+the discipline. You know that I was forced into assisting in bringing
+you here, under orders I dared not disobey. I know all that, and you
+must think of me as you will, but I love you--madly--and I'll not
+consent to anything that threatens your life. I tell you, I've done
+with it all--all--our country. I'm going to get out of it all and flee
+to America, and--take you with me. You'll come with me? Say you'll come
+with me, and together we'll outwit this devil of a man. You've done
+nothing, nothing on earth to warrant the punishment he's preparing for
+you. Your father--that's different. But you--you--oh, it's horrible.
+Ach! I could kill that man when I think of it, and all he has said to
+me yesterday of his devil's plans."
+
+While he was speaking it seemed to Vita that it must be some angel
+talking disguised in the angular, hard exterior of this Prussian. Every
+nerve in her body which had been so straining seemed suddenly to have
+relaxed. It seemed as though years of suffering had been suddenly
+lifted from her poor tortured brain. She recalled how from the
+beginning she had thought that if hope there were for her it must lie
+in this very Von Salzinger who had been disgraced through her father's
+and her agency. She gazed upon him now in wonder, and was half inclined
+to weep with gratitude and relief.
+
+But she restrained herself. And quite suddenly she remembered something
+else. She remembered the man who claimed her love, and she remembered
+the love this man was now offering her. The relief of the moment
+changed to doubt, and, finally, to a renewed despair.
+
+There was only one course open to her, and she adopted it frankly and
+without restraint. She shook her head.
+
+"I--honor you for the sacrifice you would make, but I'm afraid it's
+useless. Besides, I feel it would be impossible to defeat these people.
+I must tell you, and by doing so I may lose forever your good-will. I
+do not love you. All the love I have to give has passed from my
+keeping----"
+
+"Ruxton Farlow." There was a sharp, brutal ruthlessness in the manner
+in which Von Salzinger broke in.
+
+Vita shrank at the tone.
+
+"Yes," she said. "I love Ruxton Farlow, and have pledged myself to be
+his wife."
+
+"Wife?" There was a smile in the man's eyes which did not conceal his
+jealous passion. "What chance have you of becoming his wife? None.
+There is only one chance--your escape from here. Your escape from here
+can only be contrived by me. Am I--I going to risk my life, and all my
+future, to hand over the woman I love to--Ruxton Farlow? Vita, I am
+only a man--a mere human man. I will risk all for you. I will dare even
+the vengeance of Von Berger if you but promise me. But no power on
+earth can make me stir a hand to deliver up all I care for in the world
+to--Ruxton Farlow."
+
+The frank, ruthless honesty of the man's denial was not without its
+appeal to Vita. She even smiled a faint, gentle smile.
+
+"It is as I said--useless. It is only as I could have expected. I could
+not hope it would be otherwise. I love Ruxton Farlow."
+
+"Whom you can never hope to see again." Again came that savage
+crudeness of method which Vita recognized as part of the man. Then his
+eyes lit with a deep, primitive passion. "Oh, yes, I must seem brutal,
+a devil, like that Von Berger. Maybe I am, but I can see plain sense.
+In less than a week you will die here, murdered. How, I can only guess
+at. Von Berger knows no mercy. Your father is surrounded at Dorby, and
+will suffer a similar fate. All your plans and schemes will be
+frustrated. The works at Dorby are even now destroyed. There is no
+power on earth that can give you to this man you say you love. Well? Is
+not life still sweet to you? Is not your father's escape also something
+to you? I tell you I can contrive these things. All I ask is that you
+will marry me. Your solemn pledge. I love you, and will teach you to
+love me and forget this Englishman. It is madness to refuse. It is your
+one single chance of life, and you would fling it away for a shadow, a
+dream which can never be realized."
+
+There was something in the man's manner which appealed to Vita. Perhaps
+it was the rugged brutality of his force. The repugnance in which she
+had held him had lessened. To her his genuineness was unmistakable. And
+he was honest enough to make no claim to generosity in the course he
+was prepared to adopt at her bidding.
+
+Von Salzinger saw something of the effect he had achieved upon her and
+resolutely thrust home the advantage.
+
+"Vita," he said, lowering his voice still more, but losing nothing of
+the urgency of his manner, "I have a plan whereby I can save you
+both--your father and you. Think of him, that great, but misguided man,
+who has lavished a world of affection upon you, and to whom you are
+more than devoted. Can you let him die? Think how he will die under Von
+Berger's hands. I tell you, Vita, better endure the agony of death at
+the hands of a common murderer a hundred times than be left at the
+mercy of that man. Even the torture of the old Inquisition might be
+preferable. He has neither soul nor conscience. And what does it mean
+to achieve this safety for you both? It means the sacrifice of your
+love for this Englishman. God! Is it so great a sacrifice when it can
+never be fulfilled? A passing dream which must end in the tragedy of
+your murder. You say you have no love. I ask for none. That will come.
+I will teach you a love which this Englishman could never have
+inspired. And I can give you back your life, and your father's life, in
+the great country across the Atlantic. Every detail of my plans are
+complete, but it must be now or never. Do you still refuse? Do you
+still desire to sacrifice your father to this selfish dream which can
+never be fulfilled?"
+
+The woman's eyes were yearning. A great struggle looked out of their
+grey depths into the passion-lit eyes of the man. The hope, oh, the
+hope of it all! But the price was the price of all that a woman looks
+forward to in life.
+
+"Do you swear to me that my father shall be saved?" she demanded, in a
+low tone which thrilled to jubilance every sense in the man's body.
+
+He flung out his arms.
+
+"He shall leave this country with you. The fulfillment of your solemn
+word shall not be required of you till you are both safe across the
+water. If we fail--then you have sacrificed nothing. Can I say fairer?
+Can you doubt my honesty of purpose after that? Ach! it maddens me with
+alarm and impatience to see you hesitate. For you it is safety--life.
+For me I risk all--everything--for a wife who has no love to give me.
+If I fail your present lot is nothing to what mine will be. If I hate
+Von Berger he has no love for me, and--he is not human."
+
+But still Vita hesitated. It was not that she doubted this man, though
+she knew she had little enough reason to trust him. It was the love for
+the man of her choice holding and claiming her. She strove to set it
+aside. She tried to apply reason. But it would not be denied, and it
+elbowed reason at every turn.
+
+What was life without this love of hers? No, it was nothing. Would it
+matter if death came upon her and left her cold? No. It would even be
+preferable to the life of terrible regret which Von Salzinger offered
+her. Her father--she caught her breath. It was the one thought which
+her love could not thrust aside. It was in her power to save him--if
+she would.
+
+The struggle went on. It shone in her eyes, it was displayed in the
+panting rise and fall of her bosom. The appeal of it was too great. To
+leave him to his fate would be the vilest selfishness. This man had
+promised that he should leave the country with them--before she became
+his wife.
+
+She looked up. A burning excitement shone in her eyes.
+
+"Can you communicate with my father?" she asked.
+
+The man shook his head.
+
+"Then how can you--save him?" she demanded sharply. "I do not know
+where he is, and if I did wild horses would not drag his whereabouts
+from me--even for the purpose of saving his life."
+
+But her words did not offend.
+
+"You do not trust me," returned the man, with a tolerant shake of the
+head. "I cannot blame you either. I must prove my sincerity--later.
+Meanwhile the matter is simple enough. Give me your solemn pledge that
+you will become my wife as soon as we safely land across the water,
+you, your father and me. Then I will show you."
+
+For another few silent moments the struggle in Vita's heart went on.
+Now it was a struggle of doubt and credulity. All other feeling had
+yielded in that earlier struggle. Dare she trust this man? Dare she?
+But he was asking nothing until their safety had been assured. His
+seemed the greater risk, unless this were some diabolical plot with his
+superior, Von Berger. She could not reason it out. Reason was beyond
+her. Her father's safety lay in the balance. She forgot self for the
+time. So she thrust her finger upon the scale.
+
+"I solemnly pledge myself under the conditions you name," she said in
+low tones.
+
+The joy in the man's hard eyes was unmistakable, and Vita, witnessing
+it, understood that it was real, genuine.
+
+"Then listen," he cried. "Communication with your father will be simple
+and safe. We do not need his whereabouts. I will dictate a letter to
+you--a letter of our plans and instructions. We will beat Von Berger at
+his own game, and once we are in America we can snap our fingers at the
+whole race. I will tell you now Von Berger threatened me yesterday
+again. He it was who deprived me of my command at Borga. He it was who
+superseded me over here. He it is who has given me the life of a cur
+ever since. Now I shall pay him in a way he little suspects. I will
+dictate this letter for you, Vita, and when it is written you will
+address it to your father and enclose it under cover to Sir Andrew
+Farlow at Dorby Towers. He will see that it reaches your father. You
+will see how sure is my plan. No matter into whose hands that letter
+falls it cannot betray his whereabouts to any one."
+
+And Vita was finally convinced. She was making her sacrifice for the
+life and liberty of her father, and through all the pains and
+hopelessness of yielding up her love for Ruxton she had the wholly
+inadequate assurance that, whatever it cost her, it was her simple duty
+for which even Ruxton himself would never blame her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+THE WRECK AT DORBY
+
+
+A small group of people stood surveying the wreck of one of the great
+construction docks in the Dorby yards. Prominent among them were Sir
+Andrew Farlow and his son. They were standing beside a naval officer of
+considerable rank. A number of naval uniforms stood out from the rest
+of the civilians; but these were of lesser degree.
+
+The sky was heavily overcast. A light, penetrating drizzle of rain was
+falling. Somehow these things seemed to add to the sense of destruction
+prevailing.
+
+The corrugated iron roof--thousands of square feet of it--was lying
+tumbled and torn upon a tangle of fallen steel girders. Great slabs of
+ferro-concrete walls loomed grey amidst the chaos. Steel stanchions of
+great height and strength, used to support the roofing, lay about, bent
+or broken, like so much lead piping. The mass of wreckage was
+stupendous, and through it all, and beyond it, towards the water's
+edge, the rigid steel ribs of twin vessels stood up defiantly, as
+though indifferent to the fierce upheaval which had wrecked their
+cradles.
+
+Ruxton pointed at the latter.
+
+"They've wrecked everything but what they set out to wreck."
+
+He had voiced a general thought. There was no answer to his comment.
+The naval commander displayed his feelings in the almost childlike
+regret in his eyes. The wrecking of anything in the shape of sea craft
+smote him to the heart. It was no question of values to him. The sea
+and all that belonged to it were the precious things of life to him.
+Sir Andrew frowned down upon the scene. His strong Yorkshire features
+were sternly set.
+
+"It means two weeks' delay. That is all." Sir Andrew's words were the
+outcome of his resolve.
+
+"All of that," said the commander. "It's curious," he reflected. "It
+suggests inexperience or--great hurry. What of the offices?"
+
+"You mean the drawing office?" Sir Andrew's lips set grimly as he
+glanced in Ruxton's direction.
+
+"Burnt to a cinder and scattered to the four winds." Ruxton emitted a
+sound like a laugh deprived of all mirth.
+
+"The drawings?" The commander's eyes were gravely enquiring.
+
+"Not a drawing or tracing saved. Not a single working plan. Complete.
+Oh, yes, complete. But----"
+
+"But?" The concern had deepened in the officer's eyes.
+
+Ruxton shrugged.
+
+"We have duplicates and triplicates of everything, besides the
+originals. They must take us for babes or--imbeciles."
+
+The officer was relieved. He even smiled.
+
+"A good many do that. Well, they have told us their intentions pretty
+plainly. They'll get no second opportunity unless they've a staff of
+miracle workers. Shall you be present at the enquiry this afternoon,
+Sir Andrew?"
+
+Sir Andrew signified assent. Then he asked:
+
+"What about the inquest?"
+
+"To-morrow morning," one of his own staff informed him.
+
+"Four deaths. Seven injured." It was the officer again who spoke. "Two
+of them my men. The others operatives. One of the injured is believed
+to be a foreigner. If he is fit to give evidence it may be interesting."
+
+The talk ceased. There was nothing more to be said. The wrecking was
+complete. No further talk could serve them.
+
+Presently Sir Andrew moved away. His resentment outweighed his regrets.
+Ruxton followed him. He displayed no emotion at the ruin which had been
+caused. The loss of life he endeavored to thrust out of his mind. Nor
+was it difficult, for, in spite of the seriousness of the calamity, it
+was incomparable with the calamity which had come near to breaking his
+heart.
+
+The officer remained where he was. His duty lay there in the work under
+his guardianship. He knew well enough he was not likely to escape the
+official verdict of "slackness."
+
+Ruxton followed his father into the waiting car. In a moment they were
+threading their way through a labyrinth of unkempt buildings, all of
+which concealed a teeming activity and laboring life. The lanes were
+narrow, winding and unpaved. The car was forever crossing and
+recrossing the metal track of a light railway amongst strings of trucks
+and snorting locomotives. On every hand came the din of moving
+machinery. Then frequently they were held up by slow-moving horse
+vehicles.
+
+The yards at Dorby were in full work. In spite of the wrecking, work
+went on just the same. There was no general dislocation. The phenomenon
+was typical of the hard-headed northern worker, and the sureness of the
+steady control of the great enterprise. Every unit of that great army
+of workers went through the daily routine with one eye upon the
+time-sheet, and the other upon the privileges which his union bestowed
+upon him. For the rest, his personal concerns only began when the steam
+siren sounded the completion of his day's work.
+
+In the privacy of the offices, just within the gates of the yards,
+Ruxton and his father were at liberty to talk more freely. Yet for some
+minutes after their arrival their inclination kept them silent. Each
+was thinking on the lines which appealed most. Ruxton was not thinking
+of Dorby at all.
+
+Sir Andrew was standing squarely upon the skin rug, with his back to
+the fire. More than ever he assumed the likeness to a pictorial John
+Bull. Even the somewhat old-fashioned morning-coat he wore added to the
+resemblance. Ruxton had flung himself into a large easy-chair. The room
+was lofty and luxurious. Nor was its fashion extremely modern. It
+savored of mid-Victorian days, when luxury in the office of a
+commercial magnate was first brought to its perfection.
+
+The rain had increased, and, beyond the lofty windows, it was now
+steadily teeming. Sir Andrew was the first to speak.
+
+"I'm trying to fathom the significance of it," he said, a little
+helplessly.
+
+Ruxton's dark eyes withdrew from the window.
+
+"Don't," he said. Then he added: "It's not worth it."
+
+His father's shrewd eyes regarded him speculatively.
+
+"Not worth it? How?"
+
+"Why, because you will discover it, and it will have been trouble for
+nothing."
+
+"I don't understand."
+
+"It is simple. There is only one meaning to it. Terror."
+
+In spite of the old man's disturbance his eyes twinkled.
+
+"They'll achieve precious little of that. If that's all----"
+
+"Exactly, Dad. Purposeless destruction is a fetish of this people.
+Their psychology has an abnormal belief in terror. They judge everybody
+the same. You have seen it in a hundred ways. Except for this they are
+anything but fools. But in this they are almost childlike. They know
+they cannot stop the work in these yards. They know if they destroy a
+dozen sets of plans there will still be more forthcoming. They know all
+this, and are childishly, impotently furious. Their first thought is
+revenge, and then terrorizing. They think they can frighten us into
+abandoning the work, perhaps. I don't know. There is one thing certain:
+speculation on the matter is waste of your valuable efforts. Sparling
+is right; they have shown their hand. They will get no second chance on
+the same lines. They have achieved two weeks' delay. That is all they
+have achieved--here."
+
+"Here?"
+
+"Yes. I haven't had an opportunity of telling you before." Ruxton
+paused. A storm had gathered in his deep eyes. His fair, even brows
+were drawn. His father noted a sudden fullness in the veins at his
+temples. Then, in the midst of the affairs of the moment, he remembered
+his son's hurried rush to town, and its purpose.
+
+Quite suddenly Ruxton leapt to his feet. He towered over the staunch
+figure of his father. His eyes had become hot and straining.
+
+"Yes, what they have achieved here is futile. But what they have done
+elsewhere is--damnable," he cried, with hardly repressed fury. "I feel
+as if I should go mad. I've thought and thought till I can no longer
+think connectedly upon the matter. I am lost; utterly lost; groping
+like a blind man. She has gone. She's been spirited away, stolen; and
+God alone knows what suffering and torture she may not even now be
+enduring. I told you revenge and terror are the motives of these
+people. Their plans have fallen into our hands, and we are availing
+ourselves of them. Remember, the secrets we possess are the most
+precious of all the German Government's plans. They cannot undo that
+mischief, so they turn to revenge, for which they have an infinite
+capacity. Who are they going to be revenged upon? Us? Yes, as far as
+possible. Even our own lives may be threatened. But more than all they
+intend to hurt Von Hertzwohl and--all belonging to him. They mean to
+kill him, and possibly the others. But first they will use his daughter
+to get at him. Do you see? She will be tortured until she delivers him
+into their hands, and then--God knows."
+
+He flung out his arms in a gesture of despair.
+
+His father's eyes deepened in their anxiety. But the set of his strong
+mouth became firmer.
+
+"Tell me just what has happened." The demand spoken so quietly had the
+effect desired.
+
+Ruxton pulled himself together. His father watched the return of
+control with satisfaction.
+
+He told the story of his journey to Wednesford calmly and quietly,
+without missing a detail. Sir Andrew listened closely, the seriousness
+of his attitude deepening with every fresh detail which pointed the
+certainty of foul play. At the conclusion of the story he was as
+gravely apprehensive as the other, and his sympathy for his boy's
+heart-broken condition was from the depths of his devoted heart.
+
+"I've got the best Scotland Yard can supply working for us, and each
+man has been offered fabulous rewards if he can ascertain her
+whereabouts. So far I have no news; no hope. Dad, I love Vita so that
+this thing has nearly set me crazy. I tell you I must find her. I must
+save her from these devils, or----"
+
+"Have you seen Von Hertzwohl?"
+
+Ruxton started. His drawn face and straining eyes underwent a complete
+change at the simple enquiry from his father.
+
+"No. I----"
+
+"It seems to me if their object is to get at him it should not be
+impossible that a clue---- Besides, I sent a letter on to him, which
+came under cover addressed to me. That was the first thing this
+morning, just before you arrived. It was written in a woman's hand,
+and----"
+
+"God! Why didn't you speak of it before?" The demand was almost rough.
+Such was the rush of blind hope that suddenly surged through the
+younger man's heart.
+
+The father's eyes twinkled.
+
+"You had told me nothing. I knew nothing of the trouble."
+
+"Of course. I'm sorry, Dad." Ruxton's whole attitude had undergone a
+swift change.
+
+Now he was all eager hope, and strung to a pitch of desire for action.
+
+"I will go to him at once."
+
+"Now?" The old man shook his head. "You're too reckless, boy. Think it
+over carefully. Remember, Dorby is full of German agents. I should
+suggest to-night. I should suggest you adopt the garb of a worker.
+Ruxton Farlow visiting a working man's abode. It would be too inviting
+to our--enemies."
+
+"Dad, you're right--always right. Yes; to-night. You think it was a
+letter from her?"
+
+Sir Andrew shook his head.
+
+"I haven't an idea, boy," he said in his deliberate fashion. "How could
+I be expected to? The letter came, and I sent it on by hand. A
+perfectly trustworthy hand, under cover of a fresh address to Mr.
+Charles Smith. Now it's different. It seems it might be a--clue."
+
+"Might? Of course it is. There is only one woman who would write to
+him. But--why not have written to me?"
+
+The same thought had simultaneously occurred to the father, and, as it
+came, something of the lighter manner which had been steadily gathering
+died out of his shrewd eyes.
+
+
+It was a little yellow brick cottage, part of a terrace of a dozen or
+so, in a cul-de-sac, guarded at its entrance by a beer-house on one
+hand, and, on the other, a general shop. The brickwork was black with
+years of fog and soot, and the English climate. The front of it
+possessed three windows and a doorway, with a step that at rare
+intervals was tinted with a sort of yellow ochre. The windows were
+curtainless, and suggested years of uncleanliness in the inhabitants.
+
+The interior was little better. The owners of the place lived
+down-stairs. The two small rooms above were let to lodgers of the
+working class. One of the latter was employed in one of the shipyards.
+The other the poor housewife was doubtful about. He remained
+unemployed, and was a foreigner; but he paid his rent, and didn't seem
+to require her to do any cooking for him. Then he seemed fond of her
+dirty-faced children, of whom there seemed to be an endless string, who
+frequently invaded his quarters, and submitted him to an interminable
+catechism of childish enquiry.
+
+Otherwise the tall, lean workman with the hollow cheeks and luminous
+eyes was left to prosecute his apparently fruitless search for work
+unquestioned. Mrs. Clark was far too busy with her brood of offspring
+to concern herself with his affairs, a small mercy vouchsafed him, and
+for which he was duly thankful. Mr. Charles Smith by no means courted
+the intimacy of his neighbors, or his fellow-lodger; at the same time,
+he avoided exciting any suspicion.
+
+He had received a letter that morning. He had read it at once. It was
+written in German, but the address upon the outer envelope was in a
+bold English handwriting. After reading it he straightened up his
+meagre room in a preoccupied fashion. His big, foreign-looking eyes
+were more than usually reflective, and a curious pucker of thought had
+drawn his shaggy brows together. Then, as was his rule, he passed out
+of the house, greeting the ragged fragments of humanity, who owed--and
+rarely yielded--obedience to Mrs. Clark, in his friendly fashion, and
+set out on what appeared to be his daily pursuit of employment. He
+returned at noon.
+
+He read his letter again, and sat thinking about it until he was
+disturbed by one of the children. Then he again set forth. Nor did he
+return to his abode until darkness had closed in, and the army of small
+children had been bestowed for the night in their various nooks and
+corners of the lower premises.
+
+He lit the cheap oil lamp on his table, seated himself in the unstable
+old basket-chair beside his uninviting bed, and settled himself for a
+third perusal of his letter.
+
+It was a long letter, and it was signed "Vita." It was written in a
+striking feminine hand, which moulded the spidery German characters
+into something unusually strong and characteristic. He displayed a mild
+wonder that German characters supervened the signature. But the wonder
+passed as he read, lost in the gravity of alarm which steadily grew in
+his eyes as he turned each page.
+
+He paused during this third reading at several of the paragraphs. He
+reread them, as though he would penetrate the last fraction of their
+significance. And at each pause, at each rereading, his disquiet grew.
+
+That letter had a grave effect upon him. So much so that he forgot
+time, he forgot that he had yet to go out and seek food at some
+ham-and-beef shop, and that he was hungry. The final paragraph of the
+letter perhaps affected him most of all, and gave him an unease of
+heart which none of the rest could have done. It was a paragraph which
+opened up for his scrutiny the depths of a woman's soul in the first
+great rush of a passionate love. He had read this with deep emotion,
+and a great sympathy. And as he read it he felt something of the wrong
+which, through him and his efforts, was being inflicted upon the woman
+whom it was his paternal right to cherish and protect. Then, in the
+last lines of this outpouring, he received the final blow which brought
+him a realization. It was an example of the wonderful magnanimity and
+self-sacrifice of a woman's love. It was the renunciation of all her
+hopes and yearnings in the interests of the man upon whom she had
+bestowed the wealth and treasure of her woman's heart.
+
+He mechanically folded up the letter and returned it to an inner
+pocket. He rose with a sigh, and gazed about him uncertainly. The
+meaning of his sordid surroundings passed him by. His thoughts were on
+so many other things which filled his active faculties, leaving no room
+for the consideration of his own comforts. He even forgot that he had
+not eaten since noon. He extracted a sheet of paper from a small locked
+hand-grip, and set about writing a brief message--a message such as he
+had been asked for. He enclosed it in an envelope and addressed it to
+Redwithy Farm in Buckinghamshire.
+
+He had just completed his task when the stairs outside his door creaked
+under a heavy footfall. The next moment there was a knock at his door.
+
+Two minutes later Ruxton Farlow, clad in workman's clothes, occupied
+the protesting wicker-chair, while Prince von Hertzwohl contented
+himself with a seat upon the unyielding bed. The oil lamp shone dully
+upon the table and threw into dim relief two faces, whose strength and
+suggestion of mentality suited ill the quality of the clothes which
+covered the bodies beneath them.
+
+To Von Hertzwohl it was as though some miracle of a none too pleasant
+nature had been performed. In view of his letter from Vita, Ruxton
+Farlow was the last person he desired to see. On the other hand, he had
+been waiting anxiously to hear from him, or see him on the subject of
+the happenings at the yards, of which the whole town of Dorby had
+become aware.
+
+Ruxton had his own purpose in view, but the Prince gave him no
+opportunity of developing it at the first excitement of the meeting.
+
+"Tell me, Mr. Farlow. Tell me of it all," he cried, in his swift,
+impulsive way. "I have heard so much and know so little. I have lived
+through a fever since yesterday morning. I have listened to the wildest
+stories of conspiracies and plots. It is said, even, that your father's
+offices have been destroyed; that he has been injured. But I knew that
+was not right. You will tell me it all."
+
+Ruxton was reluctantly forced to abandon his own purpose for the
+moment. He even smiled in answer to the old man's wide, eager eyes.
+
+"They have started on us," he said, with quiet confidence. "Oh, yes,
+they have started. The purpose was well intentioned, but of childish
+inception and indifferent execution. They have delayed work for perhaps
+two weeks. They have become obsessed with the use of bombs, which was a
+disease during the war."
+
+"But the explosions--they were terrific. I heard them here, in this
+bed."
+
+"The German race can do nothing without bluster, and they seem to
+regard bluster as achievement. They destroyed the slipways of two of
+the new submersibles, with little damage to the vessels themselves.
+They have destroyed an office, and the working-plans therein. We have
+many others, and your originals are safely disposed. It is nothing. It
+is scarcely worth discussing."
+
+The old man shook his head--that wonderful head--which still fascinated
+the Englishman. The latter noted the added intellectuality of the face
+since it had been clean shaven. It was a splendid face.
+
+"No." There was an anxious light still lurking in the wide eyes of the
+inventor. "But it is the beginning. Only the beginning. Who knows what
+may happen next?"
+
+Ruxton threw up his head. His eyes were full of a world of pain and
+suffering. The change had been wrought by the man's last words.
+
+"That is it," he cried. "It is not the destruction at the yards. It is
+that which also they may do--which they have done. It is that which has
+brought me here now. I am nearly mad with anxiety and dread. I am
+thinking of your--daughter, sir. I can find no trace of her at her
+house, or elsewhere. She has gone, vanished, spirited away without a
+word to her--friends."
+
+The Prince's face became a study in bewilderment. His luminous eyes
+looked to have grown bigger than ever. He opened his lips to speak.
+Then he closed them. Then he fumbled in his pocket.
+
+"Since when has she----?"
+
+But he was not permitted to complete his question.
+
+"Since the day of your arrival here, sir," Ruxton cried. "I wired her a
+message, and it remained unanswered."
+
+"Tell me of it." The puzzled expression remained, but there was more
+confidence in the Prince's manner. He was grasping his folded letter in
+his hand. He had remembered its contents, and the promise it had
+demanded.
+
+Ruxton briefly told him of the search he had embarked on. He told of
+the services of Scotland Yard he had employed. And he told of the
+negative result of all his efforts. Then he broke out in the passionate
+pain of the strong soul within him. He told this father the simple
+story of his love. It was simple, and big, and strong. And the Prince,
+in the simplicity of his own soul, understood and approved.
+
+"I know. I have understood it, guessed it--what you will. I know, and
+it gives me happiness." He sighed nevertheless. It seemed to Ruxton as
+though his sigh were a denial. The grey head was inclined. His eyes
+were bent upon the letter in his hand. He seemed to be considering
+deeply. Suddenly he raised a pair of troubled eyes to Ruxton's.
+
+"But she is at home. She is at Redwithy. Our enemies have not laid
+hands upon her. She is not without her fears, but she is well, and
+unmolested in her home. I had this letter from her only this morning.
+It came through your father. It must have been written last night. So
+she was at Redwithy last night. See, here is the heading. It is her
+writing. I would know it in a thousand. There is a mistake. It must be
+a mistake."
+
+Ruxton had no answer for him. That which he saw and heard now was
+incredible. He half reached out to take the letter, but he drew back.
+He was burning to read and examine that letter, but the Prince gave no
+sign of yielding it up; and he knew, in spite of all his anxiety, he
+had no right to claim such a privilege.
+
+Perhaps Von Hertzwohl understood something of that which was passing in
+the younger man's mind. Perhaps the appeal to his sympathy was more
+than he could resist. He opened the letter. Then he folded it afresh so
+that the heading and the signature were alone visible. He held it out.
+
+"Look. You know her writing. There it is--and her signature."
+
+Ruxton leant forward eagerly. He examined the writing closely.
+Amazement grew in his eyes.
+
+"Yes," he said, as he sat back in his chair. "It is hers--undoubtedly."
+
+And he realized by the manner in which the father had displayed these
+things to him that it was his way of assuring him that he was not to be
+permitted to know the contents of the letter.
+
+In consequence, a silence fell between them. And each knew it was a
+silence of restraint. Ruxton was endeavoring to discover a possible
+reason for the Prince's attitude, and he felt that his reticence must
+be attributable to Vita's wish. If it were her wish there must be some
+vital reason. What reason could there be unless----? Was she avoiding
+him purposely? Was her absence from Redwithy her own doing? Was it that
+now, her work completed, she wished to----? A sweat broke out upon his
+broad forehead, and he stirred uneasily.
+
+Then, in the midst of his trouble, the other spoke, and his words
+helped to corroborate all his worst apprehension. The old man's words
+were gently spoken. They were full of a deep and sincere regret. But
+they were equally full of an irrevocable decision.
+
+"Mr. Farlow," he said, in his quaintly formal manner, "I must leave
+here. I must leave England. There is danger--great danger in my
+remaining. Oh, not for me," he went on, in response to a question in
+the other's eyes. "I do not care that for danger to my life." He
+flicked his fingers in the air. "Danger? It is the breath of life. No,
+it is not that. I am thinking of my friends. I am thinking of the
+project which is so dear to my heart--to my daughter's heart, as well
+as mine. My presence here can only add jeopardy to others. I can serve
+no purpose. I have your promise that the work will go on to its finish.
+It is all I can ask. And in that my services are not needed. I shall
+leave for some part of America. That is all."
+
+Ruxton's thoughtful eyes were searching. He was exercising great
+restraint.
+
+"Will you be safer in any other part of the world?"
+
+The other hesitated. The awkwardness of his excuses troubled him. He
+finally shrugged.
+
+"It is not for myself. This place is alive with spies searching for me.
+I know it. I--far more than the shipyards--am the magnet that draws
+them here. It is not good for the work. It is not good for you--or your
+father. Who knows----?"
+
+"How do you know they have traced you here?"
+
+The Prince's thin cheeks flushed.
+
+"I know it," he said, and the manner of his assertion warned Ruxton
+that it was useless to proceed further in the matter.
+
+He knew beyond a doubt that some influence was at work, the secret of
+which he was not to be admitted to. He knew beyond question that that
+secret had been communicated to her father in Vita's letter. He knew
+that it was something vital and pressing which she desired kept from
+him. What was it? For him there was only one explanation. For some
+incomprehensible reason she meant to abandon him. But was it
+incomprehensible? Was it? She was a woman--a beautiful, beautiful
+woman. There were other men, doubtless hundreds of men, who might
+possess greater attractions for her than he could ever hope to possess.
+And yet--no, he could not, would not believe it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+RUXTON ARRIVES AT A GREAT DECISION
+
+
+Ruxton spent another long day and night travelling. He reached London
+and Smith Square in a fog, which by no means helped to lighten his
+mood. He visited Scotland Yard, where he spent an hour in close
+consultation, and when he departed thence for Buckinghamshire he was
+accompanied by a prominent officer. He spent several hours at
+Wednesford and Redwithy, and finally returned again to town.
+
+His movements were made with a complete disregard for himself. Weary?
+Depressed and worn out, he admitted to himself he had no time for
+weariness. He was obsessed by one thought now, one thought which
+dominated all others. He had lost Vita. She seemed to be passing
+completely and finally out of his life.
+
+On his return to Smith Square he spent the long evening alone. He would
+see nobody. He would transact no business, and the faithful Heathcote
+was distressed, he even protested. But for once the usual amenability
+of his friend and employer was lost amidst a jarring irritability, and
+the secretary was forced to leave him to his ungracious solitude.
+
+During that long evening alone Ruxton endured a series of mental
+tortures such as only the imaginative can ever be called upon to
+endure. Every conceivable aspect of the situation arose before his
+mind's eye, clad in the drab of hopelessness, until it seemed there
+could be no possible place for one single gleam of promise. Many of
+these pictures were based upon the insidious doubts which never fail to
+attack those in the throes of a consuming passion such as his.
+
+At one moment he saw, in the disaster which had befallen him, the
+duplicity of a woman whose love has no depth, whose love is the mere
+superficial attraction of the moment, and which, under given
+conditions, can be flung aside as a thing of no consequence, no value.
+Following upon each such accusation came denial--simple, swift,
+emphatic denial, as he remembered the treasured moments in the little
+flat in Kensington; as he remembered the woman of the Yorkshire cliffs;
+the woman whose shining eyes had revealed the mother soul within her as
+she appealed for the great world of humanity with passionate denial of
+self. Doubts of her could not remain behind such memories. It was like
+doubting the rise of the morrow's sun.
+
+Then, too, the simplicity of his own loyalty, apart from all reason,
+denied for him. It was the simple psychology of the devoted Slav in him
+battling and defeating the more acrimonious and fault-finding nature of
+his insular forebears.
+
+There was reason enough for his doubts. He knew that. The steady
+balance of reason was markedly his, and once, after a feverish
+struggle, he allowed himself to give it play, and sought to review the
+case as might a prosecuting counsel.
+
+The salient points of the situation were so marked that they could not
+be missed. Vita had gone to Redwithy in a fever of anticipation, with
+assurances of devotion to him upon her beautiful lips, to await a
+message from him of her father's safety. That message is duly
+dispatched. It reaches its destination. It is opened by some one and
+carefully re-sealed. Vita sends no acknowledgment. Later it is
+discovered that Vita has left Redwithy, almost on the moment of her
+arrival at her home, since when she has not returned. Apparently her
+going is voluntary.
+
+On the face of it, it would appear that she has not received the
+message. But subsequently she proves, by writing to her father, that
+she is aware of his safe arrival, which is the news contained in his
+message. Furthermore, she addresses her letter from Redwithy, as though
+she desires him to communicate with her at that place. All these facts
+are so definite that the reasonable conclusion is that Vita has
+wilfully endeavored to hide herself from him--Ruxton.
+
+That, he told himself, was the cold logic of it.
+
+Then, even as he arrived at the conclusion, a hot passion of denial
+leapt. It was wrong, wrong. He could stake his soul on it it was wrong.
+Logic? Argument? Reason? They were all fallible; fallible as--as hell.
+Anyway, they were in this case, he moodily assured himself. Vita was
+above all such petty trickery. So contemptible a conclusion was an
+insult to a pure, brave, beautiful soul. It belonged to the gutter in
+which, he told himself, he was floundering.
+
+There must be another reply to every question which the evidence opened
+up. What was the other view of it? He leapt back at once to his first
+inspiration. Treachery--treachery of the enemy. His first prompting had
+been that Vita had fallen into their hands. How, then, could this be
+made to fit in with the letter Prince von Hertzwohl had received from
+his daughter? At the first consideration it seemed that such fitment
+became impossible.
+
+But he attacked it; he attacked it with all the vigor and imagination
+of a keen, resolute brain, backed by the passionate yearning of his
+soul. But dark mists of confusion obscured the light he sought--mists
+of confusion and seeming impossibility through which he must grope and
+flounder his way.
+
+For a long time there seemed no promise. A dozen times hope fell
+headlong and died the death. But with each rebuff he started afresh at
+the given point that--Vita was in enemy hands, whose will she was
+forced to obey.
+
+After long hours of defeat his efforts wearied. His power of
+concentration lessened. He found himself repeating over and over again
+his formula without advancing one single step. Bodily fatigue was
+helping to oppress his mental faculties. He was growing sleepy. Again
+and again he strove to rouse himself. But the net results of his effort
+was a continuation of the idiotic repetition of his formula.
+
+He was not really aware of these things. Mental and bodily weariness
+had completely supervened. Another few minutes and---- But something
+galvanized him into complete wakefulness. His weariness fell from him,
+and he started up in his chair alert--vigorously alert. By some
+extraordinary subconscious effort he had become aware that his formula
+had changed. He was no longer repeating it in full--only the latter
+portion of it: "Whose will she is forced to obey." And as he thought of
+them now the words rang with a new and powerful significance.
+
+It was the spark of light he had so long sought, and it had leapt out
+at him from amidst the deep mists of confusion.
+
+So it was that when eleven o'clock came, and the hall gong clanged
+below, Ruxton went himself to admit his visitor from Scotland Yard. His
+whole aspect had completely changed from the dispirited creature who
+had curtly refused to consider matters which Heathcote had placed
+before him some hours previously.
+
+Inspector Purdic was a smiling, dark man of athletic build and decided
+manner. He was by no means of senior rank in his profession. But his
+reputation was unique amongst his colleagues. It was said of him that
+his record could be divided into two parts, as everybody else's could,
+but with this difference: his failures came during his early days of
+inexperience, and could be marked off with a sharp line of division.
+Beneath that line was nothing but a list of successes.
+
+The officer's manner was deferential. He had had to deal with many men
+of considerable position. But this was the first time he had been
+brought into contact with a Cabinet Minister, even of junior rank.
+
+He felt that it was a fresh step up the ladder he had set for his own
+climbing. He had made his visit there late in the hope that the Cabinet
+Minister might be induced to give him a protracted and uninterrupted
+interview, and was pleasantly surprised at the manner in which his
+explanation was received.
+
+"You see, sir," he said, "it's always a difficulty with us, dealing
+with a busy public man. So I took a chance, because there's got to be a
+lot of close talk done."
+
+But Ruxton denied the need for apology.
+
+"As a matter of fact I'm glad you've called--now. If it had been
+earlier I should not have been so pleased." He laughed, and the smiling
+eyes of the officer noted the laugh carefully.
+
+"That's all right then, sir."
+
+The two men passed up-stairs to Ruxton's study, and, while he revelled
+in the enjoyment of one of his host's best cigars, Purdic bluntly set
+out the objects he sought in this late visit.
+
+"Now, Mr. Farlow," he began, "we've been on this thing some days now,
+and we're still groping around like a pair of babes in the wood. We've
+located a few bits. We've discovered certain suspicious circumstances,
+but nothing's led anywhere, and we're just as far off finding this
+Princess as if we were dodging icebergs up around the Pole. And do you
+know why, sir?"
+
+Ruxton was not without ideas on the subject, but he nevertheless shook
+his head.
+
+"No," he said. He was lounging in the chair which had claimed him
+nearly all the evening.
+
+The other cleared his throat.
+
+"Because you've set up a brick wall between me and the job you've set
+me at. The wall's high and thick, and it's plastered with Government
+political secrecy. You mustn't mind my speaking this way, sir. You see,
+you want certain work done, and I want to do it. But miracles don't
+concern me, and that's what you're asking of me, unless you break down
+that wall. With due respect, sir, it's no use asking men of my
+profession to disentangle a skein of fine thread and refuse to let 'em
+handle the skein. It can't be done; that's all."
+
+Ruxton nodded, and the man with the smiling face went on.
+
+"I want to know what lies behind, sir. That's what I've come here for
+to-night. You'll either tell me, or you won't. You are the best judge
+of what is at stake, and whether you are justified in disclosing
+secrets in the hope of discovering the whereabouts of the Princess. The
+question is, is the discovery of her worth the risk? From the moment I
+began on this I saw the direction things were taking. Now, this man
+Vassilitz is a foreigner. All the servants at Redwithy are foreigners.
+The lady herself is a foreign--princess. Her record during the war
+tells of her Polish origin. There were three Polands: Russian, Austrian
+and German. She claimed Russian, and was known by a Russian-sounding
+name. Her title sounds German. That's all the history of her I have
+got. But if I'm any judge there's a lot more, and in that additional
+history lies the secret of her present disappearance. Well, sir, that's
+my case, and I put it to you. If you cannot see your way to telling me
+anything more, I can hold out very little hope. I shall naturally
+continue to work the matter, but----"
+
+The man was still smiling his involuntary smile, which was due to a
+curious facial formation. Nor could Ruxton help realizing the perfect
+mask it became. But his demands were startling and a little
+disconcerting. He rose from his chair and began to pace the room, his
+preoccupation finding expression in the gnawing of one of his
+finger-nails.
+
+The other watched him through the veil of smoke which hung upon the
+warm air of the room. Finally he came to a halt on the rug before the
+fire.
+
+"Yes, it's political," he admitted. Then, with a curious upward jerk of
+his head, and a hot light in his dark eyes: "Damnably political--and
+secret."
+
+"Yes?"
+
+Ruxton laughed.
+
+"You want more; much more. You want it all." He shook his head. "But
+you can't have it. That's been the devil of it, eh? No, I can't tell
+you all you want to know. But I can tell you this much. It's your
+brains--our brains against all the arch-devilry of the German
+Government, backed by no less a person than the----"
+
+The detective gave a long, low whistle.
+
+"It's as serious as that?" He stirred in his chair.
+
+"Serious? It's likely to involve the death of anybody concerned. Not
+only the victims of these machinations, but of those who interfere on
+their behalf. There, that's all I can say of what lies behind, and you
+must be satisfied, or pretend to be. Meanwhile I can tell you something
+which is going to be helpful to us, which I couldn't have told you if
+you had paid your visit an hour or so earlier. I have discovered a
+means by which I fancy the Princess can be rescued from these German
+demons."
+
+Ruxton turned, and again flung himself into his chair. He was smiling
+with confidence and hope. The officer insinuated his chair nearer and
+waited. Every faculty was alert. The other took no notice of his
+movements. He was absorbed in his own thoughts. He had taken a great
+decision, and all his imaginative faculties were at work piecing
+together the pictured details.
+
+The officer coughed. The long pause was becoming too extended for his
+patience. Ruxton started. He looked round and smiled.
+
+"Listen to this," he said, "and tell me what you think."
+
+It was well past midnight when Detective-Inspector Purdic rose to take
+his departure. The automatic smile on his face had broadened
+noticeably, and Ruxton felt that now, at least, it was inspired. He,
+too, was smiling. His own decision had met with something more than
+approval from the professional. The man had caught something of the
+quiet daring of the brain which had been keen enough to penetrate the
+meaning of certain obscure signs, and reckless enough to evolve a plan
+of action which promised a possibility of defeating all the trickery
+against which they were pitted.
+
+Furthermore, the officer had been able to point certain vital matters,
+and offer suggestions in several directions of importance out of his
+long experience. Between them they had matured carefully, and placed in
+concrete form, a plan which, under any other conditions of a less grave
+nature, must have appeared the veriest of forlorn hopes, and which
+either of them would certainly have classed amongst the schemes of the
+most advanced cases confined within the four walls of a lunatic asylum.
+
+"I'm glad I came, sir," said the officer, in his blunt fashion. "I had
+my doubts about it. It didn't seem to offer much hope, seeing I was
+dealing with a Cabinet Minister who hadn't seen his way, so far, to
+opening out on official secrets of his own accord; and on that score, I
+admit, it was no use. But you've done better than that, sir. You've
+taught me something which twenty years of my own business wasn't able
+to teach me--and it's in my own line, too. I sort of feel, sir, some
+one's going to wake up with a horrid start, and--it won't be us.
+Good-night, sir, and thank you. I'll set everything in train without
+delay. I shall take the five men I mentioned with me when I go north
+to-morrow, and look to the local police for any other force we may
+need."
+
+"Good." Ruxton shook him by the hand. "I'll see to the other side of it
+in--my own way. Good-night, and thank you for coming."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+THE SWEETNESS OF LIFE
+
+
+Von Salzinger was in a bad mood. He was feeling the effects of close
+personal contact with the authority which he had been bred to
+acknowledge, to obey. In the abstract he admitted the right of it. In
+practice he had little enough complaint. But in personal contact with
+the administrators of it the tyranny became maddening. For once in his
+life he realized how far short of a free-acting, free-thinking being he
+really was, in spite of the considerable rank of Captain-General to
+which he had risen.
+
+He possessed all the dominating personality of his race, all the
+hectoring brutality of his fellow-Prussians. He had no difficulty in
+submitting to a system which he found pleasure in enforcing upon those
+who acknowledged his authority, but to endure the personal meting out
+of such discipline by Von Berger was maddeningly irritating. He felt
+that his association with the all-powerful intimate of the Emperor was
+nearing the breaking-point, and when that point was reached he knew
+that whatever breaking took place he was bound to be the chief sufferer.
+
+His irritation lasted all day. He had received a number of definite
+instructions, as though he were some insignificant underling. Von
+Berger had dictated his requirements. And Von Salzinger was galled,
+galled and furious. Nor was it until Von Berger had taken his departure
+that he felt he could again breathe freely.
+
+Then had come a letter by hand. It was a letter for Vita, who remained
+in his charge. But though he read the letter, carefully steaming it
+open and re-sealing it so that detection was well-nigh impossible, and
+its contents proved satisfactory, still his temper underwent little
+betterment.
+
+The day wore on filled with the many duties which Von Berger had
+demanded of him, and which he almost automatically fulfilled. He saw
+many callers. He held many consultations. He delivered many
+instructions in that harsh autocratic manner which he resented in Von
+Berger. But it was not until after he had dined amply in the evening,
+and his gastronomic senses had been indulged with an amplitude of good
+wine and savory fare, that he began to forget the glacial frigidity of
+the man who had power to reduce his own dominating personality to the
+level of an anaemic lackey.
+
+After dinner he moved out onto the terrace which fronted the
+dining-room. It was a splendid night with a bright full moon. It was
+chilly but refreshing, and Von Salzinger, whatever else his habits
+might be, loved the fresh air. He paced the broad walk under the moon,
+and every now and then his eyes were turned upon a distant portion of
+the upper part of the mansion, where shone the lights of Vita's
+apartments. At last he seemed to have decided some momentous matter,
+and returned within the house and flung aside the heavy overcoat he was
+enveloped in.
+
+The heaviness of his military figure was carefully toned under the
+perfect lines of his evening clothes. But the rigidity of his square
+shoulders and back would not be denied. Then, too, the shape of his
+head. He was Prussian, so Prussian, and every inch a soldier of the
+Hohenzollern dynasty.
+
+He made his way down the long corridors which led towards a distant
+wing of the house, and passed on up-stairs.
+
+
+Vita's days had become poignant with bitterness and self-reviling. But
+the despair in her grey eyes had lessened, and all the youthful beauty
+had returned to her cheeks. Her abject dread had given place to a
+condition of dreary hope which left her haunted only by the hideous
+memory of the price she had yet to pay.
+
+Her mood was one of self-abasement and self-loathing. She told herself
+that she was purchasing life, or the chance of it, with all that was
+best in her. Sacrifice? She had told herself that she was sacrificing
+her love for her father's life. It was so. She knew she would sacrifice
+anything to safeguard that. But as time passed, and her dejected mood
+gained ascendancy, she began to question her purpose with a deplorable
+cynicism that, in reality, was no part of her nature.
+
+She reminded herself of the cowardice she knew to be hers. How much of
+the sacrifice she asked was for her father, and how much for herself?
+Then came the self-castigation. She was afraid to die. She knew she was
+afraid. And, in utter self-contempt, she told herself she was flinging
+away the honest love of a man, of which she could never be worthy, as
+the price of her life. Yes, there was no denying the truth. She valued
+life--her miserable life--at a price greater than anything else. Her
+love? It was a poor thing. It was beneath contempt. She could sell
+herself to this brutal Prussian that she might live on to see the sun
+rise for a few more seasons, a few more miserable years of conscious
+existence.
+
+Such were her feelings as she sat before the cheerful blaze of the fire
+in her apartment. The evening had closed in, her evening meal had been
+brought her, and finally cleared away. She had no desire for
+occupation. There was only thought left her--painful, hideous thought.
+Everything had gone awry. All plans seemed to have miscarried. She, and
+her father, and her lover had been out-man[oe]uvred by the Prussian
+machine, and now, now there only remained a sordid struggle for life
+itself.
+
+But she was roused, as once before she had been roused, from the depths
+of her misery by the coming of the man whom she now knew her whole
+future life was bound to. She heard the door open and close. She did
+not turn from the contemplation of her fire. Why need she? It was one
+of her jailers. If it were the women she did not desire to see them. If
+it were Von Berger she would allow him no sight of her misery. If it
+were Von Salzinger----
+
+"Vita!"
+
+It was Von Salzinger. His manner was eager and urgent. It also had in
+it that suggestion of fear of detection which she had witnessed before.
+
+"It is the answer to your letter. I had it this morning, and would have
+conveyed it you earlier, but I dared not risk it. Now Von Berger is
+away, and, for the moment, we are safe. So--here it is. Read it quickly
+and tell me of it. On it depends so much. The future. Our futures. Your
+father's. Read it."
+
+But Vita's mood permitted no sudden reaction at the thought of that
+life and liberty for which she had bartered her soul. She took the
+letter, and, before opening it, her eyes searched the square features
+of the well-dined man before her. Her regard was sufficiently cold.
+
+"Where has Von Berger gone?" she demanded.
+
+"To Dorby."
+
+In a moment the coldness had left Vita's eyes. She was caught again in
+the hot tide of alarm.
+
+"To Dorby? Have they discovered--my father?"
+
+The hard eyes of the Prussian lowered before the woman's alarm. Then
+his reply came, conveying a momentary confidence which Vita clung to.
+
+"I can't be sure," he said. "But I don't think so. Still it is that
+possibility which has brought me here now. That, and your letter. There
+must be no delay if we are to get away. Von Berger has to go elsewhere
+before he reaches Dorby. He will not reach there until Monday. He will
+also leave there on Monday, and be back here on Tuesday morning. We
+must be on the sea before Von Berger reaches Dorby. Now--your letter.
+Read it."
+
+His final order came sharply. There was no request in it.
+
+Vita tore it open. The alarm was still in her eyes, although there had
+been reassurance in Von Salzinger's words.
+
+For some moments she read down the two pages of the letter. Then she
+sighed in relief.
+
+"It is all right," she said, passing the sheets across to her
+companion. "Read it yourself. He will meet us at the cove on Sunday
+evening. The submersible will be standing off to pick us up. And--the
+whole thing remains a secret between us. He has merely told Mr. Farlow
+that he is going."
+
+If she were relieved there was no enthusiasm in her manner. Safety was
+looming ahead, but the price was no less. The Prussian's eyes were
+raised from the letter and a cold severity looked out of them and shone
+down upon Vita's unsmiling features.
+
+"It is well. But--you regret?" His gross lips pouted under their severe
+compression.
+
+"Regret?" Vita passed one delicate hand across her brow. It was a
+movement which expressed something like unutterable weariness. It was
+almost as if she were beyond caring for consequences. "It is more than
+regret," she said, and the eyes gazing up into Von Salzinger's were as
+hard as his own.
+
+The man drew a whistling breath. He realized.
+
+"I believe you hate me," he cried.
+
+Vita shrugged.
+
+"Hate? You are about to give me back my life."
+
+"Yes." The man passed her back the letter. His monosyllable conveyed
+nothing. It was the expression of one whose thoughts and feelings are
+entirely preoccupied. A hot fury was surging through his veins. His
+vanity was outraged. He wanted to pour out the tide of brutal invective
+which so naturally rose to his lips. But he drove it back under the
+powerful lash of almost superhuman restraint.
+
+"But you do hate me," he said, with simple regret in his heavy voice.
+"And I would do anything to change that hate. Why? Why is it? It was
+not always so. You know the discipline under which we live. All I have
+done I was compelled to do. Had I not obeyed I could not be here to
+serve you now. Had I rebelled, and refused to carry out my duty, what
+hope would there be for you now? None. Farlow could not save you. No
+one could save you once you were in the clutches of this demon Von
+Berger. It is only that I have performed my share in your persecution
+that makes it possible to hold you out a hand of help. You are hard on
+me--harder than you have any right to be. You would say you are buying
+your life, I know. Well, do we not buy everything in life? And do we
+not have to pay a price which always seems exorbitant? The price you
+are paying; what is it? Wifehood. A future cared for and sheltered by a
+strong man's hand. Behind you a memory, a memory of that which could
+never have been fulfilled, because you would have been sacrificed to
+the discipline of the country which claims you. Ach! it is
+unreasonable. It is ungenerous. I would give my right hand for your
+better regard."
+
+But the man's appeal, his arguments, left Vita unmoved.
+
+"Discussion is useless," she said firmly. "We have entered into an
+agreement which you had power to force upon me. Believe me, I shall not
+be ungrateful for my father's safety and my own life. But it is a
+business agreement which makes no demand for the modification of any
+regard. If my love is demanded, then you must invoke supernatural
+powers to bring it about. For surely no earthly power could bring about
+such a revulsion of my feelings. Let us keep to the business."
+
+The hard eyes of the man had grown harder, but his lips smiled,
+displaying the strong white teeth behind them sharply clenched.
+
+"Yes. To the business. There is much. To-day I have arranged those
+things which I could arrange. It is fortunate that your father has
+appointed the one day which we must have chosen ourselves. It must be
+Sunday night. Sunday night before Von Berger reaches Dorby. Vita, it is
+a pleasant thought to me that I--I can defeat this man. Ever since he
+came to England he has treated me like a conscript. I hate him."
+
+Vita watching him realized the truth. It pleased and satisfied her that
+it was so. To her such animus between these men meant safety.
+
+"Yes? Sunday night?"
+
+Von Salzinger shrugged. He understood her manner.
+
+"Listen," he said sharply. "On Saturday evening at 6:30 you must be
+ready to get away. At that hour you must be ready, and I will provide
+you with a long dark cloak for travelling. We shall go by car. We dare
+not risk any other means. Car the whole way, and the journey must take
+us precisely the twenty-four hours. Now this is it. When the moment
+comes I will arrange that your attendants are engaged elsewhere, and
+that the doors of the corridor are unfastened. You will slip out and
+pass down the long passage till you come to the main staircase. This
+you will descend, and reach the hall below. The entrance door will be
+open. You will pass out and down the drive. Beyond the gates a car will
+be standing--a cabriolet. The chauffeur will be at the wheel. Without a
+word you will get in the car. He will at once drive off. I shall join
+you at Bath, where we shall have a very late meal."
+
+"How will you join me?"
+
+Von Salzinger raised his brows.
+
+"It is simple. I am in command here. My word is absolute. Within ten
+minutes of your going it will be discovered. I arrange this. I shall be
+in a fury, I shall terrify those with me. There will be three men.
+Among them Johann Stryj. I shall curse the women, and then set about
+running you down. Each man will be despatched in a car to certain
+places, in directions you have not gone. I shall pursue you alone. So I
+shall come up with you at Bath. Then you will continue the journey to
+Dorby with me. I shall time it so we reach the--the cove, eh? at
+half-past six on Sunday evening. We shall travel all night."
+
+In spite of herself excitement was growing in Vita. The prospect of the
+race for liberty was alluring and exciting.
+
+"And we go straight for the Old Mill Cove?"
+
+"It is so. This cove. Ha, it is a strange place and--secret. It is your
+secret and your father's. You will have to guide me." His manner became
+reflective. "We know so much of the coast, yet we missed this place. It
+is strange. You know it and your father, but Von Berger--no. So it was
+that your father escaped. It amuses me now. Still Von Berger does not
+know. And so we shall escape. Now write your answer to that letter. I
+will help. We must have no hitch, for unless we get away at that
+moment--disaster will follow."
+
+Vita had finally thrown off her uncompromising attitude of coldness.
+She was alive with a thrilling excitement. The man's plans were so
+simple and adequate. Her only fear was Von Berger's unexpected return.
+She had moved to a table where writing materials lay and prepared to
+write her letter.
+
+"Von Berger will not change his plans?" she demanded eagerly.
+
+"He will not change them. He has been summoned to meet---- He is on the
+sea. He has gone to make his report. Now write."
+
+The next few minutes were occupied in the writing of Vita's reply to
+her father. It was practically dictated by Von Salzinger, as had been
+her earlier letter. He left her no choice in what she must say, and, at
+the conclusion of the writing, read it carefully over, and finally
+folded it and sealed it himself. He looked on silently while she
+addressed the envelope to Sir Andrew Farlow. Then he took possession of
+it and placed it in an inner pocket.
+
+With the completion of the letter his manner seemed to undergo a
+change. The smoothness, even deferential atmosphere of the man merged
+into one of sharp suspicion. His brows drew together, and a quick
+sidelong glance flashed in the woman's direction, and a surly note
+sounded in his next words.
+
+"It is a fool that can trust a woman--a woman in love. How do I know
+that your father will not betray me to this man, Ruxton Farlow? How do
+I know that you will fulfil your promise? You, a woman hating me, and
+in love with Farlow. I am mad, mad to risk it. You hate me--because I
+would save you and your father. If Farlow knew there would be no mercy
+for me. For you I am imperilling my life in every direction. Von
+Berger, and all he stands for, shadows me from behind. Before me is a
+man robbed of his love."
+
+Vita had risen from the table. She had turned to the fire and stood
+leaning against the great mantel.
+
+"Your estimate of human character need not alarm you. Remember, wanton
+treachery is almost as rare as the highest virtues. Men and women do
+not betray unless they can see some gain ahead. My father needs safety
+and security, not only for himself but for me. I, too, want these
+things. Your conditions will be fulfilled to the letter because we need
+your aid. Will that satisfy you? Is it commercial enough? You have set
+the price, and I have agreed to it. Nor am I bankrupt. It is an
+agreement between us, and the fact that it is not set out on paper, and
+duly signed by witnesses, makes it surely the safer."
+
+The man's hard eyes were fixed steadily upon the beautiful face.
+
+"Your tongue is bitter," he said in a deep guttural tone.
+
+"But no more bitter than my lot. Please go now. Human endurance has its
+limits. If you force me to mine I shall fling all to the four winds of
+heaven, and accept the fate marked out for me by the merciless tyrants
+who prevail at Berlin."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+RUXTON WINS A TRICK
+
+
+It was the close of a long and busy day for both of them, and father
+and son, in the interim preceding dinner, under a bright moon, paced
+together the broad stone paths of the formal terrace gardens of Dorby
+Towers. For Ruxton the confined spaces of the house were suffocating.
+His nerves were on edge. His father, with the calm philosophy of his
+years, merely sought the fresh air which the work in his office denied
+him, even though it possessed the damp chill of an English autumn night.
+
+"Anybody else besides Caistor coming for the week-end?" Sir Andrew's
+sidelong glance was penetrating.
+
+"Lordburgh and Reginald Steele. There will be others--whom they may
+choose to bring."
+
+His father's scrutiny was lost upon Ruxton, who seemed to have little
+inclination to talk. His interest in the week-end gathering seemed of
+the slightest.
+
+"Well, Caistor and Steele will find plenty to interest them," Sir
+Andrew went on. "Lordburgh will probably content himself with the golf
+links."
+
+"Lordburgh will spend his time at the yards," Ruxton said. Then he
+displayed an increased interest. "He's a Foreign Secretary who sees
+further than mere international policies. He's a man who believes that
+an adequate foreign policy can only be built on the foundations of a
+sound internal economic basis. Caistor and Steele are armament men of
+diverging opinions. Caistor pins his faith to weight of metal in
+surface craft, while Steele places the submarine before the heaviest
+guns. Both have sound enough reasoning, but, as I said, they are
+armament men. They cannot conceive that a non-military defence can ever
+offer sound possibilities. Both have been shaken up by the mercantile
+submersible project. But I think Lordburgh is the more impressed by it."
+
+"I should have preferred their coming next week," Sir Andrew went on, a
+little wearily. "We should be under full work then. We are nearly clear
+now, and the naval mechanics are replacing the civil men next week.
+It's been hard work for us all. I shall be glad when everything has
+settled down again."
+
+Ruxton glanced round at the speaker. There was a flash of anxiety in
+his eyes. It was the first time he had ever heard his father complain
+of the arduous nature of his work. A wave of contrition swept over him.
+
+"I feel I've left too much on your shoulders, Dad," he exclaimed. "I'm
+afraid I've been very selfish. I've burdened you with the
+responsibility of this thing, and given you no support. Somehow, I
+never thought--and you have never complained."
+
+"Tut, tut, boy," his father retorted, in his gruff, hearty way. "I have
+yet to learn that I am too old for my work. It's work I've been born
+and bred to. Without it I should be a decaying man. Don't think of it.
+Your work is far more responsible, far more harassing. You are among
+those active thinkers whose life's work is the welfare of our country.
+Leave me to Dorby. Mark out the work you demand from me, and rest
+assured it will be thoroughly carried out. I haven't the imaginative
+brain that sees into the future and formulates plans whereby that
+future may be safeguarded. But I can build any fleet you can
+plan--single-handed."
+
+There was pride and admiration in the smile with which Ruxton listened
+to his father's words. But the man was serious. He knew his
+limitations, and he also knew his capacity. Besides, he had no
+intention of admitting the strain of the work in hand.
+
+Ruxton shook his head.
+
+"I'm not even doing that, Dad," he protested. "My time's given up to
+other affairs. I've simply abandoned everything for one selfish
+purpose."
+
+Again came his father's sidelong glance.
+
+"Selfish?"
+
+"Yes; Vita. I must find her. I must help her. I must unravel the
+mystery of it all, or--what is the use of all that I had hoped to
+achieve? Dad, I no longer blind myself. I have only just awakened to
+life. All the hopes and longings of the past belong to a time when I
+still remained slumbering to the real meaning of life. Now, compared
+with the meaning of life which I have just awakened to, they are mere
+cold, meaningless products of the brain. They are nothing, simply
+nothing to this new vista which has just opened out to me. I doubt if
+you'll understand, if any one can understand but myself."
+
+"No?" There was that twinkling smile in the old man's eyes.
+
+"No. There is only one thought in me now. I must save Vita; I must save
+Vita from our enemies. Perhaps, even, I must save her from herself. How
+can I expect any one to understand all it means to me, how absurd seem
+all those other things which I had counted as vital?"
+
+"And yet I loved your mother."
+
+Ruxton walked on a few steps without reply. A flush had mounted to his
+handsome cheeks. Then he abruptly paused, and in the depths of his eyes
+was a shamefaced smile.
+
+"I'm sorry, Dad," he cried. "Forgive the egoism of a man--in love."
+
+His father's smiling eyes were full of a deep sympathy.
+
+"No, no, boy; no apologies. You are no different from the rest of us.
+We all feel the same at some time in our lives, and we all believe no
+one else has ever felt as we do. Work out your plans, boy. Forget
+Dorby; forget everything else for the time. Give your whole heart and
+time to straightening out the tangle your love affairs seem to be in.
+And when you have succeeded, bring her to me. For the rest, I am your
+deputy in the work which must still go on; and, believe me, I shall not
+fail you. There goes the gong."
+
+The deep note of the gong seemed to rise out of its metal bowels; it
+crescendoed, and finally died away. The two men passed silently into
+the house and removed their light overcoats. Ruxton's emotion was too
+deep for words. His father's sympathy and loyalty were almost
+overpowering to a nature as sensitive as his. He wanted to tell him all
+he felt. He wanted to pour out his gratitude. He wanted to show him
+something of the great love he had always borne him. But it was
+impossible. He did none of these things because they were men--men of a
+temperament and schooling that made such a display impossible. So, in
+silence, they prepared to make their way to the dining-room.
+
+But affairs were busier than either of them knew. In a very few minutes
+every other emotion became lost in the surge of events.
+
+Just as they were about to leave the hall a man-servant appeared from
+the direction of the servants' quarters. He was about to pass
+up-stairs, bearing a tray. The quick eyes of Sir Andrew observed the
+pile of letters he was carrying up to the library. Without regard for
+the moment he stayed him.
+
+"Is that the post just in?" he demanded.
+
+The man promptly returned.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Ah, let me see."
+
+The letters were divided into two small piles: those that were
+addressed to Sir Andrew, and those for his son. Sir Andrew picked his
+up. He glanced at the superscription on each envelope, and dealt them
+back on the tray as though he were dealing playing-cards. At the last
+one he paused. It was the largest envelope.
+
+"That will do," he said, and glanced across at Ruxton as the man passed
+on up the staircase.
+
+He tore the envelope open and stood with the contents of it poised in
+his hand.
+
+"Ruxton."
+
+The younger man turned from the fireplace. His eyes were expectant. His
+father's tone had been sharp.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You'd better deal with this." He handed him the lesser envelope, which
+had been enclosed in the other.
+
+Ruxton took it and glanced at it. His father's eyes were watching him
+closely; they were twinkling.
+
+"It is tempting, eh?"
+
+Ruxton shook his head.
+
+"But Vita trusts us," he said simply.
+
+Once again Ruxton found himself looking into the wide eyes and
+remarkable face of Prince von Hertzwohl. With the simple courtesy which
+was so much a part of him, the latter had thrust his guest into the
+only chair his uninviting quarters afforded. For himself, he was more
+than content with the doubtful flock bed, with its frowsy patchwork
+quilt. The chair creaked under Ruxton's weight, but he said no word. He
+was waiting, waiting while the other read the letter he had just put
+into his hands.
+
+Ruxton was disguised in a suit of clothes that left nothing to be
+desired. Mrs. Clark, the landlady, could have possessed no doubts as to
+his calling. She knew the type of mechanic too well. Von Hertzwohl was
+still arrayed in his work-soiled suit, which his intellectual features
+denied as the yellow lamp-rays fell upon them. Ruxton's outward seeming
+was calm, but inwardly his active thoughts were teeming. The
+opportunity which otherwise must have been made had been afforded him
+without his personal effort. He knew that the crisis in all his plans
+had arrived. It was for him to turn the course of affairs in his own
+favor, or accept almost certain defeat. So he waited, coordinating
+every mental force he could make available.
+
+It was a serious, almost pathetic pair of eyes which were at last
+raised from the letter, which was in Vita's handwriting. There was
+something almost like dismay in their wide depths as they encountered
+the steady gaze of Ruxton's. It was a moment of grave
+embarrassment--but only for Von Hertzwohl. He felt like a man hunted
+before the gaze of the younger man's dark eyes.
+
+But Ruxton had no desire to discompose him. His mind was clear, his
+course marked out. He saw with perfect understanding the only road by
+which he could achieve his end. The night when, in the midst of all his
+doubts and difficulties, he had suddenly caught a glimpse of daylight,
+he had realized that Vita's father sat under pledge to his daughter.
+The nature of that pledge was difficult to appraise definitely, but it
+was obviously directed towards secrecy to which he must not be
+admitted. His hope lay in admitting its inviolability.
+
+"I want you to listen to me, Prince, for some moments," he began at
+once. "I have one or two things to put before you, simply and
+straightforwardly. In doing so I want you to realize my motive. I have
+told you, her father, of my love for Vita. That love burns as deeply in
+my soul for her now as it has done ever since I first met her. I want
+you to know that I am fighting for that love now, that I shall continue
+to fight for it so long as I have the power. Nothing will deter me;
+nothing our enemies can do, nothing Vita can say, short of a direct
+dismissal. This is my motive, simple and honest. I have not come here
+to ask you the contents of your letter from her. I do not want to know
+them. I have not come here to press you in any direction which your
+honor, your loyalty to your daughter denies. I have come here to tell
+you the things I know, and the things I believe, without exaggeration,
+and to obtain your consent to a small favor, which, in common fairness,
+you cannot deny me."
+
+The embarrassment in the deep, shining eyes beneath the shaggy grey
+brows was growing. To Ruxton they were almost a child's eyes, so simple
+and earnest, and so full of unconcealed trouble.
+
+"It is an ominous prelude," the Pole replied, with a poor attempt at a
+smile.
+
+"But not so ominous as the _denouement_ which, I fear, is likely to
+come when you attempt to leave these shores."
+
+Ruxton's retort came with a quiet emphasis and directness which
+completely took the other aback.
+
+"I do not see---- Is that a threat, Mr. Farlow?" All the childlike
+trouble had vanished from the man's luminous eyes. They were shining
+with a definite challenge which revealed the ready spirit of the man,
+which Vita always told of.
+
+Ruxton smiled.
+
+"Not from me, sir."
+
+"Then from whom?" The words were incisive.
+
+"From your--our enemies across the water."
+
+All the fire had departed out of Von Hertzwohl's eyes; only was there
+interest in them.
+
+"Tell me," he said simply.
+
+Ruxton drew a deep breath.
+
+"There is so little--and yet, to me, so much to tell. I cannot force my
+line of argument upon you, because it is less argument than conviction.
+I can only tell you those things which I know, and assure you of my
+conviction."
+
+The Prince inclined his head in a non-committal manner.
+
+"This is the second letter you have had from Vita, in her handwriting,
+and addressed from her home. These letters have come through my father,
+just as you have received them. I am prepared to believe Vita has
+written them, but she has not written them from Redwithy. That I can
+swear to. Vita has not been near Redwithy since the day of your arrival
+here."
+
+"And that is--true?"
+
+There was a slight change in the Prince's manner, but it was an
+undefinable change.
+
+"I will stake my honor upon it. Now," Ruxton went on after a fractional
+pause, "let us leave that. It could be explained--if for some
+inscrutable reason she wished to avoid me. Let me point something else.
+When I came up here to meet you on your arrival I left Vita, who had
+promised ardently to be my wife, waiting, in a fever of apprehension,
+for a message from me of your safe arrival. That message was promptly
+sent, and it reached Redwithy. But before it arrived Vita had left her
+home with her maid, Francella, in a strange motorcar, for a destination
+unnamed. And yet in a perfect fever of anxiety she had been awaiting
+that message. One moment," as the old man, with eyes wide with
+astonishment, was about to break in. "When I arrived at Redwithy that
+message was lying amongst a pile of correspondence, all of which had
+been secretly opened and re-sealed. Would Vita have arranged for that
+even if she wished to avoid me? Would she not simply have written me a
+note of dismissal? It is the commonest of common sense." He paused,
+with brows raised questioningly. "Now come these letters to you, sir,"
+he went on a moment later. "I do not know their contents; I do not wish
+to know them. But they prove she is aware of your safe arrival. And I
+judge they are urging you to leave the country, since you expressed no
+idea of doing so till you received the first letter. Now, sir, one last
+word and I have told you all I know and all I believe. Either those
+letters are forgeries or they are written by Vita under pressure. Vita
+is aware you are here at Dorby. Therefore she has been told, for I do
+not believe she has seen my message. She has communicated with you by
+the only means either she or any one else could think of--through my
+father. She does not know where you are, so she cannot be forced to
+betray you. But she can be forced to decoy you, or you can be decoyed
+in her name. Prince, a trick is being played--a clever trick; and my
+conviction of it is all the greater, since I would stake my life on
+Vita's loyalty to you--and to me."
+
+The Prince remained silent for some moments. Ruxton had risen from his
+protesting chair and moved across the room. He refrained from even
+glancing in the old man's direction. He wanted him to have time. He
+wanted to exercise no moral influence by appearing to await urgently
+his reply.
+
+He had outlined the plain facts without studied effect. The whole
+purpose of his visit was still to be achieved.
+
+He turned at last and came back to his chair as the other cleared his
+throat.
+
+"There is sense--common sense in what you say." The big eyes of the man
+were clear and luminous, but they were not looking at his visitor. They
+were gazing at the oil-lamp on the table. "But you have not read Vita's
+letters, or you would see that much of your statement becomes
+impossible. I have not the right to show you those letters, therefore
+you must accept, or not, what I say. I assure you if there is a trick,
+or plot, it is so deeply laid that Vita cannot see it; and, in view of
+her letters, neither can I. Had I not received her letters I could have
+accepted your beliefs, but those letters put the idea beyond
+possibility. Mr. Farlow, I am sorry. I could think of no greater
+delight, or honor, than having you for my son. If what Vita has done,
+if her course has been arranged with a view to breaking with you, then
+I can only say I regret more deeply than you can ever dream. All you
+have done, and are doing, and have dared in my interests have endeared
+you to an old man's heart just as surely as though you were my son. It
+is only very, very rarely that men meet _men_. In you and your father I
+have been doubly fortunate. Will you believe me when I say it? But for
+the rest it is not for me to decide. Your love for my daughter I
+realize is deep and sincere. It is for you two to settle it. But that
+she is in the hands of our enemies I truly and sensibly cannot believe.
+I assure you there is no hint of it in her letters. One final word. You
+fear that I am running headlong into a trap. Do not fear for me. I have
+none. My submersible will convey me to safety as it has done before."
+
+The old man's words, so kindly spoken, so full of regard, and loyalty
+and courage, came without any shock or disappointment to the other. Not
+a muscle of his strong face moved. Nor was there a shadow of change
+from the determination in his dark eyes. When he began to speak,
+however, a dawn of a smile grew in them. It was a smile of confidence.
+The attitude of the other had made his purpose a shade easier.
+
+"Then, in face of my beliefs, you will go, Prince?" he asked.
+
+The direct challenge seemed to slightly disconcert the other. Von
+Hertzwohl had spoken the truth when he said that his regard for Ruxton
+had become as that of a parent. He felt that his reply must hurt him.
+
+"It must be," he said. Then he endeavored to soften his decision. "It
+is best so. Best for our work; for you; for--Vita. Ach! I would like to
+tell you all I have in here"--he tapped his broad brow with a
+forefinger. "But I cannot. I may not. Dorby has been a haven to me, and
+I longed to be near and witness the growth of that work which is to
+make impossible the vile cruelty of men, all the horrors of an
+indefensible slaughter. I told myself I would sit here and see my dream
+slowly, step by step, fulfilled. I said that you and your father were
+the laboring genius setting up the defence which was to serve humanity
+in the days to come. And in the pride and joy of my heart I told myself
+that mine was the brain that had conceived this merciful weapon, which
+I should watch grow to its final triumph. But now I know that it is not
+so. I may not witness the triumph of my labor here, where it is to be
+achieved. My presence adds jeopardy to it. It adds jeopardy to you all.
+It must not be. I have made my mind up. I must go."
+
+Ruxton inclined his head as though in a measure of agreement.
+
+"If it can be done in safety perhaps it is as well," he said.
+
+"Safety?" The wide eyes shining beneath the shaggy white brows were
+smiling and full of a boyish delight at the thought of adventure. "Show
+me. How can it be otherwise? Have we not held the secret of our
+landing? Who is to know the secrets of our cove? The tides--is there a
+Teuton spy who would face the entrance of that cove and believe that it
+is free to us to enter or leave it at will? No one would believe it
+could serve a landing."
+
+"No. And you will go that way?"
+
+"Yes. I shall leave on Sunday night. The tide will serve us at
+half-past six. It is then dark."
+
+The old man's spirits were rising at the thought of cheating his
+enemies. His eyes were full of guileless delight. Ruxton was regarding
+him with something of the same spirit lighting his own smiling eyes.
+
+"It would seem safe enough. I can offer no objection. And yet----"
+
+"Ach! you still fear for me," cried the other impulsively. "It is the
+obstinate English in you. Yes, yes. That temperament. You bite hard and
+will not let go. So."
+
+But Ruxton suddenly bestirred himself. He passed the simple levity of
+the other by. His eyes had become serious.
+
+"Look at it my way, sir," he said in a deep, urgent tone. "I have told
+you all I feel and fear. Suppose it was my own father, for some day I
+hope and believe you will become my other father. Can you not see all
+it means to me--your safety? I feel you are my trust, and I dare not
+risk unduly. Will you grant me a favor, sir--a trifling favor from your
+point of view? Allow me to take such measures to safeguard your going
+as I see fit. You shall not be made aware of that safeguarding, I
+promise you--except in case of the treachery I anticipate. I shall not
+interfere with any plan you may have made. I will, as our naval men
+say, 'carry on' and 'stand by,' unseen by you and by our
+enemies--unless danger threatens you. It is not much to ask, and it
+means so much to me."
+
+The Prince's smile was very gentle as he watched the eager face of the
+other. The genuine anxiety of Ruxton appealed to him in a degree which
+was only reached out of his own deep regard. From any other such an
+appeal might have been met with ridicule. But in Ruxton it became
+something to be delighted in.
+
+"Have your way," he cried cordially. "Do as you will, and I thank you
+from my heart for your solicitude. But it is needless. Believe me, it
+is needless."
+
+But Ruxton ignored his comment. His sanction was all he needed.
+
+"Thank you, sir," he said simply. "Have you given your man his orders
+for the submersible?"
+
+The Prince glanced down at his letter unconsciously.
+
+"No," he said; "not yet."
+
+And Ruxton understood that his letter had decided the time of departure
+for him.
+
+"May I convey them, Prince?"
+
+"Why?" The smiling eyes were keenly questioning.
+
+Ruxton laughed.
+
+"Because I would like to make a small arrangement with him, which will
+in no way interfere with any orders you may give him."
+
+"I see." The Prince was silent for some moments, pondering deeply.
+Then, quite abruptly, he seemed to reach a decision. "Yes," he said at
+last, "I will send him his orders in writing, with permission to
+receive certain instructions from you. But my orders must be obeyed
+implicitly. Remember that. You must not change them in one single
+detail. Your word of honor, and I will thank you for conveying them."
+
+"My word of honor," said Ruxton solemnly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+THE WEEK-END BEGINS
+
+
+Vita stood up. The swift rise and fall of her bosom bespoke an emotion
+which found added reflection in the light of her beautiful grey eyes.
+Her attitude was tense. It was full of that suggestion of urgency which
+straining ears ever convey. She was listening. And every muscle of her
+fair body was tuned to the pitch of her nerves.
+
+Her eyes were upon the face of a small brass lantern clock. The figures
+on the dial were indistinct in the artificial light, but she read them
+with ease under the influence of the emotion stirring her. The dull
+metal hands were almost together. It was on the stroke of half-past six.
+
+Her masses of red-gold hair were completely hidden under a brimless
+hat, which sank low upon her head. A streaming veil fell to her
+shoulders, completely covering her hat, and ready to be secured closely
+about the fair oval of her anxious face. Her costume was a stout dark
+coat and skirt which displayed to perfection the beauty of her tall
+figure. Across the back of a chair lay a heavy overcoat of
+semi-military fashioning. It was thick and warm. It was a man's coat.
+
+The moments ticked away. Vita made no movement. The room was still; a
+deathly silence reigned throughout the house. And yet, to the waiting
+woman, a hundred ominous sounds blended with the solemn ticking of the
+clock. The long hand was within the smallest fraction of the half-hour
+point. At last she raised one long gloved hand, and the slim fingers
+were pressed to the temples hidden under the enveloping hat. Her hand
+was trembling.
+
+When she removed her fingers it was with a gesture of impatience. And
+the gesture was followed by swift movement. She seized the overcoat and
+flung it across her arm, picked up a small hand-bag and moved towards
+the door. Again she paused. Her hand was on the knob of the door. She
+turned it softly and gently pulled the door ajar. Her eyes sought the
+crack.
+
+Lights were burning beyond in the wide hallway. All was still, silent;
+and a deep sigh as of relaxing nerves escaped her. She opened the door
+wider. It creaked, and her fine brows drew together in anxiety. Then
+they smoothed again as the creaking ceased. Almost imperceptibly the
+opening widened. Then, in a twinkling it seemed, she had vanished, and
+the room was left empty.
+
+As she went a door opened at the far end of the room she had left, and
+a woman's dark face appeared round it. For a moment she surveyed the
+empty apartment. Then she smiled softly. A moment later the face was
+withdrawn and the door reclosed.
+
+
+A creaking stair set panic raging through Vita's heart. The great
+staircase was old--so old. She stood, scarcely daring to breathe,
+wondering in what direction the betrayal would display itself. The
+moments passed and no sign was given. She moved again, and, in a fever
+of apprehension, she left the step and essayed another.
+
+This time there was no alarm. She passed on down the stairs, swiftly,
+stealthily. Only the dainty rustle of her skirts betrayed her
+movements. This she gave no heed to. It was always with her. Therefore
+it possessed no significance. The bottom of the great oak staircase was
+reached. Her breathing was hurried, not with exertion, but as a result
+of the nervous tension. She was relying on a man's word--a Prussian's.
+She believed it honest, but---- A swift glance about the wide
+hall-place, and, for a moment, her nerves eased. The man was proving as
+good as his word. The doors into the various apartments were closed.
+The hall was empty.
+
+Fresh courage flowed through her veins. She tiptoed across the polished
+marble, avoiding the loose rugs lest a slip might betray her. Then, in
+the centre of it, she stopped dead, her heart pounding out the alarm
+which had suddenly possessed her. Voices, men's voices, had reached
+her. And they came from immediately beyond a pair of heavy folding
+doors. She listened. The sound was slightly deadened. The doors made it
+impossible to hear the words.
+
+Quite suddenly she realized that there was not a moment to lose.
+Without any further hesitation she flitted like a ghost, silently,
+towards the glass swing-doors which opened upon the entrance doors.
+
+She thrust them apart. She passed down half a dozen wide, shallow
+steps. The outer doors yielded to her hand. Then she breathed the
+fresh, chill night air of the valley beyond. It was good, so good. It
+was the first breath of freedom. Deeply, deeply, she drank in the
+delight of it.
+
+As the door swung gently to behind her, the folding doors of the
+apartment in which had sounded the men's voices were thrust apart. Von
+Salzinger and Johann Stryj stood framed in the archway.
+
+"See, there is movement in the glass doors," observed Von Salzinger.
+"She has gone."
+
+"I heard her," was the Secret Service man's cool reply.
+
+Vita had paused only to put on the coat. Then, with skirts slightly
+raised, she sped on down the drive at something approaching a run. It
+was not easy in the pitch black of the night. But fear of pursuit lent
+her added power, and, surmounting every difficulty, she reached the
+iron gateway.
+
+She breathed a great relief. The gates were standing open, and, away
+beyond, and to the right, she beheld the reflection of light upon the
+roadway.
+
+She hurried towards it. An overwhelming flood of gratitude and
+thankfulness swept over her. Von Salzinger was proving his loyalty.
+Every detail was working out as he had promised. Liberty and Life. They
+were sweet enough. And even the price lost something of its horror
+under her new emotion.
+
+The car was a large one. It carried three great headlights. The
+chauffeur was at his wheel, and the purr of the running engines was
+music to her ears. The door stood wide open, and, without demur,
+without word, or a single qualm of fear, she stepped within and closed
+it after her. Instantly the car rolled away.
+
+A figure moved from the dark window of the unlit lodge. It crossed the
+little room and stood against the wall. Then a groping hand pressed a
+button, and in the great hall of the mansion the peal of an electric
+bell rang out.
+
+The week-end party had gathered. Saturday had been spent by the three
+principal guests under Ruxton and his father's guidance at the yards.
+But Ruxton had been an unimportant member of the party for the moment.
+Here in the great works Sir Andrew stood supreme. His was the chief
+control. His was the genius of organization. And to him these men, Sir
+Joseph Caistor, Sir Reginald Steele, and the Marquis of Lordburgh,
+looked for their information upon the new constructions.
+
+It had been a day to remember for Sir Andrew. These brilliant technical
+men were exacting. Their trained, searching minds displayed a wonderful
+grasp of detail. There seemed to be no point too small for their
+consideration. Thus the day had to be entirely given up to them. Nor
+did Sir Andrew begrudge it. He was a great shipmaster, and his pride in
+his yards, and all they meant in the country's labors, found him with
+an almost childlike delight in his guests' interest and understanding.
+
+Ruxton stood aloof. His thoughts and energies were concentrated
+elsewhere. Frequently he absented himself for long stretches of time
+together. Nor was it until their naval guests had satisfied their
+desire to study the new constructions that he became a factor in the
+day's affairs.
+
+It was after the drive back to Dorby Towers that he slipped into the
+arena of affairs. It occurred while tea was served in the library. He
+drew Sir Joseph Caistor and Sir Reginald away from the rest of the
+party, and held a long private consultation with them.
+
+The result of the consultation was the complete disappearance of Ruxton
+before dinner. He came into his father's room while the old man was in
+the midst of dressing.
+
+"They've met me in everything, Dad, and now I'm off," he announced.
+
+The abruptness of his announcement and the unceremonious fashion of his
+visit caused his father to pause in the act of adjusting his tie. He
+glanced up into the dark eyes. He needed no added scrutiny. Ruxton's
+eyes were shining with suppressed excitement. The smile in them was
+confident, and the set of his jaws told of a determination that was
+almost aggressive.
+
+"When shall we see you again, boy?"
+
+There was a gleam of anxiety in the deep-set eyes. But there was no
+suggestion of deterring him.
+
+Ruxton shrugged.
+
+"I can't tell. You see, it will depend entirely on circumstances."
+
+"Yes."
+
+His father returned to his attack on his tie. Then he smiled.
+
+"It was a master stroke having the two heads of the Admiralty on the
+premises, also our Foreign Secretary. You left nothing to chance,
+Ruxton."
+
+"Nothing but the chances of the right or wrong of my beliefs."
+
+The old man sighed as his tie went straight.
+
+"Your imagination is beyond me. I could never have seen these things as
+you see them. I am anxious for you."
+
+"Don't trouble about me. Be anxious if you will, but let that anxiety
+be for the woman I love, and whom I hope even after this to present to
+you as your daughter. If she is safe, then--for me nothing else
+matters. I have done all that is humanly possible, at least which is
+possible to me. The rest is in the lap of the gods. Wish me luck, Dad,
+and good-bye."
+
+He held out his hand. In a moment it was enveloped in both of his
+father's.
+
+"With all my heart, lad. Good-bye. You will win out, I'm sure."
+
+Then he turned again to his dressing-table and picked up his
+hair-brushes. He attacked his crisply curling white hair with almost
+unnecessary violence while his eyes watched the retreating figure of
+his only son in the reflection of the mirror.
+
+
+Sunday dawned with a clouded, watery sky. All the morning the threat of
+rain held. Then, at lunch-time, a wind sprang out of the northeast, and
+the atmosphere grew dry and crisp, and the clouds lightened. The grey
+North Sea changed its hue to a lighter green, and at long intervals
+whitecaps broke up the oily aspect. The breeze had freshened by three
+o'clock and a chill swept over the moorlands, and the feel and aspect
+of winter settled upon the dull-tinted landscape. As evening began to
+close in the breeze dropped, and with it fell the temperature.
+
+Two figures paced the winding footpath at the edge of the cliffs. Both
+were clad in heavy civilian ulsters, and their coat-collars sheltered
+the lower portions of their clean-shaven faces. In their shaded eyes
+was that far-off gaze which is only to be found in the eyes of men of
+the sea. It is an expression which must ever betray the man who belongs
+to the sea the moment he approaches that element, which is at once his
+friend and his bitterest foe.
+
+Sir Reginald Steele paused and pointed out at the already darkening
+horizon.
+
+"What a target," he cried. "Look at her, with her absurdly proud and
+vaunting four funnels. Look at the great upstanding chest like some
+vain pouter-pigeon. Man, give me an armored submarine, with a brace of
+heavy guns on it, and wirelessly controlled torpedoes, and I'd--sink
+her cold. I'd sink her before she got my range. I'd sink her while she
+fumbled amongst her cumbersome armaments."
+
+He laughed the merry laugh of a man who wishes to probe the open wound
+of disagreement between two close friends.
+
+"You're welcome to the submarine, Reggie. I'll take the 'pouter' every
+time. I'll give you a dozen shots with your wireless controlled as a
+start, and your pop-guns can amuse themselves indefinitely. She's a
+handsome craft. Town class, isn't she? She'd make you hate it in spite
+of your steel-clad hide."
+
+Both men were smiling pleasantly as they watched the distant cruiser
+steaming slowly and sedately upon the wintry waters. The challenge had
+been replied to, and neither of the men seemed inclined to carry the
+debate further. Admiral Sir Reginald Steele had hurled every argument
+in favor of his submarine beliefs at the head of his friend and chief,
+during official hours, and they had agreed to differ. Now, in friendly
+intercourse, he was ready to add his pin-pricks, but he knew there was
+nothing important to be gained.
+
+"The Farlows are smart men," he observed presently, obviously following
+out his train of thought aloud. "The old man is something unusual in
+the way of a shipmaster. One doesn't associate these shipping princes
+with real understanding of naval force. But once or twice yesterday I
+thought there were things he could teach me."
+
+"Yes."
+
+Sir Joseph was intent upon the movements of the cruiser. She had
+displayed no lights and the dusk was creeping on.
+
+"I suppose it is the old man who is the genius of Dorby. What about
+young Ruxton? Harborough is keen on him. So is Lordburgh. I confess to
+a weakness that way myself. That was a great stroke of his, getting the
+secrets of that place in the Baltic. Apparently there's some one also
+who shares your faith in--underwater."
+
+Sir Reginald had become absorbed in the horizon. He produced a pair of
+glasses and peered out in the gathering gloom.
+
+"All far-seeing people do. These Farlows for instance," he replied.
+"What's that beyond the cruiser? She's low in the water."
+
+Sir Joseph produced glasses. For some silent minutes they remained
+scouring the sea with eyes long trained to the work. Finally it was Sir
+Joseph who spoke.
+
+"You should recognize it," he said.
+
+"Yes. Underwater, and--a foreigner."
+
+They relapsed into a long silence. The stars came out and a light frost
+was settling upon the moor. The air was brilliantly clear. Their
+glasses revealed the two distant objects.
+
+"She's hove-to," observed Sir Reginald later on.
+
+"The cruiser--yes. That's a mistake."
+
+Sir Joseph made a sound of impatience with his tongue.
+
+Again a prolonged silence fell. Both men were absorbed. The passage of
+time seemed of no consequence. The cold of the night seemed to concern
+them not at all.
+
+"I don't know," Steele said much later, in answer to his chief's
+remark. "You can't tell what's doing from here. Nor what arrangements
+young Farlow has made. Ah!"
+
+"Lights." Sir Joseph waited.
+
+"Green astern. White ahead. Red amidships. The foreigner has shed a
+pinnace. It's coming ashore. It's getting interesting. That boy seemed
+pretty clear. I hope things are all right."
+
+The boat was racing towards the shore at a point to the right of the
+two watchers. Sir Reginald was following it closely with his night
+glasses. The other continued his survey of the vessels beyond.
+
+Presently he spoke.
+
+"She's steaming again--the cruiser."
+
+"Yes." The other's glasses were raised towards the horizon again.
+
+"She's covered the foreigner's lights." Sir Joseph lowered his glasses.
+"What's the time?"
+
+His companion lowered his glasses. He glanced at his watch.
+
+"Nearly half-past six," he said significantly. Then in a moment his
+glasses were levelled at a point much nearer into land. "Ah, here she
+comes," he said, in his quick way. "Now the play begins. The curtain's
+going up. No lights. A good many regulations are being broken to-night.
+Shall we need an enquiry into it, Chief?" Sir Reginald laughed. "Well,
+Lordburgh is to blame if any trouble occurs. He forced us to lend our
+powerful aid in this thing. The odds are on that boy Ruxton. I'd bet my
+hopes of pension on it. He's keen and confident. Such romance never
+came our way, eh? I haven't heard before of units of the British Navy
+being used to secure a man a wife."
+
+Sir Joseph laughed shortly.
+
+"There's a good deal more than a woman in this. According to Lordburgh
+this trifling naval episode may secure the person of Germany's strong
+man--criminally engaged. It would be worth while. Sparling's a good
+man. If they pull it off it'll be his best day's work. Hello!"
+
+At that moment a great white beam of light shot athwart the sky. It
+moved swiftly and rigidly. It swept in a great arc and settled on the
+face of the cliff away to their right.
+
+"Look. Three lights just below us." Sir Reginald pointed out upon the
+water. "Green astern. White ahead. Red amidships. It isn't the
+foreigner from outside. It's----"
+
+"Hark!" Sir Joseph held up a warning hand.
+
+The two men listened acutely. Far away, remote but distinct, the sound
+of a pistol-shot reached them.
+
+"That's the second," said Sir Joseph. "Come along, let's go and see
+what's happening."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+THE WEEK-END
+
+
+Prince von Hertzwohl gazed about him. His tall figure was bowed. He was
+no longer clad in the working costume which had been his disguise for
+so many days in Dorby. His lean face was shaded beneath a wide,
+soft-brimmed hat which entirely concealed that wonderful forehead which
+had so impressed Ruxton. But the shaven cheeks added years to his age.
+Beneath his chin were displayed those fleshy cords which do not belong
+to anything up to the middle life. He certainly looked older than ever
+in the foreign-designed clothes which he was now wearing.
+
+The cold breath of the moor swept by him, it penetrated the lightish
+overcoat he was wearing. Once or twice he shivered as he gazed this way
+and that, searching the already hazy sky-line for a sign of any
+movement.
+
+For some time he seemed in doubt. Then at last he drew in towards the
+black shelter of the old mill, which stood out in the grey light,
+keeping its ancient watch over the cove below. He glanced within its
+shadowed interior. It was inhospitable. But it was as he had always
+known it. Everything was undisturbed. He drew his coat about him and
+buttoned it up. The air was so keen, and he had little relish for it.
+Presently he sat down upon a fallen timber under the shelter of the
+wall. He must wait. Nothing could be done until the arrival he was
+expecting.
+
+It was a desolate spot, and the influence of it was not unfelt. But the
+solitude was not altogether unappreciated. If there were eyes watching
+they failed to make their presence felt, and he was glad. He lit a
+cigar and sought comfort in it from the bleak northern air. His
+thoughtful eyes wandered in every direction his shelter permitted. To
+the east, across the sea. To the south, over the rolling moor. To the
+west, where the dying light of day was melting steadily before the grey
+obscurity of coming night.
+
+The minutes passed slowly, slowly, as they ever pass to the anxious
+mind. But the dark of evening gathered with all the rapidity of early
+winter.
+
+
+The long journey was drawing to its close. Long since, the great North
+Road had been left behind. Now the powerful car swept along, with its
+monotonous purr, over the winding coast road, which split the
+wide-spreading moorland, and headed on in the teeth of the bitter
+northeasterly breeze.
+
+The chill penetrated to the snug interior of the car. Vita was forced
+to draw the heavy overcoat more closely about her. She shivered, but it
+was not with the actual cold. Her thoughts were a-riot. They were full
+of an intense and painful dread.
+
+She had made the journey north in the company of the man whom she knew
+she was now condemned to marry--condemned beyond reprieve. The only
+gleam of light which had struggled through the darkness of her despair
+was that he had spared her his company in the car. He had dismissed the
+driver of the car at Bath, and taken upon himself that duty. Thus Vita
+had been spared an added torture to the desperate feelings assailing
+her.
+
+She had no thought of revolt. She felt that destiny loomed before her
+in overwhelming force. Escape had no place in her thought. She had
+entered into a contract. A sordid contract, she felt. A contract which
+had perhaps been forced upon her, but which had been accepted by her
+through an invincible desire to be permitted to drag out the weary
+years of life, rather than face bravely the harsh consequences and
+penalties of truth and loyalty to the demands of honor. She admitted
+the dreadful cowardice which had driven her, and a wave of loathing for
+herself left her crushed under a burden of bitter contempt.
+
+But during the journey, in communion with her own wretched thoughts,
+she had searched the future as only vivid imagination permitted, and
+the picture she had discovered was perhaps a thousandfold more dreadful
+than her earlier anticipations. Panic had urged her in the first place.
+But now the original panic which had driven her into her contract had
+passed, leaving her only the skeleton, which, in the first place, had
+been clothed in the brilliant flesh and raiment inspired by the
+yearning for life. To think of the right she had given that square,
+fleshy figure sitting before her beyond the glass partition of the car!
+The right to control her destiny; to be always near her, to--caress
+her. And all the while another image lay treasured in her heart,
+another voice was always in her ears, another hand lay in hers, and
+other lips---- It was beyond endurance--the thought. To think that way
+lay madness. Her eyes grew haggard with dry tears. She was left beyond
+ordinary emotion. She could only stir restlessly, with brain heated
+almost to fever by the pressure of dreadful thought.
+
+So the miles had been devoured by the senseless, softly droning wheels.
+Merciless wheels they became. Nothing could stop them, nothing could
+deter the progress towards that maelstrom of horror in the direction of
+which she was gliding.
+
+Then came the familiar breath of the Yorkshire moorlands. She
+remembered it. She remembered every aspect of the scene about her. It
+was not possible for it to be otherwise. She writhed under the lash of
+memory. Was it not here she had first looked down upon the prone figure
+and upward-glancing dark eyes of Ruxton Farlow? Was it not here she had
+poured out to him the vaunting story of her desires to serve humanity?
+Had she not witnessed the light of sympathy leap into his eyes
+here--here, at the passionate profession she had made to him? And
+now--oh, the pity of it!--the miserable, cowardly sequel to all her
+protestations.
+
+The grey of evening filled the car, and somehow Vita was glad of it.
+She felt she could hide her worthless self beneath it. The moorland
+scene faded, and the great dark gorse banks merged into one blackening
+world. Then, directly ahead, the aged landmark of the skeleton mill
+rose sharply out of the dusk.
+
+Her pulses quickened. The journey was at its end. Her father would be
+there awaiting her, and she must face those wide, understanding eyes as
+she told him the story of her cowardly yielding. She shrank further
+into the corner. She knew the fearless spirit of the man, and she
+dreaded his contempt. The secret of her contract with the man driving
+the car was still her own, but, in a few minutes, it must be revealed
+to one whose contempt would deal the final crushing blow.
+
+She nerved herself as the car drew up. Then, with ashen lips and
+frightened eyes, she became aware of a tall, lean figure standing out
+against the sky-line.
+
+She waited for no assistance. She flung the door wide, and, in a
+moment, she was enfolded in her father's embrace.
+
+But she dared not yield to the joy of reunion. She freed herself, and
+began to talk. Not a moment must be lost in telling him her story, the
+story of all the dread and horror she had lived through. She knew she
+dared not risk delay, or her last vestige of courage would vanish into
+thin air.
+
+She poured out the story of the machinations, in the toils of which
+they had been caught. She told him the story of the jeopardy in which
+he stood; of the power which had been transferred from Berlin to bring
+about his final destruction. She told him of the death sentence which
+had been passed upon her by the terrible Von Berger, and how, in the
+last moment of her despair, succor had been proffered in the last
+quarter from which it could have reasonably been expected. And then
+came the story of her pledge.
+
+To the long story the old man listened with the closest attention. He
+gave no sign, he offered no interruption. At its conclusion Vita
+paused, breathlessly awaiting the verdict in the man's luminous eyes.
+She watched them. She searched them, seeking that faint spark which
+might hold out the smallest hope. She was living for that alone--now.
+
+The Prince stood for a moment, his eyes gazing past her at the sides of
+the travel-stained car. Then one long thin hand went up to his
+forehead, and his soft hat was thrust back on his head. The hand
+pressed down upon his brows and moved across them, as though brushing
+aside some sense of weariness. His eyes shifted their gaze towards the
+man standing near the car. They took in the square, burly figure from
+the crown of its hat to the soles of its feet. Then they came back to
+Vita, and the smile in them suggested a final sympathetic decision
+overriding the natural antagonistic feelings towards the man whom he
+looked upon as his enemy.
+
+"Where is he--Von Salzinger?" he demanded.
+
+Vita caught her breath. It was the crisis.
+
+"Here, father. He drove the car."
+
+The Prince's eyes again sought the man. Then he spoke, and the tone of
+his voice eased the woman's tension.
+
+"You have done me a service, Herr von Salzinger. A service I could
+hardly have looked for. It is to be paid for, I understand, and the
+price is high. However, the risks you have taken, the sacrifices you
+have made are doubtless great, from your point of view. Therefore I can
+only--thank you. Come. The vessel should be lying off by this time.
+What will you do with the car?"
+
+Von Salzinger stepped forward. The night was dark, and it was
+impossible to observe the expression of his face.
+
+"The car can remain. It is--not mine."
+
+The Prince inclined his head.
+
+"Then we will go down to the cove. Vita!"
+
+At the gentle tone of his voice the woman moved at once to his side.
+Whatever his innermost thoughts and feeling's, he had conveyed to her
+troubled heart the assurance of his perfect love and sympathy.
+
+
+A man stood in the steel doorway of the clumsy tower which supported a
+pair of periscopes. The vessel was an early type of submarine. It was
+crude in finish and severe in fashion. Its flush deck was narrow, and a
+mere rail protected its sides.
+
+His attention seemed divided between a group of men in oilskins engaged
+in launching a motor pinnace, and the movements of a war-craft standing
+off some distance astern.
+
+Night was closing upon an oily sea, which lolled in listless fashion
+beneath the starry sheen of a now almost windless evening. The
+threatened "northeaster" which had been developing all the afternoon
+had suddenly died out under the influence of a sharp frost. There was a
+certain satisfaction in the luck of the weather. This man knew quite
+well what he might have been called upon to face on the bitter
+northeast coast of Britain.
+
+The stone-grey eyes of the man were no less keen than the bitter air.
+Nor were they less watchful than the peeping stars already beginning to
+stud the sky. The rest of his face was lost in the folds of a woollen
+scarf, which was in turn enveloped in the high collar of his overcoat.
+
+There was the sound of footsteps behind him coming up the steel
+companion, and in a moment he was joined by a man in oilskins. The
+latter were carelessly adjusted about the neck, and from beneath them
+peeped the details of a uniform which was foreign to the coast off
+which the vessel was lying.
+
+The newcomer joined in the survey of the war-craft's dim outline
+against the horizon.
+
+"She's not there by chance, Excellency," he said warningly, in the deep
+guttural of the Teutonic language.
+
+For some moments the other made no reply. His eyes were upon the men at
+work. The boat was launched, and the engine was being started.
+
+"No," he said at last. Then his eyes came sharply to the other's face.
+"You have had to take big chances in your time. You've got to take a
+greater chance now. This is not war."
+
+"No, Excellency. This is peace." The man laughed deep-throatedly.
+
+"That is why the warship does not matter. She will not break the peace,
+and we are beyond the home-water limit. We are free to do as we please."
+
+"And yet she is watching us. It interests me what she intends. These
+British naval men are a different race from those ashore. They will do
+as they think, in spite of--peace."
+
+"Yes." There was a speculative look in the stone-grey eyes.
+
+Finally he gave his whole attention to the men on the deck. He seemed
+to have put all speculation aside.
+
+"Von Hertzwohl's submersible will soon be along now. We shall see her
+lights. She will carry lights. She must do so for the shore boat. You
+have your orders."
+
+"Yes, Excellency. When you have left in this boat the other will be
+prepared. I shall take a party and board Hertzwohl's vessel, and make
+myself master of it. Meanwhile, this vessel will lie off with lights
+out, standing by in case of accidents to pick you up. If all goes well
+you will return from shore and come aboard Von Hertzwohl's vessel.
+Instantly she will submerge and lay a course for Heligoland Bight. It
+is clear, and should be simple."
+
+"It should be simple. Hertzwohl's vessel _must_ go back with us. She
+has the U-rays lamp on her." The grey eyes were turned questioningly in
+the direction where the war-vessel had been lying. The darkness had
+become such that its outline was scarcely visible. Then he went on.
+"This vessel will follow us to the Bight. Ha!" He thrust out a pointing
+hand. "The lights. Red. Green. White." He turned again, and his eyes
+were hard and stern in the light of the conning-tower. "Make no
+mistakes. Your orders to--the letter."
+
+"Yes, Excellency."
+
+Both men moved off down the gently swaying deck towards the break in
+the rail where the pinnace, with its complement of four men, was
+waiting. The man with the stone-grey eyes leapt into the boat. The next
+moment its crew had cast off, and its head had been swung round
+shorewards in response to the race of its powerful motor.
+
+Suddenly a great beam of light shot athwart the sky. It lowered slowly,
+and, a moment later, it fell upon the submarine, on the deck of which a
+number of men had replaced those which had just left. For a moment the
+officer in charge of them looked up, and his eyes were caught in the
+dazzle of the blinding light. Then the light was raised and swept away
+landwards. It described a great arc and fell upon the shore. A moment
+later it was withdrawn. Again it settled upon the submarine.
+
+The officer waited for it to pass. A look of deep anxiety began to fill
+his eyes. He was thinking of his orders, and of the man who had given
+them. But the light remained focussed full upon his deck, and presently
+it dawned upon him that the warship was steaming, steaming slowly and
+almost noiselessly towards him. A feeling of impotence took hold of
+him. He thought of his torpedo tubes, but the thought passed, thrust
+aside with an impatient remembrance that it was peace and--not war. His
+impotence grew. He could only stand there helpless and stupid.
+
+The great vessel came on slowly, slowly. Soon its outline became clear,
+even in the darkness. The silent threat became unnerving. The officer
+ordered his men to desist from their work. The vessel drew abreast.
+Then she hove-to. But the terrible glare of the searchlight remained
+full upon the long, narrow deck upon which the officer stood.
+
+His eyes sought for a sign. But the blinding light held him. He could
+see nothing. Just a shadowy, sombre hull. The great guns were not
+visible to him in the painful light.
+
+There was no alternative. He turned to the conning-tower, and his men
+were sent below. The next moment the engines were at work, and the
+vessel submerged. Minutes later a swirl of water a quarter of a mile
+distant, and a great bulk rose to the surface out of the watery depths.
+The steel door of the conning-tower opened again, and the officer
+looked out. The beam of light from the war-vessel was gliding over the
+lolling surface of the water. It was moving towards him slowly, as
+though searching carefully. Again his vessel was caught in its silvery
+shaft. Again it held. Again the great vessel began to move towards him.
+
+With a bitter oath the officer turned back into the conning-tower and
+slammed to the heavy steel door.
+
+
+Vita and her father were standing at the water's edge. A pace or two
+behind them stood Von Salzinger. None of the three seemed inclined for
+speech. Von Hertzwohl was gazing out at the narrow opening to the open
+sea beyond. His thoughts were busy with the unexpected phenomenon he
+beheld.
+
+A searchlight was playing over the water, moving at intervals, then it
+would become stationary. The vessel from which it emanated was a long
+way out, yet its light hovered persistently, as though its whole
+purpose was riveted upon the definite area which lay in full view from
+where he stood.
+
+Vita, too, was gazing out to sea. But though the play of the lights
+caught and held her attention, they had no power to sway the trend of
+teeming thoughts which were passing through her brain. The things she
+beheld meant nothing to her. They could mean nothing. These were her
+last moments on the land she loved--the land which was the home of the
+man who had changed her life from a troubled and anxious existence to a
+dream of bliss such as she had believed impossible. She had sold
+herself at the price of life. Life? She had gone back again to
+existence a thousand times more dreadful than the worst nightmare could
+have conjured. Yes, her father was safe, her beloved father. All their
+plans would be the safer for their going. She would be free to witness,
+in due regularity, the progress of future seasons. She had done her
+duty, and her best. But oh, what a best!
+
+There were moments as she stood there waiting when she could have flung
+her arms out and screamed till the echoes of the cove rang again. There
+were moments when she could have flung herself upon the angular figure
+she knew and felt to be standing behind her, and impotently torn at his
+hated flesh. He was her master, her future arbiter, the man to whose
+caresses she must submit.
+
+Quite suddenly her father raised one thin, pointing hand.
+
+"The boat," he said. And Vita's thoughts were swept aside for the
+moment, and her comprehending gaze became fixed upon a dim object
+sweeping through the jaws of the cove. The darkness of the place made
+it impossible to distinguish its outline. It was a shadow, a mere
+shadow against the moving lights beyond.
+
+Once it was past the jaws, however, the throb of its engine beat
+against the rocky walls and echoed again. It was as though half-a-dozen
+engines were thrashing the water. Now, too, a headlight shone out.
+
+Suddenly Von Hertzwohl caught up the lighted lantern at his feet.
+
+"Ach!" he cried. "The madmen! They are heading here--for this light.
+One would think they had never made the spit before." He turned.
+"Quick. The spit, or they will drive on the rocks."
+
+He ran along the beach, followed by Vita and Von Salzinger. In a few
+moments he was standing on the extremity of the rocky spit, waving his
+lantern and calling instructions.
+
+"Gott in Himmel!" he cried. "Slow, slow. You will break on sunken
+rocks. Are you mad? This way. Ach! Slower, slower. So. Easy. Bring her
+nose round. So. Easy. Now!"
+
+The old man stooped, and, with Von Salzinger, assisted in fending off
+the pinnace. Vita had taken up the lantern. She was holding it to make
+the most of its feeble rays. Then of a sudden a sharp exclamation broke
+from the Prince.
+
+"Four!"
+
+He had counted the men in the boat. Vita heard the exclamation without
+gathering its significance. A man leapt out of the stern of the boat,
+and another followed him. The light of the lantern fell full upon the
+leader's face. A cry broke from the woman, an inarticulate cry. It
+brought her father to his feet.
+
+Then, swiftly and terribly, was enacted a scene unforgettable to those
+who beheld it. The wide, fearless eyes of the princely Pole gazed with
+loathing and hate into the stone-grey eyes of the man who had leapt
+first from the boat. It was only for one paralyzed moment. Then a
+harsh, furious voice ejaculated a name, and Vita's lantern clattered as
+it fell upon the rocky spit, and went out as it rolled into the lapping
+water.
+
+"Von Berger!"
+
+It was Von Hertzwohl's voice; and as he spoke he stepped back from the
+hated proximity. Once, once only his wide eyes swept over the various
+figures about him. Then, with a lightning movement, one long arm was
+flung out. There was no word spoken. There was no mercy in either heart
+of the antagonists. The penetrating crack of an automatic pistol alone
+awoke the echoes. They were flung from rock to rock, and, blending with
+them, came the sound of running feet.
+
+But long before the echoes had reached their climax a second shot rang
+out--a heavier shot; and as it split the air Von Hertzwohl fell. His
+knees gave under him, and his tall figure toppled almost into the arms
+of the man who had fired the shot with such deliberate, deadly effect.
+To this sound was added swift movement. Vita, standing paralyzed with
+terror, was seized from behind, and the heavy breath of Von Salzinger
+fanned the back of her neck. She was supported bodily, and, in an
+instant, the swaying boat caught her struggling body with brutal force,
+and for her all sensation abruptly terminated. Then came Von Berger's
+voice in sharp command, as the shouts of men aroused new echoes in the
+black arena.
+
+"Quick! Take him! Now cast off!"
+
+The arms of men reached up and caught the inanimate body of Von
+Hertzwohl. It was dropped urgently into the bottom of the boat. Then,
+to the accompaniment of scrambling feet, the boat was vigorously
+propelled backwards into the ebbing tide.
+
+The headlight was extinguished, and the boat vanished like a ghost into
+the blackness of the gaping cove.
+
+A moment later the racing engine pulsated with a confusion of echoes,
+and a group of men stood at the water's edge searching for the
+direction in which the speeding craft was moving. It was hopeless.
+
+Then came a voice--the authoritative voice of a leader.
+
+"Don't fire. Not a shot. You can't be certain who you'll hit. They
+won't get far."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+THE CLOSE OF THE WEEK-END
+
+
+A sensation of dreadful pain swept through an eternity of obscurity,
+impenetrable to all but a subconscious emotion. Horror floated through
+a world unseen, unknown. Terror thrilled senses dead to all reality. An
+abyss yawned on every hand, a black abyss in which stirred, all unseen,
+a threat so overwhelming that the victim remained passive, defenceless;
+waiting, waiting for the final crushing torture.
+
+The blackness changed. It gave place to a deep, ruddy light. It was a
+light which inspired a sensation of fierce burning. The scorch of it
+was devastating, yet the torture went on as if the limit could never be
+reached.
+
+The ruddy light faded to a grey twilight, through which shot tongues of
+forked flame, and, with each rift in the grey, pain shot a hundredfold
+more intense for its broken continuity. A terrified shrinking resulted.
+The moments of respite became a period of mental torture greater than
+the reality of the stabs of blinding light.
+
+It seemed that no suffering could ever equal such agony again. It was
+living death.
+
+Again it all changed. The bodily suffering no longer broke
+intermittently. Terror had given place to a grinding physical burden of
+agony in which something approaching consciousness had place. It came
+with a hammering upon the straining brain, and beat its way through the
+body, right down to the very depths of the tortured soul. It was
+unbearable, yet its burden seemed inevitable, and complaint seemed
+hushed by an irresistible power.
+
+Then in the midst of all the torture a sound reached the victim. It was
+the sound of a voice, of voices. Harsh, jarring voices, carrying threat
+in every tone. It was the magic touch which brought about a vague
+semi-consciousness, and Vita's eyes slowly opened.
+
+The pain went on, burning, throbbing pain, but she did not mind it. She
+was scarcely aware of it. The voices held her, and she struggled with
+all her power to grasp and hold their meaning. But the effort was
+beyond her. Only the words came, and with them a growing, unaccountable
+fear inspired by the violence of their intonation.
+
+"Trapped like rats in a pit," she heard a voice cry out in thick tones.
+
+"That door. Fool! They must come that way. We can shoot them down as
+they come. Trapped? They'll pay dearly for the trapping."
+
+What were they talking of? And why in such tones? What were those other
+sounds she heard? Vita remained unmoving, helpless, and without
+understanding.
+
+Suddenly a crash overwhelmed every other sound. It left her poor head
+whirling with uncertainty.
+
+Then something else shivered through her every nerve. Another
+sound--different. There was a clatter and bumping, and strange, sharp
+explosions, such as in a vague way she half remembered having heard
+somewhere before. What was it? Each sound seemed to bite the air, echo,
+then die out. Then quickly on its heels another followed, and then
+another. Every explosion gave her a stab of exquisite pain in the head,
+her aching, throbbing head, in which the sufferings of her body seemed
+to find a sort of dull, constant echo.
+
+Now came the sound of voices again. But they were indistinct
+exclamations which conveyed nothing to her. What was that tearing and
+crunching? A perfect pandemonium had suddenly been let loose, in which
+voices and biting explosions blended with the rush and scuttling of
+many feet. A dreadful nightmare of noise disturbed her. The hoarse
+cries of the voices were distressing. Something, something---- Hark!
+What was that? That voice. She knew it.
+
+"Hold him! Gad! He's like a tiger. Smash his wrist! Only get that gun
+from him! Ah! That's it. Now--see if he has any more weapons."
+
+Full consciousness had suddenly awakened. The familiar voice had
+succeeded where pandemonium had failed. Vita stirred with infinite
+pain. With a great effort she moved her body. She could have wept with
+the torture of it. That voice. She must see him. She must gaze upon the
+face of the speaker. She must---- With a lurch she strove to raise
+herself upon her elbow. For one dreadful second an agony surpassing
+anything she had ever endured crowded her brain, and swept through her
+nerves to every extremity of her body. Then she fell back, engulfed in
+the black abyss of complete unconsciousness.
+
+
+Three men were seated in the dishevelled saloon of the gently rocking
+vessel. Brilliant electric light shone down upon the wreckage about
+them. At the far side of the apartment lay the still form of a woman
+stretched out upon a luxurious settee, which was built against the
+ship's side. In another direction another inanimate form was stretched
+out upon a lounge. But this was the lean figure of a tall man with grey
+hair and bushy eyebrows. His face was ghastly, and his eyes were
+staring. His square jaw was hanging loose, and his lips were agape.
+
+These two figures seemed to have no interest for the three men who sat
+facing each other. One of them was seated on a chair that was fixed to
+the deck with its back swung round against the table. He was sitting in
+a hunched attitude of great pain. One hand was supporting the other arm
+just above the wrist. His stone-grey eyes burned with a desperate light.
+
+The other men were within two yards of him. One, a youngish-looking
+man, in British naval uniform, was seated on the edge of a table. With
+his right hand he was grasping the butt of a revolver, whose muzzle was
+lying across the fleshy part of his thigh. The other, in civil dress,
+was astride of a chair.
+
+The man in civil dress was speaking. His voice was stern and cold. And,
+by the expression of his dark eyes, it was obvious that he was holding
+himself under a great restraint.
+
+"This is a bad end for a man holding the great position which Prince
+Frederick von Berger occupies," he said. "I want you to understand,
+Prince, that it is the end, just as surely as the sun will rise
+to-morrow. Do you grasp the position? I am not here to taunt you with
+it. But for your own sake I must make it clear to you. Your
+fellow-conspirator, Von Salzinger, has by this time been lowered to his
+last resting-place beneath the waters. For you there will be less
+mercy."
+
+He paused, narrowly observing the fierce light shining in the desperate
+eyes. Ruxton had no desire for unnecessary cruelty, but Vita was lying
+injured and unconscious just across the room, and he had no thought to
+spare the author of her troubles.
+
+"Make no mistake, Prince," he went on again, continuing his use of the
+Prussian's own tongue, and fighting down his own deep feelings, "there
+will be no succor from your countrymen. You have deliberately caused
+the murder of Von Hertzwohl upon British soil, and for that you will
+pay the full British penalty. That penalty, Prince, is the rope which
+awaits every common murderer."
+
+Von Berger threw up his head in a fury of denial. The naval man sat
+alert, and the barrel of his revolver moved a shade. But the Prussian
+made no attempt at the violence which was gleaming in his eyes. His
+wrist had been smashed in the struggle which had taken place, and he
+knew he had no chance with these men.
+
+"England dare not place me on trial, and condemn me," he cried fiercely.
+
+Ruxton raised his brows.
+
+"Dare not? You can put those words out of your head, Prince. The time
+has gone by when international relations could affect the
+administration of our courts of justice. Your own country has taught us
+the absurdity of such a policy. We have learned the necessity of
+protecting our own at any cost--even at the cost of war. You will be
+tried, and hanged for the murder you have committed."
+
+The solemnity of Ruxton's words was not without effect. A curious
+questioning incredulity crept into Von Berger's desperate eyes. His
+lips parted to protest. Then they closed again in a spasm of pain. But
+a moment later his cold voice was speaking.
+
+"There is no power on earth which can give you the right to hand a
+royal prince over to your police," he said. And his coldness and
+calmness were a triumph of the man over physical suffering.
+
+"There is no power on earth which will stop me doing so--if you land at
+Dorby, where we shall presently head for."
+
+Ruxton's manner was frigidity itself. His dark eyes looked steadily
+into the other's.
+
+Quite abruptly a hard, mirthless laugh broke the silence.
+
+"If I land?"
+
+"If you land."
+
+"Will you explain?"
+
+Ruxton shrugged coldly.
+
+"Is there need? I am prepared to display a lenience which is the only
+mercy you need hope for. You will be given the freedom of the deck for
+half an hour. We are lying awash. There is only a bare rail about it, a
+rail between you and the water. After that we return at once to
+Dorby--and the authority which deals with every common felon."
+
+The two men sat eye to eye for a few moments. It was a rapier-like
+exchange of glances. It was the Prince who yielded. He stirred. A sweat
+had broken out upon his forehead. His physical suffering was beyond
+words. But he rose to his feet and stood firmly confronting his
+antagonist.
+
+"I will accept--the freedom of the deck," he said.
+
+Frederick von Berger gazed out over the restless waters. He swayed
+easily to the added motion of the now stationary vessel. Twenty feet
+away stood the young naval officer lounging against the steel casing of
+the doorway of the conning-tower. His eyes never left his charge. Nor
+could he help a faint twinge of regret. He had been brought up in that
+wonderful school of the British Navy in which physical bravery counts
+for so much, and he knew that such was not lacking in the man whose
+movements he was so closely following.
+
+The night was clear and cold. A great wealth of stars shone down upon
+the phosphorescent waste of water. So intense was their brilliancy that
+even the distant sky-line, towards which Von Berger's gaze was turned,
+stood out with remarkable clearness.
+
+Beyond that sky-line lay Germany--the country whose curious fate it had
+been to breed a race of brave men and brutes, and to mould them into
+the single form of a splendid manhood. To that country the motionless
+figure belonged, an epitome of those curious racial characteristics.
+Birth had given him the place, and opportunity the power. Thus, through
+a soulless intellect and courage, he had been able to help in the
+fashioning of the monstrous machine, as yet unbroken, which was still
+seeking to plough its furrows through a world's spiritual civilization
+for its own ruthless ends.
+
+Possibly he yearned for the cradle of his aspirations. Possibly now,
+now that it lay so far away, hidden beyond the watery limits, he felt
+something of the futility of the cold striving for earthly power. If it
+were so his expression gave no sign. The eyes remained the same coldly
+shining windows of an empty soul. The hard mouth was tightly shut, and
+the muscles of his square jaw were tense. All he left for the shining
+eyes of the night to witness were the beads of moisture upon his broad
+forehead. And these were the simple outward signs of the frailty of the
+human body, its vulnerability, its narrow limitations. The spirit
+alone, whatever its quality, remained invincible.
+
+He moved a step nearer the steel rail. He leant against it. Then, for
+some terrible moments, from the manner in which he nursed his injured
+member, agony seemed to supervene and shut out every other emotion.
+
+The moments passed. The young naval officer shifted his position. The
+strain was telling upon him.
+
+The man at the rail moved again. His gaze was withdrawn from the
+horizon. It was turned towards the sailor. The officer averted his
+gaze. He could not face the eyes which were yet beyond his discernment.
+He knew their expression without seeing it. He understood the man's
+object. This was the moment he had awaited. The Teutonic mind was
+silently hurling all the power of hate and defiant contempt of which
+the distorted spirit was capable at those who had forced him to his
+final desperate act.
+
+There was the faintest sound of a splash. The young officer's eyes came
+back, searching for his charge. But where Frederick von Berger had
+stood there only remained the unbroken line of the rail.
+
+Then a voice spoke sharply behind him. It was the voice of Ruxton
+Farlow conveying orders to Captain Ludovic in the turret.
+
+"Dorby without delay," he said. "The pilot will pick us up at the
+Northbank buoy."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+GAZING UPON A NEW WORLD
+
+
+The room was very quiet. A wintry sunbeam glanced in through the leaded
+casement and fell slanting across the floor, lighting up the occupied
+four-post bed. A uniformed nurse was occupied at a bureau which stood
+in the window-place, framed in the floral chintz hangings which seemed
+to suit so well the oaken panelling of the room, and the beams with
+which the ceiling was so powerfully groined.
+
+The doctor, a benevolent, grey-whiskered, cherub-eyed old man, who had
+cared for every patient at Dorby Towers since the Farlows came into
+occupation, was at the bedside talking gently but firmly to his patient.
+
+"It is useless, my dear young lady," he said, with, for him, an almost
+peevish complaint. "I have done all that a man can do. I have pulled
+you clear of that wretched brain-fever which threatened you. Your poor,
+poor arm will soon be out of its plaster, and covered with nothing more
+disfiguring than a sling, which can at all times be made to match your
+costume, and yet you will do nothing to help _me_. It is really
+distressing. You should have been on that couch two weeks ago. A week
+ago you should have been moving about getting your bodily strength
+back. I really can't understand such obstinacy. Eight weeks in this
+bed, and you will not, simply will not, pull yourself up sufficiently
+to allow your being moved. You know it's a case of that woman, Mrs.
+Somebody, in one of Charles Dickens's books. I don't remember the name.
+All I know is she died, or did something equally silly, because she
+wouldn't make an effort."
+
+Vita gazed back languidly into the fresh, wholesome face of the smiling
+old man. She was so tired. She was weary with thought. She knew that
+the doctor was making a just complaint. But she knew something more.
+She knew, half by instinct, the real cause of the trouble of which he
+was complaining.
+
+She smiled up at him in a wan fashion.
+
+"I am not as much to blame as you think, doctor dear. You have done,
+oh, so much for me that I feel I can never be grateful enough. May I
+sit up?"
+
+The doctor summoned the nurse, and Vita was tenderly propped up against
+a perfect nest of pillows.
+
+"That's better. Thank you ever so much. Now I can talk, and--I want to
+talk."
+
+Vita remained silent for some moments in spite of her expressed desire.
+
+The medical man watched her closely. She was a mere shadow of what she
+ought to be. There was a troubled look in her eyes. He felt, somehow he
+knew, what was coming. It was a request such as he had been forced to
+deny her so many times before.
+
+His smile died out. But Vita's eyes, when she finally turned them on
+him, were bright with an emotion which seemed at first unwarranted.
+
+"Do you know why I can't get well?" she enquired wistfully. "It is not
+obstinacy. It is not lack of effort. It is because _you_ won't let me.
+Doctor dear, the time has surely gone by when I may not talk of--that
+night. You see, you don't understand it--all. My father is dead. I know
+that. The thought is always with me. But that--that is not all.
+Everybody here is kindness, kindness itself. Mr. Farlow--Ruxton, all of
+them. They come here. But they are never allowed to stay. They send me
+everything which--kindness can dictate. But, under your orders, no one
+will tell me those things I must know, and I am not permitted to say a
+word of that which I must tell. Doctor dear, it is _you_ who are to
+blame. Oh, the worry of it all. It seems to take the very life out of
+me. I must talk," she went on, with growing excitement. "I must tell
+him all which he can never learn so long as you keep me silent. Send
+Ruxton to me, doctor dear, and give us leave to talk as much as we want
+to, and I promise you you shall not regret it. I--I simply must talk
+or--or----"
+
+But the growing excitement proved too much for her. In her weak state
+Vita suddenly fell to weeping hysterically. The nurse and doctor leant
+their energies to calming her, and, by degrees, their efforts were
+rewarded.
+
+But the little man's face was troubled. This was what he feared,
+dreaded.
+
+The moment Vita had calmed again he chided her as he might chide some
+helpless child, but he registered a mental resolve. Somehow Vita must
+obtain strength or---- Well, he had done all he knew. He must leave
+medicine and look to the psychological side. Experiment--he hated
+experiment at his time of life. But there seemed to be nothing else for
+it. So he reassured her and gave her the promise she asked.
+
+The result was magical. The sick woman's face lit radiantly. Her
+beautiful grey eyes were filled with such a light as the little man had
+never seen in them before. He wondered. He was puzzled. It was
+something which he could not understand.
+
+He left the room, taking the nurse with him, and as he went he shook
+his head and warned himself that the nervous troubles of modern times
+were amazing. He felt that he was professionally old--very old.
+
+Nor was it without serious misgivings that he sought Ruxton Farlow.
+
+
+For an hour Vita endured the efforts of the nurse. She endured them
+uncomplainingly. She felt like some small child being prepared for a
+party. There was the pleasant excitement of it, but, unlike the small
+child, there was also a dread which all the delight could not banish.
+
+Her troubles were very real, and in the long days and nights of illness
+which had seriously threatened her mental balance, and the dull bodily
+suffering from her crushed arm, they had become exaggerated, as only
+acute suffering can distort such things.
+
+With the first return to reason she had hugged to herself the one
+outstanding fact that the responsibility of her father's death lay at
+her door. It stood out startlingly from every other thought in the
+tangle of her poor brain. She had urged him to his death, unwittingly
+it is true, but due solely to the childish credulity she had displayed.
+Even now the unforgettable picture of that grey, lean figure falling
+forward in response to Von Berger's merciless gun-shot haunted her
+every waking moment. The horror of it, the dreadful cruelty. And all
+her--her doing.
+
+At the bottom of it all lay her cowardice, her miserable cowardice. Her
+life--her wretched life had been threatened, and to escape death she
+had dragged him forth and left him at the mercy of their enemies. To
+her dying day the memory of it would haunt her. She knew it could never
+be otherwise.
+
+But later, as slowly some strength had begun to return, an added
+trouble came to her. It was the natural result of convalescence. The
+legitimate selfish interest in life inspired it. It came at the moment
+when Ruxton had been permitted to pay his first brief visit. It was the
+sight of him which had filled her with dismay. She had suddenly
+remembered that to save her own life she had not only dragged her
+father to his death, but she had sacrificed this man's love and
+promised to become the wife of the detestable Von Salzinger. From that
+moment the little troubled doctor had noted the check against which he
+had been fighting ever since.
+
+All these things were in Vita's mind now as she submitted to the
+attentions of her nurse. The blending of excitement and dread had been
+with her at first, but quickly all excitement had given way to the
+single emotion which grew almost to a panic, when, finally, the nurse
+withdrew, leaving her ready to receive the man she loved.
+
+Vita leant against her cushions waiting breathlessly. Her courage was
+drawn up to an almost breaking point. She longed to re-summon the
+nurse, and once even her uninjured arm was outstretched towards the
+electric bell. But she did not ring. She had asked, nay begged for
+Ruxton's visit. She resolutely determined to face him and tell him all
+the miserable truth. He would despise her. He would turn from her. She
+closed her eyes to escape the picture she had conjured up of the cold
+look she knew his handsome dark eyes were so capable of. But he must
+know--he must know. She told herself this, and she told herself that
+she must accept her fate at his hands without murmur. It was a just
+punishment for her----
+
+The sound of the door-catch moving startled her. Her eager, frightened
+eyes turned swiftly in the direction. In a moment Ruxton was standing
+in the room, his deep eyes smiling down at her from his great height.
+
+"Vita! My Vita!"
+
+Just for one moment the woman's head swam. Her eyes closed and it
+seemed that she was about to faint. But the sensation passed, and when
+the beautiful grey depths gazed out once more the man was seated on the
+edge of the bed, holding her hand clasped under the tender pressure of
+both his.
+
+"My poor little Vita! My poor darling!"
+
+The tones of his voice were tenderly caressing. They were full of a
+deep, passionate sympathy and love. Vita thrilled under their echo in
+her own soul. But there was no return of pressure in her hand. Her eyes
+gazed back into his full of yearning, but they seemed to have lost
+their power of smiling.
+
+"Ruxton, dear----" she began. Then she broke off as though powerless to
+bring herself to tell him all that lay ready marshalled for him to hear.
+
+"Don't distress yourself, dear. Don't bother to talk. It's enough for
+me to be here, with you, and know you are getting well."
+
+It was his final words which spurred her courage. She began to speak
+rapidly, and almost it was as if complaint were in her tone.
+
+"But I am not getting well--yet. That is what Doctor Mellish says, and
+that is why I must talk. Oh, Ruxton, can't you understand? I can never
+get well until I have told you--told you all that is on my mind.
+Dearest, dearest, I have wronged you, oh, how I have wronged you, and
+all because I am a coward, a miserable wretched coward who dared not
+face the death which they had marked out for me. It is that--that which
+brought about poor father's death. It is that which made me throw aside
+the love which was all the world to me, and promise to marry the man
+who pretended that he was about to save my wretched life."
+
+"Von Salzinger?"
+
+The question came with unerring instinct, but the coldness for herself
+Vita had dreaded was lacking.
+
+"Yes," she said, in a childlike, frightened way.
+
+"Tell it me. Tell it me all. I have been waiting all these weeks to
+learn the truth of all that happened to you--of all you have been made
+to suffer by those devils. Tell me everything, from the moment I left
+you to come up here to await your father's arrival."
+
+His manner was so gentle, yet so firm. His eyes still held the warm
+smile with which he had greeted her. Vita's courage stole back into her
+veins, and her poor, hammering heart slackened its beatings, and her
+thoughts became less chaotic.
+
+Ruxton waited with infinite patience. Time was for them alone just now.
+He had no desire to lose one moment of it.
+
+Presently in a low hurried voice Vita began her story. She made no
+attempt to convey to him the terror through which she had passed. Yet
+it was all there. It lay under every word she uttered. It found
+expression in the brilliancy of her eyes, and the heated color which
+leapt to her thin cheeks. Ruxton read it all as if he were witnessing
+the whole action of the scenes she was describing. He not only read it,
+but something of a sympathetic dread swept through him, and his heart
+set him wondering how his poor troubled love had managed to survive the
+horror of all she must have endured.
+
+Vita told him of Von Berger's coming, silently, secretly to Redwithy,
+and the way in which he had forced her to embark on that journey over
+the wild moorlands into the heart of Somersetshire. Then she told him
+of the imprisonment in the dreadful valley. She hurried on to the scene
+when Von Berger had warned her of her condemnation to death. After that
+she paused, gathering her courage for what was next to come. Her eyes
+gazed yearningly into her lover's now serious face. Her courage was
+ebbing fast. Then came the heartening tones of his voice.
+
+"Tell it all, dearest. You have nothing to fear. Perhaps I can guess
+it."
+
+Instantly her courage rose, and she poured out the story of her
+renunciation of his love, that she might be permitted to live. And in
+her renunciation she warned him that she had been resolved to carry it
+out to the hideous completion of marriage with Von Salzinger.
+
+And while she leant back on her cushions pouring out her passionate
+story, Ruxton's thoughts were less on her words than on the wonder at
+the loyalty and honesty which made it necessary for her to lay bare her
+very soul to him now, revealing every weakness which she believed to be
+hers. Its effect upon him was deep and lasting. Blame? Where could
+there be blame? The thought became the maddest thing in the world to
+him. His whole soul went out to her in her suffering. All he felt he
+longed to do was to place his strong arms about her and defend her from
+all the world; to drive off even the vaguest shadow of memory which
+might disturb her.
+
+But he did nothing. Her hand lay passive in his, and he waited while
+she recounted the details of the night journey from Somersetshire to
+the North. Then, when she came to the final scene of her father's
+death, passion surged through his veins, and he rose from his seat on
+the bed and paced the limits of the room.
+
+"The treacherous devils!" he muttered. "The hounds! Gad! they could not
+beat him, so they played upon a woman, a defenseless woman. It was
+German. But they have paid--both of them. But the old man! The
+pity--the pity of it. If I could only have saved him."
+
+Ruxton was not addressing her, but Vita was following his every word.
+Now she caught at his final sentence.
+
+"No one could," she said, with a deep sigh. "I led him to that place of
+death, as surely as----"
+
+"No, no, Vita! You must not say that. You are no more responsible for
+his death than I am. Those devils would have got him. If not in one
+way, then in another. He knew it. He was prepared for it. He told me
+himself. No, no, you did right. If there were shortcomings they were
+mine. I did not see far enough. Thank God, at least I contrived to save
+you from the fate they had prepared for you."
+
+Vita's eyes had followed his restless movement. Now they rested upon
+his flushed face and hot eyes as he returned to his seat on the bed and
+took possession of her hand again.
+
+"Thank God for your life and safety, dearest," he cried, raising her
+hand to his lips and pressing it to them passionately. "It was the
+nearest thing. It turns me cold now when I think how near. Listen and
+I'll tell you my side of it all. It's not a very brainy side, dear.
+There's not much in it that's particularly creditable to any thinking
+man. Most of it was luck, a sort of miraculous good fortune added to an
+inspiration for which I mustn't take any credit. I'll just take up the
+tale where you left it, but from the other side--the side whence you
+might well have expected succor, and from which, very nearly, there was
+none forthcoming."
+
+He paused. He leant over on the bed, supporting himself on one arm. His
+dark eyes were shining as they dwelt upon the well-loved beauty of the
+woman who was, perhaps, at that moment, more than ever the centre of
+his life.
+
+"I can't tell how I arrived at the certainty that you were in the power
+of these devils, and were being forced unwittingly to further their
+schemes. It was instinct, it was--well, whatever you like to call it.
+There's no need to worry you with the manner in which I persuaded your
+father to let me watch over him in his going from these shores. Nor
+does it matter the small things I prepared for that watch. I'll just
+tell you what happened.
+
+"I owe a good deal to a small section of the Navy, including Sir Joseph
+Caistor and Sir Reginald Steele, who were both spending the week-end
+here. Also Commander Sparling, and some of his men, who are in charge
+of the new constructions at the yards. Captain Ludovic I owe something
+to for his shrewdness and loyalty and tolerance. These are the elements
+which contributed so largely in your salvation.
+
+"Well, all day long on that Sunday a light cruiser was standing off the
+coast. It had definite instructions. Yes, Sir Joseph had ordered it
+there to help me. It was scouting for a submarine. You see, I had made
+up my mind that there would be a German submarine in the matter. That
+is to say, if my fears were to prove well founded. Sure enough one
+turned up late in the afternoon, and the cruiser picked her up while
+she was running awash. We got the signal that she'd found her. Then was
+played a wonderful game of cat and mouse. The cruiser never for a
+moment let it out of her sight. When darkness closed she just ran up
+closer and played about with a searchlight. There was no question of
+interfering with or even 'speaking' her. She was outside the three
+miles. Then about six o'clock there came the development. The submarine
+launched a boat for shore. It was well manned, and she drove away in
+the direction of the cove. Then the cruiser settled to her work. She
+turned her searchlight right on to the vessel lying awash, and never
+left it. The men on the submarine could do nothing which could not be
+seen from the cruiser, and, to make matters more exasperating, the
+cruiser closed right in upon her."
+
+Ruxton paused as though reviewing and criticizing the scene, to observe
+the completeness of the operation.
+
+"You must understand, dear, what was in my mind to make this
+necessary," he went on, seeing the need for explanation. "You see, I
+knew what your father's submersible meant to Germany. They had lost the
+plans of the U-rays lamp. Nor had they any models. The only
+installation of the U-rays was on the submersible. I had made up my
+mind that if there was to be any interference with your father they
+meant capturing his vessel too. Besides, it would be simple from their
+view-point. Your father's vessel was wholly unarmed.
+
+"Very well. What were the intentions with a submarine probably full of
+German naval men? It seemed to me natural that while their boat went
+ashore, in pitch darkness, to take off your father, the men on the
+submarine would set about securing possession of the submersible the
+moment it hove in sight. How right I was you will see. However, the
+submarine never had a chance. She could not escape that light. She
+dived again and again to avoid it, but each time she came up the light
+picked her up and held her. Had they attempted to launch a boat the
+cruiser would have done the same, and then followed it up whithersoever
+it went; and, had there been an attempt to board the submersible, our
+boat would have been there first. The skipper of that submarine was
+out-man[oe]uvred, beaten--peaceably, but--beaten. Nor had he means of
+communicating his trouble to those in the boat which had gone ashore."
+
+Now Ruxton's manner become less exultant as he went on after a brief
+pause.
+
+"What went on at the cove you know better than I. That was the chief
+weakness of my plans. I stationed a number of the confidential
+Government agents ready to lend help if it were needed. But I had been
+driven to concentrating on the ultimate 'get away.' That, to me, stood
+out as imperative. I had to chance the other. Therein lay my blame for
+the sacrifice of your father. The sound of shots fired told its tale,
+but I still hoped."
+
+He drew a deep sigh of regret. His eyes were troubled. Now he went on,
+without a sign of elation.
+
+"The crucial moment came when it was seen that the pinnace, loaded well
+down, was racing towards the submersible from the shore. It was more
+than ticklish. However, things were carefully planned. They hailed the
+submersible, which was lying awash. They found only two men on the
+deck--your father's men, and Captain Ludovic in the conning-tower
+doorway. Von Berger led the way aboard, and Von Salzinger followed. The
+former glanced at the men, and spoke to Ludovic. In his words he
+justified my whole supposition. He asked for a Lieutenant Rutter, and
+Ludovic, in assumed sullen submission, told him he was below in the
+saloon. Von Berger was satisfied. He only waited till the crew was
+aboard, and you, lying unconscious in the arms of one of his men, and
+your father's body supported by two others, had been conveyed down
+below. Then he gave Ludovic orders to head at full speed for Cuxhaven,
+and, if followed, to submerge. He said that the man Rutter would be
+sent up to see he played no tricks. Then he and Von Salzinger went
+below, and the steel door of the conning-tower was made fast.
+
+"The rest--do you need it? It was a bloody affair. You and your dead
+father were taken into the saloon. Von Berger and Von Salzinger
+followed. Then Von Berger dismissed the men, who went out while he
+looked round for Rutter. But in a moment he understood what was
+happening. As the men left the saloon they were set upon. They fought
+like demons, but were either overpowered or shot down. Von Berger
+slammed the saloon door closed, and strove to hold it. But as well try
+to hold a rabbit-hutch against a tornado. They were caught. Caught, as
+I heard Von Salzinger say, like rats in a trap."
+
+"You--you were there--in the submersible?"
+
+Vita's eyes were shining with a world of emotion. The story had caught
+her and swept her along with it. A great pride was in her heart. This
+man had risked all, everything for her father and herself.
+
+"Oh, yes. But I wasn't by any means alone. Young Sparling and twenty of
+his bluejackets from the yards had been secreted aboard. But--it was
+deadly work. How I escaped without a scratch I don't know. Five of our
+men got wounded. Von Berger fought like a fury. The other, Von
+Salzinger, went out suddenly at the outset. I'm not sure who brought
+him down. Sparling and I fired simultaneously. I hope it was my shot
+that sent him--home. But Von Berger was wonderful. It was not until we
+had crushed his wrist and hand in the fighting that he was overpowered.
+He was a veritable Hercules."
+
+Vita had listened almost breathlessly. Now her enquiry came in a low,
+eager tone.
+
+"And Von Berger--what happened after he was overpowered?"
+
+Ruxton hesitated.
+
+"It was he who killed my father," Vita reminded him.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Tell me."
+
+Ruxton had no alternative.
+
+"We had a talk--he and I. The result? He was given an alternative. The
+hangman's rope here ashore, or half an hour's freedom of the
+submersible's deck."
+
+Vita nodded. She understood.
+
+"And he chose?"
+
+"The deck. You see he was a royal prince."
+
+"Yes."
+
+Neither seemed inclined to break the silence that followed. Each was
+thinking of the scenes which must have been enacted. Ruxton, as he had
+witnessed them. Vita, as her imagination portrayed them.
+
+Finally it was Vita who spoke in a whisper that became almost startling.
+
+"The others--the crew of the boat?"
+
+"They have been all sent back to Germany--via Holland. They were all
+held here till the wounded had recovered. Then they went away together."
+
+But Vita's eyes were wide with apprehension.
+
+"But the secret. The secret of it all will reach Berlin. It will reach
+even to----"
+
+Ruxton smiled.
+
+"Precisely what was intended and--hoped. It has done so. We know that.
+We have had the most curious and subtle enquiries from the Berlin
+authorities. They dared not openly accuse. We have replied. Our Foreign
+Office formulated the reply. They have been told that a murder was
+committed upon the Yorkshire coast--the murder of a German named Von
+Hertzwohl. It was committed by a rascally crew of Germans, headed by
+one, Von Berger, and assisted by another, Von Salzinger. These seem to
+have been the names they were known by, though the police think they
+were probably aliases. Unfortunately the gang got away in boats.
+However, the leaders came to an untimely end in the pursuit by the
+police. One shot himself--the one called Von Salzinger. The other, Von
+Berger, who seems to have been injured, tried to escape by going
+overboard from the boat in which he was endeavoring to get away. The
+Foreign Office has regretted that it can obtain no further information
+which might be of use to Berlin."
+
+"But it is a challenge," cried Vita in an awed voice.
+
+Ruxton's smile broadened.
+
+"So it was intended." He shook his head. "But it is a challenge they
+dare not take up. Furthermore, it should leave us in peace to complete
+the work your poor father has so well begun."
+
+Ruxton rose from his seat on the bed. He moved away, across to the
+leaded window, from which the sunbeam had long since passed. He gazed
+out across the leafless trees of the park towards the drab of the
+moorland beyond. He was not unaffected by his own story. He knew how
+much more it must mean to Vita. He waited. He was waiting for a summons
+which he felt would come in Vita's own good time.
+
+A few minutes passed and then it came. He turned about and smiled over
+at the sweet grey eyes which were so frankly appealing. There was a
+change, a great change in them. All the trouble seemed to have passed
+out of them. And the weary brain behind them seemed at last to have
+found that rest it so seriously needed.
+
+"Ruxton," she murmured. "Can you--can you ever forgive me for--what----"
+
+The man was at the bedside again. This time he was not sitting. He was
+leaning across it, and his arms were outstretched and thrust about her
+soft, warm body, where she leant against the cushions. His face was
+drawn up within a few inches of hers. His eyes were on a level with
+hers. They were smiling into the deeps of grey beauty before them. Nay,
+the tragedy of it, he was laughing into them.
+
+"Promising to marry Von Salzinger? If I had been in your place I
+shouldn't have promised. I'd have married him right off if it were to
+save me from being murdered." Then his laugh died out abruptly. "Don't
+think of it, my beautiful Vita. Don't ever let the thought of it enter
+your dear, dear head again. If ever a poor defenceless woman went
+through an earthly hell, you did. Sweetheart, it's my sole purpose in
+life now to endeavor to place you in an earthly heaven."
+
+He drew her to him in a passionate embrace. And so their lips met and
+lingered.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+AFTER TWELVE MONTHS
+
+
+The shock which electrified London was reminiscent of the shocks to
+which it was submitted in the early days of the war, when the "Yellow"
+press ran riot, and journalists dipped deeply into their reservoirs of
+superlatives to generate the current of sensation which should sell
+their papers.
+
+It was a misty afternoon, with an almost intangible yet saturating
+drizzle; a setting admirably fitting an evening newspaper thrill.
+Spirits were at a sufficiently low ebb for something of a screaming
+nature. Fleet Street did its best; a best at no time to be despised.
+
+It came as the homeward rush began from the offices of the great
+metropolis. It stared out from street corners and the fronting of
+bookstalls. It looked up from the greasy pavements. It served to hide a
+portion of the rags which hung about the nether limbs of small street
+urchins. It came in strident, raucous tones upon the moisture-laden
+atmosphere. There was no escaping it. That which escaped the eyes
+thrust itself upon defenceless ear. And its urgent note created the
+necessary excitement in minds set upon the task of making the homeward
+journey with the least possible delay.
+
+Then, at once, the careless eye was caught and held. "Under Water: The
+World Defied," cried one contents bill. "The New Submersible
+Merchantman," announced one of the more sedate journals. "The Great
+Problem Solved," cryptically suggested a buff-tinted sheet. "From
+Downing Street to the Deeps," smiled the more flippant pink
+announcement. And so on through the whole jargon of the press poster.
+There was no escape from it. The word "submersible" seemed to fill the
+whole of the wretched winter atmosphere. And, as was intended, it
+caught the London fancy, and deflected purpose into the channel it
+desired.
+
+London was startled; and when London is startled by its press it is no
+niggard. Therefore the rain of coppers which set in became perilously
+near a deluge. The small boys snatched, and the old sinners with grey
+whiskers and weather-stained faces swept in their harvest. The
+bookstall attendants dealt out their papers in a steady, accurate
+stream, and, within an hour, the whole of London's democracy had
+formulated its definite opinion upon the new adventure, in the dogmatic
+manner of the British ratepayer.
+
+Strange and mixed were many of the opinions which flew from lip to lip
+in the overcrowded homeward bound trains and 'buses. True, there were
+many who read the well-told story of the skilful journalist as they
+might read a sensational tale in a sixpenny magazine. They enjoyed it.
+They devoured it hungrily. Then they passed on to the sports page, and
+considered the doings of their favorites in the sporting world. But the
+suburban ratepayer, the householder whose responsibilities left him no
+alternative but to take himself seriously, was of a different calibre.
+He possesses to the full the stolid, fault-finding mind of the British
+race. He is as full of prejudice as the egg is supposed to be full of
+meat. He is ready at all times to hurl blame and anathema at the heads
+of those who conspire to extract from his pocket the necessary funds to
+contrive that he shall live in security and comfort in his home. He is
+the victim of a splendid pessimism for all things except his summer
+holiday. His opinions come like a shot from a gun.
+
+He read with incredulity until he arrived at the point where he felt
+righteously he could open afresh the rut of his ever-ready disapproval.
+Then the full force of what he read percolated heavily through his fog
+of prejudiced incredulity, and virtuous indignation supervened.
+
+"What was this absurd nonsense? Who ever heard of submersible
+merchantmen? What fresh folly of the Government was coming now? The
+Prime Minister on the trial trip. Why the devil didn't he stick to his
+job in Downing Street? The moment these fellows got their five thousand
+a year they didn't care a hang for the country. Playing about with
+these toys of some crazy inventor. It made one sick. Anyway, if the
+Government were concerned in the scheme, why was it kept secret? Why
+wasn't the taxpayer told of it? Who was making the money out of it?
+Somebody. There was always graft in these secret things. There was too
+much of this hole-in-the-corner business--entirely too much. Altogether
+too much disregard for the liberty of the subject," etc., etc.
+
+But the Fleet Street chorus of "epochs" and "masterly moves" and
+"strokes of statesmanship" found an abiding echo amongst the optimists.
+They saw, with eyes wide open, that which they read. There was no
+grumble in them. Why should there be? That which they read told them
+clearly of success. It told them that never again would Britain's
+overseas commerce be placed in jeopardy from enemy attack in time of
+war; that is, if British enterprise would only rise to the opportunity
+afforded. That was simple enough. Of course the ship-owners would see
+their advantage. Germany--pah!
+
+The men who personally felt aggrieved, however, were the professional
+politicians and the private Member. These men were seriously perturbed.
+Here was real limelight, and they were not in it! Horrible thought!
+Their course lay clearly before them. An attack upon inoffensive paper,
+by a pen, erroneously believed to be mightier than the sword, was their
+only hope of making up leeway. So those who had sufficient influence
+hurled broadcast the next morning, in their favorite daily papers, a
+wealth of ill-considered and valueless criticism and opinion of
+something which they were splendidly incompetent to judge.
+
+And the cause of all the sensation? It was so small an incident, and
+yet so tremendous in its omen for the future. Just the story of a
+number of eminent men, Cabinet Ministers, naval and army men, and one
+or two great ship-builders, running a blockade of warships, and
+successfully shipping a cargo of pretended contraband of war from
+Dundee to Gravesend. The game had been played in deadly earnest. It was
+a test trip for a new type of submersible cargo and passenger vessel,
+pitting its powers against the concentrated might of a large squadron
+of the British Navy. It was a test of efficiency. The details were
+simple in the extreme. The laden vessel, carrying a thousand tons of
+merchandise and its burden of passengers, was lying at Dundee. Outside,
+watching and waiting for its appearance on the high seas, lay a
+powerful squadron of the British Navy. The rules laid down were that
+the submersible should make its way to Gravesend, and the naval
+squadron, under war conditions, was to capture it, or place it in such
+a position as to be sinkable, by any means in its power, at any point
+upon its journey.
+
+The result. With all the skill and power at its command the great
+surface squadron had proved its helplessness. The submersible had
+slipped out of port under cover of darkness, and from that moment,
+until its arrival at Gravesend, the seas had been scoured vainly for so
+much as a sight of it.
+
+It was a tremendous thought. It was a splendid victory for the pacifist
+hope. The dead Polish inventor had been justified beyond all question.
+Never had the word "epoch," such as Fleet Street loves, been better
+used. It was such a moment that those who made the secret journey, and
+witnessed the capabilities of the vessel which had been built at the
+Dorby yards, were flung back from all preconceived convictions of
+maritime affairs, established during the war, to imaginative
+speculation upon the vista of progress now opened up.
+
+Not a man of them, from the Prime Minister of England down to the
+junior lieutenant upon the vainly striving fleet of war-vessels, but
+realized a picture of the doom of the magnificent and costly
+super-Dreadnought as the pillar of might upon which naval power must
+rest. Its proud office gone, it appeared to them as little greater than
+a means of defence against the landing of hostile man power upon
+Britain's vulnerable shores. The proud queens of the sea must pass from
+their exalted thrones to a lesser degree in naval armaments.
+
+Nor was the realization without pity and regret. How could it be
+otherwise in the human heart which ever worships the actual display of
+might? It almost seemed as if the world had been suddenly given over to
+topsy-turveydom.
+
+The facts, however, were irrefutable. As in the dim past the troublous
+surface of the seas had been conquered by the intrepid and skilful
+mariner, now at last the devious submarine channels had been turned
+into an almost equally secure highway of traffic by the inventor. The
+march of progress was continuing. It was invention triumphant. The
+world's sea-borne commerce was secured. It was held safe from enemy
+war-craft in the future. Therefore the doom of the proud battleship had
+been sounded.
+
+Some day, perhaps, a new weapon would be achieved. Some day, perhaps,
+even the channels of the dark waters would be rendered insecure by the
+hand that had now made them safe. For the present, however, and
+probably for years to come, the sea-borne food supplies of Britain
+stood in no position of jeopardy.
+
+It was well past midnight. The house in Smith Square quite suddenly
+displayed renewed signs of life. A closed motor had driven up, paused,
+and then passed on. Then appeared many lights behind the small-paned
+Georgian windows.
+
+Ruxton Farlow had returned home with his wife after a strenuous and
+exciting day; and with them was their devoted Yorkshire father, burning
+with the sense of a great triumph for his beloved son, and his almost
+equally beloved daughter.
+
+Their journey from Gravesend earlier in the evening had been broken
+that they might attend an informal dinner-party at Downing Street. It
+was a function entirely in honor of the masters of Dorby; and it had
+been arranged that Ruxton's colleagues in the country's Cabinet might
+tender their sincere congratulations and thanks for the work which he,
+and his father, and his wife had achieved privately in their country's
+cause.
+
+It was over; and all three were relieved and thankful. But the note of
+triumph surging through their hearts was still dominant. Scarcely a
+word had passed between them in the brief run from Downing Street to
+Smith Square. Their hearts were as yet too full, and the memory of the
+words addressed to them by Sir Meeston and his colleagues was still too
+poignant to permit of normal conditions. Vita had leant back in the
+car, with her husband's arm linked through hers, and one of his
+powerful hands clasped in hers. She sat thus with thought teeming, and
+a heart thrilling with an unspeakable joy, and happiness, and triumph,
+all for the man at her side. Her own share in the events through which
+they had passed was entirely forgotten by her. This man at her side
+filled her whole focus. He was all in all to her, as she felt he was
+all in all to the cause in which they had worked.
+
+It was perhaps the profoundest and proudest moment of her life. It was
+a moment of perfect happiness. All she had ever dreamed of was hers;
+and the hand of the man she worshipped was even now, warm and strong,
+clasped tightly in her own. Hers to keep; hers to lean on; hers never
+to yield so long as their lives should last.
+
+In the house they passed up into the small drawing-room, and, for a few
+moments, they sat there before retiring. Slowly the spell of the day's
+events fell from them. It was finally Sir Andrew who released them from
+it.
+
+He gazed across at Vita with twinkling eyes. His smile was full of
+kindly tenderness.
+
+"Now, perhaps, I shall have time to appreciate the fact that at last I
+am the happy possessor of a beautiful daughter as well as a headstrong
+son," he said. Then, after the briefest hesitation: "Vita, my dear," he
+went on, in his old-fashioned manner, while his gaze took in the
+radiant beauty turned abruptly towards him, "it seems to me that the
+most wonderful thing in the world has happened to me. The long, lonely
+life seems to have entirely passed. I mean the loneliness which only a
+man can feel who is deprived for all time of the association of his own
+womankind. Now at last I can draw deep comfort from the reflection of
+Ruxton's happiness. Now, however slight my claim, I can nevertheless
+_claim_ something of a woman's filial regard. The grey of life has been
+tinted for me since you have chosen to make my boy happy, and as time
+goes on I can see that tint develop into the roseate hue of a happiness
+I somehow never thought to feel again. Bless you, my dear, for coming
+into an old man's life; and you, too, my boy," he went on, turning to
+the smiling Ruxton, "for having given me such a daughter. I feel this
+is the moment for saying this. The work is done now in workmanlike
+fashion, and the little triumph of it all makes me want to tell you of
+this thing that I feel."
+
+Vita impulsively left her husband's side. She rose from the settee and
+crossed over to her second father and held out both her hands.
+
+"You have made it difficult for me to say a word----" she began,
+smiling down upon him with her glorious eyes. Then she seemed to become
+speechless.
+
+The oriflamme of her red-gold hair shone with a delicious burnish under
+the shaded electric light. Her flushed oval cheek glowed with a
+suggestion of thrilling happiness. The old man caught and held her
+hands, and, the next moment, she had bent her slimly graceful body and
+impressed upon his rugged cheek a kiss of deep affection.
+
+Still she remained speechless, and she turned and glanced with dewy
+eyes in appeal to the great husband looking on.
+
+"Won't you help me?" she demanded wistfully.
+
+Ruxton laughed happily.
+
+"Help?" he said quickly. Then he shook his head. "No, no. You don't
+need any help. Just tell him what you once told me. You remember." His
+eyes became serious. "You said 'I love him almost as if he were really
+my own father.' He won't need more."
+
+And Vita obeyed him, reciting the words almost like some child. But she
+meant them, and felt them, and at the last word her glance was full of
+a whimsical light as she added of her own initiative--
+
+"And aren't you two dears going to smoke?"
+
+
+Half an hour later the two men were sitting alone in Ruxton's study.
+The smoke of their cigars hung heavily upon the air of the room. There
+had come a moment of profound silence between them. They had talked of
+the happenings of that day: of the test of their new submersible: its
+simple triumph, and all it meant in the cause of humanity, of that
+progress towards a lasting peace among nations which mankind was
+yearning to achieve.
+
+Each man had offered his own view-point for discussion, and it seemed
+as if the last word had at length been spoken. But they sat on in
+silence, and Sir Andrew watched the reflective eyes of his idealist
+son. He was speculating as to what deep thought still lay unvoiced
+behind them, and he urged him.
+
+"Well, boy? It has been a long day. Is it bed? Or are you going to put
+into words that dream I see moving behind your eyes?"
+
+Ruxton broke into a short, nervous laugh which died out with a curious,
+sober abruptness.
+
+"Dreams, dreams? I wonder if they are only dreams. If they are dreams
+they are surely vivid enough--painfully vivid." He paused for an
+infinitesimal fraction. "No, no, Dad, I am no visionary in the sense
+that imagination runs away with me. I see many things that every other
+man sees, and it is only a question of different reading. What do you
+think the majority of people in this country will do when they really
+understand all that our little adventure means? They will
+metaphorically fling up their hats, and deride the wretched Teuton, and
+his merciless delight in the slaughter of innocent life upon the high
+seas. In a few years' time, when they see our sea-borne traffic carried
+by great submersibles of eight and ten thousand tons, their confidence
+will be unbounded, and they will reiterate again the old song
+'Britannia Rules the Waves,' and--they will have justice on their side.
+But the questions which I ask myself, which I must keep on asking
+myself, are--'Does Britannia rule the waves? Can she continue to rule
+the waves?'"
+
+He shook his head, and gently removed the ash from his cigar.
+
+"In spite of all the evidence, in spite of our wholly promising new
+move for protecting our overseas traffic, in spite of the brilliant
+manner in which our Navy has met, and defeated, every ingenious method
+of attack by our enemies in the past, I do not believe we can ever hope
+to continue indefinitely our rule of the seas, or _even the
+safeguarding of our overseas traffic_.
+
+"Oh, yes, I know what everybody will say in answer to such a
+statement," he went on, in reply to the interrogatory in his father's
+eyes. "But they are wrong, a thousand times wrong," he declared, almost
+passionately. "It is no sound argument or real logic that what we have
+done for the past few hundred years we can continue to do. Our men are
+giants among the men of the sea. But they are only human. The days of
+'wait and see' are over. We must not wait for trouble to arise to
+attempt its counter. We must look ahead with all the experience of the
+late war behind us. The reason we rule the seas at the moment--if we do
+rule them--is because we are an island country, and because our past
+necessities have forced us to stride far ahead in maritime affairs of
+all other nations, while they possessed no full realization of the
+value of sea power. But the late war has shown us that now, at last,
+every country in the world understands to the full the necessity for
+wresting from any one Power the dominance of the seas. Look back.
+Germany was fighting for sea power as greatly as she was fighting for
+anything else. Russia, that vast land-locked world, could only hope for
+an outlet to the sea as a result of all her sacrifice. The Balkan
+countries, their national aspirations, every one of them was a harbor
+on the high seas. The whole world intends to possess each its share of
+the great waterways, without fear of the dominance of any one nation.
+It is plain, plain as the writing on the wall.
+
+"I solemnly submit that Britain's power, her domination of the seas,
+cannot stand for all time. And the reason--it is so simple, so terribly
+simple. Just as our strength now lies in the seas, so does our
+weakness. Every moment of our lives the threat of starvation stares
+into our haunted eyes, and we, like hunted men, search and search for a
+means to ward it off. Do you see? I could weep for those who will not
+see. The Germans were just not clever enough, that is all. They saw the
+weakened links in our armor, and endeavored to drive home the attack
+when they attempted their submarine blockade. But their attempt lacked
+adequate preparation. This is all ancient history, but it points in the
+direction I would have men look. The result of that has been to make us
+further consolidate our defences. The completion of that comes in our
+new submersible. But, remember, we are defending only against known
+forces--not the unknown. It is the unknown we have to fear. Every human
+defence can be destroyed by human ingenuity. That is why I say that the
+new principle will only serve us in itself for just the amount of time
+which it takes our rivals to readjust their focus, and mobilize their
+powers of offence. The day will come when some invention will be
+brought to attack underwater craft successfully. And then--what then?
+In spite of all our territory, our wealth, our nominal power we shall
+be driven to yield to the pangs of hunger. It is not a dream I am
+showing you. It is a reality. It is a truism which no logical mind can
+deny."
+
+Sir Andrew refrained from comment for some moments as his son ceased
+speaking. But at last, as the silence prolonged, he urged him.
+
+"And what is the answer to it all?" he enquired. His eyes were serious,
+and his words came crisply. He had caught something of his boy's
+gravity although he was not sure how far he accepted his creed. "There
+must be an answer. Every problem of State possesses its solution, if we
+can only find it--in time."
+
+Ruxton nodded. Then he rose abruptly from his chair and flung his
+cigar-end into the empty fireplace with a forceful gesture. He began to
+pace the room.
+
+"That is the crux of the whole situation," he declared feverishly, his
+dark eyes burning with an intense light. "In time! In time! If we could
+only be induced to adopt the true solution 'in time'--before we are
+forced to adopt it. Oh, yes, there is a solution--a right solution. It
+is so simple that one wonders it has not long since been discussed by
+every man in the street. The solution stares us in the face on every
+hand. It calls aloud to us in appeal, and we turn from it. Every
+country that can ever hope to last out the days of man must be
+self-contained, self-supporting. In times of stress it must be capable
+of existence upon its own natural stores. Look at America's position
+during the war. She could afford to hold aloof, and continue her reign
+of prosperity while she snapped her fingers at Armageddon. Why? Because
+she was independent of the rest of the world both economically and
+strategically. Let the whole of the rest of the world blaze. Let the
+slaughter go on. She could stand alone though the conflagration raged a
+century. No combination of human forces could defeat America without
+exterminating her peoples. Here are we, with territory, blocks of
+territory scattered throughout the world so vast as to make America
+look small in comparison. They are not tracts of savage country, but
+cultivated and highly civilized States, any one of which can be wholly
+self-supporting. They are ours--peopled with our people--governed by
+codes of laws similar to our own--with objects and principles like to
+our own. And yet we sit here awaiting ultimate destruction, a tiny
+group of islands upon the crests of the Atlantic waters. It makes one
+think of the foolish bird, who builds her nest and stocks it full of
+eggs, and sets it upon the topmost twigs of a tree, waiting for the
+gathering of the storm which must sweep it out of existence, while the
+whole protection of the tree's full strength lies open to her. The
+position is so absurd as to set one laughing in very bitterness. I tell
+you the day will come when an island home is utterly untenable for any
+great nation. I am not even sure that the time has not already come. If
+I had my way our empire would be ruled from the heart of Canada, whose
+vast tracts of territory are bursting with an unbroached wealth which
+no country in the world can ever hope to match. There, amidst those
+fertile plains, I would set up our kingdom, and gather our limitless
+resources about us. There, in the midst of that new world, I would
+wield me the sceptre of the greatest Empire of all time, and within its
+ramparts I would strive unceasingly for the spiritual and mundane
+welfare of our people and all mankind. No nation in the world was ever
+more fitted, both in temper and in power, for the task. No peoples
+would more willingly lend themselves to it. All our history has been
+one long story of pacific purpose, and only has our regrettable
+geographical setting forced upon us any other course. My most ardent
+thought and desire is that some day we may voluntarily remove the
+obstacles besetting us, and our pacific purpose may be given the full
+development it seeks. But so long as Britain nests upon the waters of
+the Atlantic, so long shall we continue to live under the burden of
+war. And the end?--Who can prophesy the--end?"
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Men Who Wrought, by Ridgwell Cullum
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